Get 10% Off My Memories Suite Software
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!
Remember that Version 2 of MMS comes with 1500 new background papers, 1300 new embellishments and 20 new layouts. Not to mention all of the awesome new features such as zooming in, WordArt Creator, being able to click and manually rotate your embellishments and photos right on the page, having text follow a shape, and so much more! Be sure to check out all of the great new features of Version 2 that I blogged about a few months back (which includes a video walkthrough!). You’re going to love the facelift that My Memories Suite received with V2!
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?
Free Knitting Pattern: Cousteau Cowl
It has been a busy week in the Karpiuk household – Lucas finally arrived home from Montreal where he attended his U.S. immigration interview, and the good news is that he is officially a U.S. Permanent Resident now. The bad news is… well, there is no bad news. It’s all good! So we’re excited to have him home finally and for this big immigration process to be behind us. While he was gone, I decided to knit something for him because it helped to pass the time. For Christmas I had knit Lucas the Jacques Cousteau Hat pattern by Typy [On Ravelry], and after seeing how much he enjoyed the idea of my cowl, I thought I’d try to fashion a matching cowl that would look good with his toque so that he could have a matching set, too.
And that’s where the free pattern comes in. I used the same flavor of basic ribbing to create a cowl that has the same look and feel to it and wrote down my notes so I could share it with others in case they wanted to knit up a matching masterpiece to their Cousteau Hat. I must say, the combination is very fetching, don’t you think? The boys and I presented it to Lucas when he got home on Tuesday and he loved it.
What You’ll Need
US size 4, 16″ circular needles or DPNs for working in the round
1 skein of worsted weight yarn (approximately 145 yards), I used Michaels Loops & Threads Impeccable brand in the color True Gray
stitch marker
tapestry needle for finishing
Download my free Cousteau Cowl pattern below on Ravelry!
I hope you enjoy the simple and free Cousteau Cowl :) Thanks for stopping by, and happy knitting!
My Memories Suite Tutorial 5: Version 2 Features
Happy Sunday, and have I got a treat for you… introducing My Memories Suite VERSION 2! That’s right, you heard me correctly. Not only is there a new version to My Memories Suite with all new features, I created a video tutorial to explain it all and show those new features off!
Last month, StoryRock unveiled an all new version 2 of its famous and very popular digital scrapbooking software, My Memories Suite. Version 2 is packed with all new goodies and awesome new features that we were dying for in Version 1. It’s like StoryRock read all of the feedback of features and ideas that its users over the years have been wanting out of the software and put it in one neat little package that will make digital scrapbookers the world over very happy.
If you’ve been to the Pink Toque Craft Blog before, you know I am an avid user of My Memories Suite. I got the software over 3 years ago when it first came out, and I have been in love ever since. I don’t want to babble on forever (because the new Version 2 goodies are exciting!) but if this is your first visit to my blog and you’re wondering what all of the excitement is about and why I love this software so much, be sure to go and read my review. My Memories Suite has been the best digital scrapbooking program to ever come along and with Version 2, it just got better.
Version 2 includes 1500 new background papers, 1300 new embellishments and 20 new layouts that come built into the software for your use right out of the box. On top of that, new features such as the zoom ability, Resource Gallery, and WordArt Designer make creating beautiful digital scrapbooking pages even easier. My favorite new feature is that your text can now be curved and follow shapes. This was not something you could do in Version 1, and I love that I can create text in beautiful circular shapes or to follow the edges of a photograph right on the page. It was probably the most requested feature and question I got from readers of my blog. Before I had to tell people they could only do something like that in Photoshop, but now My Memories Suite allows you to edit curved and rounded text on the fly right in the program instead. Hooray!
My Memories Suite Tutorial 5: Version 2 Features – Part 1 of 2
Another highly-sought-after feature that a lot of people asked me about was how to view pages side-by-side so they could build double page spread layouts. Unfortunately, this was not something you could do in Version 1, but now in Version 2 it’s easy. You can also now share your digital scrapbook in a wider variety of ways, including trading cards or calendars. They’ve also streamlined the Photobook process to make it easier to create beautiful photobooks of your finished albums. You’ll also love that you can click and rotate your pictures right on the page.
