T-I-M-E

Blogging, exercise, dinner, laundry, pictures?  What do all these things have in common??
They take TIME!!

It takes time to sit down an write a blog post, to go for a jog, to make dinner, to do the mountains of laundry sitting in the laundry room (can you tell that's a sore spot for me?), and to do something with your pictures.  Our society is definitely a here and now society!  No waiting!  That's probably why facebook is so popular...it's almost instantaneous and it takes very little TIME (unless, of course, you want it too).



As an HM consultant, one of the things I hear all the time is, "That's awesome, but I don't have time to do anything like that." TIME is a precious commodity.  Everyone has different schedules and priorities, and I will admit that making a storybook may take you a little while. It's probably something that you will want to put a little thought into.  (There are some great templates that can make doing a book easy, but it will still take a little longer than the projects I'm going to show you in this post.)  However, there are some Heritage Makers projects that can take under 5 minutes.  Yes, you read that right...5 minutes.  Thanks to the fabulous template gallery, doing SOMETHING with your pictures could literally take you less than 5 minutes! Post bound albums, scrap pages, cards, and even canvases can be as easy as changing a picture.



Before
(12x12 scrap page)



After
(Swapped out Photo & text)



This one has a few more pictures to swap, but the process is the same:

The Process of Swapping Photos



The Result


How about a post bound album to put all your easy scrap pages in:

I swapped the picture & changed the title of the album.
I now have a CUSTOM (front & back) album to put all my family scrap pages in.

Here's one more.  This is an 8x8 canvas.  It probably took between 10 and 15 minutes to finish because I wanted a boy version...not the original girl version, so I had to swap out some papers & embellishments.  But even at 15 minutes, this was still a quick and easy project to make!



Before (Girl Version Template)





After (Boy Version)

If you're finding that TIME is a limiting factor for you, use the template gallery!  It is a great resource.  The pre-made layouts make using your pictures easy whether you're making a scrap page or a canvas.  You'll get beautiful results with minimal effort and TIME, you'll be using pictures that you've already invested your TIME into taking, and you'll be creating projects that show your family just how precious your TIME together is!

The Heart of Every Home

Once you’ve fallen in love with making pages and projects in Studio, put cornerstone books on your to-do list. Cornerstones are books you write about your life and the lives of your parents and grandparents. Designed to preserve the photos and memories of you and your loved ones for future generations, these books also put treasured stories in the heart of your home and can be a rich and meaningful family experience.

Start your cornerstone to-do list by documenting your grandparents’ lives. The easiest time to help grandparents write their stories is while they are living in the family home and remain in good health. Once they retire, many grandparents move into smaller, easier-to-care-for, or warmer-climate accommodations. Downsizing often means that precious records, mementos, or photos are scattered among family members or get boxed up and sent to a storage unit. Just asking for access to these family records often brings to light stories that no other family members have heard.

Our “How I Became Your Grandpa” and “How I Became Your Grandma” 8 x 8 cornerstone books by Lynda Angelastro make writing family stories simple. Download the templates, look at each spread, and make a note of how many photos are needed for that topic. Only have three photos of Grandpa as a baby instead of four? No problem, find photos of the family home, scan birth certificates or fill in a photo box with patterned paper. More photos than allowed for in the design? Go to “manage pages” and duplicate a spread or two. Your book can be a few pages bigger than the template and need not be like anyone else’s.

If your grandparents are no longer living, ask parents, aunts, or uncles to help you write the stories and find the photographs. Make it a family project. You’ll be grateful you did, and so will your brothers, sisters, and cousins.

If you’re doing the math, writing a story for each grandparent is four books. Add four more if you’re helping with a spouse’s grandparents. Try to get at least one done every quarter. Put it in your day planner. Add it to your computer calendar. Plan ahead and you can make many opportunities to talk to family members about your grandparents at family gatherings.

