THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

My Memories Scrapbook Software Review and Giveaway

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 04:57 AM PDT

When My Memories, a Polaroid company, first contacted me about doing a scrapbook software giveaway and review, I almost said no. After all the primary purpose of the My Memories Suite 3 software is for producing digital scrapbooks and other photo based projects, not jewelry making. But then I realized the wonderful range of templates and digital features could also be of great use to jewelry artisans. So I agreed!

Check this introductory video from the My Memories Youtube channel to see what this great software can really do. Going digital has enormous benefits compared to traditional scrapbooking especially in not having to buy and stockpile all sorts of physical materials. While the photo frames are originally designed for people and lifestyle pictures, many of the same approaches can be used to showcase jewelry designs and promote the work of an artisan as you will see below.

The software works for either Windows or Mac based computers. It is relatively easy to use especially for those who have some experience using photo editors. If you have been designing your own logos and promotional materials then this program will not be a problem.

I went to their extensive free download section and selected several template and embellishment kits that I liked to play around with. I learned that depending on what I chose, the newly installed kit may not be seen as a template but found under embellishments or backgrounds and so on if that is what it is. This was clarified by their excellent and responsive Support team when I asked. Also a tip for Windows based PCs - it's best to install the kits by running the installer as an administrator (from the start menu).

What's also great is the ability to add other non-My Memories designs - you add it to the relevant My Memories folder of the computer's C: drive.

Here are some ideas to consider:

Make a banner for your Facebook or Profile Timeline
The beautiful Good Feeling design caught my eye. So I used some of my jewelry pictures to fill in the photo slots. A cropped version can thus be a Facebook Timeline image. The software gives all sorts of choices. I could have added more pictures, text and other embellishments like brads, flourishes, ribbons and so forth if I wanted. Or removed some from the original template.

Make Gift or Product Tags
I came across the Classic Red Tags kit below which are really Christmas gift tags. But the red color is that of my "brand".

So I played around with a couple of designs I liked and deleted the rest. Here are a couple of tags that I could tie to necklaces and bracelets. For the folding one, I merely positioned the design such there was space to cut the card stock wider. Making extra tags are easy - just copy and paste until you fill the page with the design you want after deleting the other design tags you don't want.

Make Calendars for Friends, Family and Favored Clients
You could also show off your jewelry designs in custom calendars!

Make Jewelry
There were so many great backgrounds available that paper jewelry artisans would think they are in paper heaven! I know I am after developing some new prototype designs. The background pattern I choose was dark blue one from the free kit "Transverse" shown below. I just printed out a small size - the 5" x 7" onto my inkjet paper.

To seal the inkjet printouts, I used 2 sprays of a craft varnish, drying in between. I recommend 3 as there was a tiny bit of color bleed. Then two layers of Mod Podge for paper as added insurance.

I placed a bought scrapbook paper flower with a simple crystal for the pendant below and then added a dimensional glaze to cover everything but the crystal. You could also use all sorts of shape cutters.

The folded paper fan earrings were a combination of paper, yellow brass wire work and crystals. You can tell I had a lot of fun making these! And that included using my Modahaus photo jewelry setups!

Giveaway

One copy of the My Memories Suite v.3 worth $40 will go to the lucky winner of this giveaway. My Memories has also provided a Share the Memories code ( STMMMS80228 ) which gives readers of this blog a $10 discount off the purchase of the software and a further $10 discount for the store itself. (In the interest of full disclosure, if anyone uses the code, I earn an affiliate fee ;-))

If you wish to try your luck, please make a comment below. Make sure you leave contact info if you do not have an online shop or blog.

Subscribers need to click on the post title to come to my actual blog. Scroll down and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank. Please leave an email at the very least so I can contact you easily if you win.

This is an international giveaway.

Extra entries if you become or are a blog subscriber or follower or also on Facebook Fan page or Twitter . If you also do shout outs about this giveaway on your favorite forum, own blog, Facebook or Twitter even Google+ etc, those will count as additional entries too! Please say so in the comments.

It ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Monday, July 9, 2012. I will pick a winner randomly and announce the results as soon as possible after. So be sure to leave a contact email if you don't have an online link or make sure you come back and check! Otherwise I will redraw in a week. Good luck!

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Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips