a book

Our 2010 year book and I am in love with it!! It took me a few hours to put together and it makes me so happy. I am grateful for blogging so I could look back to each month and remember highlights and the things that made this year unique. I laughed and cried remembering the things that we went through and Ryan loves to look through this book every few days. Its 12x12 inches so its big enough to cuddle on the couch with everyone and enjoy.

click here to make your own

Club HM- better than your gym membership

As hopefully you are aware, Heritage Makers is now operating on a POINT system.  You no longer buy credits for projects (a 12x12, or deck of cards) – you now purchased points and can publish whatever you want!  1 point=1 dollar.  Pretty simple.  

Instead of me letting you know that a certain product is on sale for the month  - we have simplified our plan and now I just sell point packages at a discount.  For example -- $100 gets you 150 points.   This was a great plan we used during the fall selling season and my clients have LOVED it. 

But wait!  It now gets even better!!!!!!  Some of you remember Christmas – and the money you spent on gifts of Heritage or Christmas cards with Heritage Makers.  While I was able to get everyone great discounts (‘cause I’m tricky like that) it still was hundreds of dollars at one shot for everyone.

Heritage Makers has listened to us and the requests of our devoted clients and we have released this new amazing program that you need to be on!

Let’s get you on Club HM – it’s a monthly subscription to points.   I have 3 plans available --- and all have FREE PREMIER  -yes no more paying for premier if you are on this CLUB HM plan.

·         $30 a month gets you $40 to spend (40 points)  and free premier

·         $50 a month gets you 70 points and free premier

·         $100 gets you 150 points and free premier

There is a 3 month commitment on the club plans  -- it’s a great way to start accruing points in your account – no more having to shell out hundreds of dollars in one month!  AND YOUR POINTS HAVE A 2 YEAR “SHELF LIFE”…….

PLUS , The first time you get on Club HM, you can purchase anadditional 100 points (that’s $100 to spend) for $50.   AND------------------------

These last few days of the month to really kick this little puppy off we are offering the following:

             Get the first month of the 70 point level for only $40, or the first month of the 150 point level for only $80!

·       So – for $140 (spread over 3 months) you’d get 210 points in your account (at the end of 3 months).  OR

·       For $280 (spread over 3 months) you’d get 450 points– that’s $450 to use on projects!

o   THROW IN THE option of 100 points for $50 on your first month and WOW!!!!!!!!

§  That takes the 70 point plan to 310 points for $190

§  And the 150 point plan to 550 points for $330. 

·       And when you are on a CLUB plan – you get FREE PREMIER!  (in the past you’ve paid from $10-20 a month for it)

o   That’s unlimited photo storage at HIGH resolution

o   Access to nearly 4500 templates now

o  New Art every month

o   And now, each month we’ll be offering adiscount when you publish the “product of the month”…..  for example, in February the product may be 8x8 books and posters.  When you publish those in the month of the promotion, you use 10% less points from your account.

So, what CLUB will you join?  You can't afford to not be apart of this offer!

www.storieshappen.com 

storieshappen@gmail.com

free premier weekend round 2

For the second time ever Heritage Makers is holding a free premier studio weekend. For 3 days you can use all 50,000 pieces of the premier studio art without it costing a dime. You can order the projects you make at regular price after the weekend is over too!

visit HERE

for all the information

 *I couldnt get the whole image to save here. 

example 5x7 invitation

example blog header

For everyone who has used photoshop, shutterfly, snapfish, peartree... You already know how awesome it can be to do your scrap book digitally. Heritage Makers has the most templates and the largest amount of scrapbook art- 50,000 pieces to be exact. PLUS you are never locked into templates, you never have to pick which ONE picture to use on a card, no one will receive a christmas card that looks just like yours. (I got lots of matching cards this year from everyone who printed at costco or walmart)

  page from Ryans baby album

It is JUST like paper scrapbooking.. with no mess. Start with your paper, add some borders, embelishments, cool letters, and your text. Shadow drop things, rotate images, shrink or enlarge photos, and then start over if you dont love it.

