More Craftastic Giving: Photo Necklaces

Looking back, I actually did quite a few personalized gifts this year. I didn't set out with any specific idea to do that, it just sort of happened, and I think it worked out really well. Most of these I did through Heritage Makers, and I'm very happy to report that EVERYTHING was well received - the Christmas Cards, the canvas, a calendar for Grammy (post to come) and these great photo necklaces:



The above is a shot of my mom's gift, it's a 3-pendant necklace with photos on both sides. I did a charm for each kid (me, sister, and brother) with a recent photo of us on one side, and a photo of the couples (me & hubs, sister + her new hubs, and brother & his GF) on the other side. It's really adorable! I modelled it as soon as it came:



Another great parent (or grandparent) gift idea would be to do a photo of grown children on one side, and baby or child photos on the other. They're hard to photograph because of the glare and tiny nature of the pics, but they were really cute. Brother's GF also got a photo necklace, a single pendant one with two cute photos of her & my brother together, yoinked stealthily from her facebook page. Since the photos are so small, quality isn't really an issue, and a facebook photo worked just fine.

The chains are very thick, chunky almost, and it was a lot younger and hipper vibe than I was expecting. I like it, and plan to make myself a necklace eventually as well. It'll coordinate well with my treasured Tiffany bracelet.


My mom loved hers so much, she showed it off the next day at another family Christmas gathering. I guess that means it's a hit!

More Craftastic Christmas Gifts - The Newlywed's Canvas

It is truly the technological age when my sister opens her gift halfway across the country and I get to watch via Skype :) Well, sorta watch. The connection on her end was a little fuzzy, so it could have been sock puppets for all we know, but we could hear them okay. And it was a good thing she opened it when she did, or she might have missed the gift card and Christmas ornament floating amongst the packing peanuts! But the "main event" was this beautiful canvas photo, gallery wrapped and ready to hang, that I made for her through Heritage Makers:



Isn't that GORGEOUS?!?!? It doesn't hurt that they're both statuesque and my sister is practically a model, so the photo was really great, but the canvas texture and gloss just really make everything pop and I'm so happy with how it came out. It was my first time making a canvas through them, and the quality is just outstanding.

I added their names and wedding date in red to match her lipstick and rose, and it all came out really pretty. It's definitely one of my favorite creative gifts that I've ever given, and I'm so glad it arrived safely.

Hey sis & my new bro-in-law, Merry Christmas and I hope you love it!

Heritage Makers Holiday Cards

Now that most of my holiday cards have been received, I feel like I can finally share them here! I used Heritage Makers, and this was the first time I had made anything besides a scrapbook through their system.

I'll be honest, I had been planning to just make cheap Costco cards which run around $0.25 each (with the right coupon). They're quick and easy and cheap - but not very personal. As soon as I saw our fall photos from Olivia I knew what I wanted to do for a "theme" - but none of Costco's designs worked for me. I thought for a while about my options because Heritage Makers is not cheap - flat cards run about $1 each, but they are fully customizable on both sides, so I could use the three photos I really wanted to, and my own wording. I put in the order with other credits I was purchasing for myself and for gifts, and basically I was able to get my holiday cards free with host credit. Here's how they turned out:



Isn't that cute? I love it when you greeting and photos can work together in a theme, aka the "HUGS & KISSES" with the photos of us (including Normy) giving hugs and kisses :) Then on the reverse of the card, I wanted to use one larger photo, and have a little place to write:



I included the white space at the bottom so that I could write a personal note and sign each card, I think that is a nice touch. I didn't use a template, but stayed pretty simple - the background is all one piece (the red, gree, and gold stripes), I added the frames, the snowflakes, and the text piece by piece.

The cards are bright and professional, and they're on a slightly glossed cardstock which feels more substantial than photo paper and is much easier to write on. One thing I was really surprised about was the envelopes - they were REALLY NICE. This isn't a huge deal, but it was a little something that stood out to me - with photo center cards you usually get really thin, cheap envelopes. With Heritage Makers I got thick, textured envelopes, which I don't think I've seen outside of wedding invitations for quite some time. Very impressive.

