Monday, November 30, 2009

Holiday hits, week 3: Gallery wrapped Canvases

When this evening I found out about this week's offer, I almost couldn't believe it!
I had been thinking about creating a genealogy tree suitable for a canvas format, and here comes the offer on canvas... Is somebody trying to tell me something?
Ok, I will try to cut some time in my super busy schedule and create a family tree template for canvas ASAP!
These canvases are such high quality that you can use them to proudly display any image on your walls!
You will feel like a million dollars when you sit on your couch and look at them!
Here is the flier:



That's right!

16x20 canvas: 2 for $134.95 so less than $68 each
20x20 canvas: 2 for $ 149.95, so less than $75 each
20x24 canvas: 2 for $164.95, so less than $83 each

You can find many canvas templates in the template gallery and just drag and drop your favorite pictures, click publish and have it shipped just on time for a perfect Christmas gift for your mom, your grandma, and why not, for yourself!
I create an album with as many samples of canvases as I could on the CavaGenealogy facebook page, to give you a vision of the many possibilities at a glance.
You can see it here.
Choose between 16x20, 20x20 or 20x24(inches): these canvases are gallery wrapped, which means you can hang them on the wall as they are, or frame them according to your taste.
Don't wait!
This offer ends at noon MST December 7th!
Contact me today!
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You can get a free Publishing account by signing up at http://www.preservemyheritage.com/ and start creating unlimited projects at once!
Want more? Check out our incredible host rewards and fantastic package deals!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Early bird madness!


Ok, so my kids woke me up EARLY, very EARLY this morning, and I decided that since I am up, I would do something crazy!
I have available some swatch book credit coupons to be used by the end of this year, so I decided to give them away!
The first 5 people to make an order by today at 2 p.m. EST, will receive a free swatch book credit coupon!!!
I will also trow a family fold credit coupon in for anybody that has never received something free from me!
And if I get enough orders in, there might be even more surprises!
How about that!
You may want to hurry, it doesn't happen every day that I am this crazy!!^_^*
Remember, today is the last day to take advantage of the calendar sale, the cookbook/planner sale and/or the swatch book sale, but you can also decide to take advantage of the ongoing package deals, or get just about anything you like!
Remember, when you make an order you are purchasing credits, which are like gift cards, and are valid for a whole year, up to 2 years from the date of purchase, so you take advantage of the sale now and take all the time you need to create your projects!
You can use these credits as gifts for the person in your family that takes tons of pictures and hasn't done anything with them yet, or that likes scrapbooking and could use a less messy, less expensive, faster and easier alternative. You can create the projects for them or just give them to credits and let them do what they want with them!
You can't beat that!
What are you waiting? Contact me right now!


* offer valid for USA, APO and CANADA addresses only.
* credit coupons must be used within 30 days. shipping not included

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Kreativ blogger award? Who, me?

I got a really nice surprise on Thanksgiving Day!

Miriam at Ancestories wrote me to tell me she awarded me the Kreativ blogger award. Wow! That was unexpected!
As part of this award, I'm supposed to tell seven as-yet-unrevealed things about myself and then pass it on to seven other bloggers.

What to say about myself that my blogger friends don't know yet... Let's see..

1) I was born with an innate love for animals. Even since elementary school they used to call me the mother of the dogs since I would give up my snack to feed the stray dogs that wandered around the plaza where my school was located. This love kept growing to the point that I was the one collecting money to vaccinate the stray dogs around the University. I also learned how to dispense the vaccine myself. I took care of hundreds of cats and dogs all over my 30 years of life in Italy, and had up to 6 dogs and 20 cats at a given time  living around house and my property.

2)While I loved dressing nice, I was a tomboy. You could find me climbing a tree or running after any child that was trying to torture a lizard or even a bug. I was fearless, or at least this is what I portrayed myself to be, even when I was scared about something.

