Heritage Makers Celebrates National Digital Scrapbooking Day

This is an awesome post from the Heritage Makers Blog - Happy National Digital Scrapbooking Day! :)
While we began our company by pioneering the concept of “storybooking,” we realize that because our Studio is online and our products are digitally designed, we are also part of the growing “digital scrapbooking” movement.
As more people move away from the traditional “scissors and stickers” scrapbook albums, the digital side is enjoying significant growth. And it makes good sense.
First of all, the photos we take today are already digital. No need to pay a developer to print out a pile of pictures anymore. Secondly, almost everyone has access to a computer that can get on the internet for instant availability to digital artwork and design inspiration. Third, we live in an increasingly time-strapped society where the ability to get something finished faster is definitely a draw. Digital scrapbooking seems to offer a speed advantage over traditional.
Digital scrapbooking and storybooking with Heritage Makers offers those advantages — simplicity, speed, security, easy and economical. That’s why we want to honor National Digital Scrapbook Day on Saturday, November 5, 2011.
Whether you are already addicted to digital scrapbooking, considering the switch from traditional paper to digital or thinking of trying the easiest digital option on the market, your Heritage Makers Personal Publishing Consultant can help you decide if Studio is right for you.
We thought it might be helpful to compare Heritage Makers online Studio publishing system with traditional paper scrapbooking and with general digital scrapbooking. We hope you’ll discover the significant advantages of Studio and begin to preserve your memories with ease.

Traditional Scrapbooking vs Heritage Makers Studio

Must buy & store supplies albums, page protectors, papers, stickers tools, adhesives, pens, scissors, etc	Everything is built on the site & stored on our servers
Takes up a lot of space to keep/ organize supplies	All you need is a computer connected to the web All artwork/tools are built into Studio All artwork & templates are easy to find (searchable)
Requires a dedicated space or time to set-up/take-down for a work session	Be designing in seconds online with a small laptop. Walk away or get interrupted, your work is saved.
Making multiple copies of a special project involves a major investment in supplies, time and effort.	Simply click to order multiple copies easily. Or slightly customize each one without redoing the whole project every time.
Working with anyone else on a layout or album is difficult unless both live nearby.	Conveniently collaborate across the miles with others to work on a project in one account.
Can’t be portable without lugging a lot Of supplies, photos, tools, etc. & then You need a lot of table space to set up & spread out for working.	Very portable! If you have a laptop, you can log in to Studio & work from anywhere, even without a table.

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Have you seen the NEW Products?

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.

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!

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.

Have lots of fun! I know I am!!!

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Address Labels are HERE!!!

Address Labels are available early! I am SO THRILLED! Check out some of the things I've made - too much fun! Plus, these are such a fast project, being so tiny and easy!

Here is a "Canadian Pride" address label, just in time for Canada Day! This one is in the Template Gallery, Template ID: 61134

  A few others that I had way too much fun making:

  

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This one is also in the template gallery, my picture of it turned out a bit funny, but there is an entire line of photography business supplies for all of you photographers out there!

 

Have fun coming up with your own "address label" ideas! These are found in the new "Business Supplies" section when you start a new project!

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New Products!!!

Heritage Makers has introduced a new line of products that are perfect for promoting your business as well as creating personalized family projects. When you click on the “shop” button in the HM web site you’ll notice the product categories have been slightly reorganized. “Business supplies” has been added as a new category and links to specific information on the new items which include business cards (single and double-sided), an 8.5 x 11 flyer, an 8.5 x 11 booklet (saddle-stitched), and an 8.5 x 11 wire-bound book.

All of these products offer unique applications for home or office, but the 8.5 x 11 booklets are especially exciting. If you are a real estate agent, travel agent, retailer, photographer, etc. imagine how you could use this format to build your business. On the home front, imagine how this product could be adapted to showcase a sports team, school activities, or a family vacation. Father’s Day is coming up. Can you think of a better way to pay tribute than a 16-page, full color magazine?

Note: This is only the beginning of this line. In fact, customizable address labels will be added on June 7th.

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New and Easy Push to Facebook Feature!

