best of 2017

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I know you know this, but this blog, for so many years, has been a major blessing in being able to share so much with you! Long before social media existed, this blog has been a platform for communicating with you and I'm forever grateful for that. Honestly I don't even know how MUCH blog-reading is a part of your life these days! (Perhaps you might consider leaving me a comment at the bottom of the post and tell me about how often you read the blog or refer to blog posts around here.) But the truth is ... if you stopped reading, we would stop sharing. Simple as that, really. We see your views, read your comments, and appreciate your continued interest and loyalty. It continues to be a mixed bag of content (just like our social media sharing) around here. You'll find memory-keeping inspiration of course, but you'll also find a weekly "Good Life" series, new product announcements and other news, and all sorts of tips, tricks, ideas, and inspiration in so many areas. Everything we share ties back to CULTIVATING A GOOD LIFE AND RECORDING IT. Always.

Anyway, THANK YOU for being here! Thank you for being an important part of our community and our driving force behind our continued labor of love. We wanted to round up our most popular blog posts from 2017 as a fun annual re-cap! So in no particular order -- here you go! Want to visit any of the mentioned blog posts (there are some really, really good ones so you totally should!)? Simply click on the respective blog post title because we linked them all up for ya.

Here's to 2018 and another year on the blog!

PS -- A special thank you to my girl Molly (she's our project manager) who has really stepped in to help oversee the blog these past couple of years. There's a lot to coordinate and juggle and calendar and keep straight, and she's basically a rock star. I appreciate her so much since that responsibility was completely on my own shoulders once upon a time (on top of being 100% responsible for all of the actual content -- written and visual wise). Whew! The good ol' days, guys. Except honestly I'd say THESE days are a bit better and less stressful with an incredible team! This has allowed me to really focus more on fantastic and thoughtful CONTENT more than the organization and juggling of all the moving parts for all the blog posts, you know?

Anyway, I'm grateful. Without further adieu ... the Top 10 from 2017!

Photo Books vs. Prints

Our photo books launched through the Project Life® App (all the exclamation marks – seriously!) and we have been so stoked seeing so many of you getting your scrapbook pages from the Project Life App printed in an actual bound book. The quality is phenomenal — from the cover types to the printed pages -- and while we couldn't be more pleased with how fabulous they are, the best part is that you feel the same way! This blog post walks you through the comparisons and pros and cons of printing a photo book vs. prints that are slipped into page protectors. We're big believers in giving you those OPTIONS so you can find the right fit for you.

NOTE: We started with just the hard cover photo book option and later in the year is when we launched the soft cover option. That was a whole other blog post (keep reading).  ; )

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Memories + Natural Disasters

Why did it feel like 2017 was particularly devastating when it came to natural disasters around our country and the world? Everything happening seemed to tug at me, particularly when Hurricane Harvey was reaching U.S. soil and I (strongly) felt compelled to pull together a robust + informative blog post (as quickly as I could) that would be helpful to those who had experienced the loss of tangible memories in a natural disaster. The blog post is also packed with tips and real-life experiences (from those who truly know) about preventative measures that we can each take to protect our tangible memories from loss, thereby preventing that kind of devastation. That's probably the most valuable content in the post, and the reason why I would say this is one of THE most important pieces of work I've ever done. I very literally prayed that this blog post would be a blessing to many of you. Please, please, please carve out 10 minutes to read this if you haven't already. No one is immune to unexpected disasters.

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Preparing to Host Guests

I’m not exactly sure where my love of hosting began, but I would assume my upbringing certainly played a role. I remember my parents being very open to visitors and hosting large dinners with extra guests from time to time (and especially during holidays). My whole adult life I have always enjoyed hosting. This blog post is a summary of all my hosting tips & tricks, including lots of detailed pictures of our guest room, where we've housed dozens and dozens of loved ones over the years.

