My Memories

It seems that I'm at the point in my blogging travels that I'm being approached to test out products and tell you what I think of them. The upside? I get the chance to try out some new things and share what I think and what I've cooked up with the product with you.

Another upside?  This time around I get the chance to offer you a special deal on what I've tried out. And yet another upside? I also get to give you the chance to win something too.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Using an 8.5 x 11 sheet of card stock one of the beautiful free
paper packs from My Memories; a memorial card for my
Grandma's service coming up this May

My Memories a Digital Scrapbooking Company got in touch with me last month about reviewing their Digital Scrap booking Software. I received a copy of the My Memories Suite software in exchange for sharing the product with you, all my thoughts on the product are my own and have not been directed by My Memories. Just to be clear, I tend to look for the positive in everything I try out so unless something is absolutely terrible, completely unworkable I'll focus on the good, include the not so great and welcome you to share your experiences with me.

I'll be honest here, I'm not a scrapbook artist, so digital scrap booking software isn't something that I have ever thought about using.  I am however, a creative person and I have been known to pop into a scrap booking shop to look at papers for use in some of my projects and in some of my art works. There are some pretty amazing papers out there that just scream to be used in a hand bound book or to make birthday banners or pinwheels... I am an artist and a crafty kind of gal so the idea of being able to use Digital Scrapbooking Software for projects that aren't scrapbook pages; like photo books, or calendars was really exciting to me, not least because I've found myself with a new computer that won't recognize the versions of Photoshop and InDesign I had been using for the last few years on some of these types of projects.

Rather than checking things out beforehand (reading instructions, watching YouTube videos etc) I started blind with My Memories Suite just to see how intuitive it is to work through. And despite old Photoshop habits tripping me up here and there, I can happily say that it is very simple and easy to use, so easy that I'm pretty sure I could sit my computer challenged Mom or the Peanut in front of it and have them putting together pages in no time flat. 

The desktop is set up so that your tools are in more than one place, in palettes along the side, as icons along the top and inside the drop down menus as well, so no matter which way you like to work or where you are most comfortable looking for your tools and applications you're covered. 

If you don't like to start a new program blind, you can also make use of the abundant support My Memories  offers. For help and links to video tutorials on their YouTube channel you can visit their blog and online forums (which also gives access to a community of creative people to share ideas; a super bonus as far as I'm concerned since I'm a big believer that creativity breeds more of the same. Being able to share ideas, give and receive help from people in a community is so invaluable.) Product support at My Memories is awesome, My Memories has a blog that contains a wealth of how-to and tutorials to get you started as well as inspiration for your own projects. 

My Memories Suite includes a good selection of paper backgrounds, embellishments and options to get you started within the scrapbooking software. If you want  more (and you're probably going to want more), there is a fantastic selection of great digital packs ranging in price from $9.99 to free that can help you fill up your tool box. If you are looking for some specific designs and themes you can easily search the site for kits that will get you going on specific projects.  Browsing through I noticed a fantastic dinosaur kit Diggin' For Dinosaurs that would have been absolutely fantastic for the Peanut's birthday party crafts two years ago.

Using the papers and options available
with the My Memories Suite to create a
colourful and very personalized calendar

Getting a page together was as simple as dragging and dropping elements and photographs where I wanted them. My Memories Suite allows you to adjust the size, angle and placement of text, photographs and design elements for your projects. I was able to make custom designs from scratch as well as using the templates provided.  I was able to mix and match custom pages with template pages while I was testing out the software.  Because everything is customizable, even a template is going to be a one of a kind creation when you are done with it. I like to think about templates as a jumping off point and a shortcut to get where you're heading faster.

And then there are My Memories Suite Calendar capabilities! I can't tell you how many times I've put off creating calendars that use my own photographs and artwork because the idea of creating the actual month to month grid was too time consuming. The calendar feature in the software takes all that measuring and layout out of the equation, you can choose calendars with boxes or without and resize the grid to fit the whole page or a small part of the page and change the layout, font and colour so that each page in your calendar is either unique or exactly the same. Then we come to the personalization options that can be added to a calendar: Birthdays and anniversaries pop to mind right away written in just like the stat holidays are in the calendar you buy each year. If phases of the moon or other zodiac dates are high on your list to keep track of (Mercury Retrograde, Saturn rising into Virgo anyone?) these can be added too! And those special school dates? Plays, Pro-D's, hot lunches can now be right on your calendar too.  


As far as keeping everything organized for your projects, My Memories Suite collects everything that you use from the papers, embellishments to your artwork in a file folder so it's all at your fingertips. One more little job that gets taken care of. Putting all that stuff together where it's easy to find has been one of those little jobs that often gets unfinished now that I've got my hands full of the Peanut and Bean

So there are a lot of pluses with My Memories Digital Software:

• Super Support on the My Memories Website, Blog and YouTube Channel 
• Great Selection of Digital Papers, Embellishments and Wort Art to get you started within the software
• A huge assortment of additional papers and embellishments available for purchase for free and up 
• My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software
• It's super easy to use
• Keeps your project organized for you
• There are so many options and possibilities

Of course with all the good stuff I've listed there are bound to be some negatives and I did experience a few things that I haven't taken the time to look for help with on the blog or in the forums (this is where the great program support comes in handy). There is an option when you are starting a project using a template to choose all the photographs you wish to use up front and have them dropped in at the beginning. Each time I tried to use this option while playing with the Software My computer froze up. This obviously could be a computer issue and not a software issue at all. In the end I was able to work around it and go forward with the projects I was working on;  so these issues aren't enough of a problem for a negative review. I'll also look into finding out the best way to use that option as I go along using the My Memories Blog and YouTube tutorials.


I'm just getting started exploring some of the other options that the My Memories Suite offers, like online albums that are interactive or feature music or narration (perfect for some personalized screen time activities for the Peanut). For now, ideas for projects like  a photo book of this blog's  A Thousand Words, a digital recipe book featuring some of the recipes I've collected and use most often, or a bedtime book for the Peanut and the Bean using some digital collage art are percolating. There's even an option for photo books that can be professionally printed in the software which means I could have a bound copy of one of those items to put on the shelf.

 
There are practically no limits to what I'd like to do and could do with My Memories Suite. The bonus here is that I'm brimming with creative energy and if there's one thing I like a lot; it is to be excited about creating.  

Now here's where you get to share in the excitement. My Memories is offering you a special $10 discount code to use in their online store to purchase the My Memories Suite. just click the My Memories banner below and cut and paste the Promocode: STMMMS25295 into the form when you're prompted to receive your discount. $10 off is a super deal!


   



And if that wasn't a big enough reason to be excited about the My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software how about a chance to win a copy of the My Memories Suite? (If the rafflecopter widget isn't showing for you to enter refresh the page)
a Rafflecopter giveaway Over the course of the giveaway I'll be posting some of the things I'm working on with My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software. At least one of those posts will give you a chance to add a few extra entries for the draw so stay tuned and good luck!