Scrapbooking for the busy mom {+Giveaway}

I have been a big scrapbooker for as long as I can remember. In fact, pretty much all of the women in our family scrapbook. We have those big old gatherings a few times a year where we head out of town for the weekend, or just to somebody’s house. I really loved these things. We even had monthly get togethers during the winter months. I remember doing 70+ pages in a weekend and feeling like a rock star because I loved the pages I did. I couldn’t wait to have my own kids so I could scrapbook their pictures. Then, I had kids. Guess what? I have only scrapbooked once or twice since having kids. I just can’t find the time! It takes me so long to pull out all of my stuff and get working and get it all put back away that I don’t get much done at all. I don’t have a place to just leave it out without Maggie getting at it.

I was very skeptical of digital scrapbooking. There is just something I love about working with my hands touching the paper, stickers, my writing, and all that jazz. Then, my sister in law was showing me her digital scrapbooking pages and I thought, okay, they look the same. Maybe I would give it a try. Well, then I get an email from Liz at My Memories asking if I would be interested in doing a review. Well, yes, yes I would. I would very much like to try this out and see what I think. Want to know what I thought?

First of all, it’s a big file and took me awhile to download. Probably due more in part to the fact that our internet is ridiculously slow than anything else. When it was installed, I couldn’t wait to start messing around with it. I’m pretty sure I ignored my kids for a few days while I checked it out…okay, I didn’t, but I was excited to play around! I am using My Memories Suite v. 4. When I first opened it up, of course I had to click on every single thing and see what embellishments and paper I had. That took me awhile. Getting started can take a little time while you familiarize yourself with the program. By the time I got to the 2nd page, I had figured out most of it, I think….. There is so much to say about the program that I will touch only on some of my favorites.

There are a ton of layouts to use, or you can just place your pictures. You can resize your pictures, crop them, or one of my favorite things, set your picture as the page paper. {See below} There is a quick mat option if you want to mat all of your pictures on the same paper. Best of all, if you decide you don’t like the paper you chose for the page, you can simply change it. Easy peasy. If you aren’t that creative but still want to keep your memories in a book, choose the auto fill option. You can add anything you would add sitting at a table with paper and scissors; buttons, brads, ribbon, stitching, whatever else you can think of. Plus, you can do tons of fun stuff with words. Put them in a box outline, stretch them, change the font, color, size. So many different options. I have a lot more to learn about this.

You can choose what size pages you want to make, I prefer 12 x 12.

I did discover that there are tons of packs available for free on the website. I started downloading a bunch of them, and then realized that I was doing exactly what I always have when scrapbooking. Acquiring too many things! Then, I get lost when I’m looking for them. That is where I realized that digital scrapbooking offers something really awesome – the ability to go buy what you need when you need it instead of searching through everything you own. I am having so much fun with this software and can’t wait to scrapbook some more. You can even add video and music if you plan to keep it online.

I didn’t think digital scrapbooking software would be for me, but once I started using it, I realize that I will actually be able to scrapbook now. I can keep it open on my laptop and work on it here or there. It will probably save me money as well because I can simply purchase things as I’m ready to use them instead of buy them all at once and hope I remember to use them.

Here are some of the pages I have done {I know, the last page isn’t finished just yet, but it gives you an idea of just what you can do with one picture – enlarge and crop, shrink it, you name it, you can do it}.

I really like that even though I am not dragging out all of my scrapbooking stuff, I am still able to do each page in my style. More than anything though, I love being able to scrapbook in the limited time I have. I look forward to bringing you continuous updates on the fun I am having with My Memories Suite V4.

You can do more than just scrapbook though. Create cards, calendars, and much more. Follow the fun on Facebook and Twitter for some new ideas and promotions. Check out this video for a quick tutorial on text and shapes.

Buy it: Visit My Memories and get your own download and start scrapbooking today. Use code STMMMS57588 and get $10 off of My Memories Suite v4 AND $10 to use at the My Memories store!

Win it: One lucky reader is going to win their own copy of My Memories Suite v4 ($39.97 value).

Open Worldwide
Ends 11:59 pm EST on March 30, 2013
Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product for the purpose of this review. However, all opinions are 100% my own and only influenced by my experience with the product and company.*