Keeping the Memories Within Arms Reach

So, I'd come up with this idea a few months ago to make a scrapbook small enough for our little guy to hold, durable for him to tote around and easy enough to make without me losing my mind if he messes it up ...Behold the Binder Books!

O.k. so some of those who know me IRL, know that this is just a variation of my Army Life organizational binder, but what can I say, I'm addicted to those little 8.5 x 5.5 inch binders!

So while I am (not-so-patiently) waiting for family members to send in pictures and a little note for Monkey's "My Family" binder, I decided to make him a "Me and Mickey" one ... mainly because I was early to meet my trainer at the gym and there is a JoAnn's next door who had Disney scrapbook stuff on sale and I already had the pictures printed ...

We decorated Monkey's room in Vintage Mickey Sports and from the start (o.k. maybe 6 mos) he's really loved The Mouse Clubhouse (I think its the bright colors and the voices ... anyway ...) Since we've been here in Miami we've been to Dinsey twice, he got a Mickey Mouse firetruck from his godparents for Christmas and his 1st birthday party was Mickey Mouse ... so as you can see, we've got some stuff to work with.

So here is what the binder looks like:



It's kind of hard to see, but it is a grey and red cover with Mickey and says "Me and". Jamie really liked the puffy stars I had on his 4th of July page in his big scrapbook, so I put a few on there for him.

The inside pages were easy. I just got some 8.5 x 5.5 inch page protectors from Staples (they carry the binders and accessories in the stores now so I don't have to order online!)

I cut 12 x 12 inch scrapbook paper down to (2) 8.5 x 5.5 inch pages for the background, then built pages like usual. Its hard to order pictures in odd or small sizes so I created a 8 x 10 collage on Walgreens.com and then put between 4 and 6 pictures in each depending on what I wanted larger or smaller, then I just cut them out!

So here are some of the pages ... these are all from our first Disney trip because I used leftover page protectors from another project and didn't have enough ...

(This was a map from Magic Kingdom.)



(This is a plastic zipper pouch I used to put his "first visit" button and pieces from his birthday cake in so he can see them, but not lose them.)



The rest of the pages are the same but some of the stuff I put in there was napkin with Mickey and extra invitation from his birthday party, stickers and confetti from when we went to the parks, parking stubs, etc.

For those of you who haven't seen my binder obsession collection, here is what I am talking about. So have changed looks, but from left to right ... teacup colelction organizer, daily planner, craft journal, cookbook, and Monkey's babysitting book. Slightly obsessed!



Well, I'm off to get some non-blogging stuff done ... like dishes ... (not nearly as much fun!)

Until our next cup of tea ...