My Revolutionary War Ancestors

Between June and December 2011, I spent a lot of time looking into our family history. I wanted to give my mother, sisters, husband, and sons scrapbooks with information about their ancestors. These first pages are taken from the scrapbook I made for my children. Gen. William Heath is their uncle, seven generations back. Also, Silas Phelps (1720-1816, 6 gg); Eliphalet Phelps (1743-?, 5gg, Captain Forward's company); Eleazer Heath (1756-1850, 5gg, "Continental Line"), and Joseph Heath (1758-1836, 5 gg) fought in the various state militias in the Revolutionary War.

And the information on Martin and Dwight are from my husband's ancestors. Martin was his 5th great grandfather and Brig. Gen. Dwight his 6th great grandfather.

Thank you, ancestors, for all your efforts on behalf of your descendants.

CLICK ON EACH PAGE TO ENLARGE AND READ.

My Memories Scrapbooking Software -- and a chance to help The Art of Autism!

INTRODUCTION:

Recently, I received an email from My Memories asking if I would like their digital scrapbooking software for free in exchange for blogging about their product one time. It was the first time I have ever been offered anything for free in exchange for a blog post. I thought about it for 10 seconds and said yes, here's why: I switched from a PC to a Mac last June and haven't yet installed a good Mac-friendly scrapbook program on my laptop yet. And I've got over 8,800 photos in this little baby. They want to be organized. They want to be remembered.


So, I said yes and downloaded the software. Then decided I would do a "Year in Review" book and see how it worked.


MY PAST EXPERIENCE WITH DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING SOFTWARE:
But first, a look back at software I've used to date.


CREATIVE MEMORIES: I regularly attend Creative Memories workshops and LOVE them and their products. Creative Memories makes products for traditional scrapbooking and digital scrapbooking. I love their colors, designs, choices, and catalogs. As a graphic designer, I find their designs and presentations the most pleasing and professional. So, I haven't been inclined to switch teams, until a problem happened last summer…


Having created a wonderful 72-page scrapbook of for my mother's birthday in 2010 using Creative Memories StoryBook (for PC) software (click on this LINK for a free trial download), I had some experience with the process.  I had it printed as a hardcover book by Creative Memories and it was beautiful! My mom was thrilled. Here are some sample pages:

A DISAPPOINTING TURN OF EVENTS: When I switched to a Mac last June, I went back to Creative Memories to get the Mac version of StoryBook Plus, aka sbcStudio. I started on a project using a trial version, then when I was almost done, I found my 30-days had passed and I tried to sign on to purchase the software and could not! Alas, Creative Memories had decided to discontinue their Mac-version digital software program until further notice. (Today, I have gone to their site and it seems they still do not offer it for sale and have no notice about that on the product's page, so that if you click on "start" to learn more, nothing happens.)


I could not output my newly created sbcStorybook "Restaurant" scrapbook to PDF even to print at home. I was very irritated at the way this was handled and felt those with the trial version should have been given the opportunity to have anything they had in progress "unlocked" and able to be printed out at home or converted to PDF. I wanted this for Mark for Christmas, and ended up creating a traditional 8 x 8 book for him. Mark loved it, but I would have preferred it be in digital format so I could easily add it and customize it in the future.


ANCESTRY.COM: I went to THIS LINK and looked at comparison shopping of Mac-version scrapbooking software. But, instead, I got busy with Ancestry.com and finding out all about my family history and then found within Ancestry.com there is scrapbooking software. (Pros and cons with that, of course, but it was the best I had.) I made a 115-page scrapbook on our family history. (Here are two pages to give you an idea. It was more of a photo book with text explaining family history and history in general, rather than a scrapbook with fancy do-dads (though Ancestry.com does offer the do-dads. They have all sorts of papers and embellishments and such, but some of the elements (the embellishments, for instance) will only show up in lower resolution if printed out at home. You have to have Ancestry.com print out your "book" to have all of their graphic elements show up in high resolution. A definite business-attitude mistake, in my opinion.

iPHOTO: Then, I wanted to make a small scrapbook in memory of my friend who died. I made that one in iPhoto and it was not really a scrapbook, but a photo book. I had it printed as a paperback book and it came out really great. I gave a copy to my sister in December and she was pleased with the quality. It was printed by Apple, so I knew it would be top-knotch.

