Favorite Charts from 2015

We are excited to show off some of our work from 2015!

We did something new this year.  We went back through all of the charts we created and picked out a few of our favorites.  We've contacted the clients who worked with us to create the charts and asked if we could share them with you.  In years past, we've been too shy to ask because we know these are such personal creations.  But this year we got brave and boy did it pay off.  Every client we asked was really excited to show off their chart.

We did several charts for special occasions.  We love making your family events even more special:

 

We also did some very popular charts that looked like a natural tree:

Sometimes we put together several options for a client, and all of them turned out so well it was hard to decide:

We did some amazing all-in-one charts (more on that to come in a future blog post--but here is a taste) We can put in in-law lines, other side lines, color coding, second cousins, all sorts of things:

And of course you won't find the kinds of color coding we can do anywhere else. This year we color coded by place, by descendancy, and many other things:

We created some beautiful charts with icons and color coding to highlight a certain trait:

And of course the pictures. Who doesn't love a beautiful chart with beautiful pictures?

And maps--highlighting where the family was from:

So many beautiful families we get to enjoy:

Gorgeous blended families and step families:

We've changed the information for the living people on each of the charts.  But if the client requested, we've left their deceased ancestors because of the value we've found in having charts on display as "cousin bait."  Every year, as we've displayed charts at conferences, we inevitably have people come up and say that they share the same ancestors.  We've promised the owners of each of these charts that we'll forward any interested parties' emails to them so that they can collaborate on future research.  With a hope for new cousin connections, and a $25 gift certificate, everyone we contacted was excited to show off their great work.  And what beautiful families they have--don't you agree?

Join us this year at the conferences we attend (including RootsTech next month) to see these charts live and in person.  And don't be surprised next year if we choose your chart as one of our favorites.  We look forward to creating a beautiful chart for your family too!

Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy 2016 and the UGA Award of Merit

As usual the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy was a phenomenal success and I enjoyed myself immensely.  This year was even more fantastic though because Kim and I were able to take the whole week off and simply sit in class.  For the last five years I've been involved with UGA and the SLIG committee in helping put on the institute, but this year I was able to just relax and be a student--enjoy it with my husband--and learn tons.  Thanks so much to our employees who kept Family ChartMasters humming and to the SLIG team for making the conference such a success.

Kim and I took Blaine Bettinger's Beginning DNA for Genealogy course.  If you haven't ever attended an institute, it is really something special.  We were able to take 20 courses just about DNA and it's use in genealogy.  Even though I knew quite a bit about DNA's use in genealogy, and we've had all of our parent's generation tested who were willing, along with all of Kim's brothers and our son, I'm really sure now that I have filled in all the holes, and have a really good understanding of the foundation of DNA research.  Not only that, I have a partner now who can work with me to solve genealogy problems and extend our research.  We studied YDNA, mtDNA, and atDNA and learned about all of the companies who do the testing, their pricing and databases, the third party tools that will help you interpret the data, the ways you can apply it to genealogy and the ethical considerations to be aware of.  We heard case studies about how it has been used to solve complex problems, and best of all, we were able to discuss the issues with many of the leaders in the genealogy industry as we spent the week with them.  I learned so much, over lunch, in the hallways and with dear friends.  So so awesome.  Blaine is a phenomenal teacher.  I really appreciate him as a well-educated instructor and as a good friend. 

As usual, I didn't think to take any pictures until the last day, and I'm shy about asking to take pictures with people anyway.  Here's Kim and I extracting strawberry DNA during the last class.  So fun to take the class together. 

One of the highlights of the week was getting to meet Jessica Taylor of Legacy Tree Genealogists. It was great to be able to talk to someone who is running a genealogy company and dealing with many of the same issues that we are.  Really competent genealogy business people are hard to come by so it is a real treasure when you find a new one.  I so appreciate all of our genealogy business friends that I can bounce ideas off and learn from and I'm so excited to find a new one. 

