ARTIcles by Artifcts

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Exclusive articles, interviews, and insights covering downsizing & decluttering, genealogy, photos and other media, aging well, travel, and more. We’re here to help you capture the big little moments and stories to bring meaning and even order to all of life’s collections for generations.

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Every Room Has a Story: Bathroom Edition

Reading time: 3 minutes

Welcome to the third in our series of the stories of your living spaces: Your bathroom. The first room we visited was the living room. We went for gold, tackling what we think is the most difficult space first. You likely spend a lot of time there as do guests to your home, upping the pressure.

Then we stepped into the delightful chaos of kids' rooms. So many "core memories"—wink and a nod to all of you "Inside Out" fans—standing between you and a decluttered space. And we all know how much easier it is to find 'stuff' and how much more likely 'stuff' is to get used if it's not an energy zapping, overwhelming chaotic situation.

Today we’re moving on to the bathroom, which in turn we think is the simplest space to tackle. And our guest from this spring's Evenings with Artifcts, Zoë Kim of Raising Simple, agrees. The bathroom is the room most likely to have the least number of sentimental objects within, making it simpler to declutter. It’s also simpler to declutter because much of what you keep in there has an expiration date or is naturally used up!

Watch the full Evenings with Artifcts event with Zoë on YouTube.

Stories & Your Bathroom

Hear us out. We know that strictly speaking, bathrooms are about utility first and possibly refuge second, as in the cliche, “Found crying in the bathroom.” We also signal “refuge” when we install the finest shower heads and bathtubs our imaginations have invented to help us relax. Relaxation is surely a top reason for decorators to focus on creating calm in the bathroom.

If you are seeking calm and relaxation, is it only about color schemes and relaxation potions? Let's talk about the overlooked “why” of the ‘stuff’ in your loo: Why we have the items we do, what they mean to us, why we keep them, and ultimately for some things, what we want others to know about them.

1. Don’t be shocked, knickknacks live in the bathroom, too. Perfume bottles that are essentially empty, hair clips from an evening event a decade ago, and thingamabobbers with a singular use that you never actually took up (sort of like exercise equipment), such as facial rollers, hair irons, and miracle machines and patches that solve headaches and body aches.

Sneaky sentimentality can be in play here, too. Did that scent remind you of a special time or person? Did you wear that hair clip with a particular dress on a particular evening? Will you use these again? Are these and items like them taking up an increasingly large volume of space you cannot afford? Does anyone know why these items are special to you? Snap a pic, take a selfie-style video, and Artifct that. Place it all in a box. Come back to it in 30 days. Can you let it go?

Our co-founder Ellen surprised herself when she realized that of course she has a sentimental item stashed away in her bathroom, she sees it daily: A now 24-year-old makeup brush from Face Stockholm.

long, skinny makeup brush

“I was studying abroad in Sweden, and we loved going to Stockholm on weekends. Everything was sort of out-of-reach expensive for college students, so we mostly window shopped. We were in a make up shop, a lot like today’s Sephora empire, and I settled on buying just the brush. Crazy to think it’s still there; I see it daily, and it makes me smile."

2. Walls. They don’t have to be just for towels and cabinets. Do you include art on yours, humidity tolerant art, that is? It’s funny how a glimpse of something positive, art you love, a photo of a group of friends or scene from your childhood home, can help you take down that heart rate a notch.

Lavez les mains in blue font

You could easily flip that on its head, too. A half-bath is a great place for a splash of humor on a wall in the form of art or a nicely arrayed collection. Distraction plus humor, why not?

All that said, if every time you look at that ‘stuff’ on the wall you feel annoyed – it's no longer your style, it’s fraying or warping, it was a hand-me-down you felt compelled to hang somewhere – take it down! Don’t let these feelings haunt you. If you truly feel guilty, Artifct That. It will do you good.

3. Function for the win. Above all else, obviously a bathroom is about function. If you have not made room for spare toilet paper, a drying rack big enough and tough enough for your day-to-day towels, swimsuits or whatever else you don’t want to get musty, tackle it first. Take the stress out for you and others that need to use that room.

True story: A friend came to visit. The new washcloths laid out were a beautiful plush white like in a hotel. The friend was stressed out by the towels and avoided using them for fear of staining them with makeup. Think before you buy. Comfort first!

4. Nature belongs here, too. The simplest way to bring in a bit of the feng sui advised natural components is to wrap string at the end of a bundle of eucalyptus and hang it from your showerhead. A pop of color and what many find to be a relaxing scent too. If the story you’ve created to encompass this space is relaxation, go for the eucalyptus.

What stories will you uncover? Send them in to us at Editor@Artifcts.com or join the conversation on Instagram (@TheArtiLife) or Facebook (@Artifcts). We'd be delighted to hear from you!

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Check out other "Every Room Has a Story" ARTIcles by Artifcts:

Living Room

Kid's Room

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July 24, 2024

DECLUTTERING & ORGANIZING

Have Passport. Willing to Travel.

Reading time: 4 minutes

With summer travel on our minds, we had some fun recently looking up basic US passport facts available from the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, which is the issuing authority for U.S. passports:

- - There are approximately 160 million active US passports, including US territories. There’s some double counting in there for those with a passport book and card, but you get a sense of scale when we have a total population of roughly 340 million.
  - A state-by-state look at new passports issued as a percentage of each state’s population (est. July 2023) really got our attention. Top of the pile: Washington D.C., New Jersey, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and New York. States with the most subdued interest in new passports: West Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, and Kentucky.
  - Despite all the changes that COVID brought to travel, valid dates for those passports remain unchanged. A child’s passport is still good for 5 years, an adult’s for 10. Makes sense, too. Children under 16 years of age surely change a lot more, on average, than we adults do. And, let’s face it, this probably makes many adults happy if they prefer a younger them in their official passport photo.

Why do we care about passports at Artifcts? Clearly we’re not alone based on the numbers! And talking about the first trip you took on a new passport is a lot more fun than talking about the weather or the latest highway construction project! How old were you? Where did you go? HOW did it go? Scratch that, ask about a first or most recent trip on any passport. Think how different you and your life were 10 years ago and what was guiding you to pick one travel destination over another.

Your passport stamps and visas can unlock so many memories and stories.

Our co-founder Ellen got her first passport to study abroad in Sweden during her junior year of undergraduate studies. Contrast that to her most recent passport which she first used to travel to Israel to speak on a conference panel about technology innovation and human legacy.

