Hey, it's Wednesday, which means it's usually my day to write over at the writing blog, but I wanted to stop in quickly and (finally) announce that the winner of the MyMemories software contest is Heidi, my diabetes-mom twin from D-Tales! Congrats, Heidi! I'll email you soon with the download code and instructions! :-)
For the rest of you, if you're interested in buying the software, I've got a $10 off coupon code that you can use -- check the sidebar for details!
Showing posts with label scrapbooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scrapbooking. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
My Memories - CONTEST!
The very kind folks at MyMemories offered me a copy of their digital scrapbooking software for review, and they offered up a second copy for some lucky winner of my contest -- I'll explain that after the review.
Reviewer's Caveats:
Platform: The software is available for both Mac and PC, but of course my review is of the Mac software. Your mileage may vary, especially if you're on a PC.
Perspective: My previous experience with digital scrapbooking software is pretty limited, so what you're getting is my comparison of this software to: a) real scrapbooking, b) a very brief trial of the Creative Memories software several years ago, c) other software with graphic elements, and d) limited-use software, such as the iPhoto calendar maker and online card-making applications.
The Features and Functionality:
I have to admit, I'm very impressed.
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| This took me less than 5 minutes to make. Click to embiggen! |
There are an impressive number of ways to share your albums: You can send pages directly to your printer, or you can export pages individually to JPG format in a variety of sizes. You can order printed and bound album books and calendars, for a price, of course (I haven't tested those options, but they're in the menu and I'm sure they're perfectly simple to do). And you can, with some additional (free) software, create slideshow movies or create an interactive DVD album.
The My Memories Suite software lets you select backgrounds, lay out photos and decorative elements, and provides lots of customization options. Elements (which is to say any photo or individual image) can be cropped in a variety of shapes, overlapped, rotated, flipped, mirrored, resized, stretched, and shadowed. You can change the opacity of elements to have some show through others. There are some basic photo manipulation options as well, like red-eye removal and some common filters and deformations, though you're probably better off doing your photo corrections and manipulations in your photo software before you import the picture into MyMemories Suite.
If you're planning on generating a slideshow or DVD album, there are some other options as well, like the inclusion of background music and the ability to add multimedia "hotspots" to include video or audio files, other files, and website links. It will also let you record your own narration. (The example below has background music, but not narration.)
The Ease of Use:
I thought the software was pretty easy to figure out, though I did have a few false starts and like any new software, there's a learning curve. (Worth noting is that their website has a fairly active blog and forum which includes links to demonstration videos with both basic and advanced tips and tricks.) It's got several "startup" options, including a number of automatic layouts and templates, but unless you've got a very clear idea straight from the beginning of what you want, including how many pictures you want on each page, I thought it was easier to just use a blank template and add elements as I thought of them. The software takes a little bit of time to load, but not an excessive amount. I got beachballed a few times (stuck in some sort of loop where memory locked up) but only once did I have to force-quit the application; the other times, it cleared up after a short wait. As far as speed goes, it's a huge improvement on the Creative Memories software trial, which started chewing up my system memory as soon as I had more than a handful of elements on a page.
The Quibbles:
I did have a few quibbles. Element show the standard graphic adjustment tags on corners and side middles to resize and rotate, but if the tag you want to grab is underneath another element, you can't. There were some things that weren't intuitive (like how to crop without changing proportions -- turns out you hold the Shift key) and some things I don't think can be done at all ("snap to grid" and/or "align elements" functions would be nice). The resource gallery (essentially a mini file browser on the side of the screen that lets you easily select and place elements) doesn't refresh except on loading, so if you re-organize those folders, you have to quit and restart the MyMemories software to get it to show that. The software to make your album into a DVD or movie comes separately from the base package -- but it's free once you have a registered copy of the base package, so I'm not sure why they're not just bundled together. You can pick a different background music song for each page, if you like, but you can't choose an alternate starting point in the music files. When you generate a slideshow, every slide shows up for the same amount of time -- you can't have a page that shows for 5 seconds and then another page that shows up for 10.
