Celebrating 100,000 Blog Visits with a photo yearbook giveaway!

*noisemakers*

Today we're celebrating passing the 100,000 blog visits milestone at LifeTales Books!  To thank you for all those visits, we're going to celebrate with a giveaway!

This post was updated 2022 and includes two great options you can still take advantage of for getting a photo yearbook even though this drawing has closed.  Keep reading!

We don't often scroll through the digital images we have on our phones or computers, and when we do they are lacking the most important part of them--the STORY!  Or you might call them the memories.  One of my favorite ways to get those cherished snapshots into lives and hearts is with a yearbook.

yearbooks photo credit:  Denise Pehrson

I have 3 big reasons for loving yearbooks:

1. The layout helps you out of Photo Overwhelm by encouraging you to choose 4-10 of your FAVORITE photos each month.  So often, we clog up our phones/cameras with photos we don't really need.  (Do you have 8 photos of essentially the same thing?  Do you have photos that were fun for the moment but wouldn't miss if they were gone?)  Just choose favorites!!  (Don't have 4 photos from a given month?  That's okay, too.)
2. The yearbook is so well-organized!  You'll preserve your favorite photos and memories from one year in one slim book.  No mess, no hassle, no confusion.
3. Because you're just focusing on ONE year instead of all the photos you own, you avoid additional Photo Overwhelm by staying laser-focused.

Of course, highest-in-the-industry quality is a MUST!  

Did you know that PRINT is one of the best photo storage methods there is!?  If you search "best photo storage methods," you'll get varying opinions, but the one thing they'll have in common is a recommendation to make sure you print your photos.  Print allows you to add the story (memories), yes, but it's also the least risky photo storage method.  (Ever had your computer crash?  Ever had a file become unreadable?  Remember floppy disks?  I rest my case.)

Without the additional charge of my hourly rate for creating books, this prize would be a $52 value.  However, since I'm putting it all together for you (bonus!), this comes out to be a $180+ prize!!

So let's enter the photo yearbook giveaway already!  Hurry and enter--it only runs from February 5-12, 2019.  There are multiple ways you can enter, and a couple of them you can do once a day!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you are chosen as the winner, keep reading so you'll know what you will need to do.  

If you are not the winner, you have two similarly fantastic options!  

Option #1 is to check out this short video on creating your own yearbook using a (free) easy template.  Everything you'll need to know is there!  And there are lots of templates to choose from.

Option #2 is to use my Digital Scrapbooking For Hire services.  I can be your memory-keeping partner, rolling up my sleeves to do all the work.

Now here's what the giveaway winner will do:

1. Choose the year's worth of pictures you'd like to have preserved.  (2018, 2012, whatever)  (If you need photo organization tips so you can find all your pictures, I have quite a few right here.)
2. Choose your yearbook template.  Choose from any shown here, choosing the book style that fits your style best.  
3. E-mail me 4-10 of your favorite pictures from each month of that year, along with a little description of who is in the photos, where they were taken, what memories you have of them, etc.  So, for example, the first e-mail you'll send me might say "January 2016  Jane's birthday party was so fun because..."  You'll need to e-mail pictures to me in full resolution (highest quality).
4. I do the work, you get the benefits.  :)  It doesn't get any easier than that!

Good luck!  And from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for all the blog visits, comments, pins, shares, tweets, and general support at LifeTales Books.

How to Hygge with Photos and Memories

Hygge is one of the best ways I've found to beat the winter blues!  I discovered it about a year ago, and although it is a tradition that's hundreds if not thousands of years old, it is increasing in popularity--and it's no surprise!  If you need a little more comfort and coziness in your life, you need hygge.

Hygge is pronounced "hue-guh."  It's a Danish (and Scandinavian) concept that embraces a general attitude of comfort and coziness.  It's a focus on warming your soul.  Imagine candles and crackling fires and hot cocoa and fuzzy slippers, and you've got the feeling of hygge.  Hygge also includes relaxing time with family and friends which fills both the home and heart with comfort and warmth.  You can read more about hygge at my article {Beating the Winter Blues with Hygge}, including how I use hygge to temper seasonal depression.  I love hygge! 

