Kodak Gallery recently gave me a $35 code to try out their digital scrapbooking system and potentially share it with you. If you’ve been reading here for any length of time, you know this will be an honest review and no amount of free crap would make me lie to you. (With giveaway – read on!)

Let me preface this review by saying that I’ve been scrapbooking for years before I even had children and am a completely addicted Heritage Makers addict. So much so that I became a consultant just to get the deals for myself because I do so much of it. After paper crafting for years, I tried the Creative Memories storybook software, Kodak Gallery, Snapfish and many more. There may not be one I haven’t used, and I decided on Heritage Makers about three seconds after trying it and seeing their products. This will become important later on.

The Kodak website is fairly easy to use. Log in or register, choose a template, upload your pictures, drag and drop them in to pre-made templates. You can edit the pages to the very smallest degree possible – that is, you can choose another of their pre-made templates to switch into that spot. For anyone with the teeniest amount of creativity it’s incredibly limiting. I found it very frustrating not to be able to change colours, add embellishments, move text around or really do anything other than drag and drop. However, for someone who doesn’t like to craft and wants to do a book without ever having to really think about it, I would imagine Kodak Gallery would be great. The book was $35, and I had to pay for my own shipping – normally something that would make the review a no-go (ridiculous, much?) but I wanted to see the difference between these and the Heritage Makers books that I love so much. Truly, there’s no comparison. The Kodak book has a decent binding but not great, and the “linen” cover feels pretty low quality. It’s not customizable at all, and just has a little window in to the first picture, the size of which is not editable so part of my kids are cut off from the cover view. I’m not impressed and wouldn’t pay to order from Kodak Gallery again. Perhaps if I’d never seen a Heritage Makers book I may have had a different opinion, but the quality of both the online software and the product are so much less with Kodak that I just can’t recommend them. But I can hook you up with Heritage Makers if you like – just let me know in comments.

That said, I still have a $35 gift code to give away so comment here or email me if you’d like to try it and I’ll get the kids to do a draw from all comments and emails when I get around to it and one of you can try it out too.

I always make Valentines for my kids’ friends, but Pear Tree Greetings has stepped it up to a whole new level with their personalized kids’ Valentine cards.

As you can see over there, your child’s photo can be incorporated into many of the cards, and still more are designed for your child to colour. They run between $6.50 and $7.50 for eight cards so they’re certainly more costly than the grocery store variety, but they’re also infinitely more special.

One of you could win 24 cards of your own! Just comment on this post or email me at muchmorethanamom@gmail.com with “Pear Tree Valentine” in the subject line by noon mst on Saturday, January 8th, 2010.

DONE LIKE DINNER. Congratulations to email entrant Jenny O!

I love love love Pear Tree Greetings! I’ve had several products from them over the past year or two, and everything I’ve ever had has been of the highest quality. Adorably cute, looks costly but isn’t…right up my alley!

I’m going to give one of y’all (well, they are…through me!) 16 of their awesome New Year’s resolution cards.

Check out these awesome cards and comment here or email me at muchmorethanamom at gmail dot com with PEAR TREE DEC 2010 in the subject line and tell me what you’d put on yours to enter BEFORE DECEMBER 25 at noon!

Rotsa ruck!

My fave-o Pear Tree folds are offering a $30 coupon code to ONE of y’all to be used on ANYTHING in our store!

Of course, ‘tis the season for sending Christmas Cards!

Pear Tree is not just giving to you this holiday season. They’ve also partnered with the American Cancer Society and have designed six exclusive Christmas cards. By purchasing one of those cards, 100% of the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. And that, my dahlings, is that. Wowza!

Email me at muchmorethanamom at gmail dot com to enter to win the $30 buckaroos! Put PEAR TREE NOV 2010 in the subject line, s’il vout plait. Closes at noon mst Nov 30, 2010.

So, it’s been, um…a MONTH since I’ve posted here. Oops. Life got in the way, which is good and bad. It’s not good to be as busy as I am, but hey…I’m alive!

I’m coming back with a nice giveaway for y’all – email me at muchmorethanamom at gmail dot com before Monday, November 7 at noon with KODAK in the subject and you might win one of two $50 gift cards to Kodak Gallery. Just a little thanks for sticking around! Before I became a Heritage Makers addict (and consultant) I used Kodak for one book for each of my children and loved the quality. It’s not Heritage Makers but it’s definitely just as easy and the well known name sure helps. I can vouch for the customer service because I always choose free shipping (to my local Future Shop) and when it was lost in the mail they couriered me another one overnight right to my door no questions asked.

Good luck!