Meaningful Photo Projects

While you're thinking about your new year's resolutions, have you given thought to your photo projects for 2013? I'm sure you've heard of Project 365 where you take a picture every day. I have to be honest - I found that too hard to complete and rather than taking pictures that were important and relevant, I was LOOKING, sometimes frantically, for something to take a picture of. Seriously, did I really think a picture of a door knob would be something that would knock my socks off? I'd look at it and say, "Oh yeah, 2012 was an awesome year! Just look at my door knob!" Or my cup of coffee? Ah, the memories. You get my point.

So I offer you a challenge: instead of taking 365 new pictures, why not use the pictures you already have? You know the ones I'm talking about. Those that are either sitting in boxes in your basement or the digital images still stuck on that memory card in your camera. DO SOMETHING WITH THEM. Get them in albums or scan them and create a digital album to share with family and friends. Whatever it takes, just do it! You can grab a picture a day and get caught up on that back log. (If you need help getting a handle on it, give us a call!)

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not saying don't take pictures in 2013. I'd probably go into cardiac arrest if you told me I couldn't take pictures! I'm suggesting using what you already have as inspiration. Don't just point and shoot (promise me there will be no door knob pics!). Challenge yourself to get a little creative and make your pictures for 2013 meaningful, like recreating a picture that was taken years ago. My husband's cousin and wife, who were high school sweethearts, recently did just that and told me I could share it here:

What a beautiful couple! Their daughter posted this picture on Facebook and typed, "You kind of have to believe in soul mates when this picture exists." Exactly. And now their children have a wonderful keepsake of their parents. I can see this picture taken again in 20 years and again 20 years after that! See the meaning? Of course you do!

We'll be posting more suggestions and ideas for photo projects in 2013 in the next week so be sure to stop back for more ideas!

Homemade Calendars Are The Best!

I uploaded MyMemories V4 and have played just a smidgeon with it.  I know.  I know.  Just a smidgeon?  Yes.  You see, I'm getting ready to go on vacation with my family so there's a LOT to prepare for that.  But I'm giddy with excitement and I think you know why...I'M TAKING MY LAPTOP WITH ME and I'll be by the pooldiving in!  Not the pool, mind you.  I'll be diving in and out of V4 learning all the new and exciting features and I'll share them here!

What I did quickly see brought a giggle of happiness.  I LOVE calendars.  Just love them.  But I was tired of buying the kits that had the dates for the upcoming year already there.  WHAT A HASSLE if you wanted to make a calendar the next year.  Grrrrr.  So my giggle escaped when I saw the "calendar" feature in the tool menu.  What Smarty Pants thought of that?  Because all the comments I've sent in to MMS with ideas for upgrades, that one never made it on my list.  Duh.  I'm gladsomeone was thinkin'!

Back to creating calendars!  I made one page that took less than 2 minutes to complete.  I didn't use any of my own images at this point, but I just wanted to show you how easy this is!

Open MMS V4, select "Design Your Own" and select the shape you prefer:  portrait, landscape or square.  Then size.  I chose an 11 x 8 1/2  landscape for this example.  Before you go ANY further, I recommend turning on the page guides.  To do this, in the top menu bar, select: View, Guides and the Trim Area you prefer.  Generally, I select the large trim area when I work on any project larger than an 8 1/2 x 11 up to 12 x 12s.  I'll choose Small Trim Area when I work on 8 1/2 x 11 or smaller.  This is just to be safe in knowing all of your page content will be printed once the bleed is taken into account.  What is bleed?  Please refer back to our recent blog post describing this printing phenomena here.  =)

Once your blank page is open you can choose your background paper.  This is where creativity is endless!  Select a simple background or choose a purchased paper that's decorative.  I wanted to see the new backgrounds that came with V4 so I chose one of the decorative papers. Fun!  You can also use an image set as the background or anything that strikes your fancy.  If you're making a 12 month calendar, you'll have 11 more to go so keep that in mind if you're choosing a theme.  Otherwise, just sit back and have creative fun!

Add the calendar by selecting from the right tool bar "Calendars".  From that drop down menu, you can add a single month or the entire year.  I created a single month.  Once it's added to your page, you can drag from the four corners to enlarge to the desired size.  Remember, if you re-size from the middle, it'll change the aspect ratio of the picture making it look like a picture on silly putty being stretched out (did you ever do that with the comic strips when you were younger or did I just show my age?) or super squatty and pudgy if you push it in from the sides.  Four corners only. Make that your re-sizing mantra.

Be sure to use your align tool if you're like me and require continuity.  I can't live without it.  On the top menu bar, select:  Arrange, Align, and then Center Vertically On Page and Center Horizontally On Page.  Of course, if you're going for an artistic quality being off-centered or simply to the side, eye ball it!

