Write Your Story…in three easy steps

Your family stories are your heritage. From the big life events like weddings and births, to the everyday fun on the soccer field and summer vacations…we all have stories that need to be written and preserved.

1. Choose Your Storytory: Decide what story you want to tell. Do you want to record your grandfather’s life? Or
maybe a story about your favorite sibling? Be sure to visit the Story Center to find Story Maps to help guide your
story, plus incredible writing tips and tricks. And while you’re at it, read the blog for more fun ideas!

2. Gatather Your Photos: Does the thought of scanning hundreds of photos seem a bit daunting? No worries!
Contact your Heritage Makers consultant to find out how you can get all of your boxes of photos scanned…in a
fraction of the time and cost.

3. Createreate Your Project: Create all of your Heritage Makers projects in your own password-protected,
publishing and creative center, Heritage Studio. No other online system offers you as much freedom, creativity, and convenience. Need a little inspiration? Attend one of our free online classes or check out our amazing FREE
Template Gallery.
Become a heritage maker and join others in preserving stories and memories while building strong families. It’s simple, fun, and a great way to bind your family together.

Story Writing Tips

Finding your story:
Starting your story is not always easy. And sometimes realizing your story can be even harder. First remember that everyone has a story. Your story can be about a vacation to Europe, camping in the mountains, your high school friends and activities, when you met your husband, when you found out you were pregnant, and on and on. Really, the stories are endless.

Sit down and write:
To get ideas flowing for your next story, just sit down and write. Those five minute exercises you used to do in grade school help a lot. Either at your computer or in a comfortable chair with a notepad and pen, write without lifting the pen for five minutes. You will be surprised by what comes to your mind. Then just take the ideas you get from your five minute exercise and begin expanding on your stories.

Look at pictures:
Another great way to find your stories is to go through your photos. As you look at pictures of you learning to ride a bike or playing kick ball with your friends, you will remember all sorts of moments that would be great in a story.

Remember and write it down:
The best way to start a story is to just remember and we are remembering all the time. The key is to have those memories with us when we’re ready to write the story. So, when you’re cooking dinner and suddenly remember how your mom used to dance around the kitchen while making family meals, jot the memory down on a notepad. When you’re tucking your child in at night and remember the stories your dad used to tell you, before you slip off to sleep, write it down.

For more story ideas, look at Story Maps here or in your Studio.

Happy Storybooking!

Lisa

Spring into a Project – Studio Tip

Have you ever seen a template or another project in one size or type of project and wish it could be in another size?

Well, it’s easier to make that happen than you may think!

By using the “My Projects” tab in Heritage Studio (when your project is open to create), just follow these steps:

(The following steps convert a Postcard to an Invitation, as an example. This process can be used with any type of projects):

1. Click on “Start New Project”
2. Click on “Select” under Cards
3. Click “Select” under Invitation
4. Click on “Portrait” or “Landscape” – Select the format that your postcard that you are converting is created in
5. Begin your project
6. When your Invitation project is open, click on the “My Projects” tab at the bottom of the page (this tab is among the tabs that say “My Photos”, “Text Boxes”, etc.)
7. When you click on the “My Projects” tab, select the group that your Postcard project is in: Unfinished Projects, Completed Projects, etc
8. Find your Postcard project and click on it
9. This will open your Postcard project in the area at the bottom of your page. Then, you can drag parts of your Postcard project onto your new Invitation project.

You can use these instructions for creating any type of new project from another project, instead of using “Invitation” you can select the new project that you want to create and then select the current project from your “My Projects” tab that you want to use the elements from.

I hope that puts a spring in your step and helps you complete some more fabulous storybooks for your family and friends to enjoy!

Happy Storybooking!

Got Photos Stuck in Sticky Albums?

We have all heard that the sticky back photo albums are actually bad for photos. Well, what happens when you go to take the photos off of those sticky pages and they don’t come off?!

Here’s a tip a friend shared with me…

Scrapper’s Solution

“It works great! According to the package, you can safely remove and reuse stickers, tape, photo squares and more. How about those registration stickers on your car windshield or bumper stickers? I haven’t tried it on stickers but I did use it on my photos. Scrappers Solution is a clear liquid and comes with a plastic tool that you use to slide under the object you want to remove. You put a few drops of the solution on the tool, slide it under one corner of the photo and glide it along until the photo comes free. It was so easy! And it left no residue or smell on the photos. I used it on an entire album of my baby pictures and had them all out in about ½ hour. The pictures have been in that album for more than 35 years so it’s pretty amazing that they came out at all!”

You can find Scrappers Solution at many of the local arts and crafts stores as well as many sites online. It may also be called Un-Do Adhesive Remover and sells for under $10. I recommend having a bottle in your stash of scrapbooking supplies.

Happy heritage making!

Lisa

Studio Tip of the Week

Do you love a template or previous project or page but want it in another size of project? Here is a great tip that will save you tons of time!

Open up a blank project in the size that you want to build the project in.

Click on the “My Projects” tab at the bottom of the page.

This will give you access to your Completed and Unfinished projects. Click on the project that has the elements that you want in your new size of project. (If you want to use elements from a template, be sure to select the template first, open it and click “Publish” then close it and go to the “Completed Projects” where you will now find it.)

That selected project will open at the bottom of the page.

Just drag up the elements, photos, art, quotes – everything! – to where you want them in your new size of project!

You do not have to go find them all over again in your digital art, photo albums, quote library, etc.

This feature is also reviewed in the Intermediate Heritage Studio Online Class. This is a great class to see all of the shortcuts and tips in Studio!

ONLINE CLASSES
Be sure to check out the “My Studio” page for a complete listing of live and recorded Online Classes for Heritage Studio. These are a fantastic resource for you and your clients.

You can also click HERE for the schedule.

Have a great March!  Your Personal Publishing Consultant,

Lisa