Overall I was really happy with Heritage Makers' cards, and I think I might be hooked :) I just love being able to design my own from scratch, match the colors and themes I want to, and have something truly one of a kind in the end :)

More Heritage Makers Goodies - bracelet

Here's another fun Heritage Makers project from the big order I received on Tuesday, and this one is just for me!



It's a 6-charm photo bracelet! I think it turned out pretty cute. I used photos from our first anniversary shoot with Olivia, that was such a pretty summery day and there is a great green color running through the backgrounds that is bright and fun. Now that I've taken down the large prints from that shoot (replaced with our new ones)I still wanted a way to showcase the great images from that day, and this is perfect! I also wear a lot of green, so it fits in with my wardrobe :)



I'll be honest and say I wish it were a higher quality - sterling silver, or at least water proof would be nice. It is neither. These run about $50 so I was surprised that the separator beads were just plastic, but I went ahead and ordered it anyways. I like the size, the photos are big enough to see but not too chunky to wear.



At first I wasn't sure if I'd like that it was stretchy, but I find that I really do - it doesn't twist and fall as much as a chain would, and it's pretty comfortable. Mine is the 7 inch, but you can make 7.5 inch for the same price if you need to.



If you are interested in making one of your own, feel free to contact me - right now there is a special if you want to purchase a credit for one bracelet + one single pendant necklace for $49.95, or a bracelet + 3 pendant necklace for $79.95. Credits are good for 1 year, and you can use them separately or give them as gifts. Visit my Heritage Makers site to sign up for a free account and start playing around.

Huge Heritage Makers Order!

I am so glad I was home early to grab the packages off our front steps! Two big boxes were slowly being buried in fluffy white snow, and oh the treasures that they held! I'm busting at the seams to share, but that'll have to wait a few weeks (wink, wink!). In the meantime, I can share the few things from this order I purchased for myself, starting with my super fun calendar!



This was something I just made on a whim after helping a few other people with their calendars, and I am so glad that I did! It turned out even cuter than I could have imagined. I chose a layout with "room to write" since I really rely on a paper calendar to organize my schedule.



There are four photos across the top of each month, and then large 2" rectangles for each day. The header photos are fairly random - I just went back through all of my photos and grabbed fun ones to represent each month - for March I have me & the hubs dressed as leprechauns, the cookie bouquet I made for mom's (March) birthday, and a couple family photos with a cute green background that just blended in well.



I did some personalization adding photos on people's birthdays and anniversaries - like this shot of hubby and I the Valentine's Day after we met, marking the 10th anniversary of the day we met. Can you believe it's been TEN YEARS?!?!?!



Overall I think the calendar is adorable and I'm super glad I did it. They are all fully customizable, so I changed up the backgrounds to be bright tie-dye like colors. It looks very happy, and very "me." Contact me if you want to make one of your own or check out my heritage makers site.

Cyber Sunday - much more productive and less frustrating than Cyber Monday

Whew! Once again I have little to show you, but much accomplished! So instead I'll intersperse my commentary with more pics from our fall shoot with Olivia. Like this one:



While my usual Sunday scenario involves all-day-pjs and lamenting how much I have to do, today I actually took some action and knocked that list out of the park!

We were having friends over in the afternoon, so hubs and I got up and gave the house a good scrub down, possibly the first one since Halloween and a nice head start on our Thanksgiving preparations (can you believe that is just 4 days away?!?!). Thanksgiving is also Norm's unofficial birthday - he'll be 9 people years old this week!



We spent the afternoon watching True Blood and working on Heritage Makers projects, , and boy did I make progress! I finished and ordered our holiday cards, a calendar, a bracelet, and three more scrapbooks! WOW!

Then I knocked out 1/3 of my Xmas shopping - without leaving my house - which is also AWESOME! Remember there's only a month left for that now too!