And to top it all off, I was completely surprised Friday night when they gave me the UGA Award of Merit for my service to the association.  I had so many people come up to me and thank me and tell me I had really done great things.  I was overwhelmed. And then, when I posted this picture to Facebook, the outpouring was unbelievable.  I had so many comments and likes, I've got to be careful not to get a big head.  Tessa Keough made my day when she commented, " you are so positive and enthusiastic. Your company provides a great product and you do lots of volunteer activities - people notice and see you do things for the right reasons, furthering genealogy and family history. You show that you can be "in it" for others and also be successful, all with graciousness. Congratulations - well deserved."  Wow.  

And all of this was ten times better because Kim was able to be there with me. It was so fun to introduce him to all my SLIG friends and have him to hang out with us. Thanks so much to our awesome people at Family ChartMasters for letting us go.  Life is just really really good.

Meet with your own Personal Designer at RootsTech

Announcing a new Family ChartMasters service for RootsTech 2016, a one-on-one consultation with your own personal chart designer.

We love talking to our clients and friends at conferences, but sometimes you want to spend a little more time with one of our designers, talking specifically about your ideas and going over your family history information.  We've always offered Free Consultations, but never before have you been able to schedule an appointment and have someone all to yourself, live and in person.  We'll evaluate your information and give you some ideas right on the spot at the conference. 

Just bring in any genealogy file and the visions you have for the chart you would like to create.  We'll have someone there waiting for you who can look at your file and help you turn those visions into reality.

familychartmasters.youcanbook.me

We're announcing it here first, for 24 hours our blog readers will get the first chance to schedule an appointment.  Hurry and snag a consultation quick, before we share it over social media and through our newsletter.  We're looking forward to talking to you.  We'll see  you at the Family ChartMasters Booth 1045 in the RootsTech Vendor's Hall.

Gift Certificate Flash Sale

Announcing our Gift Certificate Flash Sale.

 BUY 4 GET ONE FREE

on all Family ChartMasters Gift Certificates

Buy Now at http://familychartmasters.com/gcs

The gift certificates are a .pdf that comes immediately to your email that you can then send to your friends electronically or print to give.  They come in $25 and $50 denominations.

Our gift certificates are the perfect Christmas gift to help a friend show off their family's history. A Personal Designer will help your friend create a beautiful chart from the family history information they send in.  Or if you are planning to create a chart for yourself in the next year, now is the time to save money on it.  We have 2 different services that the gift certificates are good for:

First, we have our Decorative Chart option where we can design any size or style of chart your gift recipient wants.  We can do a pedigree, bowtie, hourglass, etc., we can also include both ancestors and descendants, in-laws and outlaws on a chart. We will add a title, border, background, pictures, or other decorative elements. When they send in their genealogy information, we'll create a mock up based on their suggestions and then we'll work back and forth with their suggestions and new mock ups to make sure everything is perfect  before we print.  We're sure we can come up with something they will love--otherwise we keep working with them on it until we do.  We generally keep these charts to typical frame sizes so that they are easy to find frames for.  The pricing for these charts depends on the size of the chart and the paper choice.  All of our papers and ink for decorative charts are high quality and archival safe. You can view sample charts, pricing here: http://familychartmasters.com/php/custom.php

Our gallery of charts and other decorative elements we can incorporate is at: https://familychartmasters.com/embellishments.html#gallery.   Other charts we've designed can be seen on our blog at http://thechartchick.blogspot.com/search/label/charts.  Basically anything you can dream up and describe to us, we can create for you.

Second, we have our Working Chart option where we can print a simple ancestor pedigree, or a descendant chart.  We print the chart as it comes out of the data with no editing, no title, no border, no decorative features.  These charts are on 20 lb. standard bond paper, non-archival ink and paper.  This type of chart is priced by the foot, so pricing depends on how big the family plots out.  Recipients can see options and sample pricing at https://familychartmasters.com/php/workingcharts.php but if they don't see what you are looking for there, just let us know.  We have lots of options for working charts.

