Chic to Chic ~ Your Story...

As I have become immersed into the scrapping world over the past nine months, I have seen one recurring theme, over and over.  TELL YOUR STORY!  Scrapbooking is the art of telling your story to future generations; you children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren.  But a question that seems to arise just as often is, "Where do I start???".

There are some great resources online to help you tell your story.  You can find tons of journaling prompts, and digidares that will help you tell stories in a creative manner, or blogs about telling your story like Baby Love Letters.  If you want to get OFF the computer and handwrite some of your story before you scrap it, you can also find books of all sizes about writing your memoirs.  Check out these books: Your Words, Your Story or That's Life, Finding Your Scrapbook Inspiration in the Everyday.  Another great way to find inspiration is to find weekly challenges.  Here are two excellent challenge sites that will inspire you to tell your story, My Story Matters and The Book of Me Challenge.

I try to tell the story of my family in my scrapbooks, but I do have difficulty telling about myself.  Lately, I have been inspired to do this more from visiting with my Grandmother, who lost her Mother at the age of six.  If something were to happen to me, I would want my children to have something to remember me by, rather than making them rely on their young memories.  So, I was thrilled when I found StoryRock's Chic to Chic template kit, which is perfect for helping me tell my story.  Here are a few pages from my book of me.  I just changed the backgrounds on the templates provided to match my color scheme and just filled in the journaling!







Can you think of someone who might like to have a book about YOU?  Consider grabbing Chic to Chic this week and whipping one up for them!  You may also consider creating one of these special books about someone else.  Helping them tell their story with your wonderful touch can be a wonderful gift - for them and for you!

Happy Scrapping!  Sarah

Receive the CHIC TO CHIC kit for FREE when you spend $5.00 in the Design Shop and enter the promo code: CHICTOCHIC at checkout!

**IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT ADD the CHIC TO CHIC KIT TO YOUR CART, IT WILL ADD AUTOMATICALLY WHEN YOU ENTER THE PROMO CODE AT CHECKOUT!**

Slice & Dice... isn't that nice???

Welcome to “The Suite Life!”

We are really excited to share this new edition of the My Memories Suite newsletter that will bring you great “Tips & Tricks”, new products, wonderful bargains, a few surprises, and much, much more!  Make sure you read each time for helpful hints, ideas and products that will help to make your pages come alive!

Today, we want to share a tip that comes from one of our Facebook fans,
Judy St. John.  Judy has a wealth of knowledge and enjoys helping people
learn how to get the most of their My Memories Suite software.  Below is her
step-by-step guide to a “Slice & Dice” technique that can give your photos,
papers and mats a great new look.

Judy has been scrapbooking for many, many years—first traditionally with all
of the paper stuff and mess that goes along with it, and now digitally for the
last 8 years.   “I will take digital any day!” says Judy.  “I have always done
most of my digital creating in Adobe Photoshop, but that is a program that
has a huge learning curve!  So, when I found My Memories Suites, it was a
dream come true because I have so many people who want to do digital
scrapbooks, but do not want the expense and learning curve of the Adobe
products.  MMS is the perfect program.”

So, check out her “Slice & Dice” technique below—and don't forget to
post your pages to the Facebook page for us to see.

We look forward to you living THE SUITE LIFE with us!

CREATIVE TIP: Slice & Dice

“Slice & Dice” a photo using the My Memories Suite software
(Note:  Some sample pages from Judy are provided here to illustrate
how this technique can be used)

STEP 1: Open the My Memories Suite software and create a new project

STEP 2: Click on the “Photos” tab at the right of your page

STEP 3: Click on the “Add Photo Box” button to add an empty photo box onto your page.

STEP 4: Now YOU are the creator and get to decide how many picture slices you want (an odd number works out best for good design).  You can copy and paste your empty photo box by right-clicking or using the copy and paste tools in the toolbar to add more duplicate photo boxes.

