The Antique Piano.

We have been really working on getting our home ready to put on the market.

We have so many projects still yet to finish.

I stopped at the local Re-Store today, with the intention of looking for items that are on the list of things we need for projects.

I found the most beautiful piano I have EVER seen.

I put my fingers on the keys of this antique piano and began to play a little tune.

I loved the sound of the music from this old piano.

It brought me back to my childhood days, sitting and practicing my piano lessons for the week, with the sound of the metronome in the background helping me keep time.

 

 (source)

I decided to wait to purchase it, to give it some thought; even though I could already picture myself sitting at this antique piano in my own home playing the old keys and teaching my two daughters how to play.

I came home regretting not going ahead and buying the antique piano.  

I know finding a treasure like this may not ever happen again. 

I will be going back tomorrow in hopes that this beauty is still there, and bring it to our home where it will be treasured and loved.

Another year in the books....literally.

Another year in the books.....literally.

I just uploaded and ordered another book from Blurb last night.

Untitled by | Make Your Own Book

I can't wait to receive it in the mail.  It is like Christmas the day it arrives!

Now what book to begin?

I have plenty of years to publish. I can't decide whether to go in order (2013, 2012, 2011); which would be our 2011 year; or to work on one of my kids younger years, such as 2004 or maybe even start one of their baby books. Decisions, decisions. 

Cherish Your Photographs

Cherish Your Photographs, part two, will be posted later this evening. I had planned on posting it yesterday, but we have had a busy week.

Cherish Your Photographs, Part One

For years I have kept my photographs in boxes. So many special moments and memories just tucked away in a box.

When I would find my kids going through the boxes I'd be the first to tell them, "Make sure you keep them in the places you found them, I worked hard on organizing them all".  Sounds a little crazy, right? And no matter how much I reminded them, the pictures were never put back in the same places. But watching my children go through the pictures, laughing and reminiscing of memories of the pictures they were holding in their hands....I knew I didn't want my cherished photographs to be kept in boxes any longer.

I decided that day to start a project that I know will take quite a while to finish. But I know when this project is finished, it will be well worth all the hard work I put into it.

For me it was like Christmas the day this book was delivered. My kids spent over an hour looking through all of the pages and reading all that had been written for that year. They were laughing with each other, tearing up at several of the deployment pages, pointing out favorite days and remembering all the days and memories from the book they were holding in their hands.

This was a deployment year for us, so the book was full of pictures and memories. I added a sentimental quote to the front cover, something that represented our year. I used the overlay tag from Jamie Shultz Designs.

I chose to use Blurb for our books. The program is easy to use and I wanted to be able to put a whole year of pages into one large book.  I chose the 12x12 size and filled up the book with as many pages as I could (440 to be exact).

I designed monthly pages for our book; it was a simple way to keep it all in order.

I have kept a family blog for years. I love how I am able to go back and put all the stories that I have written into each of these books.

I have a few favorite layouts that I find myself using in the book. I love having a favorite picture as a full page spread and then using the pictures from the same event on the facing page.

This is another favorite page layout -

I try to keep a good balance of white on the page, I feel it lets the pictures stand out and help tell the story of the book.  But some pages, just a few, I love filling up every bit of the page.

This page below is a favorite design as well. To make this page, use a full page spread on both the left and right pages. Slide the picture over just a bit on the opposite page as the picture, or until both pictures overlap and you have a page that flows from one page to the next.

I always try to include a letter to my husband and each of my children in the book.

I love Instagram. I also love how you can fill up a page full of Instagram pictures.

I always take detailed shots of where I am, it really adds to the look of each page.

I always include a page in the book for our dog, Molly.

I also try to make sure that I include things that have great significance. I looked at the countdown app every single day of the deployment. Looking at the screenshot of the countdown reminds me how excited I was the day it finally said " One Day...". I also photographed the email that I received from my husband letting me know the first part of his trip home had begun.

And this page, I designed it so that it would show the sequence of events. We had planned a surprise homecoming with each of our kid's schools. This one is of our son and his surprise at a Friday pep rally. He had no idea what was going on or why he was called to the floor for a spirit award. Little did he know his father that had been deployed was waiting for the signal to run in and surprise him. 

And just to give you an idea of how many pictures and pages can be fit into one beautiful book. . . 