Pricing for all of our charts can be found at https://familychartmasters.com/fcmpricing.html.  Generally around $100-$150 will cover the cost of a decorative chart.  Working charts are $30 and up depending on the size of the chart.  

Both of these options start by sending the family history information for a free consultation at https://familychartmasters.com/consult.html.  We're happy to look at the information and send back some ideas for sizes and prices. With all of the charts we design, additional copies of the exact chart are 1/2 off. We ship USPS Priority Mail and Shipping for 1-3 charts in the USA is an additional $11.95.

We'll take good care of your loved ones with our great customer service.  We're looking forward to making you look good.

 Purchase at http://familychartmasters.com/gcs

Sale valid through December 25, 2015.

Santa Baby Meme

Friday to Friday Flash Sale on Gift Certificates Coming Soon

Rather than giving more stuff, the gift of an experience has become all the rage.  And what better experience can you give than working together as a family with the personal designers at Family ChartMasters to create a beautiful family history chart that will instantly become an heirloom. 

You can give that experience to your family, and we're going to make it even easier and more affordable.  From December 18th to the 25th we will be offering our gift certificates on a buy four get the fifth free sale.  They come in $25 and $50 values and are an instant download that you just print and give.  The recipient can expect to be treated like royalty and we'll help them create any kind of chart they can dream up. 

Watch our newsletter, our blog, our facebook page, twitter feed or google plus feed Friday for a special link to take advantage of this great offer.  And if you are planning a chart in the near future, you may want to grab a few of these for yourself too. 

Holiday Heirlooms Can Help Connect Your Family To Their History

When I was about 8 years old, and my little sister was about 6, my Mom helped us create a little salt dough nativity set for my Matriarchal Grandparents Darrel and Eila Dana.  We carefully crafted the pieces and painted them and sealed them with shellac.  We even made a card with our Shrinky Dinks and signed our names.  I was surprised how much Grandma loved that nativity.  It was always displayed in a place of honor at Christmas time.  When she passed, my Mother saved them for me.  They are a sweet reminder of my Grandmother and the love she had for me.  

Another holiday heirloom in our home is a beautiful Christmas ornament that was smocked by my Patriarchal Grandmother Hortense Carpenter.  She was always the consummate homemaker with lavish parties and great food and a whole room of fabric she used to create beautiful things.  She had taken a smocking class in the late 1970s and that Christmas she invited each of her grandchildren to take home an ornament from her tree.  She was surprised when I chose this ornament she had made because she didn't think it was her best work.  But even at that young age, I knew and heirloom when I saw one.  I think she was pleased that I took it and she knew I would treasure it and pass it down in my own family.

Each year when we get out the Christmas decorations, I love to tell my kids about the wonderful ladies that my Grandmothers were and how much they loved me.  I love to think about them as I see these things in my home and honoring them has become part of my holiday season.  Do you have any holiday heirlooms that you use during this time of the year?  Maybe a Menorah that has been passed down, or some beautiful dishes?  Be sure you are telling the stories of these people and helping the next generation of your family feel the appreciation you have for those who have made your family what it is today.

We wish you the happiest of holidays with you and yours.  Thank you for being part of our conversation this year.  We really appreciate you and look forward to spending many more years celebrating our family histories together. 

Gift Certificates and Customer Service

Gift Certificates are available on the Family ChartMasters website.

Big Zap The Grandma Gap Cyber Monday Sale

From the Zap The Grandma Gap Blog: 

Our biggest sale ever will happen on Cyber Monday this year.

All e-books will be 50% off.  No coupon necessary.  

Just check out the website on Monday for great ideas to help you connect with your family.