A NEW SOLUTION FROM MY MEMORIES:


I was still hoping Creative Memories would come back with their software for Macs. Then I received the email from My Memories's person, Liz:

My name is Liz and I work for a company called My Memories. We have an award winning digital scrapbook software that is extremely easy and fun to use. My Memories Suite is rated #1 by Amazon and TopTen Reviews. Using this software, anyone can create digital scrapbooks, photobooks, cards, calendars and gifts without having to buy expensive and complicated software programs.

I just ran into your blog and absolutely love it!  I was wondering if you would like to host a My Memories Suite giveaway on your blog? We would love to give you 2 copies of our software ($80 value) for free! One copy is for your personal use and to review. The other is to give away on your site. Additionally, we will give you a personal $10 off promo code to share with followers and friends. Every time this code is used for our software, we will deposit $20 in your PayPal account! It is really that simple! Everyone could use an extra $100-$500 per month, right?

Well, of course everyone can. However, I've never really liked the idea of suggesting friends buy something when I'm going to get money for recommending a product.


But, I wanted the free software… (If you're interested in buying the software after reading my review, see the link, promo code, and my donation commitment, below.)


I downloaded the software and decided to try making a Year in Review book, 8 x 8 inches, with approximately 2 pages per month. Downloading the software was a breeze. Then I ran into a snafu: My Memories will not import photos directly from iPhoto. Liz said I could just copy the photos I wanted to use to a folder and then pull them from there into my scrapbook and then delete the duplicate photos when done, but I am one of those people who hate to do things twice or waste time. I didn't like this extra step…


But, I did what she suggested. One thing I noticed right off is that My Memories had more features (embellishments, patterns, etc.) available included with the software than Creative Memories seemed to back when I bought Storybook Plus for the PC. It also can include music, narration, and video… see this description from their site:

With over 1,500 papers, over 1,000 page elements, and over 30 album templates (including 10 new for v3), MyMemories Suite lets you hit the ground running with your very own scrapbook or photo album in a matter of minutes. It’s easy-to-use and affordable—and compatible with both Windows and Mac computers. 

Personally, I prefer the designs and choices with Creative Memories, and will continue to use their products for my traditional scrapbooking, because I think they really are wonderful. But My Memories software is something all scrapbookers can try for quick easy projects at an affordable price.


Once I got into the software and found out my ability to work with what they offered (as far as papers and embellishments), I knew the My Memories Suite was a good value for scrapbooking customers. I found the software easy to use. I'd say within a few hours you'll be using it like an old pro. It had lots of cool options and I liked the way I could see all the pages running along the bottom of the screen, underneath the main page I was working on. Here is a screenshot:

There are a lot of good things about My Memories software:

• It is easy to use.
• It is affordable at $29.97.
• It works on a Mac or a PC.
• Liz Gardner offers great customer service.
• There are many templates, papers, embellishments, etc. available in the basic software.

The only downsides I found were:

• Not importing from iPhoto.
• No ability to "print" as a PDF! I could only print to my home printer. 
• I could not save the pages as jpgs or PDFs.* 

Here are a few of my pages for the Year in Review scrapbook (8 x 8) created with My Memories software.

LINK TO BUY, PROMO CODE, AND DONATION ON MY PART:
I figured out a way to ease my conscience. Here's what I'll do… My Memories Suite Version 3 costs $39.97. You also get $10 off using this promo code, making it $29.97. Here is the code:  

STMMMS83551

When you purchase the software, MyMemories will pay me $20 commission.


When My Memories deposits commission money into my PayPal account (as Liz said), I will take said money and donate it to The Art of Autism's Campaign to help a project for artists with autism. I will do this with funds donated between today and June 2, 2012, my son Bryce Merlin's 31st birthday (he is one of the artists in the program and last October had his artwork in a gallery in SoHo thanks to The Art of Autism).  Here is a LINK to the show in SoHo.


Here's a LINK for more about the fundraising campaign. (Since their campaign ends on 1/19, I will donate funds that come in between 1/19/2010 and 6/2/2012 directly to Debra Hosseini, founder, toward the program.)


ABOUT THE ART OF AUTISM:

The ART of AUTISM is a project that incorporates The ART of AUTISM book, art shows, live theatrical entertainment events, workshops, and films to shift consciousness and awareness regarding autism. We are committed to promoting talented artists on the autism spectrum and educating the general public. We support artists through mentorship, building resumes, portfolios, and direct work experience. Participants in past events report an improvement in self-esteem, executive functioning skills, media exposure and often a sense of community that they have never experienced before. Most importantly, they make friends and lifelong connections. The majority of money raised from the Art of Autism art sales goes directly to the artist. A portion also goes to a local nonprofit who hosts the show.