In contrast, our other co-founder, Heather, got her first passport to travel to France to study abroad her sophomore year in high school. Her most recent passport stamp? Well, she’s currently mid-trip in the Bahamas, accompanying her husband on his work trip and wrangling brownouts and bugs as she works remote. Oh the stories (and the Artifcts)!

Artifct That Passport!

We have a robust “How to Artifct {fill in the blank}” series that we’ve published over the years. We highly recommend putting it to the test as you Artifct.

Today we’re expanding that series with our best tips to preserve your passports and the memories they hold. Why would you Artifct your passport? To remember and re-live and share all those great and not-so-great travel memories—come on, who has had PERFECT travel and no horror stories to share?

Artifcting passports also makes it easy to pull up trip details to repeat those travels down the road or share with a friend who plans to travel to the same destination. No losing that information in Google Docs, email, or hardcopy only.

See, Artifcts are both everything you can wish for in capturing your stories and memories and incredibly practical, too!

Here's your recipe for Artifcting passports:

1. Start each Artifct with a photo of a stamp and/or visa in your passport. It gets you the location and the date in one go!

2. Add videos and photo:

- - Picture of you in the country.
  - Video you took out exploring.
  - Photos of mementos you bought or collected (art, ceramics, t-shirts, pins and spoons, shells and rocks…).
  - Framed picture on your wall from a trip.

3. Don’t forget to add “Documentation” to your Artifct:

- - Travel itinerary (flights, hotels, reservations, museums etc.)
  - Original photo file in case you want to reprint it in the future
  - Receipts, certificates of authenticity, and/or appraisals for any valuable travel mementos you purchase and may need to insure, add to your will, or re-sell one day

4. Now add the story. Use 5 words or 5,000, it’s up to you. No story burden here. And you can choose to add the story in writing or by using voice-to-text or directly recording in the Artifcts app.

Want the easy-bake recipe instead?

If what you really want is to tell your favorite stories from the places you’ve been or simply keep track, you can create an Artifct featuring photos of pages of stamps (instead of a single stamp at a time). Then in the Artifct “Description or story,” list out the locations pictured in the stamps and the stories for each. Done!

passport open to show stamps and a visa

Each stamp has a story. Bonus! The dates make it simple to ensure your Artifct shows up in the right place in your timeline.

Connecting & Sharing Your Artifcted Travel Stories and Mementos

If you’re ready to step beyond the passport only, remember these great Artifcts features and services can help you along the way.

QR CODES

For most travel mementos, you can print or use an Artifcts QR code sticker to link the item, whether the expired passport itself or a ceramic vase you bought in a shop in Italy, with the Artifct. Now anyone who comes across it can scan to get the story.

An Artifcts QR code sticker on a music box from Switzerland

It's easy to link your Artifct to a QR code sticker - scan and up pops the story!

USE @ IN THE ARTIFCT STORY

You can also inter-link your Artifcted stories by typing @ into the story of an Artifct and choosing another related Artifct. That way, all your Italy stories can link together!

The story in this Artifct includes @ links to people and other Artifcts! Click the image to view the Artifct.

PUBLISH A CUSTOM BOOK WITH US

You may also want to share your stories in a good old fashion book. We know, books can take a lot of work to upload all the photos, lay them out, pick the fonts, fit the text, and so on. Not at Artifcts! Enjoy the memories, we can help with the rest.

Simply purchase a book with our partner Akin, select all the Artifcts you want to publish to a book, and click share to privately send the Artifcts to Akin to layout in your book. You’ll receive a proof before the books are ordered and arrive on yours or a loved one’s doorstep. We have tips to enhance your Artifcts for publication available here, too.

An Artifct published in a book with its story and a QR code to access all the other photos and videos

Once you create your Artifcts, select any to create a custom book with our partner Akin.

We hope you're inspired to get Artifcting those travel moments hidden within your passport. Happy July to you all!

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July 17, 2024

TRAVEL & MUSEUMS

MassChallenge Invites Artifcts Into Early-Stage Accelerator

We interrupt your normal Wednesday ARTIcles story to offer you greetings from Boston, Massachusetts. The Artifcts co-founders flew to Boston yesterday to take part in a multi-day launch of the MassChallenge Early-Stage Accelerator program, one of the world’s top accelerator programs. What’s that? Read on!

As a self-funded, patented startup poised to become a household name—because, let’s face it, who doesn’t have stuff or stories—the team at Artifcts wants to ensure that we’re delivering to you not just the best product to capture the stories, history, and value of all you collect, accumulate, and inherit in life, but that we do so always with an eye toward the best in tech, the best in how we operate (lean!), and more.

MassChallenge is a global network for innovators working to solve massive challenges. MassChallenge connects startups, experts, corporations, and communities to grow and transform businesses and does not take any equity from companies who participate. According to Mass Challenge, the early-stage accelerator has facilitated a remarkable $9B+ in funding for its cohorts.

Of the 1,300+ companies to apply, Artifcts was selected along with approximately 120 others to work together over the next 3 months with industry mentors and partners to challenge how we operate, means to improve, and of course how to grow. While you won’t see any immediate change at Artifcts as we work through the program, we hope that we’ll come out stronger than ever and with new ideas for how to better connect with you and help you to enjoy all that Artifcts offers.

Opening session of MassChallenge, Boston, July 9

Andrew Bialecki, CEO & Founder of Klaviyo, shares his startup journey during the opening event.

In the meantime, please, continue to Artifct. Share Artifcts with friends and family. We may not have the marketing budget of a goliath corporation, but we have amazing community members who want to see Artifcts succeed. We’re so grateful. And, if you have ideas of what you’d like to see next at Artifcts, or even suggestions for what we could do to make your experience better, let us know! We love and take feedback from our ARTI community to heart.

Wish us luck as we roll up our sleeves and dive into the MassChallenge world!

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Curious about what else we've been up to?

Explore some of Artifcts' other "As featured in" and awards through the years.

July 10, 2024

AWARDS, MEMBERSHIPS & PARTNERSHIPS

Preserving Your Best Travel Memories

As co-founders, Ellen and I are always meeting interesting people at Artifcts. We were very fortunate to be introduced this spring to Rainer Jenss, founder of the Family Travel Association, former senior executive with National Geographic, and an avid traveler. We loved talking with Rainer so much that we invited him to be our first guest author at ARTIcles. Read on to learn more about his story and experience using Artifcts to remember his 2022 travels in Africa.

