Organize your photos, sound files, text documents, and BACK UP!

Organizing your photos

Over the past few years I have come to a simple conclusion as to why it is so important to organize your pictures, text documents, sound files and video clips.

It's a rather simple conclusion. What good are these precious photos if I am not going to share them? If your photos are not organized and easily accessible, lets face it, you won't do anything with them, right?

When I started organizing my pictures and media into Heritage Collector, It quickly grew into a passion of mine.

My children LOVE to look at pictures of themselves, see and hear video, and view old pictures of their ancestors.

Another bonus of  organizing my pictures and media into Heritage Collector, is that I can back up the entire data base to an external hard drive!!

Try out the Standard Version free!

Make photo organization fast and easy. Organize and find photos, documents, audio files, video clips and more. Keep associated photos and files together. Create and update photo collections as you acquire more photos and information.

It's time to move your photos and family history from drawers, boxes, and CD/DVDs into your computer.
Heritage Collector can help find and organize photos scattered all over your hard drive.

See just how easy it can be! Make your photos accessible and ready to share with your family.

 

This is  an example of what the Heritage Collector's Database looks like.

 

The collection name is displayed on the left. When you click on the collection, you see the thumbnails on the right that are in that collection. These pictures have narrative, GPS coordinates and captions!! Super easy to find and now I can share this entire collection with Heritage collector's newest feature! The cloud

Find out more information here.

Family History Software. Helps you organize, label photos, use a cloud, find a photo in seconds, design slide shows, create beautiful storybooks, personalize family calendars, make GPS maps, share on CD/DVDs and more .

 

Thanks for reading!! -Kathleen

Free online Photo Calendar class. Photo Christmas Ornaments

Happy Monday!

Can you believe November is almost over and Thanksgiving is this week?

With November almost over and Christmas fastly approaching, I wanted to share some fun Christmas gifts you can share with your family!

No, I am not trying to skip over Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a very special holiday and too needs to be celebrated and remembered.

I have been reminded how much I love some of my family that has passed on.

Because I have ancestors that have been such and example to me, I wanted to make a special reminder that would help me keep their special memories close to the surface.

A photo Christmas ornament is a great way to highlight a special person in your life.

This is my Christmas and Thanksgiving craft all in one! Because I am thankful and want to share my thankfulness on my Christmas tree! I can across this fun project on, of course, Pinterest.

Christmas Photo Ornament

This was a pretty easy project.  Anyone can do it!

All you need is:

• Vellum
• 4" clear glass ornament
• Pretty ribbon

I re sized my picture down to 4" using Heritage Collector Storybook. Once it was re sized I printed my photo on Vellum. Right from home!

I used a cup that measured "4 around. I placed the cup on top of the photo and traced it. Then cut out my picture.

 I rolled up my cut out picture, then put inside

 I used a small marker to help secure the photo into place.

Tied some pretty sparkly ribbon and ta da! Your ready to hang on your tree. (When you decide to put it up :)

 These pictures don't do it justice! They look just beautiful!

What a fun way to document your family grow or highlight and ancestor!!

Create Beautiful Family History Christmas Calendars Free online class!

Tuesday, November 20th
Time: 7:00 - 8:00pm MST

6-7:00 pm - Pacific
7-8:00 pm - Mountain
8-9:00 pm - Central
9-10:00 pm - Eastern

Calendars make wonderful unique gifts to share with your family and friends. Heritage Collector makes it possible for you to create any type of calendar. Join us for an evening of calendar making fun just in time for Christmas giving!

Learn how to get Free Graphics and Templates at the webinar.

Sign up for the free class here!



Organizing and preserving your video clips. Tuesday Freebie!

Preserving your video clips
Today, I am smiling big! I am achieving a goal I have had for quite some time now! Getting my video converted and onto my computer and organized into Heritage Collector. Where I can find, share, and enjoy it!! As I like to say, "What good are photos and video clips if you can't find them to enjoy and share". Am I right?
I have been reliving some very precious memories as I have been working on this project.
I love to see the excitement on my children's faces as they watch these video clips of them as babies, mommy and daddy's wedding, family vacations, birthdays, and so on. The best part is now these memories are backed up and preserved! I can now find them in seconds. Thanks to Heritage Collectors wonderful search tool!
 I hope to be completely done in two weeks! I spend just an hour each day in the morning. I can usually get at least one full tape done a day.
These types of projects are so fulfilling to me. I love it! Today, my smile is getting bigger!!



