Polaroid My Memories Suite Review

Oh YAY! My My Memories Suite software arrived on Friday. I read several reviews of the software before I bought it. Most of those reviews started with the users opening the box! That's a little too detailed for me, but I wanted to write a little review of my own.

My sister-inlaw was in town for a visit when the software arrived so I didn't get to do anything with it beyond loading all 5 of the disks. The disks are: the installation disk and the themes of kids & sports, holidays, family times and wedding & travel. I really didn't need the sports and kids since I don't have kids and I don't like sports; however, I was afraid I'd miss out on some papers and embellishments I could use for other layouts so I went ahead and loaded that disk, too.

When I did get to play with the software, I was a little disappointed in it--okay, I was ALOT disppointed in it. The papers and embellishments are so plain and BOR-ING!

This led me to go shopping for some more exciting backgrounds and elements. I recieved a $10 off coupon to use in the Polaroid My Memories Design Shop so I loaded my shopping cart with some nice page kits (the kits range in price from $1.99 to $9.99). It took me two attempts to download the files because the first time, I did "Run" instead of "Save."

Next, I read somewhere that I could also use the freebie files I'd downloaded from some store websites (Digital Scrapbook Place, Designer Digitals, Two Peas in a Pod, etc.) and from people's blogs. I called Tech Support to find out what I needed to do to get those files into My Memories, but they didn't call back until the next day, and by then, I'd figured out how to do it on my own.

After I got the files situated, I started playing with some layouts. I used my "Cellophane Flowers" package that I paid for and a freebie called "Coffee & Cream" to make layouts of Ozzy and Murray (I'll post those later when I figure out how export them to .jpg).

I will say the software is very user-friendly--there are just so many buttons to mash that it's a little overwhelming. Every time I open the program, I find a new feature I hadn't noticed before (it would probably help if I read the user's manual!).

All of the elements and backgrounds can be resized, but I'm not sure if they can be resized to specific sizes (like, say, I want an 1/8" brad--I'm not sure if I can poke in .125" somewhere or not...?). I'll have to play around with it and find out. The reason this would be helpful is that I'm interested in adding traditional 3-D scrapbooking elements (like die cuts, eyelets, brads and buttons). If the digital elements can be resized to specific sizes, then I can use them as placeholders on the layout. Yeah... I'll have to play around with that feature (if there is one).

Next, I need to export the layouts to .jpg and upload them to Walmart's Photo Center. I want to see how well they print out in an 8x10 format (which I'll then trim down to 8x8). Since 8x8 only takes up part of an 8x10 page, I'll fill the white space with some digital patterned papers so I can laser-cut matching letters or die cuts. Ohhh... that's smart.

I also like that there are pre-made photo layouts. All you have to do is drag and drop the photos you want to use into the designated spaces. The software automatically crops the photos to fit in the spaces.

You can mat the photos easily with adjustable-sized mats, and you can use the color picker to match the mat to the papers or embellishments you've used.

Also, you can add drop shadows to the photos and embellishments to give them some dimension. That's a nice feature.

And, finally (for now), you can manipulate the photos such as converting them to black&white or sepia tone or any of several different textures. You can also crop the photos to any size or shape you want.

Overall, it is a great program; I just don't like the simple backgrounds and embellishments that came with the program. I can definitely use them, but I also need to more-spiced-up-stuff, too. I'll write more later as I discover new stuff about the software!

And, I'm really excited to be able to use this software for the scrapbook I'm making for the Biggy Iggy Auction! That will be really, really nice, I think.