New ~ My Memories Suite Version 8 just released

Hi Everyone!  My Memories has just released version 8 of their award winning digital scrapbooking program.  I downloaded it this weekend and the upgraded interface is really nice.  I haven't tried all the new features yet, but I did easily finish up some pages and send them off to be printed in time for Christmas! And, when I uploaded the new version I noticed that I had a free 6 X 6 photobook!  I went back to see what that was about and you also get a free month of the design club.  You can follow my link to the right of this blog to get right to the site and save $10 too!or use this link below

my memories link use code STMMMS28004

Chess with Grandpa!

Hi Everyone!  I haven't posted a page in such a while!! I was happy to have some time this week to use my My Memories Software again!  I do miss making my pages!  I had a busy March as I tried out for being a Stampin' Up! Display stamper for their On Stage event. Then when I made it, I had to make the projects for the Display boards in April, on top of my regular stamping classes and kid stuff, Teacher Appreciation and 8th grade graduation.  Whew!   My poor digital scrapbooking got put on the back burner.   The new Stampin' Up! catalog came out and I was busy getting ready for that and pulling retired products to sell and making new projects for the kick off!  And now I am trying out for the next Stampin' Up! stamper opportunity so it all begins again.  I was not feeling well great last night and my husband was out, so it was the perfect time to sit with my computer and make a page.  I used a new kit that I bought from the Lilypad last week called Walton, by Lynn Greiveson.  So pretty! and there are lots of embellishments. 

https://the-lilypad.com/store/Walton-Mini-kit.html
Love the kit and I think it paired really nicely with my photo. 













Hope you like the page! 

New My Memories Version 7!!

Hello my fellow Digital Scrapbookers! Did you hear the news?!?!  The new Suite 7 is now available from My Memories!!  I have already downloaded the new version and it has several great new features, some that those of you who had My Digital Studio really missed, such as the ability to crop stamps (imprints) and embellishments.  I cropped embellishments all the time in MDS so I am so happy that this has been added to the new MMS7! here is a list of new things...

I love the photo used indicator.  I am working on a photobook of my families summer vacation and I have lots of photos in that folder.  The indicator puts that little check mark on the photos as I add them to the book, so that I know I have used it already.  There are a lot of new features and I will talk about them as I use them.  I am looking forward to trying out the blured photo edges, the tile background and the new text features.  There is a cyber Monday sale going on now, so go check out the latest downloads and new suite 7 at the My Memories site!

First Recital ~ Fun chalkboard frames

Hello everyone.  I found a fun download of frames that I just had to have.  I think chalkboard elements are so fun, and I know they have been around for a while but I seem to be drawn to them all the time.  Maybe its because I have three children and they are fun for kid pages.  This collection of frames was part of a download called Di's Doodling Frames #1.     There are 75 frames in all.  Chalkboard, cardboard, grid paper and stamps.  Really fun! They have 6 pages for inspiration too.   I had a lot of photos of Jillian's first recital so I made a two page spread this time.

An easy way to make your page into a two-page spread is to "insert a duplicate page".  You can see this option at the top editing bar in both MDS and MMS.  You can insert a mirrored page as I did for my pages, or you can insert an exact duplicate.  Then you can change the pictures in the frames and move things around as you like. This way you don't have to recreate your embellishments and all the backgrounds.







Here is the sketch...

I hope you find some digi inspiration today.  If you would like to share what you did with this sketch you can attach a link in the comments section or add your page to my Facebook page.

Here is the frame collection. 
It was $3.99

I thought this was an interesting way to use the frames.  You could print them out onto paper and use them in fun ways like art journaling or cards.  I see some framed cards in my near future!

My Memories, It's a keeper!

Hello everyone!  Well I finally decided to just do it.  I bought the My Memories Software.  I am very happy with it and with the company.  Several of my other MDS friends have bought it as well and called the tech support with various questions and they are very easy to work with.  They also seem to answer email questions in a very timely manner.  AND, they really seem to want to cater to us MDS users and make us feel welcome.  My Memories is offering their version 5 software free, and version 6 for $19.99 with a $7 credit towards downloads. I was surprised and pleased that when I checked in at the My Digital Studio.net site, they are showing how to make the transition easily and add your MDS content to their software so you can keep using the SU downloads you love. Check it out here!    Not sure how long that deal lasts.
Stampin' Up! and My Memories have been working together a bit and My Memories has agreed to add some new Print offerings to their selection, some that we as SU people want, like 4 styles of cards and my beloved Swatch books! YES!  and individual pages so I can print them and pop them into page protectors.  
AND, Stampin' Up! has said that soon My Memories is going to start to carry a selection of Stampin' Up! downloads! YEA!!  very happy
I went ahead and downloaded the software onto my computer.  I played around with it a bit and then migrated all my SU content to the My Memories software.  I kept it on my My Digital Studio software too. I am not ready to completely delete MDS and since it is like second nature to me, I will probably keep making my pages in MDS for quite a while too.  But, getting myself all set up in My Memories was a HUGE load off my back. I now know that if I need it, I have tech support and a supported software to keep me creating.  So happy.  And it was easy.  I also taught myself how to add content from a third party.  I found a couple places to buy downloads that are really great.
The Lilypad has a huge selection of digital content from a large list of designers.
Snap and Click has a huge selection as well, and the prices seem really nice too.
Designer Digitals has a very large and nice selection as well.  and if you search from brushes or stamps they have really nice ones!! 
My Memories has a series of video tutorials to help you learn all the features but if you use MDS, it will be super easy!
Please feel free to ask me any questions!!
Thanks for stopping by!