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My wife Carol and I recently returned from a vacation we took to Africa with 25 other people, most of whom we’d never met before, but all who had some kind of connection to the tour’s organizers, Henry and Claire Kartagener. In my case, I’ve worked in the travel industry with Henry Kartagener for years. He’s also been directly responsible for getting Carol and me to Southern Africa several times already, including our first visit back in 1992 that took us on a safari during which we actually ended up getting engaged. Thirty years later, we found ourselves returning yet again, but this time as part of a “Friends of Henry” contingent, some of whom had been to the continent before, many of whom had not.

As I’ve noticed on other trips we’ve been on as part of a group, conversations between people often turn to sharing travel stories. Some just recount something that happened that day, while others recall experiences from previous adventures. It’s as though the act of sharing travel memories with others somehow reinforces their meaning – and all the while, hopefully inspiring those who are listening.

It’s as though the act of sharing travel memories with others somehow reinforces their meaning...

I can relate. For me personally the tales from my life’s adventures traversing the planet and displaying some of the things I picked up along the way represent some of my favorite memories and what I’m most fond of in my life. I think we all probably feel that way in some way no matter how much of the world we’ve traveled. Either way, this idea only strengthens my conviction that traveling is one of the most important things we can do in our lives.

...Travelling is one of the most important things we can do in our lives.

Taking it a step further, if I were asked to recall what our conversations were about, I’d say they usually revolved around the things most of us do while traveling, which include (in no particular order): visiting new places, trying new things, meeting new people, buying souvenirs, and of course, sharing pictures. In fact, it would be pretty easy to argue that thanks to the advances in cellphone technology, capturing and sharing the highlights of our journeys through pictures, whether they be bucket list vacations or just weekend getaways, seems to be the most common activity we almost all now seem to engage in.

Victoria Falls at sunrise. Click the image to view the Artifct.

But while putting our best-looking pictures on social media has become such an integral part of what we do while traveling, we usually do so without telling the broader stories behind the images we post. Sure, the photos themselves may look great and often make those we share them with envious. But on their own, they rarely capture why the person took it or what it means to them personally.

The king protea, national flower of South Africa

The national flora of South Africa is the King Protea, symbolizing diversity, change and courage. Click the image to view the Artifct.

After recently having discovered Artifcts, I’ve found that it’s now possible to not only preserve and organize the special moments from my travels, I can now do so by also documenting the stories behind them. The very same stories I just might share with fellow travelers somewhere down the road.

Which brings us to what happened when I returned home after spending more than two weeks in Africa with 25 of my new best friends. As usual, I had 100s of images to sort through and edit. But this time, I did so with a different purpose and perspective. Sure, I still tried to pick out the ones that were the most visually compelling. But this time I made sure to set aside some photos of things I usually wouldn’t display in an album or share on social media. Instead, I paid special attention to the photos and videos of those things that best told the story of our trip. Best of all, I used the Artifcts I created to produce a virtual album I shared with those I spent my vacation with. For the purpose of this story, I’ve also made it available to the public in hopes it might inspire others to give it a try. Just go to my Artifcts page to check it out.

Happy Trails . . . and Happy Artifcting!

- Rainer Jenss

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by Rainer Jenss, Founder, Smart Family Travel

July 03, 2024

GUEST CURATOR, TRAVEL & MUSEUMS

Every Room Has a Story: Kids Room Edition

Two weeks ago, we kicked off a series of ARTIcles to challenge us all to consider why we have the items we do, what they mean to us, why we keep them, and ultimately for some things, what we want others to know about them as well. We started with one of the most-used rooms in a house, the living room!

This week we’re taking a trip down the hall to tackle all things kids and babies in our kid’s room edition of our “Every Room Has a Story” series. No matter how young or old your child may be, chances are there are memories, treasures, and other, “We still have this?” finds lurking within the walls and corners of our young (or young at heart) one's spaces.

Remember When?

Kids rooms are often filled with mementos (or piles!) big and small that invoke a “remember when” sentiment. It could be any combination of well-loved but out-grown toys, clothing, art supplies, and the like. You can surely relate. Picture this: Dear Child is late for school and needs THAT t-shirt for school today. You run into your kid’s room to help look, searching first under the bed. What do you find instead? A painted skateboard that had been a sixth-grade art project. And you wonder: We still have this because...?

Time is tricky, and what seems like yesterday, may in fact be years ago. And those memories? We think we are going to remember them always, but all too often the small but oh-so-significant details start to slip away. We keep those childhood mementos in hopes of triggering or recalling those memories, but let’s face it, our memories aren’t perfect, and the details get a little fuzzy along with the dust bunnies under the beds.

Our co-founder Heather lives in the city, and since space is at a premium, she and her daughter take time each June to Artifct the art projects, photos, cards, and travel souvenirs they want to keep and display. They also spend time Artifcting the items that may not make the cut (and then recycle them). Being a newly minted teen, this is the first year Heather’s daughter is self-directing this Artifcting project. We'll let you know how it goes!

Click the icon to listen to Heather's daughter describe her Artifcting experience.

Books, Books, and More Books

Books may be one of the bulkier clutter culprits in any kid's room. The bookcases are always overflowing, and you find yourself tripping over piles of books when trying to vacuum. “How did we get so many books?” you wonder. Notice the word “get,” not “buy.” Library books count too, and easily add to the piles.

Like adults, kids sometimes enjoy keeping books because they enjoy seeing what they have read. The books make up a visual checklist of how they’ve spent school vacations and rainy-day weekends. For parents, we love to think of books as inherently good and yet they can swiftly become a logistical nightmare meets Tetris challenge of epic proportions.

This year, try a new approach. Does your kid have a dramatic side? Ask for a book review of all the books they no longer plan to read. Artifct those books and their own laugh-out-loud silly reviews. Pair this, as you should with any decluttering effort, with a clear goal. For example, our co-founder Heather plans to nudge her daughter to whittle down her collection to key favorites and the books she will read or re-read. That's it. Our other co-founder, Ellen, uses a different approach with her daughter as they declutter books and reads key passages of some of her daughter’s favorite books, creating one-of-a-kind Artifcts and lasting memories (while also gaining back a bit of space on the family bookshelf).

Click the image to view the Artifct Ellen created for her daughter.

Stuffed Animals, Lovies, and the Like

What to do with stuffed animals is a favorite topic at Artifcts, so much so that we’ve even written a standalone piece on just that! I won’t rehash the entire ARTIcle here, but the bottom-line up front is the importance of capturing and preserving the memories before letting go. Stuffies have a place in our hearts for good reason, and sometimes it’s the memory that matters more than the battered, tattered, well-loved bunny collection.

