Using Storybook Content In Artisan?

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Hi Everyone,
I have stepped away from my blog for some time now.  Many changes have transpired since I last posted here.

First of all, I would to say that I am very sad for all of the Creative Memories consultants and customers right now.  Many of which are my close friends.  I was a consultant myself for four years and I started my digital scrapbooking business around Creative Memories software and products.  There is so much going on and so many things are unknown at this time following the companies second filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  There are uncertainties about the companies future and product offerings going forward.

I know many of you are from Australia where Creative Memories sold their business there to Close To My Heart earlier this week.  I know you are searching for what to do next.  There is still no official word as to what is going to happen to Storybook Creator and Memory Manager in the rest of Creative Memories market.  Hopefully, there will be answers from the bankruptcy court soon.

I have been using both Storybook Creator Plus 4.0 and Artisan since it was first released in 2011.  Both versions of the software have been developed by Panstoria and are so similar it is hard to tell them apart.  I am one of the lucky ones who purchased Artisan before August 22, 2011, so all of my .package files of digital content purchased from Creative Memories will open in Artisan.  For anyone who purchased Artisan after August 22, 2011 this is not the same.  I am hoping that if Creative Memories chooses to not support Storybook Creator Plus in the future, there will be a way to use their content in Artisan.

If you feel you would like to try Artisan, there is a 30 day free trial available by clicking on the link above.  I have decided to be an affiliate for Artisan.  That means that if you click on the link above and download the free trail and decide you would like to purchase the software later, I will make a percentage of the sale.  I want to be open and honest with all of you about everything I am doing.  In no way am I trying to undermine Creative Memories or any of the consultants or their possible future sales.  (Remember, they are my friends!)  I just want to offer a possible solution to those of you with no other options.

I  have discovered a work around for you to try for you to use your Creative Memories digital content in an Artisan project if you already own Storybook Creator and Creative Memories digital content!

I know this is a cumbersome way of doing things but it does work and it is legal if you already own the software and content.  Perform the following steps:

• Open a project in Storybook Creator Plus - (SBC)
• Open a project in Artisan.
• In SBC use your Content Manager to search for the content you would like to use on your page.  
• Add a paper or an embellishment to the page.  
• Select the element.  
• Choose copy.
• Switch to Artisan.  
• In Artisan, click on an open page.
• Choose paste.  
• The paper or embellishment is added to the page.
• You may add and select multiple elements to copy and paste if your computer has enough RAM and hard drive to process the function.

In the screen shot shown above, I have both programs running simultaneously on the same screen in Windows 7.

This is only a temporary solution, but it allows you to maintain the file structure of your libraries, categories and tags in your Storybook Creator Plus Content Manager.  It is also much easier than saving each element in your Content Manager as .jpgs and .png files, which I know some of you are doing.

If you give this a try, feel free to leave your comments below as to how it worked for you.  We can all help each other.