You all know how much I love My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software. (Read my review here!) Recently I blogged about the fantastic new Version 2 that has been released, and now I’m proud to share a discount with you so that you can get your hands on the newest version of My Memories Suite a little more easily.
Readers of the Pink Toque Craft Blog can receive a 10% discount off of the very popular (and fabulous) Version 2 of My Memories Suite software just by clicking here!
If you’ve been holding back and waiting for a rainy day to purchase My Memories Suite Version 2, now is definitely the time to pick it up at a discount. :) And don’t forget… I’ve created 5 tutorials for My Memories Suite (including the latest one that showcases the new additions with V2) available to help you get started, and I’m always available to answer any questions you have along the way. So what are you waiting for?
You all know how much I love Polariod’s My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software. I just wanted to let you know about their great deal for Halloween; check it out!
If you’ve been waiting to purchase My Memories Suite, now is the time to grab it at a fantastic price just in time to scrap those precious Halloween memories. Need some guidance along the way?
Let’s set the scene: You’ve recently added some new content that you’ve downloaded to the My Memories Suite program directories and you can’t wait to get in and make some fantastic new scrapbook pages with them. You start up the software and rush in to browse in the new directory you’ve created where all the new content is stored. As soon as you do, an error message pops up. Something about a corrupted file. Annoyed, you click ‘OK’ and realize that you were able to “bypass” the error and still access the files after clicking ‘OK’, but the error keeps popping up and you have to click ‘OK’ for all of the errors before you can use anything in that directory. Every. Single. Time. Ouch.
Some of you have experienced this situation multiple times. And many of you have emailed me, asking about the error and how to fix it, or what was causing the problem. Was it the content you downloaded? The error used the term ‘corrupted’ in reference to a particular file as you were browsing content directories; was there a corrupted image file in your download? Rest assured, it’s not anything you’ve done wrong, and believe it or not, the actual image file in your download isn’t corrupted. (Which is why most of you realized you could just click “OK” and it would allow you access to those files.)
Thanks to a helpful Pink Toque Craft Blog reader, Cam, we now have a resolution straight from My Memories Suite customer service that fixes the problem. And the answer is so simple I keep wondering why I never bothered to call them myself.
Apparently Windows Vista doesn’t like to play nice with My Memories Suite. (Wait, Vista isn’t 100% compatible with everything? NO WAI!) You know how when you go browsing for scrapbooking items such as backgrounds or embellishments within the software and you see various thumbnails there to choose from? The first time you browse new content to use within the software that My Memories Suite hasn’t accessed before, the program renders thumbnail versions of every single image file in the new directory when you browse in it right then and there — backgrounds, embellishemnts, etc. — so that when you are browsing your options you have a little preview thumbnail image of the items to choose from. The error comes into play when you’ve added new content, go to browse it within MMS and you use Windows Vista, as Vista doesn’t like to render the thumbnails properly, hence the error message. The error is basically just letting you know that the thumbnail isn’t present and it can’t be rendered, but it forgets to mention that it’s all Vista’s fault.
The Solution? I know you’re thinking, “Great, Lesley, but how do we FIX it?” Well, after adding new content to your My Memories Suite software, be it additional content you’ve created or you’ve downloaded from others, (See my tutorial on how to add additional content HERE) you need to right click on your shortcut to launch My Memories Suite and choose “Run as Administrator” from the popup menu.If you run MMS as an administrator and THEN go in and browse the new content you added, My Memories Suite will render the thumbnails properly. My Memories Suite only needs to render thumbnails once — the first time the program accesses the new stuff — and then the thumbnails will always be there. So this is why right after adding new content you may get errors for certain embellishments. You will continue to get those errors every time you run My Memories Suite afterwards until those thumbnails are created properly. Once the thumbnails are rendered, the errors will go away.
You will only need to run My Memories Suite as an administrator once after adding new content to your software directories. If later on down the road you add more new content, be sure that the next time you run My Memories Suite that you run it as an administrator and then go browse to the new content so that the thumbnails for the new files are made correctly, and you’ll be good to go. If you ever run into the error while you’re working within the software, simply save what you’re working on, exit out of the program, and restart My Memories Suite, being sure to run it as an administrator. Then go back to the directory you were trying to access before and the errors should be gone.
