Documenting Disney

One of the projects I vowed to work on at the retreat last month was my Disney photos.  We've been going on and off for the last 8 years.  We only live 20 minutes from the CA location and whenever we visit my in-laws in Orlando, we stop in there.  It helps that my Father in Law is a Disney employee.  He chose to work there to supplement retirement income when they moved and retired down there.  Works for us!  (Have you SEEN the admission prices these days?)

Anyway, I took both Simple Stories themed lines, 8 years of photos and all the memorabilia I had saved up.  I never planned to document Disney because I don't use the overly themed papers available.  I was thinking I could get a Snapfish photo album done one of these days.  Until Simple Stories released these lines.  OMG how cute are the Disney lines now?  I love that they are themed but also generic.  The colors match everything because they're basic.  I love it. (Say Cheese I and II)

I started the album using a class kit from Layle Koncar.  She used to work for Scenic Route and Basic Grey but now she works for Simple Stories.  Her style is perfect and I love her classes.  Since I couldn't be physically present, it was awesome of the store holding the class to sell extra kits.  I was able to get my hands on one and it was the *perfect* jump start for this album.

 A red American Crafts cloth album altered with the Simple Stories papers and items from the sets.

 Page 1 - Part of the class kit from Layle.  I made a few minor changes.

 Back of page 1.  I like how she altered (cut) the size of this first page down to 3 4x6 slots.  There are small details like this throughout her kit/class that make the album fun.

Page 3 is actually a 12x12 layout.

 Page 4 is another layout designed by Layle.  Super simple but perfect for those one off photos that I don't want to try and fit into the pocket style.

 And here is where I veered off on my own.  I used the same pocket pages that Layle used but my own designs and cards.  Like I said, her pages were the perfect start to this album and they got me in the mood to do this.  Its going to be a major undertaking.  (These first pages are all from my sons first time at DL.  He was barely 9 months.  His favorite ride was the teacups.)

 Or maybe it was the Jungle Cruise.  Nope, the teacups.

 By this point, I was having too much fun mixing and matching.  I wish I had a photo of my table at the crop.  My entire 6 foot table was covered in the product line.

I even snuck in some flair from the A Flair For Buttons Easy shop.  Shelly designed some basic Mouse Words flair.

 The next time we went, he was a little older and could ride more of the big kid rides.  While I love Dumbo, Peter Pan etc, there are some fun rides that have height requirements. (The last time we went, he was finally tall enough for the last ride - Indiana Jones!)

 I love throwing memorabilia in there.  I realize now, that I stuck this in the wrong spot.  The next section was his first trip to Florida.  I think I switched the maps.  :)

A tip for anyone doing this kind of album and its not a new trick that I invented, just something I do.  When all but 1-2 of my photos work for a specific pocket layout, or if I particularly like that pocket layout, I go with it.  I make my photos work.  This last page (and some others above) have a split photo.  I really didn't plan this album out - its strictly on a whim.  So when I printed out photos before the retreat, I went with 4x6's and either cut them down to fit pockets or split them.  It works.  It doesn't disrupt the flow of the photo either.

** all products are from Simple Stories.  I purchased mine at either Scrapbook.com or ACherryontop.com.  Sticker letters are all Simple Stories.  I'm addicted to their sticker letters and they come in ALL colors.  I buy them whenever there is a coupon and have at least a 6 inch stack of them.  Sadly the local stores to me do not carry these lines so I did order them online.  If your local store carries them, I envy you.  Simple Stories is one of my favorite brands and they are hard to find in my area.***