My adventures in crafts and everything else...
Digital Storybooks, scrapbooking, card making, home decor, trash to treasure... ok almost everything. I love crafts.
I just got back from celebrating the 5year anniversary of Heritage Makers. Most of you have heard of my passion for amazing company but just in case you wandered here from another blog I thought Id post a quick overview of what Heritage Makers is.
I hope you will check out this video (about 3 minutes) and that maybe I can help you or someone you know in preserving the important moments in your life.
We continue to lead the way in advancements for Digital Storybooking and yet we are still a ground floor opportunity. Consultants who come in now have the best of both worlds. We've been around long enough to get past growing pains and yet its still young enough that its not saturated.
Contact me if you or someone you know is interested in helping us with our mission.
Melissa
Another great feature we've added to Heritage Makers Studio is the advanced options for managing pages. While this can be done on most any project it is most obvious when making our decks of playing cards.
We used to be able to add or delete only one page at a time... This feature is used to copy pages or delete unwanted pages in bulk. YEAH!!!
We just added the most amazing feature to our Heritage Maker Studio. I cant even imagine the programming that had to go into it but I am SO thankful.
You can now Import Pages from Different Projects with Heritage Makers. Basically this means if you see a project you love but its in a different size you can make it into any size you want. Change a 12x12 book into an 8x8. Turn a Canvas print into a greeting card. The possibilities are endless.
I am working on a post bound yearbook. Each month I make 2-6 pages celebrating events that month. Now I can take random pages out of books that are the theme I want and then add them to my yearbook. Example a Trip to Disney- well i can import a few pages from a Disney Album to commemorate our trip. How awesome is that.
Just remember to check the print quality. When going from large projects to smaller ones the quality should be ok but when going from small to large you need to be sure that everything has a green outline or it may print grainy.
THANKS SO MUCH HERITAGE MAKERS!!! You really are leading the way. love it.
SO you may have noticed I havent blogged in a while. thats an understatement.
I had some technical issues and well, got very frustrated. Then had some family issues too and it was just easier to let this project sit on the side for a while. But I have missed it and now am ready to take it on again. I hope you will join me as i celebrate my favorite time of the year. Christmas.
Ever since I was a little girl I have been making handmade gifts and this year is no different.
Make sure to click "become a follower" because you wont want to miss all the great ideas I have for easy holiday gifts that even you can make this holiday season.
Growing up I had many holiday traditions that I plan to continue with my children and some new ones we've added. Here are 5 to get you started...
1.)Have some kind of countdown or advent calendar. I find it helps with the excitement.
Young children dont really understand the concept of time. SO this helps them to see how long it will be. You can include a small treat each day to help remind them to be good until christmas. Last year we got a cute my little pony one. Instead of getting chocolate everyday she gat a small toy. It was a more then I usually spend ($14) but better then candy and she still plays with all the ponies!!! it was like an extra christmas gift. This year I found a pattern to make a countdown at home, and each day she will see different photos of our family. Check it out in my gifts under $25 post.
2.)Decorate the tree together.
We've decided that there will be an adult tree and a kids tree in the basement play area. Make sure to get your children involved. I know it may sound cliche' but kids love stringing popcorn, cranberries, foil candy wrappers, beads whatever you can find. Make an afternoon of it with Hot cocoa. ***I like to put a candy cane "stirrer" in mine. My daughter gets so excited when do this.
I also will use this as an opportunity to remind them what the holiday is about. I have a christmas nail ornament that has a story about Jesus included in the package. I gave it to my Nana and when she passed it was one of the things I was able to get back. Now every christmas I sit with my daughter and read her the story. I named her after my nana so I have let her hang the nail every year on the tree.
3.) Make Homemade wreaths. check out my post here to see how.
My daughter loves to collect the greens for this. and it usually turns into a 2 day event for her. she'll be 4 this year and her attention span is short. We collect the greens one day and the next make a door swag. or let them make thier own. a quick project is to take a foam wreath (at any craft store) and just glue things to it... Kids love candy and it will make a cute wreath. buy a few bags of star mints and just start glueing. Another inexpensive option is to use a paper plate as the wreath form. Keep the things light though.
4.) Make Cookies or a ginger bread house. check here for a favorite oreo truffles.
We do these 2 as one activity. why not make a big mess all at once? Baking is magical to kids. at least my daughter. She loves to see how putting multiple things together can make something else entirely. She even plays "cooking" all the time bringing me her fake food. it is usually playing cards as bread with stickers, paper, and some other secret ingredients that she wants me to eat... I love the pride she shows when we go to a party and she can tell people that she and mommy made the cookies.
5.) Home made or handcrafted gifts
I have been making homemade ornament since i was 5... now we do it together. if you arent crafty check out your local craft store. they make kits for easy ornaments. everything is all contained and you could even wrap it up and let your child open it like an early christmas gift.
Check back here as i will be posting several of my favorite ones in the next few weeks in a "Home for the Holidays Coutdown" series. Each day I will post a different idea of something you can make at home. Use them yourself or give them as gifts.
Thanks twittermoms and Nickolodeon for getting me thinking about this post. Id love to hear your favorite holiday activities; post a comment here.
My mom taught me that making Gifts from the heart was like giving a piece of yourself with it. It was a very personal gift from the heart... Unique, one of a kind and seemed to touch the hearts of everyone.
About 8 years ago I started making crafts with peoples home photos and fell in love with it.
I recently heard someone say how impersonal they though photo gifts/cards were... and I can see what they mean. At most retailers you plop your photos in something created by a person you've never met. Make one and send to everybody you know. That is definately not the value my Mother was trying to instill in me about gifts from the heart...
Gifts from the Heart should be Personal, Unique, and Special. Thats why I love Heritage Makers. Easy, Fun photo gifts, BUT each one can be personalized as much or as little as you want. Not something you can do at any photo gift retailer. Even the cards can be personalized for EVERY person you send it to. I make sure to write something special just to them, have thier name printed in it, change photos around. Something to make sure they know I really spent time thinking about them specifically. Every card becomes one of a kind even if I've started with a template.
Here are some great gifts from the heart for under $25.
Some even involve getting glue on your hands! :) I love the wood blocks and the clock comes out amazing! My next project... That countdown clock. What a great idea! Click on each page to see full screen.
Check out the template gallery with so many gorgeous new templates you can get your holiday cards done in minutes. Get these done now.
and dont forget about direct shipping!!! Import your address list and when you are done designing your cards you can just check off who to send them too and Heritage Makers will do the rest. One less thing to stress about this holiday season.
Prepay for these now (at huge savings), create them in minutes this weekend and then after thanksgiving is over you can just go in to your account and send them. This year cards can be the first ones in everyones home and you'll save yourself so much time and stress.