The only part of this that still doesn’t make sense to me is how Vista decides which files it cannot render properly. Sometimes I get the error after adding new content but other times I don’t get any errors at all. Sometimes it’s not the entire contents of the new directory I’ve added, just a few select files among an entire folder of new stuff that produces the error. Previously I believed it affected files that were small in size or too small of a resolution to be used properly within MMS. I was fairly regularly getting the error on tiny items or very thin ribbons, which tend to be a lot of pixels wide but only a few pixels tall and I thought that was the contributing factor. Perhaps that is part of it; perhaps the reason Vista is having issues rendering these thumbnails has to do with file sizes, dimensions or resolutions. But the most important part to note is that it is not an error or problem with My Memories Suite; it is a Windows Vista problem.
Bottom line: If you’re getting errors about corrupted image files after adding new content, run My Memories Suite as an administrator (right click on your desktop/taskbar shortcut and choose “Run as Administrator” from the popup) and browse to the new directories to ensure thumbnails are rendered properly to alleviate errors. Special thanks to Cam for sharing this information with us :)
My Memories Suite Tutorial 4 - Layered Paper Tricks
Finally!! I know it’s been a month since my last tutorial and I meant to get this up a few weeks ago, but as I’m sure you all have experienced… life got busy. Anyway, here is my final tutorial that I have planned for My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software by Polaroid. I say final only because I can’t think of any other topics to do a tutorial on within the software. If you think of something you’d like me to explain or demonstrate let me know and I’d be happy to make more tutorials :)
This fourth installment of my tutorial series shows you how to achive the layered paper look within the program. Not only does it show you how to layer background papers but it also shows you how you can turn those simple square or rectangular background papers into various shapes, too, when you layer.
If you’d rather watch this on GoogleVideos, check it out HERE. Alternatively I just finished putting it up on YouTube too, where you can choose to watch in high quality. (Since the GoogleVids tends to be grainy.) — Also, you can download the video from Google to watch on your computer in case that gives you better video quality.
Hope you enjoy this latest tutorial and it helps you out. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask here by replying on the thread or send me an email: craftblog at pinktoque dot com. Oh and special thank to all of you that enjoyed and downloaded my The Road Not Taken quick page on Friday. Glad you liked it! :) Have a great week!
Updated January 28, 2009: I am now part of the affiliate program and can offer readers of my craft blog who enjoyed this tutorial a 25% discount on the My Memories Suite software! To get the discount, click the banner link in the upper right corner/sidebar of my blog (Where it says “Get My Memories Suite”) or the link below. Enjoy! :D My Memories Suite (Standard Package) SAVE 25% off Regular Pricing ORDER NOW!
My latest tutorial for My Memories Suite is ready to go! Today’s tutorial, the third in the series, teaches you how to use quick pages within the My Memories Suite software. The tutorial assumes that you have already watched tutorial 2 and understand how to add additional content to your program’s directories (which you must do to add quick pages) and then how to physically use quick pages you’ve added within My Memories Suite. It’s a quick and simple video this time (under 8 minutes, whew!), and I’ve put it over at YouTube AND GoogleVideos since YouTube will allow you to watch in high quality and I haven’t figured out how or if that’s even possible over at GoogleVideos. I feel like even though the videos are done in high quality, GoogleVideos makes them kinda grainy and doesn’t give you an option to watch the better quality or resize the video window to get better clarity. Oh well. Try downloading it there to watch on your own computer or check it out in high quality over at YouTube, whatever works best for you!
If you have any questions about the third installment of the My Memories Suite tutorial series I’ve been creating, let me know and I’d be happy to help or explain anything that isn’t clear :)
Need a quick page to use as a test when you follow along with the video? Nab my “Thankful for You” quick page from Sunday — it’s a great way to show off the things you’re thankful for this season :) Happy scrapping!
Updated January 28, 2009: I am now part of the affiliate program and can offer readers of my craft blog who enjoyed this tutorial a 25% discount on the My Memories Suite software! To get the discount, click the banner link in the upper right corner/sidebar of my blog (Where it says “Get My Memories Suite”) or the link below. Enjoy! :D My Memories Suite (Standard Package) SAVE 25% off Regular Pricing ORDER NOW!
The second installment of the My Memories Suite tutorial series that I’ve been working on is ready for view! This time around I address adding additional content such as freebies or other graphics to the program’s directories for use within the software. This allows you to use digi scrapping freebies (or ANY image files such as clip art from the internet, things you design yourself OR even items you scan!) in My Memories Suite just as if it were pre-loaded content.
