Love Each Other Like a Love Song - Marriage Survival Kit

Hello and thank you for stopping by my blog! If you have been here before you know that I like to make unique gifts.  One thing I strive to do with my gift giving is to add value and meaning to the recipients life. That is especially true when it comes to a wedding gift. I had so much fun making this one - a wedding gift inspired by love songs. The title of the gift is inspired by the song, "Love You Like a Love Song" by Selena Gomez. The other songs I chose helped me with what I purchased for the kit. I made tags to go with each corresponding item, and typed out the lyrics that went with the tag. I chose each song because it had some good marital advice in it. Here is what I came up with....

1. Love Like Crazy - by Lee Brice. I bought the book "The Five Love Languages"by Gary Chapman. I haven't personally read this book, but I read "The Five Love Languages for Teenagers" and it was wonderful. I am sure this is a good read for the newly weds.
2. Don't - by Shania Twain. I bought a rug. The song basically says not to brush things under the rug. Good marital advice.
3. Meet in the Middle - by Diamond Rio. I bought Chips Ahoy Middles. I really struggled with what I was going to buy to go with this song, then I ran it by my daughter and she suggested these cookies. It is great to get suggestions from other people!

4. I Won't Let Go - by Rascal Flatts. I bought the Schticky. Those commercials are so corny, but they make me want to buy the product - and I love saying "Schticky". The song is about schticking together and standing by your loved one.
5. Remember When - by Alan Jackson. A photo album goes with this song. I covered an album with drop cloth and personalized it. I will post how I did that soon. Watch this song on You Tube with the Up movie version. If you are like me you will cry your eyes out.

6. I purchased the songs on iTunes and burned them to a CD. It was really weird burning a CD as I don't use CD's anymore, but I needed one to go with the kit. 

I made a box bag - CLICK HERE for the tutorial. I used a 10 pound blueberry box for my base, cut off the upper flaps, measured and cut the paper, and put it together as the tutorial indicates. The upper right picture shows all the goodies in the box bag read to be closed. 

Then I taped it up, tied a bow on it and secured the tag on.

Here is one of the song tags. Each tag comes with the title tag, and two pages of lyrics. I tied all of them together to make one tag and tied it to the corresponding item with ribbon. Below are all the files for the tags. Right click, copy and paste into your favorite publishing program. 

And there you have it! Do you know anyone who is getting married soon?

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to...

Tatertots and Jello

How to Compile a Family History Album

My mother-in-law wanted me to compile the information she gathered on her family into an album to put in a museum in the community she lives. At first, I found this to be very difficult. I did not know how to put TONS of information into a book and make it look nice and contain the information a family history album should. I learned a lot through this process and the purpose of this post is to hopefully help someone who felt like I did.
"WHERE DO I BEGIN?" - That was the biggest road block for me. Once I started, it all seemed to fall into place.
 I did a lot of research on different styles and this is what I came up with....

I made a title page explaining the purpose of the book and sort of a disclaimer to calm family nerves if there happened to be any mistakes.  I made the background with an assortment of brightened pictures that are in the book.

Each person in the family had a two page spread. For the first page I picked my favorite picture of the individual, I typed the name with bold letters, I added the year of birth and death ( year of birth if person is still living), and a brief personal history. With the first person in this album (whom I will call the patriarch of the family in the time period of this album), I added the surname. The rest of the family members have the first name only.

The opposite page had some other pictures of interest and brief explanations of the pictures.

You need to decide what type of album you want.  To me, an album is more about the pictures than anything. Other paper information and pictures can be placed in an envelope with the album for people to look at if they so desire. For me, the more brief and to the point write ups are - the better. If you like more history then certainly put it in there.  

Here is a picture of a two page spread. This two page spread and the one below contain information of the mother and father of the family this album is about. 

I made a title page to start the next pages that contain information of the children in the family. I did not include names on this title page as the pages following have all that information.

The next pages follow the same layout. Where I put the name depended on the individual picture. It gave a nice variety. If I had the information, I made sure I had marriage dates and children names. 

A few pages with other information is good. The page below has a picture of the family homestead and a map of where it is located. 

I concluded the book in the same style I started with. 

I don't have any special programs on my computer (that I know how to use anyway). I have a Mac and I do most of my work on, believe it or not, the slideshow program called Keynote. I sent all the files to a printer. I printed a big copy for the museum and smaller copies for family members. 

I got a lot of the clip art and background paper free from the Creative Memories Project page. Check it out to see all the amazing digital files you can use. Click on "Freebies".

 When you start to make an album it may seem extremely daunting. There are usually more pictures and information than what you can fit on a page or two. Choose your favorite pictures and the most important information. Make it simple. 

 What I did to organize myself .... I put all the information for each person in separate page protectors in a binder. I started with the oldest member of the family to the youngest. This pouch contained the pictures and information. I arranged the pouches in the order I was going to put them in the book. This made it easier when I tackled each individual subject at a time. 

When I presented this album to my mother-in-law she cried. Family History albums are a treasure. They are close to our hearts because the information in them are really what we are made of. 

This was definitely a fulfilling project. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to...

Whipperberry

Wooden American Flag

Yesterday I posted a wooden Canadian flag. Now that Canada Day is over I have flipped my wooden Canadian flag over to the other side where I painted the American flag. I used the colors Red Brick, Antique White and Navy Blue. I am thinking this wood was made for this flag. My daughter brought the wood home last year. She found it in a stash 

sort of near our house (she got her pack rat tendencies from me). 

Here is the other side of the sign...

And here is what I had on the wood before ( the side I painted the American flag )....

I am loving how many options this wood has given me, but this is it's final makeover. 

Happy Fourth of July!!

Happy Canada Day! Wooden Canadian Flag

Happy Canada Day! I decided that a piece of wood that I had been using on my mantel was the perfect shape for a flag so I painted it - front and back. On one side I painted the Canadian Flag, the other side I painted the American Flag. I used red brick and antique white for the paints. After painting I distressed the wood with an electric sander. I printed the maple leaf from the internet and cut it out for a stencil HERE IS THE LINK.

Here is what the sign looked like before...

On Monday I will post the other side of the sign.

Have a great Canada Day!