MAGIC Monday: a Halloween Memory Window

It's October and time to bring out the pumpkins, fall colors, trick or treat candy bowl and more...

I especially love looking back at Halloweens and seasons past's pictures of my children dressed up, enjoying the pumpkin patch, or taking a walk in the fallen leaves.

Here is a super cute way to showcase those memories:

A Memory Window!

My husband curb picked this great window and I get to use it again for Halloween. Even if you don't have a window pane, how about decorate a simple poster board and hang it up as you get in the Halloween Spirit of dress up and fun?

Enjoy! Julie

All you need are photos, some fall or Halloween themed card stock and tape!

Arrange your photos

And there you have it!

Wordless Wednesday: Post Disney Magic!

Happy October all!

Are you enjoying the tease of fall weather yet? Or the tasty favors of fall? I personally love FALL! It's my favorite season and I'm looking forward to sharing some fall things with you all this month. 

But first a wonderful picture that captures all that Disney Magic from my special Mommy and Daughter trip to Walt Disney World two weeks ago...

vacation Photo overload: Part 2 Displaying and Showcasing

As I shared in my previous post vacation-photo-overload about some simple ways to preserve your vacation photos and memories in albums, I'd now like to share how you can display and showcase vacation memories.

From photos to souvenirs,  sand and match books, to plane tickets and more... Let's take a look at a few clever, creative and easy ways to do so.

Vacation Boxes

not a scrapper, no problem! You're bound to come home from any trip with brochures, ticket stubs, foreign money, pressed pennies, and other little flat items. Instead of tossing everything or putting in a zip-lock bag in a box in your closet, why not showcase those items.

the supplies needed for this simple project can be found at your local craft store. I bought several craft boxes, which I inked the edges with stamping ink and then used letter stamps to add the labels.

Inside I placed various items:

 

 

 

 

Mini Album Bin

 

this goes along with another idea I showcased in the previous post. The little timeline books I have showcased in a simple Dollar Store Bin in our living room:

 

 

 

 

 

Picture Frame Displays

 

 

An easy and nice way to showcase your vacations is through a wall of photos. Whether you do a collage or have a growing collection of photos taken from various trips to the same or different places. It has wonderful visual appeal and makes for a fun conversation starter.

 

 

"place of been"

 

 

 

 

 

 This collection is in my Aunt's home. She showcases a single landscape or focal point that represents trips and places her family has been and lived. She keeps the wall appealing by using matted black and white photos in similar frames.

 

 

I loved this idea so much, I created my own version:

 

 

 

 

 

"with Mickey"

 

 

Thinking beyond just a keepsake box or a framed photo on the wall, the possibilities are endless!

 

Jars

 

one jar, two jars...you get the idea. Here are two ideas of ways to showcase small mementos that we have done:

 

 sand and shells from a beach vacation

 

 

 

 

 

matchbook collection from many different restaurants

 

  

 





 

 

Finally here are some other unique ways to showcase and preserve your vacations memories that I found on pinterest:

 

 

Vacation rocks

 

 

 

quarryorchard.blogspot vacation-rocks

 

 

Trip Shadow boxes

 



 

 

 

for more inspiration I have a travels memories board on my pinterest page:

 

 

pinterest mickeymemories-travel-memories

 

 

so print some pictures, take out those souvenirs and share away! Thanks for reading, Julie

 



Fix-It-Friday: simple picture wall

It has been awhile since I shared a fix-it-Friday project...or maybe since I've had time for a little project

Today these blank walls needed some fixing

Quite awhile back when we rearranged some furniture around in our family room/kitchen space, my husband had planned to make some custom shelving to fit in this nook around the desk. Unfortunately life happens (flood) and the walls have just remained a blank canvas.

I bought a hanging pocket organizer for my children to drop school mail in for me to look at. It was just lonely hanging there. So I was inspired by the fact, I have plenty of blank frames and tons of art work from my own little Picasos and Reniors, why not showcase some of that!

I picked out some frames and artwork, plus a few other pieces that currently were not hung up anywhere

this is where the fix-it-Friday comes into play. How do you get all of that on those blank walls with out having six sets of hands to hold each piece up?

Masking tape is your answer!

I taped off the edges of each frame

to make an outline and then began placing these tape frames on the wall

Now I could see how each frame would fit

next was hanging each piece up. For another masking tape trick, I marked from the top of the frame to wear the nail would need to be:

placed the marked piece of tape on the wall and hammer in the nail

PERFECTION! well to a degree :-)

thanks for reading and I hope this inspires you to fix-it-Friday! Julie

Vacation Photo overload?

You just got back from a great Vacation at Yellowstone Park, or a weekend getaway at the beach or a week stay at Walt Disney World, what do you do with those 1000+ photos you took?

1. leave on the camera memory card
2. upload to your computer...for no one to see
3. print them at Target and keep in an envelope
4. share on Face Book

OR how about PRESERVE those Memories! You don't need to be an avid Scrapbooker or Computer Whiz to be able to preserve and showcase your photos. Here are some fun, simple and unique ways to do just that.

