April-Spring Cleaning...

Wow it is a beautiful 70+ degrees outside in Chicagoland...hard to believe after a chilly & wet month of March.

Time to check in!

My scrapbook room has remained busy over the last month and sorry I have not had the opportunity to post any projects I had been working on...but lots to come in the months ahead. March kept me busy w/ get-togethers and various "to-do's" involving my Brother's Wedding on the 13th. It was a wonderful occasion full of family, friends, love and laughter!


Here is a picture of myself w/ my parents and siblings



I don't have pictures of my crafty endeavors from last month as they were personal gifts. However I turned a plain chipboard spiral (3 x 5) album into a "LOVE" album for my brother and his new wife as a present.

I filled the pages w/ quotes, scripture and other words of Love and Marriage. I left a few spaces for them to write in their vows and add a couple pictures. I also included a personal message from me.

I stayed in the theme and colors of their wedding using greens, purples and silvers plus I cut up a portion from the wedding invite and used that as well.

It turned out so great!

My brother also asked me to help make a special card from him to her showcasing the gifts he was giving her. He picked out the design, colors and other accents. It was a joy to make and create this special card (she loved it and thanked me too)

On the Disney side of crafting and scrapbooking I am working hard on finishing up my first "sale" (sample) album for a family who went to Disney last yr over Thanksgiving Break. It has been such fun sitting down w/ her and designing this book and now working on it too.

The book is almost done and I will showcase it as one of my Sample Albums. Pictures will be up soon.

While I have been working on this book over the past week (my children's Spring Break from school), my daughter Mae has joined me in creating her own little Disney scrapbook.



This little album I had purchased back at the end of our 2008 trip to WDW (1 for each of the twins too) and we just never had put anything in it. I already had printed off pictures from our 08 trip, but we decided to split the book by 3 and put in 8 pictures from 08, 09 and save space for 8 new pictures from our upcoming trip in Nov. of this yr.

She decided on her favorite pictures and what order she wanted each set to go and started working. It was fun to have a little partner down in my room while I worked.

Her she is w/ her book and 1 other set of pages from 2008:






Cute huh?

Now taking a look back at my March to do list...unfortunately I am still behind. With adding in a couple different projects and starting later than anticipated on Diane's Disney album...things have slipped away w/ other busy what not's.

Even so by my tally I scrapped approximately to the equivalent of 17 12 x 12 pages.

April I am hoping to get back on track!

To Do:

*Finish Diane's Book

*Finish Michael's scrapbook album (age 6)

*Start Mae's scrapbook album (age 3)

*Do two wall frames

*Custom orders if any...

Be back w/ pictures of the Sample Album real soon.

Happy Spring (and Easter) and Happy Creating Wonderful Things!

Julie

February Check-up...

Where did this month go?

Unfortunately not much in the way of preserving memories occurred during February (with the exception of decorating my savings jar)...between various commitments I have had 3 out of the 5 week days and busy weekends, semi sick children and other what nots...my scrapbook room has been seriously neglected over the last 28 days...

Looking back on my Feb. To-do list...

* create/finish WDW book for Diane- I have the album...but still need to connect w/ her and get her pictures.

* create mini WDW March 09 album-did end of Jan! (YAY!)

* create special frame-able layout of my daughter Aldine- nope...

Looking ahead to March's to-do list:

* finish my son Michael's age 6-7 album (keep in mind he is turning 11 in May)

* do years 12 (08), 13 (09), and update Christmas pictures in my wedding anniversary album

* start age 3-4 album for my daughter Mae (she is turning 8 in Nov.)

plus adding in the 2 things I did not finish from Feb...

must get a move on!

Plan to attack!

1) clean up scrapbook room...even though I have not scrapped it still is a mess

2) do the frame-able layout of Aldine

3) schedule a time to get pictures from Diane and do her book should take about 4 days if I work on in for 1 hr each day.

4) finish up Michael's Album or start and come back to, depending on the above item.

5) hopefully at least start Mae's book prior to the kids Spring Break from School the end of this month...

Whew...that is a lot, but I think if I focus it can get done...

I will let you know how I do in a month and show some highlights...plus I will showcase the WDW album as well!

Hope you create and preserve some memories for yourself or others this month! Plus Happy Pre-Saint Patrick's Day!

thanks for reading,

Julie

Inspired MAGIC!

From an article in a magazine...

to a BLOG site Take the Monorail .com ...

to a section called Scrapping the Magic...

to inspired MAGIC!