You can go back and select the font and size of the month and numbers on the calendar by going back into the Calendars menu and selecting Edit.  You can also change the size and color of the lines (you can even select NO lines if you want!) as well as the location of the numbers (i.e. top right, top left, bottom right, bottom left).  You have a lot of options for calendars!

Before you finish, if you're anal like me, you can go in and add text boxes and add special days and birthdays.  For this sample, I didn't as that would have taken a little longer, but while I'm on vacation, I'll be making a calendar for the year and I'll take the time to add all those special birthdays and holidays before I print.  I think I'll also grab our Cinch Bindery Tool and bind my calendar (if you do this, just remember to leave a little extra space at the top for the "binding" area).  If you're interested in a Cinch, I'll be talking to Mary to see if we can add those back to our inventory in our shop.  I'll keep you posted on that one.  Until then, here's my simple 2-minute calendar page:

As with any project you create in MyMemories, please have fun and enjoy yourself because, well, isn't that what scrapping is all about?  Happy Digi Scrappin'!

MyMemories V4 is HERE!

What's New in MyMemories Suite?

Already rated as the #1 scrapbook software, MyMemories Suite v4 delivers more new features and content.

• Export to SVG to use with your Electronic Die Cutter
• More Custom Canvas Sizes
• New Paint Tool
• Improved Printing from Home
• Global Search and Add
• Photo Recolor Options
• Change Shape Option
• Photo Tiling
• Rip Photo Edge
• In Software Customized Artwork Organization
• Mirror and Flip Groups
• Mirror and Flip Backgrounds
• Enhanced Text Features
  • tracking
  • text inside shapes
  • text mirroring
  • top, middle and bottom justification
• Enhanced Word Art Features
• 15 New Designer Templates
  • 210 Backgrounds
  • 753 Embellishments
  • 587 Monograms

Click here to order and be sure to use the special code:  STMMMS70891 at checkout to receive $10 off the software. You'll also receive a $10 certificate to use in the MyMemories Design Shop!

Happy Digi-Scrappin'!

Homemade Gifts for Giving

It's that time again...thinking of special gifts to give during the holidays. Here's a home made goodie that will be loved by one and all!  Easy to make, looks beautiful in a jar, and just imagine the cute tag you can make using MyMemories Suite!

Doesn't it look divine?  Just four ingredients, too.  That makes it even more divine!  Would you like the recipe?  Click here. While you're at Marathon Mom's site, check out all the other great ideas and recipes there, too.  It all looks fabulous!

http://themarathonmom.com/brown-sugar-vanilla-body-scrub.htm

Funny Memories

They happen to us A LOT.  At any given moment of any given day.  When they happen to me, I swear that it was so darn funny I'll never forget it.  But the next day or week comes along and guess what?  This crazy, busy, working 3 jobs, mother of an extremely active pre-teen and teenager who are involved in sports, after school activities, faith formation classes and hanging with friends and the MOMMY taxi for it all can't even remember what day it is at times let alone what happened yesterday or last week!

My mission?  Write it down (and throw in a current picture of the child who said it!) so that days, weeks, years and even decades from now, we can look back upon these fun days and laugh together.  My dear cousin, Karen, just shared one of the funniest stories I've heard in a long time that she said I could share here with you:

I just finished tucking in Laurel and Charli, and Laurel says "Mom, I'm sorry I told you earlier today those jeans made your butt look bad while we were shopping. I thought it was the jeans. I didn't really know your legs were shaped that way." Silence. The bed is shaking. Then, "Mom, are you crying? Or are you laughing?"

Laughing. Laughing my funny looking butt off! Thanks for the apology, Laurel!

(Karen, you are awesome for sharing this!  Thank you!)

Now who hasn't heard the honest (I say this word facetiously), funny truth from your children? I hear it almost every day but I fail to write it all down.  SO!  I told you my mission:  I'm going to write these funnies down, put them in a book with my photographs and make an album out of them when I have enough (which quite honestly shouldn't take too long with my kids!). What do you plan to do with all the funny things you hear?

Cookie Dough for Giving

It's not too early to start thinking about gift giving! Sometimes the greatest gifts come from the heart.  It isn't how much money is spent but the thought that goes into that gift.  Do you have neighbors that you'd like to do something special for over the holidays?  Don't forget about all the gifts you can make at home yourself.  Here's such a great idea I found on Pinterest.  Don't bake batches and batches of cookies to give during the same time others are baking, too.  Make that cookie dough and give THAT!  If the recipient doesn't want to use it right away, it can be put in the freezer for use a few weeks later.  What a lovely idea.  And coming from this gal in cold, wintery Michigan, I wouldn't mind cranking up the oven in freezing January to warm the house with delicious smells wafting through the rooms!

