Creations by You: Illustory

I’ve always enjoyed making personalized gifts for family and friends. Whether it’s a photo-book or even a calendar, there’s just something extra special in both giving and receiving these types of gifts. Creations By You has a complete line of activity kits for both children and adults to make such personalized gifts….and leads to cherished one-of-a-kind keepsakes.

I was excited to receive the award-winning Illustory kit, courtesy of Creations By You to try out. It turns out that I had given this exact activity kit to one of our nieces a few years ago at Christmastime. I found it at a local Michael’s Arts & Crafts store and knew it would be the perfect gift for a budding artist. She lives far away and I’ve never been able to see what she made…..so it was fun to get to create our own.

What is Illustory? Especially created for kids and adults ages 5 and up, Illustory helps you write and illustrate your own book. They then make it for you. The concept seemed simple enough and really an ideal tool to help a child with an interest in writing, story-telling, or art.

An Illustory Kit comes in a box and includes:

• Instructions
• Order Form
• Story Web sheet – to help plan out your story
• Multiple sheets of paper – for drawing/writing your own bookcover/pages
• 10 Broad Line Markers (washable and non-toxic)
• Large Mailing Envelope (No Postage Necessary)

How does it work? There are two different ways to create your book:
Mail-In Production – simply use the pages and markers provided to create words and illustrations for your story
Internet (online) Production- simply visit their internet production site which has online drawing tools (backgrounds, stickers, and more) to create your story. You can upload photos and scanned drawings with this option.

There’s an “About the Author” page that is provided at no extra cost, but for an extra charge, you can add extra pages, extra books, and even have rushed service if needed for a special event.

With Mail -In Production, simply send your finished pages in the postage paid envelope and in approximately 3-4 weeks, you’ll receive a professionally typeset and hardbound book.

There’s no rush….just take your time, which has turned out to be good for us.  We were a little ambitious.  We have a two-year old daughter, so we wanted to use the Mail-In option.  Our idea was to create a book filled with the bedtime story we always tell our daughter at bedtime.  We would use our own drawings, but also incorporate some of “her doodling” to reflect her age…..and all it’s “cuteness”.  I appreciate that I can work on the illustrations in my own time and not worry about a deadline to create the book.  Perfect for us busy moms…….or children trying to complete an entire storybook on their own.

Illustory is an ideal gift for children and one that I will purchase again in the future.  I see many personally created storybooks in our future, but am also excited about all that Creations By You has to offer…….clocks, mugs, artwork, plates, babybooks, and more. With a toddler in the house who loves craft projects, I’ll be shopping soon.

This post was written as part of a promotion for Creations By You. They provided a complimentary activity kit for review in exchange for my personal and honest opinions. No other form of compensation was received.