Making Memories Challenge #1

Today is the very first challenge at the new 

Making Memories Crafting Challenge blog !

This is an anything goes / digital crafting blog
(please keep your projects family friendly).
The challenge runs for an entire month.
Be sure to read our simple rules first.

 This month the design team worked with images from Bugaboo Stamps
and Digistamps 4 Joy.

I chose the January word from Bugaboo 
to make a desktop computer background. 

Using Photoshop Elements 10, I filled it in with digital papers from the 

new digital scrapbook kit Winter Adventures by JMC Designs.

I don't have much know how when it comes to these sort of things,
but my daughter and I figured out something similar on another
project. Using what I learned on that project, I was able to
muddle my way through filling this image in with digi papers!

I originally colored it in to match the colors in the 
darker decorative snowflake paper. 

By filling it with papers instead,
I was able to fill the snow covered portions with glitter paper!
 The letters themselves are filled with textured card stock
and a snowflake overlay.

I saved it as a PNG so it could be imported into 

My Memories Suite 8 software as an embellishment. 

I used My Memories V8 software to complete the project.

I checked my computer screen details then set my canvas size

in My Memories 8 software to the correct pixels, width by height.

The background was created with layers of 
 papers from the Winter Adventures digi kit.

There is a neat calendar making feature in the software

that made it really easy to insert the calendar element !

I added a text box for the year.

I also added a large white drop shadow around the finished
January word art piece on top of the background papers.



Add more elements from the digital kit and a photo
to really jazz up your computer desktop background! 
Be sure to keep in mind the number of icons on your screen
and their placement in regards to the elements you want 
to add to your digitally designed, custom background. 

This is what is so much fun about digital creations:
you can change things up over and over 
without wasting actual paper crafting supplies !





Thanks for looking -
now take a few minutes to see what the
rest of the design team has come up with !

http://makingmemoriescrafting.blogspot.com/

Wishing you a Happy, Crafty New Year ! 

Digi Kit Sneak Peek - FB Timeline Cover

I created this facebook timeline cover as a sneak peek at an upcoming digital scrapbooking kit from JMC Designs and to enter into an all digital challenge at Digitally Sweet Challenges blog. This month the challenge is to create an all digital project that is green, white and one other color (I used navy).


This is the first time I've made a facebook timeline cover that has an opening that a photo can be added to. I'm happy to say that with a little bit of experimentation, I was able to figure out a way to do it. I really need to learn how to use Photoshop Elements........

I created the original piece in My Memories Suite 7 software, the program I use for creating digital scrap book projects most often. When I realized there was no way to make the frame opening  in MMS 7 (although there is a transparent background for creating on in MMS 7 now) , I deleted the flower in the right hand corner of my original and exported the rest of the piece as a JPG.

I opened the JPG up in Photoshop Elements. I used the magic wand tool to select the inside of the frame then I clicked Select and Inverse. I cut the entire background, minus the inside of the frame, then pasted it into a new file with a transparent background. I forgot to mention that it is sized 851 pixels by 315 pixels. Once the cut portion was applied to the new transparent background, I inserted the flower embellishment from the digital kit as a new layer on top, adding a drop shadow. I also added a shadow to the larger piece. There was an error message that popped up, I don't remember what it said, but was happy to see that the shadow did work on the frame as I had hoped. Once all of these steps were done, I saved and exported the file as a PNG . I was excited to see that it worked as I hoped it would when I opened it up in PSE again and inserted a photo under that timeline cover png file !

Thanks for looking :)

Blog Hop Scrap Page - Win MMS7 Software

The above is a quick scrap page I made with the

Snowflakes digi kit by DeeDee's Digi's

as part of the House of Cards blog hop.

I used  My Memories Suite V7 software

(Use code STMMMS23251  during checkout to receive  $10 off the purchase of MyMemories Suite 7 and  10% Off Photobooks and Photo Gifts plus a code for your first month free to the Design Club!

OR keep on reading to see how you could possibly win a copy !)

The stripes and snowflake covered background papers

as well as the larger snowflake images and 

word art are included in the kit.

My Memories has thousands and thousands of 

digital kits and other content available for purchase

on their site. There are also freebies by generous

designers. However, if you find a kit from another designer

elsewhere on the internet (there must be millions of digital products out there!)

that you really like, it can easily be used in the My Memories software.

In fact, they've made it easier than ever to import designs bought elsewhere !

HOW TO:

Add custom or 3rd party content:

1. Open a desired type of content tab in the control panel. (backgrounds,

embellishments, shapes, or imprints.)

