A Wedding Scrapbook for Sarah

Last week I sat down with my new My Memories software and made some scrapbook pages.  At first I didn't know what occasion to scrapbook, since to be honest I don't have very many photos of my husband and I, we just never seem to take any photos with us in them.  But then I got thinking and decided that the pages didn't have to be for me, I could make pages for someone else.

So here are the pages I whipped up for my friend Sarah of her wedding day.  Forgive the photo quality, these images are ones we took ourselves on our little old digital camera before it dies on us and we got our big fancy DSLR.

 

I love that I can use any font or color I want to make my own word art.  The color I chose was called "honeydew", and it matches all of the stitching details and embellishments throughout the project.

The transparency feature was really nice.  I love how the background behind the "I Do" looks like it's made out of vellum. 

I love how easy it was for me to whip these up.  This would be a great gift for busy people who don't have time to sit down and scrapbook, since all they have to do is pull up the program on their computer and a few clicks later they can have a scrapbook.

There's still time to enter my giveaway for a free copy of the My Memories software I used to make these pages!  Just follow the directions at the bottom of this post and enter away!

My Memories Giveaway!

For the last week and a half I've been playing with a new toy that's making scrapbooking tons of fun... the My Memories Software Suite.  

The folks over at My Memories sent me a free version of the software to try out and I've been loving it, plus they've given me the OK to pass along my good fortune to one of my readers who will also receive a free copy of the software, as well as a promotional code STMMMS51174 for $10 off the cost of the software for anyone who wants to check it out.

Before I start telling you about all the fun I've been having with it let me tell you what My Memories is.

From the My Memories website:

"My Memories Suite version 2 software is a complete digital scrapbooking solution that provides a powerful set of creative tools and multiple sharing options that no other software can offer. Its intuitive workspace and enhanced time-saving features are perfect for a beginner to build an entire album in minutes, or to empower the design pro to build a scrapbook album masterpiece."

To be completely honest with all of you I haven't been a traditional paper and glue scrapbooker for long, in fact I only completed my first scrapbook in May while I was away at a scrapbooking retreat, but I've already noticed that there are a few negatives to traditional scrapbooking that the My Memories Software completely eliminates.  

1. Sharing.  Traditional paper scrapbooks can't be shared digitally (at least not well), but a digital scrapbook made with the My Memories software can be shared with friends and family around the world and it looks AMAZING!  Plus I can add music and videos right into the pages to make them interactive, something definitely not available with traditional scrapbooks.

2. Sizing, Printing, Cutting. With a traditional scrapbook you have to size photos, print them, and cut them down, but with the My Memories Software you can add photos, crop them, edit them, and change your mind and switch them out all in one easy step.

3. Reusable. With traditional scrapbooking you have to be worried about running out of supplies, but with the My Memories Software you can reuse papers and embellishments as many times as you want.

4. Ease of shopping.  With the My Memories Software if you realize that there's an element you need for your project you can easily pull up the My Memories website and find whatever you are looking for and download it right to your computer for a fraction of the price you would spend on traditional supplies, plus there's no need for a trip to the store.

5. No Mess!  Since everything is digital there's no pile of scraps to pick up, and it's super easy to resume a project where you left off, there's no need to haul a huge pile of supplies out of the closet every time you want to work on it, in fact there's no need to store supplies at all!

Okay, enough of the perks of the My Memories Software over traditional scrapbooking. Let's get to the nitty gritty of using the software.  Downloading the My Memories Software from the website was a breeze, and unlike other software out there it's available for both PCs and Macs.  And your computer doesn't need to be a super fast top-of-the-line computer, I downloaded my software onto my old PC and it runs beautifully. In addition to the software I also purchased several templates and papers from the site, including "Stamp Cluster", "Celebrate", "Magic Fall Papers", "So Boy Papers", and "Live, Laugh, Love", and downloading them into the software took only a few clicks, and when I opened up the software everything I purchased was right there for me to use. 

