12 Days of Christmas

Previously Posted 12/2/08

Sunday, Dec. 13 is the day start the 12 Days of Christmas if you want it to end on Christmas Eve, and Monday, December 14th will begin the 12 Days of Christmas if want to end on Christmas.

Hopefully have read one of my old posts from last year about how as a child my family was given the "The 12 Days a Christmas".  You can see how this simple and sweet project can not only change the holiday season for another family, but also your own.

Here are some tips and ideas on how to prep this project and get your family excited about the secret Santa project they'll be doing. 

I was bouncing around the internet a few days ago and came across this adorable kit with download-able printouts and directions. It's called 12 Days of Christmas Kit by Sandy. For $2.85, I'm thinking it's money well spent. What I love about this one is the ideas and gifts are homemade and inexpensive. I don't need to remind everyone that money is tight, so leaving boxes of $20 bills probably won't be happening any time soon....these gifts are cute, usable, eatable, and easy to find. With the printouts (very cute!!) the gifts look adorable!

....I must confess....I'm happy that money is tight for everyone, including our family. I'm happy that we're being forced to remember why we celebrate this beautiful season. Maybe we should see it as a tender mercy and a blessing in disguise. Immersing your family in service and holiday projects, starting family traditions, keeping old traditions will remind us and keep us focused on Christmas...

Sorry....back to the 12-days....

So if you can spend the $2.96, go download her cute kit! It has a letter for the first night, all the tags and poems, pictures of ideas, and the gifts are easy and cute! If not...here are some cute ideas!! These are ones that I have done, friends have done, had done to my own family, etc.....

TIP: Wal-mart, Dollar Stores, Dollar Section in Target have everything you need if you need to go out and buy something.

"Anything" items could be as simple as bubbles for kids, microwave popcorn, candy, homemade cookies & treats, ornaments, crafts, nativity pictures, holiday wrapping supplies, fruit, mini puzzles, games, eggnog and dollar mugs, cocoa, homemade greeting cards or stationary....


Day 1 ♥ A partridge in a pear tree: One of ANYTHING, one pear, one basket of pears, dove ornament.
Day 2 ♥ 2 turtle doves: Two of ANYTHING, Dove candies or chocolate turtle candies,
Day 3 ♥ 3 french hens: Three of ANYTHING, anything "French", chicken noodle soup (hen is a chicken ;O), 3 Dozen cookies or treats of any kind.
Day 4 ♥ 4 calling birds: Four of ANYTHING, 4 bags of goodies, "calling" cards.
Day 5 ♥ 5 golden rings: Five of ANYTHING, donuts (my fav), ring pops
Day 6 ♥ 6 geese a laying: Six of ANYTHING, Easter eggs filled with treats, Fixings for omelets, 6 pack of soda or favorite drinks
Day 7 ♥ 7 swans a swimming: Seven of ANYTHING, Bubble bath and bath toys, Ugly Duckling Storybook
Day 8 ♥ 8 maids a milking: Eight of ANYTHING, milk maid caramels, Ice cream toppings, chocolate milk, cow print items, cow ornament...pretty much anything milk or cows!
Day 9 ♥ 9 ladies waiting: Nine of ANYTHING, Ladyfinger cookies, box of art supplies for kids
Day 10 ♥ 10 lords a leaping: Ten of ANYTHING, frog items, I heard this one represents the 10 commandments?? I stick with Ten of Anything...but let me know if you think of something creative!
Day 11 ♥ 11 pipers piping: Eleven of ANYTHING, Christmas CD (download and make it or buy it)
Day 12 ♥ 12 drummers drumming: Twelve of ANYTHING, drum ornament, drummer boy "something", ice cream drumsticks.

So here's a list to get the creative juices flowing! Start getting your items and ideas together now. I like to start on the 13th so our last delivery is on Christmas Eve. If you know the family will be traveling or leaving town, start earlier or finish when they return. Organize and start now because the days will fly by quickly. Plus its fun to get the hubby and kids excited about it. Be sure to sit down this week or by Saturday and plan out your gifts, pick a family or two and prep to begin Sunday or Monday. This is good time to "make" some homemade ornaments or crafts that you'd like to give as well. Please pass on your ideas and share them with us all!

Thoughtful & Thrifty Swap Parties

I love "Home Made Simple".... It's a great show on TLC on Saturdays afternoons. I love their creative ideas and I love visiting their website for all their unique and crafty ideas...that I can actually do. They're affordable, usable, and fun! This is one idea from their current newsletter that I had to share....

"You know what they say about the art of gift giving—it’s the thought that really counts. This month, forego the penny pinch and host a fun-filled swap party with your favorite friends, right at home. From clothes and keepsakes to photos and food, it’s a wonderful way to get together, pass along personal treasures and walk away with something new. Find inspiration in our clever theme ideas and simple craft instructions for a party that is as fun and thoughtful as it is budget-friendly. And the best part? No one goes home empty-handed."

