Perpetual Sentiments Album

AKA The Around-the-Year Perpetual Sentiments Album. Also see Seasons.

The NEW Perpetual Sentiments Album re-designed by Jean Gifford to use the new CM die-cuts.

The "Perpetual Sentiments Album"

Give it once, enjoy it forever!
(Jean Gifford)

The Perpetual Sentiments Album is a gift album with a two-page spread for each month of the year. Each spread has a verse for the month on one side and a photo sleeve on the other side. The recipient can update the album with new photos whenever they are available. It's fun to try to obtain "theme" photos to fit with each month's verse, but not a necessity!

Supplies needed:

1 Creative Memories Sentiments Album
3 - extra pages
6 - 5 x 7 page protectors
13 - 4 x 6 photo sleeves
Photo tape
Page decorations as desired (die cuts, stickers, paper, pens)

4 x 6 photo sleeves are used because that is a common photo size and photos may be added without cropping. If smaller photos are used, they may be mounted on a 4 x 6 piece of paper and the paper inserted into the photo sleeve. Photo tape is used to adhere the photo sleeves to the pages.

To best protect the "artwork" on the non-photo pages, these are covered with page protectors. This requires that the "photo pages" be back-to-back, and the "verse pages" be back to back. The order for the pages should be as follows:

Photo on left, verse on right: January, March, May, July, September, November
Verse on left, photo on right: February, April, June, August, October, December

Verses may be handwritten on each page (use penciled guidelines if you need them) or printed using a pretty font on the computer. Your printer may allow you to print directly on the 5 x 7 page; if not, print on a separate piece of paper, mat if desired and adhere.

The first page of the album will be a decorative title page, and the last page may either be an appropriate closing verse or another photo sleeve for an extra photo.

A verse sheet and page idea sheets are included; use these as a starting point to create an album that best represents your own family and its activities.

Suggested Verses for the Perpetual Sentiments Album

(Individual verse authors are credited when known)

JANUARY's winds are shrill
Our noses pink and cold;
How nice to have a fireplace
And cocoa mugs to hold!
(Jean Gifford)

New Year's resolutions
to do just what we should
It's good to try to keep them,
and if we could - we would!

JANUARY's winds are blustery
Our noses pink and cold;
It's good we have a nice warm house
And cocoa mugs to hold!
(Jodi Tronsgard)

In FEBRUARY, Valentines
Are so much fun to share -
How nice it is to tell someone
How much you really care!

MARCH is an in-between month
When wintry winds are high -
But milder days remind us all
Spring's coming by and by!

APRIL is a rainbow month
Of sudden springtime showers,
Bright with golden daffodils
And lots of pretty flowers.

MAY's a month of happy sounds -
The hum of buzzing bees,
The chirp of little baby birds,
And song of gentle breeze.

JUNE's the time for gardening
For outside work and play
It's such a sunny, friendly month
We wish that it could stay!

JUNE's a time for gardening
for outside work and play.
The kids are finally out of school -
you can hear them shout "hooray"!
(by Kelly B)

JULY brings Independence Day
Fireworks and fun;
When we remember patriots
Who for us freedom won.
(Jean Gifford)

JULY brings family holidays;
Such fun to get together!
We always pray that at this time
We'll have some decent weather!
(Lori J, CMC in Canada)

AUGUST days are long and hot
But we don't mind the heat -
Pool or beach or garden hose
Cool water is a treat!
(Jean Gifford)

SEPTEMBER means it's time again
For going off to school -
The days are getting shorter
And the nights are turning cool

SEPTEMBER (or October) see the harvest
Come in from the trees -
Apples red and juicy
Can we make a pie now, please?
(Jean Gifford)

OCTOBER's time for football games
Crowds of cheering fans;
We work and practice every day
To do the best we can.)

OCTOBER days are crisp and clear
As leaves fall to the ground -
Shorter days and colder nights,
Pumpkins all around!
(Nancy D.)

What to be for Halloween?
Behind a mask I'll hide...
A monster or an astronaut?
It's not easy to decide.