The actual interface of the software is straightforward and easy to use, with a very minimal learning curve.  With the features included in the software it's easy to build your own project or use one of their designer templates, and they even have an auto-fill option where you select the images and they plug them into the template for you.  For the calendar I made and included in my post yesterday I used their calendar grid templates and added embellishments and word art to make it special.  In addition to the calendar, I used the software to make my new blog header, and to scrapbook a few pages for my friend Sarah's wedding, which I'll be featuring in an upcoming post.

Now onto the negatives.  Not everything about any particular software can be perfect, and I'd be pretty biased if I pretended that it was.  Some features that I think could enhance the My Memories software include a merge feature.  It would be nice to be able to merge layers while working on a project to make it so that there isn't a need to move all the layers when you decide to move an element from the top of the page to the bottom.   Another feature that would be nice is if you could change the color of the embellishments, or at least the text elements.  As it is the only things you can do to change the elements is change the size, the opacity, and rotate it.  The final critique I have of the software is that it would be nice if they bundled the downloads.  Currently when you download your embellishments you purchase from the website you download each individually, but when you purchase 10 or so at one time downloading each individually can take time.  It would be nice if the website bundled your purchase so that only one download was needed.

Okay, now onto the good stuff... the giveaway!  My Memories has offered to give a free copy of the software to one of my blog readers, and has offered a special promo code for $10 off the cost of the software for the rest of the readers.  To be entered into the giveaway please visit the My Memories Website and tell me what scrapbooking or embellishment kit you'd like to start scrapbooking with, and what kind of project you'd make.  For a second entry follow my blog, or tell me if you're already a follower, and for a third entry blog, facebook, or twitter about this giveaway and let me know that you did, and please leave every entry as a separate comment on this post.

The giveaway will be open until 11:59 PM Pacific Standard time on Sunday the 18th.  I'll draw the winner on Monday morning and send the winner their code for their copy of the My Memories Suite software.  If you can't wait and want to get a copy of the software for yourself right away then you can purchase it at www.MyMemories.com and enter the code STMMMS51174 to get $10 off the purchase price of $39.97.

So that's it!  I hope while you're over at the My Memories website you take your time and look around a bit, they have quite a large amount of cool stuff over there.

A Chenille Quilt and a New Calendar

Over the weekend I completed my second chenille blanket.  I completed my first one over the summer for my friend's little boy. After seeing this tutorial at the Aesthetic Nest Blog for a chenille blanket I wanted to give it a shot.  I had no idea how much time it would take to sew all of the lines and cut all of the channels with scissors, but when it was done and it came out of the dryer it was amazing, even though I couldn't feel my thumb for weeks after all of the cutting. 

my first chenille quilt

Since the first one was such a success and since I was given an Olfa chenille cutter as a present from my aunt Christine I decided to give making a chenille quilt another go.  Last Black Friday I spent hours at Joanns with my mother in law, and one of the fabrics I picked up was a blue flannel with blue VW bugs all over it, and I bought it with my uncle Lance in mind since he's in love with his restored baby blue '73 VW bug, so a chenille blanket for his birthday using the flannel was perfect. 

I paired the flannel with three solids, a dark blue, a light blue, and a light grey.  After layering them I pulled out my cone of blue thread and walking foot and started sewing. 

 

And sewing...

Until the sewing stopped.  Or I should say, until I bent my last sewing machine needle.

And the sewing ground to a halt.

But then the hubs ran out and got me a new set of machine needles, and the sewing continued.  

The sewing part of the project lasted as long as it had my first time making a chenille quilt, but the cutting portion was a breeze using the chenille cutter.  Unfortunately it was at this point in the process that my camera pooped out and so I don't have any pictures of what the quilt back looked like cut or after it had been washed. And since it was a birthday present for my uncle I had a timeline for when I had to give it away, so I wasn't able to get a picture of it before it went to him, though he did promise to snap a photo of it when he got a chance.

