O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Those of you who follow this blog may remember how petrified I was that Matt might get called to one of the missions where you are prohibited from sending packages.  Seriously.  Well, he was called to the Washington Seattle Mission and I can breath and send him pretty much whatever he/I want to send for not very much at all...compared to some of my friends and my sister who have missionaries serving outside of the United States.  Sometimes, it is just WAY too expensive to send what you want to send AND they may or may not get it...OR it takes two or three months to get there.  Sheesh! Don't know how you momma's do it!

A dear friend of mine had a brilliant idea on how to send a Christmas tree to her son serving a mission in England.  Me?  I just mailed a pre-lit tree and a few ornaments.  Jackie?  Her's is straight from the heart.  Thanks for sharing, Jackie!

"I had this thought:  Since my son might not have a Christmas tree in his flat on his mission, I needed to come up with something that would be festive. Something that would help make his flat feel "decorated" and help bring the Christmas spirit.  PLUS, if they get little gifts and such there MUST be a tree of some sort to put the gifts around or under.  Right?

I knew it needed to be something that wouldn't weigh much and could be folded up super small. I was thinking of painting a tree onto butcher paper - easy and cheap but I didn't want it all wrinkled by the time it got to England.  Then I considered muslin - and instead found an old, white, flat sheet that would be perfect.  I considered using paint for the tree but was worried that it would peel or crack in transit.  I decided to use green fabric.

I found the shape of a tree that I liked in a coloring book and recreated it the best I could onto a piece of green fabric.  The green fabric is the ONLY thing I had to purchase, everything else I had around the house.  After I got it cut out, I laid the tree onto the sheet and using a zigzag stitch, stitched all around the tree.  I used some yellow fabric and made the star and stitched that on as well.  I used the star of David.  I had some ric rac from my grandmother and thought it would make the tree even more meaningful to my missionary because she has passed away. I went back and forth with the rick rack to represent tinsel or string to hang the ornaments on.

When I finished, I thought: "They can hang this and then they will have something to put their presents under.  Presents?!  There were NONE!  I must make some presents!"  So, the gift boxes at the bottom were an after-thought but it added a lot.  I gave the 'gifts' a button down lid and then it became the perfect place to put all the decorated ornaments.  When he received the tree, all the ornaments we sent as a family were in the gift box 'pockets.'  I went to the craft store and used their die-cut machine to punch out 100 ornaments.  I sent them to friends, cousins, and family and they decorated them with scriptures, thoughts, pictures, or notes and sent them to my missionary.  My hope was that all through the month of December he would keep getting new ornaments in the mail with fun Christmas wishes on them from family and friends.  How fun is that?!?

When I was cutting out the ornaments there was a lot of extra paper so using the die-cut machine I cut out TONS of little Christmas lights that he can add to the tree as well.  I also strung some onto string so he can hang them around the flat.

I wanted to make it as religious and Christ centered as possible, so a neighbor helped me by making the vinyl fabric lettering.  The scripture I chose was:  "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord."  Luke 2:11  I placed the quote in the top left corner.

The sheet was so soft it folded really well.  It weighed about 1.2 lbs (with instructions and the paper lights) and fit perfectly into a gallon sized resealable bag which he can save and use to store the tree in until next Christmas.  Easy shipping AND storage!  I sent a small package of tiny, gold safety pins for him to use to hang the ornaments and lights on the tree. The whole project was very inexpensive to make and I mailed it in a padded envelope so it wasn't too expensive to mail either.

I hope that it helped his "home away from home" feel more like Christmas and that it gave he and his companion a tree to decorate and a place to hang their Christmas cards, etc."

Jackie

The finished product!  In my son's flat in England...

along with the his birthday poster from our ward Primary.

Missin' you on the 4th...

