Deck Of Cards Sale

Heritage Makers is having a Thanksgiving sale on our deck of cards. If you and your family is like mine and likes to sit around the table for family games ranging from go fish, phase 10, clue, and many more then HM decks are for you. You can personalize the front and the back of cards. Design whatever you want or use one of our many templates to create a one of a kind game for your family. I am in love with these decks and have several plans for these little cards. You can even make gift tags!!!! Check out our template gallery to see what you can create.

Send me an email with your phone number to place your order before Sunday the 30th.

Then and Now

I wanted to share a special story about my maelee. Most of you know I am a Heritage Maker. I make books about my family and help others make books and products about their family's. Two years ago I made a wonderful book about my mom's relatives from Italy (my Grandpa Minerva's family). View it here. Sadly, it does not have any story. The stories are missing. I would like to redo it and write more story if Icould get some. And last year for Christmas my sister Christen made a wonderful book for her family members. It was so great that I ordered a copy for myself. View it Here.  I have made several books about the happenings in our family, but not a little special one yet like my sister has. That book is on my long list. After this experience I had with Maelee it is being moved up to the top of my list. So, Now back to Maelee and her story:

Last week Maelee came up from the basement with these two books in her hand. She walked over to her backpack and put them in her bag. I asked her what she was doing. She said she was taking them to school to show her teacher because they were learning about then and now. She held up the ancestors book and said it was our cousins then and then she held up the other one and said it was our cousins now. She got it!!! My six year old gets what her heritage is. She understands that our family existed then and it exist now. I was so touched. 

My friend Lena, a fellow storybooker, shared with me story about the co-founder and president of Heritage Makers and a dear friend of mine, Doug Cloward. Doug is fighting a battle with cancer right now. Heritage Makers is just getting off of the ground and this business is a dream of his. This summer Lena was doing a booth at a local fair. Doug came by the fair. He stopped at Lena's booth and chatted with her and I am sure he looked at her books. Then she said he started looking ill, so she asked if she could walk him to his car. I really hope I get this next part right...As they were walking he started to ask her, "do you think they get it?" Lena asked "get what?" Doug said something about wondering if people really get that Heritage Makers is more than just books. It is about families. It is about Heritage. She said he got a little teary. He is a tender hearted man, but especially these days. But of coarse you would have already guessed that he is tender hearted by such a wonderful company that he has created. I recently wrote Doug to tell him that people are "getting it." People are starting to understand that these books are about family heritage. I know my 6 year old gets it. I get it. Have you gotten it yet? Everyone has a story......who is telling yours? and do your kids know your story? 

Speed Scrap Today, Tuesday 11/25 at Noon EST

Today's Speed Scrap Just ended. We had a blast!!! Thank you for all of those that participated. Here were the rules for those that missed it and want to try it.

1.Pick out three pictures with a “thankful” theme to the page.

2.Chose one piece of paper as your background paper. Make it a solid/monochrome piece of paper.

3.Chose a pattern paper to put behind all three of your pictures

4.Frame one of your pictures by using four pieces of ribbon.

5.Put at least one thing on your page from nature: tree, flower, stick, leaf, etc.

6.Chose one final embellishment to add to your page. Use that embellishment three times on your page. THREE times, no more, no less

7.Put a title on your page and list three things you are thankful for on your page for your journaling

1. My page:

2. Carrie Rodriguez ( I am not even going to try to guess or write about who is in this page...I always get it wrong...I call her son her husband, her grandson her son and vice versa!!! )




3. Bonnie and her lightening page:




4. Melissa made a card for her sister




5. Leslie like most of us is thankful for her family

6. Lori had a great day. she got two pages done and got a package from the UPS man...8 HM books delivered!!!

7. Joyce made a great card for her grandchildren




8. Carrie Svozi has a new grandson

9. Sidney was one of our first timers...welcome to all of our new comers...great job!



10. Jan Judd is grateful for the happiest place on Earth

check out her CUTE page Here

11. Amber was very busy and made three pages. She has a lot to be thankful for

12. Debbie Adams, I did not get this via email, I stole it from her from her blog. 

WE Have a winner. This winner was picked randomly at random.org

Carrie Svozi

Help Wanted! Now Hiring!

