New Year, New Direction

I've decided to consolidate my craft related blogs into one.  From this point forward my digital creations will be posted on my main blog at https://serendipitycards.blogspot.com/.  I hope to see you there!

Mingus Park

Well, it has been a while!  One of my goals for 2019 is to complete a scrapbook for 2018.  According to my computer, there are over 9,000 files in my 2018 folder, so this could be a considerable challenge!
I used the June 2018 sketch from pagemaps.com for this layout:

I created them in My Memories Suite 9 using the following packs:

• Cute Things (paperst)
• Cherish This Moment (MMDCS)
• EveryDay (MMDCS)
• The Stache (marieh)
• A Perfect Day Kit (lthdsgn)
• Cuddle Season (SCA)
• Camera Shy (MMDCS)
• Bella Grace Add On Kit (jsscrap)

The doily from the Cuddle Season pack wasn't the right color so recolored it using the Recolor tool.  I really love that feature, it saves so much time because I don't have to dig forever to find perfectly matching papers and embellishments.

My Sister's Dog

My sister has a chihuahua named Tulsa. I will not lie, it was not love at first sight.  I'm not particularly fond of small dogs and especially not chihuahuas.  They're hyper, they bark all the time and are generally obnoxious.  For the first few years I referred to her as "The rat dog."  I think my cat actually did mistake her for a rat on their first encounter because she immediately went into stalking mode.

Eventually, however, that little chihuahua won me over.  She's not like most of her breed.  She is not hyper, she rarely barks and she's quite well behaved. I got to spend a few days with her last January and we became best friends.  I even let her sleep in my bed. My cat doesn't even have that privilege.  Of course, it could have something to do with the fact that the temperature in the room dropped into the low 50s at night. :)

Here's a page I created with some pics I took of her snuggled into her blanket.  All papers and embellishments are from FURever Friends by MMDCS.

My Memories - It's Not Just for Scrapbooking

I use My Memories for so much more than scrapbooking.  I also use it for making cards and signs and for art journaling just to name a few. Sometimes I use it to plan layouts, like this one.

Layout made with Streets Of N'awlins-(MMDCS)

Sometimes I use it to print elements I will use on a card or page.  For this art journal page, I re-sized the songbook page and re-colored and sized "faith".  Then I printed it to use on a mixed media art journal page.

"faith" was made with Silent Reverie-(MMDCS)
and re-colored (Color = 100,34,38)     

Sometimes my page is made entirely inside of My Memories as this one is.  I love being able to change the opacity of the different layers.

"UNITY" monogram from  Dreamy-(MMDCS)
Papers from  PSNuts-(MMDCS) and  Gnome in the Garden-(Carena )

Sometimes I use it to add verses to my photos like this.

Photograph by me.

I also use it to illustrate instructions.

Made with basic and custom shapes

My Memories Suite really is a very versatile tool.  I've been using it for many years now and plan to continue to use it for many more.  If you'd like to try it out, you can download it free for 30 days.  If you decide you like it, use coupon code STMMMS97442 for $10 off.

Summer Fun

Wow, two days in a row!  Today’s entry is for the June theme challenge hosted by Syrena.  The theme is Kid fun.  I think this layout fits the bill.  It’s of my oldest granddaughter and my youngest son playing in the wading pool on a sunny September day.  I used the Summer PinWheel Party kit, which was one of June's Design Club kits.

Lots and Lots of Birds!

The folks over at the MyMemories forum are running some great challenges with lots of prizes.  I decided to join in in hopes of getting my creativity back.

My first entry is for the layout challenge hosted by Elizabeth.  I decided to use the pictures I took during our vacation to Klamath Falls.  I used one of my photos for the background and changed the opactiy to 65%.  The other papers are from the Spring Fling collection by Touched By a Butterfly.

I created a second layout with the same photos, but a different paper pack.  This one is Sweet Autumn by Carena.  Both layouts are very simple and I’m not sure which one I like better.  I tried adding embellishments, but couldn’t find anything I really liked.

