Disney Sn@p 6x8 Album using Simple Stories' Say Cheese Line

Hello, fellow crafters!

I have one of my Christmas gifts done! I made a Disney scrapbook for a co-worker! I know the photos may look a bit strange the way I blurred out the faces, but I wanted to honor the family's privacy.

I used a red faux leather 6x8 Simple Stories Sn@p album for this project. This album is SO nice! And then almost all of the cards and embellishments are from their "Say Cheese" line. I also purchased a Disney Princess die cut package from Joann. And then any other graphic was taken from the internet and was printed.

I divided the album into the following 4 sections creating tabs on 4 Sn@p pages:

1) Park Hopping
2) Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique Makeovers
3) What Characters!
4) Around the "World"

I've been doing quite a few of these Sn@p albums over the past year and find that the dividers really add interest and break up the monotony of an album's subject. I did stay in chronological order within the dividers, though.

Here are some pages:

 Here is the first page with title (used the Walt Disney font) 

and 1st photo - the limo going to the airport.

 Section 1:  Park Hopping

The 1st night the family went to the Magic Kingdom.

For the castle photo, I cut down a full 6x8 protector to 

create a protector for the photo attached to the Sn@p page. 

There is also one Say Cheese chipboard sticker on it.

 I got the Magic Kingdom graphic off the internet. Also, I used 

another full 6x8 protector to protect the castle at night photo 

and attached some Say Cheese chipboard stickers.

 On the left were photos from Mickey's Not-So-Scary 

Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom. I got the 

jack-o-lantern photo from the internet.

On the right was the family's professional photo going into the 

Hollywood Studios Park, so I highlighted it with it's own full 

page using a 6x8 cutout from a Say Cheese Elements page. 

The Hollywood Studios graphic was from the internet.

 On the left  is the group photo they had taken. 

I used the Say Cheese chipboard stickers to decorate.

On the right the family visited the Aerosmith Rock-n-Roll 

roller coaster, so I got the right 3x4 image from the internet.

 On the right side, I got the Fantasmic graphic from 

the internet. I liked the graphic, but putting it on 

top of the newspaper-like 3x4 card really worked 

and complimented the previous page.

 The family hopped over to Universal's Islands of Adventure 

Park one of the last days. I grabbed the logo from the Internet. 

Technically the photo of Woody Woodpecker should 

have gone under the "What Characters!" section, but it worked 

better in this page under "Park Hopping." It was the only character 

photo from that park. And I just love how the M is for Magic 

card works for the Harry Potter attraction!

 This is the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique makeovers section 

where the sisters got done up from head to toe!

 Here is the sister's makeover who was dressed as Elsa 

from Frozen.The Frozen graphics were from the Internet. 

The words (Lauren Script font) and snowflakes were cut on my 

Cameo, and I added blue gems to the centers of the snowflakes.

The blue double-sided patterned paper is from 

the Say Cheese paper basics pack. 

 And here is the sister's makeover who was 

dressed as Anna from Frozen.

Here are the sisters together! 

 The next tab shown on the right is "What Characters!" 

for all of the Disney characters that the family got to see.

 

 The only drawback to using the Simple Stories Say Cheese line 

for this project was that it did not lend itself too much to the 

Princesses, so I had to buy one product outside of the line- 

Disney Princess die cuts. 

I popped up the characters onto Stampin' Up Dimensionals. 

The SU ones are a little thinner than most available in the 

box stores, which is what I wanted for this project. 

The Tiana photos were from the Mickey's Not-So-Scary 

Halloween Party. And the Tiana and frog die cuts were 

from that Disney Princess pack I got as mentioned above. 

The Pluto on the right was from the Internet.

 These photos were from the Ohana Character breakfast 

at the Polynesian Resort hotel. I love the Insta pocket on the right! 

The Mickey graphic popped up on the 2"strip was from the Internet.

Here is a group shot with Stitch taken at the Ohana breakfast. 

This photo is why I grabbed this Inst pocket layout. 

It highlights it well with the 2x2 squares.

On the right is the "Around the World' divider. This section 

is for all photos that didn't fall into the previous 3 sections 

like swimming at the hotel, visiting downtown Disney 

and Universal's Citywalk, and hotel room photos. 