Not all bunnies made the final cut. Click the image to view the Artifct.

One More Thing...

...This is age agonistic advice: No matter how you declutter and organize those kids' rooms, set aside time to have fun, be a little goofy, and lean into the stories and memories of the space.

Take a moment to ask your child(ren) about what those items mean to them, what memories they have for each item. Chances are their memories and their attachment to those items will be very different than our own.

Remember too that decision fatigue is a real thing. Small doses work best no matter your age.

And consider displaying—or what we’ve taken to calling “re-cluttering”—the items that bring them joy and/or create the most functional space. Find fun and age-appropriate storage solutions for the items that need to be put away, and for the items that may not be kept? Artifct that (or them!) and keep the memories while you make room for more age-appropriate ‘stuff.’

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What stories and moments make up your kid's room? Send them in to us at Editor@Artifcts.com or join the conversation on Instagram (@TheArtiLife) or Facebook (@Artifcts). We'd be delighted to hear from you!

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by Artifcts

June 26, 2024

DECLUTTERING & ORGANIZING, KIDS

Four Branches Bourbon: Sip to Remember

Reading time: 4 minutes

For those of you who don’t know, our co-founders, Heather & Ellen, started their careers at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). They both served as briefers and frequently worked hand in hand with members of four branches of the US military – Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.

Today, to celebrate National Bourbon Day, we’re honored to highlight the hard work of fellow friend, CIA colleague, and Air Force veteran, Mike Trott, co-founder of Four Branches Bourbon.

Heather sat down with Mike for an in-depth conversation on all things bourbon, stories, and the importance of taking a moment and remembering those that have come before us and those who have served alongside us.

Below is an excerpt from their conversation.

Heather: Part of the lore of Four Branches Bourbon is that you built the company in honor of one of our fallen heroes. Could you tell us a bit more about that? How did Four Branches Bourbon come to be?

Mike: You’re absolutely right. Four Branches Bourbon started with a phone call. One of my good friends, Rick Franco, a Marine Corps veteran, called me one day and said he had been thinking that he wanted to create a special barrel of bourbon in honor of his fallen close friend and colleague Greg Wright.

Rick and Greg went way back. They went to Virginia Military Institute (VMI) together, served in the Marine Corps together, and several years later Rick recruited Greg to serve in the CIA alongside him. On Greg’s first deployment overseas, he was the hero. He sacrificed his own life to save those of his team. Rick had the honor of repatriating his remains, and from that day forward, had wanted to do something to honor him and his family. Greg (along with our other CIA colleagues) is recognized with a star on the white Alabama marble Memorial Wall at CIA Headquarters, and is listed in the Book of Honor sitting beneath the stars.

At the time we had no way of knowing how big Rick’s idea of a special barrel of bourbon would become.

We each carried with us stories of heroes. And my call with Rick got me thinking back to one of my assignments at the CIA: repatriating the remains of Mike Spann to his family and CIA colleagues. Mike was one of the first paramilitary officers sent into Afghanistan post-9/11. He was a true American hero and is known as the first American to die in combat after 9/11.

At that moment, I got what Rick wanted to do one-hundred percent and why he wanted to do it. We suddenly had a new mission -- let’s tell those stories and say those names so that no one ever forgets.

Co-Founders Mike Trott and Rick Franco bottling Four Branches Bourbon.

Heather: That’s an incredible founding story, Mike, one with heart and mission. So you and Rick now had two of the four branches. How did you find your other two co-founders?

Mike: Well, once we had this idea in our minds, we couldn’t let it go. We quickly reached out to a couple friends, Harold, a Navy veteran and RJ, an Army veteran, and found we all had similar stories. We found ourselves sitting around a fire and telling the stories, saying the names, and it just clicked. This is it. We all wanted to do something to tell the stories and help others remember.

Bourbon is itself a reflective spirit. You sip. You reminisce, it slows you down, makes you reflect on the past. And it doesn’t always have to be bad memories – it could be the birth of a child, a wedding, promotion, those special moments.

Heather: Not to interrupt the reflecting (and seeing that we aren’t sipping a glass of bourbon, yet…), but I hear you’ve got a great story about traditions, weddings, and bourbon?

Mike: Yeah, that’s a good one. There’s a southern old wives’ tale that says if you want good weather on your wedding day, you’re supposed to bury a bottle of bourbon in your backyard, and then dig it up on the wedding day. Well, our good friend Dr. Rob Darling (a Navy veteran) did just that with a bottle of Four Branches Bourbon earlier this year. He dug it up a month ago or so on the morning of his daughter’s wedding and they had a perfect day. Just perfect.

Tradition, heritage, all woven into the American fabric of who we are, what we are. Bourbon is an American product. Fun fact: all whiskeys are bourbons, but not all bourbons are whiskeys. Bourbon can only be manufactured in America.

Heather: Who knew! Bourbon, memories, and good weather! I want to talk some more about those special bottles of Four Branches Bourbon you make for charity. I’ve seen firsthand how the intelligence and military communities have come together around the brand, and how you all have done some really neat things with those bottles to raise money for good.

Mike: It started with us donating a bottle or two of Four Branches Bourbon to a handful of fundraisers for veterans and their families. We signed the bottles, and were thinking, sure, hopefully they can get at auction what the bottle is worth, maybe a hundred dollars or so.

We were blown away by what happened next. At one event I was on stage, telling our story, and the next thing I know our bottles are being auctioned off for $20,000, $30,000... It was incredible. To date we’ve been able to raise nearly $300,000 for charities focused on serving veterans and Gold Star children and their families. Just incredible.

You realize right then and there, it’s not about the bourbon. It’s about the story. The mission. The fact that we’re on to something bigger than any of us. The need to reflect, to remember those we’ve lost, but also those who’ve lived and are living because of their sacrifices.

It’s not about the bourbon. It’s about the story. The mission. The fact that we’re on to something bigger than any of us. - Mike, founder, Four Branches Bourbon

We’ve gotten really creative over the past year with the bottles we offer for charity. We’ve included pieces of uniforms from our fallen heroes, challenge coins from missions, Harold even gave up his Trident badge for one of the bottles.

Heather: It hasn’t always been easy though. Alcohol, drinking, it can be really tough on returning service members and their families. Tell us a bit about your founder’s journey and the conversations you’ve had around the tough ‘stuff’ in the spirits industry.