 If you are a digital scrap booker or want to give it a try this weekend register for your account HERE and start using the HM studio. 

a 12x12 page made into a dry erase calendar

You will be so happy you did

Email me at StoriesHappen@gmail.com 

To sign up visit www.storieshappen.com

still breathing

What a whirl wind of a week and its only Thursday. If you have been reading for a while now you know of my headache problems and visits to the Neurologists office (if not get caught up here) So Tuesday night my Neuro's office calls to tell me that I need to come if first thing in the morning. 3 phone calls and 2 voice mails with in 10 min of each other. Why not just tell me that my life will end tomorrow instead- that would probably be less stressful on a girl.
9:45 am and driving to the office, got my cute shoes on and saying a prayer all for good luck and when sweet Dr. Samuel walked in I knew that the day was not going to be rainbows and cupcakes. She said that she had been worried about me and the fact that insurance still hadnt cleared me for the 2 more MRI's I needed. So she saw it fitting to admit me to the nearby hospital for 24 hours. While I was there I would be having the MRI's and a spinal tap. This was all to be happening today. As in right now, no I could not go home to gather my things. I needed to be there 5 min ago. Sheesh, lets add on the stress. So after wicked sweet talking and convincing on my part they at least let me go home and check on monkey and change into sweats. Mostly I went home to grab my laptop. I had way to much blog reading to catch up on not to take advantage of this mandatory chill time.
11:00 am check into hospital, and put on a super sexy one size fits all gown and sprawled out on my hospital bed, I was going to make myself as comfortable as possible.
Everything from here on out gets hazy I was so out of it. I remember wanting Edward style hearing because I swear the conversations at the nurses station were so crazy. I wish I could have heard what they were really saying about me and my brain. I asked for a sedative for the MRI, I was going to be in that tube for an hour I might as well get some good sleep. Problem was that I kept having weird dreams from the drugs so I would startle awake and move which is a big fat no-no. The scans came back clean!
1,2, 3 times the charm was how it went with my spinal tap, after crawling into a little ball and yoga breathing while they stabbed me in the back, they couldnt get any fluid. Twice. So then it was up to x ray where they could see what they were doing. I remember the nurse telling me sometimes they will hit a nerve going in and it will feel tingly. HA HA HA. It was more like a bolt of high power electricity going down my butt cheek. Twice. It was the craziest/weirdest feeling ever. So they let some of the fluid drain because the pressure was high and tested it for infection (came back clean) I got put on a prescription that helps manage the spinal/cerebral fluids and hopefully my eyes will start to cooperate and my headaches will go away.
It could have been so bad I am just glad to be home and to be somewhat healthy. Poor Ryan is so sad mommy cant hold him today, I cant get out of bed or lift anything over a pound, I am SO sore.

If you are planning on making a scrapbook page for the Heritage Makers challenge here are some things to keep in mind:
*you must sign up on www.storieshappen.com to be placed as my client. I will not be able to assist if you sign up on straight heritagemakers.com.
*any projects made with premier studio must be completed by noon on Oct 18th you will not have access to edit them after this date without purchasing a membership. You can still order them though after that date.
*Don't be afraid to CALL me, ya know talk other than the computer! This is my job and I want to help make sure you LOVE this as much as I do. See contact info page.

a giveaway/challenge weekend!

In case you still dont know what it is I do for work, ya know instead of changing diapers and wiping noses. I wanted to fill you in.


At Heritage Makers, our goal is to make preserving family stories simple, fun, and rewarding.
Heritage Makers helps people everywhere create beautiful, heirloom quality storybooks
which document the priceless relationships, events, and experiences of life.
We also believe the company can strengthen family, improve relationships, and build
children’s self esteem. Once just one book is made, storybooking will become an integral part
of everyday life. All it takes is for one heart to be touched, to know that a Heritage Makers
storybook has the ability to change lives for good. And we have a lot of fun in the process!


Ok, lets get to the juicy stuff! At HM we always offer a free, basic account but for next weekend we are unlocking the premier studio for anyone to play around and make projects using the over 47,000 pieces of digital art. Here are the details

We’re so excited to announce our first Free Premier Weekend! That’s right, from October 14 - 17, you can get full access to a Heritage Makers Premier account, absolutely free. This is a no-risk opportunity for you to try designing storybooks, canvas prints, greeting cards, playing cards, photo books, and more with over 47,000 pieces of digital art and thousands of pre-designed templates.