STEP 5: Now adjust each photo box into the desired size and shape you want (e.g., tall and narrow, short and wide, etc.). With all your photo boxes adjusted to the size and shape you want, you are ready to slice and dice your photo.

STEP 6: Double click on one of your photo boxes to begin.  My Memories Suite automatically brings up a file directory for you to browse to wherever your photos are located on your computer.  Find the picture you want and click OK.

STEP 7: You will now see the shape of your selected photo box layered over the photo you have just chosen.  You can now crop the visible area of your picture by moving this “photo box” layer around on top of your image until you like what you see—then click OK.

STEP 8: Your photo box is now filled with the image area you selected of your photo.  You can now repeat STEPS 6 & 7 for your remaining photo boxes using the same image.  Adjust the visible image area to create a sequence of the same image.

When you are done with your “slicing and dicing” you can then go to each photo box to add rotation, picture mats, and shadows.

STEP 9: To rotate, select each of your photo boxes individually and then use the “Rotate Slider” to tip each one ever so slightly to keep the proper perspective and sequence of the image (best to enter the numbers yourself for complete control).

STEP 10: Add a narrow mat by selecting your photo boxes individually and clicking the Mat button in the tab to the right of the page.

STEP 11: Add drop shadows to your photo boxes by selecting them and adding a shadow to each.  (Note:  The shadow settings used in the example images is with an opacity 54% and a blur of 4).

Enjoy creating!

Thanks again to Judy for sharing this great technique with us!  We look forward to any “Tips & Tricks” you may have about My Memories Suite.   Don't forget to drop by the Design Shop to see the New Designs and the free stuff.

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK
Don't forget to join us on Facebook if you haven't already done so.  There are always great ideas and suggestions for your pages there – and LOTS of friends to help out if you get stuck!  So come join the fun! Don't forget there are FREEBIE downloads made available all the time exclusively for our Facebook fans—so don't miss out out!
Don't forget to make a MEMORY today!
Lisa J.

Great Family Gift Idea!

Good evening friends!  As the weather starts to cool off and the we get ready to greet a new month, our thoughts start to turn to gift giving for the upcoming Holiday season.  There are SO many things you can create with My Memories Suite that make perfect gifts for special friends, family, teachers, neighbors, etc.  Brooke and Beth have shared some awesome ideas the past couple weeks and today I want to share one of my favorites!  For many years in the past, I have created a wonderful gift for my family at Christmas.  I have bought individual calendars for each extended family, grandparents, close friends, etc.  I made sure I took time at each holiday during the year to search out little stickers and goodies to mark each special date on the calendar.  A friend and I used to order Mrs. Grossman's stickers by the roll to make sure we had enough to get through each "calendar" season.  We would hunt out birthday stickers, Easter stickers, Halloween stickers - and on and on and on!  We would lay out stacks of calendars across the dining room table, living room floor and try to keep the list straight that went with each family's specialized list.  Well, needless to say it was a LOT of work!  But it was my Nana's FAVORITE gift (and who can say NO to their Nana???)  Well, fast forward a few years and now we have My Memories Suite software, and out calendar project goes from cumbersome and time consuming to a TRUE treat!  I can still create each family's special calendar with pictures to notate each special birthday and anniversary... I can still mark each special holiday with a great graphic or embellishment - I just NEVER run out of anything now!  No more ordering rolls of stickers or shopping for the entire year so I don't miss a holiday for my sticker stash.  It is ALL accessible in MMS.  If I find a great birthday embellishment I can use it 2 times or 200 times!  I group my extended families together and complete their calendar, mark each of their birthdays, anniversaries, and special events - from the first day of school to a special graduation.  Then, I just upload the whole project using the CALENDAR option in SHARE ALBUM option in My Memories Suite software - and I am DONE!!!  No more stacks of sticker and backing paper scraps all over my living room!

It is a truly wonderful way to share a gift that KEEPS ON GIVING ALL YEAR with your family and then they have the calendar to keep for the memories!  It is truly a treasure!  Just wish my Nana was still here, she would LOVE this!  Here are a couple pages from the upcoming project I am working on!

