Whole Heart Memorial & Family Keepsakes

10/16/2026

I love receiving messages like this...

Great news Alison, they (my brother and wife) received them (personalized pet pillows) today. Made them cry, and their dog Rusty recognized her and was initially barking at the pillows. Thanks again!!!

10/03/2026

The world remembers some babies' names for a lifetime.
Their births make headlines.
Their names are known by millions.
Their stories become part of history.

Other babies are remembered by only a few.
Maybe only by a mother and father.
Maybe by grandparents or siblings.
Maybe their name was never spoken outside their family.
Maybe they never even had the chance to be given a name.

But being known by fewer people doesn't make a life matter less.
On October 15, families around the world will light candles for the Wave of Light, remembering babies lost during pregnancy, at birth and in infancy.
For one hour, thousands of tiny lights will glow for babies whose stories may never have been known by the world — but whose lives changed the people who loved them forever.
Some names are remembered by millions.
Some are remembered by only a few.
Every one of them mattered.

10/02/2026

A little behind the scenes… adding strings to ornaments, one at a time. ❤️ Lots of love goes into these little keepsakes!

10/01/2026

“This is the only picture I have.” 🤍
I've heard those words more than once when someone sends me a photograph of someone they love.
Sometimes it's faded.
Sometimes it's blurry.
Sometimes it's a picture of a picture that's been tucked inside an album for decades. Sometimes it's even a screenshot.
And almost always, the person sending it apologizes because it isn't a “good” photo.
But here's what I wish they knew:
It doesn't need to be perfect.
Because when you love the person in that photograph, you don't see the faded colours or the grainy image first.
You see them.
You remember their smile. Their voice. The things they said. The places you went. The ordinary moments that didn't seem important at the time but mean everything now.
And that's one of the things I love about creating photo keepsakes.
With every ornament I make, I work with the photograph first — touching it up, improving it where I can, and helping preserve that precious image for years to come.
Because sometimes one photograph really is all we have.
And sometimes one photograph is enough. 🤍
Do you have a photograph like this — one that may not be perfect, but you wouldn't trade for anything?

09/30/2026

⚠️ LET’S TALK ABOUT AI & “HANDMADE” PRODUCTS…

I’ve been wanting to talk about this for a while.

Lately, I’ve noticed more and more Facebook and Marketplace listings advertising personalized and handmade products using images that are clearly AI-generated.

The problem isn’t simply that someone used AI.

The problem is when an AI-generated image is being used to sell you a product that has never actually been made.

I’ve had people contact me after ordering personalized products elsewhere because what arrived looked nothing like the picture they ordered from. And unfortunately, by that point, they’ve already spent their money and are disappointed with something that was supposed to be meaningful.

This is especially important to me because so much of what I create at Whole Heart Memorial & Family Keepsakes is incredibly personal.

You are trusting me with photographs of people you love, handwriting, special dates, memories of a beloved pet, or sometimes the memory of someone you have lost.

So I want to be very clear about how I use AI in my business.

Yes, I use AI.

I also use design software and photo-editing tools. I might remove a distracting background, improve lighting, clean up a photograph or create a nicer setting to showcase a product I have made.

But I will not use AI to create a beautiful product that doesn’t actually exist and then advertise it to you as something I make.

I won’t digitally turn one of my products into something it isn’t.

I won’t let AI make my art work or graphics

I won’t show you an AI-generated keepsake and then try to figure out how to make it after you order it.

And I will never knowingly use another maker’s product photo and represent their work as my own.

If you see me selling it, I can make it. I have made it.

More importantly, I want the photos you see to give you a realistic idea of what you will actually receive.

HOW CAN YOU PROTECT YOURSELF WHEN SHOPPING FOR HANDMADE PRODUCTS ONLINE?

Take a look through the seller’s page or website.

Do you see real finished orders? Different photographs of their products? Customer orders? Packaging? Videos? Work in progress? Products being personalized?

AI can be an incredibly useful tool for a small business. I don’t think pretending that small businesses don’t use it is realistic.

Transparency is what matters.

