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.
Come back here and leave a comment letting us know what kit and pattern you chose for a chance to win a free Studio J 5-pack (a $55 US value)! A 5-pack includes 5 two-page layouts, 5 Memory Protectors®, and free shipping. It’s a great gift, and a great way to get started with Studio J scrapbooking!
Kristine Widtfeldt, Close To My Heart Vice President of Marketing
I like the kit Life Delights and the Golden Section pattern. Great kits! Thanks for the opportunity to look at Studio J!
Studio J is really cool! Thanks for sharing. Would love the opportunity to try digital scrapbooking. I think I’d embellish too – really like the idea of hybrid scrapbooking.
I just started a “How Do I Love Thee Studio J” theme for my blog this week! How FUNN to have this great blog posted now, too!
If you haven’t tried it, do so now! Not only are the pages beautiful and easy to do, they are just plain FUNN!
Great blog post, CK!
I’m gonna try it out soon, and I’ll let you know what I think. It sounds great though, and I’m really excited because I never seem to have time to get everything done!
Wow so many great kits, but I think I would use Free Spirit and Back Country the most.
i can’t decide, they’re all really cute!
I just made one page. I liked how easy it was to put everything together. And I liked how the tools to edit came right up when I placed my photos and worked with my text. But I couldn’t easily see how to make a photo smaller. I am sure it is there, it just wasn’t easy to see. I chose the lucky paper and the understudy layout. I do like how it turned out and that I could easily (very) easily change the paper throughout the page!
I couldn’t believe all of my options. I created two pages in less than 30 minutes. Can’t wait to receive them and add my own embellishments. I used Majestic papers for a beach party. This is so cool!
That does sound easy! Now maybe I’ll have the incentive to get started on my own scrapbooking adventure.
I would choose stardust and stars above. There are so many to choose from how do you pick? I love the idea of being able to combine digital and traditional in a book and even on the same layout. I will be back to try this for sure. Thanks so much
So neat! Love this software! I have never heard of it before- thanks for sharing!!
Your layouts are beautiful! I’ll have to try this out! Right now I’ve got a birthday project for my SIL to work on, so I’d choose Take the Cake, I think.
What a great article! I love how easy it is to make pages with Studio J!
I think my favorite kit (today) is Mistletoe and Ensemble piece!
It was really easy to make a layout. I picked Stardust kit and SuperStar layout. I have never done digital scrapbooking but now I have no idea why not. Thanks for sharing!
Kristine, thanks for the great article! I would choose “Giggles & Grins” and “Fantastic Five” because I LOVE the Giggles & Grins paper, but only have a couple of pieces left and know that it’s retired. I love that I can still create wonderful scrapbook pages with it in Studio J! Did I mention that I love creating with Studio J?
Thanks for sharing with us about Sudio J. I had not heard of this option. It would be fun to give it a try.
I’m loving Studio J!
Just this weekend alone, I submitted 15 layouts – see told you I was in love with it.
Right now, my favorite paper packet has to be Lucky and I just finished up two different layouts using the “Love Your Layouts” featured pattern. Love how different each layout looks even though they used the same paper and pattern.
Visit my blog by clicking on my name below to see my completed Studio j layouts.
I just made a cute 2 page layout of my granddaughters 3rd birthday. So, so easy. I loved all the papers, so I couldn’t say which one would be my favorite. It would depend on what I wanted to use it for. I picked the Daydream kit, for her princess party.
I just love Studio J! It helps me to get my scrapbooking done quickly and I can make extras for my family.
My all time favorite kit is the Vintage Travel. And, with the new “members only” layouts, I’ve changed things up and have lots of fresh new layouts of our Mediterranean Cruise.
I played with sillouette, I have been using CTMH for 5-yrs and love the traditional form of scrapbooking, I must admit I loved playing with this and might do this for gift giving!
Studio J is impressive! Much more in-depth and full of choices for both layouts and “paper” than I expected. Sweet!! I will have to try it out.
Looks very interesting. Winning a starter pack would be great. I do love the Kit: Blue Ribbon
Pattern: Abstract Left. I’m a sucker for red & blue and love bandana prints. I like the layout because it is simple and that’s my style.
I love Animal Cookies and the Sidebar Original/Sampler pattern – seems like it would work really well for all the zoo pictures we’ve taken recently!
First introduction to Studio J and am a little unclear on how it works, but it seems an easy way to start digital scrapping. Not sure how I can see all the kits and patterns but I do like the Stardust kit and Stars Above pattern sample.
Studio J is fabulous! I am getting so many more of my family’s photos & memories scrapped! I recently used the Take the Cake kit and Primadonna sketch for my daughter’s birthday and the same kit (minus the cupcakes) and the Out of the Hat sketch for our Easter pictures.
I LOVE Studio J! I just received my shipment of TEN Studio J layouts yesterday and they are STUNNING! One of my favorite Studio J layouts is using the Hooligans Kit and the Primadonna Pattern.
I am weary of digital scrapbooking. Maybe this will give me the incentive to start. there is something about holding the paper and scissors. I should be able to work with Studio J.
I can’t wait to try it! How wonderful is that. I already have designs floating around in my head!
Thanks for the ideas
Hi! I love Studio J! My favorite layout I’ve created so far is of photos of our feet all over Hawaii! I used Moon Doggie and the Minuet pattern. It’s really cute!
Wow! I’ve never really been into digital scrapbooking, but this looks great! Really wouldn’t mindtrying it out.
Wow, I love that you can get the papers that are no longer available! I love Giggles and Grins, but my all time favorite is Magic Moments. I used the Dramatic fashion pattern because I like using a lot of pictures, but don’t want them too small. The options are endless!
I really like the Stardust kit!! This seems like a really great site and I am going to have to try it out! Thanks for the giveaway!
Sophia is my favorite paper packet. I’m using it for my daughters baby book! So quick and easy each month to make her pages. Fantastic Five is one of my favorite layouts.
Animal Cookies is definitely my favorite but it was Really tough to pick just one!
I tried Splish splash kit and pattern #3 to do pics of our flood.
Love it~ I used Animal Crackers, but I don’t know which pattern it was? It has three photos on page one, and two rows of five photos plus a row of three photos on the second page… I used a series of photos of my baby being ver ornery.
I would use the wedding paper Silhoutte. I think digital scrapbooking is amazing.