The fact that My Memories Suite allows you to use any and all common image files (such as .JPG or .GIF or .PNG) means that your possibilities with the software are endless. While the program comes with tons of pre-loaded backgrounds, embellishments, etc. one day you’ll want to add more, and it’s very easy to do as you can see in Tutorial 2. You’re not just limited to adding just digi scrapping freebies, either. In this tutorial I show you how to add a typical digital scrapbooking freebie kit and how you can scan personal mementos like movie stubs or concert ticket stubs and add them the same way so that you can digitally scrap with physical mementos you’d normally paste in a traditional scrapbook. The sky’s the limit with My Memories Suite, and I’m here to show you how easy it is to make the software your own. Easily add downloaded freebie kits from DigiFree or scan physical objects such as a napkin from your friend’s wedding or a greeting card you’d normally scrap traditionally and use it within My Memories Suite digitally instead!
This is the second tutorial in the My Memories Suite software tutorial series and is roughly 18 minutes total in length. You can check it out over on GoogleVideos where you can bookmark it, download it and save it just in case you don’t have all 18 minutes to spare all at once. The quality is really bad on Google Videos for some reason; the file is too big to share on YouTube (where you have the option to watch in high quality), so you may want to download it from Google Vids and perhaps the quality will be better when played back on your computer. The smaller embedded version is better quality, but sometimes too small to see exact details. If anything is unclear, just let me know! I have plans for at least 3 other tutorials as well. If you missed the first tutorial, which was an introduction to the software’s basic features and capabilities, click here. Each new tutorial piggybacks off of the previous videos, so you’ll want to watch them all! Stay tuned for more tutorials in the near future, and if you have any suggestions for future tutorials (wondering if My Memories Suite can do this or that? Just ask!) drop me a line and let me know; if it’s not already something I’m planning to do, I’d be happy to make more.
And thanks for the kind comments on yesterday’s Tags and Scraps freebie; I’m glad you enjoy them! :) See you back soon for more goodies. Take care!
Updated January 28, 2009: I am now part of the affiliate program and can offer readers of my craft blog who enjoyed this tutorial a 25% discount on the My Memories Suite software! To get the discount, click the banner link in the upper right corner/sidebar of my blog (Where it says “Get My Memories Suite”) or the link below. Enjoy! :D My Memories Suite (Standard Package) SAVE 25% off Regular Pricing ORDER NOW!
I’ve received a few emails over the past several months asking me some more specific questions about the digital scrapbooking software I use: My Memories Suite by Polaroid. One of the more recent emails I got asked a lot of good questions that I realized isn’t very obvious based on the website ad and video. They’re more technical use questions that aren’t modeled on the infomercial or explained on the site for someone who may be trying to check out the program’s capabilities before buying. Now that I have been using this amazing software for nearly a year, I felt inspired to create some video tutorials that cover some of the more important aspects of the program and some of the common questions I’ve been asked about it. Today I’m releasing my first freebie software tutorial, which is a basic introduction. In this video I do a 30 minute walkthrough of the program’s main features and show you the basic capabilities of My Memories Suite. The video is embedded below, or you can click here to watch the video over on GoogleVideos, where you can bookmark it and rate it to come back to in case you don’t have 30 minutes all at once to spare.
I hope that the video goes into enough detail to give you a better idea of how powerful My Memories Suite is, and perhaps even encourage you to purchase it for yourself. I couldn’t possibly rave more about how much I love it! And if you’re a newcomer to the pink toque craft blog, you may wish to read my review of My Memories Suite here. Stay tuned, I have FOUR additional tutorial videos planned for this software that I will make and release as soon as I can :) And speaking of upcoming things to release, I have so many freebie goodies coming very soon! I’ll go ahead and announce that my next freebie will be a 3 day extravaganza starting this Friday (Freebie Friday!) in honour of the start of the new hockey season. If you’re a Calgary Flames fan, you won’t want to miss it!
And WOW! Thanks to all of you that downloaded my CU paper edgers freebie the other day — they seem to be quite popular :) And I really appreciate all of the kind comments <3 I hope to make some more CU items in the future, too. Enjoy the tutorial and I’ll see you back in a few days for the hockey special Freebie Friday!
Updated January 28, 2009: I am now part of the affiliate program and can offer readers of my craft blog who enjoyed this tutorial a 25% discount on the My Memories Suite software! To get the discount, click the banner link in the upper right corner/sidebar of my blog (Where it says “Get My Memories Suite”) or the link below. Enjoy! :D My Memories Suite (Standard Package) SAVE 25% off Regular Pricing ORDER NOW!