I am looking for women who are interested in learning more about Heritage Makers. I love sharing this gift of Heritage. I want to give it away to one lucky winner. Heritage Makers has blessed my life in so many ways and I want to pass the blessings on to someone else. How to apply to be hired for my team:

1. Learn More About The Business Opportunity Here.

2. Go to www.Storybookingbyyou.com to begin your business by opening a new consultant account

Now it is time for my gift to you. I am going to do a drawing by the end of the day on Saturday out of all of the new consultants. I will send a $200 check to one lucky person to reimburse you the cost of your consultant kit. What will come in your kit when you sign up?

Check out Kit Here

Hear More About The Business Opportunity

Heritage Makers has put Christmas presents under my families tree for two years in a row now. I love what I do. I never had intentions of getting into the sales arena, but this is something I have never had to sell. I simply share it. I simply do my favorite hobby and pass time and show off my products to my friends and anyone that is willing to look at pictures of my kids and everyone always says, "how did you do that?" and I get to tell them how I did it. I cash paychecks of the heart twice a month. You can too. This is your opportunity. I invite you to join my team. One of you will get to join it for free. It could be you. Just think, only one person may end up signing up and they will automatically become the owners of their own business for free. To Boost I will give an 8x8 book credit to everyone that signs up by Saturday night. So everyone wins. Post a comment here if you want me to personally contact you to answer any questions you may have. Remember to go to www.storybookingbyyou.com when ready to sign up.

Be Thankful!

Click Here To Read My Be Thankful Post

Instructions for Speed Scrap 11/18

We had another speed scrap tonight. We had a great time. We almost doubled in our

numbers.

The prize is the same as last week. 5 12x12 prints. Below are the entries.

1.Pick out one picture. Make the picture as big or small on your

page as you would like (remember to always leave

room for plenty of journaling)

2.Pick Two pieces of paper. Send one to the back and use as your

background paper. Make the other one slightly smaller than

your background paper and layer.

3.Pick a third piece of paper to pu

t behind your picture, using it as a mat.

4.Chose a Photo Frame to put around your picture.

5.Now time to Embellish. Find a place to put stitching on your

page.

6.Use at least three of the

following shapes: Hearts, Flowers, Diamonds, Stars. You can use

four of one, or mix it up.

7.Most importantly we must journal. Give your page a jazzy

title. And you must have at least three sentences of journaling

for your page.

8.Email me your page or pages by

the end of 2nd hour at storybookingbyyou@gmail.com

1. Amber: Fun pages by Amber. she is starting to dabble in photography and just took these fabulous pictures.
2. Dixie's great colorful pages.


3. Karen was inspired by the speed scrap to complete her Christmas Cards.


4. Another great layout by Bonnie. That looks like a fun party!

5. Joyce looks like she had a wonderful Christmas Cruise with the author of The Christmas Box. I love these ornaments.


6. Jennifer is a wonderful friend and Neighbor to the woman featured in this 12x12. Jennifer made this page for her neighbor. She is going to love it.


7. Melissa looked like she had a great trip to Disney. She shared that she had originally lost the digital copy of all of her Disney pictures when her computer crashed. Lucky for her she had printed out all of her pictures before her computer crashed (printing them cost her $300. Shortly after this experience she discovered Heritage Makers and was amazed that there was a cheaper way of printing pictures into books). She scanned all of her pictures back into digital form and is working on a Disney book.

8. Brenda made this fun page. She said she was forced to do some new things but says she is happy with her final product. I like it too

9. This page is by Hilary. I love the bright colors and cute subject.


10. Carrie made a great page about her a very cute little boy, that I am assuming is her grandson. I could be wrong. Last time I thought her son was her husband, sorry Carrie!

