• Embed or link to a project in a blog
  My blog host, WordPress, won’t let me embed a project but I can link to them. See the tab titled Projects to view the lastest items I’m working on. Or view my 2008-2009 Tanner Family Calendar for an example.
• Email a project to others
  This is my personal favorite! I was constantly taking screenshots and emailing them for others to see and you can even see below in one of my first blog posts that I tried to use a slide show to show my calendar. Now I can save tons of time and share projects, templates, etc. Here’s an example of what the email looks like (click to see a larger version):
• 12×12 Scrapbook Pages
  This is one all traditional scrapbookers will love. Coming on May 22nd will be the ability to make individual 12×12 scrapbook pages. I don’t know pricing or all of the details yet, but I know plenty of you that will be excited!
• Playing cards
  You can now make a deck of personalized cards. Talk about opportunities for learning. I haven’t even started to explore this project yet but I have a million ideas for teachers, moms, and teambuilding exercises!
• Photo Scanning
  I now have access to a very high speed scanner that scans 500 photos an hour! So all of those photos sitting in shoe boxes – it’s time to save them digitally. The prices are as follows:
  • 1-99 scans is $0.39/scan
  • 100-499 scans is $0.29/scan
  • 500+ scans is $0.19/scan
• Improved Navigation
  Now in Heritage Maker’s Studio pages show as small thumbnails, and it’s quick and easy to move pages around. Again, another improvement that I love.

I’m so excited for these improvements as they are even more user-friendly and will make creating keepsakes even easier. Create your free account at Heritage Makers today and start exploring. Let me know how I can help you get started today!!

P.S. It’s not too late to make a Father’s Day project. Deadline for Ground Shipping on cards and posters is June 3rd. Deadline for Ground Shipping on books and calendars is May 30th. If you need some help I’m holding a Panera work session the last week of May at the Panera on Polaris. Email me for details. Happy Storybooking!

April was a tough month for me. My car was broken into and I broke my left pinky finger. I have responded a million times better to my stuff being stolen than I am to breaking my finger and it isn’t too difficult to figure out why.

All year I’ve been saying many prayers of thanksgiving. I am so blessed with wonderful family, boyfriend, friends, a job I love, my ever-growing faith in God’s plan, good physical health, and financial security to be able to afford some of life’s luxuries such as eating out, etc. I ended this prayer with “God, even if I didn’t have any of these things, I would ask that you help me to remember to always be thankful for my faith in you, for your plan, for this life you’ve given me to do you will.”

Then in the beginning of April my car was broken into at Flannagan’s in Dublin.  Four of the most amazing friends were with me while I waited for the police with plenty of hugs, and kind words. Nick, Heather, Eric and Dale, I can’t thank you enough for being so supportive that evening!

I got home that night around 11:30 pm and wrote an email to everyone I know to be careful with leaving stuff in their car. The responses I received were amazing, ”Wow thanks I leave stuff in my car all the time – thanks for the reminder”, “I forwarded your email to others and I’m so sorry you are dealing with this!” I even received a call from the owner of Flannagan’s personally apologizing and explaining the actions he planned to take to prevent this from happening again. Through those few days I was constantly praying, thanking God that it was only stuff and that no one was hurt. Asking for his guidance and His strength to help me deal with the hassle of calling banks, filing insurance and getting my car fixed.

Then I broke my finger. And I’ve done nothing but whine and complain about the pain and inconvenience it is causing me. And the difference – I haven’t prayed at all about it. I’ve been so self-focused that I couldn’t get out of my “why me” cycle. And then I read this blog: http://dougslove.blogspot.com

The President of Heritage Makers, Doug Cloward, was diagnosed this past week with leukemia. His blog is overwhelmingly full of positive messages, hope, love, inspiration, faith in God - wow. How humbling for me to see his response to such an upsetting diagnosis.

I’ve only been a part of the Heritage Makers family for 2 months now, but Doug’s blog reaffirms why I believe in this company, it’s mission, and it’s values. Thank you Doug for the reminder and example you are setting of how to handle tough situations with grace, humility and tons and tons of faith.

I think as children we don’t recognize our mom’s identity outside of ours. As we grow up, we realize that she has her own hopes and dreams; her own personal story to share. How well do you know your mother’s story? Who are her friends? What are her favorite activities? Her proudest moment? What is she hoping to accomplish this year? Next year?

This year, Heritage Makers is offering Mother’s Day Packages to help you honor your mother.

Keep in mind these Mother’s Day publishing deadlines:

Books & Calendars
Ground Shipments – order by April 25th
2nd Day Shipments – order by April 30th
Overnight Shipments – order by May 2nd

Cards & Posters
Ground Shipments – order by April 29th
2nd Day Shipments – order by May 2nd
Overnight Shipments – order by May 5th

My quick honor role of mothers:

• Patty, my own wonderful mother and best friend
• Lori, a mother of 4 who has work-life balance mastered and greets each day with a smile (she definitely has it all!)
• First time mothers this year who have embraced their new role wholeheartedly including my friends Beth, Sarah, and Christine
• My sister-in-law, Lindsay, a full-time mom with so much love, patience, understanding, and grace.

Have you decided how to honor your Mother this year? How can I help you write her story?

So with no patience for traditional methods I’ve struggled with what to do with my photos and how to share and preserve the stories behind them. Recently, I’ve found an easy, online solution that works through any internet browser. Heritage Makers provides a way to preserve and celebrate your stories through the digital creation of custom storybooks, scrapbooks, cards, calendars, and other projects.

As a new consultant for Heritage Makers I’ve only started to explore the possibilities available! Above is a slide show that demonstrates a story I’ve recently completed: The Tanner family 2008-2009 calendar.

What stories have you wanted to tell with your photos? I’d love to help you share them!

As I looked around, I started to wonder about each person’s story and started to talk to a few people (in English of course!). The guy who showed up late to the meeting because he is highly-ranked in the Swedish military and had duties there first; the girl who grew up in Stockholm where school was never canceled for snow fall, only when the temperatures fell below -30 degrees Celsius (that’s -22 degrees Fahrenheit for those not familiar with the metric system); the guy who speaks perfect English who was once told by his teachers never to take a job that would require him to speak or use any English; and the person from north Sweden who told me about fermented herring and how it’s an acquired taste; and those are only small details of their larger personal stories!

Our lives are full of stories; stories that we read, stories that we hear and stories that we tell each other. The people that we meet and come in contact with every day have a story: the bagger at the grocery, the person who cut you off in traffic, and of course your close friends and family members.

This is why I’ve created Power of a Story: to share the stories that shape our lives and to show you ways that you can share your own powerful story.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing your story!