I am half-way through a Kickstarter project that ties the next growth phase of Snap Stories to Voices for Children in St. Louis, MO.  The project is currently 27% funded, and has 32 books pledged to Voices for Children.   Kickstarter is all-or-nothing.  If the funding goal of $17,500 is met by August 13th, the project goes forward.  If it doesn’t, no money is collected, no new books will be printed & no books will be donated to Voices for Children.

If you are interested in:

• helping the children served by Voices for Children (CASA)
• a win-win-win project, modeled after TOMS shoes
• or doing something that leaves you feeling wonderful

Check out this project & take action (fund it and/or tell your friends)!

It’s simply a matter of getting this project in front of enough people who care about the power of photos to bring joy, comfort, connection, and smiles to ALL children.

Here’s a video explaining it a little more.

Kindly,

A few weeks ago my nephew was over and he was showing me his newest One Big Adventure Snap Story.  I clicked on the video camera, because I was on the prowl for “the perfect” Snap Stories footage for my Kickstarter videos.  I was instantly aware of how fidgety he was and how runny his nose was.  In the end, the taping was pretty funny and was really far from perfect.  In fact, I had mentally tossed it out since it didn’t come close to the soundbyte I had played up on my mind.

But when I looked back at the clips, searching for parts that I could maybe use, I was actually impressed with how fluidly he constructed a story from the unrelated photos he had chosen for his book.  He is a smart kid who loves drawing, but doesn’t love reading.  To see him page through the book narrating with facility, telilng me his story, I was really —surprisingly!— touched, because he was enjoying it.

The other thing I learned with the camera rolling, was that it’s even more engaging for kids to choose the photos they want to put into the story.  Oliver’s favorite part of his story was a photo of my dad and his dad hamming it up for the camera.  Oliver’s take on it was priceless and mortified me at the time (as it was all being catch by my video camera), but I realize now “what other story has a picture of his dad play-punching his grandfather?” and, at seven years old, how cool that must be.

Here’s a taste of the footage.  Most of which I didn’t use in the video, but all of which I love.

Here’s hoping we get to 100 backers of the Kickstarter project by the end of this weekend!  We did 19 in one week, maybe (if we smoke A LOT of hope) we can do 81 in 3 days!  You never know…keep spreading the word.

I kept the Snap Stories event calendar light this season to focus on organization and balance, ha!  That didn’t happen.  Case in point of disorganization & imbalance: the two events are on the same day, this Saturday, April 21st.

Enter my friend Amy, to the rescue.  She is going to not only work the Snap Stories booth at the Kirkwood High School Gymnasium (9-4, sponsors the KHS theatre group going to Scotland!), but she’s going to “merchandise” my booth!  Apparently this means she is going to make it look REALLY pretty and irrestible, and designer-y.  It’s her passion to bring intrigue and style to a space, and I love the way she does it. Check out these photos of her home:

Where Amy’s style is French provencial, and she’ll cook up something charming for the Snap Stories booth in “the hillsides” of Kirkwood on Saturday, I will be sporting the same tiered ladder booth display of shows past on the metropolitan side of town at the Chase Park Plaza.  Variety Week’s kick off event —a Fashion Show featuring Carmen Marc Valvo (ooh la la!!)— has a “boutique” aspect and Snap Stories is honored to be a vendor!  Variety has raised millions of dollars for children’s charities for the past 80 years.  A percentage of book sales will go directly to the charity that helps children say “I can!”

Happy Spring to you!  Hope you can swing by either side of St. Louis to say hey to me or Amy.  We await with photo storybooks that bring smiles, connection, and joy to all!

Kindly,

 My daughter on “One Big —Springtime!— Adventure” at the Botanical Gardens. Pick up your own One Big Adventure storybook at one of our spring events!

Spring frolicking?  Spring cleaning?  Whatever it is, I’m sure there’s a story tucked in it somewhere.

I’m kicking off my Saturday morning by leading a workshop at StudioSTL, a youth writing program here in St. Louis.  Who needs coffee when you’ve got 20 kids looking at you for entertainment/direction at 10am?  I’m excited, honored, and to be honest— a bit freaked out by the opportunity.

The workshop is called Through Other Eyes; it will be an interactive lesson on perspective and point of view in storytelling.  They have billed me as an expert on photo storytelling, so excitingly our final project hinges on the power and intrigue of characters in various photos.  I’m going to visit the archives of my friend John’s Accicental Mysteries blog to see if any of his curated vernacular photographs will work.  Can’t wait to lose myself in those photos…

Guess what?  You can be involved, too (figuratively, that is).  I hope to find a few good people to “sponsor” a One Big Adventure Snap Story to be given to each of the kids in the workshop.  I can provide the books for this workshop for $6, so your $12 donation could provide two kids with their own Snap Story to take home.  This way they could work on creating an adventure story of their own this summer.  What a gift!  Email me ASAP, if you would like to ‘endow’ a book for a child (emma-at-snapstories.com).

