Your Wedding: A Reflection of You

by Roxanne Buchholz, Studio Creative Team Manager

Your wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime experience; a day filled with love, laughter, and tears of joy. You are going to be surrounded by your loved ones and, most importantly, getting married to the love of your life. All of these elements create a unique story that is truly yours and should be reflected in your selection of wedding stationary, décor, and gifts.

Today, we are swooning over “Chalkboard Floral,” a lovely new wedding suite by Senior Creative Team member, Kari Pieratt, featuring the newly released “A Romantic Day” art collection. Retro yet modern, these templates are so easy to customize, beautifully designed, and memorable, to say the least.

 

To start it all out, every bride and groom will need “Chalkboard Floral Engagement” 7 x 5 invitation, template 119829 and “Chalkboard Floral Save the Date” 7 x 5 invitation, template 119822. As an alternative, “Chalkboard Floral Save the Date” 8 x 4 photo card, template 119828 is also available. To celebrate the bride, “Chalkboard Floral Bridal Shower” 7 x 5 invitation, template 119830 will be the perfect party invitation for a fun and casual girls’ get-together.

Four to six weeks before the big day, beautiful and memorable wedding invitations will need to be sent. “Chalkboard Floral Wedding” 5 x 7 invitation, template 119821, is right on trend with this chalkboard design that serves to highlight the bold, modern florals in tones of yellow and teal.

And don’t forget “Chalkboard Floral Address” return address labels,template 119834 and “Chalkboard Floral Thank You” 4 x 6 invitation,template 119831. To remember the special day, Kari has even designed a “Chalkboard Floral Wedding” 16 x 10.5 French-line metal print, template 119836, to show-off a favorite wedding photo personalized with the couple’s married name and wedding date.

In addition to the stationary and home décor, Kari has gone one step further and designed a coordinating guest sign-in book “Chalkboard Floral Guest Book” in the traditional 11.5 x 8.5 storybook, template 119832, as well as the lay-flat 11.5 x 8.5 storybook, template 119833. Wedding guests will enjoy writing special messages of advice to the bride and groom as they begin their journey together. And the collection doesn’t stop there. Look for a new wedding storybook coming soon to complete the set!

New to the Template Gallery this month are several new contemporary 11 x 14 prints by Roxanne Buchholz, which would be perfect as a framed wedding gift or as an anytime addition to your own home décor. These two templates can be customized to fit any state or province and color scheme of your choice. “State of Marriage – Vertical,” template 119774and “State of Marriage – Horizontal,” template 119775.

 

For a more traditional wedding aesthetic, “Bride and Groom Photo Grid,” 20 x 20 wrapped canvas, template 119779 and “Beautiful Things,” 20 x 16 wrapped canvas, template 119879, both by Roxanne Buchholz, will leave a lasting impression in your home with their elegant and romantic styling.

From the engagement party to the wedding and beyond, Heritage Makers has all the templates and products to help you make a big impression with your special event. Explore all that our Template Gallery has to offer, be inspired, and create that once-in-a-lifetime wedding that is truly a reflection of you.

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Template Spotlight: Yearbooks & Teacher Appreciation

Whether you’re recording your child’s school year, congratulating a graduate or thanking a dedicated teacher; April is the time to start bringing school projects into full focus. Heritage Makers offers beautiful yearbooks for every grade, meaningful gifts or greetings for the graduate and one-of-a-kind teacher appreciation gifts. Let’s take a look at a few examples in each of these areas.

      

      

Yearbooks to Remember
From pre-school to graduation, every grade and experience is something to be preserved and celebrated. Ask any grandma and she’ll tell you, you may THINK you’ll never forget your child’s performance in the school play or his third grade best friend; but memories fade fast. As a parent, one of the greatest legacies you can leave your child is a record of his or her younger years. Roxanne Buchholz has an entire line of 8 x 8 yearbooks that span pre-school to high school. You’ll love how easy these books are to use and how they coordinate with one another so you can make one each year. Those shown here are “HM Kindergarten Yearbook,” template 81118; “HM 1st Grade Yearbook,” template 56434; “HM 2nd Grade Yearbook,” template 56433; and “HM 6th Grade Yearbook,” template 25798.

  

Words of Advice for the Graduate
Looking for a classic gift of wisdom and encouragement that can go with the graduate as he or she starts her life journey? Sandra Dovre’s “A Bit of Advice-Son,” template 34717 and “A Bit of Advice-Daughter,” template 34832 are Heritage Makers projects that celebrate the occasion and become lifelong keepsakes.

