Storybooking

Scrapbooking: an ever forever project for me. I got involved with scrapbooking when many of my friends were involved, and I used it as a social outlet. My books, papers and stickers seem to be packed away until I head to a retreat, a srop til you drop, or a friend's house for a scrapping kind of playdate.

I had resigned to the idea that someday, when the kids are all in school, and I have NOTHING to do with my long days of solititude (hee hee) - I'll pull out the cabinet of scrapbooking materials, as well as two additional bins and get to work catching up. This idea doesn't hold a ton of appeal to me, mostly because of the bulk of stuff and mess it creates. It's just such a process! Not to mention that it requires that I print out all of my pictures stored digitally and label them first.

Then, a few weeks ago while in Eugene, I attended a coffee get-together with some friends. A gal named Stephanie was there who has a brand new passion that she was willing to share her limited knowledge of - that being "Heritage Makers".

"Heritage Makers" is a company that offers online scrapbooking. It's been around for a year and a half and apparently is head and shoulders above its competitors in terms of offerings and ease of use. Basically, you export your pictures to that website, use any of the embellishments they offer (which are a ton) - including: borders, quotes, "stickers", etc.... and then pay the money to have it put into a hardbound book - just like a children's book you'd buy in a bookstore. The end product is so beautiful and professional, it makes you dream big in terms of the "library" you can offer your children. Also, you can scan your old scrapbooking albums, upload the pages - and turn those into books too. That will solve my future dilemma as to how to give all 3 of my kids their "family albums" to have for themselves.

If this sounds like some sort of sales pitch, it's not meant to. In fact, poor Stephanie was having a hard time keeping up with everyone's questions and requests when she only meant to have the stuff available for Lisa (the hostess) to show to those people that had previously asked about it. (Plus, she had just discovered the site herself only about a week prior). I think there are a lot of people out there, like myself, who struggle in this new "digital age" as to how to best preserve those memories. For me, the idea of just sitting at my laptop "scrapbooking" is pretty cool. Apparently, Oprah thinks so too - word has it that she's listing "Heritage Makers" among her "favorite things" in her upcoming fall magazine. That kind of endorsement makes me feel better about diving in.....

So, the website is www.heritagemakers.com. You can upload and design your pages for free, however, if you want to have more options, or get super serious about it, there are rates per month to pay - or you can go the route I did and just pay an annual amount to get the privleges and perks of being a consultant (which simply provides me some free stuff and eliminates having to go through another person if I choose to order products). To be honest, I've done VERY LITTLE investigating of the website myself. I managed to upload some pictures yesterday - which is a great start - maybe this Labor Day weekend, I can start making some bigger strides. I also don't know if you need to have a consultant number to log on or look around the site - mine is 257958, in the event that it requires a number to put in.

No sales pitch here, - just a cool find I thought I'd share with you. This winter may find me working away on my laptop, doing my best to savor the memories of "funner days" and dreaming of ways to create more.

PS: I still love the hardcopying of cutting and sticking of Scrapbooking when I get together with the gals and have a social time, but this Digital Storybooking allows me to accomplish some Heritage Making by myself while I am watching TV or simply on the computer.

Hollie Williams
Heritage Makers Independent Consultant
www.heritagemakers.com/257958