Creative Genealogy: the art of recycling

If you know me, you know that I just cannot stand waste.
I love been able to use everything to its full potential, and do all I can to make this happen.
In my house we recycle everything. We do compost for our garden. I garage sales or I donate items to charity or freecycle so that somebody else can use what we don't need, Most of my kids clothes are hand me downs from some family member or friends or their own brothers.
I could go on and on about my efforts to recycle, but this should give you an idea of what I am talking about.
This characteristic of mine applies also to my Creative Genealogy projects, and since HM has finally introduced the capability of importing complete pages into a project, I am in a complete recycling mode!
I have been changing formats to many of my projects, mixing different project together, and while doing this my mind has been overwhelmed by the infinite possibilities!
I have also been able to recover projects whose formats where not available anymore for printing, and change them as needed.

Another way I recycle my genealogy projects is by switching pictures on a family tree, like when I changed a tree I created for my children in the same tree but with my husband and his siblings as the root persons

or when I use different pictures of the same persons for the same family tree, just to maybe have a tree with them when they were young, and one with their latest picture.
or when I create a descendancy chart for kinship explanations for 2 different ancestors in a family tree.

   

or when I find a template created by somebody else and say "Why didn't I think of that before!" or "This is just perfect for me, why reinvent the wheel?" and I either use it as is or transform it to fit my needs.

LOVE LOVE LOVE Recycling!!!

The nice thing is, I do all this without wasting paper, glue, or any other tool traditional scrap-booking requires.
I don't risk losing my project, because it is safely stored in my Studio online , and I can publish copies or different versions of a project whenever I want, or just wait for when that format is on sale (Yeah, I love sales;)).

I already posted a couple of my "recycled" creative genealogy projects, but  stay tuned, since I have many more to come and remember to like my facebook page also for extras I don't have the time to post here!
(Yes, 4 boys age 7 and under can somehow take most of my time;)).

If you want to start recycling creatively too, join my Club HM!

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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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New customizable post bound album: you know you want it!

Great news! Heritage Makers just released a completely new product:
A completely customizable post-bound album!
It's the best way to collect all those 12x12 scrap pages, either the digital ones and/or the classic ones!
I love that you can completely customize the cover, with pictures, embellishments and make it just the way you want it!
What's even better, there is a sale going on up until the end of the month of August, so you can be one of the first to have this wonderful album, and save at the same time!!!

 Contact me today to know how to get your hands on this fantastic new publishing product!

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!

This is what I exclaimed this morning when I went to look at the new Studio 3.0 version of our editing software!!!
I love how easy and fast it is now to go through all the digital art collections, and how fast it is to upload pictures and work at my projects!

I can also easily move pictures from an album to the other, not to mention that there are now 40000+ wonderful digital art items available with premier!!!

I can't wait to connect to the free class there is going to be on Thursday 25th, just in case I missed something. I want to know everything about the features and capabilities of Studio 3.0.
You can register here if you like to know more about the exciting upgrades and enhancements Heritage Makers has ready for us!

Storybooking: what is this?

Storybooking: You might be reading about it in the newspapers, finding it on the internet, hearing about it on the radio, seeing it talked about on tv, probably heard me talking about it or found it in one of my emails, but what is it and is it something you should know about?

Storybooking is the process of creating your own hardbound or softbound book. Storybooks created through storybooking contain pictures and words. They can contain stories of those who lived before your life, of those who lived during your life, or of something you wish to be in the future, or desire to inspire your children to be. Storybooking is scrapbooking for the digital age but with more options and capabilities.

"Storybooking is the unique process of combining photographs with personalized story text into one or more professionally hardbound storybooks for ages one to 101. What scrapbooking was to the last century, storybooking is to this new century." - Heritage Makers, LLC


Should I Storybook?

Do you have stories you wish you could tell your children? Or grandchildren? Would you like to publish your own children’s book? When your father died did you wish your son could understand how great of a man his grandfather really was? Wouldn’t it be great to read your son’s birth story to him at night before he goes to sleep? Do you want to show your friend the great love the children she teaches have for her?
Would you like to improve your child self esteem presenting with a book about the things he can do, or about how much you love him/her? Does your mom know that you are so grateful for all that she does and has done for you? What do you get your wife to show her how appreciative you are of her? How do you show your husband that the last 50 years have been incredible? Do you have a ton of unprinted digital photographs that may never be seen? There are many experiences you can storybook about. Your memories are so precious, it would be a pity if they were forgotten. You can really love somebody when you know their story.

How Do I Begin Storybooking?

• Think about stories associated with your pictures
• Choose the story/memory you wish to preserve
• If the story is about somebody else, ask questions.
• If you don't know what questions to ask, I can help!
• Find all pictures associated with chosen story
• Scan the pictures wanted if they are not on your computer yet.
• Begin writing story
• Rewrite story as many times as needed
• Follow instructions to have book published


Who Should I use for my Storybooking needs?

•Heritage Makers is currently the best storybooking/publishing company to use for your needs. You can get the help of a Heritage Makers Consultant to publish your works. We walk you through the steps of preparing your book.We help you from the beginning stages to publishing. It is your book so keep it personalized but use the Heritage Makers Consultants as resources as you become an author.

What Resources Are Needed To Storybook?

•A story
•Pictures/Drawings/copies of meaningful documents
•Scanner
•*Digital Camera
•*Photo editing software
•A Heritage Makers Consultant
•Access to the internet
* (Optional tools)


Storybooking Ideas

There are so many different things you can make storybooks about. Stories, experiences, etc. What can you storybook about or for? What recent events have happened in your life?

• Engagement
• Wedding
• Child's Birth Story
• Vacation
• Graduation
• Military Service
• A very special "letter" to your future generations
• Your family's genealogy
• Accomplishments
• Stories Told by Grandma
• Overcoming an Illness
• Valentines Day
• Christmas
• Birthday
• Cookbook
• Anniversary
• Life Story of Loved One
• Friendship
• Mothers Day
• Fathers Day
• Family traditions
• Silly things your kids say
• Educational book with your kids as the "hero" (ABC, colors, numbers...
• Adoption Story
• Sport

The ideas are really endless!

What are you Storybooking about?