Dandelion Bouquet

I made this layout with this week’s freebie, A Little Mini 1, by Art For Scrapbooking.  I also added some Dandelion clip art images I got from Lettering Delights.  I used the recolor feature to change the color of the rick-rack and the ribbon.

Sand Angel

I created this fun layout with the Brown Paper Bag Combo by Polka Dot Pixels which is one of this week’s freebies.  I wanted to create a layout with some pictures of my oldest granddaughter at the beach and the colors from this paper pack worked very well. 

I recently upgraded to PaintShop Pro X6 and I’ve been playing with some of the cropping and background removal tools.  I was very surprised at how easy is to do and love the effect.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I made this layout for a challenge at the Paper Wishes forum.  The criteria was to use tea bag folding on a layout.  Since nearly all of my scrapbooking layouts are digital, I didn’t think I would be able to join in on this challenge, but then I got an idea.  Why not make some tea bag tiles from one of the digital paper packs I bought from Paper Wishes?

To make the tiles, I created a photo box 1.75” square, then I dragged one of the background papers into the square and zoomed in on the upper left corner.  I copied the box 8 times and printed the tiles.  After cutting the tiles out, I inked the edges, then I used a simple kite fold to create a frame.  After assembling the frame, I scanned it, then used PaintShop Pro to remove the background and saved it as a .png.

I moved the finished frame into the same MyMemories embellishments folder where I keep the embellishments for this paper pack so I can use it again if I need to. 

Materials List:

• Soft Nostalgia digital paper pack (Paper Wishes)
• 23 Blooms & Leaves Cutting and SVG files (Paper Wishes)
• Lacy frame from Denim and Lace-(TNS)
• Pearls from Cuddle Season-(SCA)

Best Friends

I was digging through my pictures this morning looking for something to scrap when I came across the pictures I took at Grandparent’s day last year.  I chose the Classmates paper and embellishments because it has a nice heart frame.  Sorry about the blurred faces, I don’t know these girls’ parents to ask permission to post their pics.

The heart that comes with My Memories didn’t fit the frame, so I had to make one of my own using Inkscape.  You can download it here: http://handcraftedgreetings.com/downloads/Heart1.svg. Save it into the ..\My Memories Suite\Components\Shapes folder, restart My Memories and it will show up in the photo shapes.

After I added the ribbon across the top of the heart, I didn’t like the flower that was included, so I added a different one over the top of it. 

I’m still learning how to use shadowing and blurring to make different elements look like they stand out from the page further.  I’m getting a little better at it, but I still have a ways to go.  Barb at Albums To Remember has a great tutorial on adding shadows: http://albumstoremember.com/4/post/2012/05/shadows-from-good-to-great.html.  She also has a lot of other My Memories tutorials, so be sure to check out her site.

All I Want For Christmas

I made this page using the Lavender Snow Album by Becky’s Creations ,which is one of this week’s freebies from MyMemories.  It comes with six digital papers and eleven embellishments.  That’s plenty to make several pages.

I used the recolor feature to change the color of the ornaments, ribbon and packages.  I love that feature because it gives me so many more options.  I wanted each one of the bows on the ornaments to be different, so I used the search feature to find three suitable bows, then I recolored them to match the ornaments.  I could have also used the bows that come with MyMemories Suite 5 if I had wanted them to all be the same.

Importing Pages and Objects from Albums and Designer Templates in My Memories Suite 5

One of the really cool features in My Memories Suite is the ability to import individual pages from other albums and album templates.  With My Memories Suite 5, you can also import individual page objects.  The method for importing has changed a bit since version 4, and is a little hard to find, so I put together this quick tutorial to show you how to do it.

If you found this tutorial helpful and you’d like to see more like it, please leave a comment. 
Disclaimer: I’m not employed by StoryRock, Inc,, the makers of My Memories Suite, I just love playing with their software.

My Memories 5 Layer Feature

One of the new, cool features in My Memories 5 is the layers tool. With it you can easily access and manipulate any object in your layout, even if it is completely covered by other objects.  There’s no need to re-layer everything just to get to an embellishment that is in the background.  I put together this quick tutorial to explain how it works.

Chipmunk Cheeks

I created this layout using this week’s freebie from Touched By A Butterfly.

This kit will only be available for free until December 15, 2013 so be sure to grab it while it’s free.

Vintage Photo Frame

I made the frame for this picture in just a few minutes using the Old Secret designer pack by ButterflyDsign.  The little girl in the picture is my grandma Ila.  She was an incredible lady.

The Old Secret designer pack is free until November 3, 2013, so be sure to grab it while you can.  If you like vintage, be sure to check out the other designer packs from ButterflyDsign as well.

Pyramid Santa Made With MMS4

One of the things you can make very easily with MyMemories Suite 4 is pyramid cards.  A pyramid card is made by layering an image so that each successive layer is smaller.  Here’s one I made yesterday evening.

The Santa image I used is from an old PcCrafter set.  Here’s a video tutorial I made showing how to make pyramid cards using MyMemories Suite 4.

MyMemories, It’ Not Just For Scrapbooking!

So you say you’re not in to scrapbooking?  That’s OK. You can do a lot more than just scrapbooking with MyMemories Suite 4.  Here’s a card I made recently using the Soft Nostalgia digital paper pack, Bodacious Bloossoms cutting file and Fairy Wishes digital stamps from PaperWishes.  The rick-rack on the inside is one of many included embellishments in MyMemories Suite.

 

Some of the elements are printed on the background and others were printed separately and layered on top.  I really love that I can size everything to fit the card.  No more struggling to find a frame to fit a stamped sentiment or vise versa.

Forever In My Heart

Besides scrapbooks you can make lots of other things using MyMemories Suite 4.  Here’s a card I made with the HoneyChurch Layered Paper Hearts kit.

The quick page I chose makes a heart that gets thicker toward the center.  The patterns and quick pages, when printed full size (8.5” x 11”), make a fairly large heart.  Since I wanted something I could put on a card, I reduced my chosen quick page 1/4 size.  I designed the front of the card in MyMemories Suite 4.  It was very quick and easy to do.  First I added a 4.75” x 6.5” rectangle and filled it with the Aqua paper included in the kit, then I added the shapes I wanted and filled them with paper.  When I was done, printed it, cut it out and added it to the front of a card blank. 

The instructions for the heart, posted on the MyMemories site say to print two copies, but if you want the paper to show on both sides, you will need to print four copies.  After cutting the strips out, arrange them in pairs, back to back so the color will show on both sides. 

After making the heart, I glued it to the front of the card, then I added a layered heart dazzle to the center and border dazzles along the edges.

If you’d like to purchase MyMemories Suite 4, be sure to use coupon code STMMMS97442 to receive $10 off the purchase price plus a $10 gift certificate to use in the My Memories online store.

Pretty Painted Piggies

Here’s a layout I created in MyMemories Suite 4 using pictures of my sweet little granddaughter and the new Serendipity digital paper pack from Hot Off The Press. 

Isn’t she adorable?

I used the basic circle and scalloped circle shapes for the flowers and I used the photo shape tool to make round photos for the flower centers.   The font for the title is called Robot Teacher and the font for the journaling is CK Carefree from Creating Keepsakes.  Everything else except for the ribbons is from the Serendipity digital paper pack.

Attaching Text to a Shape in MyMemories Suite 4

The May challenge over at the MyMemories forum was to use the Attach to Shape feature on a layout.  I was almost too late to join in the fun, but I managed to find some time yesterday afternoon and put this page together:

I attached the journaling to a tree shape from the Treedle Dee svg collection from Lettering Delights.  The combo pack I used for the papers and embellishments is Outdoor Adventure by Albums2Remember.

After I posted the layout, someone asked a question about attaching text to shapes, so I wrote up this quick tutorial.  Of course, I wrote it in MyMemories Suite 4!

If you’d like to purchase MyMemories Suite 4, be sure to use coupon code STMMMS97442 to receive $10 off the purchase price plus a $10 gift certificate to use in the My Memories online store.