Shutterfly projects

A long, long, long time ago I made Michael sign up for a Shutterfly account so that when they offered free photo books, he could order one and I could order one.  This worked for us, happily, for a few years.  Then, last summer, Shutterfly changed their rules with no notice and will only ship one photo book per billing address when they offer them for free.  Apparently there were too many people taking advantage of the system and they finally caught on and shut it down.  I did not know this until after I had made a photo book for both of us, so Michael's photo book has been sitting and waiting for months.  A few weeks ago he got an email offering him a free photo book.  FINALLY!  I jumped on the opportunity and ordered it immediately.

This is the cover.

And this is the back.

You can click HERE to see the entire book.  It's short and contains about 8 words and will take you very little time to view.  Promise.

What's very weird is that I did not get the same offer.  At first I thought that Shutterfly had banned me from free photo book offers, but I checked with some other people and none of them got emails either.  Michael seems to be somewhat of a special anomaly. 

I took the opportunity to make a photo book for myself though.  As soon as I get my offer, assuming I have not been blacklisted, I will order it within seconds. 

Front cover

Back Cover 

Moving along.

Yesterday I got an email from Cost Plus World Market.  They were offering a free mug from their valued partner, Shutterfly.  I thought, what the heck.  It's not a photo book, but I like mugs.  I use mugs.  I want a free mug.

So I logged on, uploaded some pictures and made this little gem.

The only problem is that when I went to check out, it wasn't free.  Even though I picked the 11 ounce, white, ceramic mug as specified, they were charging me $4.  Hmm.  Curious.

So, I picked a different, cheaper mug.  Still white, ceramic, and 11 ounces, but cheaper.  I came up with this gem. 

And once again, it cost an extra $4.  I refused to pay any extra money for this "free" mug, so I thought I'd give it one more shot.  That is when I realized (because I am a slow learner, I guess) that I needed to pick a mug with just one picture. 

(I didn't add any text in that white rectangle, so it won't be on the mug)

Finally!  A free mug!  It will be delivered next week. I can't wait to use it.  In 11 months.  I will certainly blog about the first time I use it for a cup of coffee or tea.  And then we'll all be freaked out about how fast the year went and how it totally feels like I just wrote that post about ordering the mug but it was actually way back in January.