Creative Memories Digital 411 Blog

Words Around Image Gift Idea

The latest rage in home décor is creating unique, custom printed artwork for your walls. Page Prints (US|CAN) in a Page Frame (US|CAN) or Magnetic Display (US|CAN) and Photo Panels (US|CAN) work perfectly for this. Since we’re gearing up for prime gift-giving season (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduation), here’s an awesome idea for a unique gift any recipient would be proud to display in the home: a photograph with meaningful words in the background.

 Create one yourself following these steps:

1. Find a photo worth featuring on a wall.

When selecting the photo, choose one with a moderately sized focal point around which the words will wrap, something that takes up no more than about half the total image space. Pay attention to how busy the background is, especially the variety of background colors. It’s easiest – and I think it looks best – to use a single font color for all the text. Having a background with a wide array of tones and colors makes this more difficult: a light font color shows up on the dark parts of the background, but is hard to read on the light areas of the background.

After playing around with several photos I ended up using a black and white image.

  

2. Make the photo the background of the page.

Start your project in StoryBook Creator 4.0 (US|CAN), add the photo to the project, right-click on the photo and choose Make background. Go the View menu and select Trimmed. Easy enough.

3. Create a shape of the focal point.

The next step is to create a shape (or several shapes) over the focal point of the image. From the Insert ribbon select Shape > Custom Shape Using Curved Lines.

Then bust out your best kindergarten tracing skills: make a series of close-together mouse clicks along the edge of the focal point of the image. It doesn’t matter what Fill or Line style you use, since we’ll eventually make the shape(s) invisible.

Click, click, click, and when the shape is completely outlined select Create. I ended up creating 2 separate shapes because I wanted my words to flow in between the two silhouettes, so mine looked like this:

Look how cute those shapes are in the Elements panel! I feel so crafty!

4. Add your text box.

From the Insert ribbon choose Text. Resize and position the text box so it takes up the majority of the page, overlapping your shapes, and click Create.

In the Elements panel, drag the text box so it appears below the shape(s). Then, right-click on the shape(s) you created and select Text wrapping > Element shape. Now you can click twice on your text box and start typing or text (or copy/paste the text if you’re using something like song lyrics or a bunch of quotations you’ve copied from somewhere).

5. Make the shape invisible.

Select the shape and go to Format > Opacity. Set the opacity at 0 and click OK. Voila!

6. Place your order!

Click File > Order to upload your project to Creative Memories Digital Center (US|CAN). After all, your creation will look much better on your wall – or in a gift box! - than on your desktop.

Post your projects on the Creative Memories Go Digital Facebook Page!

Give the best gifts ever!

Being the giver of sweet, unique gifts is awesome. Being the giver of sweet, unique personalized gifts is even better! Now imagine if the personalization part of the gift creation is super easy AND the gifts are on sale?!

Yeah, that's where we come in :) April 1 - 30 we're discounting our favorite photo gifts (US|Canada)! You know, the kind you click into, then drag and drop a photo into and you're done? Our predesigned templates make these gifts a snap to create and order, plus the recipient will feel extra special because they're totally personalized.

Here are a few of our favorite templates in action:

8x8 Love You Mom Photo Panel (US|Canada)

11oz Monogram Mug (US|Canada)

And, in case you missed our blog post showcasing this adorable photo panel project featuring baby's first year - have a look back at that, too, for a fun twist on a great Mother's Day or Father's Day gift!

Enjoy, and happy creating!

Show off your baby's first year!

So... Leanne Bailey has been busy again! This time, she created a super sweet way to commemorate her baby Rylan's first year of life - with an adorable Metal Photo Panel (US|Canada):

I LOVE this project! In fact, I'm going to have one like this on display at my wedding featuring photos of my fiance and I over the years! (With different embellishments, of course.)  ;)

And, the very best part is that Leanne shared the blank template with us all for easy creation of the project! Visit the project center for full instructions and to download the template. Enjoy! :)

Jenny

The ABC's of cuteness!

