Rick Smolan, the talented Time and National Geographic photographer behind many large collaborative photography projects for books such as Day in the Life and 24/7 turned his camera lens on home life for his 2008 book, America at Home.

The photos in the book were taken over the course of seven days last September by 100 photojournalists, as well as thousands of amateur photographers. America At Home also features gorgeous photos, evocative captions, thought-provoking statistics, plus personal essays from noted writers such as Amy Tan, Dominique Browning, former editor in chief of House and Garden Magazine, Dominique Browning, Simpsons creator Matt Groening, and New York Times correspondent David Pogue.

What makes this book especially great for gift giving (think Christmas) is that you can upload a picture of your own to create a personalized book jacket. The entire process takes less than 5 minutes once you choose a cover photo (the digital file you upload must be high resolution.) If you already have photos in a Google Picasa Web Album or Phanfare.com photo album you can browse those albums from within their site and load them into their system. The possibilities are endless. You could choose an old black and white family photo, a favorite summer vacation picture, a picture of your children, your pets, or even your house.

Here are a couple I’ve created:

America At Home (including custom book cover) retails for $39.99.

Savvy Housewife is hosting an America at Home cover contest and one lucky winner will receive their own custom book! Upload your photo and create your cover at the America at Home website and then right click and save your cover and e-mail it to savvyhousewife at yahoo dot com by midnight September 15. I’ll narrow down the entrants to three finalists and hold a contest for the winner of the best cover; entrants must be U.S. residents.

Happy 4th of July! I’ve posted the second of four Four For The Fourth giveaways at my other site, BlondeMomBlog. Ultreo.com and TinyTagDesigns giveaways will be posted tomorrow.

Last night hubby took the girls to Red Robin for the first time. I had plans and then met them just in time to share a hot fudge sundae. They loved it and kept stalking the “Red Rooster.” Ha! I was impressed with their kids menu. Miss A actually chose fresh cantaloupe to go with her pepperoni pizza. I remember when some restaurants offered free kids’ meals, but it seems like most chains, like O’Charley’s, have done away with them.

So what are your plans for the day? We may go to a community celebration and we’re going to grill out at home (although right now it looks like it may rain) and just relax.