And the winner of the Free Software Giveaway finally announced!

The winner for the My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software goes to Jennifer! As soon as I get the information regarding your software I will be forwarding that to you Jennifer! Congratulations!!!!

Free from My Memories to my readers!

My Memories has created some layouts and quickpages for me to share with all of my readers! They can be used in any Scrapbooking software and will only be up for download for a limited time. Please click HERE to get download today!

All I can say is that since becoming acquainted with this company they have so much to offer their customers. They really try to keep people interested so that all of those scrapbooks can get finished. That really means something to me, maybe if you check them out you may be impressed too?

I am offering a coupon code : STMMMS87972

If you use this code and click on the button below it will get you a $10.00 gift "card", and $10.00 off the My Memories software!

My Memories Suite Version 2 Software Review and GIVEAWAY!

Yes you heard it straight! It's my first review and GIVEAWAY!

I was so excited to download this software. While waiting I decided to look at all of the positives and negatives to Digital Scrapbooking software.

Pros
1. I can save into different formats, including having it made into a book. Designs can be stored on a computer or CD.
2. Everything is on the computer so there is less clutter, nothing to pull out and put away.
3. No extra tools, paper that you can only use one time. No punches, scraps of paper laying around.
4. You can keep reusing the paper and all of the embellishments.
5. Embellishments can be used in a book and not damage the book
6. Special items can be scanned, saved as a photo, then added to a page and sized to be a better fit for your page.
7. Instead of printing photos that lay around and take years to scrap, you can decide if you want to print an entire book instead of a photo.
8. Did I mention less CLUTTER???
9. The kids HAVE to do their chores because I am sitting and scrapping all.day.long.
10. I actually get to sit and do something I want and enjoy to do.
11. It gives me a reason to get the camera out and get pictures of crazy stuff just to play with my Digital Software.
12. While I am taking a picture, I am actually planning a page design in my head and praying my drooling does not effect the camera.


Cons
1. What do you do with all of the photos, pages, books, etc. that I already have?
2. You don't actually have to pull everything out just to work on some pages.
3. You don't have the real deal in your hands until you choose the book should be printed.
4. You are still sitting at the computer while your Husband is shaking his head and trying to figure out how you can multitask scrapbooking, answering people on face book and being involved in a conversation with others in chat.
5. Be prepared to lose sleep. This is an addicting habit. When you sleep you are creating pages in your dreams without even being involved with the program at the current time.
6. I wasn't sure what the cons would be before hand, therefore I ended up having to think of them afterwards!
7. You have to set a timer when you sit down to scrap or you just may forget you have to pick up your kids from school.
8. Laundry? Oh yeah, I put that in... Oh wait... I didn't?

When I received the download from My Memories Suite software, the download went very smoothly. I have dealt with other software programs that was kind of difficult to use and I really did not have a full scrapbooking feature on it; so after I got the download installed and opened it for the first time I realize that it is much better than the other software I have used in the past.

Who reads the instruction book? Ha, I immediately started playing around with the program. At first I thought it was confusing (well, you know, that instruction manual was handy with the program, the user just did not want to use it!). However I did find after playing with the program for about an hour how to get along inside the program just fine. After creating a couple of pages, I quickly got bored with the contents, so I went to their Digital Scrapbook store and started finding a TON of papers, embellishments, quick pages that could be easily downloaded and used in My Memories Suite. Now we are talking! Oh, and some were free as well.

Just playing around trying to figure out where certain things were in the program and how to use a quickpage (they usually download into the embellishments BTW), I found many tutorials online to go over tips and hints on how to use the product if you are not a open the program and tom-fool-around-with-it-kind-of-gal.

 I also found out through playing around with the program that I could create calendars, DVD's, interactive slideshows for the computer, download into an i-pod format, print my creations on my printer and through a printing service (though I haven't tried it to find out the cost of printing the book). They can also be saved as a .jpeg and used on social sites just like a photo.

I also love the quick drop feature on the right side of the page. After I figured out how it worked I was zooming through pages. I even created some pages for another friend of mine so that she could see how digital scrapbook software works.

I found a ton of other freebie Digital Packs too, but I really think that the software paper packs available from My Memories are beautiful and decently priced as well.

So I am so excited to show you what I have done since getting the scrapbook software! I even went so far as to get it all ready for the website!

One thing I have found with this software is that if you are uploading to a social network (other than just 1 page at at time, like the above) that you need to save the video to your computer and then use a converter in order to transfer it to a format that can be read. I hope if they redesign the program in the future that they can add in different types of formats to save it into so that we don't have to save through a 3rd party source. But, what can I say? Resourceful me found a free converter program and it was uploaded and running on YouTube quickly after the conversion from a .mov file to an .avi.

My Memories also has a blog that keeps you up and moving on creating. You can visit their blog here. They are always keeping their face book page hopping with really cool enticing giveaways and speed scraps and other scrappie's showing off their work so you can get some really cool ideas! I have found other product sites that usually do something once in a while to keep your interest peaked, but I have to say that if you like My Memories face book page they will keep you plenty busy.  Oh and there are all sorts of things hidden in there - just search, especially through the posts.  And it's not always just their posts!
After I agreed to host this review and giveaway, I entered into an affiliate program so that I can offer you an awesome deal- If you click on the widget on the right side of my blog to purchase their digital scrapbooking software and enter STMMMS87972 for the coupon and you will receive $10.00 off your purchase of My Memories Suite Version 2 AND a $10.00 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - a $20.00 Value!  My Memories Suite is normally $39.97

And now to go forth with the giveaway!

WIN! Here’s your chance to win the My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software. To enter, you must be 18 and this event is open world wide since the winner will receive a code to download.