How fun does this sound?? They have so many swap party ideas that are great for some summertime fun with your friends and neighbors, or maybe at our family reunions. Here are some of my favorite ideas....

All ideas and images are from www.homemadesimple.com

Recipe Swap
Learn the secrets to your friends’ signature dishes by organizing a simple recipe swap. Ask your friends to bring in copies of their favorite recipe card to pass out to each guest, then craft decorative recipe tins for stowing cards in style. With a new collection of easy, sure-to-please recipes in hand, your guests will leave inspired to take back the kitchen.

Photo Swap
Hosting a photo swap with your favorite gal pals brings a whole new meaning to sharing memories. Ask each of your friends to bring a variety of picture frames that they no longer use, along with copies of their favorite photographs from special occasions and funny moments spent together. As you pass these treasured keepsakes around, you’ll relive your fondest moments as friends and come away with “new-to-you” frames and photos. At your swap party, you can offer inspired ideas for using picture frames in unexpected ways. Suggest using them to frame modern heirlooms like handmade face silhouettes, or as the perfect casing for delicate pressed flowers.

Plant & Seed Swap

Give your garden a boost by hosting a plant and seed swap party with your green-thumbed pals. Whip up quick and easy appetizers, served alfresco, and exchange gardening advice and plant cuttings or seeds. Set out a table where your guests can display their favorite plants and seeds, reminding them to label the pieces and mock up quick cards listing the care instructions. As you talk botanicals, start up a fun game of plant trivia, share your favorite photos of prize gardens, and even suggest an impromptu trip to a local garden center. With a simple garden swap party, everyone will leave with new knowledge and new materials to bring to life in their own backyard.

There so many treasures to swap!! Most of us have been neck deep in spring cleaning....so now is the time to plan some fun parties....all about swapping! Keep your parties simple and fun this summer...no more big elaborate over-done parties. Enjoy a brunch swap or chocolate night with your best friends and some swapping!!!

So tell me....what swap party ideas would you love to host or attend???

If my dad was a superhero he would be....

"He would be Mr. Incredible"

....that's what the Z-man said about his daddy, Shrek.

"Because he's strong, and he's awesome, and he teaches me how to fish, and he takes me camping...oh, and because he can win everything and he's the boss."

I chatted with Z-man in the car and asked him what he wanted to get his daddy for Father's Day and he told me he wanted to take him to the movies to see Transformers 2. I told him that would be awesome....but we'd have to wait until July to go...so he thought some more. And said, "I want to make him another book!" Ah-ha! That's my boy!!!

So we decided to make him another Cherish Bound book. He's done one for his daddy for the past 3 years....the A-Z's of Camping, Just Me and My Dad and The Top 10 Reasons I Love My Dad. Amazing gifts, dad cried every time...

This time I asked him to finish the sentence:

If my dad was a superhero he would be...

And that's the title of his next Father's Day book. He's drawn some pictures and had me be the scribe for him as we typed his story into the Cherish Bound Publishing Center. He's so excited to come home and work on it after school...I can't wait to show you pictures of it!!

So do your kids need a creative and unique Father's Day gift??

Yes! They do, right! Not another tie.... Let the kids touch his heart through the power of story.

If you'd like your kids to make their daddy a Superhero Story Book I'm here to get you started! They can create a 24-page, softbound, 5x7 book for only $29 (before shipping*). It's the perfect gift and EVERY DADDY WILL LOVE IT!

Step 1: Pre-Purchase your $29 publishing HERE

Step 2: I'll set up your Cherish Bound account and you'll go into the publishing center and begin typing in their story, thoughts, messages...whatever they want to say. They can create their own superhero if they want...there are no rules! Then begin adding photos and/or scanned images of drawings too.

Step 3: Submit for publishing by June 1st. I'll even check over your book, make sure everything looks prefect. Cherish Bound will print, bind and ship you your book in about 10-15 business days.

It's Easy and Affordable! Give the gift that keeps on giving...Story is powerful and I promise it will be the BEST gift your kids could EVER GIVE THEIR DADDY!

*shipping will be paid by customer upon publishing submission.

Valentine's Day Gifts

I'm in some funky crafty obsession right now....it's like I'm nesting, but with glue and paper...and I'm NOT pregnant. What is it about Micheal's and JoAnne's that gives me goosebumps? And their weekly ad with the 40% off coupon...I mean, COME ON! It's just so inviting and I can't let something like that go to waste, right?? So I did a little drop-in @ Micheal's this past week while I was waiting for one of my daughter's to finish up her soccer practice...hum-hum-hum....had some fun! Here's what I making (right now) for my son's Kindergarten teacher....

You'll find this idea (NO it's not mine...) over at Just A Girl.
Click HERE to view the directions & Tutorial!