All in all, an excellent day, and the weekend is saved :) We still have a lot of cleaning and cooking to do before Thursday, but I'm definitely looking forward to a few days off (Thursday - Sunday) - and my first craft fair (Sunday) - and seeing RYAN again (yay for "business" trips to MN!)

Fanciful Fall Projects

I had a long tiring day of coaching, so I'm barely awake, let alone crafting. BUT, I couldn't resist when the CD of our fall photo shoot came in the mail! I updated my facebook profile pic, ordered new prints for my large collage frame, and created my holiday cards in Heritage Makers! I won't ruin the surprise on those yet :)

By the way, I am still totally in love with my green coat!

Digital Designing

I have been hard at work the past couple days, but nothing to show for it yet - I'm working in cyberspace :) I'm doing Heritage Makers projects, and I'm on a roll! I have 3 books ready to publish - my New York trip, the Bachelorette parties of 2009, and my September scrapbook, a couple of gift items, and tonight I just finished a super fun calendar! These are the "pick of the month" for November, so the smaller size is just $20! I like them because they are fully customizable, like all Heritage Makers products, so I've been able to do sume really cute things like put people's photos on the squares for their birthdays, a wedding photo on our anniversary, etc. I chose tie-dye looking backgrounds, since I just love the bright colors and wild designs, and put old family photos from each month in the header of each page - wedding photos in May, New Year's Eve fun in December, etc. I finished it up tonight, save a few Thanksgiving photos I hope to snap next week to fill out November. I'm so excited to see it! I had never considered doing a calendar until I helped a friend get acquainted with the system last night, and it really caught my eye.

I'll be putting in an order on Thanksgiving, so if anyone wants to make a calendar, book, or other photo gift, let me know ASAP!

Explanation

I apologize for the apparent blog neglect, I have actually been crafting fairly hard core, but I've spent the last two days embroiled in my digital scrapbooking, so I don't have photos to post of any projects. I finished my June book (mermaid parade & NYC trip) and started on the weddings of '09 compilation. And SPEAKING of weddings, we're off shortly for Al's big polka wedding blow out in LaCrosse! It is SURE to be an amazing time, and I'll be sure to snap some pics of my craftastic contributions to share next week. Congrats Al, see you soon!

Small Business Owner

Okay, I bit the bullet and signed up to be a Heritage Maker's Consultant. I'm not quitting my day job or getting custom HM license plates, but I am alive and active in the system now - here's my website:

http://www.heritagemakers.com/368524

You can open an account for free and play with the basic system, but if you want to order publishing credits or upgrade to the Premier membership, contact me first for a better price.

I haven't decided exactly what to do with it, but since I really like the product and have had great luck so far, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Sneak Preview: Dinner Menu

So tonight I'm hosting a workshop for the digital scrapbooking company I like, Heritage Makers. I have somewhere around 13 people to cram into my living room, and here's what I'll be serving them:


Snacks during the presentation:
Animal crackers - chocolate, classic, and frosted
Pepperkakor - Swedish spice cookies
White & Cheese popcorn
Mini pinwheels
Raspberry Fizz punch
Australian wines

Dinner:
Cesar salad
Artisan pizzas in three varieties - cheese, spinach, and prosciutto

Dessert:
Strawberry Pound cake (like shortcake, but on pound cake)
Vanilla cupcakes

Sound okay?

Digital Scrapbooking

As a crafty person everyone expects me to scrapbook, but the truth is it never really caught on with me. I made a few two-page layouts for the State Fair (and won a few ribbons!) but I just didn't have the time or money or attention span to do that for all my adventures. It feels like an obligation more than fun, so I just never really picked it up.

That said, I really do like to take pictures and document my life. And since I've gotten a digital camera I take a lot more - but print a lot fewer. So there are these nebulous computer files floating around of my life, with no real organization or point.

After my wedding I made several photo books on MPIX.com, which were BEAUTIFUL. I loved the quality (they mostly work with professional photographers) and I slaved for hours to include all the most important memories I'd want to look at for years to come. They weren't cheap - I want to say around $50 per book - but when they came, I poured over them for hours. My mom did too - so I gave her the first set as a gift, assuming I could just reprint them.

