My Memories digital scrapbooking review and giveaway

I am ashamed to admit just how far behind I am in my scrapbooking. Truth be told, the more behind I get, the less motivated I am to resume because I feel like I will never catch up. Great way to approach a hobby, eh? During my pregnancy, though, I started considering ways to make scrapbooking Elle's life a priority - forget the weddings, trips and parties that I haven't scrapbooked from my own life. I soon realized that my traditional methods of scrapbooking wouldn't work as well in my new life as "mom." The money and energy needed to order physical copies of my photos are budgeted elsewhere. I can't spread my stuff out for hours at a time. ("Hours at a time?" What's that?) I'd much rather spend time making memories with Elle than chronicling them.

Enter digital scrapbooking.

I've toyed around with researching digital scrapbooking software over the last few months but didn't really come to a conclusion on what I should use. I felt overwhelmed by the options and didn't want to invest more time, money and energy in to something that might not be a long-term solution to my slacking scrapbooking.

Answer to my search: MyMemories. 

I played around mostly with the scrapbooking templates, papers and layout, but there's a LOT of other stuff you can do with this software, like photobooks, cards and calendars. There are plenty of add-ons to tailor the final product to your wants and needs. I was impressed with the selection of "memory," "friend" and "travel" packages, as well as the ease of use in actually creating pages and uploading the photos I have on my hard drive in to the software.

As a graphic designer, I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to any layout software. Simply put, I don't think it should be hard to make something look the way I envision it. My Memories Suite allows me to place photos, text, and backgrounds easily. I can add borders and shadows with a click of a button. I'm not locked in to a small range of font choices. I can crop, rotate and resize photos in a matter of seconds.

And the finished product looks polished, is fun and doesn't make me want to pull my hair out in frustration. Win, win, win. Also win? I didn't just spend a ton of money and time shopping for double-sided tape, stickers and prints of my photos that will take up space in my closet until I have time to drag it all out in 18+ years.

When I was contacted to review the My Memories Suite and packages, I was super excited. I was even more excited to find out that not only would I be able to try the software for free, but I'd also be able to give a copy (a $40 value) away to one of my readers! As an added bonus, anyone can go to the My Memories Web site and use my Share the Memories code for a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - a $20 value. My Share the Memories code is: STMMMS96790.

So, dear readers, to enter to win your own cop of the My Memories Suite software, do these simple things (and leave a comment for each one that you do, please, with your name and e-mail address so I can contact you if you win!):

Mandatory entry:

Visit www.MyMemories.com and tell me what
your favorite digital paper pack is (there are plenty to choose from!)

Other ways to enter:

Follow the Sea Cow Circus Reviews and Giveaways blog via GFC.

Follow Sea Cow Circus via GFC.

Like MyMemories on Facebook.

Follow MyMemories on Twitter.

I'll pick a winner via random drawing in one week.

If you want to learn more about digital scrapbooking software, check out the MyMemories tutorials right here.