I'm back with a GIVEAWAY!

Oh heavens, it was a crazy week! Illness, a weekend in Morton, emergency trips to the dentist, it was enough to make my head spin, too much to post obviously, so I thought I would start out the week with a GIVEAWAY, to say I'm sorry!

Now, it has been a long time since I have done a giveaway, and so I wanted my first one back to be really impressive and something I am in love with! Well, I really only have one hobby, besides running of course, and that is scrapbooking. I heart taking photos that may not be "wall" worthy and making a creative display out of them to make sure I always remember that day or moment. They have to be visually interesting and full of life! Unfortunately, my life has been a little too full the past few years to get any real scrapbooking done. I haven't done a single page for Brady, and he's 2! Now I feel like I am so far behind, I can't possibly catch up. But, who should come to my rescue but a company called MyMemories.

One of their reps, Liz, asked if I would be interested in trying out their digital software and doing a giveaway. Um , hello, heck yes! I downloaded it (super easy) and quickly got to work. I am not computer savy, but it didn't take long to figure out how to get started. They have layouts you can use, and more you can download. Some are free and other's cost, but I wanted to try a hand at making my own. I have really wanted to make something for Riley's room that has pictures from her first days of life that looked a little scrapbooky, but was polished enough I could hang it in her room. This is what I created...

I then saved it as a jpeg and had Costco print a 12x12 picture for me, framed it and now it looks great in her room.

My other big project I was trying to work on for over a year, was a way to make race day memories for Jesse and I incorporating our bibs. Nothing I had done yet was coming out the way I wanted, and they were taking a very long time. Again, MyMemories Suite came to the rescue. In no time I had played around and created this...

That is actually a picture of his bib that I used for the background!

My plan is to print out (again as a photo) the ones from big races, and make a collage of them in big poster frames to display. I also want to make something from each race and then at the end of the year make a book of them (which this company does). I just think it will be such a great keepsake, and an awesome way to quickly look back at your races and show off pictures to your friends!

I am really excited to do books through them. I have done Costco and Shutterfly ones, but these will be much more personalized and full of things you just can't do with those other programs. My next big project is to make a book from the Autism Walk. I want to do one every year, then, down the road, I can show my boys all the years we have done and I am hoping it will be a great keepsake for them! I might also do one of each year of their life. I just think they are so much cooler than regular photo albums. My head is just overflowing with ideas!

The other fun thing to do is make a jazzy version of a photo you want to display. Here is a quick example I did of a YGG pic.

Again, just print it in whatever size you want, frame, and voila, instant fun memory!

I really am super excited to keep using this scrapbook software. Really the possibilities are endless. They even do calendars, which will be great presents for those people in my life that already have everything! Now, what you all probably want to know about is pricing. Well, the software, is actually only $40! And with the coupon code I have to save $10, it is only $30. But even at 40, to me, it is a great bargain. To just get the basics for scrapbooking costs WAY more than that and even if you printed off individual pages and put them into a scrapbook, the cost per page is still a lot less. The prices of the books and calendars seems to be about the same as Shutterfly and others, so no problem there either. Actually, the only negative I have found so far, is the lack of odds and ends embellishments. They have most any kind of brad, button, stitching, ribbon, and such you could want, but not a lot of activity specific ones. Again, I haven't explored too much, so there may be a way to download more, or use stuff you already have, but you could also print off a page and then add embellishment and stickers just the way you would on a normal page, thus getting the look you want and adding some dimension to it as well.

On to the giveaway, how do you win this great scrapbook software? Just follow the steps below, leaving a separate comment for each. If you just can't wait to see if you win, you can download your own software now and use this code STMMMS92027 to save $10 on it, plus save $10 on any order from MyMemories.com store (like on a book). The giveaway will end Sunday Oct. 9th at midnight! Good luck!

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