My Memories Scrapbooking Software Giveaway!

Giveaway Closed

I am excited to announce an amazing Giveaway today!!
(and an awesome discount at the bottom of this post!)

Update: I am extending this giveaway to end on Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at midnight PST. Enter today!

Are any of you digital scrapbookers? Are any of you regular scrapbookers trying to make the switch to digital but don't know how? Or do you just have tons of pictures filling up your computer and you have no idea what to do with them? Well this giveaway is for you!

Have you heard of the My Memories Suite before? It is the top rated digital scrapbooking software and it makes scrapbooking so easy! I've been given one copy of the software to try out for myself and one copy to give away to a lucky reader! Before I give you the giveaway details, let me tell you about the software and show you what it can do.

When I first downloaded the software, I was worried that I was going to have to purchase kits from their store in order to make my scrapbooks. I already have tons of digital scrapbooking kits for my blog designs and would hate to have to buy them all over again. Luckily, I was wrong. It is very easy to use kits you already own to make your layouts.

I am currently working on a scrapbook of my son's first year. Here is page of his first haircut that I made in My Memories:

Excuse the blurry faces. I like to keep my baby's face private. :)
I used a kit from Katie Castillo at Just So Scrappy called "Boys Will Be Boys" to make this page. 

I didn't use a template but it was still fairly easy to place the pictures and images wherever I chose. The design I did above was simple as far as figuring out how to use the program, but it did take me some time to put all of the elements together. If you are interested in putting together "Quick Pages", My Memories makes it really easy. Here is an example of a quick page I made:

(Image removed)

To make a quick page in My Memories, I simply added the photos and placed them behind the quick page image. It was SO easy. The only downside to the Quick Pages is that they are not very customizable. The photos have to fit in the frames provided. You can't resize anything.

Fortunately, My Memories has another feature that does is easy and customizable. By purchasing Templates from the My Memories store, you can create pages quickly and then customize them by moving around photo frames, changing the size and shape of those frames, and much more. The video below gives a basic overview of My Memories and shows how these template pages can be customized.

Now, My Memories is a great digital scrapbooking software program, but do not expect it to be a powerful photo/graphics editing program. It is built for scrapbooking first and editing second. But for $39.97 USD (retail price), this software really can't be beat. It does have some good photo effects like Crop, Red Eye, Sepia, Black and White, Sharpen, Blur and several more. One feature I really like is how easy it is to cut photos into the shape of your choice with just the click of a button.

Once you create your scrapbook albums, it is fairly easy to get them printed. You can either print them through My Memories or you can save the images as jpg's and upload them to the site where you would like to get them printed.If you don't want to print your albums you can keep them digital and view them as slideshows on your blog, your ipod, your computer or wherever. You can even add multimedia such as music and videos to your albums and burn the album with the embedded media onto a DVD.

For any software, the biggest test for me is how versatile it is. Can you do more than just scrapbooks with this software? The answer is yes! This week I needed to make an invitation for a church activity. I was able to put together a simple invitation quickly by making a custom project. Here is the invitation I made:

This invitation was made using Just So Scrappy's kit "I Toadally Love You". 

Another project that I made with My Memories was a Calendar. There is a great calendar feature that places the dates for the month or year that you choose and allows you to customize it with your own photos or design elements. Here is my calendar for October:

This calendar was made using Just So Scrappy's kit "Toil and Trouble".

My final test for My Memories was whether or not I could create blog design elements in the program. I found that I could create backgrounds like the one below:

This background was made using Just So Scrappy's kit "Abby".

This background is made following instructions similar to my tutorial on How to Make Your Own Blog Background with the Minima Template. However, I was not able to make a background using my simplified instructions on How to Make Your Own Blog Background with the Blogger Simple Template. 

 Update: Since I posted this, I have tried to upload the background image above to a blog and have not had success. The header image below worked great, but I cannot guarantee that the other design elements will work when created in My Memories.

 I was unable to make the simplified backgrounds because the documents in My Memories have to be at least 200pixels wide x 500pixels high. I also had a hard time cropping the image precisely so that it would repeat the pattern smoothly on my blog.

 My Memories will not save images as transparent png files so the final images will have to be rectangular.  Using this software I was able to make a nice rectangular header shown below:

This header was made using Just So Scrappy's kit "Abby".
You can follow instructions similar to my tutorial on How to Make Your Own Header to make a header similar to this.

So what do you think? Is the My Memories Suite Software something that you could use to preserve your memories or to create your own miscellaneous designs? I think it's totally worth it! And one lucky reader will get a free copy of the software!