 The Downtown Disney map was from the internet.

City Walk and hotel swimming pics!

 Last page was of swimming, too.

 Here is the spine with "Disney Trip October 2014" on it.

Here's a shot showing my homemade dividers 

that were attached to the Sn@p pages.

Not all of the pages are shown, but you get the idea. Most that are not shown are either more ride pages or from around the Grand Floridian hotel that they stayed at. The album worked out to have 28 page protectors and 4 Sn@p divider pages.

This was a fun project for me! I love Walt Disney World and haven't been in a while. My girls are older so they are beyond dressing up like princesses, so it was fun to assemble a book with these kids. And this provided an excuse to use the Say Cheese line- ha, ha! Hopefully the family will enjoy it.

Thanks for visiting! Happy crafting!

Selphy vs Picturemate Charm Comparison

I am a part of many crafting groups on Facebook and a hot topic is always the Selphy vs Picturemate debate. I find myself commenting often on this, so I thought I would post my experience in a blog post. 

Back in 2013, I purchased the Canon Selphy 900. I loved it! It was great to be able to print right from my phone and anywhere I wanted. My teens loved it, too! At this point I was only using it for novelty printing, not for scrapbooking. 

As I've gotten more and more into pocket scrapbooking in the Spring of this year, I started using the Selphy to print photos missed in my regular photo website orders, or for putting two 3x4s on a 4x6. Then I started to see it- the quality differences between the Selphy prints and my photo website-ordered prints. 

Around the same time I started seeing the Selphy vs Picturemate posts on my FB groups and was reading all of the comments. Two different comparison blog posts were pointed out to me, 1) Kerri Bradford's, and 2) Jennifer Wilson's. Through these two posts I discovered that they were each referred to the Epson Picturemate by two very well respected scrapbookers, Cathy Zielske and Ali Edwards. That really spoke to me. They are all about quality photos and showcasing them in beautiful ways. 

 I went ahead and bought the Picturemate Charm this past July and have been LOVING it. I've been printing like crazy! I just finished my Halloween mini Sn@p album and used all Picturemate prints for it. And then quickly after I bought the Charm, I sold the Selphy. I don't have many photos left from the Selphy, but managed to find this one from my daughter's scrapbook.  I must admit that these selfie photos are not of quality themselves. They were taken on an iPhone 4s by teenagers at their school. I'm so glad I have these, though!

I found that the prints are both 4x6 IF you cut where 

the photo ends on the Selphy print, not where it is perforated. 

Otherwise the Selphy print is 3.94" x 5.83" cut at the tabs.

One thing to note: Unless you crop the photos to a perfect 4x6 

before printing, cropping off things will still happen with either printer. 

This is the Selphy perforation up close.  

And here is the other side of the Selphy print showing the perforation.

Selphy

Pros

+ Can print directly from a smart phone. 

+ The cost is reasonable (half of the Epson Picture Charm).

Cons

- Color of print is off, especially for flesh tones. 

- Not a true 4x6 print. You either tear off tabs and have a smaller print, or live with the perforation marks in your print.

- You must use the special Selphy paper and ink.

- There is no matte option at this time.

- Not compatible with all software if using on a PC. Windows 8 does not have a driver yet.

- The unit gets dusty, and in my case, filled with pet hair, which has printed onto my prints. To avoid this, I had to remove the paper tray, stack it on top of the unit, and then had an Etsy seller make me a custom cover for it (it is now one of her best sellers, BTW). Then I had to reassemble each time I wanted to use it.

Epson Picturemate Charm

Pros

+ Prints a beautiful, vibrant photo.

+ Prints a true 4x6.

+ Can print matte photos! And they are gorgeous like Cathy Zielske says. All of my Christmas card photos were printed on matte using the Charm this year and are ready to mail!

+ I have not done this, but you don't have to use the Picturemate paper. The Epson paper is a very high quality paper, though - thicker than the Selphy paper. 

+ It is self-contained with a handle. I just grab it off the shelf, flip the top open, and press the front door open. Easy peasy, and no dust or pet hair gets in and prints onto my prints.