Whenever we have a gathering for the extended family I like to pull together something for everyone to work on to send to our missionaries.  We have Matt who is serving in the Washington Seattle Mission, Alex Nicole who is serving in the Bolivia Santa Cruz Mission, and B.J. who will take off for the Washington Vancouver Mission in August.  I try to keep things simple and inexpensive. Here's what I came up with for or 4th of July family Bash:

I already had some butcher paper so I cut a strip for each missionary making each a little narrower than a regular envelope and had my daughter Bekah decorate them.  I taped them to one of the sliding doors and set out a school box full of red and blue markers and colored pencils.  That's it! Pretty easy.  I just walked around a bit taking candid photos for a photo collage and occasionally reminded family members to write to the missionaries before leaving.

What do missionaries like as much as letters?...maybe MORE?  Photos!  With Alex serving in Bolivia I've been wracking my brain to figure out how to cut some of the weight from the care packages I send.  Usually I send actual photos but this time I decided to try my hand at making a photo collage of our 4th of July festivities.  I really like how it turned out and Alex and Matt won't have to worry about carrying photos around their whole mission and can even just stick them in their journals if they like.  Each page prints to an 8.5" x 11" paper.

That's my family!...well, part of them anyway.

Aren't they fun!

Photoshop makes putting together a collage super easy.  I thought it might be a good idea to label each photo...Matt's been gone a whole year and the young ones tend to change quickly.  You could do the same thing in other programs but it's going to create a pretty huge file and will take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to print.  Make a pdf of your collage and print the pdf copy.  Your collage will look the same but it will be a much smaller file. You could also print these using the 'double sided' option on your printer.

To mail I just folded up each strip and put it and the photo collage's in a regular envelope.  I did have to take it to the post office to be weighed but it was a fraction of what it cost's to send a package to Bolivia.  Every little penny counts, right?

Want MORE creative letter writing ideas?

check out here, here, here, and here.

DIY - Chalk Board Letters

This is another way fun and super inexpensive creative letter idea.  I went to the local thrift store - I'm from Utah so for us that's Deseret Industries aka 'the DI' or 'the D & I' as my kids called it when they were little.  I'm sure that there are other thrift stores around but the D & I is pretty prevalent around these parts.  I picked up three picture frames.  The prices ranged from $1-$5.  Not bad.

Supplies:

frames (with glass)

Chalkboard spray paint

spray paint in different fun colors

chalkboard markers or chalk

Look for frames with some character.  Wood will work better than metals because the paint will stick better.  Size doesn't matter though a larger frame will allow you to write more. 

1) Clean the frames.

2)  Take the frames apart - remove the backing and the glass.  Usually there are just some clips on the back that you can either move aside or bend which allow you to add a photo. 

3) Clean the glass.

4)  Spray the glass with chalkboard spray paint and allow to dry thoroughly.  I picked some up from the local hardware store for less than $5.  I thought that the spray would go on smoother and not leave brush marks but if you have chalkboard paint, by all means, use what you have.

5)  Spray paint the frames.

6)  After everything is dry, reassemble your frames.

There you have it!

I had the kids use chalkboard markers because I thought the writing would show up better in the photos. They were a little pricey I thought - $12 for a pack of five markers but they've lasted a long time.  I found them at the craft store. I used a spray bottle with water and a towel for easy cleanup which made the chalkboards nice and black again ready for the next persons letter.  Don't use a paper towel for the cleanup.  Your chalkboard will shred it to pieces.  Nasty mess.

(Click here for a photo book idea)

Happy Birthday Photo Book

I picked up some 4x6 photo albums at WalMart a while back for $1.  That's the regular price so this little project is sure to NOT break the bank which will keep my cute hubby happy and still allow me to keep my missionary happy with packages.

You'll want to change the album covers that it comes with.  Just open up the front and back covers and slip the old one out and use it for a template for your new covers.  I was doing this for Matt's birthday and I wanted to make it coordinate with the rest of his package (see here and here and here and here) so I used the free printable that I had already downloaded from Kiki at I Heart Naptime for my new cover.  Simply open a new document and cut and paste it in from your file.  Re-size to make it fit the dimensions of your photo album.