Last week I received an email from Michaels with a make-your-own-50%-off-sale coupon (as did everyone else on their mailing list) and Lucas treated me to a shopping spree on Saturday. Wow am I a lucky girl! I used the 50% off coupon on something I’ve needed for a long time … a knitting bag. I’ve been pining for one of the Ravelry totes but it’s on my Christmas list. The fact that I needed something useful for carrying my WIPs around became very apparent this past Thursday when the first official meeting of the SE Calgary Knit & Crochet group took place. We organized on Ravelry. It started with me looking on the Calgary discussion board for any groups that were already meeting way down in the SE. It turned out that there weren’t any, so once it became apparent that there were several showing real interest in the idea, we just decided to make our own. We met at a local Starbucks and it was really great! There were four of us total with one other confirmed to be there next month along with a possible sixth member, too. It was a great way to meet and get to know
luscious yarn!
each other. As I was getting ready for my first knit-and-crochet-in-public social event, I realized I was carrying my current WIP (a baby blanket for the Ckalieys) around in a Safeway bag. Sad. I managed to scrounge up something for Thursday but I was elated to pick up a real knitting travel bag at Michaels with my coupon and it’s so handy! Just look how pretty!
And that’s not all I got at Michaels. I’ve been carrying around a tattered yarn wish (read: need) list in my purse for all the yarn required to make the Christmas gift items on my to do list this season. Most of it was on sale and so I picked up more yarn in that one trip than I’ve bought over the last several months combined. Needless to say, it was an exciting day :) Just look at all of that luscious yarn!
screenie of My Memories Suite in action
I’ve got several digital scrapping freebies ready to give away (I’m glad everyone liked the CU paper edgers from yesterday!) but also on the horizon are some tutorials for working with the My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software I use. I’ve gotten a few emails lately from users asking about its features after they read my review, and now that I’ve had the software for nearly a year and have been using it extensively, I think some tutorials would be a great idea. Inspired by an email I got today, I’m already working on a basic features intro and a tips and tricks for layering paper tutorial. I know it won’t be of much use to those of you who don’t use My Memories Suite, but perhaps the free videos will inspire you and get you excited enough about the software that you’ll want to pick it up for yourself! :) I really can’t rave enough about it.
So that’s what’s new on the crafting front. See you back here soon for more freebies later in the week and some software tutorials. And with all of that great yarn I just got, you can be sure there will be some more WIPs to share in the very near future :) Have a great week! :heart:
Per usual, I’ve been slacking. Well, sort of. My knitting and sewing projects have been put on the back burner, mostly due to the fact that Lucas and I’s wedding is coming up next month! Yes, I can officially say that our wedding is next month. With that being said aloud, I feel like there are hundreds of things to do in a short amount of time even though I know the major things are taken care of. We officially purchased our wedding bands last night, the last BIG thing on the to do list. Favours have been ordered, my dress fitting is coming up in less than a week, we’ve ordered the personalized matching shirts we plan to wear after the wedding, and I’ve even found time to work on something secret and crafty for Lucas as a wedding gift. Unfortunately I cannot disclose that yet, but you can be sure it’ll be posted and blogged about soon enough next month. Look out Vegas, here we come!
So what have I been doing crafty in the meantime? I’ve stumbled upon digital scrapbooking! Not just recently, but it was only recently I’ve had time to put into giving it a go. Back around Christmas I ordered some really awesome software that got me all excited about the prospects of digital scrapbooking: My Memories Suite by Polaroid. I’ve got several scrapbooks in the basement collecting dust because they’re unfinished. Mostly due to lack of nifty embellishments that you’ve gotta shell out loads of cash for, not to mention several trips to the store to buy. I keep meaning to get back to them, but instead I keep photos and items like movie ticket stubs in a box for whenever I finally do get around to working on them again. Those boxes are collecting dust, too. Back just before Christmas when I was home one day I caught one of those infomercials. Now I know what you’re thinking… BUT this one turned out to be a gem! I watched an hour long program about My Memories Suite and it got me really excited. The idea that I can scrapbook without messy glue and 348993639749574908 little things to have to keep organized (not to mention buy in the first place and then store somehow) on a computer seemed like a really fab idea, especially with as computer geeky as I am. And it is fab! I bought the software and used it to make an album of Lucas and I’s holiday trip to Indiana to visit my family at Christmas. The program made it really easy and it’s soooooo user friendly!
With the wedding coming up next month, I decided I’d try to make our own guest book, and of course I will be making a digital scrapbook album of the wedding itself. I started looking into digital scrapbooking more on the web and have found lots of great, creative resource sites out there. The best part about My Memories Suite (to me) is the fact that the software uses common image file types such as .jpg or .png, which means I am free to add all kinds of new images myself to the software’s directories. Most of the other digital scrapbooking software I tested in comparison to My Memories Suite uses unique file types of their own, so that means you are limited and cannot “think outside the box” and add your own new stuff to use without having to pay the company for new products. This excites me because I’ll be able to use our scanner and scan in images of movie ticket stubs and other items I’d normally glue into a regular scrapbook and add them digitally the same way, just with less mess.
