I am scrapbooking!

And it really, really makes me happy. If I only had one day left on earth, other than hug and love my family, I would truly want to spend it scrapbooking....  putting down memories that will last forever. It has been a long time since I made stuff just because I wanted to! And, these are my few days a year when Shannon (my best friend from Florida) and Sherrie (my awesome friend from Iowa) come to town to just make stuff!!  I LOVE IT!!  We are at my house this year so I did not have to move or pack a thing (TOTALLY ROCKS). It is just nice.

And, I got done one thing that has been hanging over my head for about 10 months....  I am a very laid back, non-chronilogical scrapbooker (because being behind made me feel like I was having a stroke), but I do these AWESOME Letters to my Dear Sweet Child boxes for the girls and I had not gotten Kalli's done for LAST year!  It just hung over my head, and now it is COMPLETE! I am just thrilled.

I also did Kaya's for THREE (she turned four only a week ago) and I have both of theirs prepped and ready for next year. YEAH!  I am just thrilled. Now I feel like I can create for the love of the memory and the story. It is going to be a fun few days.

And, if you are reading this, thanks.  I know I am slacker blog girl of the year....  but life is busy and most of all GOOD. I hope to post some projects soon and do a newsletter....  but with teaching and the girls, I am just doing the best I can! Hope you are having an incredible 2009 so far. Even in hard financial times, I know we can do little things to capture memories. And it will make your heart feel happy!

All right, these darn pages are posting all out of order, but you get the point....  just a small booklet (you get 21 of them in the Dear Sweet Child Letter Box) to capture some basic memories year by year - nothing earth shattering or award winning, but I cannot tell you what I would give to have found even just one of these in my Mom's belongings after she died.  I did NOT start at the beginning of their lives, I started when I found the books. Do even just one little things this year whether your kids are 3 or 30 and you will be grateful that you did.

 On the back cover of my booklets...  I put a couple photos about their birthday that year. So in one simple place I have photos from Kaya's 3rd birthday, some random photos of her at 3, and notes on the way she was at three. It also includes a letter from me. Short, sweet, and to the point. Man, I love this project. Have a great weekend.

Thanks for reading this!

I am so happy that more than two people read this! I am happy anytime anyone comes to this site. I hope down the road, once I figure this all out, I can inspire you to make SOMETHING THAT MATTERS rahter than nothing at all. I am working on a newsletter and getting in all the addresses from the amazing Scrap Etc event.... I hope it emails out mid may.

Anyway, I have had people ask me about the Letter Box workshop I did in my home last Friday.... it was amazing. People came to make a booklet on one of their kids. With the bigger picture concept that you spend just two hours a year for 21 years making a booklet for your child at every age.... it can start NOW - even if they are already 4 or 14. Just go from here forward. I would give A LOT to have even just one little booklet from any age from my Mom. You summarize some traits of that child right now at this age... and you write them a letter. That is it - nothing hard at all. Here are some photos of the one I did for Kaya. I am working on the one for Kalli because she turns offically 6 on Thursday! Thanks for taking time out of your day to look at this site. I appreciate it very much.

An amazing evening...

I had my first Once Upon A Family (would insert a link if I knew how) celebration workshop at my home on Friday night. I have got to tell you, I was not looking forward to the home-party aspect of it, but it was wonderful. I planned on talking just a bit and doing the letter box workshop, but everyone wanted to know MORE about Once Upon A Family products because not one of them have ever heard about it. It was great because people wanted to know more about these amazing products THAT MATTER! Some people made their booklets and others wanted to do that part at home. I gave them packets that included the child's name on the cover as well as DYMO titles for every topic. It felt great to hand that something that could easily become a treasured family memory.


People loved the Lessons for Little Ones set that is on super customer sale right now for $49 for ALL 12 lessons plus this super cool box to store them all. My girls LOVED doing the March Lesson, so I was excited to pick up the full set for our family. They also liked how I turned the Family Tree poster into a Family Prayer and Wishes tree where my girls can add on leaves to represent our prayers and wishes.... I love that item used like that, too. Overall, the party was amazing, and I loved picking up some cool new items for my family with my hostess dollars. I have the unreal Leather Annual album coming, and I plan to make it a tradition to create a two-page spread as a family every year on new years day. I know that will be an amazing heirloom for our family. It felt great showing people simple ways to teach values, spend family time together, and simply capture memories.

Letter Box Workshop Tomorrow!!

I am SO EXCITED to help people fill these booklets with memories tomorrow. They look so nice lined up on my table. I cannot wait to see them full of childhood memories.