A Busy Mom's take on Digiscrapping.....

First off I need to declare that I am an imposter, sorry, that should read a guest blogger.

I've hijacked Amanda's blog to give you a busy Mom's take on digital scrapbooking.

My name is Catherine and some of you will know me maybe from the Reece's Rainbow FB page or perhaps from Amanda's own FB page.  My alter ego is CatDesignz which is my digital baby - the Child of My Heart if you will.  That's the name of the kit that Celeste Lombas and I used to give Amanda's blog a new look ready for the children coming home - a little digital nesting if you will!

Amanda asked if I would make some layouts of the children which I was delighted to do - you can see them in the left hand side bar.  You can even pretty your own adoption blog up in the same way.

Who, me?  I hear you ask?

Yes, You - you too can digiscrap.

And here's the gorgeous proof

This is Amanda's very first digital layout - and I promise it won't be your last Amanda.  Before you know what's happening you will be teaching the children to make their own layouts!

 ' But I'm too busy to figure it out......'

If you want something done give it to a busy person!!

Before I met Amanda I thought that I was a busy Mum (thats British for Mom BTW!).  I work full time managing a Shopping Mall, volounteer as a School Governor, care for my hubby who is disabled by PTSD, raise our 11 year old son and work a second job as CatDesignz, mainly selling my product at My Memories. Oh, and then I blog, tweet, have a Facebook page, an Etsy store and generally try and stay digitally active

Yes, I seriously thought I was busy until I met this amazing lady and her equally amazing hubby Brent who parent their rainbow family of 13 and are making room for another 5.  Now I really understand what a busy Mom is!!  You are fantabulous Amanda and I am so blessed that our paths have crossed.

When you said you had no time to figure out how to digiscrap I knew that I had already thrown down the gauntlet without saying a word.......and, yes, I am right and you are wrong on this one - he he!   'Cos you figured it all out yourself!!

And if time challenged Amanda can produce a stunning layout so can you and I'm here to show you how  to get started - mainly in response to comments on FB and in emails to Amanda about how you wish you could do it too.

As I mentioned, in my spare time I work for this amazing company called MyMemories - thats where I sell my digital creations.  And though I declare an interest they really are a great starting point for would be digi scrappers and particulary busy Moms.This is not a hard sell because you can actually get started for free

As well as selling digital kits for folks to use they also have THE most popular and easiest to use software.  Its called My Memories Suite V3 and there is even a free trial version available. 

You do need some kind of graphics software to be able to use graphics files - thats your pictures, backgrounds and cliparts

Oh, and heck, I am bursting to tell you this, My Memories giving away a free photobook at the moment and you could use the offer without even having to buy the software - just use the free download version!!!

If you click on this link it will take you to the My Memories home page where you will find the link to the free photobook - there is also a little snippet of footage from the Lifestyle programme which shows you how fast you could fill an album.  This is where it gets really interesting for busy peeps because you can use a pretty pre designed template and just plop your pictures in - simples!

Have a look at these gorgeous photobook  templates - literally one for every occasion.

There are also album templates that you can use if you don't want a full photobook - wherever the grey spaces are you can add your pictures by dragging and dropping them in

Like I said you can use the free version of the software to order your free photobook - there are even free templates with the trial version too so you don't have to spend a cent except for postage.  (look for the free trial button on the right hand side of the page)

 Here is a short video which explains a little about how to get your free photobook  - its the first of 3 video clips but Lisa, the presenter is a great tutor who is really easy to follow



Once you download the software you will want to use it for all your pictures, I promise you!  The programme opens up on your computer - you don't have to be on line to use it - you can use it any time.

To help you with using the software there are a bunch of video tutorials and written tutorial  files that you can download and print out.  I found these priceless for teaching me how to use the software one easy step at a time.  Have a look at this one and you'll see what I mean


There is also an amazing and supportive community on Facebook where you can show off your creations, look at other peoples for inspiration and even ask for digi help and advice

I do need to warn you though.......

IT'S ADDICTIVE!!!!!!

and just to prove how quickly you can become proficient with this software here is Amanda's second layout

Of course the layout is not quite perfect - there are not enough children in the picture - I should say another 5 would just about do the trick! And Amanda will soon fix that please God!

And should you like what you see and decide you want to buy the My Memories software please, please  don't pay full price.  I have a discount coupon for $10 that you can use.  I also have a little surprise for Amanda who doesn't know about this......if any of you buy a copy of the My Memories version 3 software before the end of April using my code  I will donate $20 to the Littlest Unroe fund for each copy of the software sold.  The code to use is STMMMS26788.  Just type it into the coupon space ( or better still copy and paste) before you pay.  This will discount the software down to $29.97 for you.  I will get an email telling me you bought a copy and then I'll donate $20 to little Keith's funds.  Does that sound like a good deal? Oh, and you also get a coupon code for $10 worth of free kits too!

Of course there are lots of other programmes that you could use, like Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop Elements most of which also have free trial versions but they all have a mighty steep learning curve too.  My Memories V3 is far and away the most user friendly that I have found.

Feel free to pop over to my CatDesignz Facebook page and say hello - thats where I showcase all my kits and templates - you never know - you might just catch the bug!!

Happy Scrapping & don't forget to leave Amanda some love for her lovely layouts

Catherine x

ps, be kind to me, this is my first ever guest blog spot - thanks Amanda

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