Magical World of Scrapbooking!

2019 Disney

A hoy-hoy and welcome back!!! Thanks for coming back for those who saw my first blog EVER!!! Welcome to those new to the blog! NOW, let’s go hoppin’ on the scrappin’ bandwagon! That’s right! I’m a scrapper!!! (Hopefully, some of you know what movie that quote is from, and are laughing along with me!) Back to the topic. Scrapbooking! So, yes, I was one of the many that got into the scrapbooking craze back in the early 2000s. 

I went to the parties, and I bought the crap. “What crap”, you ask? Oh geez, there were the scrapbooks, the filler pages, the protective shield to go over the filler pages, the acid free pens, and the stickers. I KNOW I am missing stuff, but, you get the point! I think these parties were riding the tailcoats of the forlorn and dying Tupperwear parties. (I loved Tupperwear. But I digress.)

Therefore, since high school, I have been scrapbooking. I just enjoy it. Also, I love taking pictures and documenting the things I have done and seen. Scrapbooking just adds another layer of dimension and pizzazz, that’s right, pizzazz (jazz hands!) to your memories. Also, it gives you a reason to be that weird person, who takes random pics. All you have to do is smile super big and bright and say in the cheeriest voice you can, “I’m sorry, I’m a scrapper!!” And then laugh. Follow this and you will be fine, my friends. HAHAHAHA. 

Now, I have many, many scrapbooks. However, I have two that I am currently working on: one is our camping and glamping adventures (that’s right, glamping… that post will come later, promise) and Disney. We will be focusing on the Disney one. I had not been to Disney since 1997. Last October, we took a family vacation. My niece and nephews, are at that really fun age of enjoying everything there. That means their crazy Aunt Bridget can be nuts and excited and everyone thinks it’s for their benefit… sure it was… LOL. 

Disclaimer: I really wasn’t that excited to go. I know, don’t turn me off! Stay with me! I’ve been converted!! I just wasn’t looking forward to the crowds. HOWEVER, once we got there, it was amazing. Were there millions of people? Yes. It’s Disney. Just embrace and accept it. Pretend like you’re going into the Wal-Mart; take a deep breath and find your happy or zen place. Then enjoy. And if you have children with you, enjoy it WITH them! I loved seeing their expressions and excitement, and feeding off of that! All of those memories and feelings made this the most enjoyable scrapbook I have done in a while! I had so much fun scrapping this!!!

“Bridget, I took a million pictures, now what in the tootin’ do I do with all of them?????” 

This is what I do: while sitting and watching TV or listening to music, I will go through them and pick out the ones that capture that moment or day or event the best. Because, think about this: do you really want to scrap over 100 pictures??? No, you don’t. That’s the answer. LOL. Most people get overwhelmed and bored with the project and it will sit there, collect dust, and never get done. At least that’s what will happen to me. Or I will rush through it, and then, honestly, what’s the point? 

When it’s a big vacation or event like Disney (we went for six days) I actually only print out one or two days at a time. When I finished those days, I would print one or two more days and just take a day at a time. Call me crazy, but if I print them all at once, my Type A comes out and I feel pressured to just finish it all in one day. Then, because I’m pressured, I don’t want to do it. I know, I know, I never said I was sane people, just fun and quirky! HAHAHAHA. 

THAT BEING SAID, I had to go through my Disney pictures several times, because I had too many. My husband was like, “really, honey, you’re not going to want to scrap all of those.” So, I honestly think I took a week or two or three (don’t you judge me) to continuously weed through the pictures I would print and scrap. Remember: just because you don’t scrap them, doesn’t mean they disappear forever. You can look at them on your computer at any time, at your leisure. PS – That’s the mantra I kept telling myself as I weeded through the pictures. 

Pictures are printed, now what??

ORGANIZE THEM!

Depending on what you are scrapping, there are many different ways that you can organize your pictures. When I scrapped the redecorating and changes we made to our house. I organized that scrapbook into rooms: Master Bedroom, Living Room, Bathroom, Kitchen, Bedroom 1, Bedroom 2, front yard, back yard, and siding. When organizing vacations, I typically arrange them into days. We went to Disney for 6 days, so, I made six stacks of the pictures: one stack for each day. Then I took the pictures from a particular day and broke that up into what we did throughout that day. 

For example: Monday we spent the day at the Magic Kingdom. I took my pictures and broke them up into the activities we did: First, the reading with Belle, then breakfast, main street, turning my beautiful niece into a princess, two rides, lunch, and last, dinner! I label each activity with a little narrative and just went through each day, activity by activity! But you can organize your scrapbooks any old way you want! 

Side Note: I try to put 4-5 (sometimes 6) photos on each page. But, I like crazy, chaotic looking pages. Also, I’m trying to save myself some time and money by smooshing more photos on one page… you can put as many or as little photos on a page as you darn well please!! 

PAPER

Next, you need to pick out the paper that you want to use. NOW, I have years of scrapping and paper buying under my belt. Therefore, I didn’t need to buy that much paper (but who the hell am I kidding here, go get you some awesome paper; you never know when you might need it!!). I tried to find some Disney themed paper and of course… the STAR WARS paper. 

In a galaxy far, far away, I am about to go 

On a rant. Now. I grew up watching Kung Fu Sundays, 

Indiana Jones, Conan the Barbarian and Star Wars. 