I wanted to add some kind of title for the front cover so using Photoshop I designed a missionary name badge.  Took gobs and gobs of time to figure out what fonts to use that were somewhat close.  It looked incredible and I was so excited...until...I accidentally stumbled upon a site from the church that said we're not supposed to do/create anything that mimics the church logo.  Darn.  It looked awesome...so...back to Photoshop...delete, delete, delete...using the same style of font I just inserted his name, his mission and his birth date because, after-all it's for his birthday.  Hope I've changed this up enough that it doesn't look too official but still looks 'missionary-ish.' (see top photo) Gosh. Following the rules is tough sometimes.  Did I mention that it looked amazing? (murmur, murmur, murmur...)

When the family was at our New Year's Game Day I snapped photos of each family holding some birthday props.  This would be way cute with some dress up hats or boas or some mustaches on sticks.  CUTE!!  Man!  I just may have to do this again...   

(My brother looks thrilled, doesn't he?  I'm sure he's thinking..."Sheesh!  Another project?!"  

I think he's learned that it's easier to just humor me.)

Then using some chalkboards that I had made when Mason was out (see here for that fun idea), each person wrote a personal message to Matt with their birthday wishes.  

(my cute niece who will leave for Bolivia in March 2014)

Place them all inside your photo album and ta-da!!!  Done.  Your missionary will love it!  AND another perk? This will fit nicely inside a small Flat Rate box from the USPS with just enough room for a few treats.  Easy peasy and way inexpensive.  Have fun!

cRaZy Cards!

I don't know what they're really called but I call them cRaZy cards because they are just CRAZY and I think they're a HOOT!  You know...the cards that you open and they talk?  They're not the music ones...they talk...and they're funny!  We sent some to Mason when he was on his mission and he thought they were hilarious so we knew Matt would love them as well.  They are a little on the pricey side, for a card at least but he'll only get them once while he's out on his mission.  Gotta change things up for the next birthday!

I like to get comfortable (picture THAT in the grocery store! ...no, wait) and settle in for the long haul and read...every...single...one of them.  I have to find the absolute perfect card to fit everyone's personality.  So far I've always been able to do it.  There are a few companies that make cards but the only ones that I've been able to find that 'talk' as opposed to play music is Peek-a-Boo Innovations from Hallmark with Hoops and Yoyo (www.hoopsandyoyo.com)  

This one was the perfect one for Jeff and I to send...

(outside of card)

Remember when you were born?

No?

Let's review!

(inside of card)

basically, there was a little crying

and then

a whole lotta AWWWWW!

sigh, it was a good day.

Have an AWWWE-SOME

Birthday!

(audio)

This was our screaming - aahhhhh!

...then there was some crying - wahhhhhh!

...and a little bit of anger - You got me into this!

...then the weather broke, the clouds parted, and there were angels! - aaaaaaa!

...and little harps - brriinnng, brriinnng, brriinnng!

...and a little bit of confusion - What?!

...and then there was - Awwwww, look at the little baby, so cute!

Christmas 2013

This year I told the kids that they all had to come up with a gift to send to Matt for Christmas.  The only criteria I gave them was that it couldn't be too big.  Then they each wrote a personal Christmas card to go along with their gift.  Here are some of their ideas:

Greetings from Europe!

My daughter Rebekah recently returned from a trip to Europe with her Aunt Cindy and a couple of other girls.  It was the trip of a lifetime!  Bek worked hard and saved enough to pay for her trip along with one year of college including room and board.  It took her a couple of years, but she did it.  They were gone for seventeen days and traveled to England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Belgium.  While there, Bek mailed a post card to Matt from every one of their stops along the way. Knowing that Matt has a sweet tooth, she purchased different kinds of candy from the various countries.  When she got home, she whipped up these cute bag toppers using Photoshop.  She also sent a deflated Rugby ball that she bought for her Rugby playing brother when she was in Ireland. Matt loved it!

