No Faces Challenge

The challenge on the My Memories blog this week is No Faces. I almost immediately thought of our trip to Houston. (Could that be because I've been working on that album since this weekend?!) I knew I had some shots of Paul that weren't showing his face. My favorite is this one of him looking out from the Observation Deck at the San Jacinto Monument. Here's what I came up with:

I opted for simplicity on this one. This is the first layout where I've used the 'blur' special effect in the software. I think it helps draw attention to the smaller photos.

Speed Scrap & FREE MMS Software!!!

Sunday's My Memories Speed Scrap was a technique I haven't used much and learned to use in a new way. Basically, we used the Word Art tool to use pictures as words. I've done that before, on the title pages of my San Antonio and Houston albums, but I had never even thought of using it on a page, especially doing each letter individually to use a different picture in each letter. Here's my layout:

Now for the good news: I'm holding a giveaway for one lucky person to get My Memories Suite 2.0 for FREE. You read that right . . . FREE! I'm transferring from my current job in Marshall, TX to a new position in Texarkana. I want to share my excitement with you! All you have to do for a chance to win is click to follow my blog, visit the shop at My Memories, browse around, and tell me the name and designer of your favorite kit. I plan to announce the winner next Friday, November 4. Ready . . . . Set . . . . Go!

NOT Picture Perfect Challenge

This weeks challenge at the My Memories blog is for those pictures that didn't turn out like you wanted. We all have them, in many different variations: out of focus, not looking at the camera, making a face, some extraneous object (or person) gets in the frame, or maybe something in the background looks like it's part of the subject (like antlers growing out of somebody's head). I've had my share of out of focus pictures lately. My original thought was to scrap the pics Paul took of me with the pot belly pigs in the petting zoo at the fair. But, since those are the only pictures I have me petting the pigs, I'm gonna use them in the album and I haven't bought the kit(s) I want to use yet. Then I remember the pictures I took of Polly running in the yard the other day. When I uploaded them to the computer, I deleted a lot of the blurry pictures, but I kept a few of them. I was thinking I might want to show how fast she runs. Then came the challenge. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. Here's my layout:

Again, I know it's not the winner, but I'm pretty happy with it. And a good thing about digi scrapping: If I wanna change it later, I can. Oh! I just had a brain storm! Gotta go make some adjustments!

I'm back. I just added a couple of things. I like this better:

This one is my challenge layout. :)

Speed Scrap and Text Wrap

Well, yesterday was Sunday, so that means it was Speed Scrap time on the MyMemories Facebook page. These were the instructions:

I ended up making three layouts:

I had a lot of fun with this technique, once I watched the video and figured out how to do it! The picture of Paul at the Alamo is from our trip to San Antonio in December 2009. I started on the album for the trip, but I didn't get very far. Since we went in December, I want to use a Christmas theme. The problem? The only Christmas "supplies" I have are the freebies I've found. None of them are quite what I'm looking for. As soon as I have the extra money, I'll buy a kit or two and really get started on it.
Since I couldn't work on the San Antonio trip, I decided to work on our Houston trip from June 2010. Since it was summer, I decided to go with a summer theme. Again, I haven't bought any summer kits yet, but I have enough from the MMS software and the freebies I've downloaded that I can move forward with it. I'm sure I'll make some changes, add some embellishments, when I buy more goodies. Here's the first page with photos:

The challenge on the MyMemories blog this week is Text Wrap. I've been thinking and thinking, trying to come up with a submission. I love text wrap, but I haven't used it very often. None of the layouts I've worked on since Wednesday have been good candidates for wrapping text around the photo. Until this one:

I know this is not the challenge-winning layout, but that isn't really the point. If I only entered challenges that I thought I would win, I'd never enter. Challenges are fun. I get to create something and maybe even get some feedback on it.

Speed Scrap Fun

It's Sunday, which means Speed Scrap time at My Memories' facebook page. Here's my layout.

I rearranged the photo only template I chose. The instructions also said to use just one photo. I thought it would set them apart if I turned the cropped ones black and white. Too bad there isn't a Smurfs kit. I improvised and use blueberries from the Love You Berry Much kit to represent Smurfberries. It's different than what I would normally do, but I'm happy with the result.

Framed Challenge

The MMS blog weekly challenge was simple this week: just use a frame. My entry seems pretty self-explanatory to me.

I'm a little behind on my scrapbooking this week. I'm so ready to get transferred! I'll have more money and more free time. I'll actually have time and energy to get some things done around the house. And more layouts done!