My Memories Suite Software Review + Giveaway!

While I'm not much of a physical scrapbooker, I've always wanted to give digital scrapbooking a try just for the heck of it. I enjoy graphic designing here and there (I often design blog hop buttons and graphics for my blogs), and like the idea of not having to spend a lot of money on all those fun embellishments when you can get them for so much cheaper digitally, and use them over and over again without having to worry about running out. So when I was approached by Liz from the My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking company asking if I'd like to receive the software for free and review it on my blog, I couldn't pass it up! 

My Memories Suite is primarily a digital scrapbooking software that also allows you to create photo books, custom gifts, and much more. The possibilities are literally endless with this fun and easy to use software. The My Memories software retails for $39.97 and comes with a wide variety pre-loaded embellishments and papers for most holidays and occasions. So many digital creations can be made without even having to purchase additional kits! Here's a quick list of projects that can be made using the My Memories software:

- Scrapbook layouts
- Photo books
- Cards
- Calendars
- Graphics
- Place cards
- Recipe cards
- And more!

The first project I made using My Memories was actually not a scrapbook layout but a couple of buttons for upcoming blog hops I'm hosting. The first button was made using a winter kit that came pre-loaded with the software. The second button was also made using a pre-loaded Easter kit. No additional purchase was necessary! 

The only downfall with making blog badges is their size.. since they're so much smaller than scrapbook layouts when it comes to pixels, adding embellishments and papers makes them huge and you have to zoom out and resize them to add them to your button. The papers and embellishments were made sized for bigger projects, so that's why they have to be resized. It makes the process a little more time consuming, but definitely worth it when the product turns out super cute... and free! I plan on using this software to make many more buttons and badges in the future.

If there's a theme you're looking for that My Memories doesn't come loaded with, you can visit their site and browse through hundreds of kits and templates to find just what you're looking for. They even have free kits! Some kits are solely paper kits, some are quick pages that have the layout and design done for you, and others come with everything - papers, fonts, embellishments, everything you need to design that perfect project for you or a special someone. 

One of the pre-loaded kits I chose to work with to share a sample layout with you was a 4th of July kit. Even though it's the middle of winter I can't help but wish for sunny, warm, weather and a nice summer breeze. :) When you design a digital scrapbook layout using My Memories you can design your own photo template or choose one of their many custom templates. I chose one of their templates, so all I had to do was plug my pictures in. (NOTE: I do NOT take any credit whatsoever for these pictures - these were found using Google Images for the sole purpose of creating a sample layout for this review).

All of the elements come with the kit and it's just a matter of figuring out which ones you'd like to use and where you'd like to put them on your layout. It can be time consuming if you're detail-oriented and a perfectionist like me, but creating a layout, is really, really easy. The software even comes with pages already designed for you so all you have to do is add your own pictures and print. How easy is that?! For a first time digital scrapbooker (and really, a scrapbooker in general) I found this software super easy and fun to use, and will definitely be doing some more playing in the future.

Like what you see and want to give the software a try for yourself? You can enter to win the software for FREE here at Made Especially For You by doing the following:

1.) Become a follower if you aren't already

2.) Visit the My Memories website and pick your favorite kit you would download if you win, then come back here and leave a comment telling me what it is

For extra entries...

1.) Follow my challenge blog, Red Carpet Studio

2.) Follow my creative blog, All that Stickles

One winner will be randomly chosen and announced here at Made Especially For You on Friday January 25th. The winner will receive a special code via email that will allow them to download the software for free.

If you can't wait to get started and would like to purchase My Memories right away... here's a code that works for for $10 off your purchase and gives you a $10 coupon to the My Memories store!
STMMMS99661

You can also stay connected with My Memories 
through their social networking sites!

Blog - http://www.mymemoriesblog.com/

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MyMemoriesFans

Twitter - http://twitter.com/mymemoriessuitehttp://twitter.com/mymemoriessuite

Thanks so much for reading! I'd be happy to answer any questions about the software if you have any - feel free to email me at especiallymadeblog@gmail.com. Have a fantastic week!

I'm A Whimsical Designs DT Member!

I'm very excited to announce that I am now officially a design team member for Whimsical Designs! Stephanie from Whimsical Designs makes amazing cards and has even designed four adorable stamp sets available for purchase! Those can be viewed here in her shop. 

Starting on Wednesday, January 16th, Whimsical Designs will be back with their Whimsical Wednesday challenges! Make sure to stop by the blog then for a fun, new challenge. :) You'll also see posts from me every Wednesday featuring my design team creation for each challenge.

Make sure to also stop by Whimsical Designs for a great giveaway and to say hello to the other new DT members! 

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Happy New Year!