Don't let stress and feelings of being overwhelmed take over
Before I began this project I felt Intimidated and stressed about it. I felt like it was a task I couldn't complete. I guess you could say it haunted me for quite some time.
As many of you know, the area in which I live experienced a very scary fire this year. As I went through that very scary process  (I was evacuated from my home for over 24 hours) I felt very unprepared in the sense of preserving my memories. I wasn't given much time to get out of my home. (Meaning, I couldn't be picky with what I chose to take with me. Luckily, I had my external drive handy with all of my pictures safetly backed up.)
My pictures were in good shape but my documents and video were not.
I vowed after that experience that I would make it a goal to be totally prepared before the years end.
I am not far from achieving it!

Take it a day at a time
If you are just getting started or find yourself with the same thoughts and feelings as me in the beginning, don't give in to those overwhelmed feelings!
Heritage Collector has been a tremendous blessing in my life. I feel like now I am good shape. I still have some work to do. But I will keep working on it a day at a time.

Marlo and I (Kathleen) will be teaching a free online class on how to do  this. When you see just how easy this is, it will bring a smile to your face! I will post the free class on my blog and our facebook page.

You can also see more information by clicking here.

Just a word of caution, just like any hobby, this can be VERY addicting! Just give a try.  :)

Thanks for reading! -Kathleen

Tuesday Freebie

Make sure to go over to Designs by Krista's Facebook page and "Like" her. She gives away beautiful kits to her Facebook fans! By the way, her designs work beautifully with Heritage Collector! -Enjoy

 

Here is the link to Facebook for Krista's freebie!

Simple Children's Behavior Charts. Tuesday Freebie!

Just like you mom's with a busy household and a very long daily to do list, the most difficult thing I deal with on a daily basis is helping my children stay happy and help out around the house.

It has taken me quite a long time to find something that my kids respond to and actually enjoy participating in.

Here is my version of a behavior chart.

Since I have a six year old son and four year old daughter this works just right for them! I had their charts printed out on magnicote and laminated so they stick right to the fridge!

Supplies you need:

• Package of wooden Popsicle sticks.
• 8x10 printed chart laminated with magnicote
• Plastic container to hold your "reward sticks".
• Separate sheet printed with your stars on it so you can cut them out and glue or sew Velcro to the back.
• Reward tickets.

Over the past few weeks that I have been doing this I have noticed a dramatic change in my children's behavior!!

How it works!

Each child will receive an "I did it" stick when they complete an assigned task or random act of kindness. I then place the stick in the "I did it" pocket .
When they receive 5 "I did it" sticks they receive a star or flower to stick to the bottom. They attach with Velcro.

When the child does not complete a task when asked they receive an "Uh-Oh" stick. It is then placed in the Uh-Oh pocket. They earn a job around the house for each Uh-Oh stick received.
My children know that they cannot go to be until their Uh-Oh pocket is clean. If they get five Uh-Oh sticks within a short amount of time, then a star or flower is removed.

Once they have five stars or flowers stuck along the bottom they will get to choose a reward stick.
I have written fun things on the sticks such as:

• A date with mom and dad.
• A trip to the dollar store.
• A trip to DQ for an ice cream
• Earn a dollar.
• Dinner of your choice
• ETC

Just to brake it up a bit I have also made "Seasonal tickets" they can earn. I cut these out and place them in a seperate cup from the "reward sticks". That way they know when a fun activity is coming up and they will try even harder. These are golden!!

For example: When holidays near there are always fun activites my children love to participate in such as:

• Corn mazes
• Fun train rides
• Looking at  Christmas lights
• A trip to the movies

I think you get the general idea.
 I have even added a picture of mom and dad which represents and date out with mom and dad! These can be a lot of fun to personalize for any occassion or activity!!

 My daughters behavior chart.

My son's behavior chart.

All of this was created using a kit of graphics from Designs by Krista and Heritage Collector Storybook.

The cost was under $10 to make too! It's durable and super easy to do. I love the simplicity and so do my children.

If you just need a monthly calendar for a job chart or whatever, these work great, too! And it is my gift to you!! Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Please, leave me a comment. I love to hear from you!!

