As stated on Wikipedia: The holiday is named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.

I love to celebrate my Valentine’s Day with my family, hubby and kids. We usually get dressed and go to a nice dinner somewhere. I get gifts for everyone. I think its important to show the kids your love. I usually get them a small gift, maybe a small stuffed animal and some candy.

Here are some other ideas you can do with your kids to celebrate the day:

• find a craft project and spend time together working on it
• read a story (about Valentines Day) together
• do a puzzle
• cook lunch together

I found these links to be a great resource.

Double Heart Popup card

Valentine Word Search

Coloring Sheets

Kids Valentine’s Day Books

Kids Valentines Day Recipes

So what do you like to do on Valentines day? Please share your ideas with us.

Here are the rules for the award:

#1 You must link back to the person you received the award from.
#2 You have to nominate 10 bloggers who are deserving of this award!

Here are my nominations:

1: http://crafting101.today.com/

2: http://betterthenyomammascookin.blogspot.com/

3: http://www.momdot.com/

4: http://dawnslearningtoys.wordpress.com/

5: http://homebusinessdm.blogspot.com/

6: http://abbyandfriends.blogspot.com/

7: http://speaksoftly.wordpress.com/

8: http://borsabella.blogspot.com/

9: http://www.scrapbookinggems.com/

10: http://www.photographyandtransformation.com/

To all of my friends, I recommend you create a scrapbook page commemorating the inauguration. You can include newspaper clippings, a photo that you take of the inauguration on your television (I have done this during hurricane Wilma), scan some websites and get some pictures of the day. This could be a really fun project. You can even turn it into a small album. Within your project tell how you felt about the day and event. This will be great information for others to look back on in the future.

So how will you commemorate the day? Please share your ideas with us.

Create a special Valentines Day gift for your loved ones!

Using your stash of photos, pick out ones that highlight your relationship with that special person in your life. With those pictures you can do several things:

1. Choose the Best Photo and get a frame and gift it!
   
2. Choose 1-3 photos and create a single scrapbook page with them. Then, find a frame that will fit the page, and gift it!
   
3. Choose one of the many photo gifts from the online photo retailers. They offer a great assortment of products to choose from. One of my favorites would be the photo book. Choose a bunch of photos and create a photo book to last a lifetime. One of my favorite online photo retailers is Shutterfly. Click on book below to get some great savings with Shutterfly coupons.
   
   Here are some coupons you can use also:
   

I think one of the best reasons to create a table like this would be for a child. You could include all kinds of family photographs. This would serve the child in learning about their family, near and especially those who are far and not often seen. I am thinking about creating one for my nieces, as they love being with their cousins so much but we don’t get to visit as often as we would like.

So recently, I went searching around online and found some instructions are creating a similar table. I found a great article on Suite101.com. This article, How to create a memory table, takes the crafter through actually creating a table out of wood and then continues to discuss the fun part, scrapbooking and covering the table top.

I think that when I get to this project, I will go looking in a thrift shop for a cheap table, or get one froma garage sale. Then all I will need to do is sand the table down and paint it in the color that I choose. Then scrapbook the table top.

Have you created a table like this? If so I would love to hear about your experience with this project. Anyone want to try to create one, let us see your finished result.

Turn your photographs into a storybook of memories with scrabook journaling. Giving each layout your personal touch can be as simple as a personal message or including a verse of a favorite poem or song.

This ebook, Scrapbooking Creations, is a wonderful tool for the beginner or experience scrapbooker. It includes many different tips, tricks, ideas for layouts and great projects. I welcome you to download it free. Once you read through it please share your thoughts. Did you try any of the projects or use any of the layouts? Post a link to pictures you would like to share.

Get those pictures out of your photo album and do something creative with them.

Note: To dowload and/or view this ebook, you must have a pdf viewer installed on your computer. To download a free pdf viewer, click here.

If you are like me, I have a ton of pictures from 2008. What are you going to do with them all?