Not so.

Unbeknown st to me, the Mpix system has a quirk whereby if you at all change the folder that the photos are drawn from, the whole book disappears.

So, I made the books on my work computer, drawing from the "My photos" folder.

Then, the moment I added another photo to that folder (as I happened to do, since my life had a FEW more documentable moments after my wedding)POOF!

Gone.
Finished.
Nonexistent.
MOTHERTRUCKER!

I called the company, since it was only recently, to see if they could do a re-order on their end. NOPE. They don't keep any of the files after the book is printed.

The bottom line: do it all again from scratch...or don't.

I pouted and ignored it for a few years.

Then couple years ago I won a drawing at the Roseville Women of Today Holiday Craft Fair for a free 5" x 5" book from Heritage Makers. It looked similar to Snapfish but was run like Tupperware - independent consultants doing their own marketing and in-home parties. I dawdled and was slow to start, but eventually I went to a workshop and learned the easy system, and long story short, I'm now a really big fan.

I am probably a little OCD, one of the things about traditional scrapbooks that really bothered me was that they were really big, heavy, and not flat. They were fragile with all the embellishments, and not really transportable. Heritage Makers books are consistent sizes so they look GREAT lined up on a shelf. They are essentially "flat" so there aren't any pieces to worry about knocking off or ripping or catching. They're light and easy to transport, with a durable hard cover.

You can still embellish, just with digital items - and they have a lot to choose from. Varied fonts, backgrounds, even "ribbons" and "brads" and stuff that would look like "stickers." But instead of paying $2.99 per piece and spending hours going to the store, picking it out, gluing it down....it's all included.

If you lose or wreck your Heritage Maker's book, they'll reprint it AT HALF PRICE! Wow, that's a nice insurance policy. That means fire, flood, ugly divorce - you can still get your memories back at any time.

And unlike Mpix, Heritage Makers is an online program so I can do it from anywhere (i.e. work as well as home), my books are stored on THEIR SERVERS (not on my computer) and guaranteed to be there "FOREVER." Legally I'm not sure what that means, but it works for me.

Heritage Makers is also a nice backup for your photos - with the premier membership you have unlimited space on their secure servers to store all your photos and scans as long as you are a member. You can also retrieve the photos from the account, so if your computer crashes (we've lost 2 to various viruses and one to hardware programs) or you have a fire, flood, whatever - you don't have to worry about it, it's safe.

So far I've published 5 of my own 8" x 8" books, and a 5" x 5" for a gift, as well as a set of playing cards (more about that later). I'm really happy, and so many people have asked me about it that I decided to host a workshop.

I'm not crazy about home parties (though I've had two this year, and previous Tupperware parties...so it seems like I do, but I promise, I don't really feel comfortable with the premise) and I have this turmoil about pressuring people to buy stuff, and especially when the host gets free stuff based on what the guests are guilted into buying - maybe you understand, it just makes me feel uncomfortable. But I like this system enough, and think a lot of other people would like it, and have gotten enough questions, I decided to just go for it. I don't care if anyone buys anything (I usually end up doing enough damage to make it worthwhile to the demonstrator) but I do like showing off my books, and I'd love someone to go to the monthly workshops with me. Just setting aside that one evening a month to work on them is wonderful, and I find that if I stay caught up on putting my pages together as the events unfold I have a lot better journaling.

The downside: it's not super cheap. The books I do have a base price of $40-50, then there's additional pages I usually add, and shipping. I try to publish them together so I make the most of shipping, but it's usually around $8-10 more, which is sort of a hidden fee. But I justify it for the reasons above, and because I want to have these forever, and this makes it easy and convenient for me to continually save my memories.

My Heritage Maker's rep is Katie Bruggemann, and I'd highly recommend her - she's really low pressure but very helpful. Her website is here.

Hope everyone's coming to my workshop on Thursday the 11th :) If nothing else, I'll have FOOD!