A facebook family history story

God bless facebook!
Why this exclamation, you might ask;
Well, I have many reasons, and some of them include:
1) Living on the other side of the ocean from my homeland, I have been able to keep in touch with my family and friend.
2) I have found long lost friends from school
3) Through the creation of last name facebook groups and hometown related facebook groups, I have been able to connect to many distant cousins that I would have never found otherwise
4) It allows me to share pictures with my family and friends in a user friendly way.
5) It has been the means through which I got back in touch with a few of my cousins in Italy.
This last point is what is making me jump for joy right now because I have finally been able to have all the pictures and birth dates of the descendants of my maternal grandparents.
Here is the story.
I left Italy for the USA in 2003, and already hadn't seen this cousin of mine for a while as she had left for the North of Italy a few years before, and when she would come to visit her family in my town, she would stay too little for us to get together, so once I left for America, we totally lost track of each other.
Even if I came back to visit a few times, it was never when she was there.
After years and months of patient waiting for her or her siblings to join facebook, it finally happened last year, it was actually her nephew first, and then his father.It took one more year for me to come to the point where I was finally able to get in touch with the one cousin I had been wanting to talk to for more than 10 years!

The first time I asked her nephew for her email address, even if she had one, it was not a working one, so she never responded to the emails I sent her because she never got them!
I also created a facebook group for the descendants of our common grandparents, but that wasn't moving the waters fast enough.
Finally last week I decided to ask again as I was finishing the 2012 calendar for my mom, and the only pictures missing were the ones of this cousin and her sister's family. Luckily her sister had joined facebook the week before, so it was a matter of asking for her FB friendship, and she already had her family pictures posted on facebook.
This one cousin, the one that I really wanted to find, the one that we had so many things in common, and who was born only 11 days before me, as it turns out, she really doesn't like facebook, but fate (or should I say Somebody up there) wanted that her husband had been working in Brazil since September, so they were using Skype to communicate.
Can you imagine me as soon as my cousin's nephew gave me her Skype username?
I was on Skype in 2 seconds!
I sent her a message, the next day she answered, and finally a day later, we were having an hour plus long video chat talking like these 10 years never went by!
But the pictures, no, she didn't have them on her computer, so she got me in touch with her husband and finally,  TONIGHT, he sent me his family pictures!!!

Yeah!!! It's complete!!! I can publish the calendar for my mom (and mine too)

 (Sorry, cannot show the pages inside the calendar to respect her privacy)

 and then, after I get a little of my cousin's family stories, I can complete the descendants book I have been working on too!

Now you can understand why I love facebook so much(starting today Skype too;)).
While sometimes it can get people frustrated, I really believe that facebook has done so much for genealogy and the more people  realize how to use it in its full potential, especially using groups for people with the same last name, or that come from the same town, the more long lost cousins will be connected.

Do you have a facebook family history story?

Calendar idea: Baby's first year

Calendars are very useful as they are, but they are even better when they have extra purpose. One cute idea is to use them to display your baby's 1st year. This way you can then frame the pictures after the year is gone, and/or preserve them in a scrapbook album.

 This could be used also to write down all of the baby's milestones, or for any other purpose you might think.
I have noticed that somebody has already had this idea , in fact they already submitted a template to the Template Gallery:

The colors really don't match my baby's personality, so I am making a total new one, which is also an 11x16 calendar.

As you can see the one I am creating for my baby is has the 3 generation page as cover, just so that even that can be framed!

Most of the pages I am creating completely from scratch, or like the cover, I am importing one of my previous projects and modifying it to fit the calendar pages.
For the month of March I have imported a project that seemed just perfect for the month and my baby, and this was the final result:

 I am loving going through my baby's first year pictures, he has grown so much!

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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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2012 Heritage Calendar

October is Family History month, and I am always looking for ways to help others(and myself) remember to put down their memories and/or find the stories about their family.
I talked about my idea for a Heritage calendar long time ago, but since I am creating a new one for 2012, I wanted to share this version with you.
The cover was inspired by my very colorful Family Tree:

The idea of the calendar is to inspire me to focus on collecting information about a specific couple or generation each month, so that by the end of the year there should be enough material to put together a 4 generations Family History Book.
On January I have all my children, which, by the way, on the cover are in the watering can as a symbol of their ability to give new life to the Family tree.

 February is for me and my husband (perfect, right?;).

 March is for their paternal grandparents.

 April for their  maternal grandparents.

May for their paternal great grandparents on their granddaddy's side.
June for their paternal great grandparents on their Nana's side.
July is for their maternal great grandparents on their nonno's side.
August is for their maternal great grandparents on their nonna's side.
The remaining months can be used to either display the 2nd great grandparents( 4 for each month), or to focus on uncle aunts and cousins (i.e.: September for uncle and aunts on dads side, October for uncle and aunts on mom's side, November for cousins on dad's side, December for cousins on mom's side.).