Another project I whipped up this week was a birthday card for my aunt.  She's been wanting new curtains for her living room and so for her present I'm going to make them for her.  Since I didn't have anything to physically give her for her birthday I wanted to make her a card that symbolized the gift.  The idea I had was to make a card with a window on the front, and make a curtain on the window.  Yeah, pretty cheezy, but I liked the way it turned out.

For the message part of the card I decorated the edges with stitching.  To get even stitching I ran the edges under my machine with the stitch length set to 5 with no thread in the needle, so basically I punched holes evenly along the edges, and then went back with my embroidery thread and needle and threaded the thread through the pre-punched holes.

Now onto the surprise.  Tomorrow I'll be hosting my first giveaway!  Since I'm also a big fan of papercrafts in addition to sewing the team at My Memories gave me a free copy of their My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software and I've been having fun playing with it.  

The first project I made with it is a calendar.  I'm a big fan of staying organized, so it's important to me that I remember all my appointments, and for that a calendar is necessary.

I made this September calendar a few days ago using the software and I loved it.  It was so easy to use, and had so many fun options.  The version I made myself included my appointments and reminders on it, but I wanted to post a blank version of it here in hope that some of you might be able to use it as well.

Check back here tomorrow for the official launch post of the My Memories giveaway and my review of the software, and check back in the following days for a few more projects I've done using it!

I'm Baaack!

I've been trying to figure out how to return to the blogging world for awhile now... And I finally decided to just jump back in.

Before I talk about my two newest projects I'll fast forward through the past three months.  After returning from the Apples scrapbooking retreat in May 

I went up to San Francisco for a friend's bachelorette party

And then to Monterey the next weekend for her wedding

With finishing up my MA and visiting the Pops in the week between.

And after returning home I sat around planning a blog post when a got a call from a friend offering me a job for a month in San Diego...that ended up turning into two months... 

During my time working in San Diego I was able to squeeze in a few projects in the weekends, including a chenille blanket for a friend's baby boy,

A doll for a friend's daughter, pattern from the "Wee Wonderfuls" book,

And a baby quilt for a friend's first baby.  This one I made without a pattern and with the help of my friend Sarah.  We made the quilt and watched the entirety of season 3 of True Blood all at the same time.

I also received a surprise in the mail one weekend! My mug rug my partner sent me in the SewHappyGeek's Mug Rug 2.0 swap.  I was thrilled by it! It even had a gnome walking a dachshund in it, just perfect!

After I got home from that the hubby and I moved!  Not far, but to a new city, a far enough away to require lot of time to pack and unpack. But the good new is that now I have a sewing room!  We laughed because my sewing room and the hubby's office were the first rooms to be unpacked, and once they were unpacked neither of us wanted to move on to unpack anything else.

[new house pic]

And after moving the hubs and I celebrated our three year anniversary! And he gave me a great present too, a macro lens for the camera so I can take great pictures of what I make.  We tested it out by taking it with us on a romantic tour of the Fullerton arboretum and took tons of photos.

But then I got back to sewing and completed my mug rug for SewHappyGeek's mug rug swap 2.0 and sent it off to my partner Jeannie in Florida.  She wanted "bright colors, crazy quilting, & embroidery"

And after sending it off I was off again myself to WA and OR for Kristen's wedding

and for an extended anniversary trip with the hubs, which included Portland and a trip to mecca... Fabric Depot!

And once home again I made a beautiful doll for my friend Sara's mom which was meant to be a gift for a sweet little girl named Bailey.  I think she turned out great.

Followed by getting a sister for our doggie.  Welcome to the family Dee Dee!

Followed by making a snuggly dinosaur toy for James' first birthday, which was very difficult for me to do since all I wanted to do was cuddle with the doggies. 

And that brings us to today.  And there we go, three months all wrapped up into one blog post.

Hello from Apples!

I haven't been heard from in a few days for a good reason... I'm up in Big Bear on a scrapbooking retreat!

Things are coming along well for my scrapbook, I've already finished a large portion of our wedding scrapbook, the scrapbook I came up here with the intention of finishing.

And guess what?!? It's Snowing!!!