WANT A FREE COPY OF MY MEMORIES SOFTWARE?


Now, the astute among you will realize that Liz offered to give me TWO free copies of the software, one for myself and one as a giveaway. So, here goes… the first person to email me (art at janicephelps dot com) with their PayPal receipt for $20 to The Art of Autism's IndieGoGo Campaign between today and JANUARY 19th will be the one who gets the code for the free MyMemories Suite software. 


Only one person can get the software for the $20 donation, but the rest of you, who might want the PC or MAC software from MyMemories.com can feel satisfied knowing that $20 of your $29.97 purchase ($39.97 minus the $10 discount, be sure to use the promo code above) will be donated to The Art of Autism (between today and June 2, 2012). Let's help these deserving artists reach their goals, just as we reach our "memory-keeping" goals. They'll have some help, you'll have some cool software for PC and/or Mac!


Here is more information on The Art of Autism:
Website: http://www.the-art-of-autism.com/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheArtofAutism




Here are more tips from Liz at My Memories:

-If you’d like to link your followers to our Facebook, Twitter or blog, that would be great as well! They could even follow us for extra entries to the contest.
Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/
Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/pages/MyMemories/140359372717593
Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite 

http://www.youtube.com/user/MyMemoriesSuite.

----
* You might be wondering how, then, I managed to save jpgs for this blogpost. Well, I took screenshots, then cropped to the size of the page, then saved as jpgs and PDFs. I knew how to get around their system, but it was time-consuming!

Preserving Memories with Scrapbooks: Super Scrapbooking Links

Note: After my essay, below, there are dozens of links to scrapbooking websites, videos, crop locations, supplies, and more. So, scroll down if you are in a hurry, or better yet, bookmark this post so you can refer to it later.

A few months ago, I attended my first scrapbook "crop." I knew nothing about scrapbooking previously, beyond a visit to a camera store in Pickerington, Ohio, that had an astounding selection of scrapbooking products and tools and few people in the store buying or advising. There was little warmth there, and that made all the "stuff" seem very commercial to me. Also, a bit expensive.

Now, I see things differently. A friend named Janis invited me to a dinner with her needlework club (Athens Friends and Newcomers). There, I met Margaret, who invited me to the evening book club of the same main group. The book club met in the home of a woman named Jan Weckman (who I later found went to Kent State about the same time I was there). As the book club disbanded, we passed the door of a spacious craft room located off the foyer. I asked if I could see the room: two rooms, with big tables, comfortable chairs, a large-screen TV hooked up to a computer, all manner of tools and punches and stamps and binders and paper!

"What is this?" I asked, all Janice-in-Wonderland. "This is where I hold scrapbooking workshops," Jan replied (or something to that effect, I felt like I'd found the end of the new-crafty-person-in-town rainbow and, one-two-three, I'd signed up for the next class.

It was a Saturday morning at 10 a.m. and went until 4 p.m. The reasonable price included a healthful lunch as well. I took along the scrapbook I had been working on (with no exposure to other scrapbooks or "crops"). And purchased a few products Jan had in her studio from Creative Memories (with all the tools she had available, only the most basic of supplies were needed, and everything CM offers is acid-free and will keep your family photos safe for generations).

It was a great way to spend a rainy summer Saturday, and the eight women there were friendly and interesting. It was easy to start conversations because everyone had their family photographs with them and there were scenes of a child here, a vacation there, a holiday as well. The second crop I attended at Jan's house had a few of the same women, and a few I hadn't met yet. The third crop, earlier today, the same. I saw some women I knew and the others were scrapbooking friends-to-be. We swapped the information we had about the recent tornados that hit Athens and Meigs Counties (about 38 hours earlier), and I marveled that more information had not been available in this age of instant news (but the newspaper's building had been seriously damaged and our other paper in town only publishes twice a week).

Afterward, I couldn't help but think of my grandmother, Helen Greene. She made beautiful quilts, all pieced by hand and quilted by hand by the women in her church group. I wondered how their conversations compared to those in crops today: children, husbands, school activities, work, books read, recipes tried, movies, illness. But also there are periods of silence. Jan has quiet jazz playing in the background and fresh brewed coffee. How blessed I feel to have found Jan and her workshops.

Since Jan sells Creative Memories products, I am using those products now (previously I had bought materials at Wal-Mart). I also purchased CM's "Storybook Creator" and am learning how to do the digital scrapbooking. Since I've worked in Photoshop for years (creating book covers), it was pretty easy for me to pick up, but even without that background I think it would be fairly easy. After an hour or so, anyone with some digital photos (or print photos scanned in) should be happily creating a digital scrapbook page. (See my first effort in the image above.)

