Creative Memories Software Solutions Blog

Create something super cool & fun - photo masks!

So... I have seen these super cool photo masks (this craze with me was started by Miss Jennifer Fehr in this Project Center Freebie post) and loads of people have been asking how to create them.  So, I gave it a whirl.  They're actually pretty simple.

I also have set up a super cool, fun Digital Photo Mask Challenge (if you are into digital scrapbooking, but haven't yet joined our CM - Go Digital Group on Facebook, you should!) that involves making these sweet photo masks.

So, have fun creating, and mask away!  :)

Looking to make your pages “pop?”

 

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed the recent trend for movies to be offered in 3D. From family films to horror flicks, I can’t go to the local movie theatre without seeing one of the movies being offered in 3D. So, why not apply this to my very own StoryBook pages? (And no big plastic red and blue glasses needed!)

 

Here’s a page about my family’s trip to Duluth last summer

 

Now, I highlighted the border on the left, clicked on “Format” at the top, and then clicked on “Filters.” On the pop-up choose “3D Edge.” I like to play around with “Amount,” “Softness,” and “Width” numbers. You can also adjust the directional arrow to achieve your desired look. You can click on “Preview” to see what these numbers will adjust.  

 

Here is the border element on my page with the 3D effect. I used Amount of 80, Softness of 50, Width of 93, and Direction of 60. 

 

 I like to make borders, embellishments, mats, and titles in 3D. Here is my finished page

 

 Now go make your pages “pop” too!

 

Create your own Calendar Templates with your Important Dates

I come from a big family – 8 kids (including myself), most of us are married and have kids too.  There are 20 grandchildren in our family.  Altogether there are 36 of us when we get together to celebrate holidays.  It can be complete chaos with that many people in one house at a time, but I wouldn’t have it any other way! 

This year for Christmas I decided I was going to create a calendar for each of my siblings and my parents.  I thought it would be cool to personalize each calendar by using mainly pictures of each sibling’s family, so they could have a good start to a family album when the year is over with their page prints from the calendar, but I also wanted to capture our entire families’ important dates on everyone’s calendars. 

Now let me tell you, it took me a while to enter birthdays and anniversaries of all 36 family members as well as national holidays and I knew I did not want to have to do this 9 times!  Thankfully I thought of this in advance, so decided to complete each months grid’s with the holidays, birthdays and anniversaries I wanted to include.  I used embellishments from a variety of packages to mark each special day as well as text to state the event taking place that day.  Once I completed this for each month, I saved the calendar as “Von Holtum Calendar”.  This now serves as my 2010 calendar template from which I have started all other projects from because the grid is already done.  Here is a sample page from the calendar I created for myself.

 
For each calendar that I want to work on for my siblings now, I just start with my "Von Holtum Calendar" template and complete the pages.  When I am ready to save my progress on that calendar, I do a “save as” and assign that project a new name.  This has saved me a lot of time and I am thankful I have not had to create 9 of the same calendar grids! 

I do have one caution to add to this and that is if you plan to change a page to a different template.  Unfortunately selecting the “change page” option in the software will wipe out the entire page – including the calendar grid.  If at all possible, set your calendar up with the pages you want to use first and then complete your grid to save your template.  If you decide to change the page after the grid is designed you can also open a new project and design your page print, then copy it into your calendar (the directions for this are noted in Corinne’s posting from 10/13 - Calendar Templates: Defining your time).

Happy Holidays and Happy Calendar Making!

Click 'n Fill Templates? On the new Content Collection CD? Yes!

So... one of my good friends Laurie Callison (who also happens to be an awesome member of the CM Digital Design Team) came up with this fantastic idea for "Click 'n fill" templates - super fun digital page layouts where she does the hard work and "maps out" (think of them as a digital sketch, in a sense) the actual layout, then leaves all the fun colorizing & decorating to you. Many of you have already seen a sample or two of these on the project center as a downloadable freebie template some months back. Well, after some great responses to that we decided to go ahead and incorporate Laurie's templates into our latest Content Collection CD! Woohoo! 

These templates are rockin' and anyone can use them. Really. You just... well, "click" and then you "fill" the spots with your favorite papers. We've heard that a few of you are wondering just how to use them, so Laurie came up with this fantastic video to walk you through them - step by step.

http://goview.com/?id=916e9950-c3af-49a5-b09d-a1b0af92f1ff

Watch, learn and create.