Once Grandma and Grandpa’s lives are documented, turn your attention to the growing up stories of your mother and father. The 8 x 8 storybooks “Before I Was Your Dad” and “Before I Was Your Mom” by Wendy Bailey are perfect for the job. Documenting the lives of your parents is far easier if they live close enough to share facts and photos, but if they don’t, make it one of the priorities on your next visit.

Finally, write the stories of you and your spouse. If you have children, you can use the same “Before I Was Your Dad” and “Before I Was Your Mom” storybooks. Swap some of the cover papers around to give the books a different look from your Mom and Dad’s. Your book is every bit as important as your parents’ and grandparents’. How precious would your book be to your spouse, your siblings, your parents, or your children if tragedy ever struck?

Cornerstones do not have to be 8 x 8 storybooks. The 12 x 12 “Hats Off to You Grandpa Ben” and “Hats Off to You Aunt Alice” templates make wonderful life story books for Grandma and Grandpa or Mom and Dad.

“Through the Years: Male” and “Through the Years: Female” 11.5 x 8.5 storybooks, by Wendy Bailey again, also make good choices for cornerstone volumes.

And, if you like the 11.5 x 8.5 storybook format and want to make a snapshot of your family heritage before working on individual cornerstones, check out the template “Becoming the Goddard-Angelastro Family” by Lynda Angelastro. With a three-generation family tree as the opening spread, followed by pages about you, your spouse, your parents and grandparents; this overview of family heritage works well for both traditional and blended families.

While you’re checking cornerstones off your list, consider working on a couple of “foundation” books each year. Foundation books are a series of 12 x 12 storybooks that capture the flavor of your family across the years by providing a look at the ways various holidays and traditions are celebrated. These fun and easy-to-make books provide an over-time history of what makes your family unique and special.

Foundation books currently available include: "How the Butlers Celebrate Birthdays" by HM Signature Templates "How the Butlers Keep Christmas" by HM Signature Templates, "A Prezant’s Hanukkah" by Christine Prezant, "A Butler Thanksgiving" by Elisa Black, "Family Weddings" by Elisa Black, and "Family Love Stories" by Lynda Angelastro. More titles will be added this year including family, baby, and vacation books.

Chances are that one of the things that drew you to Heritage Makers was your enthusiasm for capturing just the kind of family stories we’ve been talking about. You understood the importance of making these precious memory books the heart of your home. There’s also a good chance you haven’t got to them yet. February is cornerstone month. Put cornerstone and foundation books on your to-do list and use Studio Night to work on them. Be sure to sign up for Club HM today of you haven't yet! As a member you'll save big on publishing all year long and get Premier for free! If you've already got points, but no Premier, contact me today to find out how you can get Premier for as little as $8.33 per month.

Just for fun...

So...have you seen the new Club HM facebook page??  It just started in January, and it already has a ton of "likes"...which means there are a ton of people who are more than happy to share their creative genius with you!!  There are also fun contests!

Right now they're running a fun little contest:  Create a 1-11-11 scrap page, post it on the Club HM page, and whoever receives the most "likes" wins a 12x12 post bound album.  I haven't done a post bound album yet, but the idea seems more and more appealing to me.  For those of you aren't quite sure where to start...or finish a regular storybook, the post bound album is PERFECT!  It uses the 12x12 scrap pages, and you can add to it continually!  Anyhoo...here's my little creation for the date:

12x12 scrap pages are the perfect way to not bite off more than you can chew.  Create 1 page a week, or maybe 1 page a month, then add it to your post bound album, and voila, by the end of the year you have a fabulous memory book!

Oh...and feel free to vote for me!  Just go to the original post on my facebook wall (you'll see it) and "like" it!

Thanks!

Have You Heard???

Heritage Makers is introducing a new way of getting your publishing done (yes, DONE!...not just thought about) this year.  Now you can publish LOTS, while paying just a little at a time, AND you don't have to wait for a big sale or save up all your pennies to be able to get what you want.  PLUS you'll get FREE Premier!

How, you ask??

