Three things that seem to be in high demand and short supply these days are time, happiness, and relaxation. Today I’m going to show you how to find them in some surprising places from some unexpected sources. It’s funny how easily they could be had but how elusive they are until we get a few hints.
Category Archives: Talents
Fun New Ways to Share Recipes
Giving from the Heart series
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Every family has a great recipe. I’m a recipe collector myself, and my recipe mantra is that the best recipes are shared. I wouldn’t have any –ANY– great recipes if I didn’t taste something, love it, and ask for the recipe. As we continue our #familyhistoryfriday Giving From the Heart series, we’re going to look at some fun ways to share recipes. Whether you have family recipes you’d like to share or recipes from friends, sharing well-loved recipes is a great way to remember times together or even just come together.
The Importance of Creativity to Personal Growth
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Whether or not you think you’re creative, you are. (If you’ve ever said, “I’m not creative,” today’s #familyhistoryfriday post is one you especially need to read.) Creativity is not just important to personal growth– it’s important to life. We touched on creativity last week in The Importance of Hobbies to Personal Growth, so let’s dive in a little deeper. Why is creativity so important? How are “non-creative” people creative? Understanding what creativity really is and what it really looks like is the first step to using creativity for personal growth, satisfaction, and happiness.
The Importance of Hobbies to Personal Growth
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In today’s culture of busy-ness, it can be easy to think of hobbies as an extravagance or an indulgence. However, hobbies are an important part of personal growth. Learning a new skill, developing a talent you already have, and doing something simply for the pleasure of it benefits your brain, heart, and attitude. Hobbies are good for your overall well-being. If you’re not sure what this has to do with #familyhistoryfriday, keep reading!
An Important Part of Family History: My Story
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I’ve learned two important lessons in my life. I forgot the first one, but the second one is that I need to start writing stuff down. ~anonymous
As we focus this month on family history, it might surprise you to learn that an important part of family history is your own story. Connecting with yourself first through recording your own life story gives you a starting point. It also gives you a sense of belonging, peace, and gratitude. And that’s a great way to begin a story!
How to Print Your Pictures From Your Phone
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It’s estimated that we take 1.2 trillion pictures a year, and 85% of them are taken on smartphones! We all know that taking a picture is really easy, but what about getting that digital image into a form where it can be seen more readily? As you know from previous #familyhistoryfriday articles, accumulating a stockpile of photos isn’t really the goal. Having gigabytes upon gigabytes of photos that remain untouched and unappreciated don’t do the heart and soul good– seeing those photos does. The whole point of taking a picture is to see it, not to store it. We’ve all mastered Step 1: how to take a digital picture. Now let’s conquer Step 2: how to print those pictures from our phones.
How to Get Your Pictures off Your Phone
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Pictures are the focus of this month’s #familyhistoryfriday, and today we’ll look at one of the most basic photo obstacles: getting them off your phone. In the last 10 years or so, photos taken on a phone have come a long way. Back then, the grainy image was not really worth a second glance, but today I can take better quality photos with my phone than I could on the first digital camera I owned! With increasing memory capabilities on phones and better quality, the phone is a common way to take photos these days. And because phones are in our pockets, it’s easy to take a lot of photos with them. But now what?
Building Bridges between Generations using Photos and Memories
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What good is the past? Are there benefits to looking to the past? Absolutely! Here’s why the past is infinitely important to me: My grandparents lived there. I learned lessons there. I fell in love, got married, and had babies there. My grandparents passed away before any of my children could know or remember them. If I want my children to know where they came from and know those sweet people they didn’t get a chance to know, I need to take them back to the past. The best way I know of to bridge generations is using photos and memories. Photos bring people to life and put faces to names. My memories of my grandparents make them real people to my kids and provide opportunities for connections, even though they’re gone.
Preserving Pictures Using Paper Scrapbooking
giveaways celebrating one year of photos, memories, stories, family, and connections at Evolve
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Did you know the first “scrapbook” was the family Bible? Bibles quickly became family heirlooms, passed down from generation to generation. People would record births and deaths in the front cover of their Bibles as early as the mid-1400s. According to The History of Scrapbooking, by the mid-1800s, publishers started including extra pages in the fronts of Bibles for people to record family births, deaths, and marriages. It became common around this time to also add newspaper clippings and other “scraps” (like crocheted bookmarks or even locks of hair) within the pages of the family Bible. My father-in-law found a tintype photo in the family Bible he inherited!
During the 1800s, photographs came into being, and printed memorabilia increased in popularity. People would save mementos and photos in “scrap books,” a word coined in the 1800s. Family scrapbooks grew in popularity between about 1920-1970. At that time, scrapbooks were books of blank pages, usually black or cream-colored, ready for photos, journaling, stories, and mementos to be kept. ScrapbookING, though, is another story.
My Favorite Story Products
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There’s an old African saying that when a person dies it’s as if an entire library burned to the ground. I actually think about that a lot when I encourage people to tell their stories and the stories of their loved ones. Nobody thinks his or her story is all that important or special–but if you don’t take the time to tell it, you’re lost to the world within a couple of generations. Your “library” of knowledge, experience, love, and lessons has essentially burned to the ground.