3) I love to draw, in fact I used to design my own comics ever since elementary school, with manga style cartoons. Didn't love so much to color, so it wasn't until I was in medium school that those comics started to look a little more professional... (I will make a post about this sooner or later!). Not much time to do that nowadays with three kids, but I do use my business as an excuse to be creative with digital scrapbooking;)

4) I dream of being back in Italy  and being able to look for my mom's relatives to find the ones that have family pictures of my great grandparents and their parents. Knowing their names and data is just not enough for me.

5) I wanted to have 8 kids when I was a child. I had the names of the first 4 picked out. 2 boys and 2 girls. Got married a little late, lost my first baby which I believe was a girl, had 3 boys after that... Don't think I will be able to bear  a total of 5 more kids, but  I am still waiting for the missing girl...

6) I do NOT like nicknames. I get a knot in my stomach when people try to be cool and decide to call me Micky or Miki just because I now live in America. Even when I was in Italy and somebody would call me Michela, I would totally go ballistic! My name is Michelina, I love it, I am proud of it, and I appreciate all the people that use it to refer to me! Same goes for my children's names, I gave them those names because I love them, and there is a meaning behind each of them, any change even if minimal, would defeat the purpose of that name.

7) I wish I could dream about one of my ancestors each night, and that each of them could give me one bit of information that would lead me to discover a never before found fact about my family, and to connect me with more long lost cousins than I have already found. My expertise and my guts have proven to be valid at all times, but comes the time in which I need just plain revelation to get over that one "dead end".

Well, my favorite number is 8, so I have to add another one:

8) I wish I could homeschool my children. I think I was born with this desire as you could find me in the attic most of the afternoons of my childhood having old dolls around a table helping them with various grade levels of homework. Sadly, due to my husband's current unemployment situation, this must stay just a dream of mine.

Now, to nominate 7 blogs...
It is pretty difficult for me, as I am relatively new to the blogger world, having started in April,  but I will give it a try:

My ancestors and me
Amore e Sapore di famiglia
Tangled trees
Ancestors within
Kinfolk news
Little bites of life
Destination: Austin family

Wow, I did it!!!
It sure it is hard to earn an award nowdays!^_^

Friday, November 27, 2009

You better "swatch" out!

It's BLACK FRIDAY!!!
This year I am not going crazy looking for Black Friday deals. I am staying home, enjoying my pumpkin cheesecake for breakfast, and relaxing with my family.
If you are reading this blog post the same day I am writing it, you might be just like me, and avoid this year's craziness.
But just in case you feel like you have to get at least one GREAT deal, I have one for you, and you don't even need to get in line, or risk your life because some crazy person has to have that deal no matter what.
I have showed you the swatch book in a couple previous posts, and if you liked the idea, you might like this cyber weekend deal:
You can get 5 swatch book at less than $10 each!
Need ideas on what to do with a swatch book? Easy!
You will find a great selection of swatch book templates in the template gallery.
I chose just a few that I think  you might like(click on the one that catches your attention to see a preview):
A cute phone book.
I love it that...
Busy moms purse calendar
Show off your family!
Sweet Safari girl swatch book
Dogs are special
Football Memories
Holiday Recipes
Counting My blessings
Vintage Family
You can also create your own, maybe an ABC swatch book, or a colors and numbers swatch book, or a genealogy tree swatch book...
I think I might end up creating these very same projects soon^_^
Here is the flier:

You have until November 30th to contact me and get this great deal or even the calendar deal.
You will be amazed at the reaction your loved ones will have when they receive a HM gift!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can get a free Publishing account by signing up at http://www.preservemyheritage.com/ and start creating unlimited projects at once!
Want more? Check out our incredible host rewards and fantastic package deals!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thankful