Mike: As founders, we took a step back when we lost a mutual friend due to alcohol in the veteran community. We took a couple of months off; realized we couldn’t take alcohol out of the world, but could we change the narrative. That’s a BIG part of our tagline: Drink honorably. Sip to remember.

We want people to stop drinking to forget, and instead sip to remember.

We’ve done probably 4,000 tastings across the country and I’d say 60% start to cry when we say stop drinking to forget. Start sipping to remember. It’s really powerful when you think about it.

And I know that may seem like a strange thing for a founder of a bourbon company to say, but if we sell less so be it. We’re not changing the message. It’s a part of our story, part of our mission.

Four Branches Bourbon is on a mission to "Sip to Remember."

Heather: One last question Mike. Because we are Artifcts, we have to ask, do you have a favorite artifact from Four Branches Bourbon?

Mike: I have to say, our Master Class with Bourbon Hall of Fame Master Distiller, Steve Nally, who guided us as we created our unique four gain Founders Blend. You can click here to view the Artifct and read a bit about the story.

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You can learn more about Four Branches Bourbon, Mike Trott, and his fellow founders on their website. And if you’re lucky enough to be in one of the 32 states they currently ship direct to, or live in KY, TN, FL, AZ, WDC, MD and VA, you can also pick up a bottle of this incredible bourbon with a story and join Mike, Rick, Harold, and RJ as they #SiptoRemember.

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Want to hear more of the story? You can watch an interview of Mike and Rick on Fox & Friends.

by Artifcts

June 14, 2024

CONVERSATION

        
                Every Room Has a Story: Living Room Edition
            
Reading time: 4 minutes 
Among our ARTIcles by Artifcts with enduring appeal, at least according to Google, is Show Me the Favorite Moment in Your Home. The premise was simple: Interior designers know that to be able to help their clients design and decorate their spaces, they need to understand what makes them tick. And invariably what we keep says a lot about what matters most to us. Now, if only 'stuff' could talk! 
We’re picking back up on the ‘favorite moment’ theme through a multi-series installment that will take us room-by-room—yes, including the closets and bathrooms—and challenge us to consider why we have the items we do, what they mean to us, why we keep them, and ultimately for some things, what we want others to know about them as well.  
Through this process, we hope you’ll take a fresh look at the items you are toting around with you in life that be elevated displayed anew (reclutter not declutter) if you love them and they’ve been hidden away or perhaps retired or rehomed (yes, that's the declutter part), and consider what’s next for your space so you enjoy being in it.
Stories & Your Living Room We’re starting this series in the living room. Arguably this is the most social space of your home, everyone transits through it. How do we make it us and make it welcoming?  
We are not going to talk feng sui specifically, but there is certainly something to be said for at least a cursory understanding of the concept and trying out any number of the amazing online guides available to help you. Feng sui is a concept of Chinese origin that literally means wind-water. In the context of our homes, it’s about how we arrange and fill our spaces to promote health, harmony, and balance.  
Let’s get right into the nitty-gritty of the stuff of your space, because, of course, we’re Artifcts.  
WHY THIS LIGHTING?
Bear with us, because just like our ARTIcles story about decluttering for dementia, here, too, we must start with a nod to lighting. Surely you’re not surprised to learn that we should not live like cave trolls. Studies show that “uplighting,” meaning lights pointing upward at the walls, can literally uplift moods. We’re no experts on “chi,” but if this appeals to you, look into it! 
From the perspective of letting you and your stories shine, lighting can also be an opportunity to introduce a splash of personality, creativity, and color via the fixture itself or shade. Artifcts co-founder Ellen Goodwin brought a custom splash of nature and color into her space with a shade she found on Etsy. Great conversation piece that’s also Artifcted! 
 
Photo credit: Original image provided by seller on Etsy. Shop is now closed.
WHY THESE NATURAL OBJECTS?
Think about decorative rocks, plants, and other natural objects in your space. Don’t have any? Consider adding them in.
Rocks, minerals, and gemstones you’ve picked up on hikes and other travel adventures are a win-win: Memories meet decoration. But Artifct them! You’ll be surprised how fast you forget which came from where. 
Thinking back to lessons of feng sui, plants offer an element of air purification and research shows that pausing to care for them can give you a breath when you need one to de-stress from your day. Plants also “warm up” a cool space to welcome people in. 
Not up for keeping plants alive? Preserved green walls have become very popular for this reason and are another great Etsy find by Ellen, who is equally great at killing plants but loves the effect they have in a room. 
And don't forget wood in your space works, too, like shelves made locally from sustainably harvested trees!
 
WHY THIS "CLUTTER?"
Excuse me?! Not clutter, but decor. Okay, if it is all decor in your mind, prove it. Sweep through your living room this weekend, yank everything off its perch, and then purposefully re-clutter. Is that a word? We’re still not sure, but we’re going with it. 
We love this approach, because it’s like you are moving. You have to rearrange in your mind what you have, why you have it, and where you want it to live in your home. What amount is “too much” is entirely up to you. You must dust it and make room for it after all. 
If you want your decor to spark conversation, remind you of great stories, or maybe keep your loved ones closer to mind, then your objects on display should reflect those priorities! 

Photographs you or a friend took, enlarged and framed. 
A memento or two from a trip. 
Books from favorite authors, maybe you even met them or know them. 
Boxes, vases, and other vessels that are heirlooms or perhaps simply great finds or investments that are functional and make you happy.

This tea tin we featured in curator's choice last year is pretty and sentimental, and paired with modern vase from MOMA. View the Artifct >

Toys. No, not those that belong to a child. Think instead of a jar of colorful confetti, dominos in a bowl, a spinning top perched on the coasters. Introduce fun in your space and signal to those who may be feeling blue, uncomfortable, or stressed that you hope they can relax here. This tip is picked up from the book, “Joyful,” by Ingrid Fetell Lee.

