Creative Memories Digital 411 Blog

Beautiful wedding invitations in a snap!

Getting married soon, or know someone who is? Check out our gorgeous selection of new wedding templates, designed to coordinate with the new Divine and Enchanted Power Palettes. The one you see to the right is likely going to be the template I choose when it's time to send out my save the date cards :)

Available are invitation, save the date and thank you cards in a variety of sizes (5x7 Flat, 5x7 Folded and 4x8) and styles such as these:

Check out all our beautiful new template selections on the Digital Center (US|Canada) - just drag and drop your photos into a template, order them and you're done!

A sweet gift for Dad!

Let's face it - fathers are hard to buy gifts for. Lucky for some of us, they do love to see photos and messages from their loved ones, so we've got an especially cool Father's Day gift option for you this year. Beginning May 1, Photo Panels (US|Canada) are 15% off - and Dads happen to love them!

The sale runs through May 30, so you've got plenty of time to create one from scratch. The one to the right was created using the Take It Easy Digital Kit (US|Canada), or you can drag and drop photos into one of our beautifully designed templates on the Digital Center (US|Canada).

Also, note that all sizes of our photo panels are available in either regular finish or super sweet metal finish. Note that when ordering a metal photo panel, any areas within your design that show up as white in your design will appear as metallic on your project when you receive it.

Enjoy! :)

National Scrapbook Day Celebration

In 1995, Creative Memories declared the first weekend in May as National Scrapbook Day. This year, we’re celebrating BIG with special events, exclusive products and amazing deals!

Celebrate with us by attending a National Scrapbook Day event in your area or hosting a party! (Contact a Consultant to find out more)

We'll also be celebrating online with Virtual National Scrapbook Day from April 27 - May 5, 2012. Stop by every day to see what's new.

 

Daily Challenge	Daily Sketch
April 27	April 27
April 28	April 28
April 29	April 29
April 30	April 30
May 1	May 1
May 2	May 2
May 3	May 3
May 4	May 4
May 5	May 5

Winner's List

Find links to the daily challenges and sketches on our social channels:

Meet Mike. He Scrapbooks.

Several months ago, I was cruising through the Creative Memories Go Digital Facebook Fan Page when I ran across some fantastic heritage digital scrapbook pages. As I clicked in to look closer at them, I noticed that the creator of the pages was a man. Odd, since we don't get many guys who frequent our page, let alone post awesome pages on a regular basis. Mike made his way into the group pretty naturally - he posted pages and everyone loved them. He became one of us.

We all thoroughly enjoyed his creations, as did all of our fans, so one day I decided to reach out to him and ask him if he'd be interested in joining the admin team of the fan page, and to our delight - he agreed! He's fit in perfectly with all of us, and we thoroughly enjoy having him on the team.

I was curious, though, how does a guy like Mike get into digital scrapbooking - so I asked him. Here's the story:

"What’s a regular guy like me doing in a place like this? The scrapbooking universe. Truth be known, it was quite by accident really. In September of 2010 I was looking at all the pictures my wife and I had on our computer that dated back about 6 years from the birth of our son Halen. There were hundreds of them, and other than printing out the odd one to send with Christmas cards or letters to the grandparents they just sat on the computer collecting electronic dust.

For some strange reason the idea of a scrapbook came to mind for a Christmas present for my wife. I had never actually even really seen one before but I figured, how hard could it be? You just need a photo album with construction paper and some glue right? 3 months and plenty of cuss words later it was completed and I was quite content to retire from this new found hobby so I could continue on with my various other ones. Besides I had completed what I set out to do.

One of those other hobbies was genealogy. I had spent about 10 years doing research and collecting family information. Anyone that traces their roots I think suffers with the same problem, what does one do with the mounds of paper that inevitably accumulate? How does one organize it in such a way so that it is reader friendly and appealing to look at?

I began to wonder if a scrapbook was the answer to my problem, but honestly dreaded the thought of how much work it would be. Then, a lady from work asked to see my traditional scrapbook of my son and asked me if I had given any thought to digital scrapbooking. She told me about the Creative Memories Storybook Creator and I thought I just might have the solution to my problem. It turns out I did.

