2017 Holiday Deadlines

We are always dedicated to making sure we meet your deadlines, whether it be for gifts or for a family gathering.  We want to make sure you have what you need to show off your family history.  Please don't wait until the last minute if you are hoping to give the gift of a heirloom chart.  We want to make sure we hae time to make everything exactly perfect for you. 

Here are Family ChartMasters' deadlines for sending us your family history information and starting a genealogy chart if you want to avoid extra rush fees or expedited shipping charges: 

• Nov 22nd Charts that need International Shipping
• Dec 5th Decorative charts shipped in the United States
• Dec 13th Working charts (no preview) shipped in the United States
• Dec 16th User-Designed charts (no preview) shipped in the United States

We're happy to work on charts for you after these dates, but there will be a $45 rush fee added and there may be expedited shipping charges.  Last year we had to turn away several last minute clients as the holidays got closer.  Avoid the rush and let us help you get started today.  Any custom charts submitted by Nov 15th can also receive a free extra copy with our BOGO special. 

If you can't decide what you are looking for, check out the new additions to our Gallery.  You may also find inspiration on our Decorative Chart Pages or in the charts section of this blog.  Virtually anything you can dream up, we can design.  Just send us your information for a Free Consultation and we'll have your own personal designer send you some options.  We want to make it really easy for you.

Buy One Get One Sale Through Novemeber 15th on Custom Charts

Family History Charts are a family thing right?  So we know you are often going to want to make copies for family members.  That's why every chart we design comes with copies for 1/2 price.  As our tagline says, we want to make it easy for you to "SHARE, HONOR, INSPIRE."

But for the next couple of weeks, we're going to make it even easier.  

Just mention the code "BOGO 2017" when you upload your file for our Free Consultation.  Any charts started by November 15th will receive an extra copy free.  

So the first copy is full price, the second copy is free, and then any additional copies are still only 1/2 price.  That way you can get one for Cousin John, Aunt Harriet, and all the nieces and nephews.  Cool huh?

And I don't know about you, but around here we are all impressed with Karli, our designer who always has all of her Christmas shopping done by now.  If you are one of those early-birds, now is a great time to get going on your holiday gifts.  And what better to give your family members than a Family History chart that can inspire them with their heritage an help them feel connected to their family members?  We're eager to help you create the perfect masterpiece to honor your family heritage.  Just upload your information today and we can take it from there.  Any last minute issues can always be straightened out as you work through our online preview system.

If you are looking for holiday gifts, now is the perfect time to get started too.  Our holiday deadlines will come up faster than you think.  Let us know what we can do to help you get started today.  Feel free to give us a call at 801-872-4278 or email us at info@familychartmasters.com with any questions you might have.  We'll look forward to printing a beautiful chart for you. 

Why Would a Family History Chart Matter Anyway?

It seems our mortality was front and center this past summer.  Three experiences recently impressed me with the gravity and importance of the industry we work in and the fragility of life.

We had two clients this summer whose dying wish was to print charts for their family members so that they could show their families the research they had worked on.  These clients both wanted to inspire their family members to press forward with preserving their heritage and inspire them with the heritage that had already been collected.  It was alot of pressure for us to come up with something so important to these families.  One of the clients was in and out of the hospital quite a bit.  Obviously, I was more than happy to stay up with him late into the night to finish the design work.  What an honor it is to help with something so important.

Roger Grua's chart for his Mother-in-Law

And then, one of our life-long friends, Roger Grua, lost his beloved wife Marlene this summer.  Roger was a client from 2009 when he and Marlene worked on a beautiful 36x48 chart with over 200 pictures to honor Marlene's mother.  Roger and I enjoyed working on that chart together and I got to know his family quite well.  He was a favored son-in-law after presenting the chart and rightfully so :)  It was a privilege for me to meet with Roger and Marlene at conferences over the years and to meet many of their children and grandchildren.  Roger and Marlene had a beautiful marriage and were such an example of love and light to me.  And it has been both heartbreaking and inspiring to me to watch Roger go through this loss.  He is truly one of the world's greatest men.

We are just so privileged to work with these families.  We always say that genealogists are the best people in the world and they truly are.  It is an honor to remember the lives of these people, near and far and celebrate their loves and their challenges.  We strive every day to be worthy of that trust. 

You've Come A Long Way Baby

I was going through some old boxes today, and look what I found--an old conference notebook for taking chart orders. This booklet was pre-Family ChartMasters, back from the earliest days when we called ourselves Generation Maps.  Remember that?  Wow.  You've come a long way baby.

In the beginning, like with any entrepreneurial endeavor, we didn't know what we were doing.  We got some things wrong but we did get a few things right.  It was interesting to see how far we've come and how much better we are at it all now.  Take a look:

This was our three ring binder for clients to browse:

And this is the 47 page booklet we offer at conferences now.