I received Version 2 last month and have been trying hard to squeeze in some digital scrapping time with it so that I could show off the new features here on my blog. I finally got around to it today, and created a new video tutorial that highlights all of the major new features available to you in Version 2. I walk you through the new things and how to use them, and it makes it easy for Version 1 users to pick right up where they left off in the old version, or for new users to My Memories Suite to see just how awesome the software really is so they can get it for themselves.
My Memories Suite Tutorial 5: Version 2 Features – Part 2 of 2
Version 1 users will love that all of the photo albums and pages they’ve created in Version 1 will be converted for them into Version 2 compatibility and that the transition will be seamless. You won’t lose anything and all of your old albums will be right there for you in Version 2, ready to go and waiting for you to use the new tools and features to enhance them even further. When you’re adding embellishments or papers, you’ll be able to easily see what items are new to Version 2, and all of the old embellishments and papers from Version 1 are collected together in a folder labeled as Version 1, so you can quickly find all of your old favorites or check out the new stuff.
Speaking of Favorites, another new feature that I just love is that I can “bookmark” the embellishments and papers that I use most often and mark it as a favorite. This means that it’s added to a special “favorites” folder so I can access those favorite items quickly anytime I want to without having to search for them every time I want to use them on my digital scrapbook page designs. I show how this works in the video tutorial.
The WordArt Designer allows you to create fun and professional looking word art for your pages easily, and is built right in to the side tab of My Memories Suite now. Type in the text you want to create into word art, select the font and sizing, line spacing, colors, fill, stroke, etc. You can add shadows or a bevel and design the perfect word art accompaniment to any page you’re working on. I also demonstrate this in the video tutorial!
I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but I’m really excited about the new features in My Memories Suite Version 2! I just recently finished up Family Life 2009 digital scrapbook and am eagerly looking forward to working with all new designs, layouts, and features with Version 2 in 2010. If you want more details about what Version 2 has to offer, check out the info on mymemoriessuite.com. Original users of Version 1 will be able to upgrade for a nominal fee to get all of the new features, papers, embellishments, and layouts that come packaged with Version 2 and brand new My Memories Suite users can get on board and pick up Version 2 for themselves. If you’d like to save a little money on your purchase of My Memories Suite Version 2, be sure to click HERE: readers of the Pink Toque Craft Blog can get 10% off Version 2!
I’ve spent most of the afternoon recording the latest tutorial and getting it uploaded for viewing. It ended up being 18 minutes long! Since YouTube only allows videos up to 10 minutes each, I split the tutorial into 2 parts:
* My Memories Suite Tutorial 5: Version 2 Features – Part 1 of 2
* My Memories Suite Tutorial 5: Version 2 Features – Part 2 of 2
Enjoy! Be sure to let me know if you have any questions or comments on the new video tutorials or you need help with My Memories Suite Version 2. Hope you’ve had a great weekend :) Happy scrapping!
My Memories Suite Halloween Deal!
Hey readers!
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?
- Check out all of the tutorials I’ve created (videos!) on using My Memories Suite along with tips and tricks
- Get even more support from the Facebook Fan Page for My Memories Suite where they share ideas and show off scrapbooking pages and have contests!
Don’t wait! Check out My Memories Suite today; I know you’ll love scrapping memories with it as much as I do :) Happy Halloween!
A Little Scrapbooking
Moving to Indiana
*Gasp* I know, I’m scrapbooking again. Don’t worry — the schnauzer schweater is still a work in progress (and thanks to teaching 2nd grade, it gets forgotten from time to time, ha) and I’ll be knitting some more soon, but I thought a little trip down scrapbook lane would be nice so I could update my Family Life 2009 album a bit.