Now you can share a preview of any Heritage Makers project directly to Facebook! Show off your latest HM creation with one click of a button! Just click the "share" button in the project viewer:

Then you'll see this screen:

And then you can type a message and send it off. It also gives you the option to post to the ClubHM page as well.

Have lots of fun sharing! It's so easy!

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New Products! - Canvas Frames & 4 x 6 Greeting Cards, 4 x 6 Invitations

Canvas Frames

Now you can give your custom canvas a great finishing touch by adding a beautiful frame. The new frames are available for most canvas sizes and provide a flush, contemporary accent to deep canvases, and a unique shadowbox look for regular canvases. Crafted from natural wood with a black satin finish, the frames are available as an upgrade option at check out when you purchase a new canvas.Go here for more information.


4 x 6 Cards and Invitations are back!

Create personalized greeting cards and invitations in this popular format. Competitively priced and perfect for all sorts of special occasions, you’ll love what you can do with Studio software and the amazing collection of Heritage Makers digital art and templates. And make sure you get the biggest discount by signing up for Club HM! Ask Julie for details.

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Heritage Makers Featured in Woman's Day Magazine

The latest online issue of Woman's Day Magazine discusses how to supplement your income through home parties and consultations. Silver Director Amie Austin from San Clemente, California, and Heritage Makers are featured! See the article here.

 

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Leather Covers!

If you’ve seen the beautiful leather covers available on the 11 x 13 Legacy books, you may have wished you could put the same elegant cover on a different sized book. Now, for a limited time, you can!

Heritage Makers has secured a limited number of leather covers for our 11.5 x 8.5 and 8 x 8 Storybooks. These covers will only be available on a first-come, first-served basis, so don’t wait to take advantage of this option. Just like black end papers and matte covers, it is available as an upgrade at check out.

The cost for the 8 x 8 leather cover is $10, and for the 11.5 x 8.5 is $15. Publishing points can be applied as payment for this upgrade. You can create a new book project, or perhaps you’d like to reprint an existing book with this new and stylish leather covering. You’ll still have your original cover design, only it will be printed as a dust jacket to protect the leather cover.

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My Favorite Home-Based Business Opportunity: Heritage Makers!

It’s 2011 and with a brand new year comes a brand new story – YOUR story. How is it going to start?

If you want an adventure with a happily ever after ending, check out becoming a Personal Publishing Consultant with Heritage Makers! Designed to move you to action, this business has been carefully laid out to fit every individual Consultant's needs, with all of the training, tools, and motivation you could ever want available to help you succeed!

Who knew that photobook publishing, calendar creating, card making, digital scrapbooking, yearbooking, storybooking, family history making and scanning could be so much fun, so incredibly rewarding, and contribute a stable financial income?

I am addicted to being my own boss. In fact, I have ALWAYS been addicted to being my own boss. Before I had babies, before Heritage Makers and I were introduced, I was a music teacher. I used to teach for a studio. But then I left to start my own studio, because I didn't like having somebody else dictate my schedule and methods.

Once I had babies, I closed my studio, because the time commitment was too large and too rigid, and I wanted to stay home and be with my kids. Eventually, I found Heritage Makers, and now it's been 2 years since I've been a consultant. And I LOVE it!!! Here are some more details on why, but it all boils down to being able to get my projects for free, AND get a paycheque, AND I get to stay at home with my kids, AND I have a reason to meet people and talk to people.

A therapist-friend of mine once told me that Women need Women (Men also need women, by the way) but that to be happy, women need relationships with other women, and need to spend time with other women. Just to talk. Just to hang out. Just to share what is going on, what they're excited about, what they do. Before HM was a part of my life, I was starting to fall into the pit of "being-just-aMom", but being a consultant gave me a reason to get dolled up, to get out of the house, to have something that was ME again.

Anyways. Enough of that :)

How You Do Heritage Makers as a Business?
The key to success is personal publishing. That’s right! All you need to do is publish your own projects frequently, as in every month, and you will soon have a healthy business. How can that be?

