Welcome back.

We are coming up to Christmas and lots of photos will be taken so this week I will be featuring the awesome Studio J from Close to My Heart.  This is great software that is FREE to use and you just pay for the layouts and/or a JPEG file.  You can use pre-designed layouts and just add journalling and photos or you can design your own layouts and add embellishments.

For those that have followed me for some time you will remember that I used to do a lot of digital scrapbooking with Creative Memories StoryBook.  Now that is no longer being supported I have switched over to Studio J.  Last month we had a very special deal where we could get a double layout for just $5 which normally  costs $12 so it was a very special deal for us.  New Zealand pays a lot more for their CTMH products but when we have the same deal as Australia, Canada and the United States we certainly win big time.  I took the opportunity to have a play with some layouts and also get some photos printed.

First up  I used a pre-designed layout using the Skylark papers from the last catalogue.  My photos of the orchids went really well with the colours of Skylark and I really didn’t need to add a lot to this layout to detract from the photos.

 

Then I had some photos I had taken of my daughter a few years ago and had already scrapped them in her album but I wasn’t happy with what I had done so thought I would have another go with them online and I am very happy with the result except for a typo which I can look at fixing at a later date.  I love that there are a lot of papers and colours from past CTMH releases to choose from and here I have gone for Olivia which went well with the photos – very earthy and ethereal.

 

As I said before you can also get your photos printed to then add later to layouts.  You can get all sorts of sizes – 8″ x 6″s, 7″ x 5″s, 6″x 4″s, 4″ x 4″s, 3″ x 3″s , 2″ x 2″s and a number of other different combinations.  Different size photos make for more interesting scrapbook layouts.  Even at $12 a double 12″ x 12″ getting your photos printed this way is good value for money and so much easier sorting out the photos in the comfort of home.  I bought a few of these layouts to cut out later and here is an example of one.

 

A couple of weeks ago for the SOTM blog hop I did a layout using the Brushed B&Ts and the Cutie Pie stamps and said that I had ordered the photos from Studio J.

 

Well here is the completed layout with the photos that I had printed.  Doesn’t it make a big difference and I like the fact that I can get specific sizes printed and organise the layouts in advance.  I have also done some journalling and will look at it for a while to see if I need to embellish it more.

 

I am sure you will enjoy using Studio J and to help you get started there are also videos on YouTube here that will help you get more out of the programme.  Create an account here and then start playing…

Have a good week and happy crafting.

Patricia