   

A Memento for the Graduate
One of the simplest graduate gifts you can create is a framed 11 x 14 “Graduate Subway Gift.” Template 84423 is by Lynda Angelastro and can be customized with appropriate school colors, name and initials along with the graduate’s name. Buy a large frame at the hobby and craft store that is matted for an 11 x 14 photo. Use a 40% off coupon and a good frame should be well under $20. With your Club HM membership, you’ll be createing a wonderful, original, personalized gift that’s also very reasonably priced!

  
Teacher Appreciation Time
At Heritage Makers, there are a many a one-of-a-kind ways to tell your child’s teacher “thank you.” Try these two ideas from Sharon Macfarlane. They are made on simple 7 x 5 Invitations that can be hole punched and attached to a beach bag for the “Teacher Fun-in-the-Sun Kit,” template 83307 or to any kind of container for the “Teacher Movie Mania Kit,” template 83309. Instructions are included on the reverse side for teacher to use an assortment of small gifts for a day at the beach or the movies. The reverse side also includes a place for a “thank you” from your child.

  
  

Group Teacher Appreciation Gifts
If you’re responsible for gifts for all the teachers in the school or want to say thank you to several of your children’s teachers, try these fun ideas from Roxanne Buchholz. “HM POP-ular Gift Tags” template 86184 and “HM Smart Cookie Gift Tags,” template 86183 are each designed especially for teacher gifts. Each card of these decks can be personalized on the front side to make up to 54 custom labels for cellophane bags of gourmet popcorn or cookies. Personalize with the name of the teacher and the child, or the class if it’s a group gift. If you’re using the gifts tags on cello bags of cookies, make the cookies from any recipe that stores well for a couple of days. For the popcorn tags, use your family’s favorite gourmet popcorn recipe or try the ones we show here.

LIME POPCORN
3/4 cup popcorn
1/4 cup olive oil for cooking popcorn
1/3 cup butter, melted
3 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Pop popcorn in hot-air popper or in olive oil in large lidded pan on stove. Mix together the butter, lime juice, lime zest and salt. Put popcorn in large, lightweight paper bag and pour over popcorn. Shake until popcorn is coated and moist. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spread popcorn evenly. Heat oven to 300 degrees and bake popcorn for 5-7 minutes until dry.

WHITE CHOCOLATE POPCORN
Two 3 1/3 ounce bags microwave popcorn
6 ounces white chocolate chips
Pop popcorn, remove unpopped kernels. Melt white chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. Place popcorn in large bowl or on cookie sheet. Drizzle melted white chocolate over all and refrigerate until hardened. Break up into smaller clumps before bagging.

Heritage Makers offers gifts and greetings for every school occasion. To find templates for commemorating your child’s school year, gifting a graduate or saying “thank you” to your child’s teacher; simply head to the Template Gallery. Search on “school,” “teacher,” “graduate” or “gift” to find well over a thousand perfect present possibilities for your school needs.

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Your Style, Your Way - Happily Ever After Canvas Design Map

by Roxanne Buchholz, Studio Creative Team Manager

With the traditional wedding season quickly approaching, Studio Creative Team member Cassie Balser challenged the entire Heritage Makers Studio Creative Team to come up with a customized 20 x 24 wrapped canvas based off of her grayscale design map, “Happily Ever After Design Map,”template 119800.

Starting with a neatly organized grid, each designer was able to take this simple grayscale design and customize it to fit her own personal style. From Sara Wise’s whimsical, retro design to Michelle Bell’s elegant, transitional canvas, each designer’s personality really shined through in this challenge. With over 100,000 embellishments and papers in Studio, the possibilities for theme, style, and color are endless. Let’s take a look at each of the designer’s canvases below.


“Happily Ever After Design Map,” template 119800 and “Happily Ever After by Cassie,” template 119801



“Happily Ever After by Sara,” template 119607 and “Happily Ever After by Kari,” template 119799



“Happily Ever After by Michelle,” template 119891 and “Happily Ever After by Roxanne,” template 119853



“Happily Ever After by Leanne,” template 119767 and “Happily Ever After by Brooke,” template 119655

All of our wrapped canvases are on special this month with an additional 10% off at check-out, so think about those home décor projects that you’d like to get done. Are you or someone you know getting married this year? Or do you have special photos of your family that you’d like to make into wall art for your home? These canvases make lasting impressions, so get started on yours today. With our wide selection of templates and grayscale maps, you should be able to find the perfect fit just for you.

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Template Spotlight: Easter and Spring

by Brooke Mehr, Studio Product Assistant

Spring is nearly upon us, and with that comes the wonderful holidays of Easter and St. Patrick's Day. In this article, we will share some of our favorite Spring and Easter templates and hopefully inspire you to create some projects of your own to celebrate this glorious time of year.

