Success Story: The Best Kept Secret

What is the best kept secret? Last Christmas Heritage Makers  consultant Tricia Carleton learned exactly what the best kept secret is as she helped a mother and daughter make recipe books for each other as a surprise. Can you imagine how they felt as they opened each other’s gifts on Christmas morning? These two women truly knew how to celebrate each other.

By Tricia Carleton

A couple of years ago a friend of mine, Cara, introduced me to her daughter, Julie, saying
that she might be interested in making a book. Several months later, I met her, Julie, again at a networking event. I had a sample of my cookbook there. She told me she might want to make one, but said I couldn’t tell her mother because she wanted to make it for her.

Later I contacted her and she bought three cookbook credits. It took her a little while to get the recipes, photos, and other info she needed together. She called to set up a time with me to help her get started. After about an hour or so, with the assistance of her tiny dog, I felt she was good to go. She felt comfortable, too, and only had a few questions along the way. (She was also making one for her mother-in-law.) I had to be careful, every time I saw her mother, not to inadvertently say something that would let her know I’d seen her in any way connected to Heritage Makers so she wouldn’t get suspicious. 

About two weeks before the Christmas deadline, Cara called me. Julie had been at her house for dinner the night before and was asking her questions about recipes and relatives. Julie wouldn’t tell her anything she wanted for Christmas, so she thought a cookbook would be perfect. I asked what she had in mind, to be sure it wouldn’t be exactly the same, and was satisfied it wouldn’t. 

I proceeded to help her, praying their paths wouldn’t cross and they wouldn’t both want to come to the same Digicrop!  Julie was set on her own, so I proceeded to help Cara at my home. Cara had just left and Julie called, ready to publish hers! I walked her through the process and we were good to go. I told Cara that I would proof hers and order it for her, as she was pressed for time. Then we waited. 

I kept thinking it would be great to be a fly on the wall on Christmas morning when they opened their gifts.  Then, I started wondering if it would be possible to get photos. I tried to get a message to Julie’s husband through a mutual friend about what was about to happen, but it did no good! Cara said he didn’t take photos, but it was perfect anyway!  She said she opened hers and then Julie opened hers, not knowing as Cara did the irony involved. She said she was very pleasantly surprised and they both laughed at the coincidence. Cara also said there were only about ten recipes in the two books that were the same! They both did a great job and were pleased I’d kept their secret so well.

See Cara’s book to her daughter here

See Julie’s book to her mom here.

Celebrate the women in your life with a recipe book, photo book, or storybook. Try one of our many templates and get started today at http://MyStoryBookLady.com.

from blog.heritagemakers.com

Let's Get Started!

Jump online and come to one of my free Heritage Makers online classes. I'll share with you great project ideas, show you how to use HM Studio to make a project, and answer any questions you have about working in Studio. And the best part: no mess, no guests, and no clean up. You can join me right from your home computer. Simply click on the link, next to the class date that works best for you!

I'll be there ready to teach you more about our amazing Studio.

Feel free to stay on the call to hear how YOU can become a
Heritage Makers Personal Publishing Consultant!

Forward this along to all of your friends and I'll "see you" online!

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Betty Miller "My StoryBookLady"
http://MyStoryBookLady.com
404.729.0388

Jar of Tears

Mother’s Day is the perfect time of year to celebrate the women in your life. And no matter how you celebrate, the message always communicates clearly. Just take the following for example.

Aldine Allen knew just how to celebrate her mother last Christmas. She created a book of all her father’s stories he wrote to her mother. She celebrated not only her father’s beautiful work, but also his love for a special woman.

By Aldine Allen

My father is a prolific writer.  He has enjoyed writing stories for many years. For several years he, along with my mom, wrote a Christmas Story for the grandchildren every year.  He would make copies and send them to each of his six children to share with their children during the Christmas holiday.

Recently he has tried to have some of his writings published, but no company would do it. The main reason I became a distributor was so I could publish some of his stories for him. The first one I published was “Jar of Tears” which is a beautiful story he wrote to my mother, telling of the happy and sad tears that they have shared throughout their 69 years of marriage.

I sent them the book for Christmas and I am excited for them to open it and realize one of his stories has been published. I sent a link to many family members and three of them also wanted a copy. Of course I made one for me, too, to share with my customers at my workshops.

I have almost completed his compilation of Christmas stories in a 12 x 12 book and I am excited to get it published. I love Heritage Makers and the opportunity it has given me to publish some of the stories my father has written and to share them with other family members.

See the book Aldine created here.

