Club Kudos - "No Faces" Challenge

The Club HM Facebook page was designed just for you. Visit today and you can be part of a supportive community that focuses on learning, growing and sharing. We offer tips to teach, answers to questions, and creative challenges to help us appreciate new art, try new products and learn different ways to document our life stories.

Learning a New Approach

In a recent “No Faces, Photo Challenge” Club HM Facebook members were challenged to document a relationship without showing any faces. The inspiration piece for the challenge was Renee Lamb’s “Unbreakable Bond” a 12 x 12 scrap page, template 78444. Renee’s page showed her three step-daughters sitting on a fence holding hands. The “unbreakable” bond illustrated in the photo was a powerful lesson to many of us on the Club HM page that faces are not always the best focal point for a relationship photo.

Club HM member entries poured in for this one-winner-only challenge, and many were the most striking projects ever posted on Club HM. Some of those in the running to win were Tina Snider’s project “made from a photo she had taken the previous year and loved and Karen Cattles’ project “Love is Color Blind” honoring her new grandson.

Lisa Iwata adapted a page from a page she’s made previously featuring her daughter and her three best college friends. Michelle Bedard’s 12 x 12 scrap page, “A Happy Day” had recently become template 32514 in the Template Gallery and was also a big hit.

And the Winner Was . . .

Our "No Faces" Challenge was one of the most moving challenges we've ever had. From tiny baby hands to children led along by Dad and babies yet to be born, we LOVED how many ways our Facebook Club HM members found to demonstrate deep relationships without showing faces. Our final winner was Jan Stamm for her touching portrait of mom and grandma lovingly preparing the bride for her wedding. It’s a 12 x 12 scrap page, now template 82049 and called "Three Generations of Love."

The Real Winners

The real winners on the Club HM pages are the thousands of participants that learn and grow each day. Join us. We’d love to have you.

Click here to start a project now. http://studio.heritagemakers.com/getStarted/

Go to my web site at http://www.OurPhotoStories.com or contact me via email at Rebecca@OurPhotoStories.com to learn more about Heritage Makers products.

Spring Projects

Spring is a time of transformation when all things seem fresh and new again. It’s a natural time to appreciate life; to celebrate hope and to focus on our faith, values and philosophies. It’s also the perfect season to surround loved ones with the Heritage Makers products that celebrate spring and inspire renewed commitment to faith and family.

Celebrating Life
It’s no coincidence that Easter motifs include fluffy chicks, baby bunnies and other symbols of rebirth and renewal. Acknowledged with a little thought and explanation, their presence magnifies other inspirational or faith-focused celebrations of spring.



For the cutest display of spring flowers and fluffy chicks, join Sandra Dovre’s “Happy Easter Décor,” playing cards together with ribbon to make a concertina style table decoration (see bottom of photo below) or tie together to form a banner that reads “Happy Easter.” In the Template Gallery as template 56768, it brings a welcome touch of spring color and a reminder of the promise of the season to your Easter décor. Instructions for assembly are included inside the template.



Filled with Easter grass and goodies, template 54590, “Bright Easter Bucket, by Lynda Angelastro is sure to bring smiles on Easter morning. Personalize the project with your children’s names, then glue labels on the front and lid of two, gallon-size, clear plastic pails for personalized baskets or containers for the Easter Egg Hunt. Use green, gold and white netting or tulle instead of ribbon to decorate the handles of your Easter buckets. Template eggs can be glued anywhere. If you’re in charge of the Easter Egg Hunt, write grand prize information on back of cut-out eggs, place inside plastic ones and hide as part of the hunt.




Use Roxanne Buchholz’ “Lil Easter Chick” card, made from a 7x5 Invitation, template 56188, for an Easter Greeting or as the title photo in a 7 x 5 frame collage. This popular way of decorating combines photos and word or title art. Jill Means also has several 7 x 5 invitations designed to do such dual duty. The one shown above is template 69839, “Framed Holidays – Easter.”