I gotta admit, I simply used some fabulous quick page designs by other digital scrapbooking artists and inserted my photos for the two latest pages, so I didn’t go overboard, but I did use My Memories Suite to create the pages, which always makes me happy. It’s seriously such fabulous software. Have you read my review of it? It’s been awhile since I’ve trumpeted from the roof tops how much I love this program. Want to know how to use quick page design layouts you download on the web within My Memories Suite? It’s super easy; check out my tutorial… My Memories Suite Tutorial 3: Using Quick Pages. It seriously felt so good to rev up My Memories Suite and add a few more pages tonight. I shouldn’t let it go so long between page creations :)
All You Need is Love
Anyway, first up was a page that pays homage to our epic journey driving from Calgary to Indiana last month when we moved back home. I used Little Boy Blue by Joanne Bain Designs. (Pictured above.) I really felt like the photo of Oliver and Winston peeking their heads out of the Neon with the UHAUL trailer behind captured the trip. The second page was a quick page called All You Need by Krystal Hartley. Because really, all you need is love, and I’m the luckiest girl in all the world to have the love of that handsome man right there in the photo. Aren’t we cute? ;)
Coming up soon is my sister-in-law’s baby shower that I’m hosting, and I’d love to turn the embellishment I created when designing the invitations into a digital scrapbook quick page layout or mini freebie set to give away. I just wish there was more time in the day! I’ve got two weeks to go, and I’ve still got to design and sew a diaper bag for her, too. A few weeks back we went shopping for fabric and she picked out some adorable quilted fabric and described the type of bag she’s looking for. Now it’s just a matter of sitting down and pulling it all together, which sounds easy but I swear time just seems to get by me. I’ll keep you posted and show off some pics as I get going on it.
So that’s it for now! To do list: work on and finish schnauzer sweater, make a little mini kit or quick page of the little boy car embellishment from the baby shower invites, and design and sew a diaper bag! No problem, right? ;) See you soon!
P.s. If you’d like to purchase My Memories Suite at 25% off of the original price, let me help you! And don’t forget to check out all of the My Memories Suite tutorials I’ve created to help you get the most out of the software.
The Hat that Turned into a Dog Sweater
A hat turns Schnauzer Schweater
So while I’ve been less than post-y lately, there have been a few little projects being snuck in between all of this job search madness. I am officially teaching 2nd grade starting tomorrow (covering an extended mat leave) and I’m happy to start being productive, teaching kids again, and reeling in a little cash for my family. The whole unemployed status sucks, and it was starting to get to me. Hopefully this position will keep me busy for awhile and there will be some other prospects on the horizon when it’s finished. We’ll see!
my invites ready to be filled out
So I spoke of a few little projects, and the first of these is designing the invitations for my sister-in-law’s upcoming baby shower that I’m hosting. Well, hosting at my parents’ house. I’m delighted to have the honor of getting to throw her shower and I just didn’t like any of the pre-packaged baby shower invites out there. The obvious solution was to make my own. I went to Michaels and purchased a set of blank print-your-own cards to work with. The ones I chose come in sheets of two per page and are around 8.5″ x 5.5″; ideally meant as RSVP card inserts in a wedding invite but turned into fabulous baby shower invites instead. My inspiration came from a birthday card layout by Laurie’s Scraps and I designed the stitched car embellishment and tag for it myself. I may have to do a little mini kit to give away the car embellishment later. It was fun to make! Holly loves the invites and they were mailed out today. Here it is close up:
The baby shower invites I designed for my sister-in-law
My Schnauzer Schweater!
And now on to the topic project: the hat that turned into a dog sweater. I was feeling a little stressed out with all of the employment searching these past few weeks, and a little bummed when I applied to so many places and got so few calls back. Nothing seemed to be promising and I knew I just needed to knit a little something to keep me sane while waiting by the phone for decisions and callbacks. I thought that a plain vanilla newborn baby hat with a ribbed cuff would be the perfect simple, soothing knit. Except I didn’t gauge properly and somehow after doing the ribbing and starting the stockinette I realized that the hat would actually fit my head… not a good sign when the hat size is supposed to be sized for a brand new baby. *sigh* Jokingly I put the hat around our schnauzer, Winston’s neck, and suddenly the ribbing looked like the perfect turtleneck and the hat began to look more like a sweater. A schnauzer schweater, as I like to call it. So too-big baby hat has officially turned into a schnauzer schweater. Say it with me now, schnauzer schweater! This time with emphasis… SCHnauzer SCHweater! The real test is if you can say it five times fast. Ok I’m done, but it would be a great tongue twister, don’tcha think?