 

You can print this in an 8x10

 

  

What I did with these is just print on cardstock, right from home.Then laminate with either contact paper, which is very inexpensive and you can find it anywhere. Or, just take it to your printing facility and have them laminate it for you. Have fun!

(Just to a right click, Click save as, then you can print!)

 

 

 

 

This is an 8x10 Black and white version. Many possibilities here! Kitchen menu calendar, job chart or month to month calendar! Just print, laminate and add magnets and hang on your fridge! Enjoy!

 

If you would like to learn how to use a wonderful calendar program, Click HERE!

You can create many fun things with this calendar program. The options are endless!

 

Thanks for stopping by! Come back again!

 

Download our FREE version here.

 

 



Kitchen Magnet Calendar.

Kitchen Magnet Calendar.

Who doesn't like to start out the week with a good fulfilling project?

I think most of us with young children or grandchildren in the home would like to have a way to organize better. Because lets face it, when we are more organized their is more harmony in the home right?!

Over the past few months even into the last year I have been searching for a solution to my lack of organization in my kitchen.

My first real big problem was cooking! I wasn't organized, and because of that I didn't want to cook!

I needed something to help me stay organized and help bring the drive back into cooking. After all, I really do enjoy cooking. :)

I looked and looked and looked. Couldn't find anything I liked.

Finally, in conversation with my sister, she and I brainstormed about ideas. Between the two of us I was able to put together my perfect solution!!

A Calendar magnet I can attach to my fridge!! A complete month by month menu planner!

Part of the idea was inspired by Pinterest. But as always I put my Kathleen spin on it to make it mine.
The one I saw was framed. It was cute, but I didn't have enough wall space for one the size I would need.

This size is 12x16! It's a complete flat magnet on the back. It was printed with it! I also had it laminated of course so I could write on it with a dry erase marker.

The entire project only cost about $10.00! The best part is, I can use it not only this year but for many years to come because it's dry erase!! I fill in the month and the numbers.

If you would like to know how I made this, you can learn more HERE. I created this using Heritage Collector's Calendar module. It's affordable, and it's easy to use.


Here is my gift to you!
Who doesn't love a freebie now and then. This is an 8.5x1l Kitchen Menu you can print on card stock right from home! You can have it laminated or put behind a frame. Many options here. I even added a little shopping list for you! I LOVE having one on mine. I use it all the time.

Just click on the below calendar, click on save as, then save in a folder where you will remember where you can find it! :)

I hope you enjoy this little freebie! Drop me a note. I love to hear from you!!

FREE Heritage Collector download. Try our standard version FREE!!

 

Thanks again for stopping by today or night. :)

 

Come back real soon!

 

-Kathleen

 

 



Monday freebie! Free online photo sharing class! Back to School fun.

Back to school fun!

Happy Monday!

Like many of you, I have children in school. That means it is back to school time!

This past week has been fun, exciting, and a little sad.

My son went to his first day of first grade last Thursday. For him, it was almost like Christmas he was so excited.

For me, I was a little nervous.

 I decided I wanted to make this an extra special experience for him and me.

I love pinterest and the inspiration I find there. The idea's I used came from Pinterest. But, of course I put my spin on it and changed it up a bit.

The night before school started we had a little visit from the "Back to School Fairy"! She brought many fun things to help my son on this new school adventure!

She left a little package on the front door for my son. When he discovered it, he ran around the house yelling "mom, mom, I found a present for me"!

I gathered my family together in the kitchen and had my son show us what was left for him.

On the package was a note left from the fairy! (made using Heritage Collector)

As daddy read the letter, I had my phone out recording  him reading this to our son. I added this narrative  to the digital scrapbook page I made for Jackson about this experience. So, not only will he have the digital scrapbook page to look at, when he looks at it on the computer he will hear his daddy's voice as he looks at the page!

The morning school started I once again decided to make it fun for Jackson. I made him a breakfast ice cream cone. I knew he would have fun with that!

I was right! His eyes just lit up when he saw his special "Back to School" breakfast! It definitely helped with our morning.

Once again, I had my phone out recording Jackson's voice talking about going to school, his fun breakfast, and getting ready to go! I will import that audio to his digital scrapbook page. (I just finished it last week. When I have it converted to video, I will share it with you here!)

FREE online photo sharing class.

Jump start your Family History!