I spent some time searching for scrapbooking information online and perhaps these links will be of interest to you too. If I've left anything out (and I'm sure I have, this is not an exhaustive list, who has that kind of time...), let us all know in the comments field. Or, join Appalachian Morning on Facebook, and leave a comment there.


CATEGORIES BELOW:

1. General Information


2. Videos


3. Scrapbooking Supplies & Tools


4. Workspace


5. Digital Scrapbooking


6. Instructors / Crops / Conventions


7. Scrapbooking Magazines


8. Books on Scrapbooking (and Card Making)

ONE--GENERAL INFORMATION:

CREATING KEEPSAKES

MEMORY MAKERS MAGAZINE

CREATIVE MEMORIES

SIMPLE SCRAPBOOKS

SCRAPBOOKS, ETC. (A BETTER HOMES & GARDENS SITE)

SCRAPBOOK.COM

A GREAT VIDEO ON TAKING PHOTOS FROM BOXES TO SCRAPBOOK

SCRAPBOOK FLAIR

TWO--VIDEOS:

MY ASSISTANT, TYLER WINSTON, HAS SET UP A YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH FAVORITE VIDEOS RELATED TO SCRAPBOOKING!

ALL CREATIVE MEMORIES VIDEOS

STAMPINGTON & COMPANY'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL

THREE--SCRAPBOOKING SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

CRICUT MACHINE

SILHOUETTE SD

VIDEO ON 4 FAVORITE TOOLS

CREATIVE MEMORIES

YOU CAN FIND MANY SCRAPBOOKING SUPPLIES FOR SALE ON EBAY.

IDEAS: CHARITY CROPS; MASQUERADE CROPS; TIPS & TECHNIQUES CROPS

YAHOO SHOPPING LISTS SCRAPBOOKING SUPPLIES

TRAVEL SCRAPPIN': "QUALITY SCRAPBOOKING SUPPLIES FOR ALL YOUR TRAVEL ADVENTURES"

QUIRKS OF ART

STUFF4SCRAPBOOKING

FOUR--WORKSPACE:



FIVE--DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING

CREATIVE MEMORIES: DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING IDEAS

DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING SOFTWARE REVIEWS (TOP 10)

CREATIVE MEMORIES: DIGITAL SOLUTIONS (ON YOUTUBE)

MEMORY MIXER (ON YOUTUBE)

MY MEMORIES SUITE

MAC SCRAP

SCRAP GIRLS

SIX--INSTRUCTORS / CROPS / CONVENTIONS:

GREAT AMERICAN SCRAPBOOK CONVENTIONS

U.S. SCRAPBOOK STORE LOCATOR

CREATIVE MEMORIES "FIND A CONSULTANT"

MY SCRAPBOOKING TEACHER, JAN WECKMAN, AND LINKS TO PURCHASE PRODUCTS (CREATIVE MEMORIES)

PROJECT CENTER AT CREATIVE MEMORIES

WHAT IS A "CROP"?

HOSTING A CROP

PREPARING TO ATTEND A CROP

OUR CROPS PLUS

MICHELLE VOKE'S BLOG HAS A LIST OF CROPS IN PA, MD, VA (AUG '10 - APRIL '11)

INTERVIEW WITH ALI EDWARDS

REAL WOMEN SCRAP TV

Creating Keepsakes Conventions - Scrapbooking conventions held throughout the United States.
Memories ScrapbooKing Expo - Shows in Ohio, Florida, and New Jersey.
Scrapbooks Megameet - Scrapbooking conventions in the Great Lakes area.
Scrapbook Tour -Midwest
Scrapbook Portal Events - US and Canada.
Crop All Day - North Texas and Oklahoma.
Get Croppin' - mid-Atlantic area
Crop a Lot Retreats - East Coast
Croptopia Getaways - Northeast (cruises, too)

SEVEN--SCRAPBOOKING MAGAZINES:

EIGHT--BOOKS ON SCRAPBOOKING (AND CARD MAKING ALSO):

Special Effects for Collage Using Photo-altering Software #1

Today, I salute the wonderful worlds of photographs and technology. How great is it that we can not only scan, enlarge, restore, share, create, and alter photographs old and new, but we can also share them by phone / computer/ websites /blogs / iPod / CD / DVD / flash drive. Sometimes I think this is all so wonderful that I hardly know what fun and creative technique to try next.