There are a lot of ways to hygge.  Reading a good book, baking, and creativity are hygge.  In fact, Christmas lights are hygge.  Last summer I read an excellent article from Hello Hygge, a blog dedicated to all things hygge, about how photos are hygge.  I had never thought of that specifically, but it's exactly what I always say!  Photos, in my opinion, are the essence of hygge--warm, cozy, comforting.  There's a lot to be said for letting something that made you happy once make you happy again.  In the article, {Capturing Everyday Hygge}, the author basically defended photos, saying that we often minimize pictures of food or selfies as trivial.  But her conclusion is the same as mine:  if it makes you smile now, why not capture it so you can look back on it and smile later, too?  Hygge is personal--it's what makes YOU feel comfortable and happy and peaceful.

Henry David Thoreau once said, "It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."  So if pictures of sunsets or flowers do that for you, take them.  Your photos are valuable to you because of what you see there.

The whole magic of photos is that you can capture something that makes you feel good so you can look back at it and experience the power of reminiscing.  (For some fascinating perspective on reminiscing, read here about {reminiscence therapy} or here about the history of the word {nostalgia}--a word that was actually first coined as a medical term in the 1600s!)

I really don't know of anyone who couldn't benefit from a little more hygge.  It's a very relaxed, mindful, comfortable, low-stress, warm, connected approach to life.

So let's talk about how to hygge with photos and memories!  With a focus on warmth and coziness and comfort as you hygge, photos and memories are the perfect place to start.  I think photos/memories and hygge are the perfect combination for three reasons:

1. Photos really do make you happy.  Studies show that {looking back on happy memories actually increases your happiness in the present}.  
2. If you suffer from Photo Guilt (it's like Mom Guilt but more widely experienced) because you have lots of photos just sitting on your phone or computer, this is the perfect solution!  Hygge with photos and memories allows you all those cozy hygge feelings we've been talking about while at the same time you're actually checking something off your to-do list.  Both make you feel better!
3. All the steps of preserving your memories and photos are hygge--quiet time set aside for self-care, looking through mementos of your life's experience (pictures), remembering, connecting, putting words to your experiences (memories), creating something from your photos and memories, and giving yourself (and/or your kids) something tangible and uplifting to look back on when you need a boost.  We all {NEED the process of preserving our photos and memories}--it's therapeutic!  In fact, {photos have been shown in studies to increase both happiness and relaxation}!

In fact, memories and creativity are even important to personal growth!  Like reading, meditating, and exercising are good for the soul, so are memories and creativity.  They're all hygge.  If you're not sure you're creative, YOU MUST READ {The Importance of Creativity to Personal Growth}.  It will give a you a better understanding of what creativity is, how much your soul needs it, and how you ARE creative.  It will make you feel good about yourself right now!  If you're not sure how memories (looking back) has anything to do with hygge, YOU MUST READ {The Importance of Memories to Personal Growth}--the resources and insights there blew my mind.  

Now that you know why hygge is so good for you and why photos and memories are so good for you, too, let's get to the real business of using photos and memories for hygge.