My friend Leanne Bailey always has the cutest ideas - if she isn't creating a fun-filled design for her daughter's room, she's creating something digitally that showcases the photography of her wonderful little life and family. And, since I LOVE it when she shares her creations with me, most of the time I ask if she minds if I share them with the rest of you for inspiration. Lucky for us, she always happily agrees. I would almost even bet it's even safe to say that Leanne and her family have inspired a good number of us to create something sweet, so THANK YOU Leanne! :)

Here's her latest little creation - an ABC Wall Print Poster like no other. Isn't it adorable? And, since Leanne is a full service inspirer, she created it in both girl and boy colors.

These designs are feature the new Tiny Treasures Digital Artwork (US/CAN). We knew you would want to learn how to create one, too, so we've posted full instructions on the creation over on the Project Center.

Happy creating!

Valentine Treat Toppers

Before kids, Valentine's Day was all about romance. Date night...dinner, gifts, chocolate and roses. Cliche, yes. Still, it was special.

After kids, the focus drifted away from spoiling my sweetie to helping the kids with handwritten valentines, decorating boxes and class parties.

So this year, I decided it's time to share the love! My husband happens to have a sweet tooth so I'm stocking up on his favorite candies and creating customized valentines just for him. But, since I haven't even started them, I asked Jill from the design team to create some examples to share (which I might just steal myself!).

And there's no need for you to start from scratch, either. Remember these easy Click and Fill Party Favor Templates (US/CAN) from Halloween? Fill them with some P.S. I Love You digital artwork (US/CAN), print and assemble. Easy.

To create them, simply download the templates and install them into StoryBook Creator 4.0 Software. New to digital? Try a free 30-day trial of our software (US/CAN)!

• Start a new project and choose the Local Printer category.
• Choose 8.5x11 Page (Portrait).
• Click Next, then choose the Click and Fill Party Favor Templates.
• Click Next again to create your project.
• To decorate, click into the different layers to fill them with papers and add embellishments.
• Print by clicking the File tab, then click on Print.
• Use a scissors to trim out the cupcake wrappers, the Creative Memories Circle Maker (US|Canada) to punch out the cupcake toppers, and a trimmer to cut the candy bar wrappers and tags with a straight edge.

For the complete instructions for the projects shown, visit the Project Center. Note: Each type of treat wrapper is featured on a different page in the project, so you can delete any that you don't want to make. If you want than one page of any of the designs, simply duplicate that page after you've finished designing.

Here's a closer look at the finished products!

{Cupcake Wrappers and Toppers}

{Candy Bar Wrappers}

{Bag Tags}

{Mini Candy Bar Wrappers}

{Bag Topper}

Get started by downloading the free Click and Fill Party Favor Templates (US|CAN).

We'd love to see your finished projects - share them on the Creative Memories Go Digital Facebook Page.

Enjoy!

Kristen Jacobs

Related articles

Tell Them You Love Them All Month Long

A Fast and Fabulous Valentine's Day Gift Idea

How do you say "I Love You"?

Pinterest is buzzing with ideas for creating shapes filled with words - known as subway art. There are a couple of easy ways to create these for yourself using StoryBook Creator 4.0! (US|CAN)

Imagine the Valentine’s Photo Panel (US|CAN) you could make for your sweetie using this technique!

NOTE: Each project was created using the P.S. I Love You Digital Kit (US|CAN).

Project Design by Annette Kmitch

This first idea uses your own words to fill a heart-shaped text box. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Open your StoryBook project. For this example, we created a 12x12 photo panel.
2. From the 'Insert' ribbon click 'Text'. Resize and reposition the text box to your liking and click 'Create'.
3. Type or copy & paste text into the text box. (Can’t think of what to write? Use the lyrics to “Your Song”, your favorite monologue from a movie or quote from a book or a bunch of inspirational quotes.)
4. Format the text by choosing the color, font, and font size. In StoryBook Creator 4.0 you can mix all of these up within the same text box. We used a variety of colors and font sizes. The majority of the text is Jenna Sue and the words in all caps are Copperplate Gothic Light.
5. When you’re ready to change the shape of the text box, select the text box and click 'Text Shape' on the 'Format Text' ribbon. We used a heart shape from the Heartz font.*
6. We also inserted the same heart shape filled with solid white to go behind my text box (Insert > Shape > From art kit …).
7. We used paper 33 from the kit P.S. I Love You (US|CAN) for the background.