The Applause:
I'm really impressed with how easy it is to use this software, catering to people who want to use existing templates to just pick pictures and get on with it, and people who want to lay their hands on every element. I'm also really pleased with the number of options for the completed project; the interactive DVD option, in particular, gave me some fun ideas!
The element files are mostly .PNG files, which makes browsing them fairly simple. And if you don't like the way those files are organized by default, you can rearrange the files in your file browser with impunity; each template and project makes a local copy of the files it uses, which could be a little problematic for hard drive space if you have a lot of very large projects, but guarantees that reorganizing won't break anything. (Another minor quibble -- it sure would be nice if the software had an in-app way to let you reorganize things.)
Which is good, because the software comes with lots of base files to start with -- plenty of papers and decorations to make some very decent albums right from the get-go. (Very nice after the Creative Memories trial software, which admittedly was a trial version but had a very disappointing collection of starter elements.) And if that weren't enough, the MyMemories Suite software comes with a $10 credit toward purchased packages, and their website offers a fairly impressive collection of completely free download packages that gets updated, from what I can tell, at least a couple of times a week. Naturally, many of these are merely sample packs advertising the for-pay packages, but all my samples here were built with elements I downloaded for free. Items do rotate in and out of the free section, so your mileage may vary, but an occasional check of the website will have your collection built up in no time. I've been testing this software for two weeks, and in that time I've downloaded dozens of packages -- papers, pre-built frames and pages, and decorative elements -- and not even once have I given the MyMemories site my credit card number, because everything I've downloaded has either been free or "bought" on that $10 credit. (Did I mention the 99-cent discount packages?)
The Bottom Line:
Despite my minor frustrations and wishing for a few extra capabilities (which may well be addressed by the new version that's coming out next week!), it's very nice software, well worth the $40 price tag if you've been looking for a way to dump your traditional scrapbooking gear for something less cluttery, or if you've been dying to create digital, interactive scrapbooks that incorporate videos and other files that just don't fit into a traditional paper album. I'm already working on making several projects with it!
The CONTEST!
Now (finally!) for the contest! If you would like to win a complete free copy of this software, please visit the My Memories website and tell me in the comments here (or you can email me, if you'd rather not post publicly) the name of the scrapbooking kit package you're going to download first when you win! One entry per person, please! I'll give this until after Thanksgiving (mostly because up until then, I'm too busy to really mess with it) and then I'll put all the names in a hat and draw my lucky winner!
Friday, November 11, 2011
Weekender
Huzzah, it's Friday!
The office is quiet today -- it's Veteran's Day and some folks have kids out of school, and/or a lot of our veterans are taking the day off. And of course the government is on holiday, so most of our customers are out of touch. It makes for a quiet, productive day. Huzzah for that!
Matt is home with the kids today; I'm at work for a half day, or else until today's deliveries go out, whichever takes longer. Tonight will probably be the usual hanging out with the Hegemony, putting our kids to bed at their house so we can stay up late for adult play. (Though I think Braz has his girls this weekend, so Emma will be up with us until 10, which means my new Cards Against Humanity deck will probably have to wait. It's really, really not a game for 10-year-olds.)
Tomorrow is my birthday party, and I'm looking forward to that with manic glee. Though when I talked to my parents, they were both still recovering from assorted surgeries and procedures and are feeling a bit under the weather, so I hope they're feeling better for it.
Sometime this weekend, I need to do some serious shopping. Karen's birthday is in less than two weeks, and I need to get a serious move-on if I'm going to go with the notion I had for her gifts.