What stories and moments make up your living room? Send them in to us at Editor@Artifcts.com or join the conversation on Instagram (@TheArtiLife) or Facebook (@Artifcts). We'd be delighted to hear from you!
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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

                June 12, 2024
            
                    DECLUTTERING & ORGANIZING                
                    
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                The Baby Book That Wasn't
            
Most of us parents set out with the best intentions of creating a beautifully detailed, all-inclusive baby book. Whether it is our first or fifth child, chances are we all planned on doing it, “one day,” especially for those lucky first borns. 
In my case, I bought the book and the pens I wanted to use, and I even made a few half-hearted attempts at all the pre-baby details, first sonogram, baby shower, etc. I kept thinking, “I’ll have more time for this once baby arrives, and I can fill in all the details then,” as I was trying to manage a 50+ hour work week while pregnant.  
Funny thing is, baby arrived, and wow, I had NO time to myself let alone time to make that book. My pre-baby logic was seriously flawed. I found myself at home, sleep-deprived and catering to a non-verbal tyrant (thankfully she was so cute) and a rather needy golden retriever (thankfully he was cute, too). All while trying to figure out how to cook, clean, and keep things running smoothly with no extended family in sight to help.  
Yep, my notion of “I’ll get to it one day,” ended up being, “I still haven’t gotten around to it,” 13 years later. 
The Baby Book Industry Before I continue this story, I want to pause for a moment and share a few fun facts about the baby book industry. Yes, it is indeed an industry. 
Amazon has over 4,000 entries for baby memory books. Their most popular edition sold over 7,000 copies last month alone.  
What is more, entire companies—such as Chatbooks and Qeepsake—have been built based on our overwhelming desire as parents to document all those precious firsts coupled with our inability to complete those physical baby books.  
I even discovered articles from the Church of Latter Day Saints proclaiming that baby books have stressed our parents for a century. As co-founders, we believe you! Although we all have the best intentions of documenting those milestones as our little ones grow, life happens. My co-founder Ellen opted to go the digital route from the very beginning and created a private blog for her daughter. She made it 5 years. I stuck with the physical baby book but didn’t get very far, as you can see from the photo below.   
 
Even with the best intentions, I never got around to that baby book. 
Alternatives to a Baby Book So, what’s a new parent to do?  
Following our favorite good, better, best approach, we’re offering these tips to help you document all things baby, child, and teen! 

Good: Snap a photo of the key moment or milestone. Send an email to yourself or your child (if you created an email account for your child) with a short sentence or two of why this photo, why this moment. It doesn’t have to be fancy. 
Better: Make a book! Yes, we just said that, but before you laugh at us, hang on a minute. Don’t try to make ‘THE’ book. Make ‘A’ book.  

It could be a traditional baby book, scrapbook, or any of the digital options readily available. Maybe it’s documenting a birthday, or a fun family vacation. It doesn’t matter what the theme or reason is but take those photos off your phone and put them somewhere, anywhere, that is easy to view and can tell a story. Don’t worry if it’s not an all-inclusive book from the first five years, it’s okay. Something is better than nothing. 

Best: We’re biased, but it should come as no surprise: Artifcts lets you create truly one-of-a-kind, interactive baby books. We're like your superpowered digital baby book app helping you day-to-day and years down the road. Artifcts offer a digital advantage with an analog touch. How?  

Artifct those moments on the fly with our app and include the audio, video, photos, and details all in one safe, secure, and easily shareable space. Use custom tags to quickly search and sort your Artifcts by child, by year, etc. And the best part? If you still want that tangible book, that goes well beyond a collection of favorite photos, you can export your Artifcts to create a custom book with our partner Akin. Artifcts is a win-win approach to baby books for sure! 
Curious how my story ends? I am too!  I still haven’t gotten around to creating that baby book, but I am now Artifcting my way through my daughter’s childhood, starting with her first sonogram, all the way up through learning how to ride a bike and now adventures of middle school.  
Being able to add audio and video makes the stories come to life, and my daughter, who is now a tech-savvy teen, loves searching through the Artifcts to re-live the firsts she does not remember. Searching is made even easier by the tags I use, such as #thatsmygirl. 
One of her favorites? An Artifct I appropriately titled, “That Time She Painted the Fence.” She laughs non-stop at the story, including the complacency of our golden retriever in the process.  
 
 That time she painted the fence...
Although that Artifct is private, I’ll leave you with one of the photos from the Artifct. 
Remember, it’s never too late to remember for them and with them through Artifcts. You don’t have to take it from me. One of our Arti Community members reached out to us earlier this year to let us know that although her children are all grown and in their 30s and 40s, she’s finally getting around to that baby book, one Artifct at a time.  
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Looking to get a jumpstart on your baby book?Our checklists can help!
© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

                by Heather Nickerson, Artifcts
            
                June 05, 2024
            
                    KIDS                
                    
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                Let’s Get this (Graduation) Party Started
            
Graduation season is full of excitement and of the unknown. So much potential in those next steps. Before moving on, we’re diving into the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of graduation and how “kids” today are celebrating it, too. Take a moment to remember all your school day “firsts,” “lasts,” and “favorites.”
POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE 
This is not just a descriptor for how we celebrate this milestone but the name of the more than century-old classic song played at graduation ceremonies. Sometimes also called “The Graduation March,” the song is actual one of five marches composed by Sir Edward Elgar, starting in 1901 and stretching out over a 30-year period.
If you’re eager for some modern music to boost your post-ceremony celebrations, we found an eclectic list of 24 tunes from Billboard that’s full of themes about growing up and making new memories. Here are the first five:

Vitamin C, “Graduation (Friends Forever)” is a smart starter to the list for the "Easter egg" buried in the chorus… do you hear Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” floating through? 
Green Day, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”, to which one of the founders of Artifcts commented, “This is from when I was in school. Is it actually still popular?!” 
Queen, “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Listen close, we hope this for all our grads. 
Lizzo, "About Damn Time,” because we all need a little reassurance. 
OneRepublic, “Good Life” shares an important theme about the power in letting go.

GRADUATION CAPS 
Otherwise known as mortarboards, as in the flat board used by masons and bricklayers, thus representing the skill of a master worker. Maybe! Or maybe it was inspired by the shape of quads on the campuses of Oxford University, where many graduation customs are believed to have originated. Either way, before you walk out that door with your cap on, remember to wear the tassel to the right as you enter and move it to the left once all graduates have received their diplomas.
DIPLOMAS 
Have you ever heard them referred to as sheepskins? No, not us either. But somewhere apparently this is true as every graduation “facts” site will report and harkens back to when diplomas were made from sheepskin. Let’s be glad paper and printing industries have come such a long way.
WOMEN, YOU’RE SHINING 
Women are now more likely than men to graduate from college. A modern phenomenon and trend that’s strengthening. In 2022, 39% of women aged 25 and older had completed a bachelor’s degree or more as their highest level of educational attainment compared to 36.2% of men in the same age range, according to the US Census Bureau.
The ‘why’ of this trend is complicated. In an October 2021 Pew Research Center survey of Americans without a degree, men were more likely to say they just did not want to get a four-year degree and that they did not need one for their career aspirations, which is unsurprising given the continued dominance of men in many high-paying trade skills, including electrical, plumping, and construction, among others.
“The fact remains, that if we want more women in the board room, we need more women completing degrees beyond high school. Brava!” said Artifcts co-founder Ellen Goodwin.
ACT NOW: SORT THE STUFF, SAVE THE MEMORIES 
In mere days, your amazing graduation photos and videos, mementos, garb and more will be relegated to the land of memories. You’ll struggle to dig them up and share them. The details will slip away. What did that teacher say? Who was in that awesome picture with you as you tossed your cap? What did the design on your cap look like?  
 
