The Valentine’s above were created using the 5×7″ invitation (prints double-sided). We send these out to a large number of family and friends, just for the heck of it! Even grown-ups get all warm and fuzzy when they open a sweet treat like this from their mailbox!

The “Owl Always…” booklet for Owen above (don’t worry, I made one for Ayden too!) was created using the Square Flip Book product (this is a spiral-bound book with heavy card stock pages). This was a super quick and easy (and inexpensive!) project idea for sweet projects like this! I used an existing template from the gallery which featured A LOT of pink, including a pink owl. It took me under an hour to change the book to blue (I think my boys will appreciate that and I even found the cute blue owl) and publish

The Valentine-themed shadow box project above uses the 11×14″ poster (and I select the UV coating option at checkout for added durability). The Template Gallery features these shadow box project already themed for the major holidays/events throughout the year.

And ON SALE this month are the Playing Card decks! The project above is straight out of the Template Gallery. I didn’t do anything other than grab the template, open it as my own project and click “publish”. It doesn’t get any easier than that! The deck of cards above spells out “Happy Valentine’s Day” twice and then it had just enough room for me to include “I love you”. Once I received them at home, I hole punched the cards and connected them with pretty sparkly string for a unique and eye-catching Valentine garland. You’ll receive 10% off at checkout on Playing Card decks in February with an active Club HM membership. If you haven’t yet discovered the ease and savings of Club HM, please watch the quick video below:

March is around the corner!
If you think Valentine’s Day is fun with Heritage Makers, then the St. Patrick’s Day projects take fun and creativity to another level. Also, consider the following in your publishing plans: 10% of Digital Scrapbooking products in the month of March. This includes scrap pages and post-bound scrapbook albums.

Digicrop Dates:
Sunday, Feb. 12th – 6:30pm at Chloe’s house (near Murray and Scholls in South Beaverton)
Monday, Feb. 13th – 3:45pm at Playdate PDX in NW Portland (downtown)
Monday, Feb. 20th – 7pm at Carrie’s house (near Aloha High School)
Tuesday, Feb. 28th – 7pm at Chloe’s house

Free Upcoming Online Classes:
Thu, Feb 9, 2012 7:00 PM MST
What’s New in Storybooks
by Lynda Angelastro
See the latest tips and templates for meaningful storybooking.
Click here to register

Thu, Feb 23, 2012 7:00 PM MST
A Year of Birthday Gifts and Greetings
by Lynda Angelastro
See new takes on fast and easy gift and greeting ideas. Join us for an hour packed with birthday gift and greetings ideas for young and old alike.
Click here to register

And that’s February in a nutshell! Please feel free to contact me directly with questions, comments or to share your latest project. I’d be happy to feature your creation in an upcoming newsletter

Make sure you check out the newly added art collections in the gallery this month. For obvious reasons, the focus is on Valentine’s Day, which is fast approaching! It’s not too soon to create adorable, custom Valentines for your kiddos to give out to their classmates, or a heartfelt personal greeting card for your hubby You can see what a search for the word “Valentine” results in HERE. No less than 219 project templates to choose from!

Last year I made a unique V-day card for each of my sweet boys:

We also sent V-day cards out to many of our friends:

If you’re looking for some time to set aside in your calendar for accomplishing some of these projects, please consider joining me and some of your fellow Heritage Makers at one of this month’s (always FREE)

Digicrops:

Sunday, Jan 22nd, 7pm @ Chloe’s home (South Beaverton near Murray and Scholls Ferry Rd)
OR
Thursday, Jan 26th, 7pm @ Carries’ home (Aloha near Aloha High School)

Please bring your WiFi capable laptop (if you don’t have one, we have a couple loaners – just mention it in your RSVP). Light snacks and refreshments will be available. If you’re an existing client, please bring one of your recently published projects to show off!

Some helpful links:
HM Template Gallery
HM Art Gallery
Club HM membership info
HM Product Price List
Quick (4 min) video with introduction to Heritage Makers and Club HM

Those of you who’ve been to our home will recognize the general layout of the project above. In the Heritage Makers Template Gallery, one of the HM designers has created one of these “mock” shadowboxes (11″x14″ poster print) for each holiday or season of the year. Since January doesn’t have a theme in and of itself, I went with the “family” themed shadowbox to hang until February when I’ll create a Valentine’s themed print. These run $5 and are very easily and inexpensively framed with an 11×14″ frame from your local craft store. In my case, since I publish them so regularly, I just put the new print on top and leave the rest hidden behind it in the frame. It seems to be working just fine so far!

Here’s another fun project I recently completed. These are bookmarks for the MOMS Club Book Club I’m in. I make these bookmarks for everyone in the book club each year. They’re always a hit! I create the project on HM’s double-sided 5×7 invitations. Once published, I use a craft cutting board to cut the bookmarks apart. I then punch a small hole in the top of each and tie a coordinating ribbon. These bookmarks come in handy throughout the year!

