Lasting Memories

Cards for Soldiers a Success!

 
We are so thankful for all the help and donations we received to make our Operation Write Home event a success yesterday! So many of our customers spent hours helping us prep paper and supplies and making tons of cards to donate to this wonderful organization. It was such a successful event that we're planning another one for early next year!

  
 
Our goal was to make 500 birthday, Valentine, and thinking of you cards. So how did we do?

• Customers made 852 cards on Wednesday
• Customer donated 452 cards

That's a total of 1317 cards that we have to send to Operation Write Home! Wow! We are so pleased, and we couldn't have done it without all of you. Thank you! We know they will each be appreciated by the men and women who are serving our country, as well as by their family and friends who receive a handmade card.

Our Silent Heroes

As we look forward to our Operation Write Home card-making day on Veteran's Day, we're pleased to have a guest post from Design Team Member Noel Culbertson. Enjoy!

All is quiet on the home front...

Imagine it's the morning of your little one's birthday. Daddy has been deployed for almost three months, and you know the one thing she is hoping for today is to hear from Daddy! I have sat through the moment many times as a Navy wife. Our family has been through five deployments, and we're gearing up for my husband to head out on number six in the next three weeks. He's had to miss birthdays, Christmases, Easters, anniversaries, school plays, first steps, and a hundred other little life moments. It's all part of the gig. We celebrate our life moments a little different than many families - our Christmas tree has already been up for a week!! We are ever thankful and proud for Stan's service, and know how important it is to stand behind him on the home front.

Since Stan's first deployment ten years ago, I've been sending cards his way. Cards from me to him, and cards for him to send back to the girls. When he headed to Iraq several years ago, and access to cards was limited, I started making cards for other fellas to send home to their families. It's been such a blessing to see organizations start up to do this very same project on a grand scale. Not only for how much it means to the people at home receiving the cards, but also the encouragement and support it shows to the men and women risking their lives to serve.

I've had one particular family on my heart for the past few weeks, and have been debating as to whether to share this story or not. But since I am not one to keep my mouth shut very well, and because this is just one story of many that are out there that we rarely hear. This is the story on one of the servicemen who serves with my husband. This man lost his wife a year ago to breast cancer. Through the process the Navy worked to keep him near her in her final days. But this year, in just three weeks, he'll be deploying for the first time since she passed away. He also has twin 9 year old daughters. With no spouse at home, he just had to make a heart wrenching trip to drop them off with his family in Louisiana. The girls are now transitioning to life without their mom or dad (for now) in a new school in a different state... away from their nuclear family. I can only imagine what it means for those two sweet girls to get a handmade card from their daddy through such a hard time. These are the silent heroes, both at home and away.

I hope you'll be able to join us on Veteran's Day for Operation Write Home, and be a part of something that means so much to so many in our great nation. 

~Noel Culbertson

 
 

Saturday Demo - Embellish Your Die Cuts

 
Drop by Saturday, October 24 between 1:00 and 4:00pm to see our free demonstration! Dangeli will be demonstrating ways to embellish your die cuts with everything from ink to glitter. She'll also be using the Slice. Come get inspired!

Making Memories Weekend Was a Blast!

If you didn't get a chance to stop by during our Making Memories weekend, you seriously missed out! These two beautiful ladies, Marianne and Jen, spoiled us rotten with fabulous Making Memories products (including free Slice machines for two of our lucky customers!), plus incredible classes and sweet make 'n takes! We had so much fun with them and can't wait to see them again next year. Thanks, ladies!

Here is a slide show they posted on the Making Memories blog. We made so many great memories!

And of course, the most exciting part--our two Slice winners! Congratulations to Ginger Ropp and Carolyn Sapien! Ginger was there when we pulled her name, and it was so fun to see her reaction!

 
 
Jennifer put in so much time and effort to make this weekend happen--she even stayed late both nights (and she is so not a night person!). We think this self-proclaimed "pink girl" totally deserved her own PINK Slice! 

 

Thanks to everyone who came and participated in our Making Memories weekend! Especially you two, Jen and Marianne!

Operation Write Home

You may remember a few years ago you helped us donate 200 soccer balls to a unit serving in Iraq to distribute to Iraqui children. The same soldier who inspired that donation, Jennifer's nephew, is giving us another reason to come together. He's set to be deployed to Iraq for the second time, so this year on Veteran's Day we'll be hosting a card-making event to benefit Operation Write Home. This organization gathers handmade cards to send to soldiers to use to write home to their families. We'll be making cards for their Valentine's Day deadline, and we need your help!

