Studio J Release Date! Real Life. Real Scrapbooks. Real Time.

You may have seen a few previous posts about Studio J.  The release date for customer use is tomorrow, April 27th! I'm SO excited!  Close To My Heart is offering a new online digital scrapbooking program to help you get your pictures off your computer and into your scrapbooks.  There's no software to buy or download.  It's a FREE online program to use and play with.  As a consultant, I've had the opportunity to play with this program during our preview period and I absolutely LOVE IT!

I'm sure there will be a few questions about our new Studio J. Here are a few answers for you. I've also included a few of the layouts I did yesterday.

What is Studio J™ Design Software? Studio J™ is FREE online scrapbooking design software brought to you by Close To My Heart. Studio J helps you easily create custom-printed two-page layouts using our foundational scrapbook patterns, exclusive color palette, and My Reflections Kits all delivered in 12" × 12" custom prints ready for your albums. It’s a snap!

 

Is Studio J easy to use? Studio J software is extremely intuitive and easy to use. The program walks you through five steps that include:

• upload some of your favorite photos
• choose from one of the 54 awesome My Reflections Kits (including most of your faves from our Idea Books plus some that are exclusive to Studio J).
• choose a layout pattern. There are MANY to choose from. They are like the patterns you'll find in our wonderful "how to" books like Cherish, Imagine, Reflections. The possibilities are endless because all the patterns you can choose from can be rotated 3 ways and flip flopped.
• now personalize! You get to drop your photos in, add text, choose cardstock and background and texture papers from the kit, add accessories (just about every accessory item you can imagine!), distressing, titling, MyStickease, and so much more.
• save and/or buy your layout(s).

It’s super simple and extremely fun to use!

 

I love Close To My Heart products. Will Studio J use the same great papers, patterns, colors, and embellishments? Of course! If you love Close To My Heart’s scrapbooking philosophy, then you will love Studio J.

 

Do I need to download any software to my computer to use Studio J? Not at all! You only need an Internet connection, and then you simply log in to my MyCTMH website and click on the Studio J link to get started. Feel free to design to your heart’s content—you are not required to buy anything or provide any personal information to get started!

 

Can I save what I am working on and come back to it later? You bet! You can create a customer profile that allows you to save and return to a project in progress at a later time. Your active projects will be saved for up to 90 days, giving you plenty of time to work on them. You extend that timeline for your active projects by 90 days each time you make a purchase, and your purchased projects will remain archived for one full year after purchase.

 

Do I need a printer that can print 12" × 12" pages to use Studio J? No. Your Studio J layouts are not available for you to print from a home computer. In fact, we take care of the printing for you. When you purchase your designed layouts, we print and ship them quickly and directly to you using only top quality printing technology and archival-quality papers.

 

What is the price? You are not charged a thing until you order your custom prints. The price per printed two-page layout is $12.95. We also offer some fantastic rewards for larger orders. You can receive FREE Memory Protectors® to protect your layouts in your albums, and FREE shipping/handling based on the number of layout prints you purchase in a single order as follows:

 

• For 5–9 layout purchases: You’ll receive a pack of 5 Memory Protectors FREE!
• For 10–20 layout purchases: You’ll receive FREE shipping/handling PLUS a FREE pack of 5 Memory Protectors for every 5 layouts in your single order.

When can I begin creating with Studio J? You will be able to start creating layouts with Studio J TOMORROW, Tuesday, April 27th!

 

Here's a few layouts I did yesterday. You should be able to click on them to make them larger.

 

I used the Jingle My Relfections Kit, as I'm working on Christmas 2009 photos. I used the embellishments that were already loaded into this layout pattern.  All I have to do is click on them to color them in, including the thread in the buttons!

Another layout using Jingle. I rotated the right page to better fit my photos.  I also added a text box for the "2009".

You can change the colors of the photo mats and zoom in on the photos (which I did here to eliminate some of the Christmas "trash" from opening presents).  There are also options for turning your photos into black and white or sepia - how cool is that?

There are several fonts to choose from for titles and journaling. You can also turn photo wells into journal boxes or vice versa!  Here, I added a few extra journaling boxes to get the names of my cats above their pictures.

Here's a close up of where I added Tiger's name.

I invite you to take a few minutes to play in Studio J tomorrow. Just click on the link on my sidebar to go to my website, then click on the Studio J tab that will appear tomorrow.  If you have questions as you go along, feel free to contact me. I'll be more than happy to help you get started and answer any questions you have!

 

Until next time...