THREE STEPS TO HYGGE WITH YOUR PHOTOS AND MEMORIES

1. The very first step to being able to use your photos and memories to bring you happiness and warmth and comfort is to sort your pictures.  This serves two purposes.  First, digital photos are usually cluttered and/or disorganized, with pictures of your finger and nine pictures of essentially the same thing scattered throughout.  Sorting through photos then deleting garbage pictures and duplicates make your pictures manageable.  Check out my {video tutorials for organizing digital photos here} if you need some help.  Second, too many pictures makes them overwhelming and actually makes them not very enjoyable.  Choose your favorites to upload to your computer for step 3.  (Short video tutorial on getting your pictures off your phone and onto your computer {here} if you need it.)
2. Set aside time.  Hygge is unhurried.  It's a peaceful focus on warmth and comfort.  If you need some tips on making time, I've been collecting them for you for quite a while!  Check out all the information at my {"don't have time?"} link.  There are many resources there, including fantastic ideas from experts as well as some new perspectives about time you may not have thought about before.  And don't miss the information about {"our community" (my online events)} which are hygge in several ways--they involve photos and memories and friends.
3. Now make something meaningful with your photos.  Creating something from your photos is hygge--good for your heart and soul.  Writing down your memories and what makes those photos fun or special or wonderful is also hygge--good for your heart and soul.  My go-to suggestion is to make a yearbook of all the photos from one year, and the video tutorial below walks you through that step by step with heirloom-quality books.  But there are lots of ways to preserve your photos and memories, from high-quality softbound books and wirebound cookbooks to wall canvases and digital scrap pages.  Check out {all the top-quality methods I recommend} right there at that link--including a more creative digital scrapbooking option than is shown in the fast & easy video below.  Find something you will enjoy!

In Denmark, hygge is mostly a winter tradition that starts in the late fall when days get shorter and colder, but as its popularity increases, people are seeing reasons to hygge in fall and spring.  I believe it's because our world is a little crazier now than it used to be.  With so many things clamoring for our attention and so much loudness and so many things we feel like we have to do, our desire for peace and quiet and comfort and self-care and warmth is continually on the increase.  Regular time spent with your photos and your memories is the best way I know of to carry that hygge softness with you all year long.

Share the cozy hygge tradition by Pinning to Pinterest!

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One-of-a-Kind Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

For an updated post with creative and unique Valentine's Day gift ideas, please visit Six Creative Valentine Ideas.

If you're like most Valentine-givers, you are giving a gift or a card to someone special for a reason.  You want to show love and appreciation.  With a little planning, this year you can give your someone special an impressive and truly personal gift or card.  Ready to see FIVE one-of-a-kind Valentine's Day gift ideas?  Let's go!

Thanks for stopping by.  We have a 2023 UPDATE before you read on:  Heritage Makers and Snap2Finish became YPhoto under Youngevity (which purchased Heritage Makers in 2013).  YPhoto uses only templates, so the creativity showcased here is no longer available there, and they also no longer have capability to print previously-created projects like these from the old system. YPhoto is not a photo storage site like Heritage Makers was. 

Best-in-the-industry quality and permanent cloud photo storage with guaranteed privacy are required for anything recommended here by Photo & Story Treasures, so we highly recommend Forever for:  

·        creative digital scrapbooking applicable in a variety of photo products using Artisan software

·        easy photo-memory books using templates in the free AutoPrint and Design & Print software programs

·        private, permanent, secure, and guaranteed photo and video cloud storage (triple-backed-up and bank encrypted)

·        white glove digitizing services for old memories like VHS tapes, slides, old scrapbooks (scanning), 8mm film, audio tapes, and much more

Learn more here to  find similar products at top-quality with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

Please also note that the Card Kits and Exchange Blocks (idea 4 below) were from Heritage Makers' sister line, Anthology, which is no longer in existence.

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The first three ideas I'll show you are all created online (with templates available) using Heritage Makers.  It is so versatile and so personal.  

The last two ideas are things you just order without creating digitally.  They're from Anthology DIY, and they're really clever and fun!

So let's see these five fantastic ideas already!

REASONS I LOVE YOU BOOK

I think "reasons I love you" gifts are some of the best kind you can give!  

A written note listing reasons you love your special one would be wonderful, but imagine opening your own book with those reasons, complete with your own photos!  There's nothing like it!!

PERSONAL GREETING CARD

I really think one of my favorite things about this type of truly personal card is that it's the same price as one from Hallmark or Walmart!  Actually, a little cheaper!  And you can put your own picture, your own message, your own sentiment on it.  Isn't that amazing?

LOVE COUPON CARDS (OR PLAYING CARD DECK)

How cool is this?!  It's a little hard to tell from just this picture, but this is the back of a playing card deck that's been made into Love Coupons!  On the front side, there are sweet little coupons like "30 minute massage" and "candlelight dinner at home for the two of us."  

I LOVE how personal this gift is!