Once 2012 will be gone by, this calendar can be recycled by framing the picture part of each month  and hanging them on a special Heritage wall in your home. I would put the family tree(trim the bottom, where it has the title of the calendar)

in the center, the pages about the kids on the bottom with their parents on the side, maybe uncles and aunts and cousins further down and grand parents and great grandparents on the top, in a family tree manner. If you like you can purchase one of those cute vinyl wall family trees that you can find online, or if you feel up to it, you can paint your very own.

So, start creating this calendar, and even if you don't have all the pictures, that shouldn't stop you, it just means that this is a incentive for you to actually look for those pictures during 2012!

This calendar could be another way to entice your family members, whether their are immediate or long lost cousins, to share the info and picture that they have with you.
Who wouldn't want to be part of such a cute calendar and of a possibly even cuter Family History book?
It would also be a beautiful Christmas gift, especially for family members that don't really use the internet, to share your passion with them, and why not, plant the "genealogy seed" in their heart!

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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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2012 Calendar - plus Family tree

As every year, I am creating a calendar for me and one to send overseas to my mom, to help her remember every birthday and also to let her know she is always in my thoughts.
When it comes to calendar, I really don't like to reinvent the wheel, so I just look in the template gallery.
This year I found 2 very cute templates, and I was a very happy camper when I realized that I didn't have to choose between the two, but I could actually choose the best from each of them, and make it my own!

These are the 2 Templates I choose:

Click on the above pictures to compare the 2 templates.
This is a sneak peak of what my calendar is going to look like:

I completely swapped November because I really liked it better in the second template.
In Italy we celebrate the Day of the Dead (il giorno dei morti) on November 2nd, so I thought I would have a picture of the boys at their great grandparents tombstone.

May is my birth month, and it is also when mother's day is, so the pictures I choose were just perfect!On this one I kept the top from the original template and choose the bottom from the second one, and just matched the backgrounds by swapping the top one with a copy of the new bottom one. I might add a quote about the love of a mother, we'll see.
I still need to complete it with all the pictures on the calendar grid for each birthday in my immediate and extended family, as I have already done for the month of July:  

I had to make this calendar even  more mine by adding a family tree on the back, which was otherwise a plain background.
I choose the very colorful Family Tree I had just created on a 12x12 page and imported it on the back on my calendar. A little resizing to make it fit, et voila':

I think it is going to look very cute, and once we will be done with the calendar, I can frame this family tree, or use it for any other project I can come out with.
Talk about recycling!^_^
I am thinking that the tree on my mom's copy of the calendar will have to start from me and my siblings, so that she will have all of her ancestors, since she doesn't really cares much about knowing my husband's genealogy!
I am waiting to take my kids' Halloween pictures to complete the calendar but I want to order it before the end of the month, since Calendars are on sale in October, and I love sales;).
How about you? 

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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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Family tree advent Calendar

Well,
Christmas is less than 3 months away, and everywhere I go, I already see Christmas trees and commercials on TV about your Christmas list, so it was only natural that I checked some Christmas ideas in the Template Gallery.
This one really caught my eye, and sparkled my Creative Genealogy gene.

 

The Template is called Advent Calendar and it is designed by Darcie Toom.
12x12 Scrap Page
Template ID: 36277

It is designed so that you can put random family pictures, but you know very well, as a genealogist, the pictures in my project have to have a meaning.

All I did was changing the order of pictures and decorations under the windows and the Template is now a Family tree advent Calendar!

How cool is that?
You will find instructions on how to put it together inside the template, even if it is pretty obvious.
I already published it and I checked, it was shipped, so it should be here any day. I will probably post it for you to see once it is here and we put it together!
This is going to be another precious heirloom for our family. The kids are going to learn about a member of our family tree each day a window opens on a picture, about the Christmas story, even if all they will really be excited about is when the window opens on something fun to do or some treat to eat or prepare!


You can reorganize the original template by yourself during the Free Premier weekend, or, if you decide to join my HM club, I will transfer the Family tree advent Calendar to your account as soon as you start your membership.

Check out my favorite Templates from the template gallery here (Scroll down to see all the posts!)

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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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It's Christmas in July!

I don't know you, but I hate going crazy the last weeks or days before Christmas because I haven't gotten a gift or even send that card yet!
I love getting Christmas in July deals since they help me getting organized and done long before everybody else goes crazy!^_^
For you cards and special gifts, Heritage Makers has a great Christmas in July offer!

You can get postcards/invitations for as low as 99cents, and greeting cards for as low as $1.79!
Great deals on playing cards, calendars and canvases also!!!!
Plus if you are a club premier member, you can get  free swatchbooks/flipbooks with your order!
Check out the flier!