This is the Season of thanksgiving...
Being Italian, I have never celebrated thanksgiving until I moved to the USA, but I was pretty happy to have one more reason to ponder why I should be thankful, and remember all that I AM thankful for.
Life is pretty difficult right now for so many of us, so many loosing their jobs, so many going through health problems, so many fighting emotional battles...
Still, we all have something we can be thankful for.
Every day is a new gift to us, and a new opportunity to make things better, and to be thankful for our blessings, no matter how big or small.
Being thankful really changes the way our day goes, and the way we treat others.
If we are thankful for what we have, we won't waste our time letting envy possess us for what others seem to have that we don't...
If we are thankful, we are more willing to help others that have a little less to be thankful for..
If we are thankful, we say thank you more often, and we make more people happy.
There are days, I know, in which  being thankful is the last thing that crosses your mind, maybe your child just dropped your favorite vase and there is no way to fix it, maybe your friend just said something that hurt your feelings, maybe you just lost your job, or you didn't get the one you were hoping for, maybe something even worst happened...

For days like this, I have a list to which I periodically try to add something more , to help me remember that there are still things and people I am thankful for.
You can start one for yourself too, if you haven't yet, and see if that works for you.
You can start it this thanksgiving, and add to it any time your realize how thankful you are for something.
I am pretty sure that by next Thanksgiving you are going to have a huge list that you might also desire to share with your family, or you can make it a whole family project, whichever sounds right to you!
So, let's all strive to be thankful, not only during this thanksgiving season, but all year long, and in so doing spread a feeling of thankfulness all around!



Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Interview a loved one this thanksgiving weekend.

I don't know how many of you will be reading my blog today, as you will be probably running around for the last thanksgiving dinner shopping or will be stuck in the kitchen cooking everything...
Just in case you should find the time to sit for a moment, and stumble upon this post, I want to challenge you with something you might have not thought about.
Most of us are going to be in contact with at least a family member, either in person or even on the phone.
We have a nice long holiday weekend ahead, why don't we use a fraction of it to interview a loved one?
Choose whoever you feel like: grandma, dad, your child,your sibling, even a dear friend or neighbor.
Just choose to take the time, and let the person you want to interview know that it is very important to you, and you would really appreciate if he/she would sit with you for a little bit to answer the question in your interview.
You can use a tape recorder, a laptop, even just paper and a pen, to record everything, it doesn't matter, as long as it is recorded. You might also want to take some pictures.
You can do it on thanksgiving, or also on Black Friday, instead of using most of your time after those special deals for those things that right night you feel like you MUST have, but that will not last forever.
Getting to know that special person a little more, getting to write his/her story is a treasure that will last forever, something both you and the person interviewed will be thankful for.
Life doesn't always go the way we plan, and  sometimes we loose someone all of a sudden and we realize that we could have spent more time with them, getting to know them better, told them I love you more often...
Take the time now, let them know that they are so important you want to know more about them, and you want to preserve their memory.
Any minute spent interviewing a special person in your life is a minute well spent, one you will never be sorry for.
In case you don't know where to start from with the interview, there are many online tool that have questions you can ask, here is some you might find useful:
Storymaps
How to interview a relative
Fifty questions for Family history interview
Hope this helps!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Creating home decor

I must say, I am really starting enjoying creating my own home decor!
Using a template for a 12x12 page, I had my quotes printed and shipped to my house.
When my husband bought the 2x4 used to create the Heritage blocks, it was enough to create 2 sets of those and at least two sets of these FAMILY~FRIENDS~FAITH value ones and something else!
Once he had sanded the blocks, I started painting them

While the paint was drying, I cut the various quotes:

The simplify and amore one are for a later project.
 
Finally I used modge podge to stick  a quote on each block, let it dry and then applied a layer of modge podge over the whole block.


