Amara has a little cousin she had never met who is about 4 years younger than she is. At least I call her Amara’s cousin. I have never been good at figuring out those relationship things. She is my stepbrother’s granddaughter. I’m not sure what that makes her relationship to Amara so I’ve just gone with the generic label of “Cousin”. Cousin is lucky because she lives near Amara’s Great Grandma, someone else Amara’s has never met. They live in Michigan.
Every year for Christmas, I make Amara’s Great Grandma (my Mom) a photo gift of some kind through Shutterfly. Some years I make her coasters, some years I make her a calendar and sometimes it is a mouse pad. Cousin has always loved these gifts. Great Grandma tells stories of how Cousin kisses the Amara coasters and carries them around the house with her. When she was little, she thought the calendars were books. Great Grandma would sit her down and tell her stories about the pictures. She loved them and I liked that these things became her treasures and her toys. And Amara loved having an admirer.
So a couple of years ago I got inspired to make Cousin a real book. A book all about Amara. I used lots of pictures of the fun things Amara likes to do and I wrote the book as if Amara herself were narrating it. Cousin loved it and I do think this is a wonderful way for cousins that don’t get to see each other very often or who may never have met, to get to know one another. The only problem was I had never seen the finished product and neither had Amara.
So last week when I got a new Shutterfly coupon — Amara got a new book to add to her collection!
Tags: cousin, Shutterfly
I love Shutterfly and I especially love these books. What a great idea for cousins.
For the past several years I make books for all of our vacations. It is a great keepsake.
She is going to have quite the collection of personal books by the time she grows up! I make her a Shutterfly book for each of her birthday parties, too! I’d do one for vacations but we never seem to get around to taking one of those!
You do such a wonderful job with those books! They are family treasures!!! xoxo
I’ve never made you a book! I need to do something about that. I love you baby sister!
I did a Shutterfly book for each of my three children this year….of flowers and bird photos that I had taken. I had a small good thought on each page. They are such wonderful gifts!
Love The Cousin narrative…tho never having met in person, Amara and Cousin know each other through your wonderful gifts!
Sarah
Oh Sarah! I bet your books were beautiful as your photographs sure are. Photo books really are cool.
Your step brother’s grandchild and your grandchild would be step second cousins, but “little cousin” is ever so much nicer.
I have a MAC and the thing I love the best is the i-Photo. I stick my card right in the computer, they download, then I make a book and once my info is in I just press order. They come quickly and are beautiful.
My elderly aunt (91) who has been a grandparent to me, seldom gets to see my own little gramerlings, so I love to make books for her and my mom. I also make the kids books for their birthdays that chronicle playdates.
I never tire of looking at them myself.
That’s a great way to forge a relationship with cousins.
Second cousins! I had a feeling you would know the answer – thank you! I am so jealous you have a MAC! We used to have MACs at my old job and they really are awesome and so easy to use. I bet your aunt really loves your books. So glad we live in the computer age!
I love making photo books, too. I’ve used several different companies. I also have some advice that could save you from a costly mistake.
I’ve read some of your advice about photo books and I know I should have more of them waiting in queue for when I get coupons but I haven’t quite made it there yet. This one I already had finished. The other good thing you had said was to try different photo sites and I really need to do that. I’ve done 6 other books, all through Shutterfly. I am so comfortable using them but it is so easy to be a creature of habit. I should try others. I might find they offer better or just different things. Maybe I will try something new this year!
There’s definitely something to be said for sticking with one company, because you get to know their system. Learning a new system can be soooo time-consuming.
Exactly!
Hiya!
What a lovely blog you have here. I found you by following comments you have left on some other blogs where I lurk. I love the idea of making photobooks – I need to organize to get that done. I have entered a contest or two – the latest is the Globe Life one they are advertising on Facebook. Other than that though, my 1000s of photos just clutter up my hard drive. You have inspired me to do something about that!
Thanks,
Tandy
I am so glad you visited. I hope you come back! You will really have fun making photo books but I must warn you – you can spend hours! It is even worse with the calendars. I make them every year for all of Amara’s close family and I spend hours just going through all the pictures from the year before! Hours! Well worth it!
We all LOVE our calendars!!!
I think that is so nice of you to share your love of Amara with another child! Love it!
Thanks! I know you have made a lot of books for the boys. Where do you get yours done?
I love the idea of a “cousin book” for those long-distance friends. Our girls have a cousin in New Orleans, actually she’s my niece, so she’s my kids’ cousin – I think that makes her our girls’ first cousin once removed. Anyway, they see her about once a year but just love when she comes to visit. A photo book would be a great way to share with her, and I’ll bet she’d make one for them too! Thanks for the idea!
I bet your niece/cousin would love a “cousin book”! I would think it would be even more fun to create when they do know each other. You could do all the highlights of the year. Christmas, Halloween, school events. Good luck! Gotta warn you it is addicting and it is time consuming, but it is a whole lot of fun.