What I would like to do is to create a scrapbook highlighting 2008. To remind me what 2008 was about. What happened in 2008, significant events, birthdays, parties, new friends, old friends, good times, bad times, holidays, whatever was significant or meaningful to you.

There are several ways this can be tackled. There can be a page layout for each month or one or two page layouts per person in the family. I personally like the monthly approach.

This type of scrapbook album should contain the following:

• Title page displaying the year 2008. You may want to include some pictures from 2007 New Years Eve celebration here as well as New Years embellishments.

• Monthly title pages displaying the month name and several pictures and embellishments which set the scene for the month. For example, September may include school type pictures, July could include fireworks embellishments, or December showing off the special holiday season.
• Detail Pages will follow the Chapter page and should include holidays and other events that occurred in the month.

I will be working on my pages and will post them as I go. I will next work on the 12 monthly title pages. Stay with me to see how it is done and to get some ideas for yours.

]]> http://creativephototreasures.com/now-is-the-time-to-create-your-2008-scrapbook/feed/ http://creativephototreasures.com/now-is-the-time-to-create-your-2008-scrapbook/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/creativephototreasures/zwQt/~3/s8YVI8mY6OY/ http://creativephototreasures.com/what-to-do-with-your-holiday-photos/#comments Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:33:43 +0000 Admin http://creativephototreasures.com/?p=137 So who took lots of photos this holiday season? I know I did. The first thing that I plan to do with my photos is to of course post my favorites to my Facebook profile. Then a must is compile a video of the pictures for my family to watch. I want to add music and special effects to it and give it to them on a DVD that they can just pop into their DVD players and watch the fun on their own television (or computer).

A great online site that I use to create videos is Animoto. Animoto allows you to create a 30 second video for free! What could be better. You simply upload your pictures using a very easy interface. Pick some music to go along with it and voila! You’re done!

So lets see what is involved in creating this gift of the holiday season. All you need to create this fun video is some photos on your computer and about 15 minutes.

Go to the Animoto web site. You must first create an account but don’t worry it is free. There are however upgrade options to use other features such as creating a full length video. The free video is 30 seconds long.

Create your account

Click on the sign up link at the top of the page. Enter in the requested information and click the sign up button at the end.

Create a free video

Once you have created your account, click on the create video link on the top left side of the page. You will be walked through a 3 step process. 1) Get your images, 2) Select music, 3) Create video. In step 1 you can upload pictures from your computer or get pictures that you may already have online from flickr, facebook, SmugMug, Picasa, or photobucket.

After all your selected pictures are chosen, click continue to go to the next step. Here you can browse through the musical categories and selections. You can also upload music from your computer. Once you find a musical selection, click the save and continue button. And then its on to step 3.

Step 3 is where you will provide some information about your video. This information is shown at the end of the video, just like credits for a movie. Click the Create Video button and let it process. You will be alerted when it is complete.

Click below to view my holiday video.

Once you are happy with your video, you have the option of posting it to many different online venues, such as your blog, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, email to your friends, or simply download it to your computer and burn it onto a DVD.

Creating this video took only about 15 minutes. It is simple to use. Go create one today and email it to your family and friends as a reminder of the holiday season. Once you have yours created, why not share it with us here!

You can make your gifts more personalized. Take the time and create your own wrapping paper. It is fun and easy to do and can be made for any occasion.

HP provides some great directions to create your paper using your computer, printer, digital photos and Microsoft Word. Create your own gift wrap today!

What you will need to get started with this project:

• A treasured recipe
• A photo of the prepared recipe
• A photo of the person to be remembered for the recipe
• 4×6 Photo Paper (preferably)

HP has a great online tool that you can create these recipe cards with. When you are done using the tool they supply to create the card, you can download it and print it on your printer. Its an excellent tool and you can customize the card to your liking.

Check it out at the HP Activity Center. There are lots of other fun activities on this site. Check them out and have fun.