The playing cards don't have to be Love Coupons, either.  If you want just a regular deck of playing cards with a picture on the back, you can do that, too!  

And you can make them for friends instead of a sweetheart, if you prefer, like this:

Remember I said there were a couple of non-digital items that are great one-of-a-kind Valentine's Day gift ideas?  These are kits that are almost done for you and make really fun gifts.  Here they are: 

VALENTINE MAKE & SHAKE CARD KIT

I have made cards from Anthology DIY card kits before, but not these shaker ones.  I absolutely adore the Anthology kits in general because it's like crafty card making without nearly so much time.  I get to be creative, but I don't have to cut or measure anything.

A COZY, PERSONALIZED PHOTO BLANKET

(Updated 2023)  This blanket (don't you love the gorgeous colors?!) is obviously with photos from a trip to Ireland, but you could personalize a blanket in any number of ways.  I love the plush style, but sherpa is available as well.  Use Design & Print to choose a (free) professionally-designed blanket template, and you'll be done in no time!  

Note: There are many awesome blanket templates in Design & Print, 
Forever's free software, but I created this using Artisan, Forever's 
digital scrapbooking software so I could use my own font for Ireland. 

This is the preview of my blanket before printing.

The blocks themselves are a separate kit from the sticky-backed canvas pieces shown above.  I personally consider the block set (with the paint, etc.) optional, but it's certainly easier than cutting your own blocks.  

How's that for five adorable, unique, personal, and creative Valentine's Day gift ideas that will make your recipients feel like they're one-of-a-kind?!  

Save for next year, too!  Pin to Pinterest.

Happy Valentine's Day!

What Memory-Keeping Has to do with Personal Growth

Are you a resolution maker?  Or are you a proponent of having a word for the year to focus on?  I'm definitely the latter.  In fact, my word for this past year was "prioritize," and I have changed up quite a few aspects of my Heritage Makers business.  I prefer small do-able changes over a giant proclamation at the beginning of the year (when, frankly, it's cold and dark and I just want to sip hot chocolate all day) about big changes I want to make.

Of all the goals or words for the year that may be crossing your mind, I'm guessing they have something to do with personal growth.  Whether it's taking the stairs instead of the elevator or increasing your random acts of kindness, most things we strive for are related in one way or another to personal growth and self-improvement.  We often want to do a little better at something.

In my years and years as a memory-keeper, and now sharing it as a business since 2005, I have discovered four truths about personal growth in relation to memory-keeping.  While we think about our goals and growth for the coming year, I'd like to offer these four truths for you to consider in coming days, weeks, and months.  The blog posts I'm sharing with each truth go into much more detail, so you'll definitely want to read each one!

Here are four truths I've learned about personal growth through memory-keeping.

1. Making time to sit, feel, remember, and engage with your photos and your stories gives you peace, gratitude, and happiness in a way nothing else can.  Putting your photos and stories in something tangible gives credence to them is actually therapeutic.  Read more--including statistics and studies about the benefits of memory-keeping as well as advice on HOW to be a memory-keeper--at {Personal Growth through Memory-Keeping}.   
2. Hobbies are not for people with too much time on their hands; they are for people who want to expand their minds and use or find their talents.  Hobbies challenge your brain, give a needed break from stress, and increase positivity while lowering depression.  (As you might guess, preserving my photos and memories is my favorite hobby because it combines the therapeutic benefits I mentioned in #1 with these benefits of a hobby.)  Read more on {The Importance of Hobbies to Personal Growth}.
3. EVERYONE IS CREATIVE, and everyone needs to use their own creativity for personal growth, happiness, and satisfaction!  An understanding of what creativity actually is frees you to create.  If you want your heart to feel good right now, read the inspiring words at {The Importance of Creativity to Personal Growth}.  You'll come away knowing much more about yourself.
4. Memories are important to personal growth!  At first glance, it seems strange--how can memories (looking back) mean so much to growth (going forward)?  Our memory, in fact, is wholly responsible for our connection to other people!  Memory is also what makes it possible for us to grow and change.  I had never thought of that.  I learned so much from the expertise in {The Importance of Memories to Personal Growth}.