Burnt offerings anyone?

I think Colin actually made the best personal/practical gift for Matt.  In his seventh grade Life Skills class they made aprons out of dishtowels.  They turned out so awesome!  Colin also included a bottle of our favorite steak seasoning with $20 wrapped around the bottle so Matt can go buy a steak for he and his companion.  Have you ever tried Spade L?  Man, oh man, oh MAN!  You will NEVER go back!  It is a meat seasoning with flavors for beef, pork, chicken and fish.  We have the one for beef in our food storage...yup, it's just that important to us.

(image courtesy of FDC Factory Direct Craft)

- click on above image to be taken to FDC for step by step apron instructions -

The aprons looked pretty simple to make - I was volunteering in the class the day they worked on them. I found a pattern for the exact one on FDC Factory Direct Craft (factorydirectcraft.com).  The instructions are for a child size and it tells you to cut the towel in half if it is for a 'small' child.  Don't cut it and it will be the perfect size for an adult. 

Choose the Right!

Maren decided that she wanted to send some CTR rings for Matt to give out to not only the children of investigators but for him to give to children when he's out tracting.  Her idea was this:  If Matt is out tracting and he can see that the person has children...even if the parent isn't interested in their message, he can ask if he can leave a gift for the children.  He can explain to the children that they are to wear the ring on their right hand (unless they're a 'leftie').  Whenever the reach out to do something, the ring will remind them to always choose the right!  What parent wouldn't want that?... AND this small, simple message will stay with the parent...and maybe, just maybe that seed will grow and be ready to harvest when the next missionary's come knocking.  

We picked up the CTR rings for $1 each at our local Distribution Center located in Deseret Book. Don't have a Distribution Center near you?  No problem...you can order them online by clicking here or visit store.lds.org and they'll be mailed right to your door...well, to your mailbox at least. You can even order them in 28 different languages if you're ordering online.  Cool huh?!?  We put them all in a little drawstring bag so Matt could just keep them in the pocket of his shoulder bag. Do you think they'll ever go back to backpacks?  Hopefully not for the next two years...those shoulder bags are pricey!

Family...

My gift for Matt this year was a framed family photo.  We had it taken two days before he left on his mission.  He took a photo with him but it was an older one...Matt is the tall one on the back row. Isn't he cute?

What did you send your missionary for Christmas?

Make a Photo Book!

Every year my kids look forward to the Bouwhuis Family Camp Out.  We've been holding it for years and years and it is one of the traditions that my kids want to make sure we keep on doing when they have kids.  I have ten siblings and we all take turns planning the event though everyone is more than willing to pitch in and help with the planning.  The planner gets to plan the where, the when and the food.  

I wanted Matt to feel like he was included and missed so I took lots of photos and had them developed into 3x5 size.  I took a pack of  3x5 index cards and some pens and markers to the camp out and had everyone write messages to Matt then included them randomly in with the photos.

Make a punch template using a spare 3x5 index card.  Use this template as a guide so that all your holes are lined up and your stack will be neat and tidy...yup, my OCD is always kicking in...OR your could take the entire stack to the copy shop and have them drill the holes.

Make a cover and a back for your Photo Book. 

Print it out onto heavy card stock and laminate it for durability.  

Add some large rings to the top and ta-daa....you're done!

The whole thing will fit into a small Flat Rate box with just enough room for a little treat...

Almond Joy's for my fellow coconut lover.  

There's only two of us in the family.  

Sad for them.  

Good for US.

We never have to share!

(insert evil, maniacal laugh here)

Primary - "Happy Birthday" Poster

In our Primary, the kids make a "Happy Birthday" poster for each of the missionaries serving from our ward. It is so much fun to put together and the missionaries and kids both LOVE it!  It takes only a bit of prep time to pull together and seems to get faster every time...because I never change the basic design. Call me lazy or call me smart. I choose smart.