25 Invitations $34.95 ($1.39/each) a $44 Value
50 Invitations $59.95 ($1.19/each) a $89 Value
100 Invitations $99.95 ($.99/each) a $179 Value
25 Greeting Cards $59.95 ($2.39/each) a $73 Value
50 Greeting Cards $99.95 ($1.99/each) a $147 Value
100 Greeting Cards $179.95 ($1.79/each) a $295 Value
Club premier members get a free rectangle swatch book when ordering any of the mentioned sets of cards
Also
(4) Playing Card Decks $69.95 ($17.49/each) a $99 Value
(4) 8.5 x 11 Calendars $79.95 ($19.95/each) a $119 Value
(4) 11 x 16 Calendars $99.95 ($24.95/each) a $139 Value
(2) 8 x 8 Canvases $49.95 ($24.95/each) a $65 Value
(2) 8 x 20 Canvases $99.95 ($49.95/each) a $139 Value
(2) 16 x 20 Canvases $129.95 ($64.95/each) a $179 Value
(2) 20 x 20 Canvases $149.95 ($74.95/each) a $199 Value
(2) 20 x 24 Canvases $169.95 ($84.95/each) a $219 Value
Club premier members get a free square swatch book when ordering any of the gifts mentioned above!

Contact me to learn how you can get in these great offers, and also how you could get even more!!

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:

Mom's family calendar

I have also found a couple more templates that have the calendar grid in a planner-like design:

2010 Family Grid Basic

2010 Family Grid Premier

And here is one that just has a bigger grid:

Cozy Home Calendar 2010

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!!

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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!!!

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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!!

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It's calendar time!!!

Where did this year go? Oh my! 2010 is going to be here before you know it, and you still haven't decided what is the best calendar to use and remind you of important dates the whole year..

Great news!

For the month of November, you can publish your very own keepsake calendar for a fraction of the cost!

You can choose our 11 x 8.5 size for just $19.95 or try the new 11 x 16 calendar for just $24.95!

You can choose any template or start from scratch and put as many pictures or text as you like, however and wherever you prefer!
You can also put pictures in any section of your calendar grid to better remind you of each important date!
Don't forget that  if you are a new customer,  with your first purchase you are eligible for a free month of Premier membership, which gives you access to 40000+ digital art , over 2000 templates and much more! This is an opportunity you really cannot miss!
Contact me to take advantage of the pick of the month!

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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!!

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A Heritage calendar

As a genealogist, I like to be reminded of my roots in every way, and I do my best to make sure that my family, particularly my children, have the opportunity to think of their ancestors as often as possible.

I had been thinking for quite a while about a Heritage Calendar that would feature specific members of our family tree each month, and for some reason, when I saw the new collections and the new 11x16 size calendar I felt inspired  to finally create it!

Here is my work in progress:

 

The next page will be my husband and I (the parents), then my husband's parents, then mine, and so on, until we reach the 4rth generation, and since there will be some pages left, I will probably make various collages of uncles, aunts and cousins, and the pictures I have that are from the 5th generation and going back. I am going to put some inspirational family quote on each page too.
This way each month we will be focusing on a branch of our family tree.
This will also be the input for another project that I have been procrastinating for too long: A Heritage book, where the story of each member of our family tree will be shared and preserved that we may all remember who we are and who we came from.
I will have to plan some time to start interviewing my husband's parents and grandparents, but then I really need to go back to Italy and talk with the last aunt that I have left on my dad's side, and with my mom's family, because I feel an extreme need to preserve not only the names, but the history of my whole family...
If you are blessed enough to have your family close by, I encourage you to find the time, call them, go visit them, make questions, and start your own Heritage calendar/book.

Oh what can you do with a greeting card!

We all know what greeting cards are for, but when you are completely free to design them and to use all the pictures, word, embellishment you feel to use, you start to come up with various ideas, like:

A cute calendar card
You can insert it in one of those double 5x7 acrylic frames and it will be perfect on your desk!

A Timeless birthday calendar card
A favorite or secret recipes card
Perfect to share that special recipe with your dear ones.

A desktop frame card
Perfect to use with one of those acrylic frames you can find in any craft store.

A menu card
Perfect for a wedding, but also for any special occasion. You can make it as simple or as scrappy as you like.

A newsletter card
Your loved ones want to hear from you, and not all of them have emails, or facebook, so you can send a brief newsletter to let them know about your life. You can do it once a year( i.e: Christmas) once a month or any time you feel like it, and you'll see a new habit among all your relative: Greeting card collections (mostly yours!).

A genealogy tree card

A cute simple way to have your 4 generations family tree at a glance.
Even the little ones will enjoy looking at it...
You might want to make more than one copy, as this will be looked at often.

If you want to try any of these ideas and create a greeting card yourself, you are in luck! You can get a free greeting card coupon this month!!! Discover how here!

Stay tuned for more ideas, and don't forget that until September 16 you can take advantage the best deal of the year on HM greeting cards! Check it out!