Improving a free genealogy Template

Last week I was presenting my class on Creative Family history at the New England Family history conference, and I had a workshop to help the attendants realize how easy it is to modify a template.
This was the Template I used:

To choose the Template, I went to the Template gallery and entered the keyword "pedigree" in the search box.

 There were 11 templates with this keyword

Then, since none of the attendants had a premier membership yet, I narrowed my search to only the basic templates.

In this case there was only one template that was in basic, thus completely free, but it was sufficient for our needs.
I chose this Template which was a little bland, and using the free basic digital art available in studio,
I transformed it in this new pedigree chart.

All I did was:
1) Swap the pictures with the ones I needed.
2)Delete the ones I didn't need.
3)Add 2 more pictures for more children
4)Change the background, (I used keyword "green paper" and "pink paper" to find them in the art collection)
5)Add frames (I used keyword "frame" to find them)
6)Add a flower (I used keyword "Flower"to find it)
7)Add leaves (I used keyword "Leaf" to find them)
7)Use ribbons to decorate the chart (I used keyword"Ribbon" to find it)
I dragged and dropped these elements, re-sized them to my needs, and put them in place.
If you were attending my class, you would have been able to see everything step by step, but if you weren't able to be there, no worries.

You can learn how to modify a template through one of our easy tutorials, like this one:
 

Since the Template I used was BASIC, anyone can try and modify it according to their own taste and need.

I want to challenge you to experience for yourself how easy it is to modify a template.
Once you do, if you like,  send me a copy. I will show it on the blog and/or on my CavaGenealogy facebook page.

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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!
Love my Creative Genealogy templates and ideas? 

My HM club members can have their favorite template transferred to their account for personal use, or  can have it completely personalized by me for them  for a reasonable fee.

Want more for less? Check out our incredible host rewards and My Club HM!

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I am a child of God

I am a child of God, and he has sent me here, has given me an earthly home with parents kind and dear...
I just love this hymn, and so do my children.
It can be appreciated at any age, as it is my belief that we are all indeed children of our Father in Heaven.
I love it so much that I have been captured for a few hours playing with my kids pictures and some of my friend's little girl pictures, around those beautiful words.
Here is the fruit of my work:

Before I show you more, I need to shout a huge THANK YOU to my good friend Becki that has allowed me to use the beautiful pictures she has taken of her gorgeous little girl for these projects, as my boys really wouldn't look so good in "pink";).
Now we can continue...

These can be printed on a 5x7 or 4x6 as birth announcement, or framed and hung in the nursery.

(isn't she just adorable? You can understand why I couldn't stop making more and more of these!)
I also decided to make them in Italian:

 but then I was like "Why not in Spanish?"

 and then French seemed just perfect for this one:

These are so cute they would look stunning on a canvas too!
Ok, I will stop (for now)^_^
Thinking of someone you would love to give these to as a gift? I can help!

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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!
Love my Creative Genealogy templates and ideas? 

My HM club members can have their favorite template transferred to their account for personal use, or  can have it completely personalized by me for them  for a reasonable fee.

Want more for less? Check out our incredible host rewards and My Club HM!

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April host rewards and gifts

If you are like me, you like high quality products, but at the same time, you would like them better if you could have them for free or at a very discounted price!

I love the host rewards programs because it allows me to do just this. Most of the products I have published were either free or  so discounted I could not miss that opportunity!

This month's host reward is just what you are looking for!
Check out the flier:

 

and then contact me  to schedule a workshop with me!

Your friends will get a free 12x12 scrapbook page credit coupon just for being there!

Remember, workshops can be in person, or virtual, they can be with even just one person(you) or as many as you would like, or you could also schedule a simple Studio demonstration either in person or online.

Looking for distant cousins

Today I am going to talk about my husband's family side, more precisely his grandma's father's  side.
We are looking to find distant cousins, descendants of Martin Lorenzo Dow Knight and Julia Judenia White.
We have already found many, but we know there are many more yet to be found and probably pictures that we haven't seen yet.
With the pictures we were able to find and share with each other, I created this Descendancy poster, and I am hoping that looking at the pictures, names and dates somebody will recognize their ancestors and will contact us.
So, here it is:

(click on the image to magnify it)
The Knights were originally from Alabama, and then moved to Tennessee.
Martin Lorenzo Dow was son of Davis (1815-1875) and Sarah(1820-1880) Knight, and among his siblings were
Francis M. Knight,
Elizabeth L. Knight,
Eliza J. Knight,
Jesse Jackson Knight ( who married Julia Judenia's sister, Eustacia Bell (Ada) White),
William M. Knight ( who married Zelphia Almedia Amerson)  and
Mary C. Knight.
If you recognize any of these names as one of your ancestors, please, contact me.
We are also going to have a Knight family reunion, June 25th-26th for all the descendants of Davis and Sarah Knight, and we would sure love to have new distant cousins join us!
Once I have more pictures, I will create a poster for the descendants of each of Martin Lorenzo Dow's siblings, in hope to find even more cousins.