Additionally, if you have a spring bee in your bonnet about wanting to volunteer somewhere and make a difference in someone’s life, the team at StudioSTL would be tickled pink to talk with you.

Wish me luck.

Enjoy your weekend—

And live your story.

Let’s take a quick inventory of things KIDS LOVE:

• candy
• games & activities
• candy
• stickers
• stories
• candy
• photos

If you’re looking for a sweet gift this Valentine’s Day, check out Snap Stories. Better for your body than candy, and good for your heart in every way :-)

For $12 you can gift someone with a story that really sticks!

A fun activity designed to trap printed photos INSIDE the pages of a whimsical, yet sturdy, book.  It’s peel and press fun that results in a keepsake.  Cool, huh?  We’re offering FREE SHIPPING on all orders from now through midnight Tuesday, February 14th, the pinnacle of loveliness.  Plus we’ve added gift wrap as standard on all orders, no charge.

Now that sounds easy-peasy, super-sweet-that-can’t-be-beat, doesn’t it?

Use the code PHOTOLOVE.

Happy Snapping,

Oh boy!  Photo-scouting for 11 Favorite Smiles of 2011 challenge crystalized the reality that my e-photos are a royal mess.  I have guilt to resolve, photos to tag, and loads of photos to delete!

DETAILS…

Join THE TEAM & I will email this icon, to place wherever you need a reminder.People I know are guilt-ridden for:

• not taking enough photos
• not editing photos
• not printing photos
• not organizing photos 

If one of these is a source of frustration for you, join THE TEAM by emailing me (emma -at- snapstories -dot- com).

Make a commitment and check in, via email, everytime you work to implement your goal.

We will share a Google document that will list our stated photo goal & incremental progress.  We can learn from each other, and monitor our own (and collective) progress.  I can promise that this will be an intimate group, because Snap Stories & my voice/audience still has a small reach… That said, feel free to invite anyone you know who has voiced self-critique in managing their family’s photos.

Join any time during 2012, for each month you are actively participating and keeping up with your goal, your name will be added to a drawing for a FREE SNAP STORY!  Anyone can join at any time, and if you check in with progress two times that month, you’ll be entered for that month.  Of course, the bigger payoff will be resolving the guilt!

Below I’m listing some tips I’ve distilled from scouting around.

Shoot More.

Some of my absolute favorite photos are the ‘randoms’ taken on Any Day, USA (verses the birthday shots, the the photos with Santa, or the everyone-look-and-say-cheese shots).  Plus, I feel more at ease peeking around the corner to snap my kids playing together, rather than trying to light the birthday cake, sing Happy Birthday AND get the right photo!  Often, it’s the everyday moments that hold the real emotions you want to remember.

Keep Less.

It’s SO EASY to take digital photos.  The hard part is figuring out which ones are worth keeping.  To me, it almost feels disrespectful to DELETE even a digital photo that has my cute kiddos’ mug smiling back at me.  I have to remind myself, “you have six great shots in that sequence.  You don’t need all six!  Pick your favorite and delete the rest.”  It’s true, seeing just that one moment (verses all similar six ones) will do the emotional job of ‘bringing me back to that time & place.’

Print More.

What would bring more photo joy to your life?  A few snapshots on the coffee table, or the dash board of your car?  Maybe tucking a photo into your child’s lunchbox once in a while?  Or your spouses suitcase when they go on a business trip?  It takes just a few clicks to print from your phone or computer (or you could invest in an instant-print camera).

Organize All.

Better to start where you are, rather than at the beginning.  When you get (or make) a little time, you can go back to other years.  (It can be too daunting to go back and organize the photos from when your child was born, rather than today, when they’re 4 years old.)  Create a folder for each year & month.  Each download should be a new file, within the appropriate month folder, titled by theme (playdate with Williams, Tia’s visit, Joey’s 5th b-day, snowman+, etc.).

 Save each month to a CD.  Put the CD in a safe place or CD album WITH a printed out contact page of the photos on that CD.

eleven  

It’s the number of the year, but it’s more than that (to me).  It’s a magical little number, standing tall and clearly waiting to dance with itself….