 

Download our FREE standard version here!

Thursday, August 23 7:00 - 8:00 MST

Topics Covered
Learn How to Get Others Interested and Involved
Adding a Little Sugar to Family History
...

Storybook Before / After Examples
Get and Give a Hand Up
Sharing and Receiving
Use a Family Cloud
How to Heal Strained Relationships
Using Free Software

Sign up for the free online class here!

Monday FREEBIE!

What an adorable kit Krista shared with us! I LOVE the clown!!

Download from Krista's blog here.

Check out more of Krista's kits here.

Thanks for visiting me today! Check back next week. I will have more fun things to share!





Personalized Kitchen Menu. Photo Blocks

Happy Tuesday!

I haven't really written a really decent blog post in quite a while. For that, I apologize!

Being a wife and mommy has kept me soooo busy!

Personalized Kitchen Menu

Over the past several months cooking in the kitchen has been a real challenge for me! When five o'clock rolls around, I start to scramble. Then the question comes to mind, what should I cook?

As the stress level starts to build, I find myself reaching for anything "simple". Something that I can have cooked in about 30 minutes or less.

The problem with this is, I used to LOVE to cook! I found joy and satisfaction in cooking!

As my life has gotten busier, the kids demands have grown, cooking has been put dead last on the to tum pole!

A few days ago, I decided to try and bring back that spark in cooking again.

The first step to achieving this was to, be prepared!

By being prepared, you have the items you need, you already know what you are going to cook ahead of time, allows you more time to cook! Eating healthier is now more of a priority.

The best solution I could come up with was a month long MENU! It doesn't take long to fill out either!

Once you have your menu planned, you can then fill out your shopping list week by week or by the month!

I created my cute little menu in Heritage Collector. I thought by having my children's cute little faces next to the menu, it would brighten my experience!

I created this using Heritage Collector's Calendar module. I erased the numbers and added a few pictures.
This is a 10x8 size. I use a dry erase marker to fill out and use again and again!  Took about an hour to make.

Photo Blocks

I enjoy decorating. I love to fill my house with things of value and memory. I'm very sentimental!

I came up with this cute idea because I also like to decorate using very little money.

I re sized my pictures in Heritage Collector Storybook, printed them out, then modge podged them to the painted wood blocks. To add a finished look, I added a painted wooden finial to the top!

Super Easy! Super cheap!!

Heritage Collector has made my crafting needs so much easier, fun and much less expensive!

To find out more about Heritage Collector, click here.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you come back really soon.

Monday Freebie! Nuts about plaques!

Designs by Krista has joined another blog train this month.

This is her contribution!

Aren't the colors in this mini kit just beautiful?! I love it!

Download the kit here.

Visit Krista's shop here.

I'm nuts about plaques!

Over the past few weeks I have been trying to dress up my daughters room. But, I wanted to give it a personal touch to her.

I designed this cute little 6x8 plaque in Heritage Collector Storybook. The kit of graphics used was "Whimsy" Designs by Krista. Took about an hour to make.

This cute little plaque was also made using Heritage Collector Storybook. The kit for this one is "Groovey Girl" Designs by Krista.

Heritage Collector Storybook has made my crafting so much eaiser! Not to mention much less expensive than the traditional way.

If you want to use a program that will help you with your digi scrapping, and crafting needs you really need to try out Storybook!

It's easy, It's affordable, and you don't have to take a college course on how to use it!

The cost is only $19.95 and we teach you how to use it through FREE online classes!!

Download your copy of Storybook here.



Family Reunion Flyers, invitations and more ideas for your upcoming event! Fun Digital scrapbook pages.

Family Reunions are a special time for families. We understand the importance of your event and would love to help you create something to share with your family that will be cherished for many years!

Heritage Collector has a module (already included in the suite version if you own it) that allows you to create what we like to call a "gift cd".

How this works is you import or scan your photos into Heritage Collector, click on the CD icon, then select the photo collection you would like to share. Then burn it to a cd! Your done. It really is that simple.

Just think how excited your family will be that you can share some precious family photos that they may not already have in their possession!

Now, you have something priceless to share at your next family reunion or get together.

Heritage Collector is in the process of creating a "Family Reunion Quick Page Collection". This will allow you to have the ability to personalize your invitations, flyer's and even a CD cover to go with it!

Here is a little teaser for you!

