MyMemories Winner!

The MyMemories Digital Scrapbooking Software giveway closed on Friday. 

Entry to the competition involved answering the following question: 

"Which digital scrapbooking kit and memory would you choose to create first?" 

The standout winner was "Marine_Team" who answered with this amazing comment: 

"I LOVE the idea of digital scrapbooking!! I've just recently started scrapbooking the traditional way - which I love because of how hands on it is! I didn't think I would like the idea of digital scrapbooking, however after seeing the benefits - LESS MESS, all the background options, the ability to see how it would look without worrying about ruining photos by cutting them to the wrong size or running out of a decorative piece, not having to wait until photos have been printed AND THEN realising you still don't have all the pictures you need... haha :) I went and had a look at all the kits and would have to say that "A Little Cuckoo" would most definitely be my favourite! I've been wanting to scrapbook my brother and I when we were younger and I think this would be a PERFECT complimentary kit to show how cuckoo our family is! ^.^" 

Marine_Team, you are a no-reply blogger so I need you to send me an email so I can organise your prize! 

If you would like to buy your own copy of MyMemories Digital Scrapbooking Software V4 you can use my coupon code below to receive a $10 discount! 

Code: STMMMS13662

Create for 365 days - January 2013

Only 6 more days of February to go for my 365 day challenge! 

307: Obi style belt for a gift. Tutorial by Casa Crafty on SewMamaSew. Check out my blog post here.
308: Black glitter spiral gift tag.Check out my tutorial here.
309: Agate wire wrap pendant for my little sister.
310: Squiggly obi style belt for my little sister. Tutorial by Casa Crafty on SewMamaSew. Check out my blog post here.
311: Black glitter cat gift tag. Check out my tutorial here.
312: Little stamped then watercoloured birds gift tag.
313: Stamped colour-in gift tags for my nephew.
314: Beeswax liquid soap. Tutorial by Heavenly Homemakers.
315: Chocolate liquid soap. Tutorial by Heavenly Homemakers.
316: Silver glitter flower and stars gift tags. Check out my tutorial here.
317: An attempt at wire wrapped pendant using an odd shaped acrylic bead.
318: Stamped toucan watercoloured gift tag. Love this one and might keep it forever!
319: Monkey's fist knot - which the cat broke pretty much straight away!
320: Mounted my baby elkhorn that my mum gave me onto a piece of tree trunk.
321: Colour-in pencil case for my nephew. See my blog post about it here.
322: Peanut stone garden marker.
323: Windows obi style belt for my little sister. Tutorial by Casa Crafty on SewMamaSew. Check out my blog post here.
324: Painted mushroom rock which I then varnished.
325: Chilli stone tag.
326: Kumihimo disc and my first braid using this tutorial. Be ready for major hand cramps if you try it!
327: Made the squiggly obi style belt smaller so it would fit my little sister. Tutorial by Casa Crafty on SewMamaSew. Check out my blog post here.
328: Black ink shell yellow gift tag.
329: Glitter heart magnet.
330: Red glitter heart tag and card. Check out my tutorial here.
331: Watercolour flowers.
332: Etched lolly jar for my nephew.
333: Grey and white fabric coaster - first ever! Next time I will use a tutorial and the right fabrics!
334: Ray's lunch box! Proud of myself for finishing but it was horrible to make!
335: Tote bag for my nephew.
336: Painted mushroom rock - didn't varnish this one as I want to test and see how long each will last outside.
337: Origami balloon flowers for my SIL. See my blog post here.

Photo Clock

Most people don't realise this, but I really like clocks. I like to be able to see the time from where ever I am and I have to check the time before I go to sleep. Even though I like clocks, it isn't something I feel the need to buy as there are only so many clocks you can have in one room. 

For our first house we bought a simple stainless steel clock with a red background - which eventually faded to pink. So I updated it with scrapbook paper, which I decided I didn't like, so I changed the scrapbook paper (which I also made some tile coasters with). 

Why use scrapbook paper when I could use the MyMemories software to create my own personalised photo clock! 

The great thing about this scrapbook software is that any font you have installed in your computer can be used. I used one of our wedding photos as the background and decided to use the free Angelic War font for my clock numbers. 

To create my clock face I used the ring embellishment to decide where and how big I wanted the clock part to be. Then using a text box for each number I simply used the ring as a guide for where to place each number. After I was happy with the numbers I decided to delete the ring. 

So how did I make the actual clock? I cut my piece of wood (by that I mean my husband did since he won't let me use the power saw), glued my photo down, drilled the hole for the clock, puttied the edges, painted the edges and chipped a hole in the back so the clock mechanism could sit close enough to hold the hands in place. 

How would I do it next time? Buy the right size canvas (8x12" for this one), paint it, glue down the photo, poke a hole for the clock, install clock, and done! 

Either way, I'm happy with my new one of a kind clock (one of a kind since I'll never make a clock that way again!) and now I just need to hang it up in our bedroom - bringing the total number of clocks in our bedroom up to 4! 

