Saving Memories Forever – With an App

Genealogists spend a lot of time researching details about the lives of their family members. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a simple way to record all those family stories that have been passed down over the years? There is an app called Saving Memories Forever that can help you to do that. Small children tend to enjoy hearing stories. Tell a preschooler a family story about their grandfather from when he was a young boy, and you are likely to be asked to re-tell that story again. Teenagers tend to grow tired of hearing the same old family … Continue reading

Preserving Summer Memories

Now that summer has officially arrived, there’s no time like the present to preserve all those seasonal memories. Whether it’s a cross-country trip to grandma’s house, experiencing the thrills and chills of a world-famous theme park or having fun in the sun at the beach, don’t forget to pack your camera so that you can document every fun-filled moment. Once you get home you can sort through your shots and create a storyline of your summer fun in a themed scrapbook. While you are organizing your pictures think of ways to pair them with appropriate embellishments that will make your … Continue reading

Preserving Generational Memories

Some families celebrate the summer with an annual reunion; however, there are some clans that only undertake a massive get-together every other year. If you are part of the latter group, but miss crafting a scrapbook of the event, don’t fret. There are plenty of ways you can create a memory album featuring multiple generations of your family. The first hurdle to overcome is photo and memorabilia collecting. Since you won’t be snapping pictures of all of your loved ones in one central place, you will have to gather images individually. To help you with this task, consider asking relative … Continue reading

The Importance of Preserving Precious Memories

This month marks the 10th anniversary of my grandfather’s death. He was an incredible man who made a huge difference in our family’s life. Fortunately, he was a collector and an even more enthusiastic photographer. He actually ran his own professional photo studio for a while before getting into real estate. He didn’t live long enough to meet his great-grandchildren, but his memory lives on in the scrapbooks my mom and I have made over the years. However, without all of the photos he took and the ones that were snapped of him, we could never have crafted the memory … Continue reading

Tips for Preserving Childhood Memories

Whether you are a parent or there are grandchildren, nieces, or nephews in your life, you know the value of photographs as a way to preserve the story of a child’s growth and development. Unfortunately, even the most well intentioned among us often end up with a collection of snapshots that capture select moments from a child’s life story yet somehow fall short of preserving the entire journey. Here are a few tips for taking pictures of children which will tell their stories long after the children have grown. Instead of focusing only on portrait style pictures or only on … Continue reading

Preserving Holiday Memories

Christmas Eve is here. While it’s easy to get caught up in the celebratory madness, if you are planning to scrapbook the holiday, you want to remember to document the festivities. Grab your camera and snap your family and friends partaking in holiday traditions, including sipping hot chocolate by an open fire or baking cookies to leave out for Santa. If you are planning to make a massive holiday meal, preserve the recipes to add to a recipe scrapbook or at the very least, place the directions in a journaling block along with photos of the finished products and shots … Continue reading

Recording Festive Family Memories

For most families, food is a huge part of the holiday season. After all, it’s hard to have a seasonal celebration without consuming festive treats, from cookies to cranberries and all sorts of other goodies in between. What’s more, most clans have at least a few traditional dishes they make each December to share with loved ones. In our family, Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without my mom’s Cranberry Walnut Tart and Snowball cookies. In addition, prior to his passing, my grandfather would dutifully prepare a huge Prime Rib on Christmas Eve seasoned with his secret mix of spices. … Continue reading

Preserving Memories

Yesterday evening I spent some time in the room where I keep the canning. Until recently, this was known as the rec room. It still is, by those not in the know. For me, this room has been transformed from a room dedicated to toys and random assortments of stuff into a room of pride and beauty. This is where I go to stare at my canning. I could say that I love canning, but I would not be telling the truth. I find canning to be an arduous process. It is sticky. It is wet. It is hot. No, … Continue reading

Preserving Depression Era Memories

It is interesting how everything old becomes new again and things that were done years ago often become popular again because of something in the present moment that causes us to pause and think, “Wait a minute, this has happened before. What did people do last time?” With the economy still at a low point, I have noticed that there is a lot of interest in what people did during the Great Depression to make ends meet. Many families have at least one family member who lived during the Great Depression and these people have valuable stories to tell. The … Continue reading

The Importance of Preserving Childhood Memories

Part of the reason (okay, one of the primary reasons) I blog is to chronicle some of the sweet or funny moments in my young daughter’s life. After all, she’s not a baby anymore. (Where did my baby go?) She will be seven soon. Seven. How did that happen? Sadly, some of the only solid memories I have of my daughter as a baby come from photos, a few scribbled journal entries, and these blog posts. I am hoping that she will remember all of the good times we shared together without the aid of printed posts, but alas that … Continue reading