So what DOES memory-keeping have to do with personal growth?  Actually , preserving your photos and memories by taking the time to engage with them and remember has EVERYTHING to do with personal growth!

And it would be the perfect goal for the coming year because {it's good for you and good for your family} at the same time!  

{Get started right now!}  There is (quite literally!) no time like the present!  This is gonna be SO good for you!

We all need these therapeutic benefits--so Pin and share!

Happy New Year!  See you there.

2023 UPDATE about references to Heritage Makers:  Heritage Makers and Snap2Finish became YPhoto under Youngevity (which purchased Heritage Makers in 2013).  YPhoto uses only templates, so the creativity showcased in previous blog posts is no longer available there, and they also no longer have capability to print previously-created projects like these from the old system. YPhoto is not a photo storage site like Heritage Makers was. 

Best-in-the-industry quality and permanent cloud photo storage with guaranteed privacy are required for anything recommended here by Photo & Story Treasures, so we highly recommend Forever for:  

·        creative digital scrapbooking applicable in a variety of photo products using Artisan software

·        easy photo-memory books using free AutoPrint and Design & Print software programs

·        private, permanent, secure, and guaranteed photo and video cloud storage (triple-backed-up and bank encrypted)

·        white glove digitizing services for old memories like VHS tapes, slides, old scrapbooks (scanning), 8mm film, audio tapes, and much more

Learn more here to  find similar products at top-quality with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

Follow Photo & Story Treasures on social media here:

  

Simple Ways to Connect with Your Kids

It's strange, I think, how "connected" we are these days, while we're actually making fewer and fewer real connections.  

We sometimes text more than we hear the voices of the people we're texting.  Most families don't sit down all together even once during the day.  With varying personalities, the din and distraction of social media, and days scheduled to the max, it can be difficult to feel like you're really connecting with your kids.  

So today I'm excited to share with you some simple ways to connect.

I'm pleased to bring you three articles I wrote that will help get some ideas flowing about connection.  

Read all three articles or just choose one that sounds particularly interesting to you.  Here's an overview of each, including the links.  As you read, look for ways to use the information and inspiration there to better connect with your kids.

In {The Power of Place and Family Traditions}, you'll learn about the strength of home, of "happy places," and of belonging.  

• If you haven't heard the amazing story of Bobbie the Wonder Dog, you can read about it there and appreciate the pull of home.  
• There's also an outside-the-box idea of creating a neat family tradition with the photos of your family traditions (holidays, birthdays, vacations, etc.)!

In {Building Bridges between Generations using Photos and Memories} you'll learn about the power of looking to the past to strengthen families now.  

• "Bridges built between generations are not built by accident."  Photos and memories are an easy way to connect generations, to help children (or you!) know grandparents and great-grandparents better, which fosters a deep sense of belonging and connection.  
• "Here's why the past is infinitely important to me:  My grandparents lived there.  I learned lessons there.  I fell in love, got married, and had babies there."  Connecting generations with stories and photos is great for you, and but it's an especially fantastic way to connect with your kids, too.

By the way, did you know that kids who know family stories have higher self-esteem, greater resilience, and a better ability to cope with life's problems?  It's true!  (Bruce Feiler's studies on family stories, alluded to in the previous article, are found {here}.)

In {Why Taking Photos is So Important--And What to Do With Them} you'll read some first-hand examples of what photos really mean to our hearts.  

• Photos are more important than most people realize, but that's really only the case if we SEE our photos.  You'll find several ways to be able to see--not just store--your digital photos so that they can be a powerful way for connecting family members.  
• Kids need the validation that comes from telling their stories and preserving their photos.  Gifting that to them creates connections, too.

These are fairly simple ways to connect, using things you already have--photos and stories--but the impact these simple things have on kids and relationships is powerful and long-lasting!

What did you find in these articles that you can use to connect with your kids?  What changes your thinking or gives you a new perspective?  Tell me your thoughts in the comments--I'd love to hear them!