Family Reunion Invitations, Flyers and CD covers!

This is an 8.5 x 11 Flyer you can print right from home! All you do is add your text and pictures. Takes seconds with our quick pages.

This is a 5 x 5 CD cover to match the above flyer. Once again, can be printed right from home.

7 x 5 Family Reunion Invitation

5 x 5 Cd cover

This is what the quick pages will look like after you download them.

Insert your pictures in the middle and add your text like you saw in the first photo. You could have these done in about 5-10 minutes! This is the Family Reunion Flyer. 8.5 x 11

This is the 5 x 5 cd cover you saw in the top photo. Just add a photo, text, then print!

This quick page collection will be available soon! Keep checking back!

We will be having a free online class to show you how to do work with our quick pages! Check back with us really soon.

Fun Digital Scrapbook pages!

This page was created in Heritage Collector Storybook. I used an adorable kit of graphics from Designs by Krista. "Hey Mister".
I only spent a little over an hour to make this 12 x 12 page. 

Once again, this page only took a little over an hour to make!
These past few days have been fun and stress relieving! Digital scrapbooking and Family History are the key to my sanity!!

Saturday freebie! Customize your own greeting cards with pictures!

Summer is almost here. This means the season for family reunions is almost upon us.
Heritage Collector can  not only help you organize your photos and multi media, you can share your photos by creating a gift cd right into heritage Collector! No more messing around with all those extra programs to try and create a photo collection onto a cd. Find out more information about Creating a gift CD here!

If you haven't had a chance to check us out yet, Download our FREE Standard Version Here!

Our standard version has no limits and is not a free trial. It's just plain great software with no strings attached. It will help you organize your photos! That's a great place to start!

Photo Card ideas for Birthday's, Valentine's Day, Mothers and Fathers Day and much more...

We have some exciting news to share! We just released our photo Card quick pages!

You can create a beautiful photo card in three easy steps. First select your card, chose your photo of choice then add text! It's that simple and your cards can be used without limit! This kit comes with 18 different card pages to choose from!

Purchase your photo card quick pages here!

The quick pages will only work if you have heritage Collector suite or Heritage Collector Storybook.

Tuesday Freebie. 40th Surprise Birthday party!

I hope your week has been a great one so far! I always struggle a bit at the beginning of a new week. The transition from the weekend to a brand new week is always a bit challenging for my family.  Today we are off to a good start though! :)

Surprise party for my 40 old hubby!

When my husband turned the age of 40 a few weeks ago he was NOT happy about it. He was actually a bit depressed!
I decided that I wanted to lift his spirits a bit by throwing him a surprise party! You have to know my husband. He does not like being the center of attention at all! So, I decided to keep it to just close friends and family.

I scheduled a room at our near by church. After all, my husband has a rather large family and couldn't fit everyone in my home.

Having the party at the church ended up being a wonderful idea! We ended up having about 30 guests.

Since my husband was already having a difficult time with his new age I wanted to make the party light and happy.

Being the sentimental person that I am, I made all of the decorations. This made it very personal and inexpensive too!
I made a 12 x12 birthday card for the guests to sign so I could file away with all of the rest of my scrapbook pages.

My favorite part about the party was reading the funny and nice things our friends and family had to say about my husband. (As the guest arrived, I had them write on a piece of paper something about my husband. And it could be ANYTHING!) It was really fun and touching.

I made everything digitally and with Heritage Collector Storybook and Designs by Krista's "Revive" kit.

The invitation

Fun photo Pin Wheel center pieces

These center pieces were very easy to make and VERY inexpensive!

I just used a mason jar. Filled it with three different kind of beans,

and tied a raffia bow around the top. The placed the photo pin wheel

and another smaller solid pin wheel . This cost about $8.00 to make

6 center pieces!

Close  up of photo pin wheel

I created a 12 x12 page on photo paper and had the guests

sign as they came in.

Photo Birthday banner.

Another close up of part of the center pieces.

The party seemed to be a huge success! My husband was completely surprised and had a great time! Even though he was put on the spot, he had a wonderful time talking with family and friends.

Tuesday Freebie!

Designs by Krista is participating in another blog train full of adorable freebies.

Download from Krista's blog here.

Check out more of Krista's great deals here!

Thanks for stopping by today! Come back again really soon! -Kathleen