Metal prints, canvases, and 11 x 14 prints are an excellent and simple way to add a fresh touch to your home decor for Spring. Below, we have a lovely new metal print template that would be a beautiful addition to any home for Easter.
 

“I Know That My Redeemer Lives” 16 x 10.5 French Line Metal Print by Brittany Hutchings, template 119505.
 

Subway art is very popular right now and most of these fun templates can be very quickly and easily customized by simply changing out your family name before publishing. There are several themes and styles to suit any occasion or decor.




“Icons of Easter”, template 119533 and “Hoppy Easter”, template 119534, both 11 x 14 Prints by Kari Pieratt.




“Easter Egg Word Art”, template 104956 and “A Bunny's Easter Word Art”,template 104953, both 11 x 14 Prints by Anna G. Bates.




“Sweet Easter Subway”, template 119786 and “Christian Easter Subway”,template 119785, both 11 x 14 Prints by Brooke Mehr.




If you don't celebrate Easter or are just looking for decoration for other Spring themes, there are plenty of other templates to suit your needs. Here we have “St. Patrick's Day Subway”, template 119783 and “Spring Subway”, template 119784, both 11 x 14 Prints by Brooke Mehr.


Also check out these fun 12 x 12 Scrap Page templates. Individual scrap pages are a wonderful way to document any holiday or special occasion and these templates make it simple to remember your family's Easter festivities.



“My first Easter” by Brooke Mehr, template 105835 and "Eggstra Special Easter” by Shanna Vineyard, template 104710.




If you are looking for a way to spread a little Easter cheer with someone special this year, look no further than these cute 8 x 4 Photo Card templates! “Happy Easter, Peeps!” by Cynthia Coulon, template 109704and “Happy Easter” by Sandra Dovre, template 104990.
 

However you celebrate Spring, be sure to check the Heritage Makers Template Gallery for fun and easy to customize templates that will boost those celebrations into cherished memories. Check the Template Gallery frequently for new templates added every day!

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New Art in March!

New Art Collections 

March 2014by Brooke Mehr, Studio Product Assistant

March's new art collections include all kinds of fun artwork pieces to help you celebrate a new baby, a new year of age, or a new life united in marriage. Whether your taste is classic, contemporary, or a bit vintage, there is sure to be something just for you in this month's new art!

"Baby's Life: Girl" and "Baby's Life: Boy", both Basic collections from Roxanne Buchholz of Lucky Girl Creative, are two fun new art collections. Both coordinate well with the Basic "Baby's Holiday Sampler" and "Baby's Shower" collections that have been previously released.

"Baby's Life: Girl" is a clean and contemporary collection of 100+ baby and little girl-themed embellishments. From ballet slippers and butterflies to princess crowns and piggy banks, this art collection is perfect for any of your more lady-like projects.

In an identical style that coordinates well with the other "Baby's Life" collections, "Baby's Life: Boy" has 100+ embellisments that will suit every need for the little boys in your life. This collection includes items like sailboats, drums, rockets, and sports cars.

"You Say It's Your Birthday" by Traci Reed at Sweet Shoppe Designs is a bright and cheerful collection that is perfect for all types of birthday celebrations. This collection is full of patterned papers, colorful word art, and miscellaneous fun embellishments, all in tones of red, yellow, aqua, pink, and grey.

As a lovely Basic birthday collection, we have added "Miscellany: Happy Birthday" by Penny Springmann of Sweet Shoppe Designs. This collection features PNG-style word art and birthday elements. All pieces are solid black and can be easily customized to fit any color or theme in a project.

Just in time for spring and summer weddings, we are happy to present "A Romantic Day" by Cynthia Coulon. This lovely collection is a compilation of vintage-themed wedding embellishments and word art. Perfect for all wedding projects, this collection is sure to delight!

"Happy Easter" is another fun compilation collection by Cynthia Coulon. Full of brightly colored word art and Easter embellishments, this collection has just the right amount of color and whimsy to suit any fun Easter-themed project this year.

Remember, you can gain access to all of our incredible Premier artwork with a monthly Club HM membership! 

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Template Spotlight: Halloween Projects

by Lynda Angelastro, Studio Product Manager

Make It a Great Halloween
Halloween is a fun time for family and friends alike to gather, to visit, to share goodies and to fuss over the kids and their costumes. This holiday gets bigger every year with more community events and commercial ventures such as pumpkin patch, corn maze, and spook alley visits being added to the agenda. Put loved ones front and center in your version of the holiday by decorating your home, making personalized treats to give away, and being sure your children have a personalized treat bucket.

Find ‘Halloween’ Faster
Use our new Template Gallery to find the Halloween items you’re excited about. In the top navigation bar that appears when you click “Template Gallery,” a list of the next four or five holidays always appears in blue on the left-hand side. Click “Halloween” and all the templates you’ve been looking for appear. Our category Halloween selection is just that, a selection. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, create your own search using our search input box. Remember, it’s a multiple word search, so you could put in Halloween and Bucket and Boy.