Don't forget to use MyMemories Suite to make the cutest labels and tags for all these gifts!  You can print them yourself, cut and place on the packages.  Keep checking our blog for homemade gift ideas all throughout this holiday season because we'll be grabbing them and sharing them here!

Check out this one here for the cookie dough gifts from  Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  Love it!  You'll find recipes for all different kinds of cookies, step-by-step directions for creating cookie dough tins, helpful hints and even a link for a free St. Nicholas font!  Enjoy!

What is "Bleed"?

When I was looking for a preferred printer for The Memory Boutique, Mary and I spent countless hours searching, calling, asking questions, demanding answers and spending a LOT of money getting samples of our album pages printed. I even travelled to Salt Lake City to visit some! What did we find?  First, we were highly disappointed with the quality (or lack there of!) that we received from a LOT of the printers out there.  Second, so many of them wouldn't even honestly tell us the machines they used to print the pages on!  Shockingly, we found out from a Xerox rep that many of these companies simply purchase a copy machine to run your pages through.  Third, you don't need to spend super amounts of money to get your pages printed correctly and that are of great quality.  We found the printer that does just that and so much more, which is why (click on this link to create a free account at The Memory Boutique where you can order prints and safely store your images for free!) Persnickety Prints is our preferred printer that we order all of our photo paper pages from.  Why?  Because they are professional, honest, genuine, thorough and precise, or "persnickety".  We love them!

So to answer the question we've received so many times, "What is bleed?" I'm pleased to  share with you what our printing partners over at Persnickety Prints shared about the printing process from start to finish as well as a link (found below this explanation) showing pictures of "bleed":

True Photographic Prints: A real photograph is exposed with light on light sensitive paper. That's right - light. Photons. Some of the smallest particles in the universe.This "light" is formed by Light contained in a Laser light or LED head that "floats" over a light sensitive paper on a bed of warm air. The light exposure excites chemicals on the photographic paper by spraying tiny diamond-shaped patterns on the emulsion. It is this concentration of diamonds created from tiny photons that gives a photograph its unique look, color and depth. Ink doesn't come close. The rest is just science. After "exciting" the chemicals in the paper's emulsion, the paper moves through a warm RA4 chemical bath which activates and seals your colors. Because the light exposure head floats over the paper there is no machine vibration to degrade the image. Real Photographs still involve chemicals and light sensitive papers so, believe it or not, our lab technicians still go into a darkroom to load the paper we use to print your layouts. Not only that, but every time we change a roll of paper we recalibrate our machine so the colors in a photograph today will match the colors in a photograph sent a year from today. BLEED: For photographic prints (as stated above): machines allow for a slight difference in print sizes and alignments by overlayingyour image over the paper to avoid having a white border. The problem with this is you can lose a good portion of the edge of your layouts. If your layout has a thin border, it can appear uneven or completely gone on one or more side. Our goal, at Persnickety, is to print your image centered evenly with as little overlay as possible. You can be confident that your image will appear as expected as our trim is kept tightly at less than 1/16 of an inch.

Click here for Persnickety's excellent explanation of "bleed".

When you schedule a MyMemories digital scrapbooking session with us, one of the first recommendations we make is for you to get into the habit of automatically turning on the guides each and every time you create pages to make sure all of your page (the important goodies like the images and text) will be printed.  The program does too, with this reminder the first time you use it:

How do you turn on the guides?  On the top menu bar, select "View", "Guides" and select the appropriate "trim area" or "crop size" for your project.  You'll see the shaded guides pop right on!

Now that you know what "bleed" is, you'll understand why those wonderful guides are so important.  Happy scrapping!

Halloween Photo Tips

Halloween has so many great photo opportunities! Here's a link to some amazing tips regarding taking those precious photos of the kiddos at Halloween. I think my favorite tip from this post is #2: Decide on a location. I love the location she picked for the adorable witch's costume! Enjoy!

It's A New Day!

I love this song by Avalon SO, SO much.  I remember when I first heard it on the radio.  I went right to the store and bought the CD (I'm aging myself, aren't I?).  If you haven't heard it, will you please take a moment to enjoy it here?

When I sat down at my computer today, that song just popped into my mind.  Yes, it is a new day for many reasons.  It's a new day to focus on my faith formation as, being Catholic, we're focusing on a year from October, 2012 to November, 2013 as the "Year of Faith", deepening our understanding of our faith.  Heading on a pilgrimage this weekend and will share that upon my return!