Here's how you can enter to win your own free copy:

You may comment once on this post for each of the items below. 

Each comment on this post is an entry for the giveaway.

1. Visit My Memories and find your favorite digital paper pack, layout or anything else you like. Then leave a comment on this post saying which kit, layout, etc. you found and what project you would make with it. 
2. Follow my blog and leave a comment on this post saying that you are a follower.
3. Follow the My Memories blog and leave a comment on this post saying that you are a follower.

This giveaway starts Tuesday, October 9, 2012 and ends Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at midnight PST. The winner will be chosen randomly using random.org and will be announced the following Wednesday, October 17, 2012.

Please be sure to check back to see if you won. If the winner does not respond within 24 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

This software is available worldwide. However, it is intended for English-language computers. Technical support is English-only.

And for anyone that is interested in purchasing the software, I have a discount for you!

If you purchase the My Memories Suite using the following discount code, you can receive a $10 discount on your software purchase (retail price is $39.97 USD before the discount). That means that for just under $30 USD, you can create beautiful digital scrapbooks and other digital designs!

In addition to this discount, you will receive a $10 coupon for the My Memories.com store, giving you a total savings of $20!

To use this discount, simply go to My Memories.com and enter the following discount code:

STMMMS20877

Out with the Old and in with the New

Most of you have been using Blogger's new interface for a while now and are hopefully getting used to the great new features. There are tons of new features to help you customize your blog without having to touch the html/css. However, there was one feature that I really loved about the old interface. The Minima template. This was a basic template that was so easy to alter to add custom design elements to your blog. For a while, even if you were using the new interface, you could switch back to the old interface, add the Minima template to your blog, and then switch back. Unfortunately, Blogger has finally gotten rid of the old interface. The option to switch back is no longer available.

You may remember that my Free Backgrounds required the use of the Minima template. Don't worry, I have updated my instructions to help you add my Free Backgrounds using the newer Blogger templates. You can read these instructions here:

How to Add a Free Background

If you still want to use the Minima template, you can use either of my 2 modified versions. Below are links to a Wide 2-Column template and a 3-Column template. You can use the 3-Column background code for either of these templates.

Wide 2-Column Template

3-Column Template

With the new Blogger templates, you may want a few of these tutorials as well:

How to Center Your Header Image

and 

How to Center Your Header Text

Remember, to use any of my designs you must link back to my blog with my button in your sidebar (unless my "designs by dani" tag shows up on your Free Background). Here is a link to my button with instructions:

How to Add My Blog Button

Please let me know if you have any questions about my tutorials. 

Thanks for visiting my blog and using my designs!!

Dani

Updated Templates

Some of you may have noticed that my free templates have been acting weird. The Blogger navigation bar that you see at the top (with the links to write a new post or edit the design of your blog) suddenly jumped to the sidebar. Blogger may have changed a few settings causing the template to malfunction. Fortunately, I figured out how to fix it by just adding a few extra lines of code to the template. So, if you currently have one of my templates, please go back to my Free Templates, find the html code and copy/paste the template again. If you have forgotten how, please read through the instructions and ALWAYS backup your old template before adding a new one.

Free Templates

Thanks!

Dani 

Keep It Simple

I recently received an email from Longhornleads.com sharing with me a great article titled, 10 Reasons Your Site Needs to be Obvious for Users. I started this blog with the hopes of helping bloggers to create blogs that were more pleasing to the eye. Since then I have discovered many ways to make a blog really stand out and to make it easier for readers to find the information they are looking for. Read through Longhornleads' article to learn how to keep it simple and attract more readers to your blog. Then read through my Design Secrets to find the tutorials you need to help attract more readers.

Back Home

If you've been following my blog you'll know that I had back surgery in May. My recovery has taken much longer than I had expected. With a very active toddler to take care of, I decided it was best if I go stay with my parents for a while to get help until I could handle taking care of him on my own. So for the past 6 weeks I have been away from home and away from my computer (and Photoshop). I was able to post a few tutorials, but not my best ones. Now that I am home I will be able to post better tutorials and some template designs. I have a lot to get caught up on in my personal life since I have been gone for so long, but I will be sure to post again soon. Let me know if you have any requests. Also, if you have emailed me or commented and I have not responded, feel free to send me another email. I may have missed it.

