Busy Bee Lifestyle » Creating Family Memories

Memory Collections

Host Bee — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 20:15:03 +0000

Making a Memory Collection

Just how do you go about collecting memories? The obvious answer is through a photo album or video tape, but I’d like to offer you some different ideas!

A Cork Collection

A wonderful family that I know quite well has saved the corks from every bottle of wine and champagne that they have opened on special occasions! These corks are collected in a large clear glass bowl and each are inscribed with the date and event. Remembered are occasions such as anniversaries, engagements, birthdays, and promotions. As I look at their bowl overflowing with great memories, I want to start a similar collection immediately!

A Matchbook Collection

Like the bottle corks, a large glass bowl is also a perfect host for a collection of matchbooks, taken from favorite hotels, bars and restaurants. Matches from vacation spots and foreign destinations are even better! Grab a matchbook as you leave, jot the occasion and date inside of the matchbook and drop it into a beautiful glass urn. Before you know it, you’ll have a colorful and sentimental record of special events!

A Unique Guest Book

I LOVE this idea! When having company for a special occasion, don’t set out the usual guest book or sign in poster, but display a pile of polished river rocks – easily purchased at your local craft shop. Next to the rocks, set out paint pens or sharpie markers in pretty colors. (Consider a metallic color ink or a color that complements the guest of honor.) Have each guest inscribe their name onto a rock as they enter your home. After the party, fill a large glass container with all of the personalized rocks and you will be left with a meaningful and stylish remembrance!

A Table Cloth of Memories

My mother has talked about this idea for years, and I was reminded of it recently in a Hallmark magazine article. Purchase a very large plain white tablecloth. Every time that you have company for dinner parties or holidays, have guests sign the tablecloth with an ink pen. After each celebration, embroider what has been written using different thread colors. Add the names and birth dates of new babies, wedding dates for married couples, and dates for special anniversaries. After most of your family and friends have added their signatures to the cloth, you can get creative! For example, “2007 – Summer in Paris” or “John: UVA Class of 2008.”

Even if you aren’t interested in starting one of these collections for yourself, forward this entry to your favorite engaged couple or newlyweds! Right away!! Their memories together and as a family are just beginning!!

Do you have a special family or friends memory collection? I’d love to hear!

Tip Tuesday – A Fabulous Travel Souvenir

Host Bee — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:40:24 +0000

Tip of the Week – A Fabulous Travel Souvenir is all Sewn Up!

Stitching Postcards are a terrifically uncommon item from Uncommon Goods (go figure!) and a unique way to remember a special journey! These postcards feature your choice of a map of the United States, Europe or the world, along with needle and thread. A quick and simple sewing session turn the postcard into a frame worthy, one of a kind travel log.

Use these cards to stitch the routes taken, landmarks seen and memories made while traveling from city to city and country to country. (Stitching Postcards, set of 2 for $10) This is a perfect gift for anyone with a big trip in their near future and also makes a nice teacher’s gift! For more teacher’s gift ideas, see Terrific Teacher’s Gifts!

And please visit our fabulous Tip Sponsor, Cupcake Swirl!

A New and Easy Christmas Tradition!

Host Bee — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:24:57 +0000

Tip of the Week – A New and Easy Christmas Tradition!

Each year, when we bring home our Christmas tree, my husband saws an inch or so off of the trunk so that there is a fresh surface to absorb water in the tree stand. These sawed off “tree circles” have ended up in our fireplace, but no more! I recently came across a very simple and sentimental idea to turn those wooden “circles” into treasured ornaments!

Once the circle has been sawed from the tree trunk, wrap a thin length of wire around the disk and twist it into a loop on top for hanging. Cover the wire by gluing ribbon, rick rack, faux greenery, pom poms or whatever fun trim you have handy, around the edge! Document the year on one side with a permanent marker or paint and add a Christmas photo on the other side! Voila – you’ll have a meaningful and sentimental record of Christmas 2008 and you can continue the tradition in the years to come!

Please visit our fabulous sponsor, Posh Party Box! Currently all holiday gifts are 15% off and they are offering free shipping on all items.

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How to Save Vacation Keepsakes

Host Bee — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:05:24 +0000

Tip of the Week – How to Save Vacation Keepsakes!

After any vacation, it’s inevitable that we return with more than just photographs! At the bottom of our suitcases, there will be room keys, brochures from attractions, ticket stubs, drink stirrers, sea shells and lots of other items that won’t fit into a traditional photo album. And since this was my family’s “summer of adventures” (see Summer Adventures 2008), we ended the season with an especially large zip lock bag filled with odds and ends too special to toss!

Saving Our Memories

I decided to try a creative idea to solve the dilemma of saving those very special odds and ends.

Using a few plain, white paper sandwich bags, my youngest daughter and I labeled them with four highlights of our summer: beach, concerts, pirates and a whale watch.
Annie decorated each bag with adorable drawings and I punched three holes in the same place on each bag – two at the base of the bag and one centered at the end.
We looped two loose leaf rings (from Staples) through the holes on the base to create a “book” and then filled each labeled bag with the appropriate souvenirs.
A cute ribbon threaded through the holes on the ends closed the bags and secured our keepsakes!

Colorful, condensed and cute all describe our finished product! You can use this easy, low cost idea for any special trip or to capture memories from a school year, birthday or anniversary.

And so, if your summer has left you with an assortment of mementos, give the paper bag plan a try!

P.S. I got so caught up in thinking of ways to enjoy and display vacation souvenirs that another article was clearly in order! For some additional ideas, head to Displaying and Enjoying Vacation Memories!

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Tags: save vacation souvenirs, keepsacks, memories, savoring, capturing, scrapbooking, recording, unique ways to save your vacation memories, saving vacation memories, clever, fun, unique

Clever Ways to Display and Enjoy Vacation Memories!

Host Bee — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:02:34 +0000

Displaying and Enjoying Vacation Memories!

I’m part of a family that loves souvenirs and I often wonder if the gift shop isn’t why we went somewhere in the first place! And in addition to the gift shop purchases, we also love to gather all sorts of other memorabilia – from shells, to rocks, to room keys and other fun items along the way. In a recent Tip of the Week, Saving Vacation Keepsakes, I proposed one way to preserve these “treasures” using paper bags, but I also had a few other ideas that can turn your keepsakes into three dimensional scrap books!

Gather your memorabilia and choose from:

A Wooden Tray – line the bottom of the tray with maps, photos or post cards and cover with a piece of glass Plexiglas. The tray then becomes the perfect place to display all sorts of little mementos. (See exposures.com for a variety of memory trays including the tray pictured at top.)
A Glass Vase – repurpose a low, clear glass vase from flower arranger to memory keeper and stylishly corral all sorts of keepsakes. (click photo at right to enlarge)
A Glass Jar – a large, clear glass jar also works beautifully as a memory keeper! Choose a size that suits the items you’ve collected and stow them inside. A ribbon trim around the lid is the perfect finishing touch!

The best part about these ideas is the fact that all three can be used to display keepsakes until next summer, your next trip or your next adventure and the new treasures that your family has gathered along the way!