To get you going on the project BEFORE the holiday rush, we are offering this great promotion this week... spend a minimum of $5.00 in the Design Shop and RECEIVE the OUR MEMORIES CALENDAR template set for FREE - Just use the PROMO CODE: "OURMEMORIESCAL"  at checkout!!

*DO NOT ADD THE OUR MEMORIES CALENDAR TO YOUR SHOPPING CART - IT WILL BE ADDED AUTOMATICALLY WHEN YOU ENTER THE PROMO CODE: "OURMEMORIESCAL" AT CHECKOUT*

Have a great night... and don't forget to make a memory today! 

<3 Lisa J.

Week 3 "Page of the Week" Facebook Winners!

Good morning!  I am very excited to share the winning entries from our Facebook fan page.  These three entries were chosen as our "Page of the Week" winners!  The winners get to choose a FREE StoryRock kit from the Design Shop as their prize!  We love these pages and hope to see more from the girls in the future.  If you haven't joined us on Facebook, sign up today and become a FAN!  There is a FREEBIE kit available to our Facebook fans only.

Congratulations to Emily, Kathleen, and Jamie!  Keep up the good work!

Newest Member of the Creative Team!

It is with great pleasure that we announce the addition of a new member to our Memories Suite Creative Team!  We are adding Sarah Barton to the team!  Sarah will join our current team of myself (Lisa J.) Beth and Brooke!  Sarah has been posting some great ideas, layouts and resources on the Facebook page and we are delighted to add her to the team!  Read more about Sarah in her bio below!

Welcome Sarah!



Hi! I'm Sarah.  I am happily married to my hubby of seven years, Mitchell and we have three children.  My daily responsibilities include working full time outside of my home, running the house, and trying to keep up with my kiddos!  With all of these tasks being required of me daily, I thought I would never be able to scrapbook our memories for my children.  All of that changed when I discovered My Memories Suite.  I started using MMS after making several digital scrapbooks with Smilebox.  Smilebox provided simple templates that I could create scrapbooks with, but it didn't give me the ability to change the page elements or use my creative skills.  My Memories Suite not only provides some pre-made templates for those times I want to make a quick gift or scrapbook, but it also allows me to scrap pages from scratch in just a matter of minutes!  There was NO learning curve - I created my first pages the day it arrived in the mail.  I am so excited to be able to share this software with others, especially with those working Moms who think they don't have time... I am living proof it is possible!

Sarah B.

scraphappysarah.blogspot.com

Shopping for a Digital Bargain this week???

Hi all!  WOW!!! Big things are happening at MMS lately!  We have been growing by leaps and bounds on our Facebook page and YOU our fans have made My Memories Suite website one of the fastest growing digital scrapbooking download sites on the web!  Sometimes, however, such rapid growth creates few headaches and growing pains from time to time.  Last weekend, YOU, our valuable customers came to the Design Shop in such great numbers that we had a few people who had trouble accessing or downloading from the website.  We have resolved the problem and invite you back.  We are including a 10% discount on any TEMPLATE or PACK purchase from the Design Shop as our way to thank you for being the best customers around!

THIS WEEK ONLY ~ YOU CAN GET 10% OFF ANY PACK OR TEMPLATE PURCHASE FROM THE DESIGN SHOP!!  JUST ENTER THE PROMO CODE:  Sept10off when you check out to receive your discount!

Hurry this offer ends on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18th, so get on over to the Design Shop and stock up!

... and don't forget to make a memory today!

Lisa J.

Congratulations to our Facebook "Page of the Week" Winner(s)!

A great BIG congratulations to Amy, Lindsay, and Michelle for being selected as our winners for the Facebook "Page of the Week" contest this week!  All you have to do to enter for next week is log on to Facebook, become a FAN of My Memories Suite on our page, and UPLOAD your favorite or newest or silliest, or most meaningful page!  We have gotten to see some wonderful work from the crew on Facebook and it is SO hard to choose ONE page of the week that we have had to choose 3 each week so far!  Take a peek at the winning pages below and you will see what I mean!  How could you pick just ONE???  Each winner gets to choose a StoryRock kit from the Design Shop for their prize!! Congratulations again girls!  Can't wait to see what will come next week!