Behind Whole Heart there is a real person designing, printing, pressing, packaging, making mistakes, starting over, testing new products and creating every order that leaves my little business here in Abbotsford, BC.

And yes… there are also probably far too many craft supplies. 😂

When you choose to support a small Canadian handmade business, you’re supporting the real person behind those products.

And I am incredibly grateful every time you choose to support mine. ❤️

Whole Heart Memorial & Family Keepsakes
Handmade and personalized in Abbotsford, BC 🇨🇦

09/25/2026

When my father died, the grief nearly flattened me. What has carried me since is a belief I hold with everything in me. This is not goodbye forever.

I believe, deep in my bones, that death is not the end of the story. That there is a life beyond this one, and that one day I will see my dad again.

I cannot prove it to you. Faith does not work that way. But I have stood on the very edge of death enough times, on mountains and in wild oceans, to feel certain that we are more than flesh and bone, and that love does not simply stop when a heart does.

I picture heaven not as some distant, cloudy place, but as home. Full of light and laughter and every person we have ever loved and lost. No more illness. No more goodbyes.

That hope changes how I carry my grief. I am not mourning someone gone forever. I am missing someone I fully intend to see again.

If you are carrying a loss today, I cannot take the ache from you. But I believe, with all my heart, that the ones we love are not gone. They have just gone on ahead.

Who are you longing to see again one day?

09/16/2026

09/16/2026

It will always be strange to me how comfortable people are judging the way a parent grieves their own child.

Like imagine watching someone survive the worst thing that could ever happen to them and thinking, yeah I would’ve handled that differently.

No. You don’t know what you would do. And I pray you never have to find out.

There is no rulebook for burying your child. No right way to walk out of a hospital without them. No timeline for when you’re supposed to be okay again.

“I would never post that.”
“I can’t believe she did that.”
“I wouldn’t handle it that way.”

You do not get to critique the way someone crawled out of hell.

Too public. Too quiet. Too angry. Too emotional. Moving too fast. Grieving too long.

None of it matters.

Because when your entire world falls apart, you’re not thinking about whether everyone else approves of how you’re handling it. You’re literally just trying to survive the day.

You see a post. A picture. A smile. A night out.

You don’t see the nights they can’t breathe. The silence in their house. The things they still cry about when nobody is around. You see such a tiny piece of it.

Grief is messy. Survival is messy. Sometimes people cope in ways you wouldn’t.

That’s fine.

But turning someone else’s tragedy into something to gossip about or judge?

That says a whole lot more about you than it ever will about them.

Some people are literally just trying to stay alive after losing someone they would’ve given their own life for.

Let them.

09/15/2026

A Memorial Gift Is Never Too Late 🤍

Twelve years after Keira passed away , she is still spoken about often and very much remembered.

Karen and Keira's mom belonged to a camping club together and spent many weekends camping. Karen wanted to give her friend something meaningful to show her support, something that acknowledged that even after all those years, Keira was still very much a part of her life.
She chose a personalized memorial candle featuring Keira's name and photograph.

And I love what happened next.
Keira's mom began taking the candle camping with her.
Now, when they're camping and the campfire is lit, Keira's candle is lit too.

I believe this story is such a beautiful reminder that there really isn't an expiry date on remembering someone we love.

Sometimes we worry that too much time has passed to send a card, give a memorial gift, mention someone's name or let a grieving person know we're still thinking about the person they lost.

But twelve years later, Keira is still her daughter.
Still loved.
Still missed.
Still remembered.

And now her candle has become part of those camping moments too.
She is with them. She is remembered.

09/12/2026

I know... it's only September. 🎄
But behind the scenes at Whole Heart, Christmas has already started.
We received our first Christmas ornament order of the season this past weekend! 🤍

I've been getting our personalized Christmas ornaments ready for another season, and over the next few months I'll be sharing some of the designs I've created for remembering loved ones, celebrating families, pets, babies, new homes and all those moments we want to remember.

I know some of you are firmly in the “do not mention Christmas until December” camp 😂, but when everything is personalized and made to order, I have to start a little earlier.

So consider this my very gentle introduction to Christmas 2026. 🎄

Are you an early Christmas person, or should I come back in November? 😂