And when I don't have anything else going, I'm playing with some new software! Even though it's been a long time since I talked about scrapbooking (and almost as long since I actually did any, though I keep swearing I'm going to get back to it), the folks over at My Memories contacted me with an offer: two copies of their digital software suite -- one for evaluation, and one for a giveaway! Plus a code that anyone can use to buy their software or other stuff. I'm evaluating right now (so far, it's very cool, though there are a few things I wish it could do better). Sometime in the next couple of weeks, I'll be posting my review, with links and pictures and stuff, and I'll have a contest or drawing for the other software key -- so scrapbookers and photo takers, be on the lookout!
The office is quiet today -- it's Veteran's Day and some folks have kids out of school, and/or a lot of our veterans are taking the day off. And of course the government is on holiday, so most of our customers are out of touch. It makes for a quiet, productive day. Huzzah for that!
Matt is home with the kids today; I'm at work for a half day, or else until today's deliveries go out, whichever takes longer. Tonight will probably be the usual hanging out with the Hegemony, putting our kids to bed at their house so we can stay up late for adult play. (Though I think Braz has his girls this weekend, so Emma will be up with us until 10, which means my new Cards Against Humanity deck will probably have to wait. It's really, really not a game for 10-year-olds.)
Tomorrow is my birthday party, and I'm looking forward to that with manic glee. Though when I talked to my parents, they were both still recovering from assorted surgeries and procedures and are feeling a bit under the weather, so I hope they're feeling better for it.
Sometime this weekend, I need to do some serious shopping. Karen's birthday is in less than two weeks, and I need to get a serious move-on if I'm going to go with the notion I had for her gifts.
And when I don't have anything else going, I'm playing with some new software! Even though it's been a long time since I talked about scrapbooking (and almost as long since I actually did any, though I keep swearing I'm going to get back to it), the folks over at My Memories contacted me with an offer: two copies of their digital software suite -- one for evaluation, and one for a giveaway! Plus a code that anyone can use to buy their software or other stuff. I'm evaluating right now (so far, it's very cool, though there are a few things I wish it could do better). Sometime in the next couple of weeks, I'll be posting my review, with links and pictures and stuff, and I'll have a contest or drawing for the other software key -- so scrapbookers and photo takers, be on the lookout!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Full On Edit
I think the reason I've been struggling to write blog entries -- or anything else -- this last week or so is that I'm in full-on edit mode at work. I'm working a proposal, which for me means that I'm pulling together write-ups of old projects and rearranging them to highlight their similarities to the job we're trying to get, and I'm getting the resumes we're submitting and doing the same thing, and I'm getting all this stuff buffed and polished with regards to formatting, and then I'm reading through the main parts of the proposal (which have been written, mostly, by writers ranging from horrible to adequate) and fixing typos and grammar and spelling and rewording things that are awkward and generally... editing.
Mind you, I'm good at this. The grammar and spelling and formatting can be done by any half-competent high school graduate (though having interviewed for our last three tech writer openings, those aren't as numerous as you might believe) but the rewriting and smoothing and rearranging and highlighting? That's my shining star, and I'm glad my office's managers understand that and let me do what I do.
But it's very much a left-brain effort -- manipulative rather than creative -- and I'm not very good at switching gears. So when it's time to do something creative, like writing from scratch... I'm floundering a lot. I've got stories that I want to write that just refuse to come out. I load up this blog every morning and can't come up with even a single anecdote.
As an aside: I've seen several comic characters who use writing to access their powers -- Promethea springs to mind, as do Kevin Thorn and the Literals from Fables, and (arguably) any number of Sandman threads. But I'd love to see a comic duo of the Writer and the Editor, neither of whom can properly function on their own: the Writer generates the power, but needs the Editor to shape and direct it. The Writer's icon would be a quill, and the Editor's would be a red pen. There: since I don't write comics, an idea free for the taking to anyone who does.
Yeah, I amuse myself.
On the plus side, editing mode is perfect for scrapbooking. You might think scrapbooking would be a creative effort, and it can be, but largely, it's rearranging and highlighting and smoothing and editing: what's the best way to crop these pictures, and the best way to arrange them on the page? I can get creative with paper shapes and decorations when I'm in the mood to do that, but when I'm not, a simple strip or two on the side or top of the page suffices to accent the pictures without making me dig for true creativity.