We did offer 100% satisfaction guarantee and free previews from the very beginning.  And extra copies were 50% off.  So we did that right.  Look at the explanation page in the binder.

I've gotten better at explaining things I think.  I certainly hope so. 

And look at these crazy embellishments we offered at first.

Wow.  I'm sure glad we've gotten better at that. 
Now you can see hundreds of design ideas and samples and graphics on our Gallery.

We limited the font styles.  We picked some good ones that we still use all the time.  Castellar and Edwardian are some of our most popular.  But now you can choose anything you want.  Thank heavens.

But one of the most amusing was this page.  The borders.  At least I don't call them frames anymore (to avoid confusing them with actual frames that you would frame a print with.)

Again, we're much better now with lots of borders to choose from.  But the funny thing was that we still use the calligraphy borders, and the straight 1 (tri-line) border has been our most popular forever--even with a familiar household-name designer choosing them for his personal family charts.

So life is good.  It is nice to be able to see how far you've come, and how good you've gotten at something.  Not only are we better, but our whole team of designers are fantastic at displaying any vision you might have for showing off your family history.  You'll have to check out our new 47 page idea book at a future conference, or click around our website.

I wish I'd counted how many charts we have shipped from the beginning.  We probably aren't up to McDonald's "Billions and Billions Served" but we recently crossed an annual 6,000 mark. So I know there are lots and lots of Family ChartMasters charts out there binding and inspiring families. 

And you know what, you ain't seen nothing yet.  Just wait until you see what is next. 

Congratulations to our October Contest Winner.

Our first #myFCMchart contest is now over and a big congratulations is in order for Bob Sargent.  He posted photos of the chart we did this summer for his 50th Annual Labor Day Family Reunion.  We helped him with a 29 foot chart going back to the 1500s.  You can search the hashtag on Facebook and see the great photo he posted. 

We have several DNA kits that we are going to be awarding over the next year to random people who post their charts with the hashtag.  So keep your eyes peeled.  Not only will you be able to see some great charts, you may end up with a DNA kit that you can use to further your research. 

Welcome to our New Employee

We have an exciting new addition to the Family ChartMasters team to tell you about.   Please help us give a warm welcome to Tamara Jones, our new designer.

Tamara was born and raised in Idaho. She met her husband 22 years ago at their place of employment and they now have 15 year old triplets, one girl and two boys. She truly enjoys her crazy busy life with triplets. She loves spending time with her family and has truly loved her children's more recent love of lacrosse. All three of her children play lacrosse and they love taking vacations that are centered around lacrosse tournaments. Getting to know and interact with so many other families in the lacrosse world has been an unexpected joy. Tamara's family enjoys traveling and vacationing anywhere that there is a beach.  Tamara comes to us from another customer service position so we know she is going to be a great fit for our super-client-oriented/100%-customer-satisfaction company.

Tamara learned about genealogy from her mother years ago. Her mother spent hours and hours researching family history for herself and for many others. Tamara is now constantly encouraging her family to document stories and label pictures so the stories of her family history are not lost. She is excited to help other families do the same.

Tamara is coming in to replace Christine Fazulyanov.  Christine has done so, so many great things for us at FCM.  She has been such a help with marketing and has helped us make so many customers happy.  We're really going to miss Christine but we wish her all the best in her new endeavors.  

So now, to go update the company "about us" page.....  Yikes.  I've needed to do that.  Just too many exciting things going on. 

Fun Charts Summer 2017--Royalty chart

We've done some fantastic charts this summer, and as usual, I'm too shy to ask people if I can share them with you.  I know they are such personal expressions of a family that it's just hard for me to ask.  But this one, I had to be brave on, because look at this awesome photo!

We were approached at the Southern California Society Jamboree by a client who wanted to celebrate this young man and show off his line that goes back to royalty.  We developed a great chart with photos and a big "Whereas..." statement about what a wonderful guy he was.  I'm not sure what they did for the celebration, but I know he was king for the day and we were delighted to hear back from them that he loved the chart.

We LOVE photos like this.  They always make our day.  So we've changed our email signature a little.  When  you correspond with us, you'll see this at the bottom of each email:
Tag your chart with #myfcmchart
instagram.com/familychartmaster
facebook.com/familychartmasters
twitter.com/familychartmstr

And to get things going, we've devised a social media contest. 

You can enter to win our October Giveaway!   We know how excited you are to receive your Family ChartMasters chart and we LOVE seeing you share you it with others! Take a picture of you with your chart or your chart displayed on the wall, post it on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with the hashtag: #myfcmchart  and you will be entered to win our giveaway for a FREE DNA chart from Family ChartMasters! This contest is open to all our former and current customers.  The contest closes Oct 19, when we'll randomly select a winner so you have a two weeks to snap a pic of your chart and hashtag it with #myfcmchart!   We can't wait to see all of your beautiful charts!