Enough pictures already.
So I’m sorta making this pattern up as I go along — I cannot guarantee that it won’t turn into an epic failure but I’ll be sure to keep you posted, and if it turns out halfway decent maybe I’ll even post it here for all to try! Don’t hold your breath, though, little Winston looks less than enthusiastic about the prospect. I’ve decided that no matter how the schweater turns out, it’s at least exactly what I was looking for — something very plain and repetitive. I’ve been trying it on Winston as I go and while it works, I know if I did this again I’d make a few changes. All a part of the creative process, I think, and this process is fulfilling my needs at the moment.
Recycled Wallpaper QP Freebie
Recycled Wallpaper QP by pinktoque
I’m baaaaaaack! Hopefully you liked the Recycled Wallpaper mini pack freebie given away yesterday :) Today as promised I’ve got the coordinating quick page to give away, too! It’s 3600 x 3600 pixels (12″ x 12″) and 300 dpi. It uses a little from the Recycled Wallpaper pack and then I added some other random stuff as I went. It’s a little pink, but pink is a very good color :)
Download the Recycled Wallpaper QP here!
Don’t forget that unless otherwise specified, my digital scrapbooking elements are for personal use only. Be sure to check out the TOU included and let me know if you have any questions. I hope to make some more new stuff in the near future, as time allows. Right now I’m back home in Indiana for a brief period this weekend in order to interview with the school district I taught at before I moved up to Canada. Cross your fingers! If I get a job offer, Lucas and I will pack up the boys and we’ll be on our way.
And of course, finding out last minute (Wednesday) that I was going to need to take a plane to Indy the next day (Thursday), one of the most important aspects of the packing wasn’t which outfit I was going to wear for the interview, or my teaching portfolio… but what knit projects I wanted to take with me for the flight! Haha. Ok so I’m probably exaggerating a lot (It took a long time for me to decide on an outfit, and I spent several hours touching up my portfolio), but it was a very important part of the packing. I had to figure out the patterns I wanted to take and wind some yarn for those projects into cakes to pack in my carry on. I’m going to be working on Danido Crafty’s Bebeh Earflaps Hat and the Modern Cabled Baby Bib by Andrea Pomerantz. I’ll let you know how it goes! :)
Have a great weekend, and wish me luck!
Recycled Wallpaper Mini Freebie
I know this is beyond bizarre and a lot of you may be in shock because it’s been months and months and months since the last time I created digital scrapbooking elements to give away since knitting has taken over my craft time lately, but I made some freebies to give away over the weekend and I’m proud to offer them up to you today :) I call this little mini pack “Recycled Wallpaper” as the background papers remind me of scraps of wallpaper that have been ripped down during a remodeling effort. I’ve “recycled” them into something useful for your digital scrapbooking purposes!
Since it’s been awhile, I’ll be sure to mention that as always, the background papers and elements are created at 300 dpi, and the papers are 3600 x 3600 pixels (12″ x 12″) in size. The set is for personal use only (the terms of use are included, please be sure to check them out!) and the set includes 3 papers, 3 coordinating clips, and 3 matching ribbons. Nothing fancy, but it’s a little somethin’!
Download Recycled Wallpaper HERE!
I know I’m a little rusty on the digital elements scene, but hopefully you’ll be able to find a use for this mini set! Be sure to check back tomorrow, as I’ve also created a quick page that coordinates with these elements. It’s a little pink and girly but that’s ok sometimes, right? See you soon, and enjoy the elements :)
Craftster Feature and New Scrapbook Pages
You & Me Together by Shallya Kitby, using the kit Cherish for Love by Fanette
I am most honored to be notified that my DIY Batman Soap Tutorial was a Craftster-wide feature recently, AND was also chosen as a featured project for Quarter 2 of 2009 in the Bath & Beauty section. WOW! I really appreciate all of the “this rocks!” votes I received on the tutorial and am glad it’s gone over so well :) Thanks everyone!