Check out her page by clicking here

11. Debbie was lucky enough to have taken a trip to Hawaii recently. We are lucky enough to see this page

Click here to go to Hawaii

12. Barbara made this project. I believe this is a poster. It is so beautiful. I love the bling!

Click here to see project

13. Kelly made this page while she was doing a workshop. Way to multitask! What a treat for her workshop attendees to be able to see this page being made.

Click here to see her page

I hope I did not miss anyone's page. If I missed it please let me know and I will post it. I will be announcing a winner in a little bit. Thank you everyone for participating. I had so much fun! Thank you so much for my friend and director, Lena, for being on the call to help and support me. Everyone check back to this post for registration to next weeks speed scrap.


WE HAVE A WINNER: CARRIE! CONGRATS!

Parent Teacher Conference

I just went to Maelee's parent teacher conference last week. It was the best conference ever!!! She really struggled through kindergarten so it was nice to have a good parent teacher conference. Her teacher said she sees little light bulbs coming on everyday for her. It is so exciting. I got a long list of sight words for her to work on. So I created a very special project for her. Check it out!

Heritage Makers has the coolest product, decks of playing cards. These are not the standard deck of cards, these are cards that can be customizable on both sides, front and back. You can create one back that will be printed on all 54 cards, then you can design 54 seperate fronts of the cards. We are the only company with these capabilities. It is so cool! The possibilities are endless. If you go directly to my website ignore the price. Never pay retail. Contact me directly for special pricing. You can get these decks for as little as $15 a deck. 

I Witnessed A Miracle

I was lucky enough to witness a miracle yesterday morning. I got a call at around 11:30pm Wednesday night. There is a friend of mine that was 7 days past due. We were all waiting for her to go into labor. I was on her list of people to call for when she goes into labor. I was 2nd on the list, my neighbor was first. I got the call because they could not get a hold of the first person. I jumped out of bed when I got the call and ran over to their house. First I did try to knock on my neighbors door because I saw all of her lights on and I figured, she must have gotten the message. Still no answer after ringing her door bell. I wanted to get a hold of her, not because I did not want to help, just because I knew how much she was looking forward to helping. No luck reaching her, a little worried about her because of no answer at the door, I went to help the expectant mother, Louisa.

Louisa had planned to deliver the baby at a birthing center that was about a half hour away. Her deliveries in the past have come quickly, this is her fourth baby. So they hired a birthing assistant to travel to the hospital with them. The birthing assistant arrived at the same time I did. They got Louisa into the car and off they went. 5 minutes later they were back. The birthing assistant, Heidi, said to me "I need you to go park the car for us, it is sitting right outside. (We all live in townhouse complexes and our parking spots are not always right in front of our house) We are back. The baby is coming" I went and parked the car. I came back in to witness the miracle. It all happened in minutes!!! The baby was here. They had laid out an air mattress for me, or whom ever would arrive to help take care of the kids. And on that air mattress is where the baby was born. Just as he, Harold, was born I heard one of the three children crying upstairs so I went to check on them. The ages of the other three kids are 5, 3, and almost 2. The 2 year old was crying so I comforted her but the oldest, Ruth Anne, heard us and woke up. She heard the baby crying and said "who is here with a baby?" I said, that is your baby. Your baby is here. She said, "oh mama, you look so tired. Is that because you just had a baby." Her mom and I do look a little alike. Both have short blond hair and I look like I am 9 months pregnant. I told Ruth Anne I was Sister Zabel and I came to help while mommy had her baby. We waited up in the room until it was safe to come down. None of knew yet what the sex was. I had rushed upstairs right as he came out and did not get a look or hear from them what sex the baby was. So we were waiting in suspense to know. Ruth Anne and I were talking about how this is more exciting than Christmas morning. We were waiting to go downstairs to see the best gift EVER!!! Finally we got to go down and see the baby. He was so pretty! The mommy asked for juice because she had some bottles of Snapple in her bag that she had been saving for the birthing center that she was anxiously waiting to drink. When Louisa asked for her juice she said "get everybody juice. Lets celebrate." So I handed out juice boxes and we all had a celebratory drink. The 3 year old was asleep through most of this. He is a little boy, just like men, they can sleep through anything. Eventually we went and woke him up and he joined the party. I stayed around until after 3am and got to love on the baby. The midwife had arrived shortly after Harold was born and was doing a great job taking care of Louisa and the baby.

