Last Christmas I gave Blue an (empty) photo album and a bunch of printed pictures. My original intention was to have it filled before I gave it to her, but that didn't happen, so instead I presented it as a fun bonding project we could do together! 8 months later it still sat empty, and she admitted that though she liked the idea, she had no interest in "scrapbooking." (Honestly I should have known after our misadventures in trying to put a puzzle together... she'd always get frustrated and walk away.)
Photo Book
I believe I got mine at Michael's, and I can't find it online but this one is similar. I also bought scrapbook refill pages, which was smart because I printed at least double the amount of pics that fit in the album even if I put them all next to each other without any decoration.
Colorful Paper Inserts
There were plain white paper inserts in the photo album, but that seemed pretty boring. I bought 3 different styles of "designer paper" to jazz up the backgrounds up a bit, and each pad has 50 sheets of paper. That was way too much for the space I have, but what can I say? I gotta a little trigger happy. Plus, they were only $5.00! Once I actually started putting photo to paper, I realized that it was just too... busy. The background paper was swallowing up my pictures- you could barely see them! So even though they were inexpensive, I'm getting rid of the Spray Paint and Mixed Media ones. I like the Wild and Free one because the colors and designs are much more subtle and complementary.
Stickers and Washi Tape and Markers, Oh My!
How could I mention scrap-booking without these three?! Let's start with the most basic- double sided tape. I used to wrap regular tape in a circle, but it just doesn't lay as flat. I've had a love affair with stickers since the beginning of my planner days, about 7 years ago. I've always been a fan of the Happy Planner collections, and the bigger ones in this seasonal version work perfectly for my photo album since they don't fit in my planner. And I thought I would be writing on the pages with colored pencils, but they don't show up well on the graphic inserts, so I'll be donating them to a local school. I just bought this metallic pen set though, and I'm excited to try them out!
But the washi tape-- well. I'll be honest. Although I've heard a lot about washi tape before and how "awesome" it is for decorating your planner (and just about everything), I'd never tried it before. I was kind of nervous about it, because I didn't want it ruining my pictures or ripping my paper if I stuck it and then needed to straighten it or something. But then I saw this set and it was so pretty, I bought it. For the record, no matter what you're doing, 60 rolls is a shit ton of washi tape and I'm fairly positive I will never run out. Secondly, it's just as awesome as everyone says it is. It easily pulls up from paper and pictures without leaving even a sticky residue behind. I will probably never use it in my planner (I like a fairly plain planner with small accent stickers as opposed to anything shiny/gaudy), but I started using it to frame my pics and plan on looking into other ways to style it as well. I'm kind of excited about the creative possibilities!
I mentioned in the beginning that Blue isn't really into this little hobby of mine, so I mostly do it while she's busy doing something else, like working or napping. Which means I keep all of this at her place. I keep all the smaller stuff (like the pics, pencils, washi tape, scissors, tape, and a bunch of ticket stubs) in this awesome little see-through storage box. I love it because it keeps everything together perfectly and it's small enough to keep right on the bottom of the coffee table so it's easy to access as soon as I hear her snoring heavy breathing!
How do you keep your favorite memories?
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