Family History Table Decorations

Recently, a good friend asked us to create placemats for his wedding luncheon.  We put together a chart that showed how all of his family members were related to the new couple and designed it to match the wedding decorations and invitations.  They turned out beautifully and I'm sure they were helpful to make sure that everyone new who was who at the party.  It was a brilliant idea, and we were happy to be part of it.

It reminded me of the table runner I created last thanksgiving.  Copying an idea I had seen on pinterest, I put together many of my family's pictures and we printed the piece on vinyl so that it would hold up to lots of use. It brought a new level of meaning to our Thanksgiving table to sit and look at the faces of the people who brought us to where we are now. 

Any of our charts can be adjusted to create placemats or table decorations.  We can print on vinyl, or laminate regular paper.  You could even use our game cards to make a game out of it and see what your family knows about their family history.  Really any kind of genealogy chart could work, such as examples from our gallery like this one, or this one or this one. 

I hope your family has a wonderful holiday season together.  We'd be happy to create a table runner or some chart placemats or runners for you as well.  And remember with any of our charts, after the first copy, any extra copies are 1/2 price.  Just send your pictures and/or your genealogy information via our free consultation.  We REALLY CAN create any kind of family history art presentation for you. We love bringing your family memories front and center in your modern family to enrich and strengthen those around you now. 

10 Cool Things You Can Do With a Family ChartMasters Chart

Over the years, we have created hundreds of charts that our clients have used for a multitude of occasions. Let us tell you what you can do with a chart designed by Family ChartMasters...

1. Show It Off

 

Display a chart in your home as a focal point to honor your family's heritage and remind them who they came from.

2. Decorate Your Wedding

Use a Family ChartMasters chart to show the family lines of the bride and groom through information and photos.

3. Celebrate A Milestone

Decorate a loved one's birthday, anniversary or graduation party with an heirloom chart.

4. Honor Loved Ones

 

Remember a loved one's life with a memorial chart on display at funeral service.

5. Give As A Holiday Gift

 

A custom decorative chart makes an unforgettable gift for your family and multiple copies of the same chart are always 1/2 price.

6.  Connect Your Generations

 

 Show multiple generations through photos in a simple and beautiful chart.

7.  Gather Information

 Order an inexpensive working chart and ask family members to update their information at a family reunion.

8.  Journal Your Ancestors

Included additional information on the chart to memorialize your ancestors' unique lives and experiences.

9.  Honor Cultural Heritage

Customize a family legacy chart with maps and flags representing your ancestors.

10.  Celebrate A New Baby

 

Decorate your baby's nursery with a custom family chart filled with photos.

Please give us a call here at Family ChartMasters and we'd be happy to discuss other options or ideas you may have.  Or visit our free consultation page, send us your file, and we'll get started on it right away.  

Holiday Deadlines

Holiday deadlines are fast approaching and we want to give you plenty of notice so we can help you get your gifts ready on time.

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 16th Hanukkah Gifts
• Nov 23rd Charts that need International Shipping
• Dec 7th Decorative charts shipped in the United States
• Dec 14th Working charts (no preview) shipped in the United States
• We're happy to work on charts for you after these dates and we'll do our best to get them to you in time, but there may be rush fees or expedited shipping charges.  

If you can't decide what you are looking for, check out our new 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.  Or if you are an Ancestry.com or FamilySearch user you can use our new Ancestry Upload Page, or the FamilySearch Upload Page.  We want to make it really easy for you. 

We recently created a chart for a wonderful lady that was donated by an anonymous benefactor.  We had so much fun participating in this generous act of kindness, and spoiling this sweet client with lots of attention and making sure she received exactly what she wanted.  Please know that we love helping you with stealthy gift giving. We'll treat anyone who receives one of our gift certificates like a VIP. And if you want to design a chart yourself to give, we'll work back and forth with you over a private email account, leave the invoice out of the package, and ship to alternative addresses. When you give the gift of a chart we'll do everything we can to meet your deadline and make it perfect.  And the gift certificates are an instant download.  Let us know what you need us to do to keep this gift a surprise and we will make your special person feel well taken care of.  We love making you look good and we are really awesome at keeping secrets.  Think of Family ChartMasters as your undercover gift giving elves; making it easy on you and bringing total delight with a meaningful gift.

