Your Family Preserves

PICTURE BOOKS PRESERVE I have had a lot of fun creating family picture books using the website ARTSCOW.COM (thanks to my daughterinlaw Season!) I know there are a lot of sites & stores that you can get your pictures put into a bound book format, however, I have found artscow.com very reasonable (when you take advantage of their often offered discounts &/or free shipping).  The quality is also the best. It has become, for me another method of preserving the tons of pictures that I acquire - I love capturing shots while Skyping with family, especially the g-kids! I always order 2 of the finished book, one for me and one for them. I feel strongly about preserving one's life in many forms, and as I feel like my children grew up with a strong sense of self and who they were, and where they fit in our family and in this life, I am convinced that this is a vehicle that provides that. Here is a sampling of a few books I've made at this website. Enjoy. http://www...

Wow! How did I think I was all done with my PRESERVATION ideas when I didn't even present one of the most important PERSERVES of all? The ANCESTOR preserve... I was raised to pay careful attention to those who've "gone before" me. Both my parents preserved many items from their lives, as well as inheriting their parent's preserves upon their passing. For some reason, dabbling in genealogy, collecting (mostly by reproduction) pictures of my ancestors, recording their stories, visiting those that were still alive, etc. has always been very important to me. I must have understood what it meant to come from all these people, and it intrigued me.  The preservation of "all things ancestral" became my BIGGEST hobby. I wonder if some of my passion for this type of thing came from having my Great-Grandmother (my mom's grandmother) live with us from the time I was 9 years old, until I was 21.   She was a wealth of childhood stories f...

Going through some of the kid's scrapbooks not too long ago while looking for something, I came across a number of letters that I'd written to each child. A lot were written during the early months of their life, chronicling their achievements and the dates of the big events. As they grew, the letters became further apart. Mostly on their birthday - I'd write as many achievements, adventures, events, talents, and interests that I could think of that made up their past year. I thought to myself that I would like a copy of those letters to keep for myself in a little preserve as they represented all the above listed items, but especially my love for them and how I felt about them at that time. You may already have done / are doing this small act, and will in time realize the importance that it is. But if you haven't started yet, do so while they are young and your thoughts are fresh in your mind. I'm sure you can attest to the fact that details quickly fad...

I can't believe it! ANOTHER idea - the fog must be lifting for a brief moment in time...quick, I'll take advantage of the clarity... The PRESERVE that I share now is not uniquely mine. I do not take credit for it. Many people record and preserve the cute and amazing things that the little ones in their life say and/or do, so, all I'm doing is putting the bug in your brain to do just that. When you hear or see something that just tickles your funny bone, or warms your heart said or done by a special little one in your life - TRY, TRY, TRY, to write it down and preserve it. Anything and everything you do, to preserve and share with your loved ones as they grow, can only strengthen their sense of self and build their confidence as they see that what they do and say matters to you. It is worth the effort. Here are a few ideas I used that made this preservation possible (nice illiteration)... We will call this preservation: "KIDDIE CUTES" (as in cute things they say a...

Thinking once again that all my ideas for "alternate" family history preservation had been exhausted and not having anything more to share - I remembered something that I can't believe I forgot about.  I remember it being my daughter's idea (I don't know why I write as if someone is reading these postings, and the need to protect the identity of those I write about, but I do),  however, my daughter says that I gave her the idea...whatever the case, she is the one who created and perfected the idea, so I give her all the credit. The idea is a wonderful, fun collection of a family member's favorite things, creatively preserved each year as one of that person's birthday presents.  It gives such a great glimps into that person at their special time of year - and changes as the years change.  Hil would "interview" her brothers, asking them all sorts of very interesting and varied questions - then preserved their answers on a sheet to be placed in the...

So, during the six years that my children were born - I really liked to cross-stitch.  Therefore, I cross-stitched a sampler for each one, complete with: name, birth date, pound-age, etc. (Some of the info. was covered up to necessitate quick frame-age), but, nonetheless, you get the picture. Of course I didn't create the patterns for each of the samplers, I merely purchased cross-stitch books with the patterns already inside.  I just chose a pattern that I particularly liked, and that I thought fit my child.  As the youngest ones were born, I got more creative - I think anyway... They are a long-lasting, time consuming labor of love that you will be able to give to your child "someday". A creative heirloom for them to take with them, whether they want to or not...:) It will always remind them that you were spending a lot of time thinking about them when they were tiny and putting those thoughts into action. This is just one more idea on a PRESERVE tha...

Is sewing yours or your own children's clothing a lost art or interest?  Do many people do that anymore? This "PRESERVE" may only appeal to those who may be older, unless there are more "sewers" out there than I think... I learned to sew in my "tween" years - a skill that was horribly frustrating at first, but then (as "they" so often tell you) became of great value and enjoyment as I grew older. I sewed A LOT of my children's clothes and therefore had a lot of fabric remnants. The remnants from the dresses I sewed for my daughter were the prettiest by far and held the most nostalgia. We would even name her dresses depending on what style they reminded us of.   She had a Pollyanna dress, an Alice in Wonderland dress.  She had a Sleeping Beauty dress, an American Girl dress etc.  You get the picture... It's amazing how certain things in your life can recall vivid memories - material scraps can do that for me. I personally have a shoe...

I've been under the impression that I had exhausted all of the ideas I've ever had for PRESERVING memories. But, since my last ANCIENT posting, I've thought of a couple more. I got a wild hair for a Christmas present a few years ago that has brought me a lot of joy. I entitled it "The Many Faces Of H" (my daughter, as I made the collection of her for her husband). It is a PRESERVE of many different faces of one of your loved ones all crammed onto a page (or more if you need more room). I know most blogs show pictures of the step by step process on how to do a project. Sorry, I only have a picture of the final project, and I'm sure you'll be able to figure out how to construct it just by looking at it. All you need to know how to do is: go through your pictures, choose as many different faces of the same person as you wish, scan, crop, copy, and paste.  I like to import scanned pictures into Google Picasa and create a collage. There's no real t...

