CLOSED: Review/Giveaway: My Memories Suite Scrapbooking Software!

The saying, "A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words" is so popular because it's so true. Looking through pictures can be a wonderful way to relive memories from long ago or from two weeks ago. With the advancement of photo-taking technology, pictures themselves are getting better and better, and they now deserve a great new way to be viewed, something other than a dusty, old photo album. With My Memories Suite Scrapbooking Software, users have the ability to create amazing computerized albums, scrapbooks, calendars, mugs, and more!

Getting photos printed, labeling them, and putting them into physical photo albums is so time-consuming, only to have the photo albums be viewed very rarely because it's so inconvenient! I personally believe that photo albums will someday become obsolete. This new generation of young people, having grown up keeping all of their photos saved to the computer, and viewing them on Facebook, isn't going to want to print photos just to have them sit on the shelf.

That's why My Memories Suite is such a great product! Using the software, you can create really proessional computerized scrapbooks, and save them right to your desktop! When I received the digital scrapbooking software to review, I was very excited because there are just SO MANY photos I have saved to my compute that I'm too lazy to get printed, let alone organize them after. Using the software, I made two albums this week: a shorter one to try out all the scrapbooking features, and a longer one to try out the full-length photo album feel.

The first scrapbook had a "Sisters Scrapbook" theme. I used one of the basic templates for a scrapbook provided with the software, which was great for me because the theme is already done for you, all you have to do is choose one! Of course you have the option of customizing everything to the T, but for someone who is not as artistic (like me) it was great to have a pre-designed template ready to go!

The templates come with 6 pre-made pages that you can drag your pictures into, which was really easy. All you do is open your pictures (the ones saved to your computer) from a toolbar on the side, and drag them directly where you want them to be. The templates have outlines of where they suggest photos to be, which was perfect! For the Sisters Scrapbook, I had fun messing around with all the little scrapbooking features you can add, like ribbons, flowers, text bubbles, and more! I like that you have so many avaiable design features that come with the scrapbook software, but also that you can buy more from the site if you can't find what you're looking for. I spent about an hour making this small, 5-page scrapbook, and I was really happy with the outcome after just my first try! It's definitely something I would consider getting professionally printed (from the website - super easy!)

My second album is something I plan on continuing as we accumulate more recent photos. I started with many of our pictures from last summer, and worked my way up to our most recent photos! I used a template again, a different one this time, and tried to focus more on the length of the album than on the design. In just one hour, I create a 50-page album with hundreds of our pictures, and I even figured out how to set music behind it! I had a blast showing it off to my family, and now I just have it saved right on my desktop. Viewing this album in slideshow mode was great with the music behind it, but I could also view it as an album or a calendar or a greeting card if I choose!

I have so many favorite design features that I can't name them all. I've only had one real scrapbook in my life, and I always felt like you needed to buy SO MANY accessories, like different colored ribbons and paper, just to make one book. My Memories Suite has all the ribbons, bows, flowers, and embellishments you could ever want, and you don't need to go out and buy 100 colors of ribbon because it's right on the computer! I liked the "nudge" feature, which allowed me to move all my photos to the perfect position. I could really see this digital scrapbook software being a great tool for teachers, from kindergarten to high school, who want to make presentations or things for their classroom bulliten boards!

Some of the cooler things about the scrapbooks we made were actually some of the simplest to do. For instance, when we had a lot of photos of the same scene (ie. building a gingerbread house from start to finish) it was fun to group them all on one slide in a funky way, something you really can't do with an average photo album.

This longer album is the first of many to come. I like that some of the pages in the template have spaces for just one large photo, while others have spaces for up to five mini photos! This really mixes it up when you're viewing the scrapbook, and adds an element of surprise to every page! The scrapbook looked SO PROFESSIONAL, and literally took me just an hour! Scrapbooks like these will probably replace physical photo albums in our house because they are so much more convenient, and I can show them to people wherever I bring my laptop! The music element is something you won't get with a physical photo album, and viewing our family pictures with our favorite songs behind them made the album really personal!

Overall, I would give My Memories Suite Software an EXCELLENT rating. It's super easy to use, and there are endless design features that allow you to complety customize whatever you are making. At around $40.00 it is well worth the price, because you can create so many fabulous gifts with the software, like mugs and calendars! It will also really come in handy for birthday invitations, Christmas cards, and I could even see some people using the software for work presentations. The possibilities are endless with My Memories Suite!

BUY IT: As a special gift to all Not One Ordinary Moment readers, My Memories is giving away a Share the Memories code that provides a $10 discount on the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon to the My Memories online store - a $20 value! The coupon code is: STMMMS45108 Well, what are you waiting for, go buy My Memories Suite!!

WIN IT: One lucky winner will win the My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software, absolutely free! All you need to do is 1. Follow my blog vis GFC and 2. Visit Mymemories.com and choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout, and come back with a comment saying what it is! This giveaway is open worldwide and ends 2/6/12 at noon Eastern.

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