First, get the photos off the camera and onto your computer. I love using Google's Picasa. It a free program you can download to your computer to store, edit, print and more.

Second, look through them. I mean spend some time and pick out those favorite shots of your daughter in the pool, or your Mom riding horseback, etc...you know the shots. You don't NEED to scrap or print EVERY picture you took, that's just took much work.

Third, once you have your top selection of photo memories figured out, its time to do something with them. here are some ideas I have done.

mini "one picture" books

These are my favorite little timeline books, you can do this from annual vacation getaways to school pictures or birthdays, the possibilities are endless!

 

this is my Disney salute to NY book

Each time my husband and I go to Walt Disney World in FL, we take a picture in the same spot with the NY backdrop behind us.

 

 

 

Keepsake Albums

 

 

If you took a special trip, a once in a lifetime trip, like a friend of mine did to Walt Disney World you can create a custom Keepsake Album.

 

 

 

I created this book for her family with a large spiral chipboard album

 

 

 

Collage Photo Page

 

Maybe you have a lot of favorite photos, so using the collage maker through Picasa you can put them all together in one "big" picture. Add into to a piece of scrapbooking paper or card stock and then you can frame it and display or create a special album of all these great collages.

 

 

 

this I made for a sweet friend of mine after we had a fun filled weekend at WDW

 

 

 

4 x 6 Pictures with Journal cards

 

 

There are so many quick and easy products available now at your local craft store to big chains like Target. Buy a Photo quality 12 x12 album and the 6 slot 4 x 6 refill pages and you could put together a whole album in less than a day!

 

 







 

This is an example of just that. I like to use these pages mixed within my traditional albums. I slide in the photos and then use pre cut cardstock and stickers and add story behind the pictures. Very easy!

 

 

 

A digital photo book from a website, such as Shutterfly or Snapfish.

 

 

The picture of the album below is similar but was made using a digital photo maker through Disney's PhotoPass website. These type of albums are so quick and easy to do now. For the Traditional sites, you can just upload your selected photos, pick your theme and let "it" create the book for you. My Mother does this all the time.

 

 

 

 

iPhoto book

 

It seems just about everyone is snapping photos off their iphone or ipad nowadays, including on Vacations. Besides just sharing them on Face Book or Twitter why not use a great new app called Simple Prints. You select photos off your idevice, place on the page, and order, Cant get any easier!

 

 

You can even personalize the pages after you receive your book in the mail.  Add some stickers and other embellishments. PERFECT!

 

 

Another mixed media in digital scrapbooking can be done through Mixed Book.

 

Although I have not personally done these, I've heard it is quite easy and fun and you can purchase themed packs (including Disney) to make the pages even more unique. The pictures below were made by a fellow Disney Fan Erica B.

 

 

 

Traditional Scrapbooking

 

This is probably the most time consuming of all of these ideas, but alas my favorite. I truly love the feel of paper and adding my photos in unique patterns and layouts, then adding all the little pizazz.

 

 

a souvenir collage

 

simple use of space and design

 

play on the scene in the title "beach"

 

Postcards as journal spaces

 

In case you think I go nowhere but WDW...here are a few pages from other vacations to the Atlanta area and the beach.

 

 The top photo is an example of a souvenir collage. You know all that stuff you pick up along the way, now you slap it down on a piece of paper and add it to your photo album.

 

The second two just showcase simple to a little more flair of the use of simple embellishments, clever title letters and basic photo layouts is really all you need.

 

The last photo shows a great way to close an album. This layout is the closing page to a Myrtle Beach Family vacation we took back in 2003 with my parents and sister's family. I had each person write down their favorite memories on some purchased postcards and attached them in the book.

 

 

I truly hope some of these ideas have inspired you, to get those photos out of that envelope or upload to print and find a way that preserves your vacations memories!

 

Coming next in this series (why not, huh?) is Vacation Photos preserved as a display! stay tuned

 

 

 

happy memory making, preserving, and crafting! Thanks for reading, Julie

 







"Does that have Gluten in it? Or dairy, eggs..."

Here is a special post that I wrote and shared on gluten free dairy free wdw.BlogSpot
ENJOY!


Going out to eat on vacation is certainly a highlight for most people. However for my daughter Naomi-Ruth (6) it can be a bit confusing and scary. You see since birth she has endured food allergies and tolerances to gluten, wheat, dairy, eggs, red food dye, and most recently life-threating reaction to peanuts and tree nuts. Needless to say, dining out for her requires a lot of planning and knowledge.

It does seem more and more that local restaurants have gluten or dairy free options, and many places will let you look at the ingredient listings. Just going to Mc Donald's is a small feat, but imagine being away from home on vacation for over a week?

This is one reason why my family continually travels to Walt Disney World in Florida. This place gets it and caters to children and adults like my daughter with such ease and knowledge it can be a little less stressful figuring out what she can eat while we are there.

