CM Storybook Plus software rocks!

In the process of reloading all my software onto my new computer I realized the coupon I got when I purchased Creative Memories Storybook Plus software is going to expire at the end of this month. Were it not for my computer dying, I probably wouldn't have noticed this for 1 - 2 years and then would have been exceedingly bitter. I guess that is one good thing about getting a new computer. As I mentioned in a prior post, scrapbooking has gone by the wayside right now. I want to do it but dragging out all the stuff doesn't seem worth it because I know that once I am set up to work, J2 will wake up from his nap, even if he had only been asleep for 12 1/2 minutes. That's how it works around here.


Last year, my friend Laura hosted a CM thing one day at a park which was the best idea ever. There was a covered part where all the scrapbooking stuff could be and then a playground for the kids to play and stay out of our hair. Well, the hostess was extolling the virtues of this program and what great things it could do. I was excited but also torn since I actually do enjoy the physical act of creating pages with paper. That being said, I am also woefully behind with no clear path to catching up. I am in the middle of 2006 in our family albums and have done nothing for the boys. As a compromise, I have decided to continue the family albums the traditional way and create albums for the boys the digital way. Buying the software and installing it was as far as I got until yesterday. I did poke around a little but the learning curve seemed to be high. Yesterday I found some online tutorials made by CM and now I am up and running. The only problem now is I think I have found another thing to be obsessed about. You can get digital content everywhere on the web and import it into the program which is way worse than shopping in a brick and mortar store. Oh bother.


I am having a hard time trying to figure out how to convey all the cool things this program can do so I guess if you are interested, you'll have to check it out for yourselves. For the albums, you can create many sizes and I think I am leaning towards 8 1/2 x 11. Costco will print those pages for about 1.50 and if I can find an album with slip in pages I would be done in no time. Another idea I have seen is to create party invitations using a 4 x 6 size. This gives enormous flexibility and design options and would only cost about .17 each - that is a smoking deal. Look for one in your mailbox soon!



I have been actively using CM's Memory Manager for a few years. It is software that helps manage digital photos - you can group them according to whatever criteria you have and it has a backup feature that does incremental backups so nothing is missed or duplicated. It is a great piece of software too and I found out I can choose the pictures in that program and "share" them with the Storybook program and they will be waiting for me when I open it. And in case you were wondering, I am not a CM consultant, I just like their products!



Here are some of the layouts I made while doing the tutorials. They are totally random because I just used the pictures from J2's birthday and I was doing all sorts of different techniques on each layout. My real ones will be better.




One of the scrapbook albums that is on my to do list is an album about me and Chris that tells about our childhood with details of schools, sports, siblings, friends, hobbies etc. so the boys have something tangible to look at and see that we were just the same as them. This is the album I am aiming to get done before my coupon expires since it is a bound album and is not what I am planning on doing for the boy's albums. It is a fun idea I just need to figure out how to make it all come together in 10 days! With that, see you later!