This weekend I got around to some much neglected digital scrapbooking. It feels like it’s been forever! Several months ago when I was doing more digi scrapping I had started stockpiling various quick pages that I’d found on DigiFree as I came across them daily. I was just saving them for a rainy day I guess! The weather has definitely been rainy here in Calgary lately, and so on Sunday I went back through the folder and turned around 33 of those quick pages into new pages of my digital scrapbook.
Kissletoe by Cinnamon Designs
Firstly, I went back through photos I had on my hard drive, which took me all the way back to November. There were a couple of events in the fall and winter that needed to be scrapped, such as Lucas’ birthday party, outings with friends, and Christmas. I also realized that the more digital pages I had in a single scrapbook in My Memories Suite, the slower/longer it took for the program to load the scrapbook when I wanted to work on it. This makes sense since it had to render all of those thumbnail previews along the bottom, and the more elements and extras on a page to render, the longer that would take. Multiply that times 40 odd pages or so, and you can see where I’m coming from. To help with the clutter, I decided to sum up the end of 2008 by adding a few more pages to finish off the year, and then start a whole new, separate album for 2009. So now I have a Family Life 2008 album and I’ve started a Family Life 2009 album that will be ongoing for the rest of 2009.
Green Lagoon by Miss Vivi
Family Life 2009 was a fun one to start on and where I had the most catch up to do, because we’re already just over halfway into the year and so much has happened in the first part of 2009! Really the pages just started flowing once I went back through the photos I had stored away in my Pictures directory. I had some great new photos of Oliver and Winston in their Flames gear to scrap and some Calgary Flames quick pages I had created myself last year to use with them. I had quite a few newer photos of Lucas and I together that were begging to be scrapped, and of course a LOT of photos from our recent anniversary trip to Nova Scotia. It was hard to narrow down all of the fantastic photos we’d taken to just a few digital scrapbook pages, but I managed!
An Apple Day by MimiLou
Then I scrapped our recent family outdoor activity of choice: rollerblading! Lucas and I have been rollerblading fairly regularly for almost a year now, but just recently (like 2 weeks ago) we decided to start trying to rollerblade with Oliver and Winston, too. This has been ridiculously hilarious and A LOT of fun, and a great form of exercise for the whole family. Oliver could stand to lose a few pounds, tbh. But shhh, we don’t tell him he’s fat. (Ok we do, but it’s mostly hair, right?)
County Fair by GWTW
Then of course most recently, as in this past weekend, Lucas and I attended our first Calgary Stampede ever! As I mentioned in my previous post, the Calgary Stampede comes to town for 10 days every July and turns the entire town into a rodeo. Suddenly everyone here thinks they are a cowboy. To be honest, the Stampede was very much like the Indiana State Fair, just with a rodeo attached. It was great fun though, because it’s been years since I’ve been to a state fair of course.
All of this work to catch up my digital scrapbooks inspired me to create something of my own to share, and I played around with some new background papers and a couple of matchy-matchy elements to go with them. Nothing fancy, but I plan to give those away later this week, along with a quick page I made to go along with them. How exciting! Although knitting has dominated my crafting time for the most part the past several months, I don’t plan on letting my digital scrapbook get that far behind again, so hopefully that means more scrapping and more freebie goodies for you, too :)
In creating a 2009 album and leaving it open-ended to add on as life happens, I’ve started fast-forwarding in my mind to imagine what other upcoming pages I’ll need to scrap about. Most exciting is the next chapter in Lucas and I’s lives where we move back to Indiana and roadtrip with Oliver and Winston to get there, along with the birth of my first nephew coming up in October. The 2009 Family Life album sure will be a monumental one!
Tattoo Parlor Knitting
finished baby blanket for my nephew!