Pretty cool, eh? And so inexpensive!!!
This can be another great Christmas gift, or house warming gift, or just because gift, to have ready and prepared so that you know, should you forget a special occasion....;)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can get a free Publishing account by signing up at http://www.preservemyheritage.com/ and start creating unlimited projects at once!
Want more? Check out our incredible host rewards and fantastic package deals!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, November 23, 2009

Holiday hits- week 2: Wire bound books

 
This week there is another incredible sale:Wire bound books for less than $15 each when bought in package of 5!
Think grandma cookbook, think special journal, new year notebook, planner...
Here is the flier:


This is just a wonderful offer! You can create one for each one on your list, and be done much before the last minute Christmas stress pops up!
You could also make a handy genealogy journal or fast facts about your family.
At this price you can really create as many projects as you like with a wire bound book!

Contact me before November 30th at noon to take advantage of this great deal and learn how to get started on your projects.
And remember, you can take advantage of this deal this week, and then create your projects at your own pace, as credit are valid for a full year.
You can also just give these credits as gifts and let your dear ones create at their heart content!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can get a free Publishing account by signing up at http://www.preservemyheritage.com/ and start creating unlimited projects at once!
Want more? Check out our incredible host rewards and fantastic package deals!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What time is it?

Time for the family!
Creating this family clock is extremely simple, just choose one of the many templates on the template gallery, drag and drop your favorite picture(s) click publish, and when you get it on your doorstep, cut it to fit your 9 inch clock( only $4 at Wallmart). punch a hole in the middle, place it it in the clock, and you are done!

It doesn't look like a $4  clock anymore, and it serves as a reminder that Family is really about time!

Wouldn't this be a great Christmas gift? So inexpensive and at the same time so precious!
You can create it for your family members, or just wrap the clock with a gift certificate for a 8x8 page credit, and let the person receiving the gift decide what picture and template to use.

You can create any kind of clock you might think of:
child
heritage
sport
ballet
Wedding
any event or any hobby/passion can be captured in a clock like this and remind you as time goes by of what is really important to you!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

These blocks rock!

Have you ever tried creating something you have never done?
I had been wanting to create these Heritage blocks, but kept pushing the idea aside since I had many other projects to create, either for my family, a client or an event.
Finally I decided that it was time to try.
So, here is how I did it:

I used one of the templates in the Template Gallery, dragged and dropped my pictures, changed the text, clicked publish and had it shipped to my house.
I sent my husband to Home Depot to buy a 2x4, and have it cut in 3.5 in  and 7.5 in pieces.
I then nicely asked him to sand them for me^_^
I put together all that I needed:

I started painting the corners of the blocks with a paint that was as close as possible to the main color on the paper.

While the paint was drying, I cut out each of the elements and had them lined up for each block.
I used a brown marker around each piece of cut paper to make sure that the white of the paper wouldn't stand out once on the blocks.
I put a layer of modge podge on the back of each  piece of paper and glued each paper to each side of the block, as per the template.
I let everything dry for about 15 minutes and then applied a layer of modge podge and let it dry again.


This was my very first time doing something like this, and everybody loved it!





I must say I am pretty proud of it!
I now have a classy home decor that tells about my wedding and my heritage and my kids can play with it any time, without hearing me screaming "Don't touch it!!!" since they just cannot break them!^_^


How cool is that!

Update: my children love the blocks so much that I had to promise to make one for each of them with their own photos to play with... I might end up getting some decent pictures soon, if I remind them they are for their block;)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Is Santa going to write your child this year?

Many of you are going to have their children write a letter to Santa about how good they were and the gifts they desire to receive, but how many of your children are going to receive an answer from Santa, especially after the post office has stopped the "Letter from Santa" program?
I think every child should know that Santa is very aware of him/her, and feel how special he/she is.
I am here to help you make sure this happens for you child. Can you imagine your child/children going to the mail box and discovering that there is a card like this from Santa?