Awesome work this week!  Make sure you get your pages uploaded in time to be considered for next week's contest!  Winner(s) chosen every Friday!  Don't miss out!

Have a great night ~ and don't forget to make a memory today!

Lisa J.

Yay!

Hi all!  Great news!  We have reached 500 fans on the Facebook page!!!  If you have not joined us yet, check it out.  Become a fan on our Facebook page and you will find the link to the FREEBIE kit that we are giving away to celebrate our new BIG numbers!

Check it out and become a Fan!  We have a lot of fun and share some great contests and ideas and tips there.

Post a page while you are there, we give away a FREE StoryRock kit of your choice every week if your page is chosen as a "Page of the Week"

Have a blessed day ~ and don't forget to make a memory today!

Lisa J.

Harvest Blessings!

Last Christmas, when I first laid my hands on the My Memories Suite software, I immediately realized that with all the great designs and the easy-to-use program, I would be able to find a million uses for this program!  Sure, I love digital scrapbooking, but I also LOVE with ALL the other fabulous thigns I can do with the program!  The possibilities are really endless.

Like Brooke said in the previous post, the holidays are just around the corner.  If you are like me and like to make your own Christmas gifts, or if you just like to add a little bit of flair to your purchased gifts, the My Memories Suite software can really help with that!  And, I'd like to show you an idea that I am going to use this Christmas!

I enjoy canning foods - you know, things like pickles, jams, pumpkin pie mix, cider, pie fillings, etc.  This year, I am going to be giving homemade canned treats to all the friends, teachers, neighbors, co-workers, well... you get the picture.  We've all seen the jars of different mixes at Christmas that have the pretty fabric and the bow on top.  While those are pretty, I was trying to think of a way that I can package my goodies and express my personality as well.  Then I thought, "What about making fun labels??!"

I've made some jar labels to show you, and I'd have to say that making them was particularly fun and incredibly fast! To make a jar label, simply create your own design, print on regular paper, cut out, and glue to jar.  I used a glue stick, and that worked really well.  (Hint: if you have an inkjet printer, consider spraying the paper with a light coating of clear spray paint to keep the ink from smearing the glue - use caution and cover the lid area when spraying)  In no time at all, the jars were transformed into cute gifts!  And there's no need to measure anything, because you can cut it down to size!  I printed my designs out as a 6x6 square, and they worked great for the quart size jars.

Here are some labels I made.  I used StoryRock's "Twilight Fanpire" to create the pickle label, and I used Corina Nielson's "Totally Eclectic" pack to create the marinade label!



I enjoyed my jar labels SO much, I realized that making labels for jars doesn't have to be limited to Christmas only!  I got to thinking that a cute jar full of pumpkin pie mix or cider mix would make a great hostess gift at Thanksgiving or a fall party.  I personally love the Harvest Blessing pack by StoryRock, so I made a cute pumpkin pie jar label with that pack.

So, there you have it... an easy and simple way to give your Christmas gifts some "oomph" and personality!  It doesn't have to end there either.  Think of all the other great things around your house that you can label with beautiful labels made with My Memories Suite!  You could label not only jars, but gift boxes, kids' toy containers, buckets, etc!

Happy labeling!

Beth

To help you get ready for the fall holiday season we are giving away HARVEST BLESSINGS by StoryRock FREE when you spend a minimum of $5.00 in the Design Shop!  Simply add the promo code: HARVESTBLESSING (no "s) when you check out!

**PLEASE NOTE: DO NOT ADD HARVEST BLESSINGS TO YOUR SHOPPING CART, IT WILL BE ADDED AUTOMATICALLY WHEN YOU ENTER THE PROMO CODE UPON CHECKOUT!**