Giveaway: Win Digital Scrapbooking Software

The nice people at MyMemories.com sent me a copy of their super easy Digital Scrapbooking Software to review and a great opportunity to pass along some sweet offers.
Years ago, like many, I used to do Paper Scrapbooking, but with two kids and two sets of grabby-fingers, keeping track of all my supplies during the short nap times, not to mention removing all sharp objects from view, was becoming waaay too much work.



Enter Digital Scrapbooking!! Having all your stuff on your computer is wonderful and if you have a laptop, you can even take it with you--how great is that! You may have seen some of my Digital Layouts I've done over the years here on my blog or in my flickr stream. Some of them are pretty detailed and took layers upon layers to complete. I started out with Photoshop Elements and eventually moved on to the full version Photoshop.
Lately, I like to spend more time taking pictures and making them look their best, which means I spend a lot of time in Lightroom and Photoshop; so anything that can save me time and make it easy to put my pictures in digital layouts is great news for me.
I'll be doing more detailed testing of MyMemories Suite in the coming weeks so check back often, but just after watching a short youtube video to get started, here is a Layout I put together in almost no time at all:



Not bad, right? This was just a quick-n-easy one. You can do so much more, like your own custom layouts, adding music, narration and video to your pages. The program comes with a pile of layout templates, background papers, embellishments, word art and, of course, you can get more supplies at the store--even freebies from some of your favorite designers (hello Vera Lim--love her)! The output options include printing, export to jpeg (this is good for saving individual pages for the web), even calendars. You can create Interactive Albums and save your creations as DVD movies. I can't wait to see what else I can do with it. Come back and check my Reviews Page for more updates.

With My Memories Suite you can even create and share professionally printed and bound calendars, send greeting cards to all your friends, make posters or trading cards for your son's soccer team, post a movie of your scrapbook on your Facebook page-all with the click of a button. If you are serious about creating the ultimate scrapbook that preserves and shares your memories with a serious amount of "wow" factor, then My Memories Suite is the one-stop solution for you.

Now, here is some great news for you.

ENTER TO WIN FREE DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING SOFTWARE

Here's what you can win:

• Enter to win a free copy of MyMemories Suite 2.

How To Enter:

• Comment. To qualify, go to the MyMemories website, check out the gallery and store and then come back here and leave a comment. Tell me about your favorite digital paper pack or layout and what software you currently use for DigiScrapping.
• Like NKM photos: Like my Facebook Page. I have free stuff there too, like textures you can use for layouts.

For Extra Entries:

• Like MyMemories on Facebook
• Follow NKM photos on Twitter
• Follow MyMemories on Twitter

Here is the Fine print:

• The Giveaway starts on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011. The winner will be selected via random.org on the evening of Sunday, August 28th, 2011 Tuesday, September 6th, 2011.
• Be sure to add a comment for each one of the extra entries to increase your chances of winning. One entry per 'extra' please.
• This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.

But wait, there's more (sorry, couldn't resist)

If you don't win the whole package, here's a Coupon Code (STMMMS72992) for $10 off the purchase of MyMemories Suite, as well as $10 off at the store. Feel free to share the code with friends.

How's that for a fabulous deal?

Good luck everyone ☺

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JHP Action Review - Retouch

For part two of my JHP Photoshop Actions review--Retouch Lab, I used a close-up up my daughter Katie I took at the playground. One of the few times she actually stood still for a picture :D

I used a number of actions from the set, so I thought I'd list the steps showing how I got to the final image. This set has a number of other actions as well, like beautify and tanning bed, that will be great for dramatic fashion-type shots. There are several skin smoothing and refinement actions, so you'll be sure to find one that's just right for many different looks. As with the last review, hover your mouse over the picture to see the before image. Click here for a larger view.

Read on for the how-to:

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JHP Action Review - Vintage

Since JHP Photoshop Actions has kindly sent me their Complete Set to play with and review, I thought I'd spend a little more time on each set and show some examples from each set. I started with the Vintage set because I had an image that was perfect for it. I ran the EverydayBoost-Vintage action and then added Intensify from the Color Lab set. Then I applied a radial gradient to the mask of the Intensify Layer to bring out the vehicle. Lastly, I added a SimpleVignette - Dark from the Creative Lab set; applied a gaussian blur (around 90 pixels) and lowered the opacity to about 30%.
The image shown below is the after. If you hover (thanks to this wonderful tip from ShadowHouse Creations) your mouse over it, you can see the before.

Here is another example using four more actions from the Vintage set: Instamatic S-10, Vintage Power, RetroMagazine and Turn Back the Clock (with Intensify from the Color Lab set). Click on the image for a larger view.

These are quick and easy one-click actions giving you excellent results with little effort. One thing to note, though, is that if you're using CS5, you'll run into a few snags where the actions are looking for filters that have been removed. But you can just click Continue to skip the step and finish the action. And if you feel up to it, you can always open the action and uncheck the misbehaving step. I'm told that a CS5 and an Elements version will be coming soon.
Well, that's it for today. I think I'll try the Retouch Lab Set next. Remember to check out the free actions
at JHP and if you decide to purchase the Complete Set, here is the 15% discount code again ==8473988B

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Coming Soon - new Action Review!

I have some exciting news! I just got a set of JHP Photoshop Actions complete set (yay). I'm working through them and will post a review with Recipes and examples here shortly.
In the meantime, you can download their free actions and give them a try.
If you like them, use this code to get a 15% discount for the complete set: 8473988B

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