OH! And here are samples of some of Laurie's previous free templates "put into action" by some of us on the design team. These templates make page design super easy, and fun. (note: the template below is NOT on the content collection cd - it's a freebie on the project center, and if you'd like to download this one and play around with it, check it out here: http://projectcenter.creativememories.com/digital/2009/05/laurietemplate.html)

Hopefully this helps clear up any confusion you may have had on the templates and how they work. We look forward to seeing your creations! :)

Looking for an original gift?

A great way to give original gifts to your loved ones is to create custom gifts using your photos and/or StoryBook Creator Plus Software. Anything from Mugs and T-shirts, to mouse pads and photo panels can be great presents for the holidays.

The best part is, that creating a custom gift is SO EASY, even a caveman can do it... (Okay, I can't steal that line... sorry). But seriously, it's quick and easy to create a custom gift just in time for the holidays.

The new Digital Center showcases examples of these gifts. You should really go out there and check out the new Digital Center anyway. It's pretty cool! 

Also, here is a link to the directions on how to create a custom gift. It shows you everything you'll need to know about choosing dimensions for each project and gives step-by step instructions.

What are you planning on giving as a custom gift this year?

New 12x18 Calendar SALE!

That's right folks, this fancy new calendar is ON SALE until 11/15/09! When you buy two or more beautiful, durable, versatile, superior quality...(oh, and did I mention SUPERFANTASTIC?) calendars, you get 20% off!

Here are the reasons you should take advantage of this offer:

1. GREAT for gifts
2. You can reuse the top and bottom portions for your albums
3. You can place the top portion on an Everyday Display
4. Your family and friends will be completely jealous of your new calendar and want one of their own
5. They look fantastic on any wall
6. To make the garbage men (waste management professionals ;-) happy by creating less trash and lighter loads because you've re-purposed the pages of your calendar.
7. They're on SALE
8. BECAUSE YOU WILL LOVE THEM!

In case you need a refresher on how to create one of these Beauties, here is a video to help.

Also, if you simply can't stand to wait any longer and need to purchase RIGHT NOW, grab your StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 Software, create, upload, and order on the new Creative Memories Digital Center.

Calendar Templates: Defining your time

tem•plate: A pattern or gauge, such as a thin metal plate with a cut pattern, used as a guide in making something accurately.

Wow. I made my first calendar pages this week. At first thought it was going to be cool to show you how you can drop in 12 x 12 pages or Page Prints you've already done into the calendar templates. However, that doesn't even begin to scratch at the surface of what you can do with the new calendar templates.

You can:
• import completed pages as photos and just drag and drop (or, you can copy/paste from another SBC+ file if you still have items you want to change)
• start from scratch and create something new
• make any photo or paper the background of the calendar
• change the calendar style
• change any month to a new month (switch January to July without starting over)
• change the color of anything in the calendar, change the fonts
• add photos, embellishments or text to any cell on the calendar

I discovered all kinds of versatility within the template. Check out the screen shots below to see some of the great things you can do with calendars.

cal•en•dar tem•plates: a starting point, a guide to making your calendars just the way you want.

Insert your already completed pages

1. If you haven't already, save your pages as 300 dpi jpgs. From your calendar project, click on Get Photos. Import pages you want to use as photos.

2. Drag and drop on to calendar template. Size to fit the upper portion of the template.

Change the style of the calendars & adding a photo as your background

1. It doesn't get much easier than this. Right click on the calendar grid to see the pop up menu. Go to "Use a different Calendar Style", choose your favorite from the pop up window.

2. Adding the photo as a background is amazingly simple too. From the content menu, choose your photo, right click and choose "Make background". That's it. (You can do this with paper too!)

3. Just like any StoryBook page you create, you can add any embellishments or type you like.

Personalize the calendar grid

1. Right click the calendar grid, choose "properties" from the pop up menu. From this menu, you can change colors, fonts, spacing and more as it applies to the calendar grid. (see screen shot below)

Cells within the calendar

 

1. Drag and drop an image or an element into any cell within the calendar. Or, right click the calendar grid and choose "Edit Calendar Cells" to add text or make other changes to the individual days of the month.

When you're all done creating your own unique and fabulous calendar grid, you can sample the grid and apply the same features to any other grid in your project.

