A Great Christmas Gift Idea!

For the past three years I have given a homemade, personal calendar to each of our parents for Christmas. Using a Creative Memories Picfolio Minutes Album, I have created a little scrapbook page for each of 24 sleeves in the album. By adding a little calendar printout to 12 of the sheets, it creates a display calendar - a gift that lasts all year! Our parents absolutely love it because it contains pictures of their beloved children and grandchildren and memories from the past year - all year long!


The Picfolio Minutes Album converts to a display easel with the exclusive magnetic cover strap. Just lift the cover open, clasp the magnet from behind and the album is ready to be displayed on your desk or coffee table!

This year I am so excited to be doing these pages digitally on Storybook Creator Plus. It should cut my work in half, seeing as I'll easily be able to print two copies of each page! I can also easily make one for our family, something I've always wanted to do but I've never had time to do as of yet. Secondly, I don't have to purchase double supplies - I can use the digital papers and embellishments as many time as I want!

This is my favorite gift to make and to give, and I'd love to share it with others. This year, I thought I'd see if anyone else would be interested in making a calendar such as this as a Christmas gift. So, to anyone who purchases a Creative Memories Picfolio Minutes Album from me, I'd like to invite you to come to my home and use Storybook Creator Plus Software to make calendar pages, free of charge! All you need to do after ordering the album is to pick out 25-30 of your favorite photos and bring them to my house either on a CD, DVD, or a thumb drive. Then I will help you use your own pictures to make your own calendar album!

Please let me know soon if you would like to create an album so that we can order your album and get started soon!



Below are samples of the pages I have created for my gift calendars for this year.

It's about time for me to write about Ellie at one year old! She will actually be 13 months in 3 days so I'm not too late yet!

In the last two months her looks have really changed from baby to more todder-like. She now has 4 teeth - 3 of which have appeared in the past month! She enjoys eating real table food more now than baby food - but we're still giving it to her to make sure she gets her fruit and vegetables.

She started walking on September 17th! I was changing Asher's diaper and all of a sudden I saw her walking towards us! I quickly grabbed the camera and started taping her!

She likes to try imitating what people do and imitates talking a lot, though her vocabulary hasn't expanded too much yet. She did go on her first plane ride and trip to Nashville last weekend! She liked the plane ride a lot. I tried nursing her while we took off but as soon as she felt the plane moving she sat up and looked out the window. On the way home I was telling her we were up in the sky and I think she was trying to say "sky." Mom came with us and I also think she was saying, "Mama" for "Grandma."

Asher and Ellie are really starting to interact and play with one another! You can tell they like being together and playing together.

Capture the Moments

This is really what I should use the blog for - to capture the moments of life that I want to remember always. I wish I were a great writer, but I'll just do my best to get the moment written.

Right now, Asher and Ellie are watching, "Baby Faith" - God Made Me. Asher was singing along to "Oh How I Love Jesus." It was so cute and sweet! I love that he is learning so many songs of the faith. Ellie was sitting on the trampoline and now she's on the bouncing zebra, and now she got off. They are both making noises along with "A Mighty Fortress."

I put the video on because they were getting a little crazy, wanting the same things at the same time, Asher pulling on Ellie, etc. They needed a distraction and I needed a break. Actually I should lay back and close my eyes while they watch this. I think I will. Night night.