Another recurring project I do each year is in celebration of my sweet niece. I create a poster (which I then frame so she can hang it in her room) all about her! I love the process of selecting pictures of her for the project and the look on her face when she unwraps them is absolutely PRICELESS! Shhhhh… don’t tell her that the whole project, including a poster frame from the craft store, runs me around $15! She would agree, the gift is priceless!

And, of course, a custom birthday card too!

I also recently published and received the many copies of our Whisler Family 2012 calendars. We give these out to most members of our immediate and extended family as holiday gifts. This will be the fourth year we have done so. At this point everyone expects to receive their yearly calendar from us, especially since they are so helpful having all of the family birthdays and anniversaries listed! I make a version for Patrick’s side of the family and another version (with very minimal changes) for my side of the family. I then make a final third version for our own house which features the birthdays and other important dates from both versions. The project preview below is the version I made for my side of the family.

We just received the disc of our annual family photo shoot from the AMAZING Elish Appling-Zober of Zober Images. Thanks for the great material to work with – it makes for a great book and quick, easy gift to give the grandparents for the holidays! This is the first 8×8″ softbound book I’ve made since Heritage Makers introduced it as a new product back in October. I’m excited to get my own copy in my hot little hands – and then I’ll have one to share with all of my Heritage Makers friends who may like to publish their own. If you like the book above, I’d be happy to transfer the project to your HM account to edit with pictures of your own family. I made this book in one sitting last night. It really IS that easy!!! For those of you in Club HM, paying between $0.64-$0.75/publishing credit, each copy of this 8×8″ soft-bound book runs $16.50-$18.75 (depending on which level of Club HM; bronze, silver or gold). A bargain for a meaningful, custom gift that you won’t find at next year’s garage sale or donated to Goodwill! Contact me for details or to make a book of your own! Happy holidays!

It’s hard the believe, but the holiday season has begun! Now let’s get publishing! I’m here to help you however I can, whether it be creating those one-of-a-kind greeting cards to recap a fabulous year, or putting together a 2012 family calendar to give as gifts to the family – we can make it happen! There are some amazing savings to be had over the coming weeks leading to year-end, and I have many Digicrops scheduled to help you take advantage of them and accomplish your publishing goals! Please contact me with questions, comments, and RSVP’s! I hope to see you soon!

Holiday Hits – Double Dip Your Discounts!

Step 1: Save big with Club HM!
Save up to 34% off all your projects as a Club HM member, plus receive FREE access to our amazing collection of Premier designed templates and art! I can help you decide which package is right for you: Bronze, Silver or Gold. (See the flier for complete details)

Step 2: Save again when you publish!
NOVEMBER 1 – 30, 20% MORE OFF ALL CARDS & TRI-FOLD BROCHURES
NOVEMBER 8 – 14, 10% MORE OFF STORYBOOKS
NOVEMBER 15 – 21, 10% MORE OFF DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING
NOVEMBER 22 – 28, 10% MORE OFF BOOKLETS & LABELS (PLUS this week, save 50% on additional pages for any project!)
NOV. 29 – DEC. 5, 10% MORE OFF PLAYING CARDS & FLIP/SWATCH BOOKS
DECEMBER 6 – 12, 10% MORE OFF CARDS & TRI-FOLD BROCHURES

NOTE:Publish and order your projects during the publishing dates noted to obtain the sale price.

Need more publishing points?
The more you purchase, the more you save. Club HM members enjoy the deepest discounts on additional points!
_____________ Basic____________ Club HM
50 points, $45 (save 10%), $40 (save 20%)
100 points, $85 (save 15%), $75 (save 25%)
200 points, $160 (save 20%), $140 (save 30%)

Haven’t joined Club HM yet? Get the details HERE!

Holiday Shipping Deadlines
Please note the following holiday schedule so you can take best advantage of your Studio account during this special time of year.
U.S.
Dec 7 Ground/Priority
Dec 12 2-Day delivery
Dec 14 Next Day delivery
Dec 16 Direct Ship (cards)

Canada*
Nov 30 First Class
Nov 30 Direct Ship (cards)
Dec 5 UPS Standard
Dec 9 International Express

Reship Deadlines
To receive your projects in time to re-ship them we suggest you publish by Nov 30th.

*Suggested deadlines. Heritage Makers cannot guarantee holiday shipping to Canada due to possible unforeseen delays at customs.

Current Product Pricelist
Click to View

Digicrop Schedule – These events are FREE!
Join me and other enthusiastic digital scrapbookers for some dedicated time to work on our projects, share ideas and good conversation, and enjoy some snacks while we do it! Please bring your WiFi-capable laptop and RSVP. Hope to see you!