I have always been a big fan of Star Wars. However, my husband

And I didn’t realize how big a fan until we went to 

Galaxy’s Edge at Disney. Um, yeah. He just stared and

Watched me running from exhibit to exhibit screaming at him

To take pictures of me because “omg! Is that a moisture condenser??”

Off to the side you can see a picture of me with Chewbacca and I’m

Almost crying…. Because it was Chewie!!!! I hung up the phone on my

Poor father to get a picture of Kylo Ren because at the time

I didn’t realize he would be everywhere. (I’m pretty sure it sounded like I 

Was being murdered before I screamed to my dad that I would call him

Back before hanging up the phone to frantically take the pictures.) Yup. But in my

Defense, my dad would have been doing the same thing had he been there. 

In all, my husband and I kept going back there as often as we could.

Because it was our happy place. Anyhoo…..

Paper. I knew that I would want specific Star Wars paper for Galaxy’s Edge. Honestly, I had most every other paper that I knew I would use for this scrapbook. And paper isn’t the expensive item when scrapbooking. It’s the stickers (we will get to the stickers in a bit). Now you are probably asking me, how do you know what paper you would? I don’t. I just stare at all of my paper and see what I have that will go with the pictures. 

For The Little Mermaid I have coastal paper, for Toy Story land I have fun carnival-type paper that matches the mustard yellows, vivid reds, and orange colors of that particular park. I had an idea forming. I would suggest you go to your favorite store to get your scrapbooking supplies and look around. See what strikes your fancy. What’s on sale! HAHAHAHA. Don’t forget to look online too. However, don’t forget to get plain old card stock paper. There are packs of primary colors, fall colors, and the like. These are great for filler paper and are usually pretty inexpensive and/or on sale. Don’t use up all the pretty paper!! Also, it’s nice to have a visual break from the patterned paper with some plain color paper. 

Look at your pictures for color and pattern inspiration too. Let’s look at this page I did (please and thank you). Look at the pictures first, What colors do you see? Typically pick out 3-4 colors: I see grey, beige in the concrete, and red on the speed racer and my shirt. 

WARNING!! If you are a neat-freak or Uber Type A person… I am sorry, I am so, so sorry (some of ya’ll better have gotten that, by the way)!! But seriously. This is going to be bad. At least it is for me. I end up spreading it all out on the floor, typically in a circle or semi-circle with me in the middle. LOL. With everything laid out in front of me, I can better pick and choose what papers match with the pictures I am working with for that particular page. When I am scrapping, I have a room that I use. That way, when I am done for the day or night, I can leave it all without worrying about husbands or fur babies disturbing what I am working on (typically, the Mighty Moose likes to lounge on my papers or pictures as I am trying to work on them). 

Back to the first page: We have established there are grays, beiges, and red in the photo. Look at your paper and see what sheets have those colors, variations on those colors, or complimentary colors as well! For me, I chose a dark gray sheet to be the base, then a fun pea green page with red highlights, a dark blue with light gray, and then finally a lighter gray with blue. All tones in all four papers matched what was in my pictures and they compliment each other. 

Here’s a page from Toy Story. For this page, I used bright and vibrant colors such as mustard yellow, bright orange, and turquoise. As stated above, I have this really fun carnival paper which has cheerful and bright colors and awesome food patterns! I knew because of the vivid colors, I wanted to use that for Toy Story. And Toy Story, but the park and the movies are fun and bright and lively! I used background paper of mustard yellow with cute little pretzels, bright turquoise with awesome donuts!! (I love donuts). And then complimentary papers with vivid orange and sky blues. I really love the way this page turned out with the bold colors which match not only the park, but the photos too!  

Here are a couple more pages from Galaxy’s Edge and then one from Animal Kingdom. I really enjoyed scrapping this park too (who am I kidding, I had fun the entire time and wished I could do it again, LOL). I chose bold, bright colors again with fun zig zag patterns. I did use my pictures and what was in them to help choose which papers and patterns to use!

Stickers

Okay, I know I said I would talk about stickers, however, I didn’t use as many stickers on this scrapbook as I normally would. I will make a mini post about stickers and show you my camping pages. Those are so much fun and chock full of stickers!!! I promise!! 

Front Page

I think the front page is important and sets the tone for the rest of your scrapbook. To me, it’s like the opening line of a book or reading passage. You have to grab your audiences attention and make them want to continue to look through the whole book! Even though it’s not their family. Or their vacation. Or their fun times. Snag ‘em with vibrant, fun colors and textures! 

Layout – Where do I get my page payout ideas? Honestly, while sitting and watching TV, I will google or search scrapbook page layouts on the Pinterest and peruse through the different ideas people have come up with. Sometimes, I just make it up and see what looks good before I tape everything down. 

Back to the front page: I chose two pictures to place on the front, both showing the whole family together, smiling and happy in front of Cinderella’s Castle and in Animal Kingdom. I tried to use colors that were fun and patterns that were quintessentially Disney (you know, like the Castle?). LOL. I wanted to make this first page eye catching and FUN (I know I keep using the word, fun, but, Disney is FUN, dammit!!!). Anyhoo… I used colors like lemon yellow, apple red, and fresh cut grass green! Pull them in, people, and don’t let them back out until they have seen every single picture and every fun sticker!!! 

I really hope you enjoyed this post about my family’s trip to Disney! I hope this helps if you are looking into starting scrapping or what it takes to scrap and it you want to delve into this fun and creative world! Thank you again for joining me and I will see you on the next post! 

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