Each week I will be writing a post and a project for the "Cherish Your Photographs" series. 

Here are just a few ideas of the upcoming posts:

Collecting and Organizing Children's Artwork and School Papers

Photographing Keepsakes 

Organizing Photographs and Negatives

Transferring Negatives to Digital

Follow along with me if you like! I have years of photographs and memories to put into books.

For Pinterest:

My Kitchen Herb Garden

I spent the afternoon yesterday planting all the herbs for my kitchen herb garden.

I have found with learning to cook that I absolutely love having fresh herbs to use.

I plan to have many more herbs in my garden outside, especially rosemary and cilantro, which are two of my favorite to use.

We returned home recently from a wonderful trip to Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia.  One of my favorite shops, The Paris Market, I fell in love with.

I loved every single detail of the shop and I came home with so much inspiration.  I also came home with several tea towels that I am using in my kitchen window for curtains....and I love how they look with the windows open and a spring breeze blowing through.

Shop in Savannah, GA - The Paris Market
Tea Towels
Chalkboard Herb Markers and Wooden Boxes - Hobby Lobby

Picture Organizing Printables.

I have been looking for the perfect way to organize all of my pictures.

I found these organizing boxes at Hobby Lobby, and spent some time organizing all of our treasured pictures.  I wanted it to have a clean, organized look, so I designed these cards to fit in the individual boxes.

I made two sets:

Vintage Stripe Picture Organizing Printables

 

Colorful Picture Organizing Printables

 

These are available in my Etsy shop, you can find my shop by clicking on the link to the side.

Or by clicking HERE 

Each set has a Part 1 January - June and a Part 2 July - December

Brown Bag Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

This recipe is a winter favorite  at our home.

We love to make these on mornings we wake up and the ground is covered with freshly fallen snow.

 

Sometimes we make them as cut out donuts, but not very often.

Most days we make them as brown bag cinnamon sugar donuts.

Vintage Style Labels.

I've been learning to cook better and with trying new recipes I find I spend a lot more time in the kitchen.  Cooking, cleaning and then cooking and cleaning some more....isn't that the way it goes?

I enjoy being in my kitchen more when I feel it reflects my style and my personality.

I added these vintage style labels to my open cabinets and I love how they look.

I used K & Company Metal Art Labels , kraft cardstock paper to complete this project.

I printed the paper labels with my printer, using cardstock kraft paper, and then cut to size.

To attach the labels, at first I used glue dots to ensure it was the look I wanted.

Then I measured carefully to make sure each label was centered with each cabinet and then marked the spot to be glued. I glued the end tabs to my cabinet and then put the cut out into the label.

The South

Last summer we visited Charleston, South Carolina and fell in love with the city.

We decided then that we were ready to pack up our family of five and move to the South.

Being a military family we have lived different places, but always near the ocean.

We moved close to our hometown when my husband went from active duty to reserves. We really didn't think about what we wanted to do in life or where we wanted to live and raise a family. We just did what we thought was the next step in life and moved back to our home state, close to family.

The trip we took last summer was a breath of fresh air for us both.

We decided then that this is what we wanted to do.

We want to move south and live near the sea.

We set goals for ourselves and where we want to be in two years.

We get asked a lot if we will miss the seasons, the falling leaves in autumn and the snowfall in the winter.

The snow is beautiful, but this winter has reassured us even more that we are ready to move South.

Our goals we are working towards are:

- Being debt free
     We want to be debt free before we move and we are currently using Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace          
         plan to reach our goal.

- My husband is working on getting his degree and certifications

- We are waiting until our oldest son graduates from high school

- We are preparing our home to be put on the market in less than two years

~ Hope

Anchor & Sail

I've been anxious to get this blog started for a while now.

I have so many things to share and I can't wait to get started.


Some of the things you will find on this blog will be:

- photography; how I learned and how you can learn how to photograph the "simple everyday" perfectly

- preserving our heritage through research, photographs and stories

- finding a special place for all of our photographs

- our move to the South

- military life

- getting back to a simple way of living, whether it be growing our own garden or learning to cook from scratch

- favorite family recipes and stories

- things I love; antique shopping, reading, photography, projects and so much more



I hope you decide to join me in this journey of preserving our past and learning to live a more simple life.

~ Hope