Scrappin in July

It's been like Christmas in July in my Scrapbook room...finally the creative process is overflowing like presents under the tree! Before Summer even began I was hopeful to get lots done and had been saving up pictures to work on...but w/ busy schedules, some water issues in my basement scrapbook room...it just wasn't happening. However I finally carved out some time one afternoon this past week and have scrapped over a dozen pages since!

Starting with a fun Disney project (but of course)! After our November family trip in 2010 I knew I'd be busy w/ the Holidays and several small weekend getaways (including another MOM only trip to WDW) I wouldn't have time to scrap a large album for our trip's memories. I opted to create a special online book, but still wanted to scrap some of the new things and favorite pictures from that trip...that got me thinking to create a 3 in 1 trip album to include Nov., my Jan trip from this yr 2011 and then an upcoming trip in October. (depending how thick it seems I made add in a 4th trip for our Jan 2012 family trip too!)

I had already purchased a new Mickey album, papers and stickers and got started...the pictures I had printed worked out perfectly into 4 2-page layouts:

I will do a front page too, with 1 picture from each of the trips.

These next layouts are from November. The are pretty simple, but I think showcase the photos very nicely. I tried to include one special detail per layout as well. I like to add a fun element too to make the page more unique. Enjoy.

Celebrating the little girls Birthdays:











The 4 girls 1st time at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique:








Nathan becoming a Pirate:











Having Fun with the Characters:










These next 2 layouts are from my Mom only trip with 6 other ladies that I met all on the Disboards, besides our great love for Disney and WDW we also each have a child(ren) on the Autism Spectrum. Fellow Mom Kathy brought us all together to share a great long weekend together at our "happy" place. This portion of the book is still in process.

Group shot galore:











The Moms and what they mean to me:










Besides scrapping Disney I have been working on my calendar pages and have finished two more from the Spring:

March





April







This month is very dear to me as it's my Wedding Anniversary Month! In particular this year we celebrate 15 years. My husband and I have a very special trip planned later in October to spend 5 days at WDW and we just can't wait. 5 years ago for our 10th I created a special album to keep all our anniversaries in and special pictures of us and our family, plus 1 Christmas pictures from each yr as well. The album and most of the supplies were given to me as a gift several yrs back and I have tried to keep w/ an overall theme throughout each yr and photo spread to keep the book attractive and unique to my other scrapbook albums:



Take a look at most of the pages in the book:




Year 1:




Year 2:




Year 3:




Year 4:




Year 5:





Year 6:




Year 7:




Year 8:




Year 9:




Year 10:




Year 11:




Year 12:




Year 13:




Year 14:




Christmas Photos:












Finally for this momentous anniversary I made this special gift card/book for my husband. I wrote down several moments from when we first met to now that have shaped our 15 yrs + of being together. I printed pictures and images to capture each of these moments and created a special book using cardstock, ribbon, and simple embellishments. The Disney personalized images were made for me by Marion from the Disboards. Enjoy this special keepsake:































Thank you for taking time to look back at the special memories and moments of my married life and into my passion for preserving them. Julie

April snow showers?

Where is Spring I ask? not sure it has made it's way to the Midwest or northern states yet...despite the dreary skies and cold weather that seems to keep sticking around I have been busy not just w/ my Scrapping :(

But luckily I found some time last week to get some things done! My grand to-do list is slowly getting checked off. I finally finished up the pages in my daughter Rachel's album so she is up to date through age 3....LOL she'll be 9 later this yr. Here is a peek at one of the pages:

Easter from 2006



I used my pretty standby background design of a nice color paper and a contrasting color/patter ripped piece. Plus added a few stickers and a title made from my Cricut.

I also finished 4 quick goals for April and added in the pictures for my "Timeline" Disney books. I love these little books! It is fun to look back at the pictures each time I add a new picture in.

The Kids AK book:


NY backdrop book:


Nathan's Zurg years:


Rebekah's golden carousel book:



I plan to create and get caught up to our last trip for each of the little girls soon too. Well that is it for now. But I hope in next few weeks I'll have some more time to get scrappin regularly and have more fun things to share.

Julie

capturing memories in new ways...

Despite the sick bug in my house for weeks...I finally had a surge of creative motivation and got busy in my much abandoned Scrap-book room YAY!

For Christmas last yr, I received a "scrapbooking" 2011 calendar from my Aunt. It is really because of her that I found out about this fun new hobby over a decade ago. I had already made a digital calendar to hang in the kitchen w/ pictures from our most recent trip to Walt Disney World, but still wanted to find a use for this new calendar and have a fun ongoing project.

I generally like to keep track each month on what crafty endeavors I manage to create, not just for the BLOG but for my goal list to keep motivated. I decided this year I will use the calendar to write in on the date spaces when I get something done or even work on a scrapbooking or craft project w/ my children. (plus other highlights of things going on)

The picture space for each month has a "pre-fab" scrapbook page done w/ spaces to add your own pictures. A great way to capture some of the highlights of our year together. It should become a fun memory book of sorts to see what we have been up to in 2011.