Welcome Them With a Canvas
Welcome them to your home on Trick or Treat Night with a Halloween-themed family name canvas like Sandra Dovre’stemplate 62266, “Spooktacular Halloween” or the one from Lynda Angelastro shown in our opening photo, template 111033, “FANGtasic Halloween Welcome” or “Family Boo Crew,” template 94924 by Kari Pieratt. Each is a 20 x 8 canvas that helps Halloween Night feel like a celebration.





Hang Out a Metal Welcome Sign
With goblins and ghosties everywhere, let little ones know your home is open for trick or treating with one of these fun metal prints. The first is a 10 x 8 metal print, template 109568, by Sandra Dovre called "Ooga Booga". The second is from Shanna Vineyard and is an 18 x 12 metal print,template 94524, called “Trick You or Treat You Sign.” Both feature the family name and are happy on the front door, the porch wall, or hanging in the window facing the street. If you are treating in a parking lot from the trunk of your car, our metal signs make wonderful identifying signs for your family’s vehicle. Just hang them from the roof of the trunk!

      

Cover Your Doorbell
Hang one of these inexpensive cards over your doorbell to make trick or treaters earn their candy with a hearty "trick or treat" shout rather than simply ringing your doorbell. Punch a hole in the top and make a looped ribbon hanger or simply tape over your doorbell with double-sided tape. Made on 4 x 8 photo cards and designed by Lynda Angelastro, template numbers are 68065, 68060 and 68069.

  

Dress Up Your Decor
Create a festive atmosphere for the rest of the house by hanging our inexpensive 11 x 14 prints. Ready to frame and about the same price as a scrapbook page, these subway-styled prints bring color and just the right touch of creepiness to your holiday décor. The first two shown here are templates 93496 and 93497 and were designed by Kari Pieratt. The “Halloween Pumpkin Word Art” shown below is by Anna Gehmlich Bates. This extremely popular Halloween print, template 94485, is 14 x 11 in size.

   

Make Cute Candy Containers
Check out this month's “Make It in Moments” article for a brand-new-this-season Halloween bucket template and instructions, for use on a “gallon size” clear plastic paint pail. If your child is dressing up as a particular animal or there is a theme you want to feature on a Halloween bucket, check Valentine’s buckets such as “All Animal Valentine's Buckets,” by Lynda Angelastro, template 94334(not shown here) and you may find just what you’re looking for. Simple change the word “VALENTINES” to “TRICK OR TREAT,” copy the name and change it to ‘BUCKET.”

  

Hand Out Cute Candy
Make stopping at your house or car a special Halloween treat with personalized giveaways. Use a set of playing cards, as Sandra Dovre did with her “Halloween Treat Cards.” Punch two holes in the sides to hold a sucker and you’ve got a stylish treat your family will be proud to hand out. Cutting back on candy treats? Use Sandra’s template 39719 and punch larger holes for pencils, pens or even toothbrushes! Want to make up your own candy assortment to give away to special trick or treaters? We love Shanna Vineyard’s “Halloween Treat Bag Toppers,”template 94576. It’s a 12 x 12 scrap page that contains three, easy-to-cut-out treat toppers to put on your candy bags.

      

Invite Them to a Halloween Party
Having a ‘spooktacular’ event at your house or community center? We’ve got all kinds of spooky, scary, elegant or fun invitations to make your Halloween party super special. “Spooktacular Halloween,” template 92777, is a 4 x 6 invitation, by Anna Gehmlich Bates that has the party invitation on the reverse side. “Eat, Drink, and be Scary Invitation,” is template 94602; it’s a 5 x 7 invitation by Michelle Bell and has that popular blackboard look.

 

Let Them Know You’re Thinking of Them
Send a card sometime other than Christmas! A Halloween card fits the bill nicely and lets them know you’re thinking of them. Shown here, from Kari Pieratt is “Bugs & Kisses Halloween,” a 7 x 5 greeting card, template 108373. If you’re not able to be with some of your favorite people this Halloween, let them know you care with this card.

  

Make the Memories Live Forever
Halloween is often a picture taking party. Costumes, makeup, Halloween décor, organized outings, and seasonal events leave a lot of fun photos in that computer folder. Upload them to Heritage Makers and make a book they’ll cherish forever. We have loads to choose from. Start with a simple one like “Who Are You?” template 111644, a square flip book by Cassie Balser. It makes a perfect brag or gift book, contains a funny poem most kids can read on their own and is the perfect way to show off your family’s Halloween 2013!

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