What to be for Halloween?
A tiger or a bride?
A cowgirl or an astronaut?
It's not easy to decide!
(by Kelly B)

NOVEMBER is Thanksgiving time,
There's such a lot to do -
But don't forget to thank the Lord
For all He gives to you.
(Jean Gifford)

NOVEMBER is Remembrance Day,
A time to show we care -
Warm days are now behind us
But warm thoughts are in the air.
(Shay in Canada)

NOVEMBER is Thanksgiving time
there's such a lot to do -
Now don't forget the turkey
and all the trimmings too.

NOVEMBER brings a little chill
It's getting cold, you know -
But we don't mind; it's fun to have
A friend made out of snow!
(Lori J, CMC in Canada)

DECEMBER brings us Christmas,
The Babe in manger stall;
Born in simple poverty
But born to save us all.
(Jean Gifford)

DECEMBER sees a miracle
Remembered for eight special nights -
We light the candles, one by one,
For the Festival of Lights!
(Sherilyn)

It's hard to think of anything
But CHRISTMAS in December -
There's so much to look forward to
And so much to remember!

You can replace any month's verse with this:
________ is my birthday month,
A special day of fun -
Friends and presents, cake and games,
And then the party's done.
(Jean Gifford)

Optional verse for last page:
Now you've seen our year's review
Drop in again, see something new -
This album has been made to last;
It's a perpetual glimpse of our past!
(Jan in Idaho)

Click here to see the new album.

Ideas from the original Perpetual Sentiments Album

Click here to see the original album.

Use one Sentiments album, three extra pages, medium photo corners (or photo mounting sleeves) and CM products and Mrs. Grossman's stickers as outlined. Where a "congratulations kit" is called for, refer to the page layout included in the kit; pages are decorated using that suggestion, with modifications for the smaller sized page.

Title page: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter tree stickers (Mrs. Grossman Reflections), angled like quilt squares. Write in spaces: "Around the year with the" (family name)
JANUARY: Left side; hats, mittens and 3 snowflakes from Winter Congratulations kit.
Right side, photo placement in corner, group 3 remaining snowflakes in opposite corner.
FEBRUARY: Left side and right side: overlapping gingham triangle and solid triangle from the OLD "Heart of my business" thank you kit. Decorate pages with pink/red sticker hearts.
MARCH: Left page: Kite and 2 clouds from Spring Congratulations kit.
Right side: one home class triangle to match kite in corner of page.
APRIL: Left page: Purple polka dot umbrella die cut slanting slightly, and very close to outer jeeping. Use raindrops from March's kit to make it rain on the umbrella.
Right page: Along the jeeping outer edge, draw lines in rainbow effect with pigma pens (red, orange, yellow brush, green, blue, purple, pink)
MAY: Butterfly net and butterflies Congratulations kit. Reserve a couple of butterflies to decorate the right hand page.
JUNE: Wheelbarrow/ flowers congratulations kit. Draw green line as in layout instructions across bottom of both pages. Reserve one flower to decorate right side (or use an extra).
JULY: Spell out "JULY" in the verse with the letters from the CM "4^th of July" sticker sheet. Use flag and fireworks to decorate left hand page, add some dots and stars with gold pen.
Right hand page: use Pigma pen to draw two red lines down outer edge of page.
AUGUST: Left page: Use Victorian Borderline to draw waves along page bottom. Float a blue gingham sailboat die cut near the staple-edge jeeping. In upper left hand corner, Mrs. G Reflections "Sun" sticker.
If you have one, add a pair of sunglasses from Mrs. G's "travel gear" stickers to the sun.
Right page: Dark Blue Gingham Triangle in one corner of page.
SEPTEMBER: Left Page: Use Pigma Pen to draw Red frame lines in Upper left corner of page; add a globe (world) sticker in corner. In lower right corner, overlap two Book stickers.
Right page: Overlap 3 or 4 pen/pencil stickers down outer edge.
OCTOBER: Left page: Moon and 3 jack-o-lanterns from Fall Congratulations kit.
Right page: group a few Halloween candies from Special Occasion Pack in one corner.
NOVEMBER: Left page: 2 die cut leaves and half the stickers from Fall Congratulations kit.
Right page: Center photo at top of page. Adhere the remaining stickers centered under the photo space.
DECEMBER: Left page: Use pine cone stickers and one bow from Winter Congratulations kit to make a "swag" across center top of page. Add a few dots with gold pen.
Right page: Center photo at top of page. Place other bow from kit below the photo, trimming the ends to make a "short bow" Add gold dots.
Last page in album: For family with two children, place photo corners in position for 2 wallet sized photos. Add decoration as desired, and title page "Our School Pictures". For any other family, place photo corners in position on a double-matted space for another 4 x 6 photo. Cut edges of mats with decorative scissors if desired.