When you publish your own projects you are:
... LEARNING how to use the Studio system so you can help other people do it too.
... HAVING FUN with your heritage hobby and creating MEANINGFUL projects for your family and friends – your EXCITEMENT will shine through!
... SHARING in a sincere and natural way, as you always have something new arriving in the mail to show people.
… INVITING others to join you in what you’re already doing – Club HM, publishing, fun, sharing, business

How Do I Get Started?

• First, make sure that the Heritage Makers Business is a fit for you and your family. No sense in spending time or money on something you don’t need or don’t intend to follow up on! Call or email Julie if you have questions, or feel free to do your own research of course!
• Next, choose your level of Club HM. Decide if you’re likely going to be a casual publisher or a digital diva publishing maniac. Club HM deposits discounted publishing points (25-35% off) in your account each month, plus it includes a free upgraded Premier account. Of course, joining Club HM is optional, but since the key to a successful business is being an example in publishing, this way you will always have enough points in your account to publish whatever you want! As your business grows, you will eventually earn your points and your premier for free :)
• Lastly, sign up as a Consultant by visiting the Heritage Makers main page and clicking on the link that says "Join My Team" by my picture, bottom LH corner. The signup cost for your business has just been reduced from $300 to only $50! If you want to be a leader in Heritage Makers, I recommend the optional add-on supply kit for another $100, which also includes your first month of Club HM. Keep reading for the contents list.

$50 Consultant Signup Kit

Consultant Getting Started Guide

Personal Consultant Website and Virtual Office

8×8 Storybook sample & Card sampler

10 Order Forms

10 Studio Brochures

10 Opportunity Brochures

2 Catalogs

1 Celebrating Life’s Stories DVD

$100 Business Builder Add-On Kit

Wirebound book sample

Playing Card sample

Swatch book sample

11.5×8.5 Storybook sample

8×8 Canvas sample

Scrap Page sampler

Calendar Sample

30 Order Forms

40 Studio Brochures

40 Business Opportunity Brochures

10 Catalogues

10 Celebrating Life’s Stories DVDs

5 Guest Lists

5 pks of Workshop Reminder postcards

Workshop Cue Cards

Consultant Business Planner

PLUS 1st month Club HM membership FREE (40pt or 70pt level)

If this is for you, I want to hear about it! Call or email me. 403-667-5336 or julie@printedjewels.com. I’m looking forward to helping you make this adventure the Volume 1 edition to the start of the rest of your life.

Happy Storybooking!
~Julie 

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Club HM Is Here!

Wow! I have had such a tremendous response about the Club HM announcement from the newsletter that I thought I would post the details so you can decide if it’s something that you’d like to try out as well.  You can see the flyer here.

This year we are introducing you to a whole new approach to being a Heritage Maker: Club HM!
 

Those of you who understand the value of the premier membership will certainly appreciate getting your premier for FREE (unlimited photo storage, access to 5,000+ designer templates in the Template Gallery and 50,000+ pieces of digital scrapbooking art) in addition to being able to purchase publishing points monthly at a BIG discount instead. I am THRILLED about how affordable publishing with Heritage Makers has become.
 

We have changed the way we do business and here is how it works...

Instead of making a large purchase of several hundred dollars to get set up for a year of Premier membership and then a discounted publishing points package to get you started, we are now offering a simple monthly membership. Now all your money goes towards wholesale pricing (25% - 35% off) of publishing points and the Premier account is included for free.  What’s a publishing point?  1 pt = $1 retail value. An 8x8 storybook, for example, uses 50 points when you publish it.  If you have no prepaid points, you pay $50. However if you're part of Club HM, it would cost you about $35.  We have 3 monthly point packages to choose from, depending if you enjoy a heritage hobby or are a publishing maniac!

40 pts + Premier = $30 (25% off)

70 pts + Premier = $50 (30% off)

150 pts + Premier = $100 (35% off)

PLUS there is a sign-up BONUS of an extra 100 points for only $50. That's 50% off on publishing points!

To participate in Club HM pricing, there is a 3-month minimum commitment. After that your membership will automatically renew each month and you can change your points level or cancel as needed online from your account.