Just earlier today I was looking up some new Disney BLOGS and discovered an unxepected piece of MAGIC! I have been feeling bad that February has been a slump month for me in terms of Creating or Preserving anything, let alone DISNEY FUN!

I was all set the begining of the month w/ a new order of several blank chipboard albums to create for myself, friends and orders...but unfortunately that still sits unwrapped, un magic-d for almost 3 weeks now...

But today I found an inspiration to hopefully get me moving in the right direction again (as I miss my Scrap room)

As I browsed this new BLOG site I found their Crafting Some MAGIC section...and how could I resist, the 3rd thing they showed was decorating a plain mason jar into a MAGICAL Savings jar to put your spare change, etc for a Disney TRIP!


Well of course I had one of those jars filled w/ spare change:



It was kind of sad looking...

with a little adhesive, stickers, ribbion and a bit of creative MAGIC, now I have a proper DISNEY SAVINGS JAR:



Here is a closer look:



and here is my JAR back in it's spot in the kitchen:




That took me under 30 minutes to do...so I hope I inspired you today to do something fun and MAGICAL!

thanks for reading,

J~

Magic found in a mini form

A January Re-cap...

Making Magic:

After the Holiday Rush, festivities and decorations have come down (not that everything has been put away yet...) I finally found the time to clean up and get scrapping again and preserving Magical Memories!

* I started and finished up through our last Disney trip, the time line book of my husband and I in front of the NYC backdrop at Hollywood Studios (previous post)

* I received my first official JMM order and am awaiting a shipment of chipboard books to begin.

* I scrapbooked a mini 8 x 8 album of our last trip to WDW in March of 2009. Now this is actually one of two books I created for this past trip. Our 2008 trip became a HUGE bursting scrap-album full of every park, event and story from that trip...in the process of planning our '09 trip (which was a last minute under 60 days planning adventure), I pre-ordered the PhotoPass CD and was intrigued my the digital Photobook you could make from your pictures...I thought this might be fun and since I just did the HUGE scrapbook and it was a bounce back trip, I'd try this out. (Which I did do and I love it, minus some typos...whoops)

I have been meaning to then do a small quick scrapbook though still of the trip and had picked out some of our very favorite pictures from the trip earlier last summer and well finally had the time over last weekend to put it together in a little album I have had for over a yr that someone gave me.

It is a side-page loading album with 10 double sided pages. I included little mini spreads of the kids enjoying this trip w/ my Dad, my younger girls dressed up as Princesses and taking their royal coach ( a Disney transportation bus) to the Norwegian Castle for breakfast, a character layout, a page about Aldine and Sergio the Italian Juggler (she was picked to be his assistant in his show in World Showcase), our first attempt at a Kim Possible Mission- we saved Germany and some fun pictures from in the Boneyard at Animal Kingdom.

But my favorite spreads are the first page:

We went for my Mother's Birthday ( and over my children's Spring Break from school), I love how child like my Mom looks in the picture I included, having such fun being fawned over by the "Ladies of Main Street" and then the picture of my Dad and Michael on the pre-monorail at the airport...they just look so happy and ready to go for their Disney Adventure!

I also did mini spreads, one for each of my 4 children...picking some of my favorite pictures and moments from the trip and their favorite parts of this latest Disney Memory.

ENJOY!

Aldine:

Michael:

Mae:

Margaret:

Planning Magic:

Other things in January included getting reading for our upcoming trip back to WDW later this November to celebrate Mae and Margaret's birthdays plus stay for Thanksgiving and check-out all the Holiday decorations!

* I have been reading and making notes of tips and tricks from the Unofficial Guide to WDW 2010 Ed.

* looking up info about cakes and desserts on the Disboards

* I finally finished reading the Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World (over 600 secrets...), I just to go back through and write a few things for us to look for on this trip...we can't find all 600 in 1 time.

* I looked up the latest Nov. 2010 crowd charts from touring plans w/ my subscription and noted some changes from the '09 chart..I was in the "Disney Zone" that night... :)

well I hope you enjoyed this little update and I will be back w/ any new Magical makes throughout the month of February as well give you an overall Feb update the beginning of March.

Have a Magical Month!

Julie

Making a Sample book...

Hello to my followers and friends...

One of the main reasons I began this BLOG last yr was to share my love for DISNEY in a MEMORY perspective...as well to share this new fun "business" I am hoping to do for friends and others alike.

I am now ready to begin putting together a Sample Book to have in my home and eventually here online in my BLOG to showcase all my projects.