*HINT: Don’t know how to turn your fonts into shapes? Do this:

1. Open Content Manager in StoryBook Creator 4.0.
2. From the 'Folders in Library' panel on the left side of the screen, hover over 'Installed Fonts' until the drop-down arrow appears. Click the arrow and choose 'Add a Font'.
3. You’ll see a list of the fonts installed to your computer. Select one. This will turn each character of the font set into a shape in StoryBook Creator.
4. Repeat with as many fonts as you like.

Looking for more of a word cloud look? Here's another take on this type of art - this one's done a tad bit more manually, but you get a super sweet effect!

Project Design by Jill Klasen

1. Create a blank 12x12 template in StoryBook Creator.  Add a paper to your background. We used P32 from the P.S. I Love You kit.
2. Add another paper and reduce as shown. We used P.S. I Love You P23.
3. Select your next paper and then click on the 'Cut & Fill' tab. Select Shapes > Common > Heart 2 > Select Shape. Add a heavy shadow.
4. Fill your heart with a variety of titles from the kit of your choice. We chose the P.S. I Love You Digital Kit and Digital Embellishments. We filled each title with the color ivory from the background paper and rotated a few vertically. Arrange titles and embellishments as you’d like to fill your shape.

Enjoy! Post your projects on the Creative Memories Go Digital Facebook Page!

Personalized Word Art Makes A Beautiful Gift!

I love giving really personal gifts, and Creative Memories Page Frames (US|CAN) filled with a custom designed Page Print are one of my favorites. Here’s my latest take on what (eventually) turned into a fabulous wedding gift:

I usually like to save the reveal until the end to make sure you read all the way to the bottom, but this one was too awesome to hold back! Here’s a quick overview of how I got there.

The basic project idea was to take a bunch of text (in this case, bride’s name + groom’s name + wedding date + cute message from me to them), turn it into the shape of their last initial using the 'Text Shape' feature in StoryBook Creator (US|CAN), and create a work of art around it. First, I needed some fun font shapes.

To turn fonts into shapes, do this:

1. Open Content Manager in StoryBook Creator 4.0.
2. From the 'Folders in Library' panel on the left side of the screen, hover over 'Installed Fonts' until the drop-down arrow appears. Click the arrow and choose 'Add a Font'.
3. You’ll see a list of the fonts installed to your computer. Select one. This will turn each character of the font set into a shape in StoryBook Creator.
4. Repeat with as many fonts as you like.

Next, I created a 12x12 Page Print. I inserted a large text box, typed the short string of text, then copied and pasted it over and over until it filled the entire text box. I used 9-point Candara font, since a small font size best fills the letter shape, and typically san serif fonts are easier to read.

When the text box was filled I selected 'Text Shape' from the 'Format Text' ribbon. I found the font, selected the appropriate letter and clicked 'Select Shape.' For this project, I used the lower-case “p” from the font CM Garaflora.

Here’s what it looked like. The cool thing is, this is still a text box and I can edit the text.

Don't worry about the warning for the text not fitting in the text box, since it's repeating.

Since the words didn’t fill every nook and cranny of the letter shape, I inserted a paper-filled letter behind it for more definition. From the 'Content Panel,' I right-clicked on Downtown Paper5 from the Downtown Digital Kit (US|CAN) and selected 'Cut out a new shape.'

I chose the uppercase "P" from CM Garaflora – it was just the right kind of fancy.

Since my font was black and the paper was dark, I changed the text font to a lighter color so it was readable. I also played around with the justification of the text box and the size and position of each of the letters until everything lined up nicely. Hint: Use the align section of the arrange ribbon. It took a bit of tweaking, but here’s the end result:

Then I got busy making it fancy:

• I added Downtown Paper1 (Downtown Digital Kit again) to the page and moved it under my letter elements.
• I re-sized it to 11.25"x11.25" and centered it on the page.
• I made Reminisce Paper 26 (Reminisce Digital Power Palette US|CAN) the background. 
• I inserted a second piece of the Downtown Paper1, but cut it into a thin strip as the background for the couple’s names. I dropped the opacity of the paper strip so you could see the “P” behind it.
• I used the 'Text Shape' feature on the 'Insert' ribbon to add the text that appears over the top (Bell MT font in various sizes, filled with the same Downtown Paper5 that I used for the swirly “P”).