I'll show you pictures of mine when I'm done..... maybe....depends on what they look like. But I did go over to one of my FAVORITE places, The Shabby Princess and downloaded a FREE Valentine's-themed Digi Scrap download to use as my cute little embellishments. I bought some adorable ribbon and paper over at Micheal's and some lotion and hand sanitizer w/ my Walgreens coupons....maybe spent a total of $4 for the ENTIRE project!

I'm also making these....

Scrabble Pendants!
Thank you to Tanya over at "The Smith Family" for this awesome craft!
Click HERE to check it out! So Easy!
I'm making my girls each one for Valentine's Day and I'm going to be giving one away on my blog....next week!!! So don't miss out on that!

Confessions of an Ex-Scrapbooker #26

What to do with all my junk? I have endless piles of paper and embellishments from my SB-day's. Even though I don't scrapbook anymore, I still like crafting with my hands and glue and getting it in my hair and such. So I've been trying to think of ways to use all junk up. So here's my latest project....

(sorry about the ugly photography, but my camera decided to break! only got 2 pics UGH!)

This is a cute little 4x6 recipe collection. Easy-Peasy!

Ingredients:

• One pack of 4x6 recipe cards/index cards
  
• One metal ring (can't remember the name of them...but they open and close)
• Scrapbook paper and embellishments
• Glue stick

All I did was gather a collection of favorite recipes. You can print directly onto the cards or you can print on paper and glue to cards. You can get as creative as you want with any clip art or pictures on the actual recipes. Sorry, no picture...camera Ka-pood on me! GRRR!

I then divided them up into the following categories:

Appetizers

Soups & Salads

Main Dishes

Side Dishes

Desserts

You can see my little "Sweet" divider for the Dessert section....I've had that little embellishment FOR YEARS! It finally found a home!

You can make dividers using the 4x6 cards. Then punch holes in the top corner, put the ring through it and then I tied little pieces of ribbon around the ring....had that ribbon for years too!

The cover was a piece of the scrapbook paper that I cut out in the same measurements as the card and I glued it onto the 4x6 card. I found the cute little metal tag and then printed out the Title "Secret Ingredients" and just laid and glued them down. Nothin' special ladies.

So I'm going to start making these for my FRIENDS for their birthdays. It's free, easy, and personal. You can design and create ANYTHING you want....my ideas are flowing right now as I type. I'll save it for next week. ;O) Oh, yeah....they ship in a little envelopes or wrap up really cute!

If you have any ideas or projects you've done using your old scrapbooking stuff, email me at tarabrown at cherishbound dot com so we can share it with everyone.

Happy Crafting!!

Calling all Team Moms and Room Moms!

Is that you? Are you in charge of gift ideas for coaches and teachers? Are you sick of the dreaded dust-collecting trophies and metals or boring apple-themed gifts? If you answered yes, sort of, maybe or no...Keep Reading.

From my personal experience I can tell you that what I'm about to share with you is valuable information...seriously. It will change you. You will no longer be the mediocre mom or dad who collects $20 per family for gifts that are somewhat mundane and meaningless...that pretty much does nothing for the soul. So if you're ready to be popular...possibly famous...Keep Reading.

It's time to up the ante ladies (& gents)...it's time to raise the bar of team, coach and teacher gifts. With a little prep and some help from me you'll be the talk of the town and so will your gifts. So what am I talking about?

These....

Yes, you can put together gorgeous photo/story books for those important people. I've done MANY of them and have yet to encounter a recipient that doesn't tear up, thank me on a daily basis, show EVERYONE that walks within 25 feet of them. These books will have more of an impact than you know. Here are some of the books and stories behind them.

Teacher Books:

This book was done for a 4th grade teacher. Each child drew a picture and/or submitted a photo along with a story or thank you note. The hand written letters and pictures were scanned into the book. I saw the teacher receive this book and it's now been 4 years since she received it. To this day she still thanks us for putting together her "most prized possession" ever!

This is a book I just did for my son's kindergarten teacher for Christmas. We collected favorite recipes from all the kids in her class, along with a drawn picture or photo from each child. We put together an entire collection of recipes...over 50 pages! The name "Secret Ingredients" came from the inspiration of the children...one of the mom's interviewed each kid and asked them what their favorite recipe was and what the ingredients were...hysterical! It's a good thing those little ones aren't cooking! She has expressed her appreciation over and over again. She said she had never received anything more spectacular as a teacher.

Team/Coaches Books:

These team/sports books are becoming the replacement for cheap trophies and metals. This first set of books are soccer-style "yearbooks" that recap a season for the players and coaches. Players can give their two-cents, what they learned, greatest moment, etc. Action shots of the kids can be placed right into the book giving each player a spread or two.

This is one of my favorite coach books I've ever done. This was a big season for these girls, lots of long hours and hard work. Each girl took the time to write the coaches letters of appreciation and what they learned. We put all their letters and photos in this book and gave it to the coaches for their end of the season gift. Little did the girls know that they too were getting a book....but theirs had personal messages from the coach. Everyone was touched by the words, photos, and grateful to have this treasure.