I have been working on my heritage album now on Storybook Creator for about a year now and thankfully it is nearing completion. I really enjoyed visiting the Creative Memories Go Digital Facebook page to post my work looking for advice and to see what kind of projects everyone was doing. I quickly discovered that being a guy I was in the large minority as far as scrapbooking goes. I was, and still am, so appreciative of all the advice and tips I get from the visitors on the page.

I already have some more ideas in mind to try once my heritage album is completed and can’t wait to get started. So, what’s a regular guy like me doing in a place like this? Having an absolute blast!"

Here are some samples of what Mike has created that we all love:

If you haven't yet discovered Mike's creations, visit the Creative Memories Go Digital Facebook Fan Page - chances are you'll find him there. If you have discovered them, share some love here for Mike - he rocks! :)

Make Your Page Pop!

In a past life I used to enjoy traditional scrapbooking...loved to get my hands in it, rub, rip, fold, print, layer, tack, and of course filled my dining room table with IDEAS that I just hoped to come to life. I left this out for weeks at a time because... I could. Now little fingers are a factor, as well as the fact that now I have a family and life is a tad bit different so I USE my dining table – FOR EATING.

That past life comes to mind when I get out the stickers, play dough, scissors, puzzles and any other activity for today’s playtime for my kids, which of course is followed by the take down and clean up. A task I do for my kids but couldn’t imagine having time for in my own hobby. I was so thankful for digital scrapbooking when it came to be. A way I could scrapbook, come to and from a project with so little effort. 

As much as I am thankful for digital scrapbooking, I do miss traditional some times. I love the look of hybrid scrapbooking (when you combine the two) but still I don’t do it often because of lack of time or energy. 

Because of this new (again) found love I have been playing around with Creative Memories Storybook Creator software. It has such great tools, that with a little effort and creativity you can make your pages pop much like they do in traditional or hybrid scrapbooking.

In this page, I created a frame which can be made using SBC cutting tools, surface tools and shadowing tools. I'll show you how in the instructions!

I learn so much by fiddling around (so my Husband calls it) in StoryBook Creator! I have spent many hours trying out the different techniques – tried, failed and have been shocked at my success. Getting used to the tools is your first goal...and then play...try new things...and have fun!

How to create the page:

Nancy O’Dell Recipe Digital Kit

Vintage Romance Sewing Room Digital Embellishments

Stitching Digital Embellishments

Garden Sunset Digital Kit

Serene Digital Kit

Elements Digital Embellishments

Office Supplies (Gold) Digital Embellishments

Vintage Romance Digital Kit

Instructions:

Insert O'Dell RecipePaper18. Rotate the paper so the words are no longer in the top right but move the paper until the words are in the top left. Add VintageRomancePaper5 and using the cutting tools, cut the paper with a rough rip to expose the top of the paper. Copy and paste that paper onto the page. Change the color of the paper, sampling the blue from the top paper. Rip the top of that paper and slide it just below the Romance paper. Apply a shadow to the papers to show depth. 

Add VintageRomSewRm31 which is the large thread-like paper from the Vintage Romance Sewing Room Digital Embellishments package to the top left portion of the paper. Add this 3 more times to the top left of the page. Select Vintage Romance Paper5 and ‘fill the selected shape’ of two of the papers on the top left.  Add VintageRomSewRm26 (straight stitch) and VintageRomSewRm25 (curly stitch) in several spots in the top left corner on top of your papers. 

To make the frame, first add pre-made frame from one of the kits with straight lines. If you don’t want to use an already made frame, simply add a paper and make it the shape of a rectangle and cut out a rectangle for the center. Change the color of the frame to white. Highlight the frame you are using. Using the Format ribbon on the top of StoryBook, select the surface button under effects. Add a wrinkles2 with very low contrast. To manipulate the frame to look as though the corners are folded up or curved, you must add your own shadows. Do not shadow the whole frame using the shadow tool. You must add a long triangle (like a wedge) to the page. Make it a dark grey or black. Use the format ribbon and select soften edge. Soften the edge dramatically to make it look more like a shadow rather than keeping it actual shape. Fit this triangle along the top left corner along the side and bottom left corner and just shy of the bottom right corner. This is something that you may have to play with to get the right effect, as its hard to explain via words the shapes and specific spots to place your shadows.  