What will you remember?!
 
Photo and video chaos from graudation. Save the memories, one Artifct at a time. The ceremony, the friends, the parties, the acheivements.
Here’s your checklist for graduation stuff, but don’t forget to check out Artifcts School Days inspiration checklist, too (available here)!

Certificate or diploma 
Graduation gown, cap, cords 
Announcement 
Awards 
Video and photos of the ceremony, with your parents and mentors, with your very best friends, of the post-ceremony party, etc. 
Capstone or thesis 
Portfolio items, prototypes 
Speech 
Press coverage, newspaper and online 
Book and people who inspired you 
Favorite study music and study places 
Pics of dorm room and off campus residences

Beyond School Days and Graduation, we have dozens of other FREE downloadable checklists waiting to inspire you!
We wish the graduates the very best in all their nexts and offer warm congratulations to the parents and mentors who helped them along their way.

                May 29, 2024
            
                    DECLUTTERING & ORGANIZING                
                    
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                Collection Management Made Easy and Meaningful  
            
Artifcts thanks Sarah Reeder, Artifactual History Appraisal, for her contributions to the following article.
Reading time: 4 minutes
You may have one or many collections, intentional collections and accidental collections. Part of the fun of collecting is keeping track of it: Knowing what you have and what you’re still hunting for, what is sentimental vs. valuable, and what is okay to sell some day versus you’d prefer to pass down to someone special.
 
We know a thing or to about accidental collections. Try out our free checklist available here.
If you were a professional archivist, librarian, or appraiser, you’d have a ready tool in your pocket to help manage your collections. It’s called a finding aid. But guess what? As you Artifct your collections, you are implicitly leveraging the best of finding aids, but in a friendly form that all can enjoy and benefit from. 
Here’s your peek inside the world of archivists where we show you how finding aids and collection management are made easy and meaningful with Artifcts!
What Is a Finding Aid, and Why Should You Care?Unless you are a collections professional (archivist, librarian, appraiser…), the concept of a finding aid is likely foreign to you. For the longest time at Artifcts we even mistakenly referred to them as finding keys. Oops!
A finding aid is exactly what it sounds like: A tool that helps you locate items within a large collection in a fast and efficient way. A finding aid is a guide that describes the contents of an archival collection. A well-designed finding aid makes quick work of determining the topical relevance of any collection. After all, what good is a collection if discoverability hinders locating and using elements within the collection in the future.
Many of us have experienced the feelings of dread and being overwhelmed upon contemplating many boxes of inherited items that probably have something important contained in them but what and where? Imagine if you had a finding aid that told you exactly what was important and where you could locate it!
This is the magic of what finding aids do.
To a large degree, information within a finding aid is standardized per guidelines from the Society of American Archivists, “Describing Archives: A Content Standard,” better known simply as DACS. Standardization means a professional could work with or for any gallery, library, archive, or museum (aka GLAM) and their collections without much difficulty. They might simply display the information differently than one’s accustomed to.
A finding aid would have information such as: reference code, title, date, extent, name of creator, description, dates, and location. Does that list look familiar? If you Artifct, it should… 
For those of us who didn’t go to Library Science school, in our daily lives we probably do not want to think about taxonomies, metadata, bytes of storage, or even finding aids. We want to enjoy and share the meaning behind the items we’ve collected and ensure the stories and value behind them live on!
Enter Artifcts: Solving Age Old Problems of Finding Aids for Every-Day Collectors What we created at Artifcts is the solution to several age-old problems of finding aids in an individual and family-friendly fashion. And this means great things for you all!  While finding aids are brilliant tools for professionals, they are disconnected from how most of us describe and catalog the ‘why’ of our collections. We need more multitasking support in our lives.
Here’s how you can use Artifcts to preserve the history and the value of your collections beyond the constraints of traditional finding aids.
Use those QR codes.
If you were to work with a professional appraiser, archivist, or collections manager of any type, they will likely offer as part of their services a description of the collection and list organizing the inventory within your collection, a finding aid of some sort. But how do you link that list to your physical collection? At Artifcts, you can print a QR code or use Artifcts QR code stickers to link the physical and the digital.
 
An Artifcts QR code unlocks the story and value!
Record your stories. 
Move beyond “scope notes” and “meta data” inherent to the archivist’s expertise – “This is a 19th-century {name of item}” – and breathe life, context, and personal meaning into the objects in your collection, e.g. “This is what Great Great Grandma brought from France when she moved to New York. And I’m giving it to you now.”  
Artifcts offers the options to share your story, indicate what you want to do with items in the future, and supply critical other information like where on earth you’ve stored the item in your home or elsewhere and the supporting documents (receipts, appraisals, and more). 
Connect the dots. 
We typically describe each Artifct you create as connecting the dots, because only you know how photos of those specific items relate to shape a story or history. But we help you go a step further, too. You can use our @ feature to cross reference one Artifct with another, tying together pieces of a collection and pieces of a story that others may not otherwise realize relate.  
 
Simply type @ as you add the story or description to your Artifct to link to other Artifcts.
Leverage your community. 
Let’s not forget the value in sharing and collaboration to learn more about items in your collections. Through Artifcts Circles and the option to give ‘Edit’ permission to other paid Artifcts members, you can crowdsource information from your loved ones and experts alike to capture important details about your collections that may add historical and family history information as well as increase the value, too. 
Preserve what is. 
Add the photos, videos, and original documents you have to your Artifcts. There’s a spot dedicated to securely preserve each as is. No compression. No conversion. What you upload is what you can always download again, too.
 