  Here’s the finished page print that I put in the page frame:

So... back to that "eventually" comment at the beginning of this post. I was surprised that my friend's reaction wasn't quite as obnoxiously awesome as I had hoped for. Later, I realized I had spelled her new last name wrong! Um, oops. The beautiful thing about this gift is that I was able to easily correct and reorder the page print. And when I gave her a replacement to pop into the frame, she was far more enthusiastic with the corrected version. :)

What are your favorite custom gifts to create?

Last-minute holiday gift idea

Looking for another quick, easy and personalized holiday gift idea that's sure to earn you ooohs and ahhhs?  Create a framed family tree using your StoryBook Creator 4.0 [US | CAN]. And hurry -- holiday deadlines are fast approaching! [US | CAN]

Here's how easy it is:

Open StoryBook Creator and start a 12x12 page print.

Fill your background with a solid color (I used a neutral greenish color), then apply a surface (Format ribbon, Surfaces button; I used the Cord surface).

Find a tree embellishment. I used Winter Tree from the Woodland Christmas Digital Additions kit [US | CAN], but any tree will work. Plunk it in the middle of the page and enlarge it to fill the page. I moved mine slightly off-center because I'm a little wild and crazy like that. I also applied a 3-D Edge to the tree to make it look a little dimensional (Format > Filter).

Click Text path on the Insert ribbon. Use your mouse to trace a portion of the tree and click Create. Repeat this over and over until the tree is outlined similar to this:

Next, fill in the text boxes with names. In this case, Mom and Dad’s names are on the “trunk,” and children and grandchildren’s names are the branches/leaves of the tree. I used the font Jenna Sue, but any handwriting font would work well.

I added Mom and Dad’s anniversary date, a cute little heart filled with paper, and a saying about families:

I ordered my 12x12 page print and placed it in a Nancy O'Dell Espresso Magnetic Display [US |CAN].

Voila:

 

 Thanks for stopping by!

Sweet gift ideas!

Personalized gifts (US|Canada) are always a favorite, so why not cross off a few folks on your list this year with some great gifts they'll love? T-shirts, mugs and mousepads are always a huge hit, and they're even more fun when they're completely personalized! Here are some fun project ideas for you. Enjoy :)

What grammy or grandpa wouldn't love to have a t-shirt like this?

Click here for instructions on how to create this t-shirt project.

Here's one for the person who fuels up on hot cocoa on the frosty cold winter days:

Click here for instructions on how to create this mug design. (Note: placement of design on mug may vary slightly)

And here's a surefire way to become teacher's pet:

Click here for instructions on how to create this custom mug project.

And lastly, give the gift that will go to work with the recipient every day - a custom mousepad!

Click here for instructions on how to create this mousepad project.

Have fun creating!

Jenny

New Flat Desk Calendars - a great gift idea!

Looking for a unique gift to give this holiday season? Try these new Flat Desk Calendars (US|Canada)! Keep a schedule, while showing off your favorite family memories. They are fully customizable, as with all our calendar products. Drag and drop your favorite photos into the photo drop spots, then customize the calendar grid by adding important dates and events. The calendar grid boxes are roomy, with plenty of room to scribble additional information onto the calendar as you use it on your desk.

We've created some beautiful FREE predesigned templates (US|Canada) for you to get started with, and you'll love them! They come complete with all twelve months in each set, with three sets available. Here are sample pages from each set in the free template package. Note: the first sample is shown with the corners of the calendar tucked into the black corners - the others are shown untucked.

Reflections:

Professional:

Seasonal:

Also available for purchase are fully layered, editable templates (US|Canada) that allow you to move components around as much (or little) as you want (I LOVE, LOVE these!). Here are samples of the styles available in that package of templates:

Grunge:

Scrappy:

Seasonal:

Enjoy :)