This is a players book that we did for each child's end of the year gift. These took a little more time because they were all individually customized for each kid. We even interviewed the little guys and asked them questions about their season. The answers were priceless!

There are 100's of options, 1000's of sports & Millions of stories to be shared and given at the end of each sporting season. From Cheer Squads to Hockey Teams, Swimmers to Golfers...every athlete and coach has a story to tell. If you'd like more information on getting started just drop me a comment or email me at tarabrown at cherishbound dot com. I have an entire "workshop" I'll email you so you can have direction and steps to follow. Don't wait!

Tuesday Tradition #36

My mom has officially started a brand new tradition in my home...today! There's nothing more exciting than getting the "ding-dong" of the doorbell and then finding a big gigantic box on the porch! So much fun!!! This box contained some wrapped gifts, GIANT candy canes, fun Christmas Beanie Babies, and.....5 hand sewn Christmas themed pillowcases for my kids!

Yep, that's the new tradition! Some of my friends are 100% domestic diva's (you know who you are) and make themed pillowcases for every holiday. Well, I've never gotten around to it and kind of forgot about that idea...until today! And what's even better about it, I'm going to let my mom surprise us every year with new Christmas pillow cases. I'm going to let her pick the fabric, sew them and even ship them. ;O)

She attached a cute little poem....

December the first starts a magical time,
With all sorts of color, music and rhyme.
Sugar plum fairies will dance in your head
If you'll put this pillowcase on your head!
The reason it's special as you will soon see,
It's been dusted with Christmas fantasy!
Visions of candy canes, Santa and such
Will fill each dream with pleasure so much.
But when comes the time for it to be washed,
Do it quickly so the magic's not lost.

Now break out those sewing machines & get to work!

♥ Tara

TwitterMoms Holiday Catalog

Look who's #1 on this list.... ♥ Twittermoms ONLY!! Email me to get 25% of All Cherish Bound publishing and products from now until December 31!!

12 Days of Christmas...The Power of Service

I think I was in 6th or 7th grade. Being the oldest of 3 and in a newly divorced family, I knew too much at a young age and I also knew what to expect that holiday season. Looking back, I consider myself more mature than your average 11 or 12-year old. I kind of had to be...

My parents were living in the same town, different house, every other weekend, 2 house payments, money was tight, etc. I was prepped for a slim Christmas. I was fine with it...sort of. It was hard to comprehend having a "small" Christmas because quite frankly, we were used to BIG elaborate holidays. Santa was always more than generous. We were sort of spoiled. Yes. But this year was going to be different. Things had changed drastically.

My parents were both struggling in more ways than one. My brother and sister were too. I think I was fine. At least I remember being fine. But I could tell there was some sadness, frustrations, anger...it wasn't the happy feeling I wanted during the holidays. This had always been my favorite time of year, but not this time. It wasn't going to be happy at all.

Until one night during the first week of December . I still remember the day, I wrote about it in my journal. There was a loud knock at the door, fairly late in the evening. We gave each other the look, "Who could that be?" Everyone jumped up to go to the door. The porch light was off, so mom turned it on and my brother opened the door. Nobody was there. He went to close the door when my little sister yelled, "STOP! There's something on the ground." I pushed through and picked up a small green Christmas tree filled with chocolate candies. Attached was a note.

I don't remember what the note said exactly. It said something to the affect of "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...." and on it went. There was unexpected excitement as we ran out to the yard to see if we could see anybody, but they were long gone by then. We ran back in the house laughing, my mom smiling, as we tore open that cute little helpless tree and began to devour the yummy chocolates. Mom salvaged the tree and put it up on the shelf with other decorations where it still sits today.

The next night, there was another knock at the door...at first it didn't register, but then we realized what it might be...so we ran to the door and of course no one was there, but a beautiful crystal candle holder with two bright red candles. Beautiful. And a note that read, "On the second day of Christmas my true love gave me to me..." and on it went. Even though this was a gift our mom would enjoy, we were excited too. My mom's smile grew a little bigger as she put it on our dining room table and lit the candles. They smelled so pretty...the house began to buzz again....a little happiness filled up the room.

The next night, we were ready. We knew this was going to go on for the next 10 nights. We sat and waited outside, on the side yard, back inside by the window and so on...nothing. And then just as we were giving up and heading to bed, "Knock-Knock!" Dang it! We missed it again....

This continued on night after night. I could see my mom's stress turning into something more relaxed and her smile stayed a little longer each day. My brother and sister were a so excited as the sun went down each day anticipating the "Knock"! I was swept up in the wonder and mystery of it all. I could feel that happy feeling that loved so much coming back. It was so sweet to feel that again...

