Change isn't always bad...

This is something that I'm learning. I'm about to have a HUGE change, and I don't just mean my last name, no no. It hits me about 100 times a day that in less than 48 hours I will be Mrs. Kvilhaug. Mrs.???? I mean, does that not sound like the weirdest thing ever? For the record, it's Kuh-vill-ha. See, easy peasy...

Anyway, another change for me is in my scrappy style. Now, I am a hands-on traditional glue and scissors kind of girl. Always have been. BUT the graphic designer in me loves using Photoshop to make up all kinds of things. So, when I was approached by My Memories Suite to try out their new software, I was a little ambivalent. I wasn't excited to scrap digitally, but I am always interested in trying out new creative software.

I am glad that I did.

I would say that on average I use Photoshop once a day, sometimes all day, depending on what I'm doing. And if I want to create a digital page, that's what I would use. BUT I didn't pay for my version, and I would never go out and pay for it, either. $1200 for photo editing software? No thanks. You could purchase Photoshop Elements for what? $60? Meh...

My Memories Suite is available for purchase online, which is nice - no going to the store. It automatically downloads to your computer, so there are no installation disks to keep track of. Next to Photoshop, it's the best program I've seen (and I've seen a few) for digital scrapbooking.

It comes pre-loaded with a ton of papers and embellishments, and they have an online store that is not only inexpensive, but has content available from names you know, like American Crafts and Tinkering Ink. You can buy whole product packs with hundreds of files for $5 - $10. So cheap!

What I'm finding I like a lot about the program too, is that I can plan my pages before I put anything down. If I have 4 photos that I want to use but am not sure about the sizes I want to print them out, I can play around with my page to see exactly how things are going to fit. If I want a particular journaling tag, I can print that out on it's own and slap that onto my layout for a little hybrid action!

Here are a couple of reeeeeallly quick layouts I made using the software.






I can't tell you how many times I moved those two sepia pictures around and resized them until I got them exactly where I wanted them!

I'm excited to play around with this more. It's gonna come is super handy for making up those photo books for the grandparents, especially when there's no time to hand-make multiple copies of the same page so that everyone gets exactly the same thing as everyone else. I think I'll just make up maybe 15 layouts, print out 4 copies of each, and bind them together. VOILA! Instant gift for super cheap.

So, see that little banner on the upper left of the page? Click it and go see what I'm talking about.

Have fun!