Linking up here: 

Cowgirl Up! Link Party @ The Ivy Cottage Blog Take-A-Look Tuesday @ Sugar Bee Crafts Manic Monday @ Serendipity and Spice Fluster's Creative Muster Party @ Fluster Buster We Did It Wednesday @ Sew Much Ado Friday Favs Party @ Nap Time Crafters

Holiday Scrapbook Pages

Way back in 2007 we went to Thailand and I bought a Thai photo album with the intent to scrapbook our holiday. And yes, I kept all sorts of trinkets and bits of paper. Fast forward six years and it's all still sitting in a shoebox - well I think it is, I couldn't tell you where to find it! 

Since the original scrapbook idea isn't going to happen, I decided to use my new scrapbooking software to make a scrapbook of our holiday. This software is obviously what I needed as I have already done 5 pages from our holiday over the past two days. I used the "On the Spot" designer template included with the software. It was easy enough to change the colours to my liking as well as put in my own text. I loved that you can easily have the text curve around the circular photos. 

Originally I was just going to focus on an album for our holiday and then start one for our wedding. Now I think I might go through my photos and start scrapbooking in chronological order from when we first started dating. Then when I get around to it start a scrapbook for each of our childhoods. 

So that is yet another project I have started and now need to add to my "Finish these projects" list!

Rumballs Recipe Card

I'm not really into cooking and even when I feel like cooking I don't really use my recipe books. If I find a recipe I want to follow, it normally gets written on a piece of paper because I don't want to get food all over my books. Inevitably I lose those little pieces of paper, so I decided to use my new scrapbooking software to create beautiful recipe cards! 

I have most of my favourite recipes typed up on my computer already, which I have printed and laminated, but printing on plain white paper with no photos isn't very nice to look at! 

So for my first ever recipe card I decided to use my rumball recipe. Every Christmas I make these rumballs... and force my husband to help because it always takes longer than the time I have allocated! At Christmas there are a lot of different parties to attend which means a lot of rumballs to make - I normally do three or four batches each year. 

I love my recipe book stand, but the bottom bit that stops the books sliding off is always blocking the recipe text. Now with my recipe card I can just use pegs to hold it at the top and I won't have any trouble reading my recipes! 

Since this is a Christmas recipe I decided to use some star embellishments and hints of red. I love the ripped effect you can add to the photo in this scrapbooking software - it looks like the photo has been ripped out of a magazine! And as you can see I had fun with the word art for this layout, the curve of the text works well with the photo. 

Do you want a copy of my rumballs recipe card so you can make some for Christmas this year? Just click on the recipe card below to bring it up in full size, then right click and select save image as! 

I just took it to Kmart to have it printed as a 5x7 photo which I then laminated when I got home. Now if I spill something on my recipe I can easily wipe it clean and as a bonus it will be a lot harder to lose! 

Linking up here: 

Friday Favs Party @ Nap Time Crafters Cowgirl Up! Link Party @ The Ivy Cottage Blog Take-A-Look Tuesday @ Sugar Bee Crafts We Did It Wednesday @ Sew Much Ado Wildly Original Link Party @ I Gotta Create!

MyMemories Digital Scrapbook Software + Giveaway!

Recently, I had a look through my sister-in-laws scrapbook that she made for her wedding and realised just how nice it must be to look through and reminisce - rather than my basic photo album (which I keep taking photos out of to use in craft projects). So it got me thinking, why do I have no interest in scrapbooking? 

I love the way it all looks, how personalised it is and the visual interest and impact it creates, but I have finally figured out why I personally do not do it or have any desire to start it. I do not like that it isn't flat, all those lovely embellishments just make the pages too bulky. That and I would actually need to remember to get that "To Print" folder on my desktop printed before I could get anywhere with a scrapbook. 

Imagine the serendipity of thinking about all of this, then receiving an email about MyMemories an amazing digital scrapbooking software! 

Not only was I lucky enough to receive a copy of MyMemories Suite, but one of my lucky readers has a chance to win their very own copy! 

I have been having a lot of fun with this scrapbook software, it is really easy to create beautiful layouts without having to create a mess or purchase a never ending list of supplies! I have found this scrapbook software to be quick and easy to learn, with so many options for customizing and embellishing your pages. 

I could have created an album page by page, but the first thing I think of when it comes to photos is my coaster wall. Because all of my coasters are landscape orientation, there are so many photos I would love to include but couldn't as it would leave empty space... until now! 

With this scrapbook software I chose my background, added in two portrait photos from our wedding, added our wedding date (love that shadow effect!), added some swirly embellishments and some hearts. It was so easy, it is flat, every part of it is the perfect size and I don't have a huge mess to clean up! 

I think the longest part is going through and simply looking at all the embellishments and papers you can use, as well as trying out the paint and word effects. 

You can choose to create standard size pages or create custom size pages like I did for my wall coasters. I loved playing with these photos of Trixie as a pup and how perfect is the speech bubble for that top photo? 

There are ready made designer templates included with your MyMemories software so it is incredibly quick and easy to add in some photos and have a page finished in no time! (That's me as a baby with our dog Gloria.) 

Giveaway is now closed! 

Would you like to win your own copy of the MyMemories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software? 