Night 12 had finally arrived. It was about 5 or 6 days before Christmas. My mom had been talking to me earlier that day about how she wanted me to help her make some gifts because shopping was going to be limited and the budget was just too tight this year. She was trying to think of ways we could serve and help other people....Huh? I kept thinking we were the ones that needed to be served. We weren't in any position to help anyone else, but that's not how mom was working....she still knew there were people that were going without. We were fine. But I could see the worry on her face that day. She loves to give. And this year, she wasn't going to be able to give to her three kids like she always did. It wasn't about her. It was about us. She just wanted to make us happy.

"Knock-Knock!" A scream slipped through the house as we all darted for the door hoping to finally catch our secret Santa! Nope, nobody there....but on porch laid a cute little house made of cardboard. It had individual boxes inside like a puzzle, 12 of them. We picked it up and ran into the house and set it on the table. My brother opened the first box and pulled out a 20 dollar bill. My eyes about popped out of my head. My mom's jaw dropped and we began opening the houses. Each one filled with $20. TWENTY DOLLARS! Times that by 12... $240! Yes, on the 12th day of Christmas someone gave to us $240 to use on Christmas. My mom's eyes began to water and she slowly began to cry as she realized that someone had just changed our lives. Not because she could go buy "stuff" for us. That wasn't it at all. It was because she saw that each of us in our young ages softened and felt the undeniable power of service. We all began to cry as we sat around the kitchen table. We knew that we were loved, watched over, and someone really cared.

To this day we do not know who did it. We assumed it was someone from church. But we still have no idea. I don't remember what my mom bought with that money. But what I do remember is the feeling I had that night as I realized what Christmas was all about. It's about serving others, sacrificing and becoming like Christ.

Since that experience, I have continued the tradition of the 12 days of Christmas. I've never been able to offer $20 in 12 little houses :O) But we have put some smiles on faces and in return felt the warm love of service. ♥

Tune in tomorrow for ideas on how you can start the 12 Days of Christmas! It's an amazing tradition that will change your holidays!

Stories are EVERYWHERE!

I'm having an big-time story overload! Seriously big! I don't even know where to start this post......

Reason #1: Jessica Sprague's "Stories in Hand" starts today! You have until midnight tonight to register for FREE, yes FREE, class! Click here! This class is going to be amazing! A little crafting, a little story finding...actually, A TON of stories will get organized and sorted...and if you know me...I'm all about getting your stories.....well, "in hand".

I'm working on "day one" right now, and this project will be an amazing gift to ME and to family and friends on my holiday gift list. I'm so going to make a TON of these as gifts! I don't want to spoil the fun! ....you have to go check it out for yourself and get signed up NOW! (clap-clap-clap)

Reason #2: Over the weekend I was helping my mother and aunt, who have a combined age of over 115 years, (yikes!) finish up their Cherish Bound Storybook project. This has a been an ongoing project for the last few months, but I have to say....I'm 100% shocked at how much these two fine ladies have done on their own, 2500 miles away from me.

We've had to communicate via phone and email only...which means, I've walked them through learning how to download pictures, scanning, turning pictures, even EMAILING a picture! Woo-hoo! Yes, it took over an hour to learn how to download a picture, but they got it! I realized I took my simple computer knowledge for granted....huh! Try chatting on the phone with these two for an hour or so....exhausting fun!

The "tech" part of helping them with their first attempt at a Cherish Bound book has been quite the experience. When the project started both could check their email, but that was about it. Seriously. With some coaching, patience, some more coaching, and a lot more patience, they are about 99% complete with their story book.....

Now what book are they doing? What story have they been writing? Together they have written an entire life history of their childhood, and growing up with their brother and other sister. This book was written in their point of view but will be a Christmas gift to my other aunt and uncle. They have capture their memories, stories, big events, simplicity of life, and lessons learned. They added many beautiful pictures with stories beaming from the images.

As I went through and started editing the book for them I was lost in their lives. I was so taken back by the many stories that I had never heard. I was mesmerized by the 100's of lost photos that had been found and made familiar again. I learned about family members that I never knew existed. I was reminded of the beautifully simple lives that people led. I met grandparents and family friends that I'd never met before. I laughed, cried, plugged my ears....yes, there were stories that I may not have wanted to know about ;o) I couldn't believe the stories that sat before me....I couldn't believe I hadn't heard them before.

After I was done editing the book, I called my mom at my aunt's house (taught them how to use speaker phone) and we just laughed! 2500 miles away, we were connected. I realized that they had so much more to them...they were kids, teens, troublemakers at one time. They had actually lived real lives! I learned where I come from. I saw so many of my own characterises and traits in them.

I can't wait for them to submit this book. I've already called a copy of the book! I can't wait to sit down with my kids and husband and share these stories with them. Stories are powerful, they do connect and they will teach.

Cherish Bound's Newest Member of the Family.... "Our Favorite Recipes"

Cherish Bound's new book, "Our Favorite Recipes" will be ready on Nov. 1, just in time of the holidays!! This adorable 5x7 designer book is perfect for Christmas!

What are you giving for Christmas this year?

