My Memories Digital Scrapbooking

If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at digital scrapbooking, or have already tried it and wanted to find an easier program than what you’re currently using – I’ve got a deal for you!

I’ve tried digital scrapbook programs before (I have actually bought, installed, and tried to use three of them) and did not like how they were not very user-friendly. I didn’t like the results and I didn’t like the available “paper packs” or layout templates.

I was recently contacted by a company that I previously hadn’t heard from before and they wanted me to try out their software. So, I did and this is what I discovered…

My Memories is a great company with a software suite that is so easy, I was able to create a five page layout without even reading any help files, instructions, or anything more than just the on-screen helps. Seriously, this software suite is so intuitive and easy to use that I was amazed.

These layouts were created in literally 30 minutes with no outside instruction. They’re cute. Very cute!



(hehe - forgot to add text to the empty blue box)

These pages demonstrate how totally easy this software is to use and how cute the results are. There are so many features to explore with this software suite that I can't even begin to cover them all. There are a ton of videos on YouTube for you to review and PDF documents available to read and save. These are all available for your use. You can use pre-defined templates and embellishments, or add your own touch to the existing ones. Seriously, it's just that easy to use.

Now… for the best part of this post. My Memories not only wanted ME to try out their digital scrapbook suite, they also want YOU to try it out as well! One lucky reader will when their own copy of My Memories Digital Software Suite for yourself! To enter, all you need to do is this:

For one entry, visit the My Memories site, choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout, and leave a comment here telling me what you’ve chosen.

For a second entry, go “like” my Facebook page, then come back and leave an additional comment.

Entries will be accepted until Tuesday, September 6, 2011 at 6:00 PM Central time. Tuesday evening, I'll put all of the entries into a spreadsheet (each separate entry will get a separate number) and then use Random.org to generate a winning number.

As a special gift, everyone who places an order from My Memories will receive a $10 discount and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store – a $20 value! To get this special offer, visit the My Memories Digital Software Suite store, click "Add to Cart" and enter this code STMMMS48018 on the shopping cart page. Finish the checkout and the discounts will be applied.

Be sure to come back and tell me which items you discovered and liked on the My Memories Web site. I think you'll find so much there to use and enjoy that you'll go back time and time again.

I know that I will.

Finally... the baby shower invitations are finished

And, ready to be mailed or hand-delivered. I may need to make a few more (but they will be much simpler), but I have 26 ready to go. Someone is getting the prototype but only because I was at the end of the current list, and short one. So, off it goes. That means I don't have one for myself or one to take to work, but I'm going to keep Amy's copy for a while and take it in Monday to show the "girls" I work with (who care... hehehe - some don't and I won't punish them).

The giraffe is cut from Birthday Bash (4"), the hippo from Create a Critter (2.5" - I think), and the bottle from New Arrival (circle, shift at 1.75"). On the Birthday Bash cartridge, the giraffe has on roller skates. That just wasn't going to cut it for a baby shower, so I cut them off. I put the layers together first and then did the cuts for each giraffe one at a time. Time consuming to get the legs just how I wanted them but they look more "child like" now. One of the other cartridges I have also has a giraffe with legs that look like this, but the body was all wrong. I decided this one would be the easiest to modify.

This is Amy's copy of the card. I punched a hole into each of the registry cards and threaded a ribbon through it. Then, I put those inside the card so when the card is opened, the card can be slid out and kept for shopping purposes. The ribbon will help locate it in a wallet or purse.

The whole group. I decided to do the baby bottle cut-out instead of the baby shower words. I just didn't have enough time to cut those delicate letters out (twice) and affix them to the card. This was much simpler. The bottle is cut at 1.75 inches and the green circle is a 2 inch punch. The cards actually have a variety of ribbons. I had less of the green (on the card) than I thought, and we're 45 minutes away from the closest store to buy that ribbon. I had to make do with what I had in my ribbon stash so that is why there you see more than one color and style of ribbon as the decorations. But, I can truly say that the cards are one-of-a-kind (mostly). Ron wanted me to stamp each one "Limited Edition; # of 25" on the back.

I know Amy loves them. What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments.

Baby shower invites

I probably shouldn't post this before I'm satisfied with the design, but I decided to go ahead and post anyway. The invitations will be based on the bedding Amy has bought for Anna's bed.

I took the main colors and am planning on duplicating them as closely as possible. This is the first one and will get dressed up a bit with some ribbon the next time (I glued the animals down before I realized I wanted ribbon on it).

The card will lay flat and the shower information will be on the inside panel.

Suggestions? Comments?

Amy's new nephew

Amy's sister-in-law had a new baby boy last month. Since they were going to go visit, I decided I'd make her a congratulations card. It's not fancy and the silly rivets took me 3-4 tries to get right. But, I think it turned out cute.

I hope she likes it.

Just had to finish it

I couldn't go to bed with this only half done. I used the Sweethearts cartridge that I won in a drawing. I wasn't sure that it would be a cartridge I'd use, but it's really got a lot of cute stuff in it.

The couple are cut at 4 inches; the word "Love" is cut at 3 inches; the single balloon is cut at 2.25 inches. Although it looks like there is a blue gem on the balloon, it's actually clear. I used the shadow cut for everything, then layered the sparkly paper over thick Kraft paper to make the cuts thicker and so they'd pop off the paper better. After I took this picture, I spaced the pearls out a bit more.