Awesome packages to satisfy every need!

Have you looked at all the beautiful projects you can create with Heritage Makers?

I know, we have so many beautiful products that you almost don't know where to start!

No worries, we have great package deals that are sure to meet any need and desire, and save you a bunch of money at the same time! Ready?

Let's see!

You will not find these deals directly online though. They are special prices that you can get by contacting me and letting me know which one fits your style, needs or budget!

You can really surprise everybody this year, and why not, also do something for yourself, using any of these wonderful products!
I can't wait to help you get started!!

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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!!

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Creative genealogy

My first passion has always been taking pictures. I wanted to record every moment of my life! When I discovered genealogy, a new world of possibilities opened to me, because I could now document the life of the ones that came before me. Finally I discovered the limitless creative possibilities with Heritage Makers.

Now I am able to merge my passions in what I call creative Genealogy.

I like to show off my ancestors and my actual family through the pages and posters I create, and also I love writing my family history, complementing it with pictures and beautifying it with the amazing embellishments, papers and tools in the Studio 3.0 editor.
Here is a few examples of my "creative genealogy":


Our family genealogy tree with our wedding picture in the middle, our children at the base and our parents and grandparent's pictures.

Here is a portrait genealogy tree I created armed with a lot of patience. I spent quite some time on this tree, copying and pasting a bunch of leaves to create the full tree effect, but I am pretty proud of it. Maybe I will change the trunk, but it gives you the idea.


My husband is so blessed to have many pictures of his ancestors, so I have been able to create this 5 generation page, starting from my son to his great-great grandfather. Isn't it precious?
This is the genealogy 4 generation cheat-sheet foldout I created first for my children, like the one I then perfected for my husband a couple weeks ago.

These are the last pages of a Family faces book I created for my children so that they will know all their family, the ones in USA and the ones in Europe, the ones that preceded us and the ones that are still with us.

Here I just have a composite of the Hall family pictures. can you imagine a 20x24 canvas like this for your own family pictures?

How about a cool family game where each player will have to guess who's the family member in that picture, or answer the questions on the cards? Check the whole deck of cards here.

Well, doesn't family history start from your own family? So here is our family!^_^

More projects in my mind are a calendar with family history pictures, a cookbook with the secret family recipes, a complete family game board with answers to find in a family book, and many more.
Don't worry, I will share them with you as I create them.

Have you been inspired yet? What is your idea of "Creative Genealogy"?

Find more posts about creative genealogy here.

Brides on a budget

I wish I had known about Storybooking when I was getting married, 6 years ago...
We did everything on a budget, I really didn't care about anything but marrying the Love of my life and having lots of pictures to testify of the most important day of our life...
We didn't even have a professional photographer, just friends and family taking pictures with their camera. We ended up with more than 800 pictures, and many of them turned out really cute!
I didn't know anything about scrapbooking, I tried to make a wedding album with some pages embellished, but that was all.
4 years later I discovered Heritage Makers and was finally able to create a book with our love story, foldouts with pictures of our wedding and our honeymoon, and then a simple wedding album(which you can see going all the way down on this page).

Had I known Heritage Makers then, I could have created our invitations using the greeting cards, saving the dates and table place cards using the playing card format, a signature book, thank you cards... Everything would have just been unforgettable not only for me and my husband but also for all our family and friends, and what would have been even better, it would have still been on a budget.

We are living during troubled times, but people still get married, they are just getting smarter on how and where they are spending their money.

Since having a great professional photographer is the desire for most brides, you can still save money by choosing a photographer that will give you a CD with all the pictures and the copyright, allowing you to create your own wedding album, small books with engagement picture as center pieces at each table, signature book, invitations, canvases, posters, thank you card and any gift for your parents and the whole party.
Right now there is a package that is just perfect for professional looking bridal albums and keepsakes for you, your family and friends!
This is what it contains:
12x12 Wedding album
(2) 8x8 Wedding album(great for wedding story and parent book)
8x8 wedding Scrapbook
(2) Change of address playing cards
18x24 Wedding poster
(2) Matching Souvenir Family Folds
2 months Premiere membership
only $299.95 save $124.95!!!

Creating your own wedding albums, posters and any other product is so easy that you will have so much fun and will be so amazed when they will be shipped to you!
You can start by signing up for a FREE basic account here and then write me to let me know that you would like the wedding package or even to ask for any other package or deal with any other product(you can create a canvas for just $100, but could be much less if bought with at least a $200 package!). I want to save you as much money as possible and see you smile because not only you marry the love of your life, but you will be able to preserve every bit of that day saving tons of money!

So, brides, you can be on a budget and still have the wedding stationery and albums of your dream!

Genealogy- my passion

I have a very special love for genealogy. I believe that we owe who we are to our predecessors and by knowing them we will be able to know ourselves more. Creating a family tree poster was just one of the projects I had planned and that finally I was able to create. And now it is even a template in the Heritage Makers website Template Gallery! Check it out!