I pick up 2 yards of butcher paper from the local craft store.  I usually buy enough for a few posters at a time and just put a rubber band around each roll and keep it in the closet until I need it. Depending on the butcher paper, you may need to cut it down the side to make it a little narrower so it will fit on a door at the church.

Using a wide tipped black marker I write my message at the top of the poster and then draw candles along the bottom edge.  Seriously this takes less than five minutes.

Now, using colored pencils, just scribble around the outer edge of each letter.

Any kind of colored pencils will work (although my daughter and I are partial to Prismacolor) or you could use crayons.  Don't use markers.  You'll go through at least one set with every poster you do!

Don't worry about being 'neat'.  It actually looks better a bit sloppy...my kind of project!

Color in the candles along the bottom edge...

You certainly don't have to do 'candles', I used to do 'cupcakes' but candles 

are much faster to draw and color.

I tape the poster onto a door just outside the Primary room and put a box of markers on a chair (just something inexpensive that won't soak through the poster and leave the birthday message on the door - like Crayola for example).  I also post a note on the other side of the door that says, "Please use other door" so the kids don't get bowled over when the Sunday School class that meets on the stage gets dismissed.

Quietly pull the kids out three or four at a time until everyone has written a message.  I don't usually pull out the Sunbeam's.  With the Senior Primary you can just instruct them that as one child comes back in another one can leave, row by row until they're all finished.  Anyone who walks by is more than welcome to write a birthday message and I always make sure that their family knows we're working on their missionary's birthday poster that week so they can write as well.

I purchase square mailing tubes from my local post office ($3.99) - round ones tend to be a bit pricey.  Call their moms and ask what the missionary's favorite candy or treat is and put in a couple of small bags.  Some missionary's like healthy snacks so you could add some protein bars or small bags of nuts or fruit rolls.  Before closing it up I like to write a quick note on a PostIt inviting the missionary to send a note or postcard back to the Primary.  The Primary kids don't know that I do this but they are THRILLED beyond THRILLED whenever a thank you note gets read to them in Primary.  Sometimes we even get a photo sent back showing the missionary with their poster.  Awesome!

"My Favorite Things" printable

You would think that after being someone's mother for ump-teen years that I would be able to remember what some of their favorite things are, right?  Yeah.  NOT!!  Let's blame it on the fact that I have seven kids, a son-in-law and a daughter-in-law.  Or...we could blame it on the fact that I'm now 50 (which has actually been a pretty fun thing to blame things on).  It's probably not either of those things though.  I think I'm just forgetful.

 

I have a rolodex on my desk with all my address, etc.  I have a card for each of the missionaries that I write to with their information on the front and their favorites listed on the back.  While that works pretty well, it's not very aesthetically pleasing AND requires that I fill it out myself.  I whipped up this little cutie last night.  Hope you like!

 

(click here to download the free 8.5 x 11 printable)

 

 

Mission Countdown Blocks

One day soon after Matt left I received this photo on my phone...

 

 

...with the caption, "Project of the week."

 

Isn't it amazing?!  I love it!  This cute project was made by one of Matt's dear friends and when she sent the photo I asked if she would make me one too  AND would she take photos and do a guest post on my blog.  She said, "YES!!"  So here it is...

 

 Thanks, Miranda!

 

 

Items needed

 4 square blocks

(any size will work; we used 3"x 3" blocks)

base block - cut to fit 3 blocks

(a 2x4, cut to 9 inches worked perfectly for the 3" blocks)

patterned paper - up to six different patterns

(double-sided paper works great)

paint

Mod Podge

(I used a matte finish)

vinyl numbers*

(make sure that the 'six' and the 'nine' are interchangeable with whichever font is used)

vinyl 'saying' for the base*

 

*paper die cuts could also be used and Mod Podged onto the blocks

 

 

Paint the base and all 4 blocks a solid color.