Can you believe the holidays will be here in just a few short months...actually weeks! (I consider the holidays officially underway on October 31.) So what are you giving this year to all the special people on your list? Giving the same-old-same-old....New underwear? Oh, wait, a coffee cup? I bet you give ties, right? Hum....how about switching up the gift giving traditions this year. How about actually putting some thought in to it and giving a gift that will not only change you, but change the person you're giving it to. What gift is that? The Gift of Story.

Can you picture this.... Yeah, go read that real quick and then come back. A little tear? Hit a little close to home? I bet it did. That is the power of story. That is what can happen at each and every family Christmas party. That is the emotion and love that can be shared throughout your holiday season. With a little help from me and Cherish Bound you'll create a holiday tradition of story that will forever change your heart and those around you.

So what gifts can you give through Cherish Bound? The list is endless and the recipients are...well, just about everybody! But here is a list to help you get started.

Mothers, Fathers, Mother-in-laws, father-in-laws, sisters, brothers, cousins, best friends, aunts, uncles, daughter, son, grandmother, grandfather, niece, nephew, teachers, bus drivers, neighbors, pets....okay. You get the picture right?

So what can you give them through Cherish Bound?

1. Family Recipe Books: Create a book filled with family favorites and add images of family, scanned in original recipe cards, pictures of the food, stories about where these recipes have come from and the memories that have been made while enjoy those yummy foods.
   
2. Tribute to Mom/Dad/Grandparents: Tell the important people in your life just how much they mean to you. Give them the gift of story by reminiscing about the past, present and the future you have because of them. With added photos and your text this story is sure touch the heart of everyone who receives it.
3. A-Z Books: A-Z books are SO much fun! There are 1000's of ideas that you can do with A-Z's. Here's a few....The A to Z's..... of why we love (whoever), of 2008, child's favorite things, holiday memories, family traditions. There are so many ways to share the love through the ABC's.
4. Sports/Hobby/Collection books: Create a book just for the sports lover in your family or highlight their great achievements or special hobbies and collections like fishing, dirt biking, camping, coin collections, baseball cards, etc.
   
5. Family Traditions: Have each person in your family write about their favorite traditions and memories from the holidays. Grandma's love those!
6. Photo Brag Books: No time to write? How about a book filled with snapshots and photos off all your adventures or best pictures throughout the year?
7. Family Yearbook: If you're like me, you live far from family and you don't get to share your amazing adventures with them as much as you'd like to. So put together a family yearbook from the past year. Get the kids involved, the hubby too and together as a family create a yearbook that you can share with all your family!
   

So there are a few "Book" ideas to get you started....but there are so many more! Just think about the special people and why you love them. Something will come to mind. But wait..there's more! Cherish Bound has an AMAZING product line. Here are some more ideas!

1. Chat Cards: LOVE THESE! Chat Cards come in three different types, Family Chat, Gathering Chat & Child Chat. They are a deck of 50+ cards that have TONS of question on them to help promote great storytelling and conversation. Neighbors will love a deck for their kitchen table, Gathering Chats are fun to use at your own family parties, and teachers will LOVE the child chat cards....great for the classroom!
2. Journals: Heritage, Traditions, Favorites and Gratitude. Pre-published 5×5 hardbound journals with questions, spaces to write, room to attach photos and memories. (MY favorites!) Need to connect with a Teen? Get them a "Favorites" journal, take them out to dinner alone and ask them all about their favorites. Find out what THEY like and what makes them tick. Start a gratitude journal in your home or share it with your sister's family. Heritage journals are a prefect activity for your children at the holidays. This journal will help them interview their grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles and anyone else who has a history.
   
3. Lifeprints are a great product to have at the holidays...especially the Family Gathering Lifeprints. This set of 16 leaflets all have the same set of questions and room to write. Each family member can answer the questions about their favorite family gathering memories, food, people, etc. All the information can be collected and turned into a great family gathering yearbook!
   
4. Story Starters are little booklets full of questions to help you explore a particular theme of story. With space to write and places to jot image ideas, Story Starters help you organize and write your stories. You can also give the gift of story to someone else by picking some Story Starters out and adding a publishing gift certificate to the package. Let them write, create and design their own stories.

Again, there are so many ideas with Cherish Bound. Make your gift list now and get started! If you'd like to learn how you can get FREE publishing for Christmas please email me at tarabrown at cherishbound dot com. You can hold ONLINE gatherings and workshops at www.momchats.com You can invite your family and friends to join us in the chat room and we can share story from the comfort of our very own computers!

End the stress and chaos of looking for the perfect gift! Cherish Bound has the perfect gift for everyone on your list!

Give the Gift That Keeps On Giving

Picture this...

"Chaos reigns as wrappings are torn off and squeals of delight fill the room, except in one corner all is calm. Grandma has stopped unwrapping gifts and is reading a book! Eyes misty, a smile lingers on her lips as she looks across the room towards you. Your eyes lock as she tries to whisper a thank you. Words fail her - instead she clutches the book to her chest as tears spill over her cheeks. The room falls silent as all stop to watch this tender scene. Realizing she has their complete attention, Grandma begins to read. Gifts are put aside as they lean in to hear the story.