Of course it is one thing to work in Photoshop on a project for a client; quite another to "futz" around (or is it "phutz") and lose two hours of the day altering a photograph of your aunt and uncle so they now have the legs of the family dog and the ears of Mickey Mouse.

As a book designer I've given perfect skin, thin thighs, whiter teeth, younger eyes and thinner upper arms to many authors whose photos were about to grace a back cover. But I also like to use photographs, old and new, to create altered books, artist trading cards, collages, and whatever the heck pops into my mind. Technology has given us access to a pandora's box of visual treasures.

If someone had told me when I graduated from college that I'd use a phone, without a cord, to take photographs of my artwork to place on a computer that others would visit, I would have shook my head in bewilderment. Kind of like I do now when my younger son, a web developer/IT person, explains new software to me.

Anyway... today I was assembling things for an altered book. I decided to unify the many photographs by making the colors all a bit faded and "old-timey" looking. (see three photos at top of this article). This was accomplished by opening the photos in Photoshop, then going to IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > HUE/SATURATION and changing SATURATION to 50%. In some cases, I also used IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > PHOTO FILTER > SEPIA 50% to give a warm tone to the photographs. The roses above, for instance, were beautiful, deep pinks, yellows, etc., but for the project I wanted to use this photo for, I needed something more muted. I didn't want pastels, but just less saturation of color.

By doing this, the project which incorporates many pieces from a variety of sources, will hold together better visually. I used Photoshop, but any photo altering software will have the same capability, though the terms may be slightly different. At the left, you can see an example of the various effects you can get with photo-altering software.


In the first photo, nothing was altered...it's just as the photo was taken (this is Mark and me on our wedding day last year...yes, we had lunch at Smith and Wollensky's).
>In photo 2, I've put a "cool" filter on the photo.

>In photo 3, I've reduced "saturation" to 50%. I love this effect!

>In photo 4, I've gone crazy...The saturation is increased to full effect...100%.

>In photo 5, I've done something but don't remember what. Oh yes, I used "film grain" which is an "artistic" filter in Photoshop.

>In photo 6, I've "posterized" it using a filter in Photoshop as well.


This is a lot of fun and, depending on the original photograph, you'll get a variety of results. It's best to use photos that are simple, have few elements, or are close-ups.

I print my photos out on Epson Premium Presentation Paper, matte, 40 lb, to use in collages, atcs and altered art. For photographs to share or put in an album, I use Epson Photo Paper, glossy, at 4 x 6 inch size.

Happy creating!
Janice

Memory-Keepers - Drawing

What is a memory-keeper drawing? I like to think of it as a way to document events, memories, of things that happen to me in my life or that are important to me in some way.

If the professors in my art classes had talked about keeping a sketchbook as a way to document one's life, or make sense of the visual images bombarding us daily, or as a visual journal we can look back on thirty years down the road--well, I might have kept a more faithful journal. We were just told that "all artists should keep sketchbooks." Certainly practicing technique is important. Working out ideas before commiting them to more expensive materials is a good idea too. But how about forgetting about "doing your best," or "perfecting technique," and just getting down the images, feelings, memories? That is what I'm finding joy in now, as a "mature artist." My inner critic has been silenced, for the most part, and I can draw without evaluating the worthiness of my product. I can create art for art's sake, for my sake.

I was thinking recently about all the pets I'd cared for in my lifetime. Rather than write a list, I drew them. The ones who were with me briefly and went to live with others, are shown walking or flying off the edges of the paper. Those who stayed with me until they died, are shown with little halos. Quite a list when it was all compiled: Timmy the teddy bear hamster who liked to watch TV while sitting on my knee; Marcel, my first pet bird, a Gouldian finch; Joey my first dog, a dashhound; Bailey, the beloved cockatoo whose funny antics still bring a smile to my face.

As for the drawing; it's just OK. But it got me to thinking about other projects that could take off from this one. Actually, this drawing came to me after seeing a photo of Frida Kohla with parrots on her shoulder.

Whether using ATCs, AECOs, collage, paint, scrapbooks, or writing in a journal or drawing in a sketchbook--take time to document your life.

I have some sketches I did decades ago. I've been carting them around from place to place and they are getting rather raggedy. I think I will scan them into my computer and print them out on Epson presentation matte paper (my favorite) and assemble them in a binder.

Do you have any sketches or artwork done, not for the final product, but as a process for keeping memories?