Get started with these tangible, heartfelt, meaningful ideas for connecting with your kids {here}.

Save and share by Pinning, Tweeting, or posting on Facebook!

2023 UPDATE regarding references to Heritage Makers:  Heritage Makers and Snap2Finish became YPhoto under Youngevity (which purchased Heritage Makers in 2013).  YPhoto uses only templates, so the creativity showcased here is no longer available there, and they also no longer have capability to print previously-created projects like these from the old system. YPhoto is not a photo storage site like Heritage Makers was. 

Best-in-the-industry quality for printed products as well as permanent cloud photo storage with guaranteed privacy are required for anything recommended here by Photo & Story Treasures, so we highly recommend Forever for:  

·        creative digital scrapbooking applicable in a variety of photo products using Artisan software

·        easy photo-memory books using free AutoPrint and Design & Print software programs

·        private, permanent, secure, and guaranteed photo and video cloud storage (triple-backed-up and bank encrypted)

·        white glove digitizing services for old memories like VHS tapes, slides, old scrapbooks (scanning), 8mm film, audio tapes, and much more

Learn more here to  find similar products at top-quality with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

Follow Photo & Story Treasures on social media here:

  

Hooray!  This blog post was a featured favorite here:

What to Love About Heritage Makers this #friyay

Happy #friyay!!  We have spent the first Fridays of each month of 2018 with shout-outs about Heritage Makers.  This blog has been shouting out to Heritage Makers for 9 years now, but on #friyays we learn from other users why they chose Heritage Makers and what they love about it.  In some cases, people mention what it's like working with me as their Heritage Makers consultant (OR hiring me to make their Heritage Makers projects for them), but everybody tells you what's great about Heritage Makers.

For our last #friyay of 2018, we'll go out with a bang--with THREE shout-outs.  It's important (and fun!) to find out why people use and love Heritage Makers, and come back again and again.

First we hear from Heidi who has been using Heritage Makers for about 12 years--almost as long as I have!  She has made lots of special things for her family, but one of Heidi's major Heritage Makers projects each year is to compile the photos and memories of the drill team she coaches.  It's almost like a personal yearbook just for the team!  I wish you could see one--it's an AMAZING keepsake!!

Thanks for stopping by.  We have a 2023 UPDATE before you read on:  Heritage Makers and Snap2Finish became YPhoto under Youngevity (which purchased Heritage Makers in 2013).  YPhoto uses only templates, so the creativity showcased here is no longer available there, and they also no longer have capability to print previously-created projects like these from the old system. YPhoto is not a photo storage site like Heritage Makers was. 

Best-in-the-industry quality and permanent cloud photo storage with guaranteed privacy are required for anything recommended here by Photo & Story Treasures, so we highly recommend Forever for:  

·        creative digital scrapbooking applicable in a variety of photo products using Artisan software

·        easy photo-memory books using free AutoPrint and Design & Print software programs

·        private, permanent, secure, and guaranteed photo and video cloud storage (triple-backed-up and bank encrypted)

·        white glove digitizing services for old memories like VHS tapes, slides, old scrapbooks (scanning), 8mm film, audio tapes, and much more

Learn more here to  find similar products at top-quality with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

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Emily has done so many sweet and wonderful things with Heritage Makers.  From baby announcements to books that help her loved ones in the military stay connected to her little ones, Emily has created absolute family treasures using Heritage Makers.

Let's send our last #friyay out with a bang!  Here's a bonus shout-out from Carol.  Carol is a member of my Heritage Makers team, and this gal knows to her core how vitally important memories, photos, connections and keepsakes are to the heart and soul.  You might remember Carol from her guest post here at LifeTales Books:  Memories Connect Us.  If you haven't "met" Carol yet, go back to that post and be inspired by her heart.

Are you passionate about memories, photos, and connections?  If you would like to make memory-keeping your business, you will be interested to know what Carol had to say about my help as her mentor when she started her Heritage Makers business. 

There's absolutely nothing like doing something so important to kids, to families, and to your own heart.  

Get started making something meaningful right here.

Happy Heritage Making!