I have a few projects ready to go that I am making for myself and now am ready to make others for you!

If you are interested in having me create (for a fee) a special keepsake for you...please let me know.

If you are a member of the Disboards please pm me otherwise please leave a comment and we can work something out.

I hope to create several pieces to use as samples to share when I get ready to "sell" in a broader scale.

Julie

Destination NYC c/o WDW

YAY for me...

I have accomplished one of my January Scrapping Goals and this is for JMM's too! I have hinted to this book for awhile now and it has sat on my scrapbook desk for months waiting to be completed...(there actually is one more thing to do, but it's close).

One of my JMM's Projects are my Custom Mini Books. I love the idea of a mini keepsake book to just showcase a few key photos and special memories. For most people you look at pictures or organize pictures not just to look at now but to remember in the future and how often do we look back at precious photos and memories and remark at how we have changed (or not) and how we or more specific our children have grown...

this inspired me in one of the Custom Mini Books I'd like to create:

Time-Line books

I currently have 2 books in the works, one which I shared last yr of my son Michael and his pictures in front of Zurg outside the exit line at the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster Attraction at WDW.

the other book is my NYC backdrop book...

Every trip that my husband and I have taken to WDW together has included a photo stop at the NYC backdrop in Disney's Hollywood Studios...

I unfortunately don't have backdrop photos to include in this book from our first 3 trips (1994, 95, 98) but am glad I can start this now and continue to add to it for many more trips.

We laugh at how DH wore the same shirt to DHS two yrs in a row and can remember how hot the 2008 trip was just by looking at a photo.

Please enjoy this latest Julie's Mickey Memories Creation:

NYC c/o the Mouse

the inside pages:



as you can see on the above page...I still have to add a text story to tell about the theme of the book (I'll share it later)






Before I close out this post I'd like to share one other fun "scrap-booking" project I did as well last week. My brother is getting married in March of this year and his future wife is an avid scrapbooker like me, so it seemed most fitting for me to design and give them two custom scrapbooking gifts. I opted to make frame-able scrapbook pages for them to fill in w/ pictures later: 1 for their honeymoon which will be in Hawaii and 1 for their actual Wedding day.



she really loved them, and several of her friends were impressed and thought they were so nice...it took no time really and it was so fun to make these for them. I can't wait to see the pictures in them soon.

Hope you find something creative to do this week and make someone smile!

J~

2010...firsts

Happy New Year to all!

*Now that the new year is upon me, like most, I begin to think about what goals and desires to I have for myself and my family. I also begin to think more about what fun things, events and milestones I'm looking forward to this year!

*Some of those things include:

-our WDW trip in November (of course)

-my brother's Wedding in March

-my parent's 40 Wedding Anniversary in April

-the twins finishing up Elementary School in early June and starting Middle School (6th grade) in late August

-Michael's crossover into Boy Scouts

-Summer overnight camps for the twins

-Mini summer get-aways to Michigan

and more...

*Today I looked over my previous Goal List for 2009 and started thinking about my "list" for this year, 2010. On the Disboards, there is this fun thread I have participated in, in listing mostly my creative/scrapbooking goals but as well some personal and home repair goals...

*I'd like to share w/ you a portion of this GOAL list and what relates to "Julie's Mickey Memories" and to our upcoming WDW trip in November.

*Julie's Mickey Memories:

1) create Meghan's First WDW Trip Memory Book (girl version of the book I made last yr)
2) finish WDW-NY backdrop book up through the last trip
3) create some more samples
4) create books for Diane B.
5) hopeful more custom books to sell

*For the 2010 trip:

1) make a new WDW trip guide for Michael
2) make custom autograph books for each child
3) create (add in pictures) b-day/memory books for Mae & Margaret
4) create special dinner/event invitations on the computer
5) make new journal/activity books for myself and the kids

6) keep up my PTR/TR and BLOG

*This year in the BLOG:

-I plan to continue some of my "Monday Updates" but they will be the first Monday of each Month (the first one in Feb) to recap mostly my Creative endeavors and any other personal fun notes to share.

-I will still post and share the process and making of any items I make for JMM

and I will share some other misc. things that have to do w/ Disney...

since most of my followers also follow my Pre-trip reports and Trip reports, I will do my best to not duplicate too much.

-If you don't already...feel free to stop by and visit me on my PTR on the Disboards...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2346209 I'm Ordering a big BLT for Thanksgiving 2010

thanks and happy Disney Day...

J~