*If you already have a Premier membership because you purchased it in 2010, HM will give you 10 extra publishing points to your Club HM package to compensate for that until your Premier membership expires!

So take a look at the plans and let me know which one is best for you. I look forward to helping you publish all your projects in 2011! 

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In Creating Keepsakes magazine

We're in one of the top Scrapbooking magazines! Check us out!

You can make all sorts of storybooks with Heritage Makers, but now you can also create your own customized Post-bound Album cover - perfect for digi-scrappers and traditional scrapbookers, too!

Text of the feature above:

“Wthout a doubt, one of the easiest ways to create a beautiful

scrapbook album is to upload your photos to a printing service.

Heritage Makers has made that process truly delightful with

gorgeous albums that you can customize to fit your personal

style. You’re going to love sharing these professional-looking,

completely personalized albums with your family and friends.”

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Gloss Coating!

Sweet! Heritage Makers has a fantastic new publishing option for 12 x 12 scrap pages and 11 x 14 posters. It’s called “gloss coating” – a heavy duty UV coating that is perfect for place mats or “dry erase” applications.

Gloss coating is free to Premier account holders and available for $1 per page for everyone else. Select “gloss coating” at check out.

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Free Premier Weekend!

On October 14-17 Heritage Makers will open the doors to our incredible collection of digital artwork allowing everyone to experience the power of Premier absolutely FREE! And to make things interesting, Lynda Angelastro will be teaching free online classes to offer holiday design tips, answer questions, and award prizes for the best projects being created. Don't miss it!

There are over 47,000 pieces of digital art...that you can use FREE!

Check out all of the great classes going on this weekend, too!

Thu, Oct 14, 2010 7:00 PM MDT
Topic: Celebrate FREE Premier Weekend & Explore October's Art
Instructor: Lynda Angelastro and Tanja Rigby
Studio Product Manager Lynda Angelastro and Creative Marketing Assistant Tanja Rigby celebrate FREE Premier Weekend by showing fabulous tips and tricks with the October art collections.

Register here.

Fri, Oct 15, 2010 6:00 PM MDT
Topic: Celebrate Our FREE Premier Weekend, Day Two
Instructor: Lynda Angelastro
Studio Product Manager Lynda Angelastro answers your art and design questions.

Register here.

Sat, Oct 16, 2010 12:01 PM MDT
Topic: Celebrate FREE Premier Weekend, Day Three, Saturday Show-and-Tell
Instructor: Lynda Angelastro
Lynda Angelastro shows off projects you have made during FREE Premier Weekend. To have work considered for the Saturday Show-and-Tell, email project previews to langelastro@heritagemakers.com.

Register here

To give you a glimpse of what Premier is, check out the "insider's peek" at a small sampling of what's available - each of our hundreds of art collections contain various embellishments, backgrounds, alphabets, and word art - so much to play with! Here are a few of my favourite collections, as seen from inside Studio: 

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Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

This is the sort of thing that makes me proud to be a Heritage Makers Consultant! If you know of somebody who needs this service, please spread the word!

Heritage Makers will be entering into a partnership with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation (NILMDTS), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing remembrance photography to parents suffering the loss of a baby. Heritage Makers will donate a free storybook to every family served by the NILMDTS network of professional photographers. Consultants will be available to provide free design services to those families who receive a memory book and who would like assistance.

The combination of the beautiful imagery provided by affiliated NILMDTS photographers and the lasting legacy of a Heritage Makers storybook will no doubt be an important step in the healing process and an ongoing family treasure.

To learn more about Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (a worldwide, not-for-profit organization), go here.

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New System of Publishing Points!

Hello Fellow Heritage Makers!

