What's more important than love and friendship? When you strip away all the trim in life - possessions, careers, beauty, it all comes down to love, family, and good friends.

Messageintheforest.com provides you with a way to express your thoughts and feelings in a permanent, unique, fanciful way - a marriage of technology, imagination, and human sentiment.

Choose a tree, click on it and a close-up of the tree trunk will appear. Simply scroll your mouse over the tree trunk, slowly. As you do, you'll see short "carved" messages pop up. It's easiest to start at the left top corner and go side to side, and down. Or, even easier, there is a small "HINT" button in the lower right hand corner of each tree page. Click that, and you'll see little tree mark "icon" that shows you where messages are currently posted. If you go back to that button and click on it again, it will "HIDE" the small icons.

PDF stands for Portable Document Format, they allow you to create pages of text and images. To view theses files you need Adobe Acrobat Reader, if you don't already have it, go here to download it. Instructions will be provided on that website how to install it. This is how to install Acrobat Reader, however, to create a PDF requires Adobe Acrobat to be installed and not just Adobe Reader. Any document can be converted into PDF format, but generally we recommend Microsoft Office documents, such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. The easiest way to convert into a PDF document will be to first open the document, click File, and select Print. If you have Adobe Acrobat installed, then you should have a printer named "Adobe PDF" or "Acrobat Distiller". Select this printer from the available printers listed in the drop down and click Print. A new window will open asking you where you want to save the document to. Browse to the location you wish to save your new PDF to, such as My Documents or your Desktop, and type below what you want to name the new PDF document. After entering what you want to name the new PDF file, click the Save button. Adobe Acrobat will then convert the document that you have open into a PDF document and save the new PDF into the location you selected as the file name you specified. If you have a newer version of Adobe Acrobat then your new PDF document should open in Adobe Acrobat.

Absolutely! You can order space to post a larger extended message in a beautiful template that is linked to your carving. You can even add a photo at the beginning of the text. You can also create your own PDF that will contain your own photos, graphics and text in one long document.

So many people are now scrapping photo albums and coming up with great designs. If you want to use these talents to present your long message - go ahead. Instead of using a template, you could just order the blank page and insert your own artistic creations as a PDF. Or - use a template, but insert a JPEG of a photo. Link to your web site if you want, by putting your URL in the text. We have no problem with linking to good, family-oriented, wholesome sites. And we LOVE helping artists!

Just as there are many kinds of relationships, there are many thoughts and feelings to express. Each tree represents a different type of message. Whether it is a love note, a birthday greeting, a wedding announcement, a proposal of marriage, a memorial, or many other caring messages, this is the place to permanently post your words in cyberspace.

For a complete demonstration of the carving process, go here.

When you first scroll across the forest with your mouse, you'll see each tree illuminated with a different theme. There are eight trees and one surprise - a unicorn!

"Love Messages" is the tree for any caring message to any person. It could be a spouse, a lover, a child, a grandchild, a teacher, a neighbor - anyone you care about.

"Celebrations" is for special occasions. Did someone retire? Is there a birthday? An anniversary?
For example, for a retiree, you can gather everyone's well-wishes and farewells and the post them in an extended message. Better yet, create a PDF with photos and text! You can post invitations here too - or on any tree.

"Friends" is for any type of message you want to send a friend. Maybe you want to invite them for lunch. Share important news. Write a thank you note. Use your imagination to surprise a friend with a carved note.

"Tributes" can be used for a variety of messages. Honor someone special. Or honor an organization. A hero. A person serving in the armed forces. A teacher. You can honor your favorite charity. If you want, you can ask friends and family to send you messages to add to your extended message or create a PDF with photos and text.

"Weddings" You can announce a wedding, invite guests, post photos, post where a bride is registered. This is all about weddings, brides, grooms and everything revolving around this special event. A bride could even post a journal here, using the extended message format.

"Family" Christmas isn't the only time to post here, but what a great time to post a Christmas wish, a card, or a family photo. Surprise a grandchild with a permanent note from their grandparent. Did your child earn a special award or report card? Win an event? Post it here. Won't they feel special? Or use it for invitations for family reunions.

"In Memoriam" Love is eternal, and this tree provides you with a permanent place to honor someone who has passed away. If you choose to also post a longer message, you can add a photo. Ask others to write and send you their own thoughts, tributes and remembrances, then create a Word document, save it as a PDF and post as a pdf message. (In Word, GO to FILE and then choose PRINT and then choose to print as a pdf.)

"Proposals" What fun! Maybe you met your loved one online? Maybe not. But if you are looking for a unique way to propose, this is the space. Permanently post your sentiments. You'll always be able return later to your forest together and see that "carved" proposal.

Click on this little forest friend, and you'll be taken to the "Pet Postings" site. We all love our pets. Here's a chance to post your feelings about your special pet. Brag about a winner. Joke about a prankster. Honor a past pet. If you want to advertise your pedigrees or veterinary service, go ahead. There is nothing stopping you from sharing your URL with the world here.

The only type of message that involves a fee is the pdf message that is linked to a FREE short "carved" message. That's because we allow any length of message in pdf format and it can include photos. This involves a lot of server storage space, so for now, we need to charge a nominal fee for this. Remember, the pdf message is linked to the primary short message which is FREE.

You can post pages and pages of text, by choosing to have your short message linked to a longer one in a a template. And wait till you see the templates to choose from. The templates carry out the overall theme of the forest. Even if you are not going to order, go through the initial steps so you can see these great illustrations that could contain your extended text. If you choose, you can add a photo at the beginning of the text. You can also create your own PDF that can contain your own photos, graphics and text.

At the ordering page, choose the "Long Message With Photo" option, and then you'll be directed to the "Design Your Message" page. There, you can upload your photo or image from your own computer by browsing through your files. Don't worry about sizing. Our software automatically formats your photo to the size needed to fit the template. We accept JPEG, GIF, BMP, and PNG images. If you don't know what type your image is, don't worry, it will most likely be one of these standard types. For the techies out there, the best size would be 200 x 170 pixels. But for most folks, just send us the image, and we'll worry abut the resizing for you.

When you order, we have a space for you to enter the e-mail address or addresses of the person or persons you want to lead to the message. An e-mail message will automatically be sent to them alerting them of the site, the tree and the space where you placed their message. You will also receive an e-mail yourself that gives you the location of your message.

Just go to the tree of your choice, choose an open space and click on it. You'll be taken to the ordering page. Remember, everything is FREE, except for the option of linking a short FREE message to a pdf file. There is a nominal fee for pdf files since they can take up a lot of server storage space. For the person who chooses to post a pdf fifle, we use Pay Pal so he or she can trust a secure transaction. Read the legal notes, put a check mark in "I agree" and start composing your message. You can keep it short and simple if you want. Maybe you just want to carve your initials in the space. Remember, if you choose to select the longer message option, you also carve the short message on the tree, as part of the package. The shorter carved message contains a link to the longer one. The best way to understand the site is to just visit all the trees. Click on the small "HINT" button in the lower right hand corner of each tree page, and it will show you little tree mark "Icons" that locate where messages are currently posted. The existing messages that others have posted should inspire you with ideas for your own carvings.

For what ever reason, we couldn't create the pdf file message you carved in the spot you wanted. So, we credited your account with the money you spent so you can reuse when you go to created another message. Most likely you lost your reserve on your spot because you took more than 30 minutes on PayPal's website and another user took it.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, you can use our online form here to contact Message In The Forest Staff.