Backing Up your MDS files

As most of you know by now, Stampin' Up! has decided to stop supporting My Digital Studio after May 31st of this year.  While this does not meant that you can no longer use it, it does mean that if you have a problem with it, you will not be able to get assistance. Tami at MDS Monday had been working on making some videos to help you back up your software and downloads.  You can view them at the MDS Monday blog under the Video's and How to's tab.  

For those of you with MDS who love it like I do, here is my plan.  I am going to back up my files just in case. Then I am going to continue to use it as I have been for a few years now.  I looked into some other software and found that there is a lot of good stuff out there, but since this is working for me, I am not going to get rid of it just yet. 

When the time comes, and I need to switch, I plan on switching to the My Memories version 6.  here is a link.  The My Memories company is the company that made MDS for Stampin' Up! and works most like MDS.  There are a few issues though.  They do not have the same print options that Stampin' Up! does.  For example with MDS you can make a card and then choose to print 4 to an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet, or you can choose to print two to an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet, cut in half, or  you can print one to fold in fourths.   Also, My Memories does not have Stampin' Up! colors pre-programed, and as I like to make hybrid cards, that is important to me.  However, there are work arounds for all the issues.  Another Stampin' Up! demonstrator Janine Tinklenberg has make a list of all the Stampin' Up! colors and their RGB codes , You are wonderful Jan!! I will add them to the bottom of this post. 

In the mean time, I will keep on creating wonderful pages in MDS and see how it goes.  Be sure to check into backing up your files just in case!  And I plan to keep on posting pages and sketches here and I'll see if that is helpful to anyone. 

I am working on compiling a list of printing options for the MDS Monday site and I will keep you updated on that as well. 

Stampin' Up! and My Digital Studio

Many of you have heard the sad news that Stampin' Up! has decided to discontinue to carry it's digital line called My Digital Studio.  The sales were not there and they have decided to stick with their paper products and so as of May 31st the MDS line and all the digital content will no longer be available.  As you can imagine I was super sad to hear this news. I waited a few days to post here because I wanted to do some research and see what I could do to continue to use my favorite Stampin' Up! product.  It's sort of amazing for me to say that, because I resisted digital scrapbooking for so long, but I really do love it and I love my pages and the fact that they get completed and printed out and put into books. When I made paper pages I would have to get out a lot of stuff and make a big space and sort photos and print photos and if I didn't have a big chunk of time to do it, I didn't even try.  With digital, I could open my laptop, create for a while, save it and close it to work on later. Easy peasy.  But anyway, there is not really any thing I can do to change the minds at SU and I do in fact want SU to stay around and if they feel this is a good business decision then that is what they need to do.  I still love my paper and stamps too!

I am going to still keep using MDS as it is.  Just because Stampin' Up! is getting rid of this line does not mean that I have to stop using it.  That said, there are a few things I and you, need to do.  You need to back up your purchased downloads.  Stampin' Up! has been saving your purchased downloads in a library for you in case you needed to reload them, but that will be deleted after May 31st.  You can back up to the "Cloud" or to an external hard drive or both (I am doing both).   There is a Discussion about this here.

Story Rock is the creator of My Digital Studio and they make the software for other companies as well.  They are being very helpful and have given us some great responses to questions when some demonstrators have contacted them.  They say that their My Memories software is extremely similar to the My Digital Studio program and they are offering a free trial and a free version 5 for those of you who may want to switch over to them.  They are also offering 50% off their version 6 (normally $40).  They are known to be very helpful with the tech side of things.  They also seemed to have a good response time.  There software comes with a lot of digital content and they have a ton of downloads for sale so you can keep on creating.  And they give a tutorial on how to import your Stampin ' Up! downloads into their software so you can use them too.

Here is the My Memories site info.  They posted this online for Stampin' Up! customers...

 I will let you know what else I learn going forward.
Oh, and because I love to make my digital pages and I knew that Stampin' Up! was not going to be releasing any more downloads I went on a mission to find downloads that appeal to me.  Everyone has different opinions and tastes and unfortunately mine matched up with Stampin' Up's so nicely that I was worried that I would have a hard time finding downloads.  At first all that I found were very frilly, which is pretty and has it's place, but it is not me. I am not at all frilly :)  not sure where my daughter Jillian gets it.  Another demonstrator clued me into this list of digital designers and I went through them and found a few I really like.
I found some fun stuff here at "the digital press"
and here there is a list of designers on the left and you can see who fits your style "the lily pad"
From there I found "pink reptile" and I really like all the doodle images and the papers.

Well, that's it for now.  I will keep you undated.  in the mean time happy scrapping!