Goodbye 2012 and Hello 2013! Happy New Year, everyone! Hard to believe it's 2013 already, but the year has a lot of exciting things in store for me that I'm looking forward to! To help ring in the new year I made a quick card using one of my new favorite cartridges, Simply Charmed, and the always wonderful Peachy Keen Stamps. :)

The background paper is DCWV and the gold polka dot paper is The Paper Studio. I used clear and gold Vellum for the champagne glasses and solid gray cardstock for the glass shadows and card base. If I remember right the champagne glasses were cut at 3.75" inches from the Simply Charmed Cricut cartridge. 

The pearls in the top corners of the card are from Miriam's Crafting Supplies and the sentiment is one I picked up in the $1 bin a JoAnn Fabrics. Ribbon is from my stash. Stamps are of course Peachy Keen. :)

I am in love with this card - I think it's one of my favorites I've ever made. I'm going through a bout of "crafter's block" right now so I'm happy I got this made last week when I still had a creative mojo. I'm hoping it returns soon because I'm dying tog et in my craft room!

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Cards Galore - Anything Goes

Crazy Amigo Challenge - New Year

I wish everyone a wonderful, happy, healthy, and prosperous 2013!

My Favorite Creations of 2012

As the year comes to an end I thought I'd take some time and look back on the projects I've made this year and choose my favorites. As a fairly new paper crafter it's so interesting to look back and see how your style and creativity have grown. A year ago at this time I had only just received my Cricut and was learning the many wonderful things it can do, and now I use it on almost on all of my projects and it has helped my creativity reach a whole new level. 

(Warning: This post is slightly picture-heavy).

Without further ado, here are my top favorite projects of 2012:

This card was made back in February for a challenge at The Perfect Sentiment. The challenge was to make a 'missing you' card with buttons. I had just purchased the All Dressed Up paper stack by DCWV and couldn't wait to use it... this paper collection is still one of my favorites! 

Original post can be found here.

This Easter card was made in March for a three button challenge. It was my first time using a banner on a card and I love the way it turned out, especially with the pretty pastel color scheme. The bunny was cut from the 3 Birds on Parade cartridge.

Original post can be found here.

This card was created in May and I had just started using digital stamps. I don't color too often, but I really got into it after trying the first time and went out and bought a decent-sized back of Prismacolor pencils to get me started. Once I can afford Copics I think I'll start coloring more often again. :)

Original post can be found here.

I used a Bugaboo digi to make this graduation card in June. I just really love the way it turned out as far as the layout and the coloring. I remember being completely unsure of how I was going to make this card and then somehow it all came together. Funny how those types of cards can end up being one of your favorites!

Original post can be found here.

I am absolutely terrible at typing bows, so the fact that there is an actual, decent-looking bow on this card makes it one of my favorites. I also love the color combo, the fun papers, and the cute birthday birdie. 

Original post can be found here.

This was made for a Christmas in July challenge. It was so simple to make yet I love it. The Christmas tree is cut from the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge and instead of cutting the layers for the tree from the cartridge I hole punched ornaments from the background paper and added some gold glitter to the star on top of the tree and ribbon for garland. Love it!

Original post can be found here.

Okay, this is just too cute to NOT be a favorite. The crafting nut and the sentiment are from Bugaboo, the card was made for a challenge at V's Sweet Ideas when I was on their design team. I love the little banner and instead of using a border cut using my Cricut I used crafting scissors which aren't a tool I use often on cards since I can't cut in a straight line. :)

Original post can be found here.

Masculine cards are usually a challenge for me, but this one came pretty easy. I made the sentiment myself and cut a film strip from the Artiste cartridge. The papers are DCWV and I used layers of cardstock hearts, adhered them together, inked them, and then used glossy accents to give them some shine.

I thought I posted about this one... but I guess not? 

Penguins are my favorite animal ever, and this adorable penguin paired with the cool color combo just makes me smile.

Original post can be found here.

I'm a total glitter girl and can't help but love the glitter on every part of this card! No patterned papers either but the distressed Kraft cardstock makes a nice background.

Original post can be found here.

Love the background paper and the way all of the elements came together.

Original post can be found here.

This rosette tree was inspired by a project I saw on the Cricut website. I took my own take on it from the original instructions but I love the way it turned out!

Original post can be found here.

I have a hard time picking favorites... 

if that wasn't completely obvious already. :)

Happy New Year!

Hope Your Birthday Is As Sweet As You!