Modification:

Change the order of the verse/photo sleeve on each layout. Then, your "decorated pages" will be back to back and can be covered with a page protector, and your photo sleeve pages will be back to back, and can be left uncovered to change the pictures. To make it work, here's the order:

Title page...leave uncovered
January, March, May, July, September, November: sleeve on left, verse on right
February, April, June, August, October, December: verse on left, sleeve on right

You will end up with December's photo sleeve and the last page (matted extra photo) back to back.

Notes from Jean: A couple people asked me how I sell the Congratulations Kits so customers can make this album. Well, the truth is, I had no idea this would be so popular, and I had no intention of marketing it; just wanted to share a gifty little idea with you nice ladies. After 65 e-mail requests, I'm rethinking my approach.
First of all, I DON'T sell business enhancers. Never had anyone ask for them, so I've never had to think about the ethics. But, here are a couple of ideas to get the makings out to your customers, with minimal loss of profit to you, and minimal extra cost to the customer. Have ALL the extras they need for the album available, but they have to be "collected". Their choice of a Congrats kit for coming to a workshop, one for purchase of album refill, one for bringing a friend, one for their birthday. Put the full instructions for the album in your next newsletter, and "challenge" them to collect all the supplies (sounds like girl scout badges...) Also, you could package EVERYTHING up, with a Sentiments album, and have that for the grand prize at a special event.

Notes from Denny: You could give the congrats kits as a bonus if they come to a workshop and buy all the other supplies for the album. Or you could change the pages a little to use other die-cuts. You can use either 3 1/2 x 5 or 4 x 6 photo mounting sleeves. You can crop the photos and mount them on paper before inserting into the sleeves or just put in the photos.

Sentiment's Around the Year kit
In addition to the kit, customer needs to purchase one Sentiments album, and EITHER 13 of the 4x6 photo sleeves OR a box of medium size photo corners). Other items used are Pigma pens, gold Precious Elements pen, Borderline rulers.

Kit Contents:

Full instruction sheet including the "around the year" poem
3 - 5 x 7 Sentiments album pages
Millennium Congratulations kit (with stickers switched to include one of each season)
Congratulations kit with mittens and snowflakes
OLD "Heart of my business" kit with triangles and hearts
(OR, if you can't get one, cut one 2 1/2 inch square each of raspberry and pink gingham and cut each square into 2 triangles. Add one half mod of Mrs. G pink and red confetti hearts)
Congratulations kit with kite and clouds
One home class triangle to match kite (Caribbean blue)
Purple dots umbrella die cut
Congratulations kit with butterflies and net
Congratulations kit with flowers and wheelbarrow
"4th of July" sticker strip from Creative Memories
Dark blue gingham sailboat die cut
Mrs. G "Reflections" sun sticker
Triangle of dark blue gingham paper
One Mrs. G globe sticker
One mod (2 stickers) Mrs. G Books
One mod of Mrs. G Pens/Pencils/Crayons
Congratulations kit with moon and jack-o-lanterns
1 mod of Halloween candy (special occasion pack)
Congratulations kit with autumn leaves
Congratulations kit with bows and pine cones
One pre-made double mat to fit under a 4 x 6 photo sleeve. I made the double mat using cranberry and dark blue papers, but any fairly neutral combination would do. This is for the last page in the album; just a "filler" page.

Alternate version suitable for a gift or donation.

(Nancy D)

OCTOBER days are crisp and clear
As leaves fall to the ground;
Shorter days and colder nights
Pumpkins all around!