Today I did the calendar pages for January and February. It really was quite easy! I picked out pictures that represented things that happened and just added some little embellishments and journal notes.









Another project I am planning to be doing throughout 2011 is the Pay It Forward Challenge I joined via Facebook. I completed a special photo collage and mounted it on a 12 x 12 scrapbook page that could be turned around and used in a scrapbook or even framed! I made this page for one of my friends that I went w/ to WDW in January.





all that is left to do is mail it out for her to enjoy :)

Lastly I'd like to share these custom covers I made for my trip organizers for my two upcoming trips to WDW in October-an anniversary trip for my husband and I




and in January 2012-a quick family get away to our happy place.





I just trimmed an 8 x 11 piece of cardstock and added some various embellishments made on my Cricut and other stickers. This is fun and personal way to dress up a plain black binder.

Hope you enjoyed this items.

Julie

March on Scrappers and Creaters...

Ok so February went WAY to fast...and between illness and some crazy weeks dealing w/ personal stuff I sort of lost 2 weeks there...and my not so lofty goals went caput sadly...so ALL my Feb goals have been pushed off onto March.

so let's hope some sunshine and Spring on the horizon will give me that much needed pep in my spirit to get scrappin...usally once I get back in the grrove I do pretty well.

Please stay tuned! Thanks

Julie

My scrapping GOALS for 2011

Why scrap?

Why create memories?

Who or what is it for?

Would anyone ever say they don't like memories? or don't have any special memories? I don't think so...but can we really remember them all...good and bad? probably not.

Creating and preserving MEMORIES is not just a hobby, or a delight for me, but a passon for me...or my mission. I love to spend time looking over pictures and creating a visual story to help tell that story, like going to WDW for the first time, or Rachel at age 1 having surgery, or of Christmas pasts. I enjoy seeing what I produce in paper and glue produces even more smiles and joy as my children and family look back at the pictures of these moments and so many more.

Scrapping also is social...although I may not get as many pages done as I would alone, I always enjoy the mini scrapbooking weekends I share w/ my girlfriends or going to Archiver's (scrapbooking store) w/ my sisiter in law Angie. It is fun to work together and talk about our memories together and bounce off ideas and share some paper or pens.

Scrapbooking is also a gift...a gift I give not just to my children and family but to others. And for 2011 that is what I intend to do. A girlfriend of mine shortly into January posted on Facebook a post challanging crafters of any kind to create a personal item from your own hands and give to the 5 people who first commented they would do the same.

Pay it Foward 2011...

so I commented to her I was in and 5 others replied to my post. I am very much looking forward to creating a special keepsake each uigue to the 5 ladies who are also taking up the challange.

Here is a look at my goals to inspire and challange me this year...


2011…My year to get up to date…sort of :)

Overall Goals:

*Finish albums in progress (Rachel)
*Create smaller digital albums (Spectrum trip, N gr 3-5, Vegas)
*5 2011 Pay it Forward Crafts (Jess, Cheri, Patty, Mom, & Laurie)
*Special baby keepsake for Dan/Angie
*Update anniversary album
*Finish scrapbook frames
*New Oct and Jan ’12 Disney trip things
*Scrap monthly page-calendar
*Add pictures into mini Disney books
*WORK on kids albums!!!!

*Monthly Breakdown:

FEB:
*Finish Rachel album (age 3-4)
*Scrap Jan page
*Do #1 pay it forward craft (Jess)

MARCH:
*Update anniversary album
*Create digital book
*Scrap Feb page
*Start designing next pages for Bekah age

APRIL:
*Finish frames
*Add to Disney books
*Do Pay it Forward # 2 (Cheri)
*Scrap March page
*Start on Bekah’s pages

MAY:
*Work on Bekah’s pages
*Scrap April page
*Work on digital book

JUNE:
*Make baby keepsake
*Finish Bekah’s book if needed
*Scrap May page
*Do Pay it Forward Craft # 3 (Patty)

JULY:
*Start designing new pages for Nathan age
*Scrap June page
*Do Pay it Forward # 4 (Laurie)
*Catch up month

AUGUST:
*Start and Finish Nathan’s pages
*Scrap July page
*Digital book

SEPT:
*Do Pay it Forward Craft # 5 (Mom)
*Scrap Aug page
*Disney things for Oct. trip

OCT:
*Figure out things for Jan ’12 trip
*Design pages for Rachel age
*Scrap Sep Page
*Catch up as needed

NOV:
*Work on Rachel’s pages
*Design pages for Naomi-Ruth and work on
*Scrap Oct page

DEC:
*Misc items?
*Work on girls pages
*Scrap Nov page
*Work on Disney trip items


I hope you will come back and see how I am doing and ejoy my projects and that I inspire you to creat and keep your memories.

Julie

Getting back on track...

Wow I really have neglected my BLOG here...but I have been busy making memories and keepsakes since I last posted last summer. I also have gone on two, yes TWO trips to my happy place WDW since last June as well. One was in November of 2010 to celebrate 2 of my daughters' birthdays Rachel turning 8 and Naomi-Ruth turning 4. It was a really great trip (despite some early mishaps) and we just LOVED seeing all the Holiday lights, decorations and wonderment that Disney does so well. My second trip was just shy of a month ago in January of this year 2011. I went w/ 6 other amazing ladies who not only share my Love for Disney but we all share an even greater bond, we are MOMs of Autistic children. This 4 day adventure was wonderful, it was so great to meet many of them face to face and just have some real fun together.