 Cons

- Cannot print wirelessly or through a Smartphone. (Like Kerri said, in this day and age, it should!)

- Costs double the price of the Selphy. Today on Amazon: Selphy=$87, PM Charm=$170

- Does not come with a USB cable. Had to buy one for $3 from Amazon. My recent HP printer purchase didn't, either. Not sure why that couldn't be included?

There are things that  people often ask on the FB groups that are the same for both printers, in my opinion:

Both

+ Setup was easy for both for me.

+ Both are portable dedicated 4x6 printers.

+ Both of the printers' software was easy for me to use and has different collage options especially helpful for pocket scrapbooking. 

+ Per print costs are very similar. Amazon as of today: Selphy=$0.28 pp, PM=$0.24pp glossy, $0.30 matte

+ Both printers claim to have water resistant prints. I really don't want to test this, but good to know!

+ Both have a small footprint.

So there is my comparison. I would also like to note that your process may play a lot into your compact printer preference. I use my high end point-and-shoot camera for most events and edit all of my photos in Photoshop Elements. My iPhone is impressive, but I only capture day to day things or if I don't have my regular camera with me. This makes my process very different and always involves my PC because of it. I rarely travel with my compact printer, either. Just some things to think about.

Thanks for hanging in on this long comparison post! Happy Crafting!

Jen 

Halloween Scrapbook Update

Just wanted to post an update to my Simple Stories Sn@p Halloween scrapbook. The night after Halloween, I added 3 pages to the album to include 2014. But somehow I also remembered two other events that I missed from earlier Halloweens, so I added them this past week, too! It's great to be able to just add in pages and move cards around if needed when using pocket scrapbooks!

The above page on the left was the previous end to the "Outings" 

section of my album. I have now added the haunted corn 

maze we went to while we were on our Fall camping trip 

weekend in early October of this year. That is on the right.

And then the 2nd page of the haunted corn maze ends the Outings 

section. The bottom photos I got off of the corn maze's website!

 The right side of the layout above is pumpkin carving this year. 

I love how these pages mirror each other and shows 

the comparison of this year's pumpkin carvings to last year's.

I also want to mention that I used these Simple Stories photo crops 

A LOT in this project. When I was first deciding on a pocket page 

for the 2014 pumpkin carving addition, I used the crops to 

determine if I wanted to crop photos down. In this case I was 

contemplating a 4x4 page. I didn't end up going with it, but the 

guides really helped me to see how much I would be cropping off.  

Above left is now the last page of the Pumpkin Carvings section. 

I didn't see my 2-week old  great nephew on Halloween,
but I wanted to remember that this year was his first.
And how awesome was it that my niece texted me a photo of him,
so he now stars on a page all his own in the Oct 31 section!

On the right side are me and my girls on Halloween. 

My older daughter (top right) went to a party but posted 

that spooky stitched up pic to Instagram. And my younger 

daughter stuck around  for me to take a few pics.

More of the younger daughter with her friend!

Here is one of the missed events that I somehow
remembered last weekend. Trick-or-treating at the
campground is documented in our 2013 Michigan Sn@p
album, but I put it in this Halloween album under the
Outings section because it just plain fits. I tried to add a few 

different photos, though, then what was in the other album.

Another event I wanted to add before I called this 

Halloween scrapbook done was our visit with our little 

cousins. Last year I got my Silhouette Cameo and really got into 

making shirts. I saw the "Trick Or Treat Smell My Feet" 

t-shirt idea on Pinterest so I really wanted to make them 

with the boys. I also decorated their light up treat buckets.

This page is in my Parties section because it all mostly
took place at my house. I thought making a craft (the shirts),
baking cookies, receiving treats, and "Monster Mash"
dancing are all party-like things to do.

These added cousin pages cover both 2013 and 2014. 

I only had 2 photos from this year, so I just snuck them 

onto these pages. They're not my favorite layouts, but this stuff 

is now documented- YES. I'm one of those that can't remember 

what I give or make from one year to the next so I can just 

look through this scrapbook to remember what I did.

Here's a view of my dividers. I like that I did this and think it will
be helpful when referring back to this book. What was my oldest
dressed as in 2012? I can just flip to the back divider - Oct 31!