From the Serene Digital Kit select "I" white tag and place this on the top right of the top frame. Also add this tag to the page using the cutting tools - cut out the letter "I" and fill it with a sample of the white from the tag.  Flatten this new tag. Copy and paste this 3 more times to the page. Inside your second tag, type in ‘love’ using Adler font. And add ‘you’ in the third tag and ‘Smile’ in the fourth. You can manipulate the size of the tag to fit the words you are inserting. Once your words are placed in the tags as you wish, flatten the tags so you can move them around and increase/decrease their sizes.

Place the I - love - you tags along the right side of the homemade frame. Add a small amount of shadow to the tags just so they stand out. Find the VintageRomSewRmEmb3 (the blue button) from the Vintage Romance Sewing Room Digital Embellishments package. Place this button to secure the tags to the side of the frame. Add another text using the shape ribbon. Using LaineyDaySH font insert a ‘&’ symbol in a light green color (color sampled from the page). Also using LaineyDaySh font, insert "your beautiful" text in a white color. I often add a fractal map (noisy) to my text to add a worn look. I did this on "your beautiful" for this page. 

Now slide the "smile" under one of the papers on the page. Using another one of your shadow triangles (copy and paste one you used for your frame), insert the long edge along the bottom of the tag but exposing both sides of the point so it looks as though you have indeed lifted the tag from the page (A REALLY COOL LOOK). Another way to make the tags look 3D is to darken the edges using the edit image, select touch up brushes when right clicking the image. I also darkened the top right edge. Add a HINGE from Garden Sunset Digital Kit to secure the frame to the page and add shadowing to the hinge. Behind the hinge and frame, add ElementspaintedBubbleWrap from the Elements Digital Embellishments package.

Add OdellRecipePaper18 to the bottom of the page and use the arrows to change the shape from square to rectangle and make it smaller to use for journaling. Along the edges of the journaling paper, add Stitch8 from Basic Stitching Digital Embellishments package. Along the top of the journaling spot, add What I Love from Serene Digital Kit. Secure it with VintageRomSewRmEmb3 (the blue button). Add your journaling.

Add frames and photos to the bottom of the page. Use GoldClip from Office Supplies (Gold) Digital Embellishments to secure the pictures and frames. Finally, add VintageRomSewRm18 (the cute little brown bow) to the clip.

Enjoy!
Jennifer Gibson
Creative Memories Design Team Member

 

Give your grad a reason not to forget to write!

Typically grads leave home, headed out for their next great adventure, and they call a lot. At first, anyhow. That tapers off and soon they only call if they need something. :) Here's a fun spin on an idea that we've talked about before that just might help - it's the fun personalized stationery cards (US|Canada) that will serve as a perfect way for the grad to stay in touch.

In this sample, I personalized the design with Kaitlynn's favorite colors using the Take It Easy Digital Kit (US|Canada) and a font (Fortunaschwein) that looks very fun and swirly - something I think she'd love. You could even personalize them a little further by adding fun things like a photo of the grad and/or their favorite quote. Lots of fun things you could do!

Give these cards a thought for great grad gifts - not only will the grad love the personalization, but his or her parents will love the thought of them staying in touch! :)

Want a quick lesson in creating these in a snap? Watch this video:

Have fun!

Jenny Dammann

 

Honor the grad in a grand way!

Honoring a graduate is a pretty big task - they've just made it through a few of the toughest years of their life, and that's a great accomplishment. Show them how important a day this is, and give their party guests the opportunity to do the same. We've put together a sweet template on the Digital Center (US|Canada) for a grad wall print that's designed to be a "signature board" print - perfect for use with the Creative Memories StoryBook Pen (US|Canada)! It's completely designed and ready for you to simply drop two photos into, then order. Set it out for all to leave notes at the grad party - easy peezy!

Here's what the template looks like with the photos added and the signatures have been added after printing. And, since many major retailers now carry frames in the sizes of our Wall Print Posters (16x24 and 20x30), you could easily be creating a keepsake that your grad will hang on his or her wall for years to come!

Know a grad who may love this idea? Think about giving it as a pre-graduation gift, too - they'd love it! All you need are just two photos of the grad. Yep, that's all!  Enjoy :)

Interested in learning how to create these in a snap? Watch this video:

Have fun!