The best part of being there was the birthing assistant and the midwife. They were so special. The kindest most gentle most calm women. They were old souls that brought such a great feeling into a room. At one point we were all in Louisa's room. Louisa and I in the bed. I was laying down holding the baby. The women were waiting on Louisa and started talking about music. And the three of them started to sing. The spirit was so strong. This is the way babies used to come into the world, at home, with the family. There was one point before Louisa left the house to go to the birthing center that she kept saying, "I am dying. I can't do this. It has to stop. I am not going to do this." The birthing assistant said, "you are already doing it." It was amazing how within minutes of the baby being here how calm and happy Louisa was. She was so happy. That is childbirth. In the middle of it you think you can't do it. Then it happens and you quickly forget what it feels like. Her delivery has me thinking about my next baby and how I am a "give me an epidural" type of girl. Maybe I will change my mind. Who knows. I am just grateful that I got to be there to witness a miracle.

Speed Scrap

What is a Speed Scrap? When a group of online digital scrapbookers gather online at the same time for one hour and are given 7 instructions (one every 10 minutes) by one instructor.

What were the rules today? (these were mostly taken from a speed scrap by Barb on my cafe mom group)

1.Chose 3 Pictures. Make all three of them the same size. Put them in a row, either Horizontally or Vertically.

2.Chose a solid colored piece of paper and use it as your background for your page. Send it all of the way to the back.

3.Chose an embellishment like a photo frame, a bracket, or even use another piece of paper to place behind all three pictures.

4.Find a glittery or shiny embellishment. Use as many of them as you want to embellish your page .

5.Find flowers , leaves, bows or buttons to put on your page. You must use at least three of them

6.Use Alphas to create a title for your page

7.Journal your page with at least three sentences. Don't forget to add your date. Feel free to create a journal box using a tag or a journal box.

What happens after a Speed Scrap? The participants email the hostess/instructor their pages and everyone gets to see them. Here are everyone's layouts. Some are still coming in. So check back periodically for for more pages and Don't forget to check back at the end of the day for the winner. The winner will get 5 12x12 individual pages printed through HM. The winner will be randomly drawn from a hat and you will get one entry for every page you submit. Good luck!

Here are the entries:

1. My own design #1. I created this last night and it is what inspired today's rules. All of the artwork used in this page is from andiLyn Designs-Sunkissed Porch and a few other collections by her.

2. My 2nd Page I made in just a few minutes today to demonstrate how to use HM studio. Most of the artwork on this page is from Ellie Lash Studios and a few wonderful things from Heritage Makers Premiere Collection of Artwork by Scrapgirls.


3. Jennifer Gray. All of this is from HM premiere artwork. She plans to frame this 12x12 and put it on her wall so she chose not to put a journaling block. This will look great on her wall.


4. These two pages are from Bonnie Covel. All HM premiere artwork. I love this fun colored kit backed up with the brown background. It really makes the colors pop off of the page the way they should. (her name will get entered twice because of her two entries. She really speed scrapped)


5. This is by Amber. These are very cute pictures of a real life Power Ranger Zach. Zach is really a real life hero in the fact that he is fighting the battle against cancer. He got this costume while staying in New York where he spends most of his time going between the hospital and the Ronald MacDonald House. Thank heaven for heroes like Zach.