In our spring 2024 series finale of Evenings with Artifcts, our expert guests shed light on the 'why' and 'what' of collections.
Ensure that if you work with an appraiser or other collections manager in the future, they provide documentary support through Artifcts, so that you can protect and share the value of your collections with friends and family as well as knock off those “to dos” with your insurance company, financial planner, and estate attorney. 
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You may also be interested in these ARTIcles by Artifcts:
What to Consider When You Plan to Donate Art and Other Collectibles
From Rare Art to Family Heirlooms: Tips From a Master as You Consider Selling Your 'Stuff'
Everything You Wanted to Know About Appraisals but Were Afraid to Ask
How to Artifct that Collection
© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

                May 22, 2024
            
                    DECLUTTERING & ORGANIZING                
                    
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                Artifcts® Platform Now Supports Publishing to Custom-Designed Books with Partner Akin
            
Whether you think about photo books as unique and personalized gifts and keepsakes or dream of publishing a life memoir, we love our books! Today Artifcts announced a new partnership with Akin (https://akin.house/artifcts-books/) to offer simple, custom designed books to Arti Community members who wish to publish their Artifcts to books. 
You need only look at the explosive growth of photo book companies to support everything from build-your-own to instant print from Instagram or your phone to know how much we love to have and to hold books.
Together, Artifcts and Akin have made it simple and affordable to publish a custom-designed, premium quality, personalized book of your Artifcts, an a beautiful and meaningful keepsake for you alone or to share with your friends and family.
“Not everyone enjoys spending hours combing through photos, uploading them into software, stressing over layouts, colors, and font choices,” commented Artifcts Co-founder Ellen Goodwin. “Our partnership with Akin means you can simply choose the Artifcts you want to publish, share them privately with Akin, and they’ll lay out the book in the template of your choice and ship it off to you! The whole process for our members takes minutes!” 
Artifcts excels in innovation that places the needs of its Arti Community members first. People expect to share their stories with meaningful context that includes photos, audio, and video. Artifcts has ensured this promise translates to printed books, too. Unlike a standard photo book, for every Artifct you publish, you can include a QR code that allows the viewer to scan and access additional photos and video tied to the story. Your book can come alive. 

“We don’t want our members to worry about the book creation process. We want people to enjoy spending time reliving their stories, and recording what they value most,” said Artifcts Co-founder Heather Nickerson. 
For more information, visit Concierge & Other Professional Services or review the FAQs available at Artifcts.com/FAQs. 
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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

                May 16, 2024
            
                    PRODUCT UPDATES                
                    
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                10 Things We Learned About Our Moms From Their Artifcts
            
In honor of Mother’s Day, Heather and Ellen, the co-founders of Artifcts, thought up something a little different for this week's ARTIcles story. Our co-founders have always said if anything happens to either of them, they have the peace of mind that their daughters will have their Artifcts to know them, the real them. And, they will even know what to do with all the ‘stuff’ they would inevitably leave behind. 
Heather and Ellen decided to put that theory to the test last week and challenged their daughters, Hazel (13 years old) and Violet (14 years old), to co-author a piece about what they’ve learned about their moms through their Artifcts. What they chose was delightful, funny, and at times irreverent. You can see THEIR personalities in their revelations. 
We hope you enjoy this little looky-loo into the minds of young teens through the lens of Artifcts.  
We Know Our Moms. Here's Proof!Hazel (Heather's daughter): My mother had a secret work life! She was a frequent flier out to Silicon Valley in the 2010s. I had no idea she spent so much time with the tech companies. Rather ironic since she is the least tech savvy of all of us. (Case in point, I just showed her how to add Artifcts to her personal Word dictionary.) I guess she had to know a thing or two about security. She also had awesome taste in shoes, which is how I discovered this whole Silicon Valley thing. View the Artifct.  
Violet (Ellen's daughter): I always see my mom reading, but it never occurred to me to wonder about how connected she is with books until she started Artifcting them. She could definitely be a writer (she says no), with the way she writes her Artifcts and how passionate she is about reading and the guidance it gives her. She has so many favorite books, and she’s always looking for more. One of my favorite things to do with her is book shopping, although she always seems to be surprised at what I pick out. Enjoy one of many #realbooksarebest books Ellen’s Artifcted.  
Hazel: I always knew my mom was the real alpha of skiing, but I did not know she was crazy enough to ski 3 Tre in Madonna di Campiglio. 3 Tre is an (in)famous downhill World Cup run. Sorry, that Artifct is private though, just us!  
Violet: My mom always ‘oohs’ when she sees pretty textiles, but I now realize how much they mean to her and brighten our home. (Great example: A family quilt.) From Mexico to here in Texas, there are many textiles Artifcted that each have a story, and I know she's grateful she gets to look at them every day. 
 
Hazel: Turns out my mother not only knew but Artifcted me skipping school during COVID. Technically I was not skipping school so much so as giving myself a much-deserved snow day. She’s yet to see it my way. View the Artifct.
Violet: My mom’s time in the Czech Republic completely changed the path of her life, and I know from reading her Artifcts and hearing her stories how proud she is of that. She has Czech recipes, ornaments, random items, and everything else Artifcted, and they all show her true character and that she learned so much from her time there, and not just education. Case in point, a little crystal, anyone? 
 
Hazel: My mother has an unhealthy obsession with trail signs. And road signs. Maybe she’s reliving her early 90s days and she finally saw THE sign. She claims it’s “leave no trace” tourism, I think she’s just crazy. View one of the many trail sign Artifcts she has.  
Violet: My mom sure has a love for travel. Almost all of our trips—Hello, New Orleans!—and hers are Artifcted. From little holiday trips to her Mexico yoga trip and of course her time in the Czech. My mom is always dreaming of trips we can take together, and what we can do to make the most of the family time. It always helps our family bond throughout tough school years when we don’t have much time otherwise.  
 
Hazel: My mother has the patience of a saint, especially when it comes to me and my skibbidy art projects. Me and my trusty pink Crayola scissors have wreaked havoc on house and home and yes, even hair. She’s Artifcted it all. And now I’m dreading my graduation video; she keeps muttering something about karma not being a cat. View one of the many Artifcts.
Violet: She LOVES artwork. This goes along with the textiles, but it’s a little different because it can be anything. Whether it’s an arts and crafts project I butchered in pre-k or a phrase she ordered to hang on the wall, cards from friends and family, photographs, everything. Although she doesn’t agree and doesn’t talk about it, she is an amazing artist. She always helps me on any little sketch I need to do for school, because she did not pass down that gene (rude). (Hi, this is Ellen chiming in. Don’t listen to her. Kid art, like this, is simply the best. 💕)
Curious what your Artifcts say about you? What do you have to lose... Ask your loved ones! Heather & Ellen are certainly glad they did.  
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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

                by Hazel & Violet, mini-Artifcters
            
                May 08, 2024
            
                    HOLIDAYS                
                    
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