This is what my Joseph is going to receive, and I will send a similar one to anybody that would like to have it for their child/children.
For each child you want the letter from Santa be sent to, email me with the name, gender and number of brothers and sisters together with your mailing address*.
If you would like something different to be written on the letter, just send me the wording, and I will copy and paste it in the letter for you.
You will then be able to make a $5 pay pal deposit to the email address I will answer you back with to let you know that I have all the needed info for the letter to be sent.
The letters will be sent at the end of November for all requests received by November 28th, and the second week of December for all the requests received  by December 8th.
*Offer valid for USA, Canada and APO addresses only.
Order  before November 23rd at noon and I will take $1 off each card for you!
Contact me  for any other question you might have.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Holiday hits- week 1: Greeting cards... Get'em while you can!!

I was so hoping for a deal on greeting cards before Christmas and I am happy to announce that it's here!!!
From now until November 23rd you can get postcards/invitations for as low as 99cents each if you get 50, and 79 cents each if you get 100!!
Greeting cards are as low as $1.99 each if you get 50 of them, and $1.79 each if you get 100 of them!
And with all the incredible templates available, creating them is fast and easy!
Here is the flier:

Remember that credits are valid a whole year and can be extended up to another year, so you have practically 2 years to use them.
If you take advantage of the 100 packs of greeting cards or post cards credits, but only have 60 people to send cards to for Christmas, you can use the remaining credits for birthdays, valentines, anniversaries, thank yous and just because! Or you can use them for Christmas 2010!
Your family and friends are going to love receiving these gorgeous cards, especially since they are not the generic ones you find at the store, but they are personalized for them!
You can create one card and send to all, or make different ones for each person on your list.
Your choice!
You gotta love it at this price!^_^
And with direct shipping, you won't even need to lick all those stamps anymore. Greeting cards are addressed and shipped for you!
Contact me before November 23rd to take advantage of these great deals and get started on your greeting card to do list. Also check out my other ideas on different ways to use the greeting cards.
You can create a greeting card in just 5 minutes!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can get a free Publishing account by signing up at http://www.preservemyheritage.com/ and start creating unlimited projects at once!
Want more? Check out our incredible host rewards and fantastic package deals!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, November 13, 2009

A family tree worth fighting for

I have been working on this portable family tree magnetic game, and finished it just in time for the 33rd Annual Florida State Genealogical Society Conference.
The family tree mat was created with a 8.5x11 page and the family face pieces using a 5x7 invitation.
I then cropped and glued them on 1 inch wood tassels, completing them by sticking a magnet behind each piece.
As a finishing touch, I applied a shiny layer of a clear gloss medium.
I was doing this while in the hotel room the night before the conference, and could hardly keep my kids away from them while the coating dried.
When they woke up this morning, the first thing they wanted to do was playing with their family tree.
They were still in their pajamas, not even caring about breakfast. They HAD to play...
I had to establish turns, as they started fighting on who was putting this or that picture on the tree.
Little by little, they started putting the faces in the right places.
My heart melted each time they would tell me who that person was, and even more when they got to the point that they would remember and just tell me "this is Nana's mom, my great grandma", "This is nonno Oreste!" and so on.
They didn't like it when I had to take the game to display at the genealogical conference, but I promised them they would play more tonight.
I am thinking to make more copies of this game, maybe personalizing it for each of my children, so there will be no more fighting, and I will be able to just enjoy seeing them playing while impressing the faces and names of their ancestors in their mind, and hopefully their heart too.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

A calendar for busy moms

Are you a busy mom? Probably the question should be: "Who isn't?".
Well, I just found a template that will help you keep track of the daily things to do for each one of your family members. It still has a section for your favorie pictures, but the grid is such that you can actually use it as a wall planner.
 Practical meets gorgeous!



Here is  a link to the whole calendar preview:
I have also found a couple more templates that have the calendar grid in a planner-like design:
2010 Family Grid Basic

And here is one that just has a bigger grid:

Remember that these templates are all completely modifiable: you can change each element,background, embellishment,word art etc. to fit your own taste and style, or just leave them as they are, drag and drop your photos, change text as needed, and you will be done in a jiff!