Obviously, this is no ordinary book! It's a Cherish Bound book you created just for her. This is not a fictional tale, it can really happen - I've seen it!" -Teresa Clark

The holiday gift giving season is fast approaching. Start a new tradition of story in your family this holiday season. I can help you organize, plan and find the stories and gifts that best suit those on your holiday list. NOW is the time! Give the gift that keeps on giving....

If you'd like to learn how you can give Cherish Bound to those you love, please contact me at tarabrown@cherishbound.com or leave a comment.

Holiday Planning Party!!!

Christmas and Hanukkah are less than 150 days away!

Friday, August 8th @ 11am
www.momchats.com

Have you started planning your holiday gift giving list? Join me at www.momchats.com and get started with your holiday planning through Cherish Bound. Get some awesome gift ideas for personalized books and calendars, Publishing Gift Boxes, and Unique products. Organize your lists: who to buy for, what should I publish, make & buy, how much do I want to spend, and how can I get it all for FREE! I promise you will LOVE the ideas and I'll help you get started now and finished before Thanksgiving arrives! Plan now so you can enjoy the holidays!

A Gift for ME!

For the past 4 years I have published almost in the 100's of books. Many of them were presents for family and friends, sports teams, teachers, and special people celebrating special times. Watching those people open their presents and find a book made a especially just for them, makes my heart fill with joy! I can't even explain the emotion that runs through me every time that happens. Many times I hear back from a customer telling about their experience when they've given the gift of story to someone they love. And they too cannot explain the overwhelming joy that brings a tear to the eye.

Tuesday afternoon I was pulling into my driveway and stopped and grabbed the mail. As I opened my mailbox I saw a brightly-colored package with some "Happy Birthday's" written all over it. It had to be for me because my birthday was this past week. I was so excited! I had no idea who it could be from, but I hurried up and tore it open and to my surprise I received a Cherish Bound Book in the mail as a gift from my "Bestest Friend" in the entire world.

I sat in my car for about 15 minutes reading this story...remembering so many amazing times that I had forgotten about, and laughing hysterically as if she was sitting right next to me. I couldn't help but let a few tears pass.

She took the time to write a story about our friendship, how we met, how we've connected through Cherish Bound and our families, our struggles and triumphs, added great quotes about best friends and even added some pictures from when we first met all the way up until the present. She custom designed a beautiful cover in digital scrapbooking software and added a cute photo of us from about....10 years ago.

This book is a treasured gifted. I've never really been on the receiving end of this process. I'm always giving the books or helping people create the books to give to others. But this time, the gift was for me! Not only did this help me remember how blessed I am to be helping people do this all over the US, but it reminded me that the power of story is really a gift. It's a gift that needs to be shared and passed on no matter how young or old you are, the gift of story is priceless! I will never forget the feeling I had as I sat there in my car reading a story that was written just for me.

The "Landscape"

The beautiful Landscape book...yes, that's probably my favorite style of Cherish Bound book to publish. I gives me a warm fairytale feeling. I have flashbacks of being read to by grandparents and even my own parents and I always picture large flowing landscape style books spread across our laps. It evokes deep nostalgia in my soul. Hummmm.....

So here are a few of my favorite "landscape" style Cherish Bound books that I have published. Of course they're all my favorite.

This is the story about my twins and the stories about their surprise arrival and pictures up to about 10 months old.

For Mother's & Father's Day 2007 I gave each of my parents a book about my memories and stories of growing up with them as my mom and dad. By using the Tribute to Mom/Dad Story Starter I was able to remember memories WAYYY back. It helped me discover some amazing stories and memories that I never knew existed.

This is book was a gift to all the softball coaches on my daughter's softball team. Each coach got a book at the end of the year. All the girls wrote about their favorite memories, stories and what they learned during the season.

This is a book I did for my grandmother who told me stories about her mother and father, her youth and her experiences as a mother.

If you're interested in publishing a landscape book through Cherish Bound contact me today! I'll help you get started sharing your stories!

Wedding Guest Photo Book

Traditionally at weddings there is a guest sign-in book. It used to be that the guests signed the book and scribe a personal message to the newlyweds at the wedding or reception site. I've noticed over time it's become more of an autograph book for the guests rather than a book of wisdom. I've seen some new traditions of signing the matte around an enormously large over-sized picture of the bride and groom...where the heck is that going to go after the honeymoon is over? But I have seen the cute platters you can sign, very cute! Or the quilt thing...WAY TOO MUCH work to just go writing all over it. Anyway, this tradition has potential....as one of my customers discovered.