So last night, when Matt was out and by all rights I should have been taking advantage of the quiet to write, I scrapbooked instead. I managed to finish up last year's scrapbook, finally. Now I need to think about this year's -- specifically, whether my falling so far behind on last year's is indicative that I'm trying too much and need to do something of less impressive scale (e.g., a single 2-page spread for each month, leaving most of my pictures for flickr) or if I just need to buckle down and commit more time to my scrapbooking projects. I don't know; I'm still thinking about it.
Mind you, I'm good at this. The grammar and spelling and formatting can be done by any half-competent high school graduate (though having interviewed for our last three tech writer openings, those aren't as numerous as you might believe) but the rewriting and smoothing and rearranging and highlighting? That's my shining star, and I'm glad my office's managers understand that and let me do what I do.
But it's very much a left-brain effort -- manipulative rather than creative -- and I'm not very good at switching gears. So when it's time to do something creative, like writing from scratch... I'm floundering a lot. I've got stories that I want to write that just refuse to come out. I load up this blog every morning and can't come up with even a single anecdote.
As an aside: I've seen several comic characters who use writing to access their powers -- Promethea springs to mind, as do Kevin Thorn and the Literals from Fables, and (arguably) any number of Sandman threads. But I'd love to see a comic duo of the Writer and the Editor, neither of whom can properly function on their own: the Writer generates the power, but needs the Editor to shape and direct it. The Writer's icon would be a quill, and the Editor's would be a red pen. There: since I don't write comics, an idea free for the taking to anyone who does.
Yeah, I amuse myself.
On the plus side, editing mode is perfect for scrapbooking. You might think scrapbooking would be a creative effort, and it can be, but largely, it's rearranging and highlighting and smoothing and editing: what's the best way to crop these pictures, and the best way to arrange them on the page? I can get creative with paper shapes and decorations when I'm in the mood to do that, but when I'm not, a simple strip or two on the side or top of the page suffices to accent the pictures without making me dig for true creativity.
So last night, when Matt was out and by all rights I should have been taking advantage of the quiet to write, I scrapbooked instead. I managed to finish up last year's scrapbook, finally. Now I need to think about this year's -- specifically, whether my falling so far behind on last year's is indicative that I'm trying too much and need to do something of less impressive scale (e.g., a single 2-page spread for each month, leaving most of my pictures for flickr) or if I just need to buckle down and commit more time to my scrapbooking projects. I don't know; I'm still thinking about it.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Blocked
I had hoped that giving up Facebook for Lent would spur me to some kind of increased productivity. More work on the scrapbook, or more writing, or something.
But apparently it's not as easy as that. I think I've done all of two and a half scrapbook pages in the last month. And I haven't written as much as I'd like, either -- mostly just a few snippets, really.
I'm not frittering my time away on Facebook, but I'm frittering it away nonetheless. I'm reading instead of writing. I'm watching TV. I'm playing on Neopets and PopCap and my iPhone. I'm not even speaking up on the forums I'd been getting sort of active in.
And when I do force myself to open up a document and try to write... it doesn't want to come. The stuff I force out has barely any meat, and no connective tissue at all. And certainly no beating heart. The scrapbook pages are dull and uninspired.
I'm trying to figure out if I need to bull through this block, or stop trying for a little while and take a break. Creativity begets creativity, usually, but am I trying too hard and merely feeding my sense of discouragement? Should I step back and work on the Scum plot I was thinking about, and hope that leads to something bigger and better? Focus on taking pictures instead of mounting them for a while?