**REQUIRED**
 Please visit MyMemories.com and tell us in a comment below what your favorite digital paper pack or layout is as well as your email address.

**BONUS ENTRIES**

You can earn one additional entry for each of the following – leave a comment below to let us know you did along with your email
(1) follow My Memories on Facebook.  Please leave me your name as shown on your Face Book Account in your comment.
(2)Follow My Memories on  Twitter .  Please leave me your Twitter name in your comments 
(3)Follow me on Twitter. Please leave me your Twitter name in your comments
(4)Tweet about the contest using the hashtag #MyMemories and please copy what was tweeted, 
(5) Follow me on Google Friend Connect.

Entries must be received by Wednesday, November 23, 2011 at 11:59 PM. One winner will be picked via random.org and notified via email.  The winner will have 48 hours to respond to claim their winnings!  After I get my winner's response I will post on this blog who the winner is!

Disclaimer:  I received a copy of the Digital Software for testing and review purposes and in no way compensated for my review.

Best Luck to all!

YOU'RE OUTTA HERE!

I want a Kindle in the worst way...

I am stepping up and proclaiming...

I am saving my swag bucks up to get a Kindle. I don't know what all they do, but I would REALLY like to go with gusto and get a Kindle Fire.

I found free e-books that I can download onto my kindle to pc.. but I like to curl up on the couch and read at night. I can't really do that while sitting in front of this desktop computer.

I think it would be awesome to have a Kindle just because I love books, but I hate having books in the house. They collect a lot of dust- they sit around and take space. You actually have to make space in your house and well, anyone that has seen my house knows I just don't have a lot of room to do that.

I also found programs I can purchase to keep a calendar on a Kindle. These programs don't show if they have to be used on one specific type of Kindle, but with more research I wanna know. I also found a to-do list. That within itself is a seller to me. I would much rather just click or put my finger on something and have it at my fingertips rather than having to go through MORE.PAPERS. Well..

So... my goal is to start swaggin' EVERYTHING I can to get the gift cards and get one of these dag gone Kindles. It's now a personal goal!

Not me's first guest post.. Life Essential Oils

Cleaning without toxins has become a passion of mine. Not only do they give me headaches and send me to the dermatologist with my eczema breakouts, but the chemicals that are in some of those cleaners under your sink are deadly!

The great thing is that there are natural cleaning solutions that don’t only kill all of the bad things that you want to kill like viruses, germs and bacteria; but there are some great recipes that you can use that will actually help your family combat the sickies and help your immune system.

What am I talking about? Essential oils! Essential oils are extracts that come from plants. So these are totally natural, and Young Living oils are the best of the best. Most of them can even be taken internally. Yep, your cleaning solution can sometimes be taken internally to help different ailment! Can you say that about what you used to clean your counter tops today? If you are like most people, the answer is a resounding NO!

We would all like to have help with the household chores, but as a mom I don’t want my kid’s sensitive skin near most of the cleaners that you can pick up at the local store. So today I’m going to share one of my favorite cleaning recipes with you.

You will need:

White vinegar

Young Living Thieves Essential Oil Blend

Water

Spray Bottle

Pour approximately 1 cup of white vinegar into spray bottle. Add 10 drops of Young Living Essential Oil Blend, and fill the bottle with water.

Use this all purpose cleaner to clean your counters, table, spills, refrigerator, any other hard surfaces in your kitchen or bathroom.

Since this essential oil blend also helps your immune system fight off the sickies, use this liberally on a daily basis. More information about Thieves Essential Oil Blend can be found here:

Life Essential Oils

Christi Daugherty is a mom to 3 step mom to 2 and wife to amazing man. After blogging for several years on home living she finally found a great company to partner with that she and her family love. Young Living Essential Oils has been a God-send to this very active family.

Teaching others how to change their lives in baby-steps is Christi’s passion. Whether it is using peppermint essential oil for headaches or organizing their to-do list in bite sized pieces so that they can reach their Life goals. Christi is here to help you and your family reach its full potential.

Sign up now for 110 Uses for Essential Oils

What do you do with a Bug?

What do you do with an ADHD, ODD, Mood disordered bug? you put them out in the dirt and make them work it out. Chores at home, expect her to bring home the grades she deserves from school. Expect nothing less then what she can do. My bug? Yes. My bug. While the 'tude is being maintained, I really wish and hope that she really starts looking at her attitude a little more.

Bug loves fast pitch softball, even though it is her first year. She has learned so much even though she's been thrown into the mix. She's pretty good at short stop- she's got in legitimately through her father.

My hardest decision is while the fast pitch softball helps her work out things in her head, and it gives her the ability to promote her self esteem, make friendships, as well as find and work on her abilities- deep down... it can be expensive.

I have thought long and hard trying to make the right decisions whether or not to pull her out of Fast pitch even though it is helping her to find herself.

She's doing chores. She helps out around the house. She's bringing home A's and B's. But at 12 years old she seems to be going on 40. Her behaviors sometimes leaves her with something to be desired, but I find that it's a fine line on letting her play and not letting her play.

I really don't think she understands the contingencies that are going to have to be put into place before we continue into her next venture.

I think we are seriously going to have to look at everything before we open the door to what looks like a future for her in ball.

Its that fine line that I am worried about, that I believe all parents hoping to make the right decision worry about. Whether to accept and overcome, or deal.

It is my job to raise a decent, worthwhile individual that when presented the opportunity to go out into this sometimes wild and crazy world that she can still thrive and make decisions on her own.

Katelyn has a good head on her shoulders if she would only remember that she needs to make good decisions for her own self and not worry about what everyone else is doing.