I didn’t think so.

The Real Simple article is out, and for those who haven’t seen it…here it is!

I have loved hearing from people who have been inspired by the article. So fun! But mostly, I just can’t get over how cute my grama is.

I’m going to see if I can get my hands on some of the photos that weren’t included in the article. The photographer took oodles of pictures that day and I’d love to share them here. Will keep you posted.

Thank you for all the sweet notes everyone!

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I have some exciting news to share! I am going to be in the December issue of Real Simple magazine! I have been keeping it a secret of sorts but just heard the issue is already out (on November 10?!) so I figure now is a good time to share.

Here is the story. In early September I heard from a writer for the magazine. She was working on a feature about women who had done creative family history projects. They were looking for one more woman to profile, and did I possibly have any personal family history projects that might be a fit? Um, yes.

Within a day we were scheduling a photographer to come photograph me, my project, my workshop, and even my Grama (of course it’s a family affair!) And I started answering all sorts of interview questions about the project.

The project they featured is one I made in a collage class in LA, before I even started Good Stock. It is not a book and I didn’t touch a computer while making it. So in some ways it’s different than what I do now. But in so many ways it inspired what I do now.

I call the project my Grandparent’s Story Box. I took old maps from places my grandparents liked to visit and collaged them into a handmade box. Inside, I made loose-leaf, oversized pages that tell different stories about my grandparents. For materials I used old photos, a thrift store typewriter, my grandparent’s maps, our family tree, old papers, and all sorts of vintage looking string and grommets.

And of course, because I always think in chapters, I divided the story into 4 chapters:

1. My Papa’s Story Growing Up
2. My Grama’s Story Growing Up
3. My Grandparent’s Story Together
4. My Own Story of My Grandparents

For my own story of my grandparents, I wrote 2 pages about their influence in my life and my memories of them. I gave them a typed copy of my story for Christmas that year.

What touches me most about having this project featured is I have always loved it! It was such a personal project for me, and I still add things to it when I come across something from or about my grandparents. In fact, my Grama uses it for reference sometimes because she knows I have so much of her history in there!

So that is my Real Simple story. I thought about taking photos of the box to share here, but our good cameras are currently in Nepal with my husband. And besides, the Real Simple shots will be so much better anyways. So I promise to post them here when I get my copy!

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OK, here is yet another reason to never throw away your old high school yearbooks…

Your friend’s son may someday become president! Woo hoo!!

And trust me, when that happens your kids will want to see your old yearbook photos.

Yes, my mom was high school friends with Barack Obama’s mom, Stanley Ann Dunham. So today I made my mom drag out her high school yearbooks. And here is what I found.

French Club, 1958. Look for the sassy glasses and serious look. That’s my mom. Obama’s mom is the next row back with the dark shirt.

Mercer Girls, 1960. Look for the girl who forgot her sweater that day. That’s Obama’s mom. My mom is right next to her.

Now, if that’s not cool I don’t know what is!

Thank you for not tossing your yearbooks, mom. And more importantly - thank you for your son, Stanley.

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This image is from a book I’m working on right now to celebrate a 75th birthday. I totally love this shot. She is stunning, and he is captured perfectly with that little wink and smile. Yup, things are looking A-OK, indeed.

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Last year I was introduced to genograms as a way of charting family relationships. If you’re not familiar, genograms are used in the medical world to show medical and behavior patterns within a family system. They’re not usually used in genealogy.

So when my client, who is making a book about his recently deceased wife, recently showed me these sketched circles and squares and scribbly names, I knew exactly what was going on. His wife - a doctor - had created her family tree.

She gave us a great starting point. In fact, it’s the best information we have. Now the task is turning the circles and squares and scribbles into a more understandable family tree.

Here’s our start on it. Next, my client will fill in whatever details he can from his wife’s last remaining relatives, photographs of gravestones, and family birth records.

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I’ve been meaning to share this book for a while now. It is a memoir. And a wonderfully honest and interesting one at that. It is the story of Chris Black, otherwise known and loved as Poppy.

So naturally, these are The Poppy Papers.

For the cover we played off the “papers” title and used part of the text for the spine detail.

What I love most about this story is how real it is. There is no sugar coating and making life seem like it was 100% perfect, or that no bad thing was Poppy’s fault. Instead, it is engaging because it is so real. Poppy talks about hopping from job to job (it is possible he had 25+ jobs in his life, I lost count…), relationship struggles, and reinventing himself. He also recounts incredible adventures - living in France making money as a juggler, living out of a jeep all summer in Alaska (with his wife and daughter!) selling necklaces at craft fairs. And he offers his philosophy on life and views of the world (”If it sounds like I am not a big fan of government, I’m not.”) It is truly a great read.

If you have a parent or grandparent who has yet to write their own story down, perhaps now is the time to suggest it. They might not think there’s much to say, but there always is!

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Today you can find a guest post I wrote at the blog Shades of the Departed, a site devoted to all things old photography. Yes, it’s a bit dreamy.

I love this quote from their site, about where their name comes from.

You can go check out my post here.

Thank you, Linda, for the opportunity!

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[ me & liz in our booth ]

It has taken me a bit to recover from being away for a week. But here’s a bit of a wrap up from my first-ever genealogy conference and trade show.

I’m so happy I went to the show. It was long and exhausting, but overall very worthwhile. My highlights:

- Fun Liz. She’s as fun in person as over the phone, and to say we hit it off is an understatement. Having a real client helping sell my books was amazing - thank you, Liz!

- The response from attendees when I asked how long they’d been researching their families, “Oh, not that long…only 10 years now.” (!!!) Apparently unless you’ve been researching for 40 years you can’t claim longevity in the world of genealogy.

- Hearing people rave about my books. I never tire of that. And meeting people I can’t wait to make books for!

- Meeting the Photo Detective, Maureen Taylor. She can tell you the story of an old photograph, just by looking at it. This lady is a veritable database of historical facts and references, from fashion to architecture to photography itself. Besides which, she is totally fun and was recently on the Today Show!!

It was great to meet everyone! Here’s one last booth shot…

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Hey look! People Magazine featured Isaac McHale’s birth announcements this week!

Yes, I knew this was supposed to happen but quite honestly I don’t believe these types of things until I see them. But it was so fun picking up the magazine in the airport and seeing my work!

Thank you, Sarah and Joel, for letting me be your designer!

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Isaac is the son of my dear friends Sarah and Joel McHale. Yes, the Joel McHale of Soup fame, and a great friend of mine since high school.

So when Sarah and Joel asked me to make their son Isaac’s announcements, I simply could not think traditional baby blue sweetness. Sarah is one of the most stylish people I know, and Joel is one of the most…Joel people I know! So this definitely called for some fun.

Enter 3 year-old big brother Eddie with a quote to save the day, “He looks like a bald man.” Indeed. That became the centerpiece for the announcements, which you can see here. We letterpressed the cover and digitally printed the accordion fold out page.

If you’re interested in having an announcement like this for your child, get in touch. Pricing starts at $150 for 25 qty.

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