If family and friends are far away, send Easter greetings. Two of our newest are shown here. “HM Easter Basket Thoughts“ by Roxanne Buchholz, template 79442 is an 8 x 4 photo card with a plain white back ready for your handwritten message. “We are Blessed Note Card” is from Sandra Dovre. It’s a 5 x 7 invitation, template 56590, that says “We are blessed” on the front and “We hope you are too” on the inside. For more ways to celebrate spring, check out the Heritage Makers Template Gallery.





Focusing on Faith
Spring is a good time to fill your home with uplifting décor that emphasizes your family’s hopes and values. “Peace,” template 54586, and “Faith,” template 45070, both 20 x 20 canvases by Tanja Rigby are matching statements of faith from the Old Testament that can be coordinated to fit your home’s color scheme.



“1 Timothy 4:12,” template 12723 is a 12 x 12 scrap page design by Penny Hughes. The template makes four 6 x 6 squares which can be mounted on ceramic tiles and displayed in your home or given as gifts. Or, try a self-adhesive laminate vinyl tile. While they typically come only in 12 x 12, the front face can be scored firmly with a craft knife and then bend the tile break it cleanly.




One of our most popular statements of faith is “Serve the Lord 1” by HM Signature Templates. It’s a 20 x 8 canvas, template 51770, and the background paper can be changed easily to fit your décor.



If Passover is the spring holiday you’re celebrating, send a personalized greeting or set your table with custom placemats designed to commemorate the story of the festival and its message of hope, redemption and faith. Cards shown here are “Passover Blessings,” 54577, and “Passover Blessings and Joy,” 54579 both 5 x 7 greeting cards by Tanja Rigby.




Tanja also designed this “Passover Placemat.” It’s a 14 x 11 poster, template 54587. Personalize with every young family member’s name and choose to add UV coating box at checkout for spill protection to make after-meal clean up a cinch.





Love and Inspiration
Some home décor items are just a way to say “I love you.” Others set the tone for a home where love and respect are honored and cherished as these two 8 x 8 canvases show. Send a custom canvas to Grandma to let her know you wish she werecelebrating with you this year. “Some Bunny Loves You’ is by Tanja Rigby and is template 30742. “Inspirational Family Quote Small Color” by Lynda Angelastro is template 41965 and designed to be customized to your family’s décor. Easy instructions for color customization are included inside the template.




Spring is also a time for graduations and graduation gifts. Remind your son or daughter that dreams really can come true by making this ready-in-an-instant canvas from Tanja Rigby.
A wonderful graduation gift, “Dream” is an affirming quote from Walt Disney, suitable for family room, dorm or den. Leave as is or take five minutes and change the colors to match his or her décor. “Dream” is a generous size, 18 x 18 deep canvas and can be found by entering 45179 in the Template Gallery search engine.



Two 16 x 20 canvases that put family and values on the wall are “Season Series—Spring” by Jill Means, template 41482 and “HM Number of Breaths” by Roxanne Buchholz, template 62388.




And, let’s close with a 12 x 12 scrapbook page, also designed to be mounted on tile, whose wisdom inspires no matter what your faith tradition. In neutral tones, “Jewish Proverb” by Lynda Angelastro is template 52730.

Celebrate Spring Your Way
Use the Template Gallery's single-word search with terms like “spring,” “Easter,” “Passover,” “Bible,” “quote” or “family” to find hundreds of projects to lift and inspire this springtime. Heritage Makers brings you so many ways to reverence life, to celebrate hope and to focus on your values. You’ll find it easy to be inspired this spring and all year long.


Click here to start a project now. http://studio.heritagemakers.com/getStarted/

Go to my web site at http://www.OurPhotoStories.com or contact me via email at Rebecca@OurPhotoStories.com to learn more about Heritage Makers products.