As some of you may know I have a challenge blog called Red Carpet Studio. We launched back in September and offer alternating weekly card and layout challenges, all inspired by movies. Challenges run from Sunday through Saturday evening each week and we always have a sponsored prize and choose our top three spotlight submissions. It's a lot of fun and the design team is so talented! While I've done a LOT of behind the scenes work these past few months to help get the blog up and running, I have yet to participate in an actual challenge! I know, I know, shame on me...

Since it's the fifth week of the month which only happens a few times a year, we do an anything goes themed challenge. This week's challenge is inspired by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Create any "sweet" project - meaning candy, cake, cookies, etc. One lucky, randomly chosen winner will receive a FREE blog makeover from Vampire Craftin! Stacy designed my blog and she does AMAZING work! Definitely a challenge worth entering. :)

My boss's birthday is this week and I decided to make her a birthday card, featuring something sweet, of course. :)

The patterned papers are from the DCWV 8 Stack paper collection and the solid turquoise and green cardstock is also by DCWV. The cupcake is cut at 2.75" from the Sweet Treats Cricut cartridge and the white scallop is cut at 4" from Cricut Craft Room Basics. The sentiment is computer generated.

I added some Crystal Stickles to the flower and sprinkles on the cupcake and added Turquoise Stickles around the white scallop. All papers aside from the sentiment and base cardstock are slightly distressed with blue ink. The turquoise circle is embossed with the D'vine Swirl embossing folder using my Cuttlebug.

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you are having a lovely weekend and take some time to enter this week's challenge at Red Carpet Studio! We'd love to have you. :)

Thank You "Snow" Much!

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone! Oh how time flies. Even though it feels like just yesterday I was working on Christmas cards, now it's time to get going on those thank you cards for all the wonderful gifts I received. Santa sure was good to me this year! I received four new Cricut cartridges (Birthday Bash, Everyday Paper Dolls, Sweethearts, & Sweet Treats) and 13 colors of Tim Holtz Distress Stickles! I have all of the colors in the regular Stickles collection, now I'm working on building up my Distress Stickles collection. :) I also received some Michael's gift cards so yesterday I did a little shopping and scored some sweet deals on embellishments and after-Christmas items, they were already setting up for spring when I was there! How crazy is that?!

While Michael's may be getting ready for spring... I sure am not! There's too many ideas for winter cards that I still have to create. :) So I started with this one... a cute, winter-themed thank you card.

All papers are from the Stack 8 paper pack by DCWV - there's so many fun patterned papers in this collection! I'll definitely be using this one quite often.

The Thank You sentiment is a rubber stamp from my stash and the lace was picked up in my Michael's haul for only 99 cents! Couldn't pass that up. I also distressed the edges of the sentiment and the patterned papers with some blue ink.

The snowflakes are cut at 2.25" and 2" from the Winter Lace cartridge and stamped with Peachy Keen Stamps. :) I also added some sparkle using Crystal Stickles.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Crafty Ribbons - Blue & Green
Crafty Sentiments - All that Glitters

Elphine House - Snow & Swirls

Fab 'n' Funky - Ribbon & Lace

High Hopes Stamps - Anything Goes

The House That Stamps Built - 2 Shades of Blue

Inky Impressions - Sparkle
Moving Along with the Times - Thank You

Nutcrafters - Lots of Layers & Sparkle/Bling

Papercraft Star - Snow

Shopping our Stash - Winter NOT Christmas

Thanks "snow" much for stopping by! :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! It's been such a busy past few weeks I've only had time to think about what I would like to craft and not actually craft, lol. I thought I'd share a quick card I made today before all the holiday festivities begin!

I've been admiring this cute little gingerbread man and his home in the Create a Critter 2 handbook for quite a while now and thought it was time to finally bring them to life. :) 

I sort of went Stickles-crazy with this card... there are days when I am such a glitter girl! I used Christmas Red, Green, and Baby Blue to accent the gingerbread house, the gingerbread man, and the sentiment. The house was cut at 3.25 inches and the gingerbread man was cut at 2 inches. The 'Happy Holidays' sentiment is one I found in the $1 bin at Michael's a while back. I also distressed the edge of the background paper (which is from the Recollections Jolly Jamboree paper pack) with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Walnut. 

Since there's so many Christmas challenges going on right now, I thought I'd enter this card into a few of them. My first time linking up to multiple challenges, woo hoo! :)

Di's Digi Designs - Christmas
Glitter n Sparkle - Christmas/New Year
House of Gilli - Add Sparkle

Kaboodle Doodles - Christmas/Holidays, or New Years

Lawnscaping - Make it Shine
One Stop Craft - A Christmas Carol

Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge - Anything Goes

Stamp and Create - Sparkly Christmas

The Pink Elephant - Anything Goes

There She Goes - Last Minute Christmas

 Have a very Merry Christmas! I hope Santa is good to you. :)