As to not go back too much and share all the new things I created to help capture the memories of these trips I just want to highlight a couple new things. I have to thank the Disboards and fellow Diser Natalie for her inspiration and creating some really great "disigns" that were the base for several of the special things I created for our November trip.

She made some really nice and vibrant character pages that you could use in autograph books and that is what I did.

As a family we really enjoy stopping to visit the characters in the parks and have meet and greets as they call them. Some of our fondest memories are usually w/ the characters...like the time we just walked into Mickey Mouse (05) or Stitich and Bekah played a trick on me (08) the excitement of meeting about 12 characters at once at the Studios (09) and so many more.

We usually just use the Parks simple autograph book, but for this trip I decided to surprise my 4 children w/ unique and custom autograph books designed for each one of them and the characters they like. Now we didn't feel them up this time, but no worries we know we'll be back...





I used a basic chipboard spiral book and covered each page in cardstock. I inked the edges of the pages and then added the character pages on top. The character pages were the space for the actual characters to sign and I left a blank page across form it for us to add a picture later. I also added one other detail of writing a little saying or comment about each character.

It was so fun to see several characters at WDW react to the pages saying "that's me" or "I did say that" or "look I have my own page"



I was really glad I put forth all the effort of making these special books they will be a wonderful keepsake when full of signatures and pictures plus it just added that extra special touch to each meet and greet.


For my January trip I enlisted myself in making two special things for the ladies. We shared a 2 bedroom villa together and like most hotels all the towels are white. The question came up "how do we keep track of who's towel is who's?" I said let me make little clips for them. As we wrote about going on the trip we each pick a color that designated us on the forums we write on (and met through) so that was the starting point...plus anything I make for Disney has to have a little Mickey in it :)



They turned out so cute!

I also said I wanted to make some cool Dis-tags which each of our Diser names on them. On the forums each person has a special username. The name, color, and Mickey plus the puzzle piece all cam in to use and were my inspiration for these tags. Plus for my birthday last year, my parents treated me to a Cricut. I put it to good use!

After figuring out the right size and order of telling the computer how to cut the design, I backed each tag in white. Laminated them and then trimmed, I made the extra puzzle piece tag and attached it w/ string. I punched a hole and used a grommet to hold the ribbon in place for each lady to tie the tag on their bags. It was a fun project and we all looked pretty cool w/ a new matchy tags.




Well I hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek backwards and will stay tuned to read and see the new things I hope to create and make MEMORIES for in 2011.

Julie

June has been good...

editing note...not sure why my size and other edits are not all transferring over...will try and fix again later...

well at least 1 day....I had an amazing surge of creative juices flowing the other day as I finished up and started several projects. It was so great to get downstairs and clean up a few things that found their way into my scrapping room and have some fun semi-non interrupted and non time constricted work done.

I have completed the beginnings of two more Disney timeline books. As you may recall sort of by accident and some on purpose, my husband and I love to take a few pictures of ourselves and our kids together and separately during each WDW trip...it occured to me I should not only take those pictures for fun but showcase them in a special way...hence starting my Time line series....

I'm trying to take the picture at the same location in the Disney parks...but you could use any grouping of pictures from several trips to show your love for Disney (or any travel) and/or how you have changed/grown...

I have "the Zurg years" for my son Nathan, "destination NYC c/o Disney" for my husband and I, and now I have ready to "golden carrousel" for my daughter Bekah and "the ________ kids take on Disney's Animal Kingdom" for the pictures of our kids in front of the Welcome sign outside AK.

Each book is made from a spiral bound chipboard album, covered w/ decorative scrapbooking papers and embellishments...I include one main journal page at the front and then plan to add a new picture after each trip...

Here is a look at the latest two books:







[IMG]http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee134/Dizmama5/Julies%20Mickey%20Memories/110_5950.jpg[/IMG]






You can see all the pages done for each book by clicking on the sample album link in the side column....

Other things I created were two more framable layouts of my children...

I did a frame for my daughter Rachel and for my son Nathan (I have Rebekah's already done) I still need to do my youngest daughter and then one for my husband and I then I will hang them up in my scrapbooking room!

this is a fun way to capture each of my children and what I love and admire about each of them at this certain point in their young lives...plus fun to frame a bit of scrapbooking!

take a look:






Lastly in my creative splurge was to almost finish a very belated Father's Day gift for my husband a cute little chipboard album on a link chain...showcasing various pictures of him and our children...I just need to print and add a few more recent shots.

It is 8 little pages covered doubled sided in cardstock. I added 1 picture per side w/ the exception of one side I will do a journal/message, as well a small embellishment and a little note like "Disney Dad"...I really hope he likes it.

Take a peek at a few of the pages and once again you can view the whole book in the sample photo album link....









Happy creating....

Julie