My Story Moments - preserved with the help of Cherish Bound. Here's an idea for Christmas...

I'm sitting here working on books for Christmas gifts and thought I'd give you an incredible idea for a gift...

I work for a company called Cherish Bound. I LOVE this company. Cherish Bound is the reason I decided to start this blog page. I wanted to record my story moments. Everyone has 1000s of story moments and memories they should record. Cherish Bound is a home-based business, with consultants who help you find, capture, and share your precious stories. What sets Cherish Bound apart from any other book-making company is that we have a full line of products to help you tell your stories. We have Story Starters (workbooks with tons of questions, to get those memories flowing), Chat Cards (a fun family activity), Dailies (journaling pages), and Lifeprints (pages that help you gather information from other people). These are just a few of the wonderful and helpful products that Cherish Bound has. Go to www.cherishbound.com and look under products to see everything. Cherish Bound has a very easy online publishing tool (nothing to buy - nothing to "sign up" for). Just super easy to use. We are about 30% cheaper than any other company out there, and 100% better quality. I love how Cherish Bound helps me to make a beautiful, simple, heirloom quality book every time.

So, here's the idea I promised: for Valentine's Day last year, I decided that I'd make a book for each one of my kids called, Mom's Top Ten Favorite Pictures of (kid's name). Cherish Bound offers this really fun, cute little designer book called Top Ten, and I thought it would be perfect for these gifts. So, I went down to my HUGE box of pictures (yep, I'm one of those moms - no scrapbooking for me) and started to go through memories. When I finished gathering pictures, there were way more than just 10 each. There were more like 30-40! So, I decided to just design my own books. The covers were red (the perfect color for Valentine's AND Christmas), with the cutest pictures I could find: Alex's showed a picture of him in his jammies with a Batman cape on, sucking on his beloved binky. Michael's was a picture of him in his Ronald McDonald pjs, with a huge grin on his face. And Matthew's picture showed him helping me decorate a tree with lights - no smile - just that sweet, serious, kissable baby face. Before Grant left on his mission, we took family pictures. I had one taken individually with each of my kids. Those pictures went on the backs of their books, with a "love" note from Mom.

It took me about 1/2 hour to scan all of the pictures in, 1/2 hour to throw them all into the publishing tool and place them where I wanted them, and 1/2 hour to go through and add the stories I could remember. No time at all! It was so easy.

My boss, Carol, told me what would happen when the kids got their books. She said "Don't feel bad if they just say 'Thanks, Mom' and take them to their rooms. If you go peek in on them later, they'll be looking at every page and reading every story." Well, she was kind of right. I put their books out on the table, with balloons and candy, and when they got home from school, I gave them their gifts. They immediately opened their books and spent the next 1/2 hour going through every page. They laughed their heads off at the funny pictures I loved and read every single story. They couldn't put the books down! After reading a story about a surgery he had, Matthew said "Mom, you never told me what that was called!" The questions flew - where, what, who, etc. It was so fun. Just priceless. There is nothing you could give your kids or other loved ones, that is more special than a book that chronicles their lives. It means so much when you realize that your life is as important to other people as it is to you.

Well, the gifts were a hit! Everyone loved them. And the best part was that it didn't take a long time to do! It takes even less time if you have digital pictures - no scanning involved. Christmas is coming up FAST and the publishing deadline for Christmas delivery is coming up soon. If you are interested in doing a special memory book for anyone in your family, please contact me at kara@cherishbound.com and I'll help you get started immediately. Don't wait - you'll want to see the priceless looks on your families faces when they open their books - trust me. Start preserving your story moments now!