Jenny Dammann

Fun with Fonts

SBC 4.0 offers a couple fun ways to use fonts. Inside the program, you can use any font and fill it with paper by going to the Insert ribbon and then in the text category selecting shape. I love doing this to add some papers and outlines to my fonts. But did you know that you can also make shapes from fonts? Making a font into shapes will allow you to fill your font with photos AND be able to adjust them just the way you want them. You probably already have some dingbat fonts installed on your computer and SBC4.0 had a few of them pre-installed as shapes to use. I have gone searching for a few additional dingbats that would be GREAT for using as elements or photo holders. DaFont is a great resource for this. 

What to do to turn your fonts into shapes:

1) Find the fonts you want to make into shapes. Install them to your computer. [Instructions can be found here: PC]

2) If you already had SBC 4.0 running, you’ll need to restart the program for the font to be recognized.

3) At the startup screen, select “Manage Content”. In the left hand column, you’ll see “Installed Fonts”. Right click on that and select, “Add a font”. Scroll through your list to find the fonts you want to turn into shapes. Then select “Add” at the bottom.

4) Insert an Empty Frame and select it.

5) Go to the Format Photos tab and select “Select Mat”.

6) Click on the Cutout button. In the left hand column, select “Installed Fonts”. You should see the font you just installed. Select that font and scroll in the font preview area for the shape you want and select it.

7) Now,before you exit out of the “Select Mat” pop-up window, change the “Mat fill” to transparent. This will allow your shape to have no background visible on your page.

If you like horses, find a horse font. Birds, find a bird font. Install it, fill it with paper, and off you go. Find a frames font and fill those with paper and you’ll instantly have fun frames for any SBC+ project. Have fun playing. Here are some examples.

Make sure you’ll be using the font in a way that is accordance with the Terms of Use agreement from the font designer.

Thank you for being our fans!

WOW! Over on the Creative Memories Go Digital Facebook Fan Page, we hit the 20,000 fan mark! We're super excited.. and to celebrate, we've got some super fun freebies to give away. Here's what we're sharing:

Ready to download the FREE sweet set of Metal Deco Tag Elements? Here's your link. Enjoy them, and please pop on over to the Facebook Fan Page and share what you create! 

Thanks again for being our fan. :)

IMPORTANT: Click on (or right click) the link under the group of images to download the zipped folder containing the high resolution versions of these freebies.  Once you’ve downloaded the embellishment folder to a location on your hard drive, un-zip and save the freebie files. To learn how to add this embellishment to your own collection click here for SBC 2 Plus or click here for SBC 3 Plus or click here for SBC 4.0. For personal use only.

A simple gift for a special friend!

Happy Spring! Turning my calendar to April – I realize a good friend’s birthday is just a few days away. What to get her, I wonder? Of course, I want to find a gift that is not only unique and personal, but something she really likes. Like me, she’s a bit of a bookworm. Just having read some good books, I think, why not give her a book? Maybe I will also make a bookmark to go with it – one made especially for her with a special wish. A good book recommended by a friend – it’s a perfect and simple gift.

Using Storybook Creator 4.0 and the beautiful new Enchanted Digital Power Palette, I’ve created some bookmarks I think she’ll like. I will print them on heavy paper and laminate them. I’d like to share them with you. However, don’t think they have to be just bookmarks. S-T-R-E-T-C-H them a little bigger and add a ribbon to create a cute door hanger. Stretch them even a little more and they are a perfect border for an album page.
While creating these, I used some simple techniques I’ve discovered for editing embellishments. I truly LOVE the embellishments in the kits, sometimes though I need to change them just a little bit - perhaps the color isn’t quite what I want, or I just want to use a small part of an embellishment, or I’m looking to create something completely unique with its pieces.

For Bookmark #1, I placed the Life Is Fabulous and the Live Simply embellishments on the canvas. To “cut” a portion of an embellishment, simply select the embellishment and use the cutting tool to cut the portion that you would like to delete. In the case of Life Is Fabulous, I use the rounded rectangle shape to cut out the portion shown. I click “cut” with “keep the unshaded section” selected.
For the Live Simply, I want to delete the “LIVE”. To do this, I choose the Wand tool, highlighting each letter while holding the shift key. (Don’t forget to include the little areas of the letters under the scrolls.) I then click “cut” with “Keep the unselected area” selected.