A Wedding Guest Photo Book! I would have never thought of it, but one of my customers recently made a book for her daughter who was getting married. She wanted something original and different. She didn't want the typical "Sign your name thing"...she wanted something beautiful, but simple, and something that would last forever...something her daughter would want to keep 5, 10, even 20 years after her wedding.

I asked myself, "Self, where is your guest sign-in book?" And I struggled to remember, but I'm almost positive I threw it away about 3 years after we got married. It was just a bunch of scribbled names and I didn't really see the thrill of keeping it...so I'm pretty sure I dumped it. Matter of fact, I think I had one of those ugly feather pens....oh, my gosh I think so. Uhhhh! Why.......

Anyway, after hearing what my customer did I realized there is an entirely new twist to the guest sign-in book tradition. She took all kinds of her daughter's and soon-to-be son-in-law's pictures from youth, teens, dating, college, engagement and changed them all to black and white photos. (This can be done at home in photo software or by a professional). She scanned all the paper photos and put them onto disc. Others were already digital so they were in her computer ready to be edited.

After editing and coloring the pictures the way she wanted them she opened up a new project in her Cherish Bound publishing center and created an 11x8 landscape Cherish Bound photo book and dropped in all the photos in the available templates. No words, no captions, just pictures. She left plenty of space around the photos for guests to not only sign their name, but have room to write beautiful sentiments and words of wisdom.

The cover was STUNNING....just a full-bleed large black and white candid picture of the couple on the beach. She did add text to the cover, their names and the date of the wedding, but that was it. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! This keepsake will never be stored in an attic or brown box. It has earned its right to be part of this couple's decor forever.

Sigh....just love this picture.
I remember when....life was that calm and quiet, no throw-up on my pretty white dress, actually when I looked good in a white dress. Moving on....

Preserving a Legacy

I've always been very close to my all my grandparents. I grew up within walking distance of all their houses and was blessed to be able to visit them everyday if I wished. I loved spending as much time with them as I could and I often reflect back on the wonderful memories I have as a child. Time has passed and I only have one living grandmother. The worse part is she's 2000 miles away.

A year ago I gave my only living grandmother a Story Starter from Cherish Bound. This Story Starter is called When I Was Little. I gave it to her wrapped in a beautiful box with a nice pen and a note from me. In that note I told her how important she was to me and that it was very important for me to know her and remember her and have her stories to pass on to my children. I gave her simple instructions on how to use the Story Starter and asked her to read through the 100's of questions that were this book and answer as many as she could. I wanted to know more about her. I wanted to know who she was at 5 years old, at 10 years old, what she felt like on her wedding day and so on.

A few months passed and I had not received any word from her that she had even broke open the book. I didn't want to pressure her, but I finally asked her one day over the phone if she'd finished writing her stories down for me. To my surprise she said yes she had and was so excited to send me the notes. She was so full of excitement and life. It was like she had gone back and relived some of her most memorable moments and was now sharing them with me. A week later I received her Story Starter in the mail. As I opened it I saw pages and pages of notes, memories and stories on paper. I could see my grandmother's amazing life right before my eyes. She sent some photos and memorabilia to accompany the stories, which made it even more special.

I took all of her stories and photos and published an amazing book through Cherish Bound. I created a hardbound book with beautiful pages filled with her stories and pictures. When I received the finished books in the mail tears filled my eyes as I realized that this women's life has now been preserved and safely stored forever.

I can now share with my children and grandchildren stories about where they come from and who they are. They can find a sense of belonging and have a confidence in themselves by knowing their grandmother through story.

I sent my grandmother her copy of her published book as a Christmas present. She has thanked me countless times since receiving it, but I'm the one who should be thanking her; thanking her for sharing her stories and life. Her amazing lessons and examples will forever change me and my children...and their children.

Tell Your Story All Year Long!

MODERN CALENDAR - If the beginning of a school year is like a New Year to you - you’ll love this fun calendar workshop. Create 15-month calendars and be ahead of schedule as everyone heads back to class. Calendars make great holiday gifts too!

Create your calendar using this fun new design, a bunch of pictures and you can even drop in some special days and events!

Christmas and Hanukkah Shopping!

Are you a last minute shopper...Do you wait until the last few days to start your shopping? Or do you struggle to find the "perfect" gift for the person who as EVERYTHING? Well, look no further. Cherish Bound allows you to give the "perfect" gift and start family traditions that will last for generations. Do it before the holiday rush.

You can create beautiful books or calendars for your loved ones, teachers, employees, neighbors, distant relatives and friends...you name it, there's a story to share or a calendar to create for them. There's nothing better than receiving a personalized, custom gift made just for them with beautiful pictures and stories.

Start now by making a list of people you need to buy gifts for. With the many themes and idea books we have, there's a book or calendar for EVERYONE on your list. Once you know who you're buying for then we decide on book and calendar options. Click here to see sample books for ideas.

I will help you every step of the way and together we can accomplish the big task of holiday shopping...and you can have your shopping done before Thanksgiving! Contact me now and let's get you started!