Suite Success! (Spoiler Alert - Don't read if you want to wait for the book version)

Patrick's birthday book is ordered and just in the nick of time! It's scheduled to arrive the day before his party!

I love working on the photo books that I make each year for my grandsons more than I could ever express. I love picking out the colors and designing the layouts but the best part about working on them is going back through the photos that have been taken over the year. It is so wonderful to think back on all of the special moments that make up a year and eventually a lifetime. Back when I started this project for Dylan's first birthday I limited the book to the twenty pages that were included with the book and they were nice. Over the years the books have expanded from being simply a photo book to a something that captures not just holidays and special days, but the ordinary days as well. Once I started using My Memory Suite digital software and discovered I could create pages to be whatever I wanted them to be I have found that I just can't help myself. I want to make pages for everything! So, my twenty page books are more like fifty pages!

Here's the cover of the book. If you came here to see the entire book I am sorry to say that I removed the link. After I posted it I realized that not only could people view the book, they could add it to their Shutterfly account and have access to all of my photos and order a book of their own. That's just a little more access than I am comfortable with.

The Mary Before Me

It's been nine years ago since I was lucky enough to spend time with my Mom, Mary Lang Hemmons Wright. It was the Saturday before Mother's Day just like today. It's hard to believe it's been that long.

Now that I am older and have experienced my children becoming adults and have grandchildren there are so many things that I see differntly now then I did back then. So many things have changed and there are so many things that she has missed. Even though I was obviously an adult nine years ago, I feel much more grown up now and in a lot of ways I am a different person. Not different in any fundamental way, just a little more wise, a little stronger, more tolerant and more forgiving. Her unexpected death left me without the chance to say goodbye and reminded me that life is so short and that no day should be taken for granted.

I am sad that she didn't live long enough to be in love with her great grandchildren. They are the sunshine in my days and I wish she could have shared some of the family traditions that she helped establish and be part of the things that she loved that are now being passed along to a new generation.

Today, Mother's Day and every day, I miss you Mom.
Love, the Mary after you
Mary Elizabeth Wright Spengler

So Much To Scrap...So Little Time

Today is International Scrapbooking Day and there are all kinds of fun challenges going on over the MyMemories Facebook page and the blog! There are so many fun games to play and chances to win and I want to do it all. I just made this for the weekly challenge. I just love this picture that my daughter tood of my grandson today on Thomas the Train at the B&O Train Museum.

#Winning!

Okay Ladies! It's time to pick a winner of the MyMemories digital software! It seems I have a long way to go before my blog goes viral and that's good for you because your odds of winning are really great!! Here's your number for the random drawing:

1 - Pam
2 - Allie
3 - MaiThreeBoyz
4 - Alison

I'm going to have my husband help me with the drawing so I will be right back with the results. Good Luck!!

Here we go................And the winner is:
  
 Allie! Congratulations!! I'll get the info you need for your free software to you you very soon!

Everyone else - thanks again for commenting on my blog. You can use the code on the right side bar to save $10 on the software and get $10 to spend in the MyMemories store. That's not as good as free but it's something. The software is really great and definitely worth the investment!

Beautiful Things

There's a challenge over on the MyMemories blog this week that required the following quote to be incorporated on the page:

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched.

They must be felt with the heart.”

~ Helen Keller 

I thought using a photo from my my friend's January wedding in Key West was perfect for this page.

Jenn from Dancing Princess Designs is hosting this week's challenge and I have a chance to win a gift certificate for purchases from her MyMemories store. Even if I don't win, I had fun making the page!

Patrick's Pantry Party

My pantry has been a favorite place for my grandson's to play and explore since Dylan first discovered what was behind that door. He was two, just as Patrick is now. Patrick LOVES the pantry. He visits on a regular basis. It might be long enough to grab the animal cookie jar that used to be bigger than him when he first started carrying it around or he might sit and stay a while. Today he stayed a while. Dylan, Pappy and I were invited to join Patrick in his 'house' for a party. Patrick's hospitality was warm and welcoming! We enjoyed animal crackers and Spiderman and Phineas and Ferb fruit snacks and Patrick rattled off other possibilities like syrup, cereal and rice. I can't wait until I get another invitation! There was a speed scrap on the My Memories Facebook page so I took the opportunity to make a page for Patrick's book with a few of the photos that I snagged of the event. Enjoy!

Sharing is Fun!

Many of you know tht I make a digital scrapbook for my grandson's every year and give it to them on their birthday. Right now I am working on a book called "So Much To Do When You Were Two" for Patrick and "Four is Fun" for Dylan. When I first made Dylan's first book "One Wonderful Year" almost five years ago that told the story from his birth to his first birthday I used one of the online photobook sites and simply dropped photos into premade layouts and selected the background colors of the pages. It was a pretty simple affair and I was pretty impressed with myself. By the time I was working on the third book it was becoming a little frustrating that there weren't many ways to make the Halloween pages look spooky or the Christmas pages express the special warmth and love that surrounds the season. 