Have you logged into your account recently? Because Heritage Makers has streamlined the "publishing credits" system to the newer "Publishing Points" system! Now under "my account", you will see this:

A few changes to be excited about:

• Your previously purchased credits that were on sale are now worth the full Retail value of the credit in Publishing Points. For example, if you purchased an 8x8 book on sale for $39.95, you would actually receive the full 49.95 points. For details, check the "Ledger" instead of the "Summary" in "publishing points". If you have questions, just ask Julie :) 
• All previously purchased credits and publishing points expire TWO years from the date of purchase, instead of one! 
• Because points are more flexible than credits, the system will automatically let you use them in the order of what is expiring next. 
• In the new system, you can store your CC# in your account, so you don't have to go dig out your wallet just to pay for the $0.63 shipping on a card for each birthday - it's already taken care of! 
• You're no longer locked into a certain project type - have you changed your mind about what you want to make? You don't have to call Customer Support anymore to switch your credits - you can just make and publish what you want, when you want!
• Not sure what's in your shopping cart? Now your cart always shows a number in the top right of your screen, so you don't forget to publish that project! Plus, it's easier than ever to add or delete projects from your cart! 

Here's how to access your points:
  1. Go to www.PrintedJewels.com and login.
  2. Accept the terms and conditions (You'll only have to do this the first time you log in with the new system.)
  3. Click My Account.
  4. Click Publishing Points.
You should be able to see a list of all your available points, their expiration date, how many you have used, and how many points you have remaining.

More great news - we have lowered the retail price on 3 of our most popular storybooks!

• 11.5x8.5 storybooks were $69.95 and are now $59.95
• 12x12 storybooks were $79.96 and are now $69.96
• 13x11 Legacy storybooks were $124.95 and are now $99.95

You'll always save some money by ordering publishing points first through me, your Personal Publishing Consultant, so let me know how I can help. If you don't have a specific project in mind, you can always order one of our new Publishing Points Packages.

• $50 for 55 points 
• $100 for 115 points 
• $150 for 185 points 
• $200 for 265 points

Again, this is a brand new system, and I'm sure there will be lots of questions - if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know!

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Reunion Highlights So Far!

Our Heritage Makers Annual Reunion is happening right now in Phoenix, AZ, and with it comes all of our exciting company announcements, including New Products, New Art, and all kinds of other exciting changes! Plus, for those consultants who participate, there are all sorts of fun prizes to be won, spa treatments to be had, shopping sprees to go on, and next year's Cruise announcement to get excited about!

Some of you may be wondering: Why isn't Julie there?? Well, that would be because my baby girl's due date is in less than 2 weeks, and I've already started having contractions! Wish me luck!!

Check out some of my Crazy-Fun Colleagues having a blast - I wish I were with them!!

But back to the point:

Introducing New Canvas Sizes with DEEP SET FRAMES!!! Coming in 2 new sizes; 18x18 and 18x24!

There’s more! What do you do with all of those scrap pages? How about putting them all in a new post-bound album! Introducing the completely customizable HM post-bound album! This item is only available at Heritage Makers.

A new barcoded greeting card machine will help get all the greeting cards out to the right people! And that means we can direct ship family folds now!

Heard about Points? Here’s the information: All credits will be converted to points. You can see when all points expire and how they were used. Save credit cards on file, choose a shipping address, and see when credits will expire. Awesome!

From Guest Speaker Mary Christensen: Direct selling allows you to be anything you want. Our Heritage Makers business is so suited for women. The only way to get what we want is to help others get what they want. We are helping people tell their stories and sharing the gift of heritage.

From VP Chris Lee: It really is a great time to be a heritage maker! We have over 230,000 customers. Since the beginning of this year, those customers have placed over 110,000 orders. In the last year, 750,000 units have been ordered. In our system, 1.2 million projects have been started. Since our beginning, over 46 million photos have been uploaded to our system. Pretty amazing to think about! Think forward to a year or two…think about the incredible successes that are waiting.

I love being a Heritage Maker!! And I'd love for you to join my team! If you want more information, contact me at julie@printedjewels.com or 403-667-5336!

Want to read more about what's going on at Reunion right now? Check out the HM Blog! 

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WHOA! New Art!

Reunion is happening RIGHT NOW, and they've just released over THIRTY new Art Collections! That is OVER 1,000 pieces of digital art in just August! And hey, Basic Users - 3 of those art collections are for you too! :)

Don't worry - it's a lot of art to play with, so they'll be featured in the Art Collections until October to give you lots of time to explore!

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