New Family ChartMasters Website

familychartmasters.com

We are so excited to announce a new look to our Family ChartMasters website!  Not only did we change the layout and make it mobile-user friendly, we added an extensive testimonials page showing off our happy customers and enhanced our chart gallery with over 40 different chart designs exclusive to FamilyChartMasters.

Family ChartMasters Chart Gallery

Also it is now easier than ever to upload your family tree to Family ChartMasters from Ancestry.com. Follow the instructions on our new webpage and we'll take a look at your file and get right back to you.

Directly Download from Ancestry

To download your family tree from Ancestry.com:
When you are logged in, scroll down on the home page to where you can see your family tree box (under the "recent activity" box).  Click to "view this tree".  At the top of the tree you'll see "tree pages" with a down arrow.  Click once on the down arrow and you'll see the menu item "tree settings."   On the right you will see a green button that says "Export Tree"  After processing, the button will change to say "Download your gedcom file."  Click on that button and save the file to a place where you will remember where it is (the desktop is a good place to put it if you are unsure.)

We can create a chart from any type of genealogy computer data file such as Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic, Legacy Family Tree, Ancestral Quest, Family Tree Builder, The Master Genealogist, Personal Ancestral File, and many others. We would prefer the actual data file i.e. .ftm, .rmgc, .fdb, .paf, etc. All genealogy programs have the ability to export a .gedcom file and we can use that as well. Feel free to send us the whole file and we can take out just the parts we need.

If you have your data on a genealogy website, we would need a .gedcom file to create the chart. Most websites have instructions to let you create a .gedcom file. You can contact the website company and ask for instructions on how to do this, or if you want to give us a call we can walk you through it over the phone. To download your family tree from FamilySearch, just use our easy Family Search Download Page.

If you don’t have your information in a genealogy format, we can still work with what you have. We do need to eventually use a genealogy file but we can create one for you. We charge $15.00 per hour to do Data Entry. Just get us your genealogy information any way you can and we’ll send you a quote before we start. E-mail, Excel, Word—any format you can get to us will work.

How do I create my own over-sized genealogy chart and have Family ChartMasters print it?
You might try one of the following programs:

• Ancestral Quest www.ancquest.com
• Charting Companion for Ancestry Family Tree by progenysoftware.com
• Charting Companion for Ancestral Quest by progenysoftware.com
• Charting Companion for Legacy by progenysoftware.com
• Family Tree Maker by www.myfamily.com
• Legacy Family Tree by Millennia Corp. legacyfamilytree.com
• Rootsmagic and Rootsmagic Chart by Rootsmagic, Inc rootsmagic.com
• The Master Genealogist and Virtual Chartform by whollygenes.com
• Tree Draw Legacy by spansoft.org

What if I have something else in mind and it is not like any of the sample charts you have on the website?

After 11 years of experience in building and printing a multitude of genealogy chart styles from every kind of genealogy file, we're confident in our ability to say that we really can print exactly what you're looking for. We'll do everything we can to create a beautiful representation of your family history.

Family ChartMasters makes it super easy for you! Send us your file and we'll take it from there. We'll make you look really good.  Your in-laws will love you.

November Sale Free Shipping

We've never done free shipping on orders within the US before, but we are feeling really generous for the month of November.  If you want to pay full price for shipping you can, but be sure to send the check to Janet and mark it "Christmas Bonus for Erin, Wendy, and Christine."
Otherwise, just mention coupon code FREETOUSA to receive your free shipping.

This offer is good for any working or decorative charts that we design. If you need ideas for your chart, check out our new and improved chart gallery or give us a call at 801.87.CHART (801.872.4278.) We'd be happy to chat with you. 

