GIVEAWAY TIME! MyMemories software package.

It seems that have once a blog has more than ten followers (HI! Love you guys!), it is customary for strangers to approach you to shill their stuff on your site. :D

I usually turn stuff like this down, probably because most of the people who ask appear to have not read this blog and their product is way off topic (in so far as I have a "topic" to be "on"). Actually, the same day that the following company got in touch with me I had just sent a curt reply email to someone else telling them that I would not be reviewing their dodgey sounding downloading software.

OK, disclaimer time.

I have been provided with a copy of the MyMemories software for review purposes.

The opinions expressed here are mine (and the Sprog's - their website claimed the the software is simple enough for kids to use, and that's the kind of claim I need to put to the test).

I used to do a lot of paper scrapbooking, and I work with industry standard imaging software (cough~Photoshop~cough) on pretty much a daily basis. I teach people how to work with said imaging software at the Day-Job. I'm also a wee bit picky.

For the most part, this software is very easy to use. It comes preloaded with basic "kits" and the  MyMemories site has dozens of free backgrounds, embellishments and whatnots. Honestly, it was a bit overwhelming. I, of course, spent a couple of hours trawling through and downloading stuff. The priced stuff is very reasonable, most of it being under $6 or so.

When you add kits to your cart, you are given the option of downloading an *.exe file, or a zipped folder (containing *.pngs that can be used in other software). I haven't checked the licenses of all the stuff I downloaded, but the ones I have checked have a provision allowing use on personal blogs - so if you are after some new design fodder for your blog banners I highly recommend having a nosey around.
To use the kits, you download and install the *.exe file (it installs into the right place), open the MyMemories program, and you're away.
The kits are filed into themes (some minor deduction work might be needed at this point - I downloaded one kit that I could have sworn was "Vintage" that got filed into "Love").

The embellishment files are very clean - there's no iffiness in the alpha masking - so you don't get weird artifacting when overlaying images (translation: there's no jagged white line around digital flowers etc. when you add them to the page), which makes it simple to get a clean, professional looking product.
I love the drop shadow option for elements - it is based on a Y, X pixel offset which can be tweaked with the arrows keys.

There are a couple of things that I think that the software would benefit from:

• when resizing elements you grab a grey bounding box guide and pull it - but you don't see the result until after you've let go of the mouse. It would be nice if there was an interactive update - but as I said earlier, I'm used to working with hefty imaging software, so I'm a bit spoilt.
• Some sort of Layer box/indication of what elements you have added - preferably something that you could select elements in, as sometimes elements on lower layers became difficult to grab.

But these are relatively small quibbles, and frankly this software is absolutely wonderful for it's price. And as you can see, the claim that kids can use it is absolutely true:

Is that what I sound like? Really?

They have given me a "Share the Memories" code that provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!)

Enter STMMMS92447 in the "Enter Coupon/Promo Code" box at checkout.

I also have a copy of the software to giveaway!
Just pop over to www.mymemories.com and come back here and leave a comment telling me which Kit is your favourite, and I'll do a random drawing.

You have until Midnight, Oct 31st.
Tell your friends. :)