Here's how you can help:

*Volunteer to help us prepare for the event
*Volunteer to make cards on Wednesday, November 11 between 10:00am and 8:00pm. We'll have 16 spots open for each one-hour shift throughout the day
*Donate paper scraps, embellishments, and other card making supplies (NO GLITTER anywhere is allowed!)
*Volunteer to help us get the cards ready to mail

We've all been blessed by the sacrifices of our men and women in the armed forces. Help us give back a little to them and their families. Call or come in to sign up for a shift or help before or after the event. We can't do it without you!

Upcoming Store Demo - Table Top Decorations

If you've been in the store lately, you've probably seen these adorable tabletop decorations inspired by Tammy Medema. You can make them for almost any occasion. We love them so much that we've asked Tammy to do a Thanksgiving table top decoration demo for us on Saturday, November 7th from 1:00-4:00pm. It's free, so you don't want to miss it! 

 

World Card Making Day Make 'n' Takes

World Card Making Day is October 3rd.  Mark your calendars and drop by to make one of these cute cards.  It's FREE!

 

Free Gift This Saturday

Buy $20 get a FREE paper pack (valued at $20)

Summer is not over when you look at the bright colors of this My Mind’s Eye paper pack.  This paper pack contains 20 double sided papers is valued at $20.  This great paper pack can be yours FREE this Saturday, September 19, if you are one of the first 25 people to spend $20 or more.  

 

 

This is a great bonus!  Buy $20 and get a $20 paper pack free!

 

More about our Birthday!

Each year on or about their birthdays, I tell my girls the story of the day they were born.  Today I asked Janna to help me with a topic for the newsletter and she said that since it was Lasting Memories birthday, how about I tell the story of how Lasting Memories was born, then she added "Lasting Memories is the little sister I never wanted".   I think she meant that Lasting Memories is the little sister that takes all of her mom's attention. 
 
Anyway, this story begins the way that all good stories start:
Once upon a time I was a stay at home mom with four little girls who were all in school.  Even though I volunteered in their classrooms and kept busy with church, school and sports, I didn't have enough to do with my time.  So I decided to go back to school.  I was in the second year of a program called "Family Support"; this program fell under the counseling degree program.  I loved going to school, but I was becoming disenchanted with the social work field.  It seemed as though no matter how hard I tried, I was not able to make the impact on families that I wanted to. 

One day in February 1996, I was sitting in a class, sort of listening to the lecture, when all of the sudden I thought, "I am not going to spend the rest of my life listening to other people's problems - I am going to open a scrapbook store".  I came home from school and told Lee that we were going to open a scrapbook store.  He didn't say no, but he didn't exactly say yes either.  He didn't really know what a scrapbook store was.  There were only about 5 scrapbook stores in the whole country in 1996.  After a quick trip to Utah to look at a couple scrapbook stores, Lee agreed that maybe a scrapbook store wasn't a bad idea.  We were reaching the time in our family's lives that our girls were getting ready to go to college and we were going to need a second income. 

 

My Dad had owned a pharmacy when I was growing up and I had started to work for him when I was about 12.  Having a family business held a lot of appeal for me.  Everything fell into place so quickly; we borrowed money from my Dad, found the perfect location with lots of parking, close to the mall and opened the store in June of 1996, just 5 months from my first thought about a store. 

 

We have had ups and downs over the last 13 years, but I still feel like I have supported more families with scrapbooking that I ever would have in counseling.  And like all good stories, we're still living happily ever after.
 
Speaking of birthdays, I hope you will come to Lasting Memories birthday party this weekend.  It's going to be a very "Cherry" celebration!
  
See you soon!

It's A Very Cherry Birthday

We've been decorating for the Lasting Memories birthday parts and it's looking pretty cute around here.  I love cherries, both looking at and eating, so we decided to use a cherry theme for our party.  Johanna and Dangeli made this really cute cherry banner for the Doodlebug counter.  I can't wait until this adorable banner follows me home.  It was simple to make with die cuts from out die cut center.   The pom pom was made with tissure paper, notice it has a green stem.  It's a pom pom cherry!  Join us for birthday cake and 20% off your entire purchase on Saturday, June 13th.