Here at Snap Stories, we did something fun around this time last year.  In 2010, I came up with 10 INSTANT, THOUGHT-FULL GIFT IDEAS and shared one each day, in countdown fashion.  Like so:

• 10.  Calling Gifting All Crafters (take handmade to a new level)
• 9.  This (over)board book rocks! (a buoyant gift for water-lovers)
• 8.  Photo Fun for Everyone (especially budding photo-journalists)
• 7.  Girls Travel in Groups (celebrate your circle of friends)
• 6.  Grand with a Capital “G” (for grandparents)
• 5.  Project:  Snow Day (perfect, instant, at-home project for school-age kids)
• 4.  Brag Book (for grandparents, parents, or baby!)
• 3.  The Wanna-be Explorer (adventure photos to the rescue)
• 2.  Right for Tween (photo peek from be’tween the pages)
• 1.  Hands-on Teacher Gift (earn bonus points, for sure)

The countdown was a hit!  But we can do better.  I’m sure I can get more creative and sappy (er, snappy) than that!  Without further rambling, here’s how you can join me in rounding out this lovely, oddly odd year.

I want to challenge you to scout through some of your personal photos & find your ELEVEN FAVORITE SMILES OF 2011.

It’s pretty simple, either upload the album to the Snap Stories fan page on Facebook, or send me (emma -at- snapstories -dot- com) a link to the “Eleven Smiles for 2011” album whereever you store your photos (picasa, Shutterfly, Snapfish, Walgreen’s, etc.).  The deadline is January 11, 2012.  5 people will win a One Big Adventure Snap Story.  One person (the Snap Smiling-est King or Queen of 2011) will win ELEVEN books, plus one to grow extra-happy on.

I can’t wait!  What a way to wrap up a year….in smiles.

Family & friends, turkey & cranberry, sharing & giving, remembering & making:  yum, yum, double yum!

In that vein, I’m also a sucker for printed photos.  Nope, NOT the photos trapped on your phone or home computer, the other (near obsolete) version of photos that in days past adorn the refrigerator with mismatched magnets, dog-earred and curly, but present and touch-able.

In the spirit of giving, I wanted to share a few ideas to jumpstart your family’s nostalgia.  By the way, if you are inundated with offers from Shutterfly, TinyPrints, Snapfish, and the like, don’t worry—this isn’t like that.  These ideas are much easier than composing a photo card or getting caught up in the sea of fabulous design options…  These ideas work with any ol’ snapshot, and they can happen without much thought or time spent selecting photos.  I call it Instant Nostalgia.  Wanna give it a whirl?

1. Print out* 20 or 30 photos that you like.  Don’t deliberate over “are these the best?” or anything like that, just do it.  Put the stack of photos on the coffee table (within kid-reach of course) and let the conversations begin, or lay them on the seats at the holiday table (a fun surprise as everyone is sitting down), or use them as “bread crumbs” when your kids wake up Thanksgiving morning, leading to a note at the kitchen table that says “HAPPY THANKSGIVING—-I’m so thankful for YOU!”  *(just take your phone to Walgreen’s or Target with a USB connector cable; it’s that easy.)
2. Again, using images from your phone, pick out 10 fun photos.  Get double prints of these images.  Use the photos as a simple, instant game of memory (also called concentration) by turning all the photos over (back side facing up) and try to find the set of matching photos.  Nothing fancy, literally, just the photos.
3. Printed photos these days cost about a dime, so (unless they are really old & irreplaceable) they are, well, completely replaceable.  So go hog wild! Cut them, tape them, write on them, spray them with perfume(!) and otherwise simply enjoy them.  I like to cut out people in photos & tape the cut outs on all sorts of things and even in snack bags as an added (sugar-free) surprise….even sprinkled around the kids’ holiday table!
4. Of course you could layer Snap Stories into the fun.  Most families have a box of random printed photos.  Pull out that dusty box and add a few Snap Stories to the mix.  Sit together as a family and snap together stories of family adventures, old baby pics, or birthday keepsakes.  You could also buy an (old school!) three-ring photo album and stick the photos into an album…don’t worry about chronology, just do it!  A baby step is better than no step—-it’s the perfect family activity for young & old to tackle together.
5. Or, if you’re hosting and looking for something to keep the kids busy while the adults catch-up, have the big kids (8+) help the little kids (4+) make a Snap Story to give to the grandparents when the pumpkin pie & whip cream is served.  Surley your family has photos from a summer trip, or celebrating a special birthday, or of a new baby in the family.  The act of making the book will bring everyone into the experience, even if they aren’t front & center in the photos.  (This is a serious esteem booster PLUS family-bonding opportunity!)

Wishing you a Snappy (& Happy) Thanksgiving holiday,

Looking for more, see a few of my ideas from the past:

Bring Photos to Your Holiday Table

Photo Fun for Everyone

Also, you can now pick up Snap Stories in the Whole Body department at Whole Foods in Town & Country, as well as I Am What I Am in St. Charles.  For a list of all Missouri retailers, click here.

It’s exhausting to be at home, parenting solo, while my husband travels; and I know it’s hard for him to be away from his family.  He even told me he didn’t want to call and hear our voices because he missed us all so much.  He said, “You have no idea how many times I watched the videos and looked through the summer photos on my phone.”

