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Raise your hand if you are a busy scrapbooker.

Wow, that’s a lot of hands! I know I raised mine.

I’m Kristine Widtfeldt, Close To My Heart’s Vice President of Marketing, and I’m going to tell you the secret to creating four scrapbook pages, start-to-finish, in just 30 minutes!

I love scrapbooking, but as a working mom of three, my life can get kind of hectic. That’s why I love Studio J®, Close To My Heart’s online design software.

Studio J lets me upload my photos, choose a layout and themed paper kit, and embellish my layout—all in just a few minutes. Then I place my order, and in a few days my 12″ x 12″ layouts are delivered to my door, all ready for my albums. I can do a month’s worth of scrapbooking in just a few hours, and I don’t even have to bother getting my photos printed beforehand! That means I can scrapbook my life as it happens, without falling behind.

I want to share Studio J with you, so at the end of this post I’ll tell you how you can win a free Studio J 5-pack.

 

Now I have to let you in on a little secret: Even though I absolutely love Studio J, I never want to give up my paper and scissors. I totally dig measuring and cutting and gluing and all that good stuff.

So guess what? I do both. For me, it’s not a question of digital versus classic scrapbooking. I do some of my scrapbooking online in Studio J and some with paper and scissors. And sometimes I create my layouts online, but then add classic embellishments once I receive my layouts in the mail.

That’s what I’ve done with this layout of my friend and fellow Close To My Heart VP, Monica Wihongi. I spent some extra time on this layout—it took me about 30 minutes to create online, instead of the 10 or 15 minutes I take when I’m in a hurry—and then when I got the printed version, I added some ribbon and Close To My Heart Sparkles accents and pretty silver mesh flowers. My albums are a mix of studio and classic layouts, with a few embellished studio layouts like this one sprinkled in for good measure. It’s great!

Let me take you into the studio so you can get a feel for Studio J. It’s simple for newbies to use, but offers enough creative options to keep advanced scrapbookers happy and excited! We have a Step-by-Step Basics video you can watch online, but I’ll walk you through the steps here as well.

The first step is Photos, where you upload the digital pictures you’re going to use.

Next is Kits. You select one of the 70 or so paper kits offered. Later on you’ll have a chance to change the colors of the paper, giving you tons of flexibility.

Then comes Patterns, where you choose a layout. I love how I can fit as many as 16 photos in a single layout, or I can choose to have an enormous focal photo if I really want to make it pop.

 

The fourth step is Personalize. This step is definitely the fun part, because this is where you can let your creativity shine. You can change the preset paper selections, rotate your pages, type in a title and journaling, and add My Stickease® images or ribbons, brads, etc. There are default accents that are pre-placed and all you have to do is colorize them, or you can toggle them off and add custom embellishments to your heart’s content. Spend as much or little time here as you like.

 

And the final step is Buy. Once you’ve purchased your layouts, they’re custom-printed on 100+ year, archival-quality paper and shipped to your door. And if you’re a Studio J member, you get 50% off custom prints plus free JPG versions of your layout to share online or print at home.

 

Ready to give Studio J a try? I bet you are! Just go to your Close To My Heart Independent Consultant’s MyCTMH® website, or hop onto StudioJ.com and start playing. We’re sponsoring a great giveaway, too. All you have to do is go to Studio J and try it out.

Kristine Widtfeldt, Close To My Heart Vice President of Marketing