Just recently we went to Walt Disney World in June for a week. Before we went, I checked menu lists on allears- dining menus and checked the allergy reference lists from glutenfreedairyfreewdw.blogspot reference sheets

I made lists of brands that I knew she could have and jotted down items that we could order off the straight menu or would need to get specially prepared. In an attempt to help another guest who may be curious about how to order and what are the options but not to overwhelm you with EVERYTHING...below is a small reviewin my daughters perspective, with descriptions from myself and pictures too.

 

" I love going to Disney World! I like Its a Small World, the Haunted Mansion, and the Ariel Ride (the new Under the Sea ride in the Fantaslyland Expansion).

 

 

 

[when asked what do you like to eat there?]

 

 

Mickey waffles, fruit, fries, and treats. Disney makes me my own special food [big smile]

 

We ate in Italy for lunch and the nice cooker [chef] made me my own pasta and I had the best rolls ever!

 

So how does one go about ordering a special allergy free meal at a Table Service Restaurant at Disney? The first thing to do is INFORM. You can either note the allergy needs online or over the phone when you make your dining reservation and/or inform your server upon being seated. Next step EXPLAIN (in detail) before you order your meal, either the head chef or manager of the restaurant will come to your table and go over what food items the person in need CAN NOT have. They will describe what offerings they do have and you can decide on a meal together. Sometimes it is a completely custom made meal or a version of an item on the existing menu.

At Via Napoli in Epcot, we were able to get pasta that was gluten, dairy and egg free, sauce on the side, diced plain chicken, and her own rolls made with tapioca.

As you can see in the picture above the portions were quite generous and my daughter was beyond delighted.

 

I also got to eat in Belle's ballroom and had steak and green beans, fries too!

 



 

 

I couldn't eat the grey stuff so I fed it to my Mom, she said it was delicious

 

Again at Be Our Guest restaurant in the Magic Kingdom, we INFORMED our server, and the chef came to our table and we went over her needs and ordered the perfect meal. She even received her own basket of tapioca rolls. She couldn't drink the fancy juice fizzy drink, but our server was able to give her same plain juice to drink in that fancy light-up cup her grandmother bought her.

 

 

My favorite dessert was the Mickey sundae, it had two cookies. I didn't have to share with anyone

 

This dessert was presented to her at O'Hana in the Polynesian resort after our dinner there. It was a huge scoop of dairy free ice cream ( they had chocolate or vanilla) and two Enjoy Life chocolate brownie cookies, plus special chocolate sauce. I was quite impressed.

 

I like smoothies, I got a blue one while we watched the fireworks

 



 

 

 

 

One night in the Magic Kingdom we stopped for dessert at the Counter Service stop called Sleepy Hollow. We ordered her the Liberty Swirl Slush-a combination of Fanta strawberry and blue raspberry NOTE: yes this most likely has red food color #40 in it, but it was shortly after this trip that we realized this dye was causing a skin irritation for her, I think she drank a gallon of red Kool-Aid at my Aunts)

 

I like hamburgers especially when I get a bun! it was the best bun ever. I even told the food person that

 

On our first day, we had lunch at Contempo Café inside the Contemporary resort. At this Counter/Quick Service location there are ordering kiosiks, where the guest handles the ordering process themselves. Typically at at Counter Service when you need a special order item, the guest needs to speak with the manager first, in which you would INFORM your order taker. At this place you can go up to the pick up window and let them know. Sometimes this process can take awhile, depending on how busy the restaurant is. Luckily for us, the manager was right there. We INFORMED and EXPLAINED to the manager we'd like to order a hamburger NO bun unless they could accomadate Naomi-Ruth's allergies. And as you can see in the picture above they could. Her order took no longer than the rest of our food.

Another quick service example I had in ordering for her was in Epcot at the Liberty Inn. Our family had started out late that day and decided to eat in the park unplanned, not a bad idea but tricky for Naomi-Ruth. I asked her what she wanted to eat and I'd try and find it. She said she really wanted a hot dog. I used my iphone and quickly brought up the menu list via allears again. I saw they had hotdogs with toppings on the adult menu, so I kept my fingers crossed and headed over there, while the rest of the family was eating in France.

Luck was on my side as the ordering lines were short and I asked to speak to a manager to order an allergy free meal. I told the cast member what I was looking for "a hot dog meal" and what the allergies were. She basically put together a custom order for me of a plain hotdog, tapioca hamburger bun (since they didn't have gluten, diary AND egg free hotdog ones...and I knew Naomi-Ruth wouldn't mind) plus some sides, which included fries in a dedicated fryer. I probably waited less than 10 minutes for my order to be up, which resulted in one happy girl.

her response:

this is a weird hotdog bun, but I like it, thank you Mommy I love you

 

 

 

In the end, we had no complications with ordering for her, with a little pre planning and know how, you can do this too. Naomi-Ruth's next Walt Disney World trip is coming up very soon in September and we are already making her food wish list. Oh and she did get those Mickey waffles, a special plate of her own was delivered to our table by the head chef at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Resort (please note Mickey didn't actually bring the waffles)

 

 

 

thanks for reading, Julie