I created a PRESERVE once, just after a family member's death for a couple of reasons. Not necessarily to REMEMBER or to the MEMORY of this person - after all, their life would be well remembered through those still living and from a pretty good collection of pictures and writings. But, more as a TRIBUTE to her earthly life, and as a TRIBUTE to her unexpected passing because for this particular person, much good came from her death, as did from her life. Is this possible?  Can any good come as a result of the death of a well beloved person? The simple truth is, YES. If those left behind are willing to allow the Lord to show them that good. For at the time of her death, there was an outpouring of Spirit that touched the hearts of all of those she knew and many more people whom she did not know. Mostly because of the way she conducted her life, and then because of the way her death was handled. She was killed. Words that describe the reaction to the events that took h...

Gosh, I wish I had an awesome picture regarding this posting! Who wants to sit and read a bunch of words without something to look at? I think I'll just stick on this unrelated picture... however, the more I think of it, the more that I think it really does have EVERYTHING to do with the subject...you'll see... YOUR PERSONAL-LIFE'S STORY... Most people I know have heard this term before.  But sometimes (as I did) we confuse it with another method of preserving one's life in written form...JOURNAL-ING. The more lessons I had about these subjects at church the more confused I became. Until one day, I finally made sense of it all and that is what this posting is about...the difference, and the "how to" (or at least MY "how to") about getting 'er done. Part of one's Personal History (Personal Preserve) is THE STORY OF THEIR LIFE - from beginning to the point you are at now and beyond. A Journal is a DAILY OR PERIODIC PRESERVE OF YOUR LI...

I have today a PRESERVE idea that I have used since the early days of my preserving. Once again, I received this idea from someone other than myself - thank you whoever you were. I pose this question to you - Where do you keep all the STUFF that is too important or sentimental to get rid of? The answer is a TREASURE BOX, of course. Now, you may say to me, "I already have a lot of this stuff in a box", or "A lot of it is too big to go in a box - What are YOU talking about?" I say to you, keep reading and you'll understand. (*note* When I say "box", I mean something waterproof - Rubbermaid-like) Step one - GATHER - go around your house, or into your boxes, closets, and drawers and gather together, all in one place all the items you've been saving from your childhood, from your parents and grandparents, etc. lives. All items that are too big to have fit into one of your history preserve books.  Items that have personal meaning and sentimentali...

I don't know about you, BUT, our kids, over the years have collected TONS of  T-shirts, programs, or playbills from sporting events, dance concerts, drama productions, youth conferences, marching band shows, jazz festivals, forensic competitions, rock concerts, etc. etc. that were eventually grown out of or just not worn anymore, or put in a history book/box at one point or other. But if you think about it, all of these material memorabilia items show a veritable history of your or your child's life through the years of activities that they've been involved in. If you haven't already thrown them out or given them away, you may want to consider PRESERVING them as follows: What we did was create a quilt using the T-shirts and other images put onto T-shirts - 1) Collect all memory laden T-shirts/clothing, performance programs etc. 2) Have all items/images not already on material (a T-shirt) taken to a printing shop to have printed onto the smallest  T-shirt that the...

Greetings - I have a preserve for you today, that my family has had more fun with probably than any other preserve in our lives. It all came about because of all the many pictures we'd taken of our children through their childhoods. There they sat, behind closed pages of a binder, looked at only now and then, pretty sad. There were so many favorite pictures in those binders, that it was a shame that we couldn't enjoy them more often....sooooo I decided to go through all the books, take out all the favorite pictures of each child through their growing up years and organize them into a collage and frame them. I dated the backs of each photo for the future return to where they belonged if I ever decided to update the preserve as time went on. I purchased mat board in a color that would go with our decor, and also ordered frames and plexi-glass from americanframe.com (the best & least expensive framing supply store I've come across).  I cut each whole sheet of mat boa...

New posting - after "all these years"... Today it's all about preserving your son and/or sons' scouting history...OR your daughter's girl scouting history too. Now you may wonder if it is all that important - well, I guess it all depends on how far into scouting the little tyke(s) go.  Say they go far...all the way to the top (which isn't unusual in the LDS Church), you may want to consider preserving in some way, all those hours you...I mean he has put into the program...JK, after all, they are the ones who went on those winter, snow-cave-where-they-almost-froze-to-death campouts... I can only offer what I did with my three boy's scouting stuff, oh, and also my husband's stuff as well, since he was an Eagle Scout. You will notice that there are no Boy Scout shirts framed as I did the Cub Scout shirts. That is because those are still likely to be current and needed in the boy's adult lives as they have opportunity to volunteer and/or work in th...

Greetings - I missed you "all" - was on a short trip and then WORK got in the way a bit. But here I am again and have another fun and exciting posting to make. The collection I am talking about this time is - Your very own preserve.Just about you. I know you've got tons of family pictures and memorabilia to deal with, but have you ever thought about all of your own mementos? Now, if you're getting up there in years - like me, you may have ditched all that stuff already, however, you may have preserved it in one form or other prior to using the "new and improved" methods that are available now. OR, you may still have it in a drawer somewhere, sitting, waiting "its" turn for a cool preservation. Well, regardless of the case, I am listing below items that you may want to consider (if you haven't already) nabbing up and stashing into your own personal preserve. You may need to bug your parents or others for the missing information - but hopefu...