Versatile Post-bound Albums and Scrap Pages

Post-bound albums and scrap pages are two of Heritage Makers most versatile products. Albums can record activities and accomplishments over time or become personalized storage for school or art projects. Pages can be used to fill post-bound albums or made into the countless art and craft projects in Heritage Makers Template Gallery. And if you’re interested in giving these products a try in March, they’ll be 10% off your already low Club HM prices.


Post-bound Albums
If your child is a sports enthusiast, you could wait until the season is over and to make a hard-bound book or you could celebrate growth and success week by week with a post-bound album and regularly printed pages. Baby milestones, missionary updates, scouting accomplishments, school activities and family vacations can also be kept current using pages until enough time has elapsed to fill a storybook.



Celebrate your child’s scouting accomplishments with any of several scouting albums in our Template Gallery. Shown here are “Girl Scouts” by Susan Torres, template 56533. Also check out “HM Scout Album,” template 44638 by Roxanne Buchholz. Sports albums are a wonderful way to keep up on your child’s events and progress. Here we show Roxanne Buchholz’ “HM Swim Post-Bound Album,” template 63464. But there are album templates for several other sports and hobbies. Record multiple vacations while the memories are still fresh by adding pages to “Our Travels” by Darcie Toom, template 41995.




Journal your missionary’s travels while storing his or her letters or emails by tucking them safely inside the page protectors of Hillary Dolder’s “My Missionary” album, template 53345. Choose from many baby albums to make sure those milestones are put on paper when they happen. Shown here is Kristen Williams’ “Baby's First Year,” template 61001. And if you’re looking for school albums, check out Roxanne Buchholz’s “HM 5th Grade Class Album,” template 76276.


Scrap Pages
Heritage Makers Template Gallery has so many wonderful, moving and original templates to fill your post-bound albums. Search with a single word search term and the page size you’re interested in and you’ll find scrapbook pages for any occasion. Many Heritage Makers give a post-bound album for Christmas or birthdays and keep the albums updated over the year. And if you ARE designing for many folks in the same family who were at the same event, here’s a tip to make scrapbooking faster and easier. Use the same pages! Trade out the photos to show ones with that person in them, change the text a little, but keep the page essentially the same. Makes it so easy to keep track of which events have been documented for which person. Try it. You’ll like it!

Project Pages
But scrapbooking is not the only use for the versatile digital scrapbooking page. Today let’s take a quick look at the repurposed scrapbooking page.



In the home décor department, nothing could be more inviting than a 12 x 12 family name tile displayed in hall or living room. “Wings” by Kim Reynolds, 79173, celebrates the family name in a light-hearted and warm way. “Love of Family,” 80385, by Michelle Bell is a family name tile with a slightly more formal look to it. Lynda Angelastro’s “Jade Family Name Tile,” 78250, offers yet another version with an Asian feel. Customize any of these templates to any family name, change background papers to fit the décor and send to print. Spray-mount or Mod Podge printed pages on ceramic or composite vinyl floor tiles. Trim the page edges, set on a picture stand and you have a customized decorative piece that makes a wonderful family statement or a beautiful gift.



Scrap pages can also be used for interesting and unusual projects or gifts. Take a look at Darcie Toom’s creative project “A Checkered Past,” 36253, for instance. It’s a custom checkerboard from family photos. Make it for a birthday or anniversary with photos from across time, or design it with the latest year’s photos for your family to play with on family game nights. Be sure to request UV coating at checkout to give the board a little extra protection. Or check out Heidi Arave’s“12 x 12 Wipe Board Calendar,” template 43836. As practical as it is pretty, it makes a fun and functional place to record the appointments of the family’s upcoming month. Another interesting use for scrap pages is gluing them to the sides of wood to make decorative blocks. Many styles are available in the Template Gallery, from holiday count-down blocks to blocks like those shown here from Jill Means. Her “Heritage Blocks,” template 12484, is designed to dust off scanned heirloom photos (never use originals) and make them part of your home décor. The template includes full instructions for customization, cutting the blocks from 2 x 4s and gluing to the blocks.