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Embracing the Teen Years

In my expression (on social media) of this current stage we’re in (Porter is 15 years old now guys!!), I was enamored with the insights, encouragement, advice, cautions, and tips from many of YOU! Man, I love this online community. So this blog post is a compilation of those fantastic insights and tips, along with a few of my own thoughts and those of the mamas on our own team (who have teenagers). If you have teens or if that's coming up for you in the next little while, I strongly encourage you catch this blog post. Seriously good stuff.

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Molly's Healthy Lifestyle Plan

Many of you know Molly as the Project Manager on our team (I mentioned her in the intro of this blog post). If you follow us on social media (where I share those on my team on a regular basis) you may have also noticed that she has quite literally been shrinking before our eyes this past year! You can imagine that watching her get more + more healthy this past year has been a delight for ALL of us here. We’re soooo proud of Molly and inspired by the changes she’s made in her life. Check out this post for all of her tips! Hint: No fad diets, no popping pills, nothing crazy at all, really. What's extra cool is that we've since heard from several customers who read her post and watched the Facebook Live broadcast (that's linked in the blog post too) ... that have adopted Molly's tips and have seen their own weight loss success! So awesome!

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Soft Photo Books - the Details

Yep. This was a BIG deal in 2017 because we desperately wanted to bring you another, less-expensive photo book option through the app. Our print partner (White House Custom Colour) hit another home run with the quality of our Soft Cover Photo Books. You asked for it, and we delivered. You wanted a more economical photo book option and we wanted to keep the high quality in tact. Well, you should have heard the squeals in our office when our printed sample books arrived. For real, it was as exciting as Christmas morning for a child! They are beautiful — the photo quality is sharp + clear, the page weight is light but sturdy, the cover is a lovely matte finish and the book is easy to hold and flip through. This blog post walks you through the details and features and pricing options.

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Getting Started with Scrapbooking

In all the years I’ve been running this business, I accidentally procrastinated covering this very back-to-basics topic of GETTING STARTED WITH SCRAPBOOKING here on the blog. (You know that emoji with the monkey covering its eyes? Yeah, that's me.) We always have so much to share about documenting life — new products, evolving ideas on how to approach certain memory-keeping projects, tips for taking photos, and so much more. It’s what we do around here, day in and day out! Honestly, I think it just felt like such a huge topic so I wondered if I needed to make an online class on getting started … or write a book … or something! That led to further procrastination. Finally I said "enough is enough!" and I just knocked out this blog post and BAM! It's done. Please read. Please share.

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Catching Up on Kids' Albums

The term “catching up” can have a negative connotation when it comes to scrapbooking. I want to say (and I know many DO say), “Don’t worry about it! Catching up is over-rated!” But the reality is . . . I do care! And so do many of you. We DO want to be “caught up” on some albums, and for a lot of us a big priority is specifically the kids’ albums, right?? So yeah -- "catching up" is something I've really been focused on with my kids' albums and since I'm finding things that work for me, it's natural that I want to share that with you! So this blog post is a whole lot of sharing! And ... links to real-life videos from my home office as I was actually working on my kids' albums.

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Introducing ... The Simple Notebooks

Notebooks! The most basic thing ever … but now available with OUR designs, as of 2017! You have no idea how excited I was about this new product launch because I personally use notebooks so so so much in my life and for so many different reasons! This blog post is packed with pictures so you can see and practically “feel” all the details … and I also shared INSPIRATION on how I personally use the notebooks in various ways.

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My Take on Social Media

I had felt really compelled to write this blog post … to share how we share! And not just how, but who, what, when, where, and WHY we share what we share on social media! Beginning with the end in mind, my hope is that you’ll benefit in some way from reading this blog post. Perhaps you’re a small business owner looking for inspiration. Perhaps you’re curious about behind-the-scenes operations (I personally love that kind of stuff). Or maybe you’re simply interested in having a better understanding as to why we share what we share.

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We love covering a variety of topics here on the blog, but as I mentioned back at the beginning of this post, we always want to stay true to what’s at the core of our company mission statement:

Cultivate a good life and record it.

Certainly we would love to hear from you with any thoughts on what you would like to see us blog about in 2018. We’re always very open and receptive to your feedback. Thank you again for being a part of our community and our story!

Inspiration