 And since I now know I was able to fit 2014 

into the album, I remade the spine label. 

Ok, NOW I can call this album DONE and feel accomplished! Thanks for hanging in during another long post. Happy crafting all!

Halloween Sn@p Album using Frankie and Friends!

Happy Halloween, fellow crafters!

I know I haven't posted in a long while, but I have too many photos of this fun Halloween project not to share here on my neglected blog!

A couple of weeks ago I saw a blog post on the Simple Stories blog by Rebecca Keppel. She created an adorable 6x8 Halloween scrapbook using the Simple Stories Frankie and Friends collection that she plans on adding to every year. I loved that idea! But instead of doing present/future, I documented the past 4 Halloween seasons. What fun it was to revisit those events! And everything shown is from Simple Stories, my favorite scrapbooking company!

Here is the cover:

This project has really opened my eyes to Chipboard stickers! 

Love the dimension! And speaking of dimension, I love the 

enamel dots, too! I added a trio to the 4x6 word card.

I separated the book into 4 sections with those great Simple Stories Sn@p kraft dividers: 1) Outings, 2) Parties, 3) Pumpkin Carving, and 4) Oct 31. 

Here is the 1st divider, Outings, followed by the pages in that section:

 The white letters above were cut on my Cameo. Love that machine!

And here's the 2nd divider, Parties, followed by pages from that section:

 This is my first Sn@p album using the Insta pocket pages. 

I found that the 2x2s are great for capturing details, like from 

these parties! Above shows the invitation, the "finger" cookies 

baking in the oven, and the cupcake holders I made with the 

Cricut machine I had back then (Now I'm strictly a Silhouette girl!). 

 More party details: the favor given to each guest,

the banner I made, and the candles with "dripping blood!"

 Above left was a shrunken down version of the letter 

we gave to our neighbors letting them know the kids might 

be stopping at their house asking for scavenger hunt items. 

This is why I should scrapbook or at least journal about events. 

This party was in 2010 and no one remembers 

who won each costume category - oops!

Here's a close up of 2011's party invitation. 

I just printed a photo of it small enough to fit in a 3x4 pocket. 

I am all about the witch for Halloween! 

 More enamel dots in action! 

I like using them for bullet points in lists.

I got some ink smudges on the scavenger hunt, so I used the stars 

to cover them up. Crafters don't make mistakes- they embellish - lol!

Another detail in a 2x2 - the apple bobbing bucket!

I actually texted the girl this week who won most original to 

confirm that was the category she won. Not all winners made 

sense to me, but that's what you get when you let the peers vote!

And here's the 3rd divider, Pumpkin Carving, followed by pages from that section:

On the left shows details from my Halloween decorating 

around my house in addition to the newly carved pumpkins. 

The moon pic, I thought, was a fun addition, too.

And here's the 4th divider, Oct 31, followed by pages from that section:

This last photo is of the spine. Not sure it will stay that way. I'm waiting to find out if I can add this year's Halloween season still to this album. Once I know all the years it will contain, I will probably add the dates to the spine as well. The word 'Halloween' is from one of the Simple Stories patterned paper sheets,

Happy Haunting. 

Oh, and, that's my adorable pup, Bella in the background. She makes a great companion while scrapbooking. That and my iPad. I love to watch TV shows or movies while I craft. On the last night of making this album, last night, I watched the classic Halloween movie, "Hocus Pocus" - my absolute fave!

I think one of the keys to my success in getting this album done and so quickly was striking while the iron was hot, so to speak. I saw the idea two weeks ago, ordered supplies right away, and then dedicated all of the evenings this week to making it. I sacrificed some sleep along the way, but better to be sleepy yet content from completing a project than well rested and feeling under-accomplished-lol!

Well, there you have it. I'm hoping Simple Stories comes out with another Halloween line next year. Don' get me wrong - I love Frankie and Friends! This line was so much fun to work with! But I'm thinking I want to go even further back and make one or two more albums covering the decade before what this album covers.

Here's to hoping! 

Thanks for hanging in so long! Happy crafting and memory keeping!