Similarly, on the home front we looked at an above-average number of photos featuring “daddy playing with the girls.”  No surprise, we have Snap Stories on hand to jog our memories, too.  (And daddy has a My Baby Face for each his girls as babies.  He keeps in his suitcase and sets up like a frame on the night stand at hotels.)

In fact while he was gone, we had an evening activity of making a One Big Adventure storybook for friends we visited this summer.  It was one of those ‘deeper’ activities that I get a kick out of because the kids loved it, I loved it, and —BONUS!—we have a fabulous thank you gift to give to a dear family who I know will love it, too (AND I can cross sending the thank you card off my list)!

It made me feel good to know that during the time we were missing daddy, we were making something for Grant, who’s daddy also travels a lot.  Lilah, 4-years-old, acknowledged that by saying “Grant can keep this with him on his cot at nap time if he wants.”  Her sentiment was so sweet, and although Grant doesn’t go to day care like Lilah and her sister do, I know he will keep the book close by.  He can take comfort in glimpses of his dad and mom during the day (—-not to mention his two new coastal playmates:  Lovely Lilah and Crazy Cali).

Take a look at what we made in 20 minutes:

should say “my mouth ached from screaming!”

Pretty cute, huh?  I hope it’s a story Grant (and his parents!) will want to visit over and over for years to come…

Happy Trails & keep some family photos in your suit or brief case, as you never know when your fancy phone may fall in a margarita…. and zap!  (yes, it’s happened :)

How ironic is this:  I’m sitting in a cafe typing out the title of my blog post —poised to tackle the nostalgia-inspired photo trend for smart phones (hello instagram, ShakeItPhoto, & Hipstamatic)— when a friend of mine walks by the window with her 2 year old son.

We’re chatting, then I say “Oh, I almost forgot!  I have the cutest photo of Anderson from the other night at Katie’s.  I’ve been meaning to email it to you, but here, check it out.”  I opened iPhoto and quickly found the photos.  She smiled at the sight of her adorable son (who wouldn’t?), then said:

Patrick and I were just saying that we need to take and print more photos.  We recently lost a friend to cancer and he put together a photo-look back at his life.  It was so amazing.  One thing it really made us both think was that we need to print more photos.  In fact I went on Craigslist last night to see if I could find a Polaroid but since they aren’t making Polaroids & Polaroid film anymore, it’s all extremely expensive…”

I said, “I hear you.  And if you did get to the point of taking & printing the photos, what would you do with them?  Put them in an album? Store them in a box or drawer somewhere?”

She said with a smile, “Well, I would make Snap Stories…” which was the perfect tongue-in-cheek response.  Yes, that’s exactly the space Snap Stories fills, but the current four Snap Stories titles are not (by any stretch) the answer to the “photo-situation” we face here in Phone Land.

An App For That…

I don’t have a complete answer to the problem.  But if I can raise the capital, I’m going to take a bite out of the problem with a simple phone application (aptly called the Snap App).  I believe the problem to printing photos —and therefore enjoying them for years to come— starts with editing.  Optimized memory space, allow us to snap and store photos till we’re blue in the fingers.  So, I have conceived an app to help with the editing part (printing your favorite photos is then just a click away).  Who (besides James Bond) would have thought phone=photo?  Yet, today it does.

Still, all the apps in the world won’t take us back to the time and place of flipping through albums with printed photos, or walking into a friend’s kitchen and seeing a refrigerator door covered with snapshots, or tucking photos into a thank you card, or opening a novel and seeing a snapshot that was used as a bookmark…

Funny candid photo from AccidentalMysteries.comI realize folks aren’t just attracted to the emotions of time-worn photos, they are attracted to the look.  I think it was a brilliant juxtaposition to make high resolution, immediate-gratification digital photos look like old, grainy, chemically-developed aged prints!  I think we’ve become a little numb to how great photos look, such that the lower quality, “mysterious” images are more interesting.  It’s this fascination that my friend John clicked into years ago, and catalogs online at Accidental Mysteries.

Here’s where I shed a tear.  Why? Because there is a magic in holding something.  In passing it, literally, to someone else and seeing their reaction.  That hand-off is a connection, a “touch” between people.  There is also a sense of cause and effect in seeing the edges curl over time.  In the bigger sense, what I see in the loss of printed photos is the lost of tangible things as they are replaced with digital ones. My husband and I were talking about this the other day.  Without missing a beat, he hilariously said something to the effect of soon there will be an app for touching each other.

I’ll end my jaunt down memory lane with a look forward:  we don’t know what we’ve got till it’s gone.  Please, let’s not let printed photos be a thing of the past…

Happy Snapping,

My friend Suzanne snapped this Hipstamatic of me at a trade show in April.PS.  If you’re interested in being a part of the new Snap App, let me know!