I wanted to just do the couple in silhouette instead of trying to do clothing. I'm not sure what color of hair the groom has so this just worked out better for me.

I hope she likes it. I'll be mailing it off this week so I'll report if it was a hit or not.

It's good to be back!

Feels good to be doing something constructive in the playroom! I know someone who is getting married and she's doing the big-time planning. I thought this would be a nice way to help her along the way. It's not finished, but just wanted to post a little tease...



Using my Cricut and some sparkly brown paper for some embellishment

Brown and Pink look so elegant (at least to me)

The brown on pink polka dots are the inside covers. The ribbon is really silky and is pink on one side and brown on the other. I wasn't sure what I'd do with it when I bought it but I just fell in love with the texture.
I don't know what her colors are or even if she needs a journal, but it will either be something she can use or something she can pass on to someone else.

It's Finished! Reveal time!

In my old house, I had a WorkBox from The Original Scrapbox. You can see it here. It was nice but once I put everything in it, I couldn't see what I had. Plus, I knew that when we moved I didn't want to take the chance that it wouldn't fit or that it would get damaged in the move. In hindsight, it probably would have been OK if it had been taken apart into the major sections. Oh well... but I did manage to sell it for $600, which was nice.

This new place has a 2nd bedroom that is a very nice size and my goal was to have a scrap/craft area, office area, and {hopefully} get a twin bed for someone to sleep in if we had overnight company. I'm not sure I can get the bed in there, but I might be able to find a chair that unfolds into a sleeper. I know there's no room for a sleeper sofa (maybe a sleeper love seat but those are expensive) so maybe a sleeper chair would work.

I had been using plastic tables after I sold the WorkBox and those just weren't working for me. I usually worked right in the middle and, since they folded, it was not great. Any time I'd try to do any stamping, it would not stamp cleanly. I'd have to go into the kitchen to use the solid surface in there. So I started looking around the Internet to see what others were using.

Jetmax Cubes... I had seen these at Michael's but hadn't really researched them. Once I did, I found that a lot of people love, love, LOVE their cubes and that convinced me that I could build my room with them. I can tell (now that I'm finished) that I needed to put a little bit more thought into the layout and exactly what cubes I needed. I should have bought more paper storage (I got two and could have used two more) and less drawers.  I tried to see what everyone used as working surfaces and didn't really find anything that said how deep people had made their work area, or how they'd gotten it that deep.

Once I lined up the cubes (which I put together all by myself!), I knew they needed to be anchored but I also knew that I couldn't put a toe board along the wall of this unit because of the holes it would leave behind. Ron's friend, Chuck, is a carpenter/home builder so Ron asked him if he would help me out. I knew what needed to be done, but I didn't have the skill to do it. Chuck jumped in and we got it done. Yesterday, I started working on the room and getting all of the boxes unpacked and/or moved out of there. (In order to do part of it, I had to clean out the hall closet to make room for stuff that was still packed and I now have a garage sale box in the living room, plus two boxes of nick-knacks that I can't unpack until I get a bookcase or two.)

I'm really pleased with how the room turned out, although I think I might be buying enough to make a free-standing island and maybe put it on wheels so I can move it out of the way if I do have company over to sleep.

Here are the pictures. What do you think? Those of you who have craft rooms, what else do you think I could use or should have? The drawers are not all full so I do have room to grow (hehehe!).


This is from the door looking straight in toward the corner.



Looking to the left. The stuff in front of the bookcase still needs a home.

From the door looking more to the right. The paper cutter is on a temporary table. The other bookcase I want will go where the tote goes.

The closet. LOL - it needs some work. The shelves are nice but too close together to do too much good.
Once I get my island built, I think I'll take the picture boxes (the pink ones) and move them. Maybe.

I am not sure if I want more shelves above the work area on the right or not. The right side is supposed to be my office area. Those are drawers without hanging file storage. I do have a file cabinet under the window that has our household papers in it and I got one hanging unit under the glass door cube for scrapbook papers and files. I need to go back and label my drawers now because I have no idea where some things are.

I probably did not need the work center because it doesn't really hold anything except overflow items (it's against the wall in the picture that shows the bookcase). Even at 40% off, it was kind of expensive. Michael's had all of their scrapbook storage items 40% off or I would not have been able to do this. Even so, I have about as much invested in the room as I would have if I'd bought one of the Sauder desks at OfficeMax or Office Depot. Our garage sale money paid for the whole room, which was nice - I've got no out-of-pocket expense.,

I have much more working area and storage space than one desk would have provided - and the desk would have been harder to move if the need to move would come up in the future. The cubes are screwed into the shelves and the shelves are anchored to the wall in a couple of places with L-brackets. They can be taken apart very easily and moved to a new location. The biggest "oops" we did was not allowing for electrical cords behind the shelves so my son-in-law is going to have to bring his hole cutting drill bit over and make a couple of holes for me so I can feed my cords through.

All in all, I'm very pleased. Once I get the walls decorated and maybe some shelving up, I'll consider it done. One more thing I need to figure out is how to store my punches. Right now, they're in the pink tote that you see in front of the bookcase. Someone else said they use a "shoe bag" that hangs over the door and others use towel bars to hang them from. I'm not sure I want to put towel bars up on the wall so I'll probably just keep them in the tote until I decide what will work best for me. I love my punches!

Time to get some projects started!!!