2. Click on the Custom (folder) icon.

3. Browse to the folder on your computer containing custom images.

4. Select the image, and click ok.

Display custom or 3rd party content in the gallery:

1. Open an album.

2. Click on a desired content type gallery icon. (Embellishment, background, or imprint)

3. Click on the orange browse icon.

4. Browse to a folder on your computer containing the custom images.

5. With the folder selected click Ok or Open.

6. The images within the folder will then display in the gallery on the left.

How I made the scrap page:

I used shapes included in the My Memories software

(easily altering the size and shape)

then color filled them using the color picker tool

to coordinate with the digi kit papers.

I also added shadows to each shape to create dimension.

My Memories software has been around for a few years.

Version 7 is now available and wow, 

does it have some fun new improvements ! 

I have yet to try them all out, but looking at the list

of the features, I know I can't wait to try them.

My Memories 7.0 update details:

(click above for pdf with photos)

- New user interface designed to be less distracting, placing emphasis on the project.

- Photos used in the album are now tracked through the gallery with an indicator.

- Blur the edges of photos with a right-click.

- Fill a .png image with a photo. (embellishments, imprints, etc)

- Text has been overhauled with a new Jword editor. You can now tab space, and wrap

text. The edit mode should more accurately reflect how it will display on the canvas

when exiting edit mode.

- Shapes and Imprints can now be cropped, similar to embellishments and photos.

- Browse to specific image types from within a gallery. (embellishments, shapes,

imprints, etc.)

- Force images to be the same cropped size with a right-click. The bottom layer image

will crop to the top layer image size.

- You can now right-click on an object layer to display edit options.

- Custom browse icons have been added to each content panel so it is easier to add

specific image types.

- Increased the number of items that can be added to a custom category. (Previous limit

was 40 per category.)

- Rearrange custom categories for backgrounds and embellishments using the up and

down arrow icons with the category selected.

- You can now left-click on an image layer to select it on the canvas. (Previously required

a double-click.)

- Add auto captions to existing photos from a right-click.

- Move pages within your album to a new page by right-clicking on the page thumbnail,

and choosing the new page number.

- Added a paint bucket to imprint paint options. This allows you to flood fill same color

pixels within the imprint.

- Make photo boxes the same size as embellishment objects, with a right-click while

having both an embellishment and box selected.

- Tile the applied background on the current page.

- Calendar years can now go back several years.

- Additional corner rounding styles have been added. If you round a photo with a rightclick

you can now choose from the standard round, or some new styles.

- Hide and show the control panel and page thumbnails from the View menu.

- Master page layer can be enabled from the View menu. Any objects added to the

master layer will display throughout the entire album.

- In addition to the photo icon under shapes you can now add a photo to a shape with a

right-click.

- Preferences have been updated with more defaults for text, view options, and more.

- Relative spacing guides now display on the canvas when moving or sizing objects.

- Added the cards, postcards, swatchbooks, and pages options into the share menu.

If you'd like a chance to win a copy

of the new and improved digital scrapbook

(and more!) software from My Memories,

please leave a comment below,

including what new feature you like,

 before Midnight CST on December 9th, 2015. 

I will randomly choose one person

that has left a comment that includes

what new feature they like. 

Winner will be announced on my blog

December 10th, 2015.

Good luck!

Zoo Digi Kit

The first of the month is quite an active time for my blog now !
I design for House of Cards, JMC Designs and Anything But A Card and it just so happens that I need to have posts go live the first of the month for each. This is the second of three posts you'll see over 24 hours ;) There will be a little something for everyone that is into paper crafting: the card posted earlier, these scrapbook pages (okay, so they are digital but you can use them for paper crafted page inspiration) and a 3-D item later. It's been fun "working" so much this past month on design team duties and finishing off my final box of cards for Operation Write Home.

On to the scrap pages and kit!

There is a new adorable kit, sold in Bits N' Pieces, in the Scraps-N-Pieces store this month:
I See You by JMC Designs. It's a cute set perfect for scrapping trips to the zoo , but useful for many other fun digi projects as well ! Custom made party invites or one of the cute animals printed onto iron transfer paper to make a tshirt for a toddler are a couple of different ideas.

I used My Memories Suite V6 software to create these pages.

There is a neat feature in the software that allows you

to change the colors of items !

Sure, for it can be done in Photoshop, but that program can be

intimidating for many people that want to learn digital scrapbooking.

My Memories Suite is easy and fun to use -

plus it comes with premade albums and content

as well as an ever expanding store with more content

added daily (some of which is  FREE!).