I wish I could take a retreat. Spend a week -- or better yet, a month -- living entirely by myself, somewhere with no internet access at all, with a computer that doesn't have any games installed on it. I'd take all my scrapbooking stuff and pictures for the last six months (which is about how far behind I am). I'd take my camera gear. No books, aside from a dictionary and a thesaurus. No phone. No email. No TV. Just me, and my creative tools, and the tattered, ragged shell of my muse.
It does not sound relaxing. It does not sound like fun. But it does sound like a small slice of heaven.
Alas, I don't have a spare month. I need to figure out how to revive and rejuvenate my muse in the environment I've got.
And I need to figure out why I feel like I'm running out of time.
But apparently it's not as easy as that. I think I've done all of two and a half scrapbook pages in the last month. And I haven't written as much as I'd like, either -- mostly just a few snippets, really.
I'm not frittering my time away on Facebook, but I'm frittering it away nonetheless. I'm reading instead of writing. I'm watching TV. I'm playing on Neopets and PopCap and my iPhone. I'm not even speaking up on the forums I'd been getting sort of active in.
And when I do force myself to open up a document and try to write... it doesn't want to come. The stuff I force out has barely any meat, and no connective tissue at all. And certainly no beating heart. The scrapbook pages are dull and uninspired.
I'm trying to figure out if I need to bull through this block, or stop trying for a little while and take a break. Creativity begets creativity, usually, but am I trying too hard and merely feeding my sense of discouragement? Should I step back and work on the Scum plot I was thinking about, and hope that leads to something bigger and better? Focus on taking pictures instead of mounting them for a while?
I wish I could take a retreat. Spend a week -- or better yet, a month -- living entirely by myself, somewhere with no internet access at all, with a computer that doesn't have any games installed on it. I'd take all my scrapbooking stuff and pictures for the last six months (which is about how far behind I am). I'd take my camera gear. No books, aside from a dictionary and a thesaurus. No phone. No email. No TV. Just me, and my creative tools, and the tattered, ragged shell of my muse.
It does not sound relaxing. It does not sound like fun. But it does sound like a small slice of heaven.
Alas, I don't have a spare month. I need to figure out how to revive and rejuvenate my muse in the environment I've got.
And I need to figure out why I feel like I'm running out of time.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Raining and Pouring
Did scrapbooking last night, and got to about halfway through June, including Penny's pre-K graduation. Which seems much longer ago than just six months.
I've got Father's Day left to go, and some silly pictures of my brother and Alex, and then a two-page spread for the Summer Bash, and then I'll be out of pictures and it'll be time to put an order together.
It felt really nice to sit down and do something constructive and productive, for a change. WoW is fun, but too much other stuff just gets shoved to the background when I'm playing all the time. I need to go back to having a No-WoW night every week so I can spend time on things that matter a little more to me in the long run.
Also, I got a Christmas card from my old friend Jenn, who kind of fell out of touch two or three years ago. She mentioned in the card that she'd stumbled across Matt's twitter and flickr pages, but didn't give me her email address, so I googled her name and parts of the address from the envelope, and eventually found her Amazon.Com profile, and shot her an email. Which she answered this morning, so I'm excited to be back in touch with her.
Though it wasn't a day of pure win.
The school nurse called yesterday morning to tell me that Penny's blood sugar was over 350, and I wibbled on about the cough she's got and blood sugar spikes that go along with fighting off illness, and then realized about an hour later that I'd completely forgotten her breakfast insulin shot.
Penny spilled some milk on some school papers, and thinking that they were from last week or the week before (she's more of a pack rat than Matt or I ever were, and that's saying something!) I threw them out. It turned out that they were this week's homework. As in, the homework she has to turn in on Friday. Parent of the year, here I come!
KT's computer is just about gone, limping by on life support, and when I tried to talk her through a problem she was having, I think I only succeeded in confusing and frustrating her to the point where she was about ready to pull the plug.
I sent a scolding email to my office, and despite doing what I thought was sufficient mitigation to make it sound less like a scolding and more like a reminder, I managed to completely piss off someone by inadvertently making them come across as a whining tattletale.