Thanks,
Dani

Navigation Bar - Using Pages

A good blog needs to be easy to navigate. If your readers can't search through your posts quickly and easily to find what interests them, they probably won't be looking at your blog for long. There are so many different ways to make a navigation bar but I am going to explain very basic ones for now. Navigation bars can range from a very basic list of links to complicated drop-down menus. Some blogs even have their navigation bars creatively embedded in their header design.

I can definitely help you make a basic navigation bar, but I still don't know how to make the really creative types of navigation bars. I created my navigation bar a few years ago and I don't remember how I did it well enough to explain it. I do remember that it took me forever to figure out how to do the drop-down menus. I encountered a million glitches and eventually figured it out, even though the spacing in some browsers keeps it from lining up as well as I would like. However, if I have time after I finish this basic nav bar, I will look into my drop-down menu and try to figure out how I put it all together.

So let's get started on a basic navigation bar!

Blogs on Mobile Devices

Have you ever looked at your blog or other Blogger blogs from a mobile device like a phone or a tablet? You may be surprised to see that the background doesn't always look right. Let me first tell you what is wrong and then show you what you can do about it.

If you use any of my free backgrounds or other similar backgrounds from other sites you will notice a problem with the size and position of that background. Below is a rough sketch of what you might see when you view a blog on a phone:

On a mobile device, the background image is shrunk down to fit the size of the screen. But because a phone is much longer than it is wide, the image does not fill the screen. You could turn your phone on its side but it still does not fit the screen right. Also, the background image stays fixed at one position on the screen. It may be at the top or centered in the middle as you see above. Either way, this means that as you scroll, the background image will not move with your blog.

So how can you work around this problem and still have a great design on your blog? Let me tell you...

Update to Background Tutorial

I have noticed that a lot of the free backgrounds and more decorative backgrounds can take a long time for some computers to load. In fact, I have heard friends complain that the images on some blogs take so long to load that their slow computers just can't handle it. To help with this, I have updated my tutorial on How to Make Your Own Background using the Minima template. It is a simpler background that loads quickly on computers but still looks great. In some ways it even looks more professional than the more decorative designs.

Check it out here: 

How to Make Your Own Background

An Update and Tutorial Requests

So it has been a month since I last posted an update and I am doing much better now. I am not fully recovered but I am doing significantly better. I have gone from lying in bed all day to sitting most of the day...still can't do much but I can sit at the computer for longer periods of time.

I still am not allowed to bend or lift more than 10 pounds and won't be able to for a little while longer. Since my toddler weighs a lot more than 10 pounds I am not able to take care of him on my own. To get the help I need, I am going to be staying with my parents for a while. I won't have access to my own computer there and won't have Photoshop to make any more designs then.

This means that anyone interested in Custom Designs will have to wait. You can email me for time frames of when I will be available again. Because of my surgery, I have gotten very behind on taking care of my house and many other personal things. So even if I am feeling up to designing again, it may take me a little longer to get caught up and be ready to design again.

However, I may still be able to do a few tutorials. I will even show you how to create designs using Pixlr or any other design software I find on my parents' computer. I want to do tutorials, but I really want to do the ones that matter most to you. I have compiled a list of questions readers have asked or tutorials that have been requested and I want to know which ones you want to see first. Also, if you have another tutorial request, please leave me a comment. (My comments are moderated, so they don't show up right away. But don't worry, I'll publish all comment requests. I just like to remove all junk and spam comments myself.) Here's the list in no particular order:

1. How to create a background around the middle posting section (like the white, orange and green background around my middle section)
2. How to change the title of your blog to not all be upper case
3. How to get your header to fit your blog better, how to center it, etc.
4. How to get your designs to look good on mobile devices (Have you ever looked at your blog on a phone or tablet? It doesn't always look as good.)
5. How to make your own social icons
6. How to add a signature to all of your posts using Blogger's new templates
7. How to make a wrap-around design like my Ultimate Design (This tutorial is complicated and will require a lot of time for me, but let me know if you are interested.)

What else do you want to learn? Don't be afraid to ask!

~Dani

Doing Well

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to thank all of you for your well wishes! I had major back surgery 2 weeks ago and spent over a week in the hospital recovering. The surgery went well, but I was pretty sick while recovering in the hospital. I am home now getting lots of rest and doing much better. I finally was able to sit at a computer today and check emails. I can't sit at the computer long enough to respond to your comments and emails, but please know that I will get to them eventually. I may need a month or 2 to recover completely.

Thank you for your continued support. I apologize that some things have not been working, my templates in particular. Please be patient with me. I will be sure to reply as I continue to improve in health.

~Dani