Lots of great promos by the designers, too.  

Enough of the "sales pitch", 

on to the tutorial to show you how easy it is to change colors.

I loved the tiger image in the I See You digi kit,

but could totally picture it as a grey kitty to use

on a scrapbook page of my cat, Hyla.

(I did not use it on the above sample to avoid 

any confusion since it was created to promote the kit).

Below are a couple of screen shots

that show you the steps I took to change the color.

What's really neat, you are not limited to just the

MMS color palette, you have several options to

choose your own color.

NOTE: the color will not be exact, 

but you can make it close to what you would like. 

I used one of the grays from the programs color palette

to make the orange tiger embellishment into a gray striped house cat

for use on another page  ! 

THANKS for looking =) 

Anything But A Card July Challenge

It's the first Sunday of July 

(already !??! the year is half over?)

which means it is time for a new challenge at

Anything But A Card.

This months theme is 

Anything Goes !

With the recent record setting flood we had,

I decided to make digi scrap pages with 

some of the photos I took.

Basic how to in My Memories Suite software:

I made a sort of paper punch digital page,

using Shapes (triangles) in the software that I altered

to make the sun rays. I paper filled them with a gingham 

patterned paper to match the circle sun.

The waves were an experiment that I am happy to say

turned out pretty well ! 

They are also made from punches (circles) in the software

as well as a large square, all of which were paper filled

to match. They were laid on top of the background paper.

See the graphic below

Thanks for looking and be sure to check the Anything But A Card blog each Sunday
for more inspiring ideas shared by the design team. Should you decide to join us,
be sure to read the few easy to follow rules posted here before creating and sharing your project.

Beautiful Baby Card

Oh, I am so happy with how this card turned out ! It was originally going to have all pink on it rather than any blue because the new mom to be was told she was having a girl. A bit later in the pregnancy, and after the shower that had to be rescheduled, she had an ultrasound for another reason and asked the technician to double check the baby's sex. That little stinker had been hiding his goods, it's a boy ! So I redid the card, changing out most of the pink for blue. I did leave a bit a of pink as a nod to the fact that they thought he was going to be a she - and strange things do happen, perhaps he really is a girl after all ;)

I like to try to make cards to color (or theme) coordinate with the occasion I am making them for if possible. I was able to visit with the mom to be a little bit one week before the baby shower and found out that she was being given a quilt with this "mosaic"design in it. All the colors were neutral, creams and tans. Now that she found out it is a boy, she may change her mind because this is what she was doing when it was a girl.

I used sketch challenge 253 at Operation Write Home as inspiration for the layout and in looking back through recent color challenges at Splitcoaststampers,com, it fits the color challenge 528: Crumb Cake, Soft Sky, Blushing Bride.

Most supplies used were from Stampin' Up!

Kraft Coredinations card stock , sanded
Soft Sky, Very Vanilla and Kraft card stocks
Mosaic embossing folder
Scallop edge border punch
Hole punch
Circle Nestabilities die
Blushing Bride ruffled ribbon
My Memories Suite software for the custom, circular sentiment
Dimensionals

In order to make the round sentiment on the front, I used My Memories Suite software. I made three different text boxes on a transparent background. Two of boxes  were text wrapped by applying the CURVE feature. One was inside and one was outside the circle to make the text look the way it does, otherwise one of the words would be upside down. Each required rotation to fit the way I wanted. The third text box is for the word Baby and it is just a regular text box, centered. I sized the circular sentiment to fit one of my Nestabilities dies, printed and cut out. The easiest way to do this is to add a SHAPE and type in a CUSTOM size that is the same as the die, Layer your text boxes over the shape, using it as a mat to work on then once done, delete the shape leaving only the text. What's neat is, if you design a word art that you would like to reuse, save it as a PNG file on the transparent background then you can reuse it and resize it for other projects!

Thanks for looking =)

20th Birthday Card for a Young Man

Card I made for my sons 20th birthday.....

sniffle................

20 is die cut with dies from Stampin' Up!

I cut a set from chipboard that I painted red then

I cut another set from textured red card stock I glued to

the tops of the chipboard pieces. 

The background is embossed with a folder from Cuttlebug

Real stitching on the silver metallic card stock strips.
(I should have stopped with just two stripes, top to bottom,
to resemble racing stripes on a car, but I was trying to make
the flowery elements on the embossed background less noticable).
Because I used real stitching on this card,
I am linking it to the Mid Month Throwdown at
Operation Write Home : stitching.