I started looking around to see how I could make my books more personal. I wanted them to tell a story and capture the essence of our family traditions, special times and memories...the joy of simple summer days and extraordinary moments. I found some digital programs that I thought about trying but they seemed too complicated or too simple or too limited - just not right. Then one day I noticed a photo posted on a friend's Facebook wall that included journaling and embellishments and layers of different colored papers and it was beautiful. I had to find out just how she made it and that is how I discovered My Memories Suite!

I bought the software online, downloaded it right away and started what has become one of my favorite pastimes - documenting and preserving magical memories through digital scrapbooking. Speaking of magical, I think the 88 pages I made for our family trip to The Magic Kingdom in September are pretty magical and so do my grandsons!

 I am completely and totally hooked. The software is easy to use and I can find kits to fit any page I could ever want to create! As a matter of fact, it's so easy to use that shortly after I started using the software I entered one of my pages in a contest on the MyMemories blog and I won! Not only do I love the software, I love the community I have become part of on the MyMemories Facebook page. We share our creations, give encouragement, borrow ideas and learn from one another.

I just finished up this Christmas cookie baking page from last Christmas for Patrick's book. I love the cutout cookies and the background paper that looks like rolled cookie dough! I also like the font that I was able to find that looks like scattered flour and matches the flour on the corners of the photo frames! One of the featues I love best is that My Memories uses any font that you have installed on your computer and I've found some really cute free fonts.

I actually use the software to make all kinds of things. Sometimes I make pages for my friends and I made a scrapbook page for my daughter for Valentine's Day that I exported as a jpeg file, had it printed and then I framed it in a 12x12 frame that I bought at Michael's Craft Store. She really liked it a lot and I am thinking about making similar gifts for people for Christmas.

I think the software is so wonderful that I want to help one of you get started on creating memories and making presents too so I am giving away a free copy of the software to one lucky person. It's at $37.99 value and someone can have it for FREE!

For your chance to win just do the following:

• Visit and 'Like' the MyMemories Facebook page
• Visit the My Memories store and find a kit that you like
• Leave a comment here letting me know which kit you chose and what you think your first 'Suite' My Memories project might be if you win. 

I will pick a random winner of a free copy of My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software on Monday, May 1. Good luck!!!

It's Not Easy

Tonight I am very sad. My sister posted this message on her Facebook page today:

If you have a dog, you will most likely outlive it, to get a dog is to open yourself to profound joy and prospectively, to equally profound sadness. I'm sitting here enjoying what is most likely the last beautiful afternoon I will share with my most loyal friend and companion.


I'm glad that my sister and her family was able to enjoy one last beautiful day with Wilson. Cancer has taken him from his loving family long before they ever should have had to say goodbye. He really was one of the sweetest dogs I have ever known. My neice posted this beautiful photograph of Wilson and a quote that made me cry.


Goodbye Wilson.

Thanks for the sweet kisses and always letting me know you were happy to see me.  

Hugs Sandi. Sweet thoughts and prayers for you and your family. 

I am so sorry. 

You're The Best

I bought this pillow today with a gift card that my daughter gave me for Christmas. I love it on so many levels.

When I first saw it I immediately thought of my husband because he helps me be my best self. I will always believe that meeting him was one of the very best days of my life.

I love that looking at this pillow will always remind me that it was a gift from my daughter who, along with my son, are truly the best of me.

I also love this pillow because I hope that when people see it in my home they might realize they are an important part of my life.  

The old saying goes that we are known by the company we keep and this pillow says to me that the people in my life are all special and are an integral part of who I am.

Unexpected Joy

There is something that really intrigues me about the idea of Project 365. For those who aren't familiar with the project, it basically consists of documenting every day with a photograph. You can learn all about it here: http://content.photojojo.com/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/

I am not sure I can really commit to taking a photograph every day but it does make me realize that I should do a better job of taking and sharing more photos here. It is all about the view through my shutter after all! So, while I am not ready to commit to taking a photo every day, I am ready to do a better job of capturing the ordinary and extraordinary everyday events that equal what I consider to be a pretty charmed life.

For example, today I had to go back to work after enjoying ten days off (don't worry - I do realize how fortunate I am). Anyway, it was hard to get up while it was still dark outside and get ready and out the door by 7am. As the day progressed there was all kinds of snowing and blowing going on outside and it was freezing cold. Things seemed kind of bleak and the day was feeling long when I found out that I would get to spend some unexpected time with my oldest grandson this evening.

We had a great visit that included Chick-fil-a for dinner, homemade chocolate milkshake topped with three cherries and some quality time playing trains. Here's a photo of the great train track that we built. Dylan said it is "huge" and "amazing" and "enormous" - and it is!