For family fun on birthdays or other gift-giving occasions, try this template for 12 x 12 pages from Heidi Arave. It’s called “Folded Purses” and is template 56871. Write a sentiment on the inside, use them for decorations or party favors, or delete a couple, use your “import a page” function and make them just a little larger so they will hold a gift card. Our 8 x 8 scrap pages are also used for many creative projects. Lynda Angelastro designed this “Teen Zebra Clock,” template 76971, for an inexpensive gift that could easily be the hit of your child’s next birthday party. Buy an inexpensive clock from your local Target or other chain store with a front face of 6-7.75 inches. Once you have the clock’s exact face measurement, open the template and “Select All.” Resize the template to your needed measurements and customize for the birthday girl or boy. A wide variety of clock faces are available in the Template Gallery. And if you play Bunco with the girls once a month, try this template from Kari Pieratt next time you are hosting. "Bunco Party Banner," template 69428 is also made with an 8 x 8 scrap page. Its pages spell out “B-U-N-C-O” and it’s a delightful decoration for your night together.



Seasonal Projects
Scrap pages also provide wonderful ways to celebrate the holidays. Look for projects similar to these, all made from 12 x 12 pages for nearly any seasonal event. Template 54590, “Bright Easter Bucket” by Lynda Angelastro, together with a clear plastic pail from the hobby and craft store, makes two Easter Buckets from one scrap page. Templates for four 6 x 6 inch tiles are also available for most holidays. “Thanksgiving Tiles,” template 42874 by Cassie Balser is the example shown here. And countdown blocks are also available for a variety of holidays and in a range of colors to suit every décor. Check out Michelle Bell’s Christmas countdown blocks for instance. They come in a variety of colors but the set shown here is template 74047. Any holiday can have the personalized touch with Heritage Makers page templates.


Experiment

Post-bound albums and pages are available for so many occasions and are a fabulous value any time of year. But, try your hand at one anytime in the month of March and your creation will be an additional 10% off your very reasonable Club HM prices. 

Click here to start a project now. http://studio.heritagemakers.com/getStarted/

Go to my web site at http://www.OurPhotoStories.com or contact me via email at Rebecca@OurPhotoStories.com to learn more about Heritage Makers products.

Make it in Moments

Heritage Makers 12 x 12 scrap pages are an incredible value at just a few dollars each and can be used to make all sorts of adorable spring decorations. For this month’s Make It in Moments, we’ve updated an Easter Basket idea that can serve as a beautiful Easter Dinner table decoration. It’s a perfect excuse to show your family how much you value them this spring.

Preparing the Page

Customize template 80880, “Easter Egg Basket” or template 56453 “Spring Elements Easter Eggs” by Lynda Angelastro with your family’s names and photos.(If you use template 56453, not shown here, be sure to change the date to 2012.) Use the same photo or another photo of the same person on each matched pair.

Finishing Touches

When the pages arrive, carefully cut out each egg and lay the back and front together as a pair. Take heavy-gauge, fabric covered floral wire and cut each into two pieces of assorted length. Place egg front face down on table.

Lay wire on egg back and cover with hot glue. Put a narrow bead of glue around egg edge and quickly line up and cover with the egg back, with design facing up. Prepare a large basket by gluing Styrofoam to the bottom and covering with Easter grass. Place assembled “egg picks” through the grass into Styrofoam. Arrange all eggs you’ve made. Finish basket off with large bow.

A Meaningful Tradition

Celebrate spring in style at your house with this easily made basket. Pages are an additional 10% off during March, so you’ll save even more by making one soon. What takes only minutes, is sure to become a treasured tradition at your house for years to come.

Click here to start a project now. http://studio.heritagemakers.com/getStarted/

Go to my web site at http://www.OurPhotoStories.com or contact me via email at Rebecca@OurPhotoStories.com to learn more about Heritage Makers products.