Thursday, March 31, 2016

Genealogy Chart Spotlight #1 - My Own Epic Family History Chart

We're going to start a new series on the blog.  We had such a great response from our Favorite Charts from 2015 collection that we've decided to start featuring more of our client's charts on the blog.  If your chart is chosen, we change all the information on living people (or all the people) and you get a $25 gift certificate.  It is great "cousin bait" to let us show off one of your charts and we promise to forward any inquiries to you as well.  So let us know if you want your chart to be considered in this new series. 

I'm starting this series off with the chart I've been working on for my own family.  My parents recently moved to a new house and there was a perfect wall above the staircase, already fitted with track lighting.  So of course, design work on the most epic Family ChartMasters chart began.  We showed off a draft copy of this chart at RootsTech.


(Click on the image to see the full chart)
Since this version, we've added more stories, more icons and we're just about ready to print.  The final version will be 7 feet tall and 10 feet wide, printed on canvas. It will have 140 stories and 80 pictures and 9 icons for soldiers, immigrants, pioneers, etc. etc.  There is no way any grandchild will grow up in this family without knowing all about our family history.

And like many of our clients have experienced, the exciting part has been how many new breakthroughs we've made while we've been working on this chart.  I have grandparents and great-grandparents who have collected all of this information, so it has been fun to make new discoveries in their research as we've been putting this together.  My Mom has been putting together the stories and has discovered all sorts of new characteristics and struggles and triumphs of some of our lesser known ancestors.  And yesterday, she was able to connect with a cousin to find a couple of long lost journals and biographies along one line.  The cousin didn't realize they had all this information until my Mom pursued the issue.   Goldmine. 

I'll let you know when we get it installed.  If you ever want to put together an *epic* family history chart for your family, you know where to come.  You just start with a free consultation and we take it from there.  We'd love to print one for you too. 

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Price changes

At Family ChartMasters we work hard to keep our prices down and we've been pretty successful.  We haven't raised prices on anything in years, and our shipping prices are the same as they were when we started in 2003.  For all these years it has been:
  • 1-3 charts $11.95
  • 4-8 charts $16.95
  • 9-15 charts $24.95
  • 16+ charts $29.95


 But the post office has finally squeezed us out.  With the recent changes in postage, we have to raise our prices on shipping.  Here are the new fees:
  • 1-3 charts $16.95
  • 4-8 charts $24.95
  • 9-15 charts $29.95
  • 16+ charts $34.95

We want to give you a little notice, in case you were budgeting and have a chart you want to get finished up and printed.  We'll be changing these fees on April 15th.  So send us your information at http://www.familychartmasters.com/upload.  We're happy to get right to work on the perfect chart for your family. 

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

6 Steps to a Gorgeous Custom Genealogy Chart

We often hear the comment, "I'd like to have a genealogy chart printed, but I'm not sure where to start." Here's an infographic to make it easy for you. 
Click the image for a larger view (scroll in & out with ctrl+ and ctrl-)


Thursday, March 10, 2016

Goodbye to Wendy and Hello to Linda

Our wonderful designer, Wendy Johnson is getting married and moving and we are so happy for her.  We send her and her new husband John off with our very best wishes.  We will miss Wendy terribly, but we are excited for her and her new adventure.

The good news is, we've found another wonderful person to help us create beautiful charts for you.
Linda is a native Californian girl. She moved to Utah 7 years ago, but still dreams of the beach. Living in the Rockies has made her a bit of a farm girl enjoying raising chickens and gardening. She has four wonderful children who constantly amaze her. She has been married to her sweetheart for 24 years. After receiving her BA from BYU-Hawaii, she went on to finish her Masters of Library and Information Science, turning in her thesis paper with her two year old wrapped around her leg and a newborn in her arms. Linda says she could live in a library as it is filled with her favorite things…books and people who love books. Her favorite place in the summer is the family cabin at Electric Lake, where she loves to bribe her children into taking long hikes to spot wildlife with her. Linda’s children think her greatest talent is baking for them; apple pies disappear quickly at their home. ¬¬Her grandmother was the family genealogist so she is excited to get to carry on the tradition and help others create beautiful family history charts.