Computer generated sentiments, how to's below. 

I used My Memories Suite V5.

See my sidebar for a valuable offer

to purchase the newest version of this versatile software.

I do have V6, but it is on my laptop.

I used my desktop that has V5 on it so

I would be able to print it out.

NOTE: I import my files into Adobe Photoshop Elements

in order to print them out. I've never had luck printing directly

from the MMS software, everything is gets centered on the page

when I intend for them to be off center. 

Glitch with my computer/printer I suppose.

Open the software.

You will need to insert your

custom size measurements in INCHES

at the bottom to create a card in MMS V5.

 5.25 Width   4 Height    Inches   Landscape

(normally 5.5" x 4.25", but I chose to use a slightly

smaller canvas to work on knowing the card front would

be cut smaller to mat on a different color.

The canvas will open up with a transparent background.

Click SHAPES

ADD

choose your shape, I used a circle

ADD

Change the color to WHITE

Add a DROP SHADOW, centered with 100% Opacity

Adjust the size by pulling the little gray squares

around your shape or if you want a specific size like I did,

double click the shape and a box will op up for you to input the dimensions.

Be sure you have the INCHES box checked.

Here is a composite of a few screen shots to show you:

I made my circle 2.25" so I could cut it out with a

Nestabilities die I have that it would fit perfectly in.

A photo of the die over the printed piece

so you can see how it fits (the print is just inside the

inner circle so you can easily see it to line it up

with the die).

Once you have your shape the size you want,

click TEXT and type what you wish to say.

You will need to play around with this a bit 

to make it even around your shape once you 

attach the text to the shape. Different fonts and sizes

plus lengths of words will require different 

degrees of playing around to fit to your liking.

You click your shape and the text box so they are

both "highlighted", then choose Wrap Text.

This will only work on circles and squares.

Try both the inside and the outside option to see which 

you like best. You may need to adjust the

                                        "wrapped text" a bit to fit the shape the way you like.

This is easy to do by grabbing the little gray boxes around

the text box. 

You can delete the Shape after you have the text the way you like.

The shape was used as a base to create on to get 

the correct size for your project.

I delete the background to save only the text

as a PNG file to be used on other projects.

You don't want a white background or 

to save as a JPG if you want the ability to 

resize the text and insert it onto a colored background.

Here is a diagram that shows the difference.

This is an 8" x 8" pink background.

Thanks for looking =) 

TIP: IF you are a user of My Digital Studio

by Stampin' Up! and have not heard about the

company no longer selling/supporting the software, 

I suggest you visit mydigitalstudio.net and

be sure to back up all of your downloads before May 31st !

YES, they can be used in My Memories Suite !!!

Nintendo 3DS Birthday Card

This is a birthday card I created using

My Memories Suite V6 software.

It is sized 8x8 and will be folded in half.

It is supposed to resemble a new Nintendo 3DSXL

handheld gaming system.

My nephew is hoping to buy one with money he has

been gifted for Christmas and his birthday.

It took some time making the digital paper punches to size

and put in position, but in the end I think it

turned out better than had I tried to make one from

real paper punches and such.

Plus, the sentiment is much straighter

(and a better font/size than any of my stamps)

than if I would have tried to stamp it.

My kids gave me a thumbs up,

so I think my nephew will like it.

I didn't take screen shots of the process for a tutorial,

but it is pretty straightforward:

Open the MMS6 software.

Choose "Design"

Choose "Quick Sizes 8x8"

TIP: Remember to hit "SAVE" on your project

 throughout the process in case something happens

(power surge, cat jumps on your keyboard, etc).

You don't want to lose all of your had work !

Background - Color - White

Then start adding Shapes, resizing them

to resemble the different buttons and windows.

Color fill as needed.

TIP: when you know you have a few buttons that are supposed

to be the same size, just copy and paste the first one you make

so that they will all be the same size.

I added drop shadows, changing the offset to 0  and 0.

Create text boxes to label the buttons and put sentiments

on the screens. You can change the font, size and colors.

Once you are happy with the design,

export it as a jpg then print it out.

Here are some other video game related cards I've made:

http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2010/08/video-game-controller-card.html

hand cut and paper punches card

http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2011/02/wii-mote-money-holder-card.html

digitally designed card

http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2014/02/minecraft-creeper-greeting-card.html 

hand stamped card

Thanks for looking =)

Want to learn more about this fun digital scrapbooking software ?

Need to see it in action ?

Go to youtube and search My Memories Suite for

numerous video tutorials

and MyMemories.com for more information.