I also am focusing on my new, healthy lifestyle, and when this song popped into my head and I started humming and then full-out belting it out (which I am not a good singer, but it's my birthday and I will celebrate the day!), it reminds me that each coming day is a day in which I can keep up the good work and plow forward.  I have regrets, but I'm choosing to focus on today and the new day following it each day.  I have the strength I need, not just my own but our Lord and Savior.  I am blessed beyond words. 

Have a beautiful day and blessings to you!  

A New Focus

On Tuesday, I will celebrate my 42nd year of life.  It's a bitter sweet day for me, because as of late, I've been doing a lot of personal reflection.  One area in my life in which I have been less-than-stellar is...oh shoot.  Who am I kidding?  I haven't just been "less than", I've been downright void on my path to good health and wellness.  Don't get me wrong.  I take my Shaklee vitamins every day, but it's choosing to eat healthy and choosing to exercise where I fail miserably.

I've been trying to figure out the "whys" in my life like, "Why don't I exercise even though I know how important it is?"  Or "Why do I eat to the point of over-stuffing myself knowing that it's unhealthy and bad for me?"  I've been discerning this for some time and have come to many conclusions:

1.  I love my Mom more than life, and I know she loves me.  But she has not been a good example for me in regards to health and well-being.  She cooks large amounts of delicious food slathered in rich sauces, gravies and butter.  She serves meals that could feed a small army when in fact, it's only about 12 of us.  And we eat it all because she gets hurt if we don't.

2.  All the years I was growing up, she has continuously been trying to lose weight.  But what would I see?  When she was stressed, she turned to food to console herself and make herself feel better by eating it all.  So that's what I did/do, too.

3.  She told me that "we" do not have the types of bodies to be skinny.  We'll always look like this as it's what we're destined to be like.

4.  And I believed her.  (Please note:  I will not hold this all against her, though, because she is my Mom and I love her to pieces!)

But haven't we learned that it is always mind over matter?  That if I believe it, it will be?  For years I have believed I can be no better than this, but today, I will choose to believe that I CAN be healthy, I CAN be fit and I CAN lose weight.  And I will choose to listen to only positivity and ignore any negativity that befalls me.

I accept that I and I alone let myself get to this point in my life and I will not blame anyone for my body, but I am choosing to make changes that will set me on the path to health and wellness because I deserve it, I'm worth it and most importantly because my children deserve it and are worth it.  I need to be a good example for them and I want to be around to celebrate many more birthdays with my children.

And my journey begins tomorrow as it's the start of a new week and the beginning of my new, healthy life.  I will weigh myself, take measurements and get pictures taken (ouch) that I will share here as part of my therapy.  I realize it's not just what's on the outside that matters.  It will also be an "inside" life style change in which I will change my 42-years of thought processes and thinking so that I may hopefully have 50+ more years of life that's full of health and well-being!   And I will share my ups and downs here as I am not perfect and will have downs but am praying for many more ups.  =)

In the past, I would have said, "Wish me luck!", but I realize it's not "luck" that I need.  Right now I will ask, "Please wish me strength to persevere in changing my life for the better!"

Life Happens

Yes, it does. I know, because it's been happening to me. I have been posting regularly at The Memory Boutique's blog on a weekly basis, but rather than copying that and re-posting here, I wanted to post blog-worthy posts for my blog. And do you think I made time to do that? Nope. I did now, though!

What have I been doing since December? Working! What else do I do? Seriously, though, we had a blessed Christmas. What a wonderful celebration with our families. New Year's was uneventful but fun. We had our usual feast of crab legs.  Over-stuffed ourselves and stayed up to watch the ball drop.

That snow I said was coming? Well, it never really came. Neither did the cold, so that explains what happened to my job at the ski lodge. I started 2 1/2 weeks later than usual and I ended 3 weeks earlier. Essentially our winter never occurred. And now?  In March? We're wearing shorts and the kids have already been to the lake 3 times now to swim! It's almost 80 degrees every day. Along with the mild temperatures comes severe weather.  Last week we had our first tornado watch for the season, a month earlier than normal. There were a number of severe weather reports but thankfully, it went all around us. Ann Arbor, Michigan DID experience a tornado that caused a 10-mile path of destruction. WEIRD weather, that's for sure!

And that brings me up-to-date! Working VERY hard on my daughter's Odyssey of the Mind team. I'm head coach this year. Head coach = no sleep, very stressed and looking forward to competition next week. If my kids can pull it off (they haven't been practicing their lines!) I think they have a great chance to go to state competition.  If they don't get their lines down? Well, let's hope they're practicing today!  =)