Imagine having free reign on a scrapbook store. That’s what it’s like when you use Heritage Makers Premier account. Unlimited creativity and fun is waiting for you! Join us!

Here’s a sampling of some of the art you’ll find in Premier:

To participate in FREE Premier Weekend, simply log into Studio and click on the “unlock Premier” button. This button will be available from 7:00 p.m. October 14 until noon October 18 MDT.

If you don’t already have a Studio account, get a free account here. and click sign up in the top right hand corner.

I have made christmas cards, family year books, my wedding invitations and album, baby books, birthday invitations, framed posters for my walls, single pages and put them on tiles to decorate my home or give as gifts. There are so many possibilities even if you dont want to make a whole a book right now.

the challenge:

make a 12x12 scrapbook page of your choosing, using any pictures, any theme, just make sure you choose PREMIER during October 14-17th.

the rules:

you must post the link to your blog with it in Mr Linky below by midnight October 19th

you must link back to me

if you dont blog, email me your finished product. (see contact info page)

the giveaway:

a few lovely Heritage Makers consultants and I will vote on our favorite page, the winner will be given a FREE flip book valued at $17

as it is my job, pretty please with a cherry on top email or call me with any questions or help navigating the site! I look forward to seeing what you have created :)

a book for baby

These are 2 pages from his baby book I just ordered. I know how important it is to get these things done so I started working on it right after he was born and every few months just went back and added pictures and text. It was really helpful to pull from both the blogs when I forgot little details or I didnt feel like rewriting things!
to see the whole book go here

I have so many friends say "I cant even begin to think about a baby book... I have been working on our wedding album for 4 years..." Honestly I could have put this book together in under an hour. I used a template. All the hard, creative work was done. For my wedding album I also used a template and did in 30 min and it looks beautiful if I may say :)

So many of you have babies turning one right now and have kept great record on your blogs of all the sweet moments and growth stats, lets put those into books as well!

Open for business

I am now available to cut vinyl for anyone that needs it! makes great gifts, fun decor, and projects for a rainy day (like the one I am witnessing right now)

prices- TBA

ALSO my Heritage Makers office is up and running... Books, posters, canvas's, cards, calendars, jewelry and more. We currently have HUNDREDS of scrapbook collections to take from and more options then any other company and are adding more every month! :)

Here is my latest project- take a look!

More.

I need to blog more.. I thought that the only things that mattered were the big things- holidays, vacations, birthdays. Every day in my life something new happens, whether its good or not so good! one of my goals for this year is to document all the things that go on and some of them may only be cool for me to read so sorry everyone.

Cool things...

my baby is crawling everywhere

he still doesnt sleep ever, which is why I am watching him rearrange my file cabinet at 12:30 am while I type this

Brad might be getting a better job, second interview is Tuesday

I have all of my pictures and other art work hung up in our new home

it actually feels like home now

3 weeks left of gymnastics

I am starting ballet lessons again

finally resigning up for Heritage Makers

I am looking at a picture frame on my desk that is super cute.. but still has the pictures of happy families that arent mine in it.. the ones that it was holding in the store

I have awesome friends, ones that live SUPER close (Arlee!) ones that live a short drive down the road and ones that live in other states... I am so lucky :)

I have been up to visit my parents every month since they moved back in July :) one of these days Ryan will actually sleep there. its my goal

Brad got Ryans crib and changing table done, bought me a glider and set it all up while I was out of town :) hes amazing. and its great to finally have a nursery!

who needs toys when you have a box?

everyone keeps asking me if I am ready for another baby yet.. for real? hes 8 months old. i dont have the energy for that one. give me time people!

going to try to put baby back to bed..

Stories Happen!

I am typing this while watching last nights Country Music Awards (gotta LOVE it) so if I sound a little distracted- my apologies!
A while back I jumped on board with an incredible company called Heritage Makers. Their mission is to connect families through the power of stories and preserving YOUR legacy (something President Erying had talked on a not too long ago!). Their product list now includes hard bound books, posters, calendars, single scrapbook pages, and cards- all done BY YOU, online, and shipped right to your door. Now that we're settled into a place and wont be moving around for a while I would love to start working with any of you that have a story to tell or a memory you want to save. I will be working on our Christmas cards later this evening and they are SO cute... There is much more so visit me at www.storieshappen.com
Love you all!
Lauren