On the left side I centered the verse and used small leaves to 'frame' it. They sorta look like they are 'falling'. On the right side I used a triangle of Cinnamon paper in the upper right corner and three rows of the pumpkins/leaves from the Autumn Border along the bottom.

I used the apple verse for September and used the red gingham apples die-cuts in each corner on the left and matted the photo sleeve with red gingham paper. For May I made little triangles out of purple polka dot paper left over from the April umbrella die cut. The triangles went in the upper right and lower left corners behind the photo sleeve.

Since I don't know who will get this album, I wrote "Around the Year with Our Family" for the first page and for the last page I matted a photo sleeve with the maroon paper and wrote "Our Family" with silver ABC/abc stickers.

I will include some instructions too.

Christmas Gift Album Title Pages

(DH of RL)

As the millennium ends
We are apart,
But you are always with us
In our hearts.

As this year draws to a close
We are apart,
But you are always with us
In our hearts.

Ideas for Canadian CMC

(Lori J. cmc in Canada)

NOVEMBER brings a little chill
It's getting cold you know.
But we don't mind, it's fun to make
Some angels in the snow.

NOVEMBER's here and so's the snow
We think it's here to stay.
Just bundle up, throw on a scarf
And head outside to play.

I was going to put "touque" for scarf, but some people further down south probably wouldn't know what a touque was. If you don't, it's a hat, usually knit, and be happy you don't NEED to know what it is.

Another idea for Canada albums:

SEPTEMBER's a time for harvesting
The garden and the fields.
Pumpkins, apples, corn and grain,
We hope for generous yields.
(Kim in Canada)

Custom Birth Month Verses

My youngest daughter and I made an album for my oldest daughter using photos of my 3 granddaughters. We wanted to customize the verses in their birthday months. Thanks to Stacy Kocur for July and November.

JULY's parades and fireworks
Help celebrate our nation.
But Megan, on the 28^th
Is our cause for celebration.

There's so much to be thankful for
When NOVEMBER comes in fall
Our country and our family
And Staci most of all.

Bible Verse Perpetual Sentiments Album

(Someone made a perpetual sentiments album using Jean's page ideas but substituting these verses in place of the poems.)
JANUARY - "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say Rejoice!" Philippians 4:4
FEBRUARY - "May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other." 1 Thessalonians 3:12
MARCH- "Sing to Him a new song, play skillfully and shout for joy!" Psalm 33:3
APRIL - "Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new things." Isaiah 42:9
MAY - "How lovely is your dwelling place, oh Lord Almighty" Psalm 84:1
JUNE -"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our god stands forever."� Isaiah 40:8
JULY -"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you FREE!"� John 8:32
AUGUST - "The Lord God is a sun and a shield..." Psalm 84:11
SEPTEMBER - "make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding." Proverbs 2:2
OCTOBER -...you will reap a harvest if you do not give up." Galatians 6:9
NOVEMBER - "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His loving kindness is everlasting" 1 Chronicles 16:34
DECEMBER -"GLORY to God in the highest and on earth PEACE among men" Luke 2:14
And on the first page I put the 4 different trees in the corners and used the verse (which I wrote in the middle)
Ecc. 3:1 There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.

Stacy Kocur suggested using a concordance and find your own verses for the months. An idea of themes to look for is:

JANUARY - New Beginnings
FEBRUARY - Love
MARCH - Uncertain weather, uncertainties of life
APRIL - Risen Lord (though sometimes Easter is in March...)
MAY - Mother's love
JUNE - Father's love
JULY - Freedom
AUGUST - Leisure time
SEPTEMBER - Wisdom, Education
OCTOBER - Harvest
NOVEMBER - Thanks be to God
DECEMBER - verses from St. Luke, Nativity

Examples:

FEBRUARY - I Corinthians 13:13 "Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love"
AUGUST - Isaiah 40:8 "The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever."
NOVEMBER - Psalm 100:4 "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise"

MAY - Ezekiel 16:44 "Like mother, like daughter." Proverbs 31:28 "Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her"
SEPTEMBER - Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."
Proverbs 3:13 "Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for it is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold."