Preserving Memories: Sticker Makers, Vintage Materials and Photo Puzzles

Stuck on Scrapping

Quickly and easily adhere photos and accents to your heritage layouts with a Xyron Sticker Maker. These machines cover the backs of pictures and embellishments with an even coat of adhesive, turning them into easy-to-place stickers. For bigger projects, use the Xyron 900. This $69.95 kit comes with three cartridges (one for making stickers, one for laminating and one for magnet making), and can handle embellishments up to 9 inches wide. We used the sticker-making cartridge to turn the photo, frame, mat, letters and pumpkin die cuts in the layout below into peel-and-stick stickers. The 150 — the smallest Xyron — costs only $7.88 and creates stickers up to 1 ½ inches wide. To order, call (800) 793-3523 or visit <www.stickermaker.com>.

Designed to Be Combined

Coordinated product lines aren’t spooky; they can take the guesswork out of heritage layouts and inspire you to preserve photos of ancestors in a style that reflects their era. These lines are specially designed to be mixed and matched, so don’t be afraid to try out different combinations of patterns and solids. The layout at left, for example, uses the Legacy line from Design Originals <www.d-originals.com>. While the borders, letters and background all feature different colors and patterns, the page comes together because the products were meant to be combined.

Stampendous is embracing the coordination craze, too; it’s teamed up with Paper Adventures to create the Heirloom line. The use of “antique embossing” makes capturing the past a snap (see the wedding layout below). Heirloom Interiors, 12×12-inch papers that sell for $1.25 per sheet, feature rose and antique tile patterns. The coordinating vellums, Heirloom Sheers, complement the papers with delicate designs. The 12×12 Sheers are $1.50 per sheet. Complete your pages with Heirloom Trims and Hardware, the line’s 6×12-inch foil-stamped borders, photo corners and plaques, which retail for $2 to $2.50 per sheet. Call (800) 727-0699 or visit <www.paperadventures.com>.

Karen Foster Design’s new Vintage line of stickers and paper also targets the coordinated crafter. The collage-style Heritage stickers project a 3-D look, with torn-paper borders, old spectacles and antique pocket watches. Vintage papers cost 50 to 60 cents for a 12×12-inch sheet, and sticker sheets sell for between $1.65 and $2. Look for Karen Foster products in scrapbook stores, visit <www.karenfosterdesign.com>, or call (801) 451-9799 for ordering info.

A Perfect Fit

Puzzled about how you can encourage youngsters to learn about their pedigrees? Stave Puzzles offers all kinds of intricate, hand-crafted jigsaw puzzles, including a family tree that will help you preserve your heritage. Provide up to 15 photos of family members, and Stave will reproduce the photos, then transform them into a personalized puzzle showing your genealogy. It’s a fun way to involve the whole family in piecing together your past and learning how your ancestors “fit” into your family’s story. To commission a 10×13-inch family tree puzzle for $895, call (802) 295-5200 or visit <www.stave.com>.

From the October 2003 issue of Family Tree Magazine.