K&CompanySmash Pad, Family

Another great smash product! I love these little prompt books. If you've never seen one, well, they're little pads of papers with prompts that you can tear out, write down your thoughts, and tape or glue it into your Smash book - Scrapbook - Art Journal, etc. At first I didn't really like that there were more than one of the same prompt (usually 3 of the same prompt in one book) but now that I have several smash books and Art Journals going at the same time, mine, the family adventure one, one for the youngest, helping my middle daughter with hers...., then I can see the upside of having more than one of the same prompt. It makes sense now.I'd seen some complaints from other reviewers talking about the clear round label that the manufacturer puts on the front of all of their pads, then folded over the side to the back, to keep it together in shipping. The complaint is that when you tear it off, it rips the whole front cover leaving you with a mess, and lets face it, most of us with artistic abilities are a tad OCD and that would drive anyone of us crazy. And they're right, if you tear it off, that is exactly what's going to happen.So, I didn't tear mine off. Instead I took a xacto knife, slid it through the tape in the very center of the pad (very carefully), and then folded the tape over onto the inside of the front and back covers. It was an easy way to open it, and easy way to solve the problem of ruining the front.This is the Family Pad - talking mostly about your childhood. Like the others, it is smaller than a 3 x 5 note card with a perforated edge at the top, to make it easy to tear each individual page out. I'm attaching pix of the prompts because one of the hardest things I had about deciding which books to buy, was having no idea what was inside.You have a page asking about Your Childhood - things like your home, earliest memory, favorite kid food, favorite toy, best friends and what you wanted to be. I used one of these in my 5-year-old son's smash book of his yearly adventures. I filled it out, asked him certain questions, and paper-clipped it in the front. I figure it will be cute to look back on one day to see how he answered it.There's also the story of my NicknameSecret Family RecipeA sorta mad-lib-esque page asking questions like: I look most like my: My personality is most like my: Family member I most admire: Best sense of humor: Our family's matriarch: Best storyteller: Most creative: Wise Owl: One I'm closest to.A Typical family gathering looks likeThis was the best part: Grandma's House - which just brought back SO many amazing memories.Great Piece of Family WisdomI got into big trouble whenTop 10 Family memories - to makeThe kind of parent I want to beThe shipping made me raise my eyebrows a bit. No wonder shipping costs are so high and those of us with Prime now have to deal with these 'Add on' items. They put it in this huge plastic sleeve that would have held a workbook, then an envelope slightly bigger than that. Remember, this is for a pad of paper that is smaller than a 3 x 5 note card. (See Photo)None of my review photos are loading correctly tonight. I have no idea why, but regardless of what I do, I can't get them to rotate. Sorry about that. If you have a solution, I'd be forever grateful!

It's such a lovely way to add little notes to the Smash Folio. The pages look great and the suggested topics help me figure out just the right thing to write.

This one is okay, I'm not sure why I buy things...

I forgot about theeessseee!So cute!

I bought one of each different smash pad. I like the designs and how you get several pages of each design. I didn't know that before purchasing, so it was a nice surprise.

I love the smash pad books. I have scrapbooked for years and just recently found smash books. They are easy it update and easy to carry with you.This pad specifically was interesting. It is more of a diary genealogical type. The family one as pages where you fill out childhood memories, nickname history, family recipes, fill in questions, family gatherings look like, grandmas house memories, family wisdom, etc. I was expecting more pads to write on that go with pictures, but that is not what this one is.They are still fun and great to use. The coloring is fun and the writing is creative.

I can see myself using this even more when my daughter can write so I can give her a sheet to record her thoughts too. In case anyone is looking for a reason why you purchase smash books, it's for people who don't want to make real scrapbooks. If you don't have time, don't want to do a lot of cutting, punching, and designing. If you are one of the people (like me) who wants a physical place to store memories that is prettier and more involved than a photo album but not as time consuming as serious scrapping.

My daughter and I had a blast filling out the family pages. Some pages really make you think. It’s been a lot of fun and this made perfect journaling/scrapbooking prompts. We wish there were less duplicates of each page and lots more different pages. There are 4 of each page.