The last thing you’d expect to see in front of a tattoo shop at 6am on a Saturday morning is a chick sitting on the front porch steps knitting a baby blanket. I suspect there have been stranger things, but not many. As I’ve mentioned a few times lately, Lucas and I are planning to move back to the U.S. to be closer to family at the end of the summer. I realized that it’s the first week in July and that means we could be moving as early as a few weeks from now. It seems like such a short time away all of a sudden! I’ve truly loved living in Canada and while I’ll be happy to be near to family again, I’m really going to miss it here. The three years I’ve lived here have been a very big and important part of my life and includes my amazing husband. We are looking forward to starting our own family back in the good ol’ Hoosier state. So what does this all have to do with me knitting on the front porch of a tattoo parlor at 6am on Saturday? Everything! When I realized how soon we may be leaving, it seemed like the perfect time to get the tattoo I’ve been wanting to have done before we leave: a small Canadian maple leaf on the top of my right foot, to celebrate this hugely important part of my life and my love here in Canada. It stands for Lucas (who is Canadian), and it stands for my life here. When we move back to the states, I won’t be able to forget this chapter and I will think on it with fondness. We’ll of course come back to Canada to visit friends and Lucas’ family out in BC often, but it just won’t be quite the same experience as living next to the Canadian rockies like we do now.
my canadian maple leaf tattoo
So why 6am? Well Smilin’ Buddha Tattoo Shop (where Lucas and I got our little matching tattoos exactly a year ago) has drop-in Saturdays where appointments are made for when the shop opens at noon on a first-come, first-served basis. If you get there first, you get your appointment first. We arrived at 6am and were the first people there. We sat together and I finished my Organic Baby Wrapper blanket for my future nephew. Around 9am, someone came along and set up our appointments in order (by this time, several more people had shown up to stand in line) and so my appointment was set for noon when the shop opened. We then went off and enjoyed a delicious pannekoeken breakfast and did a little window shopping on 17th Ave to kill time before we had to be back. I was excited that the same tattoo artist that did my first, Stacie-Rae, also did my maple leaf. She did a fantastic job!
Friday was the start of the Calgary Stampede, which turns the entire town into a rodeo. It’s amazing… it gets to be the first week in July and suddenly everyone is a cowboy. The cowboy boots and hats come out and everyone wears jeans to work all week in the downtown core. People say “Yeehaw!” and tip their hats and pretend they know how to rope a calf. Ok so I might be exaggerating just a little bit with that last sentence, but it’s amazing how many cowboy hats you see during this one week of the year. Happy Stampede! Lucas and I went for the first time ever on Friday night and we had a blast. I didn’t wear a cowboy hat and “yeehaw”, but I did throw in a lot more “ya’lls” for effect.
photo copyright Lesley Karpiuk / pinktoque
Also this weekend I put the finishing touches on the knitted dishcloth set (made from my free Unoriginal Bordered Basket Weave Dishcloth pattern) for my boss and packaged it all up in a small basket tied with a pretty black and white flowered ribbon. Doesn’t it look lovely? This is my last full week at the temp office job, and next week I’ll be in for the Monday and possibly Tuesday to help cross-train the new girl who is taking my place. With the baby blanket project and the dishcloth set finished, it was time to cast on something new. I’ve got quite a long list of baby things I want to knit for my future nephew, but the super soft snuggly knitted Baby Bunny from Alan Dart’s Wuv You pattern has especially been calling my name. I’m not sure if it’s the cuteness that’s drawing me in or the incredibly soft Sirdar Snowflake yarn that I can’t keep my hands off of, but I casted it on last night and will be working on it this week. Let’s hope it turns out half as adorable as the one in the pattern photo!
OH! And you won’t believe this, but I actually created some digital scrapbooking elements and papers this weekend. A quick page, too! Now don’t get too excited because I’m a bit rusty with all of this knitting going on instead, but I plan to release the little mini pack and quick page later this week so keep watching! I was inspired after working hard yesterday to finish off my 2008 digital scrapbook and get my 2009 one up to date. I know I’m 7 months behind on the 2008 one, but I really only had 4 final pages to add to it before I deem it complete. I went in and pulled from the stockpile of quick page layouts I’ve downloaded from DigiFree and been saving for a rainy day when I had time to devote to my digital scrapbooks, and rain is sure what we got this weekend. This means I’ve got some pretty layouts and featured artists to share. I’ll share the pages I did this weekend and the artists whose quick pages I used and give away some of my own created digital freebies later this week. See you back here soon! :)
