It’s amazing. It’s handy dandy. It’s quick and easy to use. Introducing...the expandable photo book!

Pattern: Designer’s Eye™
Kit: Lucky

No more rounding up scores of photos to create a photo book all in one sitting. No sirree, folks, you’re finished with trying to find a theme for all those snapshots you took over the months—those adorable shots that have no overarching narrative other than your daily life. Yep, we’ve created the perfect solution: a photo book you build just two pages at a time.

See, one nice thing about Studio J^® is the way you can create a project with as many or as few photos as you like. If you have 1,783 photos of your trip to visit the biggest ball of string in the Northwestern United States, go ahead and create a hundred layouts. Or if you have four precious pictures of a smiling brother and sister, you can create a single layout and preserve that moment forever.

The key is that you don’t have to wait until you have enough photos of the two of them to create an entire photo book. Instead you capture the moment, and your next layout can be about the moment five minutes later, or six months later, or ten years before. You just keep adding layouts, never worrying about an overarching theme, or even chronology. Create the layouts you’re in the mood to create, and save the others for next time. Expand your photo book a bit at a time, as fancy (or photography) strikes you.

So what are you waiting for? Upload your five photos (or your hundred photos) to Studio J and make as many or as few layouts as you like. You’ll love receiving them in the mail, ready for you to put in your album and share with everyone. Your expandable photo album will become your most treasured possession!

What’s the best way to archive your photos: paper or digital?

If you’re like most of us, you have shoeboxes overflowing with printed photos in addition to computer folders stuffed with digital pics. Granted, not every last photo of the local zoo’s giraffe will hold lasting meaning for your progeny—but hidden inside those shoeboxes and folders are some gems packed with memories you want to hold onto forever. So what’s the best way to keep those memories: digital or paper?

The truth is, shoeboxes and overcrowded computer folders (surprise!) are not the best way to preserve your cherished memories. Albums are. Let’s say you’re visiting Aunt Ruth’s house. Are you going to start up her ancient PC and go to the My Pictures folder? Are you going to pull the photo box from underneath the dry-cleaning receipts and recipes for canned rhubarb? Or are you going to pick up the album on the coffee table and start leafing through it? Yeah. We thought so.

It’s not just a matter of personal taste, though. Studies have shown that printed material leaves a deeper emotional impact on the brain than images onscreen. Turns out, if you want someone to remember your image, you’ll have better luck if it’s in printed form. And a printed photo is often only a clue to the story; it only becomes powerful when it’s paired with words, as in a scrapbook page.

Still, digital has its advantages. Digital photos are easy to back up online, making them safe from fire or flood. And digital photos are easy to share, whether through email, blog, or social media sites.

Because we recognize the importance of archiving your memories in albums, we produce beautiful 12" x 12" custom prints of your Studio J^® layouts. When you pair your digital photos with the stories behind them, then print them and place them in your albums, you’ve created a keepsake to be treasured for generations.

And if you want to share those memories right now, just become a Studio J member for access to JPG files of each layout you order. You’ll receive a web-ready version ready to send through cyberspace as well as a high-resolution, printable copy of your layout you can use to back up your printed version in case anything ever happens to it.

Paper or digital? Why choose? With Studio J, you get the best of both worlds. Enter Studio J now to find out how easy it is to get your memories out of the computer folder and into your albums.

Pattern: Portrait Collection™
Kit: Take the Cake

Love that dreamy look of a vintage Polaroid photo? It’s easy to create in Studio J^®. The trick is to add new text areas that mimic the white write-on strip of a real Polaroid photograph. We’ll show you how to get the Polaroid look—no Instamatic required!—in this step-by-step tutorial.

1. Add a 1/4" White Daisy mat to the photo you’re converting to a Polaroid.

2. Add a new text area extending across the bottom portion of the photo and mat. Change the color to White Daisy and don’t type in any text (we’ll do that later).

3. Zoom in to 400% to check that your new text area matches up exactly with the sides of the photo mat. This step is important, as you want the photo mat and new text area to seamlessly overlap.

4. Add a second new text area and type in your photo caption. Change the background to "none" and position the caption over the “write-on” area of your Polaroid. Use the J Script font and rotate the caption slightly for a more handwritten look.

Ready to try out this quick and easy technique? Enter Studio J to get started!

If there’s one thing scrapbookers swoon over, it’s embellishments. Ribbons, stickers, tags, buttons...you name it, we scrap with it. And it’s all waiting for you in Studio J^®.

Remember, in Studio J you can use as many embellishments as you like without spending a dime. You've always got the perfect color, and you never run out. It's the embellisher's dream come true! It’s easy to get creative with all the embellishments in Studio J. For example, you can stack up My Stickease^® images and tuck them into a “pocket” as we did on this video. Placing the ribbon and buttons along the top of the “pocket” is an easy way to add visual dimension to the page.

Pattern: Glimpses
Kit: Lucky

And speaking of layering, that’s just what we did to create these pleated ribbon flowers. It’s just a matter of copying and pasting the ribbon tab and rotating each one just a bit more until you have a full circle. Repeat to make a second circle, then add a brad for a center. Love it!

Pattern: Timeline
Kit: Sweetheart

Thinking outside the box doesn’t have to stop with ribbon. Check out the fancy scallop border we made using these metal clasps. Repeating this element across both pages provides the eye a clear path to follow and ties the layout together.

Pattern: Snapshot
Kit: Mayberry

And one last layout for your embellishment inspiration. Can you guess how we created the circle border?

Pattern: Priceless Pics
Kit: Wings

If you guessed photo clips, you’re right! We just cropped one to appear behind the paper, then copied and pasted it along the edges of the piece. It looks great, doesn’t it?

Have you tried experimenting with the My Stickease and embellishments in Studio J? What unusual ways have you used photo hangers, knotted ribbon, buttons, or staples? Start playing with your favorite embellishments in Studio J now!

Studio J® members now have access to two new patterns: In Focus™, which spotlights three photos, and Viewfinder™, which features ten. Become a Studio J member to take advantage of exclusive patterns and kits as well as deep discounts, free shipping, and access to JPG files of your studio layouts. Find out more about incredible membership savings and perks.