A monthly membership!  Instead of making a large purchase like $99 for premier or buying a bunch of storybooks at a time because they're on sale, we now offer a monthly membership.  Basically, you can sign up to join Club HM (for a minimum 3 month commitment) and you receive monthly publishing points & FREE Premier for a  low monthly cost.  For example:

$30/month (3 mo. commitment) = 40 publishing points/month + Free premier each month!!  That's a $30 savings each month...AND it doesn't come out of the checkbook all at once. 

**If you already have premier from a previous purchase, to compensate, HM will give you an additional 10 publishing points per month until your Premier runs out.  So, that $30 would actually get you 50 publishing points! 

Other Benefits of Club HM include:

• Unlimited Photo Storage
• Savings of up to 50%
• Free Premier
• Access to Premier art & templates
• Opportunity to purchase 100 extra points for on $50 at sign-up
• Project ideas and publishing tips from the Club community (Monthly themes, Virtual digi nights, and an on-line community coming in Feb. 2011)

In order to receive the benefits of club pricing, members must agree to a 3 month commitment.  After the first 3 months Club members will automaticall renew each month, on a month to month basis.  After the initial 3 month commitment, you can cancel your renewal or change your options anytime online.  As an added bonus, when you sign up for Club HM, you can purchase 100 publishing points for $50 - That's a 50% SAVINGS!!

Why the change?  We want you to get the most for your money, and buying lots of publishing points that sit in your account doesn't do that.  The goal of Club HM is to encourage you to publish on a regular basis and make the most of your money.  You can do this with any of the 3 plans:

1.  $30 a month = 40 publishing points/mo + Free Premier (3 mo.)
So, after 3 months, you'll have 120 publishing points for $90 and Free Premier those 3 months

2.  $50 a month = 70 publishing points/mo + Free Premier (3 mo.)
So, after 3 months, you'll have 210 publishing points for $150 and Free Premier those 3 months

3.  $100 a month = 150 publishing points/mo + Free Premier (3 mo.)
So, after 3 months, you'll have 450 publishing points for $300 and Free Premier those 3 months

So, what projects do you have planned for 2011??  Maybe a better question is: What projects would you like to do in 2011?  HM can help with everything from home decor to holiday card...school memory books to family yearbooks.  The possibilities are endless!!

I'd love to help you with all your 2011 publishin!  Just ask! 
Contact me to help you get started with HM, host a workshop/demo and earn Hostess Rewards, or even talk to others that would be interested in learning about Heritage Makers!

Happy 2011!

Canvases

Just wanted to share a last minute give idea with you.

Heritage Makers is having a sale on all sizes of canvases...Buy One Get One 1/2 off! (You must purchase in pairs of the same size)  To make a good deal even better, if you publish and purchase the canvas BEFORE Dec. 11th, you'll get an extra 10% off + you can select ground shipping and it will still get to you by Christmas!

You can create any custom canvas you'd like, OR, if you don't feel like you could get that done before the deadline, Heritage Makers has put together a "Click and Give" page full of beautiful canvases.  This is as easy as it sounds...these canvases don't need any changes, you can simply click & give!  Log into your account from the "Click and Give" page (or if you don't already have an account, take a minute to create one) and a beautiful canvas is only a click away!

Here are a couple of my favorite click & give canvases:

 (20x8 gallery wrapped canvas)

(8x8 or 20x20 gallery wrapped canvas)

If you feel want something a little more personalized, there are several templates in the gallery that would only require swapping in a picture or two...or you can start from scratch and make something like my last canvas project:

Please feel free to contact me if you'd like help or advice in making your canvases!

*Just a few quick side notes:

1.  The Card Sale is still going on.  Publish by Dec. 14th, select direct ship, and your cards will still get to their recipients before Christmas.

2.  The "Gotta Try It" special is also still going on!  This is a perfect way to get publishing points AND try Premier at the same time.