 

 

Cut the patterned paper into 24 squares just smaller than the blocks.

(2.75" squares for 3" blocks)

 

 

*Mod Podge the paper squares to each side of the block.  Use a couple of coats to make sure the paper won't peel off.  Also coat the base with Mod Podge to seal it.

 *Best way to Mod Podge - check out this video by Addicted2Decorating

 

 

Apply the vinyl numbers to the blocks and the saying to the base.

Use the chart above to figure out which numbers to put on which block.

If you're making blocks for a Sister missionary, a quote can be used on one side of the 4th block because they aren't out as many days as the Elders.

 

 

Thanks Miranda!

 

And just to help you keep on track...

check out the free 'Days Left' widget that you can download to your smart phone.

That little tidbit of helpful information also came from Miranda.

Matt has some really great friends...

 

 

"You guessed it!" - bag tag printable

Can you believe that THREE people guessed where Matt would serve?  His little brother Connor, and two others that weren't able to come over for the 'Grand Opening.'  (You can read about Matt's 'Grand Opening' here.)

 

I had a gift bag of candy already put together for anyone winning at our house and thought I'd share what I sent in the mail to the other winners - one of which had just entered the MTC. 

 

Hey there

SMARTIE...

You guessed it,

Congratulations!

 

Purchase a bag of Smartie candies - very inexpensive and just about every store carries them - and put in a cellophane bag.  Attach the bag tag and tie with a ribbon.  I was mailing mine so I lined a small Flat Rate Box with colored tissue, folded the tissue over and put the gift card on top (after jotting a few lines on the back of course 'cause who doesn't like a letter?).  Good to go.  Easy.  Inexpensive.  Fast.  My kind'a package.

 

I've made a few color choices for you...

click on your color choice to download.

 

YELLOW

GREEN

PINK

BLUE



Hire a Photographer? Genius!

We don't own a video camera.  I know, we're probably the only family on the planet (or at least in Utah) that doesn't own one but we don't and here's why.  Once upon a time my brother-in-law got a new video camera and asked us if we'd like to have his old one.  Mind you, this was a LONG time ago.  My twenty year old daughter was like six or seven and the video camera was a monster.  You had to sit it on your shoulder it was so big - and look in and eye piece and then view it on a little tiny black and white screen.  Remember the days?  The one and only time that we ever used it was to my daughter's one and only dance recital.  We're sitting in the gym, on the bleachers, and she's dancing her heart out, and Jeff is recording away and the whole performance lasts all of two minutes and when it's over Jeff looks at me and says, "Why would I want to watch Bek's performance through a little viewfinder in black and white when I can watch the real thing in full and living color?"  So we donated the video camera and that was that because I too don't want to watch life happen while behind a viewfinder. 

 

Last spring I had a burst of pure inspiration.  Mason would be coming home from his mission in July and I wanted a million photos and while I have a pretty decent camera it is not a high speed digital one so my action shots tend to have bits of blur in them and it's not like you can tell him to back up and come off the airplane again and I wanted to be IN the moment and not worrying about the perfect shot...(whew, breath girlfriend!)...so...I got this thought...inspiration...why not hire a photographer?  I'm tellin' ya - it was genius!  I wished that I had a friend that I could beg to come take photos and though I do have a cousin that takes amazing photos (J.Taylor Photography), she was already doing a wedding that day so I just grabbed the phone book then went to each photographer's website to view what their pictures look like and started making calls.  Calls?  Not really - one call, that's all.  First local photographer that I called (Shootz Photography) was thrilled with the idea and charged me the same price that she charges to do birth photography - $100.  With that I got the photographer, all the photos on a disk AND a slide show.  Totally worth it and all of us - the whole family - got to be IN the moment.  It was wonderful and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

So here's Mason's homecoming slideshow but not the one that the photographer did 'cause I couldn't get it to upload but they are all her photos.  Lucky that I have that awesome software that I told you about here...