Early Bird Holiday Sale

I like the peaceful feeling that comes when you have everything ready early for the holidays and you know you can relax and just enjoy being with your family.  So at the risk of jumping the gun, we'd like to extend an offer to all you early birds out there to help you feel better knowing you've saved some money too.

For any custom decorative charts completed by October 31, 2015, we are offering Buy One Get One Copy Free.

It's the perfect holiday gift. So check out our new gallery of chart ideas and then just send in any genealogy file and we'll get started on your family history chart early. We'll have plenty of time to work back and forth with you and make sure everything is perfect before we print.  You can start the process with our free consultation and we'll get back with you with options on prices and sizes for what you are looking for.  Ancestry users can start on our special Ancestry page.  If you like to use FamilySearch we can download your information using our FamilySearch download page.  We'll look forward to making your family the perfect chart.  Get ready to impress your family members.

Fun Halloween Memes

Rearranging things

So we've been going back and forth with the blogging over this last year and I think we've come to some new conclusions.  If you've been a regular reader you may have noticed some subtle changes.  And I think you'll notice as we make this next change.

I've been caught in the typical small business exchange between the many hats you juggle as a company starts to grow.  We've hired wonderful, competent people and I've tried to figure out what to pass off and what is critical to keep my hands on.  Last year, we hired Michelle Phillips and she did a wonderful job of helping me keep the blogs and other social networking going. 
Then when she had to leave in February, we've had Christine Fazulyanov helping out along with many other critical things she does for the company.  Both of these ladies have added so much to our online presence, fleshing out my ideas and adding their own.  I don't know what I would have done without their help.

But we've decided that my blogs The Chart Chick, and Zap The Grandma Gap really are best when they are completely and entirely fleshed out by me and on a more regular basis.  So I've cleared my plate of some of my other responsibilities so that I can focus here.  Since so much of the work we do with our clients is online, we want you to know about who we really are, so that you can feel like you are working with real people--which we are!

We love getting to know you through your charts and your family history stories and pictures.  Just yesterday, our newest team member Wendy was excited about a lovely picture someone had sent her for a chart.  Discussion ensued about how discovering beautiful photos was one of the fun perks of the job.  We are privileged to share your family history with you.  So we want to be open and transparent with you about our lives here on the blogs.  So watch for more fun here.  And let me know what you think.  We always want to hear your ideas about what we are doing.  We love working with you to figure out this whole family history thing.

Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight: Dave D. 

We are so happy to highlight Dave D., a longtime loyal customer of Family ChartMasters. We asked him to share why he loves Family ChartMasters charts and how he uses them.

From Dave...
"Most of us have our family history and genealogy wrapped up in very high tech programs in our computer or contained in a black box hidden beneath our desk.  Why not bring it alive with pictures on a beautiful framed chart, hanging on a prominent wall in our home for all to see?  Our children and grandchildren can see how they fit into this mass of humanity we call our family.

My first chart was for my family in 2009.  Since then I have done 55 more for family, friends, and others I have met along the way. They have been given as birthday, Christmas, wedding anniversary presents, to be shown at funerals to honor the person passing and for family reunions.  

While gathering the information needed we always find names that can be shared with others to help in their search.  We also run into relatives we didn't know we had.

In doing these charts I have been introduced to some great genealogy websites that help with my research and get me in touch with others who share my love of this work.

I plan to continue to do these charts as long as my fingers can work the keyboard and my eyes can see the screen.  Happy hunting and may you find the next generation in your line. "

We thank you Dave for your longtime support!

How To Remove a Chart From the Shipping Tube

Great news! This is our team member Wendy in her YouTube debut with a video tutorial showing how to remove your chart from the shipping tube.  It's all in the finger placement with a twisting action.

After all your hard work researching your family, we want to make sure your chart arrives in mint condition. We encourage you to view this video after placing your chart order.  We hope this will be a great help to show you how to successfully retrieve your chart from the shipping tube!