Well, isn't that clever! I was so diligent putting my boy's pictures in albums for the first 12-13 years and then just lost steam (or got too busy driving them around). Now I have a deep desk drawer full of unorganzied photos, about 16 years worth. Your suggestion makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing.

I have to tell you all about a nifty little photo case I ordered from QVC. Once a month Lisa Bearnson from Creating Keepsakes magazine gets on and does her thing. A few months back they had a photo case to store all your pictures. It is a large two sided case that comes with tabbed cards that you can use to seperate and label each grouping of pictures and plastic dividers that you can put anywhere you want them to be in the box (the box has slots to hold the plastic dividers ). The flip side is more shallow and will hold other things like templates and rulers. The case 13'X14" and mine probably has more than 500 pictures and still room for more (that's a rough guess!) I highly recommend buying this case. I think it cost around $20.00 plus S&H but it is well worth the cost. I even remember one lady calling in to the show and telling the two hosts that she had purchased the photo case from QVC a few months prior and her house was for some reason flooded and all the pictures survived and none were at all destroyed. It's not necessarily perfectly water tight, but it was one lady's neat story. I'm glad I made the decision to buy a case for my photos, it really makes organizing them much easier. I am not sure if they have any cases listed on their website but you can go to www.iqvc.com and type in creating keepsakes in the search box and it will give you what they currently have in stock. If they don't have the photo case at that time just keep watching for the Creating Keepsakes hour and maybe they will be selling it again. I know I have seen them demo this case at least twice within the last six months. Happy organizing!

Well, I think that everyone is again back in hibernation, the weather is very cold here and appears we're in yet several more weeks (or longer) of much below normal temperatures. I don't know about you, but I find it challenging to sort through the seed packages and get things started when it feels and looks like February. But, otherwise, my seedlings are doing great, maybe a bit on the slowish side due to it also being a bit cool in my house, though nice sturdy plants they are and a few rose seedlings are just about ready to pop! Ubro, that's a great pic! This will the first year that I'll again attempt sunflowers, sclerotinia stem rot had really taken hold and forced me to give up on them, though it's time to give another try! I have two types of globe thistle, I think Echinops Bannaticus 'Blue Glow', which is sturdy and somewhat coarse, though a disease resistant plant and Echinops Ritro Ruthenicus with finely cut silver foliage and silver stems, this one is especially very attractive, though susceptible to blight that often makes the entire thing melt away. Though, I had planted the two types side by side and I have gotten a few apparent hybrid seedlings that retain that really nice silver foliage with the added bonus of blight resistant. PNR said ... "I’ve recently recognized I like unique hybrids the most, these are often my favourite plants, from geranium ‘Rozanne’, peony ‘Bartzella’, and petunia ‘Vista Bubblegum’, and ‘Sungold’ tomatoes. I always chuckle a bit when I see my friends just stick with the very old varieties. The same old ancient marigolds and 'Straight Eight' cucumbers with their thick tough skins and less than ideal disease resistance, each to their own :). I guess, that's why I enjoy hybridization work and creating something new and unique that is prairie hardy and disease resistant. Marcia, I grew 'The Fairy' many years ago, it was crown hardy even during winters with very little snowfall. I do though recall those nasty skin catching thorns! Another crown hardy one is 'Bonica'. I once several of these along the east side of the house and laid the canes to the ground for winter and did they ever put on a huge display on those older canes! I now would like to track down 'Royal Bonica'.

I am so glad, Sue, I know everyone will enjoy it! Funny you mention the cost. When I first embarked on this, I was thinking it will be a big impact present where the gift is our time not the cost. Yikes, even with the 50% off, each book was $200 OMG. I didn't really expect that, but after all the work putting it together, I wasn't going to go back and trim. I may regret making them so large, 11x14, but I know i usually like photos to be bigger. I also fell for that very pricey for that "lay flat" upgrade that allow you to do those "centerfold" shots. Heck, i actually fell for every type of upgrade they offered, including a storage box. And then I have the engraved USBs and those boxes. But oh they will be so pretty. I actually went with this one because I liked the idea of putting a photo with it. They also have them in navy, grey, and Tiffany blue. I was upset that I had to switch my product to Shutterfly, but I have to give them a big shout out. They have added so many features to their books, and so many options for designing them. Plus, they still had my photos on there from 2005, though I had not done business w them in years. In some cases, they were photos i did not find anywhere else in my files. Whew. One of the best parts of making the book was doing the captions, and adding in things like scans of their footprints, their baby announcements, etc. I also commissioned DH to write a letter to each of them talking about the day they were born and their first few years. He did a wonderful job, brought tears to my eyes and made me laugh, too. We finished yesterday. Finally. Annie - love that tree! we do have a few photo ornaments, but a whole tree! Fab Running - Even from book 1 to book 3 i got better at it and fancier. There are soooooo many options and embellishments and features. And if you have the right dates on your photos, the autofill feature is a great start. Enjoy!