 

  

 

(...any ideas why YouTube seems blurry? Maybe it's just my old age...)

Where in the World?

I whipped* these up for Matt's "Grand Opening" of his mission call and thought I'd share.  When people came to our home we just had them jot down their guess for where Matt would get called to serve.  Some of his friends posted their guess on Facebook or texted him and we entered their guess for them.  You can click here to make copies for your own "Grand Opening" celebration. NOTE: For some strange reason, known only to God himself...occasionally the link doesn't load correctly.  If this happens to you, I apologize from the depths of my heart. Please email me at shalanb@comcast.net and I will send it in an attachment right to your inbox. Don't worry...I check my inbox frequently.  I'm a bit of a fanatic about that.  I've tried to reload and repost to Box all to no avail...sigh...

So did we have a winner?  Yes!  Actually we had three winners...Connorton, Matt's brother was the only one present.  The other's had their prizes mailed to them.  Pretty amazing evening!

*Disclaimer:  I shouldn't actually say "I whipped these up"...my daughter Rebekah helped me create them on Photoshop and this is my first Photoshop project ever and it took a good portion of the morning.  The credit goes to Bek...she was very patient with me.  Thanks Bek!

HD Slideshows via ProShow Gold

A couple of weeks ago my friend Jackie and I were discussing our sons upcoming Eagle Scout Court of Honor and she mentioned that it might be nice to do a slideshow of the boys.  Cringe.  Hmmm...do I have very many Scout photos?  Who do I bother to get more?  I don't even know how to make a slideshow...that means I'll have to call Janice - but she has a MAC...what would I have to do to change it to work on my PC?  Or I could bother Eric - but he's bishop now.  If I don't have time, he certainly doesn't have time...Those are the thoughts that are whizzing around in my head while outwardly I say, "That would be AWESOME!"  Which indeed it would be...if I can wrap my brain around it.  I do hate to bother other people.  Of course Janice says, "Yes!"  That's the kind of person she is.  We need to get out photos to her as soon as possible because she is busy the end of the week.  Of course the Court of Honor is the following Sunday.  I am a last minute kind of girl, in case you haven't noticed.

Skipping my Sunday nap, (which is the one and only perk to the 9 a.m. meeting schedule) I head into the office to go through photos and scan in those that I do have.  Jeff mentions, "You should call Eric he has tons of Scout photos."  Eric was the Scout Master and Jeff was his Assistant.  "I can't call Eric.  He's way too busy."  So I scan and search while Jeff takes a nap.  Fast forward and his nap is over..."You should really call Eric."  So I call Eric and apologize before even asking him for what I know will take him forever to do...and he says, "No problem!  My MAC has face recognition.  I'll just click on a photo of him then go eat dinner.  Should be done running when I'm finished eating."  Wait?!  What?!  There's such a thing?  Wonders of modern technology!  It's a miracle...but wait, there's more...

An hour later, Eric calls and tells me he's got a disk ready for me.  I explain about the slideshow and he says, "I'll do it for you."  "You absolutly will NOT!"  Then he makes a confession, and this is the part that this very long post is really all about, (I'm very long winded at times)  "I have this really amazing software.  It will make your slideshow in about 10 minutes.  I spend more time picking out the music than it takes to actually put together the slideshow."   Hmmm...Instantly Janice has her free time back and I get to learn something that I've always wanted to learn.

Proshow Gold (Photodex)*, the ultimate HD slideshow tool and my new favorite computer program.  Easy, peasy.  Seriously.  This program will easily combine as many photos, videos and songs as you want.  The wizard will help with automatic show creation and instant effects or, create it all on your own.  No matter how you choose to create your show, ProShow Gold also offers tons of built-in tools that let you edit your show content to perfection.  You can also use ProShow Gold to publish your show to 40+ formats for sharing online, on TV, DVD, Blu-ray, Facebook and YouTube.  There's even a button that you click if you want the program to sinc the song to your slideshow.  Brilliant!  Program is downloadable or for an extra $10 you can download it AND they'll send you a hardcopy.  On the downside...Eric was right.  It does take longer to pick the perfect music than the slideshow will take you to put together.  Here's a hint:  Piano Guys.*  Trust me.  If only learning Photoshop were this easy...