If you decide to buy it, please use discount code

STMMMS23251

 and you'll receive a $10 discount off of the purchase price,
a $10 store credit to shop for more digital kits (there are lots of freebies, too!),
a month free to the design club and a discount on printing !

Friendship Challenge at AnythingButACard

Join us this month at

AnythingButACard.blogspot.com

in creating projects that celebrate

Friendship !

Here is how I made my Friendship Map using My Memories Suite V6 software.

TIP: make a folder on your computer Desktop to file all of the components you wish to use on this project in. It will make it easier to find them when you want to use them in the program.

The first step is to find a map to use for your background. I used this colorful patchwork map found at thecraftingchicks.com . Save it as a jpg file in the folder you created on your desktop. Note: I changed the "watermark" on the map since the one that I downloaded from their site had a typographical error; I fixed it and added my info as well.  

Open the My Memories Suite V6 software.

Choose Design.

Choose 11x8.5 Landscape Album under the Professional Print Sizes column (or whichever size you want your project to be).

If you haven't already, choose whether or not you want the Album Bleed Area to show on your project (I remove it from mine).

Click Backgrounds - Add - Browse. Navigate to where you have your map image saved then click on it then OK to add it as a background into your project .

Click ShapesAndLines -Add. Choose the shape you want for your photo mat, click on it then click Add.

TIP: If you are inserting several photos and want them to all be the same size, you will want to Copy and Paste the Shape once you have it sized the way you want. This will make each additional shape the same size.

I chose a circle shape, color filled it white then added a colored mat edge (black) and a drop shadow.

Now for a fun feature in the My Memories Suite V6 software: making Text wrap around the circle! There are a couple of ways to do this. In this tutorial I will show you how to do it by making the text wrap to the outside edge of a circle then resize it so it fits just inside the circle. You could make it wrap around the inside edge of the circle with one click, but the text faces a different way. Play with it to see which you prefer (I'll share samples below).

TIP: there is another way to make custom text paths , by choosing Lines (ShapesAnd Lines) to attach your text to. This feature is really neat, you can make all sorts of text lines/shapes with it!

Once you have your mat shape and size set, click Text -Add - Curve . This opens your text box editor to type what you want to say. Double click in it to type (change font, size and color if you wish) and then spell check. Once done, make sure the text box is highlighted, having the little gray resizing squares around it. You will use these squares while keeping the left mouse button clicked to drag the text box size to fit into the size of the shape you made. You can also rotate the text this way, too, if you need it to be a bit more precise than what the Left and Right functions (a single click rotates your text) in the Text editor give you. TIP: If you are using multiple shapes on your project that are all the same size, you will want to copy and paste this text box once you get it sized correctly. It will be the same size as the first you made, but you will need to change (easy to do) the text .

You can also fill the shape up with text by holding the Shift key down then left Click on the shape so it is also "active". Once both are highlighted/active, right click on them. Several options will pop up, choose "Attach To Shape". Your text box will now go inside your shape, filling it up (depending on how much text you have) from side to side left to right.

 Examples of the Text Curve Inside and Outside

of Circles and Squares feature

You are nearly done ! Now it is time to insert your photo. Click on Photos - Box - Shape. I chose a circle (there are nearly 30 shapes to choose from!), then click Matte - Change - Picker.

I used the color picker feature to change the color of the "matte" edge to match a color in the map. I then clicked Shadow and just used the default setting, but you have options to change the opacity, blur, offset and even the color of the shadow.

Once you have everything the way you want on your Photo Box,  double left click on the box then navigate to where the photo is you want to use. Left click once on the photo, click OK then the Photo Editor window will pop up so you can make some basic adjustments to the photo to fit the shape. Now if you really want to have some fun with your photo, click on one of the simple to apply options in the Photos section: recolor, rip, photo effects such as Impressionist Painting, Fisheye and Sketch among other fun to play with options.

After creating all of my photo boxes and mats,

I opened a final Text Box to type in the quote.

I used a white drop shadow under black text

to try to make it stand out a bit more on the busy patchwork map background.

  

That's all there is to it !

Want to learn more about this fun digital scrapbooking software ?

Need to see it in action ?

Go to youtube and search My Memories Suite for

numerous video tutorials

and MyMemories.com for more information.

If you decide to buy it, please use discount code

STMMMS23251

 and you'll receive a $10 discount off of the purchase price,
a $10 store credit to shop for more digital kits (there are lots of freebies, too!),
a month free to the design club and a discount on printing !