In March 2015 Stampin' Up! announced that they would be discontinuing the MDS (My Digital Studio™) line: software, downloads, demonstrator support, tech support, social media sites, etc.

Some of you are anxiously awaiting solutions for what to do before & after Stampin' Up! discontinues the MDS (My Digital Studio™) line.

First of all…the deadline for purchases has been moved from May 31st to June 2nd. And it includes discounted pricing. Digital downloads, software, and print products are all discounted by 30 percent and are guaranteed to be available through June 2nd (MDS software discs are available while supplies last). Click here to see a list of products, including promotional prices for each item.

Secondly…the deadline for support has been moved from May 31st to June 9th. This includes the digital download manager (being able to access your downloads in your online account or OEX if you are a demonstrator), MyDigitalStudio.net, the MDS YouTube videos put out by Stampin' Up!**, the MDS Facebook Page, the MDS Pinterest Page, and support* at Stampin' Up! (1-800-stampup) for both demonstrators and customers.

Please take note and keep these dates in mind.

So…What to do now?

I'm keeping everything and planning on using it long after Stampin' Up! isn't connected to it anymore. And you can do the same. There are resources that are out there available to help. And Stampin' Up! has told us they are working on a solution to offer us so we can continue to use our downloads and order print products. Demonstrators in the meantime have been brainstorming, researching and sharing options for us all. I'm planning to hang on until SU shares their suggestions. But in the meantime,…

1. Be sure your MDS program is installed, working and updated.

2. Access your downloads (sign into your account through the online store, click on "my account", then click on "downloads"), make sure they are all downloaded and installed into your MDS program, and then save these downloads somewhere safe so you can access them again after June 2nd. (So download them again even IF they are already installed.)

You'll want to save them somewhere so that you can access them again if you need to (computer crash, getting a new computer, etc.). One demonstrator suggested uploading them to Dropbox. Other ideas would be putting these onto a zip drive or external hard drive. But definitely have them somewhere so you can access them again if you need to. ALSO, you may want to download them for Windows and/or Mac AND for "other applications" (to use them in other programs down the road IF MDS stops working on ya).

3. Now that you've done that, check to see if there is anything else you want to purchase before it's gone and go through step #1 again. After all, everything is on sale for 30% off through June 2nd.

There will be lots of other images out there that you will be able to get and use once the MDS downloads are unavailable. I just put in a Google search for "where to buy vector images for digital scrapbooking," and lots of choices came up…

• shutterstock.com
• vectorstock.com
• fotolia.com
• graphicstock.com…

I haven't researched any of them, but I just want you to know there are options for finding more images to use with your MDS program.

4. Another thing you will want to do before June 9th is to go to MyDigitalStudio.net. Gather any info from the Resources and Q&A section that you may want to save for reference. You can access these areas by scrolling down to the bottom of the home page and clicking on either "Resources" or "Q&A."

What will be out there so we can continue creating and printing when Stampin' Up! is no longer the option?

This is what I am unsure of right now. But here is what other demonstrators have share with me. Because this information is not directly coming from Stampin' Up, I think it is best to just use your own judgement at this point. Again,…I'm going to wait a little longer to see if SU makes any suggestions or gives ideas for resources we can use later. But here are some thoughts that others have shared…

1. One demonstrator said that Persnickity Prints will print our MDS creations: calendars, greeting cards and many other things. So that's promising for all those projects I haven't finished yet! 😉

2. My Memories Shared is another website being talked up a lot by fellow demonstrators right now. With MMS, you can switch to their program and not have to worry about MDS dying out. In fact there are several MDS users who are migrating their MDS program and downloads over to MMS already. With this option I'm guessing that you would have peace of mind. You can also print through them, but they do not offer print services for greeting cards.

3. Sue Madex, a demonstrator from Australia posted lots of details and advice on her blog on March 24th. Her visuals and explanations are great. Click here to read through her suggestions and tips.

4. Also this posting on Integrant Services was shared by Mary Fish, another fellow demonstrator. It appears they have done their research and are persuading us to go with the migration to My Memories Shared.

I hope this helps all of you!

I will convert this post into a page that you can access. And I'll update you when/if Stampin' Up! has any more announcements.

P.S.  By the way, for you Project Life Digital users…all Stampin' Up! Digital Project Life card collections will be made available through the ProjectLife.com store.

**The videos will still be out there on YouTube but will become "Unlisted." You can still access the playlist of videos after June 9th through this link.

*until 7 PM (MT) on June 9th, 2015