 

 

* Note:  I have not received any funds toward promoting ProShow Gold or Piano Guys.

I just really, really like them and thought you might too.

The Call...It's HERE!!

Our Missionary Wall

At our home we have a wall, not just any wall, it's our Missionary Wall...sometimes irreverently referred to as "The Shrine" by my other children yet to pin their photos.  I should explain.  We have a lot of returned missionaries in our family and many, MANY neices and nephews who are growing up much too quickly.  Mason would be the first missionary grandchild on my side of the family to serve a mission and I wanted to show where he was serving and where others had served before him.

 

We purchased a very large map at a local school supply store (Utah Idaho Supply).  I bought the laminated version because I wanted to protect it as I didn't plan on putting glass over it.  I also picked up some gold map pins while there to used for marking where the missionaries had/were serving.  I just used a heavy embroidery floss in a coordinating color to span from the pin to their photo.  I took the map to my local frame shop (FrameWorks of Utah) and we sketched out what I invisioned. 

 

First I needed to figure out how much mat I wanted showing between the map and the frame itself.   I figured that most people have a wallet size photo and so allowed enough room to mount the photo as well as a name/place tag under that. I contacted all of my family members (on both sides of the family) who had served missions and requested a photo.  They can just email one to you and you can print it out.  If they send you an original please be very careful with it and return it promptly.  I only contacted our direct line i.e. Grandparents, parents, aunts/uncles and cousins.  If I did our extended family...well, that would just be too many missionaries!  I do have a few that I haven't received photos from yet...I just printed out a tag anyhow and someday I'm sure they'll come across a photo.  Everything is just mounted onto the mat (which has a slick surface) with photomounts so they are easy to reposition and move around when I need to squeeze another missionary in - so their strings don't cross over each other 'cause I'm really anal and that would just drive me bonkers!  When everyone came over for Mason's 'Grand Opening' of his mission call, I had the cards with photos and places ready and those that were there got to attatch their own photos and strings.  Then Mason opened his call, and attached his photo and pinned his mission, and I cried.  It was a pretty amazing evening and the cousins look forward to their chance to be on the Missionary Wall.

 

Here's a cost saving hint:  Try to find a composite frame i.e. one not made out of wood.  Mine looks beautiful, I think.  It's actually a plastic composite and is very light and very inexpensive.  You could also go to a thrift store and purchase a picture in a frame; take the picture out, spray paint the frame any color you desire, take the frame to the frame shop and they will mount your map and mat for you.  Even better!

 

As usual with my hairbrained ideas, what started out as something simple morphed into something bigger but in this case better because we all actually really love what it morphed into.  My son Connor, came up with the brilliant idea to mark the temples.  I loved it!  I went back to the school supply store and purchased more pins:  White = temples in opperation, Brown = temples under construction, and Yellow = temples announced.  We had an amazing evening one night pinning all of the temple pins.  My daughter, Rebekah had the list of current temples and she would read them out while the younger kids found the location and pinned it with the appropriate color pin.   After finishing we stood back and were amazed at how the world is literally dotted all over with temples.  One of the kids said, "Look at all of the places in the world where there are wars and contention.  Look how far away they are from a temple.  The temple really does bring peace."  Out of the mouths of babes...One of our favorite parts of General Conference is when they announce the dedicated and new temples. We stand ready at our map to change colors and insert new pins.

 

 

Now, my cute little Matthew has opened his call and guess what? He got to attach his photo and pin his mission and I cried again.  What an amazing adventure he's about to begin!