Find more great tips & videos in the Help Zone.

Looking for 2010 Calendar Overlays?

Well, you won't find them in the normal place because we've added calendar functionality to StoryBook Creator 3.0!! We're so excited about this fabulous new feature - it launched last week with an Update to the software. And I'm personally excited to have an option to the yearly "Weather Calendar" my husband loves to buy!

Here's what's new:

• When you're inside a project in StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0, just click on the Insert tab and on the far right you'll find a new option to add a calendar object to ANY project! You can customize the look, the month, the year - all the flexibility you've come to expect from StoryBook Creator Plus software!
• A new project type -- that's right, you can now build, upload and share our fabulous new 12x18 Calendars in BOTH StoryBook Creator 3.0 (free version) and StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0! These gorgeous calendars feature a 12x12 design on the top and a calendar grid on the bottom. We perforate above and below the 12x12 design so once the month is over you can remove the grid and save the page! This project is a bit different from other StoryBook projects in that you must start with one of our Predesigned or Basic Calendar Pages. 

• For StoryBook Creator 3.0 users (the free version), you will start with SBC 3.0 2010 Predesigned Calendar Pages. There are 3 options for each month -- seasonal/holiday, decorative or basic. You can add your photos and journaling to the top half of the calendar and add text to each individual day.
• For StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 users, you have 2 choices:
  • The Basic Calendar Pages give you just the calendar grid itself, which you can still modify and customize, and then add your own page design on the top of the calendar.
  • The SBC Plus 3.0 2010 Predesigned Calendar Pages give you a starting point for each month and allow you to enter photos OR text OR both in each individual day!

And the best part? These gorgeous new calendars retail for only $20.99 ($28.99 CAD)! You can start creating them now and upload to the CM Photo Center to view and share. You'll be able to order starting November 1 so start having FUN now with this new addition to our software!  

A special note -- if you downloaded the free artwork packages on either 10/1 or 10/2, please download and install them again -- we had to make a few tweaks and you'll want to have the latest & greatest!

 

Endless Color

Color. It’s everywhere. People define themselves with color from the car they drive to the iPod in their pocket. So, why should your digital scrapbooking be any different? Try these quick adjustments to any paper or embellishment, the possibilities are endless.

I started out with Paper4 from the Best Buds Digital Kit and a fabulous photo of my nephew.

Color Wash: Black & White Image

1. Select the paper you want to adjust. In the color tab, click on Black & White to take away all color.
2. Click on Color Wash. For this image, I selected the blue from my nephew’s shirt by sampling from the screen. Then adjusted both the saturation and the intensity until I achieved the color I wanted.

Adjust Hue: Color Image

1. Select the paper you want to adjust. In the color tab, click on Adjust Hue.
2. Using the saturation slider, move it to the left. This will give you the same color patterns, but at a different level of color. In this case, it took on more of the colors of nature going on behind my nephew. Move the slider in the other direction and you can achieve those off-air Techni-color stripes the networks used to run when you got up too early on Saturday morning.
   

Color Balance

1. Select the paper you want to adjust. In the color tab, click on Color Balance.
2. Move those sliders around! You can get all kinds of color going on here. More red, more yellow, more green...it will change the balance across the whole image and give your page a whole new look. In my image, I decided to let the blues take over, reds become more purple, greens trend toward being more blue-green.
   

Really like the new paper you made?  
Paste it onto a blank page, save it as a jpg and add it to your own collection of artwork to use over and over again.

What's Your Favorite Feature?

Working full time and being a mom is hard work and takes a lot of time.  Like most first-time moms, I have tons of pictures of Jordan, but struggle to find the time to get them printed, let alone in albums.  That is why I am so excited about the auto populate feature in StoryBook 3.0!  You just pick your template, select you pictures (by the way, it is a good idea to put your pictures in the correct orientation prior to doing the auto populate - learned that one the hard way the first time) and whalaa - the software will auto pupluate your pictures in your StoryBook!  Of course you have to review the book to make any adjustments needed and add some journaling, but this feature has been awesome for me to complete several projects quickly.  Here is one of my favorite pages that I created with auto populate.

If you want to learn more about auto populate here is a quick online video training to show you how to do it.

I have to say that auto populate is my favorite feature about the new software!    What's your favorite feature about the new StoryBook Creator 3.0 software?