After resizing and positioning the remains of the two embellishments together, the image below shows what I have left. (Note that when resizing objects, you need to hold the shift key while clicking and holding the button on the mouse, so the object correctly maintains its shape.)

For Bookmarks #2 & #3, I used the same Ribbon-Green embellishment. Select and place the Ribbon-Green on the page. With the ribbon selected, cut it in half lengthwise using the “straight” tool. With “Keep both sections” selected, click on “cut”. Both halves are now selected, so you will have to click off the ribbon and then back onto just one of them. Copy and paste this piece twice. Three pieces will become your flower “stems”. Cut one circle off of a stem, using the ellipse shaped cutting tool. This will become your leaf. Copy and paste twice, resizing to make different sized leaves. Please see below.

There should be one last piece. This will become the black link for Bookmark #3. Select it and color it black by choosing “Cut&Fill”, “Color”, and choosing black. Assembling the pieces, you obtain the below elements to use in creating the bookmarks.

Have fun creating!

Smiles,

Debbie

 

A Simple Gift Bookmark Instructions

Ingredients:

• Storybook Creator 4.0 
• Enchanted Power Palette 
• Fonts: Kunstler Script, Castellar, Courier New, Miriam Fixed 

**Begin all bookmarks by cutting a rectangle measuring 2” x 5 ½” from Paper 12 and making this the background.

Bookmark #1 (Live Life simply.)

1. Cut a 1 ½” x 4 ¾” rectangle from Paper 29. Center on black dot paper leaving a ¼” border on each side. 
2. Size a Gem-black embellishment to be about ¼”. Copy 5 times, placing the 6 Gems as shown using the alignment tool. 
3. Place a Flower-XLg Red in the middle of the bookmark sizing it as shown. 
4. Place your modified “Live Simply” embellishment on top of the flower, centering it and sizing as shown (approx. 3 ½ “ long). 
5. Place your modified “Life” so that the bottom of the “f” fits around “simply.” Select and copy “Life”, then change the color (using “Cut&Fill”, Color, grey). Arrange the grey “Life” copy behind the green one, moving it slightly off center from the green one, so that it gives a little “pop” distinguishing it from the background. 
6.  Add two text boxes and add “Live” and “u.” using Courier New font size 20.
7.  The heart is found in the “Insert”, “Shape”, “from Art Kit”, Geometric Heart #2. Select, color black, and size as shown. 

Bookmark #2 (Happy Birthday)

1. Cut a 1 ½” x 4 ¾” rectangle from Paper 31. Center on black dot paper. 
2. Place 3 modified Ribbon-Green pieces on bookmark and resize widths and lengths as shown to create “stems”. Arrange “stems” on top of “leafs. Add heavy shadow to all stems and leaves. 
3. Add flowers as shown, resizing to fit on the ends of your leaves. ( I used Flowers: Lg Black, Lg Cream, XlgRed, and Sm White). Add Glitter Dots-Black and Red, resizing as shown. Add heavy shadow to all. 
4. Add Ribbon Black and trim to edges of green dot paper. Insert a black rectangle shape (1/8” x 1 ½”) to cover the middle of ribbon so as to add type. 
5.  Add “happy birthday” or other sentiment. ( I used Miriam Fixed font size 10). 

Bookmarks #3 (Where there is Life)

1. Cut a 1 ½” x 5” rectangle from Paper 9. I flipped mine and cut it along the edges of the blueish colored diamonds. Make sure you cut one end so that it includes the complete diamond (this will be the top of the bookmark). 
2. Place your black modified Ribbon-Green piece from above, on bookmark as shown. 
3. Add a Flower XLgRed. I sized mine to fill the two diamonds from the top to the bottom. Add a Glitter Dot-Black and add heavy shadow to entire flower. 
4. Create smaller flower clusters by placing Flower-Med Black as base, then Flower-SmWhite on top of that(sizing as shown), then add a Glitter Dot- Red. Group the three pieces. Place on the black “link” as shown. 
5.  Add the LoveLife_Filled embellishment. Create a red (sample color from the flower) rectangle slightly larger than the quote, arranging it behind the quote to make it slightly larger so it mats the quote. 
6. Trim the top of the bookmark, following the lines of the diamond as shown. 
7. Add a Glitter Dot Black centered in the middle of the top diamond.