Another thing I like that I haven’t explored yet with the software is that you can export your digital pages in a huge variety of formats. Not only can you export them as a normal image file like .jpg (which I have done in order to add them to my scrapbook.com gallery) for use on websites, etc., but you can also make DVDs out of your albums and other interactive stuff such as iPod videos. The software lets you add video and sound clips to all of your album pages, making them truly interactive. Then you can export them to DVD and watch each page, including all of the video and sound clips, on your television or iPod. I can’t wait to do an album on the dogs and send a DVD off to my parents, for example. You can ALSO export entire albums or selected pages to the My Memories Suite website and order a photobook from them. The software will export your pages to the Polaroid server and then you can pick and choose how you want them printed and bound into a hardcover or soft cover album that Polaroid will then physically ship to you. Alternatively, there are ways to export the pages in high resolution so that you can take them to a professional printer locally and have the same thing done if you wish. Check out what I have up so far at scrapbook.com: our Christmas 2007 album! It was my first time using My Memories Suite but it turned out great! The more I use it, the more creative I am and the better and better my pages turn out :)
It doesn’t really matter what your computer knowledge or creativity limits are, you’ll be able to use this software. It’s very user-friendly and simple, and for those who aren’t sure where to begin, it comes with loads of pre-created templates for various occasions. You can also download more layouts and completed templates from their website for a small fee. But then the beauty, as I mentioned earlier, is that if you’re creative enough you can easily add more images and items to the software yourself since it’s all done with .jpg and .png formatted images. For example, I found some awesome digital scrapbooking blogs and websites that offer free templates and kits — a kit usually including various papers, embellishments, and word art or alphabets — for download. There’s lots of people out there making really awesome digital scrapbooking resources and making them available free or super cheap. With My Memories Suite, you can easily download freebies and add them to the software’s directories and use them with the program just like any of the pre-loaded content. This makes the potential of My Memories Suite limitless to me because I’ll always be able to add more. And I’m just starting to look into how I can make my own digital page kits and getting the hang of designing my own templates. It’s so fun!
I mentioned I found some great resources and freebies, and so I’d like to share my favourites so far. First of all, scrapbook.com is a great resource. Their forums are full of helpful people, and then you can show off your scrapbooks there, too. And it’s for all forms of scrapbooks, not just digital ones, though there is a handy digital scrappers section. I’ve purchased from ScrapGirls (I got a Vegas themed digital kit to use next month for the wedding — great prices and selection, so I recommend them!) and from My Scrap Shop, too. Lots of fun stuff and good prices, plus you can immediately download your purchase :)
For freebie downloads, you HAVE to check out DigiFree. DigiFree is a digital scrapbooking search engine, and each day it automatically searches for you over 3,000 digital scrapbooking blogs that give away freebies to find the newest freebies and then posts them all on the DigiFree blog. So it’s your one-stop-shop for ALL of the latest digital scrapping freebies within 24 hours of them being released. There’s TONS of freebies every day — make it part of your daily routine! Download free kits and designing resources, too :) DigiFree is the greatest thing to happen to digital scrapbooking freebies. Ever.
Whew! Well that’s it for now, sorry if my rambling post sounded a bit like an infomercial. I swear that Polaroid did not pay me to write good things about their software — it really is awesome and I love it! I’m super excited about upcoming album ideas I have. I’m totally done with the old way of scrapbooking. It’s too messy and expensive in comparison!
Updated September 29, 2008: I’ve received several emails from people asking more specifics about the features of My Memories Suite and/or how to use it or do some special little tricks within the software. I’ve been inspired to create some video tutorials on using the software and going over the features, with 4 tutorial segments planned already. I should be getting to those soon, so keep checking my blog for the tutorials in the near future. Thanks for reading my review! I hope it has been helpful for you :)
Updated January 28, 2009: I am now part of the affiliate program and can offer readers of my craft blog who enjoyed this review a 25% discount on the My Memories Suite software! To get the discount, click the banner link in the upper right corner/sidebar of my blog (Where it says “Get My Memories Suite”) or the link below. Enjoy! :D My Memories Suite (Standard Package) SAVE 25% off Regular Pricing ORDER NOW!
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You all know how much I love My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software. (Read my review here!) Recently I blogged about the fantastic new Version 2 that has been released, and now I’m proud to share a discount with you so that you can get your hands on the newest version of My Memories Suite a little more easily.
scrapbook
crochet