Visit MyMemories and choose your favourite digital scrapbooking kit... 

Then leave a comment on this post answering the following question: 

“Which digital scrapbooking kit and memory would you choose to create first?” 

And read the following Terms and Conditions: 

1. Entry into the Krydasu “MyMemories Digital Scrapbook Software + Giveaway!” competition is open to anyone (excluding employees or their immediate families of Krydasu and MyMemories). 

2. The Promoter is Krystal Spreadborough of Krydasu, krydasu at gmail dot com in Queensland, Australia. 

3. By entering this competition you acknowladge the acceptance of these terms and conditions. 

4. Competition opens at 16:00 (AEST) on Friday 8 February 2013 and closes at 16:00 (AEST) on Friday 22 February 2013. 

5. To enter the competition , entrants must: 

· Visit www.mymemories.com and choose your favourite digital scrapbooking kit 

· Return to this post and leave a comment answering the following question: 

“Which digital scrapbooking kit and memory would you choose to create first?” 

6. The prize consists of: MyMemories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software V4 (valued at $39.97 USD) 

7. Winner will be announced on Tuesday 26 February 2013 on www.krydasu.blogspot.com. Winner will be notified by email. Winner must claim prize via return email within 7 days of email being sent. If winner cannot be contacted or does not claim prize with 7 days, a new winner will be announced. 

8. Winner will be emailed their code and instructions enabling them to download their prize. 

9. This competition is a “Game of Skill”, the winner will be chosen based on the best answer to the entry question.

Linking up here: Giveaway Directory @ Someday Crafts Friday Favs Party @ Nap Time Crafters No Rules Weekend Blog Party @ Sincerely, Paula Cowgirl Up! Link Party @ The Ivy Cottage Blog Take-A-Look Tuesday @ Sugar Bee Crafts

Origami Balloon Flowers

One of many ideas I had for my wedding was to make an origami flower bouquet so I asked my dad to buy me the book "Origami Flowers: Popular Blossoms and Creative Bouquets" by Hiromi Hayashi. 

I attempted a few of the flowers, failed and promptly gave up as I just didn't have the time to work at it. After going through my boxes of books and finding this one again, I decided that I would like to work my way through this book and create all of the flowers! 

For my first flower attempt I chose the balloon flower as it looked relatively easy and only used one sheet of paper. 

So once I got the cutting of the paper correct, I found this flower to be pretty easy to do. They turned out alright which is the main thing! 

I made this rainbow bunch of origami 'get well soon' balloon flowers for my SIL. 

I didn't wrap any paper leaves into the stems, but there are templates in this book that you can trace and cut. I was having problems with my floral tape, I don't know if it was the tape or just me - either way I guess I will find out when I buy a new roll. The instructions said to use a piece of yellow floral tape for the center but I didn't have any so I just rolled strips of yellow paper around it. 

Hopefully I do this well for the next flower I choose!

Create for 365 Days - December 2012

December 2012 photos have been taken, edited and uploaded at last...

276: Three more red German Paper Stars - YouTube tutorial and my blog post about them
277: A gift tag featuring cute little stamped bees which I then coloured with water colour pencils
278: One more red German Paper Star - YouTube tutorial and my blog post about them
279: Four more red German Paper Stars - YouTube tutorial and my blog post about them
280: Glittered 30th birthday card
281: The two cushions for Ray's grandparents. I decided to put a patchwork panel featuring fabric from their kids and grandkids cushions. The bird fabric I used for the fronts will also be used in our anniversary quilt... which we need to start!
282: The mushroom gift tag was a stamp which I coloured with water colour pencils. The shell gift tag was a stencil and a gel ink pen
283: Red and silver German Paper Stars so I could figure out how to hang the stars in my Christmas tree - YouTube tutorial and my blog post about them
284: Three more red German Paper Stars - YouTube tutorial and my blog post about them
285: One red German Paper Stars - YouTube tutorial and my blog post about them
286: My new blue maxi skirt! Well not so new anymore, but I was excited when I finished it. I read (somewhere I can't remember) that you should reduce the presser foot presser and it worked great, now I don't have problems sewing with knits!
287: Black glitter ships wheel gift tag
288: Stamped snake gift tag - coloured with water colour pencils
289: Stamped butterflies and fish gift tags - both coloured with water colour pencils
290: Stamped then water colour pencilled octopus gift tag
291: Attempted to wire wrap a spiral bead. Turned out ok, but it was a bit difficult to do
292: Really simple tile trivets - see my blog post for more details.
293: Silver glitter swirl gift tag - I really like this one!
294: Another cushion insert made from a pillow
295: Another stamped and water coloured flamingo gift tag
296: Furry monster stamped and water coloured gift tag
297: FIL's Xmas cushion - first of two
298: FIL's second Xmas cushion
299: My dad's Christmas cushion
300: My mum's Christmas cushion
301: Glittered shell gift tag
302: Ships wheel gift tag
303: Swirl gift tags
304: Another cushion for my dad
305: Another cushion for my mum
306: A tie for my dad's birthday - Georgia Leigh's free tie pattern and my blog post about it.