Don't you just love templates?
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You can get a free Publishing account by signing up at http://www.preservemyheritage.com/ and start creating unlimited projects at once!
Want more? Check out our incredible host rewards and fantastic package deals!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Tombstone Tuesday: Oreste Santoriello and family


One of the great things about cemeteries in Italy is that you will find pictures of the deceased on almost any tombstone, and this is true for my family's tomb.
My dad bought the piece of land in the Cava de' Tirreni cemetery(in Italy) and build it in 1963 to host his family members' remains. I consider it a blessing and I will always be grateful to him for the sacrifices he did to make this happen.
While I feel that my dad is always with me, going to the cemetery and offering a prayer in front of  these tombstones gives me an opportunity to feel even closer to them.
The picture of me and 2 of my boys on the tomb was taken in March 2008, which was the last time I was able to go to Italy. Even if you don't see it, my third born was there too, still floating in my belly.
I deeply desire to go back to Italy to visit my family and pay my respect to my ancestors, and I am working hard to make this happen as soon as possible.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Fun idea: Create your own tumbler

Looking for a fun and affordable gift?
I just found these cool templates in the template gallery on the website, and I thought I would share with you.



You will surprise people with how professional your tumblers look with your Heritage Makers customized insert. These make special personal and yet affordable gifts too! Just purchase the Tumbler at Starbucks and fit your customized design inside! Simple and fun!

Look for more examples of  tumbler templates here.

Stay tuned for more fun and affordable ideas!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can get a free Publishing account by signing up at http://www.preservemyheritage.com/ and start creating unlimited projects at once!
Want more? Check out our incredible host rewards and fantastic package deals!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, November 5, 2009

5 minutes Christmas card

Today  I have been on a roll!
Heritage Makers just released the most beautiful new holiday cards. Designer Jill Means shares 24 gorgeous cards for us. And, the best part…they can all be created in Basic, for FREE!

Since it only takes 5 minutes to drag and drop photos in place and change some wording, I have created many cards using these beautiful templates, and then I couldn't stop so I have looked for more templates, both in BASIC and PREMIER and I have also created some more cards from scratch. What can I say... I am addicted!
I am in love with each and everyone of them, more than likely I will end up sending a different card to each person on my list!

Start creating your holiday cards today at http://www.preservemyheritage.com Your cards are sure to be hung the entire holiday season, and to be looked at even later!
You can create as many cards as you like, publish as many copies as you want and also use direct shipping to each person you upload in your address book or have them all sent to your home.
You can see these templates, together with many of the others I found,  in this facebook album,  or you can do a search in the template gallery for Jill Means, or Christmas, or holiday etc.
Let me help you create some very special greeting cards this year!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can get a free Publishing account by signing up at http://www.preservemyheritage.com/ and start creating unlimited projects at once!
Want more? Check out our incredible host rewards and fantastic package deals!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Wednesday, November 4, 2009

50 minutes calendar

Have you given a look at the new calendar templates in the template gallery?
There are some that are just plain gorgeous! Using a template makes creating your projects really easy, fast and fun, and to prove it, I decided to choose a template to create a calendar and see how long it would take.
Needless to say, it took more time to decide which pictures I wanted to put on each month than to drag and drop them in place! Here is what I was able to create in just 50 minutes:

Click here to see the whole calendar.
These are just some of my favorite 11x16 calendar templates:
Johnson family calendar
Family photo calendar
Heidi's family calendar
And these are some of the 8.5 x11 folded calendar templates.
Our life calendar
Bodacious basic calendar
A family for all seasons calendar
You can find many more in the template gallery! New templates are added daily! Just today I found almost 50 more templates compared to yesterday!
So, no excuses! You too can create a calendar in less than an hour, and order as many copies as you need for each family member!
Did I mention that this month you can publish calendars for a fraction of the price?
Calendars for everybody this year!
Hurray!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can get a free Publishing account by signing up at http://www.preservemyheritage.com/ and start creating unlimited projects at once!
Want more? Check out our incredible host rewards and fantastic package deals!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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