Celebrate the women in your life with a storybook, card, or canvas. Try one of our many templates and get started today at http://MyStoryBooklady.com.

from blog.heritagemakers.com

Reflections

Celebrating women in your life can be done many different ways. But it’s always nice to come back to family. Robin Kingsbury did just that by celebrating her grandmother as a gift to her mother. She put together the following book with her grandmother’s talented writing pieces. And you bet her mother loved the gift.

By Robin Kingsbury

The main reason I created the book was to put as much of my grandmother’s pieces of writing into one complete collection for our family to enjoy.

My grandmother had always enjoyed writing and dabbled in short stories and poetry all her life. Although she never finished high school, she did go on in later years to get her diploma and even attended a local college when she was in her 70’s. My mom had all of her journals so I simply went through them and either added photos to illustrate the poem or incorporated pictures of her on the pages.

This experience brought me closer to my grandmother again. I could almost hear her voice and her words brought back tons of childhood memories. Of course, my mom cried when she opened it at Christmas and even had to wait a day or two to really sit down and look at it carefully.

Since then, we have ordered more copies for my aunt and uncle so they would have their mother’s writings to share with their families as well. This book has been one of my favorite Heritage Makers projects so far!

if you need any more info I’d be happy to give more details, but this is pretty much how it all came about.

I hope others enjoy looking at it!

See Robin’s book here.

 
Celebrate the women in your life with a storybook, card, or canvas. Try one of our many templates and get started today at MyStoryBookLady.com.

from blog.heritagemakers.com

Mother's Day Made Easy

6 More Days Until March for Babies!

Dear Family and Friends,

Every year, our family teams up with Northside Hospital’s “Parents Partnered for Preemies” to walk to improve the health of babies born in GA! Last year, we enjoyed a fun walk with festivities while raising over $500.  These funds, in turn, were matched by Northside Hospital. We look forward to walking again on April 24th, 2010 and remain committed to raising money this year for this important cause.  The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

Given this time of economic uncertainty, we are casting a wide net to challenge 10 people to contribute $20 each and 20 people to contribute $10 each. Of course, smaller or larger donations are always welcomed and greatly appreciated! Also, Northside Hospital will match each dollar raised by our team doubling each of our dollars. Your $20 contribution will easily become $40.  So, please consider giving to this important cause…

To make a donation, please visit http://marchforbabies.org/bkm2jbmommy


If you would like to join our team, to participate in this year’s walk and/or to raise money for the March of Dimes through this event, please visit http://marchforbabies.org and search for Parents Partnered for Preemies.


Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you very much for your time, consideration and continued support!


Betty, Brian and Joey (walking in memory of ^BKM2^)

"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward." Psalm 127:3-5

Before I Was Your Mother

These are simple words with a huge impact. Imagine all the stories that children want and need to hear about their mother’s life before having kids. Her whole life has been one incredible adventure, with experiences growing up, going to school, working, falling in love… Imagine how much closer a child and mother can become with such a story.

Fellow Heritage Makers consultant Melodie Jones witnessed first-hand just how powerful such a story is for the whole family.

By Melodie Jones

I had jury duty during December and January and so, of course, I shared Heritage Makers with my fellow jurors. One woman, Dee, we thought for sure was going to be excused as she had an adult disabled daughter that she helped take care of… But she wasn’t.

We became friends and I showed her a book template in our catalog called Before I Was Your Mom. She got very excited because her daughter, Mary, had an 11-year old son that only knew his mother as disabled and bed-ridden. Dee took the catalog home to show Mary who then helped Dee choose photos and what to put in the book. Mary was very excited to finally have this book to show her son that she wasn’t always disabled.

I scanned all the photos for Dee then helped her upload them into her account. We scheduled a time when Dee could come to my March workshop so she could finish her book and get it ordered. One week before the workshop I got an email from Dee. Her daughter had suddenly passed away the week before, but she wanted me to know that she still planned on coming to the workshop to finish Mary’s book, which we did.

Dee ordered the book on a Wednesday, and she received it on Saturday. Dee called to tell me how beautiful it was, and how much she appreciated my help, and that now she knows why she was put on jury duty: to meet me so I could help her make Mary’s book. She was so happy that Mary knew about the book before she passed away, and Dee was so happy to be able to finish it for Tyler, Dee’s grandson.

Celebrate the women in your life with a storybook, card, or canvas. Try one of our many templates and get started today at http://MyStoryBookLady.com.

Have other great Mother’s Day ideas? Please share.

From blog.heritagemakers.com