Press Releases

PROVO, Utah, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- A photo is worth a thousand words and now it's even easier for families to capture, celebrate and preserve their memories with the introduction of MyCanvas.com (http://www.mycanvas.com/), an innovative Web service specifically designed to help people create one-of-a-kind custom photo books. The site is the newest offering from The Generations Network, Inc., parent company of Ancestry.com, the No. 1 online source for family history information. Using one of the most advanced online photo book software that includes a powerful combination of templates and editing tools, MyCanvas offers users virtually unlimited creative freedom. Consumers of all skill levels can produce books and posters that reflect their own unique personality.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081118/LATU038LOGO)

"We're providing the best tools so that anyone can easily express themselves and showcase their creative talents by making beautiful, customized books," said John Pereira, senior director of MyCanvas. "What makes MyCanvas unique compared to other online sites and services is that you have as much creative control as you want, so whether you're capturing your trip to Europe or documenting your child's soccer season, you can either use our pre-existing templates to create a memento that looks professionally designed, or use one of our templates as a starting point and create a keepsake that's entirely unique and personal."

Built originally as AncestryPress for Ancestry.com, MyCanvas represents more than just a name change -- the Web site has been redesigned and now offers new features and products including a custom cover photo book and an exclusive line of premium photo books for special occasions. While most photo book sites provide fixed templates and static backgrounds, MyCanvas lets users customize their pages and even design pages from scratch. Users can choose from dozens of themes and hundreds of page backgrounds or turn their own photos into custom backgrounds, as well as easily import their photos into MyCanvas and apply special effects, such as adding borders and drop-shadows. For even more personalization, MyCanvas offers a wide array of embellishments, frames and text tools that can be used on each page.

MyCanvas can be easily integrated with Ancestry.com (http://mycanvas.ancestry.com/), allowing Ancestry members to automatically create family history or recipe books and family tree posters based on data, records and photos in their online trees. MyCanvas can also be found on SmugMug (http://smugmug.mycanvas.com/) and myfamily.com (http://myfamily.mycanvas.com/).

MyCanvas offers a wide variety of photo book options in three sizes, starting at $29.95. For weddings or special occasions, premium books start at $199. Cover options include nuba ("leatherette"), bonded leather, padded leather, Japanese silk, two-tone velvet, genuine leather and nubuck. Customers can also design their own custom photo cover. Photo collage posters start at $14.95 and come in four sizes.

About MyCanvas.com

MyCanvas.com is a digital storytelling service for people who want to express their creativity and produce high-quality, one-of-a-kind gifts and keepsakes. An earlier version of the service was released to Ancestry.com customers in 2007 under the name AncestryPress. To date more than 300,000 customers have used it to publish and share their family stories. In October 2008, the service was relaunched with additional photo book features under the name MyCanvas. MyCanvas is owned and operated by The Generations Network, Inc., a privately-held company based in Provo, UT. More information is available at http://www.mycanvas.com/.
Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081118/LATU038LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

SOURCE: Ancestry.com

CONTACT: Sara Black of PainePR, +1-213-996-3812, sblack@painepr.com, for
Ancestry.com

Web site: http://www.ancestry.com/
http://www.mycanvas.com/
http://mycanvas.ancestry.com/
http://smugmug.mycanvas.com/
http://myfamily.mycanvas.com/