6. This next one is from Karen Adams. I love the warn papers and the bling she found for her page. It makes you want to be a part of their traditions. Click Here to be taken to a view of her family's holiday tradition

7. This is from Carrie Rodriguez. She three wonderful pages. I love the one of her son in his dress blues. So appropriate on Veterans Day and also with it being the Marine Corps Birthday yesterday. Oh-rah! She will be entered three times for the three pages she made
First Page Here

Second Page Here

Third Page Here
8. This next one is by Kim Hubert. She featured a wonderful page with a photo of nature....You don't have to wait for the fog to pass to know that this page is beautiful. Click here to check out the scenery.

9. Kelly Robinson made a wonderful tribute to her man. I love it. I think so many times we focus on our children and we leave out our spouse. What a great tribute page. Check it out here

10. More pages to come. I am waiting for two more submissions. Check back later.

Thank you so much ladies for participating today and for being so patient with me as I stumbled through the audio technical difficulties. I am hosting another one next Tuesday night the 18th at 9pm EST. So if you would like to join us just click here to register.

Happy Birthday Marines

Birthday Cake Scott made in November 2005

(Boot Camp 1999)

November 10, 1775 is the birth date of the United States Marine Corps. So I want to wish every Marine out there Happy Birthday. I remember 8 years ago when I attended my first Marine Corps Ball. I had known that the ball existed prior to that, after all I was raised in a Yuma, Az close to a base. I knew several people that attended the ball every year, but I never understood the history behind the ball until I attended one in the year 2000. Scott and I were engaged. He wanted to take me to the ball. He was a young Lance Corporal (E-3). I was just excited to go and get to dress up and get to see him in his uniform. When we got to the ball everyone started wishing each other happy birthday. When I first heard someone tell Scott happy birthday I was very puzzled. For a split second I felt bad that I did not know his birthday. "I thought, how could I be marrying a man when I don't even know when his birthday is." But then Scott told the other Marine happy birthday. And I soon caught on. The ball is a birthday party to celebrate the Marine Corps. I even started a tradition of getting him a birthday present every year to give to him when we went to a ball. But I have fallen out of the tradition and really need to get back into it. If you ever have a chance to attend a ball you should go. Marines are allowed to bring guest, so if you know a Marine that attends a ball you should ask them if you can go as their guest. The last ball Scott and I attended was three years ago. I have missed it so much. I want to make it a goal to go next year. It is always hard for us to go because Scott is usually busy making a cake for the Commandant's Ball. I am going to make him take me next year.

I had to run to the store really really late Saturday and I saw a young Marine and his date at the store. They must have just come from a ball. I wished him happy birthday and gave him a sturdy Oo-rah as I walked by. I even got a little teary eyed as I did it and when he wished me happy birthday back. So if you run into a Marine, in or out of uniform today. Wish them happy birthday. The Marine Corps has so much pride. I love it!!!!! I love my husband for the service he gives our country. So I may not have bought my husband a birthday present this year, but hopefully he will read this post and know I love him

Happy Birthday....OO-RAH!! Semper-fi!

Semper Fidelis is Latin for "Always faithful." Best known to Americans as the motto of the United States Marine Corps (often "Semper Fi" (IPA: sɛm pər ˈfаɪ) for short)

cook school 1999-can you find Scott? Front row 2nd one from the right.

Marine Corps Ball November 2000

I am so proud to be married to a Marine-December 2000

Cake Scott made in November 2002

The day Scott left for Kuwait/Iraq in Feb 2003. The war had not even started and did not even have a name yet. The picture below is his him saying good bye to Maelee at age 11 months...not walking and not talking.

Scott and a donkey and his gun in Iraq

Scott's Homecoming September 2003. Came home to a 19 month old walking and talking daughter and a very happy wife that was so glad to have her husband home safe.

This was the last picture we had taken at a ball. We have only been to one other since this picture was taken but we do not have any pictures from that evening.

Scott working his dream job...Enlisted Aide to The Generals. Above he is pictured with General Haggee in 2005 with a cake he helped to make for the Commandant's Ball. Below is Scott at his re-enlistment for his third and current enlistment. He was re-enlisted by General Peter Pace in April 2006. Scott will hit his 10 year mark in the Marine Corps this April. Time goes by so fast.