You know, I don't generally mind taking the good and the bad together... but does everything have to hit at once?
I've got Father's Day left to go, and some silly pictures of my brother and Alex, and then a two-page spread for the Summer Bash, and then I'll be out of pictures and it'll be time to put an order together.
It felt really nice to sit down and do something constructive and productive, for a change. WoW is fun, but too much other stuff just gets shoved to the background when I'm playing all the time. I need to go back to having a No-WoW night every week so I can spend time on things that matter a little more to me in the long run.
Also, I got a Christmas card from my old friend Jenn, who kind of fell out of touch two or three years ago. She mentioned in the card that she'd stumbled across Matt's twitter and flickr pages, but didn't give me her email address, so I googled her name and parts of the address from the envelope, and eventually found her Amazon.Com profile, and shot her an email. Which she answered this morning, so I'm excited to be back in touch with her.
Though it wasn't a day of pure win.
The school nurse called yesterday morning to tell me that Penny's blood sugar was over 350, and I wibbled on about the cough she's got and blood sugar spikes that go along with fighting off illness, and then realized about an hour later that I'd completely forgotten her breakfast insulin shot.
Penny spilled some milk on some school papers, and thinking that they were from last week or the week before (she's more of a pack rat than Matt or I ever were, and that's saying something!) I threw them out. It turned out that they were this week's homework. As in, the homework she has to turn in on Friday. Parent of the year, here I come!
KT's computer is just about gone, limping by on life support, and when I tried to talk her through a problem she was having, I think I only succeeded in confusing and frustrating her to the point where she was about ready to pull the plug.
I sent a scolding email to my office, and despite doing what I thought was sufficient mitigation to make it sound less like a scolding and more like a reminder, I managed to completely piss off someone by inadvertently making them come across as a whining tattletale.
You know, I don't generally mind taking the good and the bad together... but does everything have to hit at once?
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Night Off
I think tonight I will not get on WoW. My "main" is level 72, and both my alts are at 66 (though the one is this close to 67, after last night's frenzy).
But I was sitting in the green room watching the kids this weekend, and I realized that my scrapbook table has become completely buried under Penny's random drawings and other stuff, and my pages are still sitting there, somewhere, stuck back in May or something. And here we are in December.
So I'm going to take the night off from WoW and get some scrapbooking done. Even if it's just one page (after I take the time to clear all the crap off my desk), it'll hopefully give me some momentum. I don't want scrapbooking to become just another of my abandoned hobbies.
But I was sitting in the green room watching the kids this weekend, and I realized that my scrapbook table has become completely buried under Penny's random drawings and other stuff, and my pages are still sitting there, somewhere, stuck back in May or something. And here we are in December.
So I'm going to take the night off from WoW and get some scrapbooking done. Even if it's just one page (after I take the time to clear all the crap off my desk), it'll hopefully give me some momentum. I don't want scrapbooking to become just another of my abandoned hobbies.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Owwie
The sunburn is starting to fade. Just tiny patches right on the tops of my shoulders are still painful (except when Alex rakes his tiny fingernails over my arm, and then it hurts like hell). But mostly it just itches. It started itching today, and when I got undressed for my shower tonight, sure enough, it was peeling.
So if that's not the "owwie" referred to by the title, you're wondering, then what is?
Let me just say this: Creative Memories' scrapbooking blades are very, very, very very sharp.
The good news is that they're also only about an eighth of an inch long, so even when you are as dumb as it is really possible to be and slice one all the way across the pad of your thumb, they cannot, in fact, actually cut all the way to the bone.
So if that's not the "owwie" referred to by the title, you're wondering, then what is?
Let me just say this: Creative Memories' scrapbooking blades are very, very, very very sharp.
The good news is that they're also only about an eighth of an inch long, so even when you are as dumb as it is really possible to be and slice one all the way across the pad of your thumb, they cannot, in fact, actually cut all the way to the bone.
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