3.  If you wanted to give someone the gift of story this Christmas, but didn't get a chance to complete their story...DON'T WORRY...give them publishing points for Christmas so that they can create their own story!  A Heritage Makers gift card so to speak!  Contact me for details.  

Happy Heritage Making & Happy Holidays!

Share Your Story!

Okay...so I've been waiting for the last couple of weeks to post these books because they were gifts for other people, but they've been given and I'm SO excited to share them with you.  Not just because I'm happy at how they turned out, but because I love that they are preserving special memories for the people they were given to.

This first book was made for my cousin's wife.  Jeff wanted to do something special for her, and lucky me, he chose Heritage Makers to do that.  We made a beautiful 13x11 Legacy book for her...full of pictures that started from their engagement up to the present...and I love how it turned out!  Jeff uploaded all of the pictures, chose the template, and decided exactly what he'd like the book to be about.  I was the lucky one who got to put those pictures into a cohesive book.



This next book has got to be one of my favorite books ever...and I'm so glad I got the chance to do it.  It was for my sister in law for her birthday, and it showcases the day she and her hubby were sealed in the temple.  This one is an 8x8 board book, and since I couldn't find a template that I wanted to use, I made up my own.  I love things with clean, simple lines that showcase what really needs to be showcased in the book: the pictures (and text).  Lauren got this last night...and I'm so glad that she liked it!



I originally started with Heritage Makers because I figured it would be an easy way for me to do a yearly summary for our family, but I've since realized, it's much more than that.  It's more than a summary of a year or an event.  It's a way to share our story.  It's a way to bring those memories back to life!  With Heritage Makers, it's all about family & friends, and special memories...and I LOVE that!

Tri-Fold Card

I was surfing the net the other day and came across this nifty little project.  After looking at it, I decided to give it a try...the Heritage Makers way!

Although it may not look like it, this project is really quite simple.  There is some scoring (making an indented line in the paper), folding, and cutting involved, but it's pretty easy, and the results are well worth it.

This is made using a 12x12 scrap page.  You can get 2 per page.  It's perfect as home decor for a shelf, to use as a Christmas card, birth announcement...or probably anything you can think of.

The template that I designed has a few different varieties...just to give you some ideas on how to use it, but the concept scoring/folding/cutting concept is the same with each card.  So here you go...

Tri-fold Card Instructions

1.  Each tri-fold is approx. 5 1/2" by 12" (I made the template SLIGHTLY larger to allow for any cuts)  There are 5 vertical sections and 3 horizontal sections.

2.  Vertically, score the template at 2", 4", 8", and 10"  (Scoring can be done by taking something with a straight edge (ruler) and with the dull side of a butter knife, press a line into the paper.  It is done to show create a more precise fold for later.)

3.  Between the 1st and 2nd horizontal sections cut from the 2" score line to the 10" score line.

4.  Repeat step 3 between the 2nd and 3rd horizontal sections.

5.  Now on the score lines make mountain/valley folds:

2" score line = mountain fold (fold up/outward like the point of a mountain)

4" score line = valley fold (fold down/inward like a valley)

8" score line = mountain fold

10" score line = valley fold

6.  In the middle horizontal sections, press the folds the OPPOSITE direction from the other 2 horizontal folds.

(This is a top view of the card.  Notice the mountain & valley folds.  Then press the middle section folds opposite.)

Here is what the template actually looks like before any cutting...and yes the instruction are with the template.  (Just be sure to delete that page before publishing your project so that you're not paying for an extra page.)  *I haven't submitted this template to the gallery yet, but if you'd like it feel free to e-mail me with your ID# and I'll share it with you.

During November, Heritage Makers is running their Holiday Hits special, which means that HM will choose different products during each of the weeks of November and any of those particular products that you publish during that week will be 10% off at checkout.  Here's the good news:  Scrap pages are among the products on special the first week in November.  You could publish and order these cute little cards (use them for Christmas) next week AND get an extra 10% off the cost.  Every little bit counts!