Wednesday, 11/9 @ 7pm – Chloe’s Home in South Beaverton (RSVP for directions)
Sunday, 11/20 @ 6:30pm – Carrie’s Home in Aloha (RSVP for directions)
Tuesday, 11/29 @ 7pm – Chloe’s Home in South Beaverton

He had been playing with the loose tooth for days (VERY excited to FINALLY have one loose, since most of his friends had already lost one, two, three or more teeth in Kindergarten last year!). He was also taking great pleasure in grossing me out by folding the tooth forward and back as it hung on by just a thread of flesh. As he cozied into bed for the night, I asked if he had tried giving it a yank or a twist… that’s apparently all the prompting he needed, because he grabbed the tooth, twisted, and it immediately came out! The look of HORROR on his face was priceless! You could tell he wasn’t sure if that was actually supposed to happen?!?! I reassured him with some extreme excitement and congratulations and told him that I had to go find the camera right away!!! He clearly was fine and quite proud of himself. He was even more pleased to wake up this morning to find that the tooth he had tenderly placed in a velvet-lined box under his pillow had been replaced by a dollar bill (though NOT the $10-bill he had informed us was the going rate these days!) – and now, Ayden’s new grin!

See a few more pictures here.

Available now!

5 x 5 Greeting Cards

Square cards are everywhere this holiday season and Heritage Makers has them! Perfect for celebrations of any kind these cards will add an entire new dimension to our card offerings.

4 x 8 and 8 x 4 One-sided Photo Cards

Want to send cards to everyone you know this holiday season. One of our newest cards is a super sleek design and an exceptional value that will cost Club members around 50 cents.

11.5 x 8.5 Tri-fold Brochure

This heavy-duty business offering comes in pack of 20 and makes the perfect Christmas letter, team roster or standing menu.

6 x 9 Booklet

If you like our 8.5 x 11 booklet, you’ll love its smaller cousin the 6 x 9 booklet. The standard 16 pages are just the right size for a program, neighborhood recipe book or child’s art book. The booklet is expandable to 32 pages in four-page increments.

8 x 8 Soft-bound Book

A fabulous and inexpensive book for those kid or school stories, this 21-page, soft-cover book is perfect bound and expandable to 50 pages.

12 x 12 Wrapped Canvas

Possibly the most applauded new product, the 12 x 12 canvas is the perfect size for wall groupings or photos of every family member.

Pearl Paper

New for Reunion, choose pearl paper at check out for an extra dash of style on cards or 12 x 12 scrap pages. With its glittery, pearlescent finish, this upgrade will be a winner for baby announcements, holiday cards and wedding invitations.

A Note About Quality…
With the recent introduction of the soft-bound 8×8 storybook, HM released the following statement regarding quality concerns (which has been the reason HM has NOT offered a soft-bound book until now): “Heritage Makers is using a new method of perfect binding called “PUR” which is a hot melt adhesive manufactured with polyurethene reactive material. After the adhesive is applied, a natural chemical reaction occurs as it is exposed to moisture in the air. This reaction creates a superior bond within the fibers of the paper giving the product greater pull and flex strength. It also doesn’t allow the adhesive to get brittle and crack (allowing pages to fall out) like traditional perfect binding components. We are one of only a few PUR perfect binders in the U.S. and wanting this new technology was one of the reasons we waited to bring soft-bound books on as a product offering.”

New Studio Features
Import a Page: Ever wanted to make an 8 x 8 version of that 12 x 12 book for each of your children? With the new IMPORT A PAGE function in Studio, you can do just that. Go to your MY PROJECTS tab, select a project and page and the entire designed page is there on your new page.
Improved Page Manager: Making a deck of cards and need to delete most of the deck before copying your new design? With our new enhanced PAGE MANAGER, multiple cards can be deleted or added. It’s a HUGE time saver!
Pearl Card Stock: Printing your project on Pearl Paper gives it a pearlescent sheen that makes special-occasion printing even more beautiful. Best used on projects with colors in pastel to medium tones, sample prints are recommended before printing large orders.

Pearl Paper is available for the following projects:

4 x 6 and 6 x 4 Invitations
5 x 7 and 7 x 5 Invitations
4 x 6 and 6 x 4 Greeting Cards
5 x 7 and 7 x 5 Greeting Cards
5 x 7 and 7 x 5 Postcards
5 x 5 top fold and side fold Greeting Cards
12 x 12 Scrap Pages

Monthly Publishing Specials (Sept-Nov)

For those of you who are members of Club HM, you can easily “bank” your monthly membership points between now and November (if you so choose) to use toward holiday card publishing and receive the ADDITIONAL 20% off card publishing in Nov on top of your already amazing Club HM savings! If you are not currently a member of Club HM, please contact me today to join! Click here for a quick video intro to Club HM!

Direct Shippable Cards
Please note that all Heritage Makers greeting cards and invitations are direct shippable. The only exception is the new 5×5 greeting card.

Digicrop Dates
Monday, 9/12, 3:30pm @ Playdate PDX
Thursday, 9/22, 7pm @ Carrie’s House (near Aloha High School) – RSVP for directions

Recent Projects
A birthday card I made from scratch for my hubby, using one of the newly released art collections:

Thank-you cards that we sent out after Ayden’s reptile birthday party:

A photo-rich birthday card for great-grandma (nanna) showcasing some of the recent photo session by Zober Babies: