Disney Scrapbook...electronic version?

We got the amazing opportunity to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon weekend a couple weekends ago. I'm not going to go into a full trip report as you can probably jump on Pinterest or any of the Disney podcasts I referred to last week and get them from there. What I can say is that it was an amazing trip. Most people might be a bit weirded out to have a trip with your in-laws, but my mom, my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law and myself all had a blast! We got to stay in our home DVC resort, the Grand Floridian. The room was spectacular and we loved the hotel amenities. Being able to eat a fantastic dinner right on property the day we arrived was perfect. Plus, we took full advantage of the monorail to get to the races. I definitely think it's the way to go!

All of us were admiring the chocolate sculpture at Narcoosse's

The weekend in the parks was amazing too. I finally figured out the Fastpass + system (it was still in testing phase last time we visited) and we had a great time riding our favorite rides and going to EPCOT at nights before our dining reservations. I got high praise from my family on the dinners. Those ADRs are super important people! 

My little sister-in-law loved sitting next to the fish during dinner at the Coral Reef Restaurant.

The best thing about this weekend was being able to run. I was so careful on this training cycle to make sure I didn't get injured...a feat the ice in Dallas made difficult! But to share a special moment with my in-laws as they crossed the finish line of their first 10K, knowing how hard they trained, was super special. Then, while my mom and I have always shared a special bond, running has taken it to a whole different world. Yet, ever since we both fell in love with racing, we hadn't actually run a race together. Mom is always so much faster than me and I have frequently had Jared to run with on Disney races as we also train together (it's just natural I guess). So this race weekend, I made it a goal to keep up with my mom...and I did! Thank goodness she slowed down (just a little bit!) as we had a really special 13.1 miles to share and encourage each other on. 

Mom and I at the finish of the Half Marathon after receiving our Glass Slipper Challenge Medals!

Ironically, it was racing with my mom that caused me to have my brilliant idea. 

If you travel with me, you are probably going to have to deal with me breaking out the camera and the GoPro. I have made a scrapbook for every year Jared and I have been together. First, I stared cutting out photos and pasting them into a small book with a few paper embellishments. To a certain extent, I enjoy that form of scrapbooking. But then, I was introduced to digital scrapbooking and it has transformed my methods for documenting our memories. I learned how to scan and photoshop and love the layouts I have been able to create. But there were still a couple of hurdles I was working on overcoming. 

1. These books are expensive! Even with me uploading my layouts and waiting for a Shutterfly sale, these books can get out of my price range. 
2. All my GoPro videos were having to be incorporated into my layouts via QR codes. Now, I need to have the scrapbook and an iPad to see everything. 

With all the special moments during our vacation, I really wanted to find a way to incorporate EVERYTHING. Mom and I were discussing during the race how much video was now being added to our memory maker packages and not just photos (we had video from rides and animated characters in our magic shots). I was lamenting that I wasn't going to have as many photos and how awesome it would be to incorporate videos on my page. 

Lightbulb moment!

I remembered how in my playbook for the Daily Digi Files (where I get my digital scrapbooking supplies) they have videos incorporated at the end of the book. What if there was a way to make these scrapbooks and just have an iPad to view them?

So, after two weeks of research and work, I have finished my first ever e-scrapbook! It documents all we did over the weekend in almost 40 pages of photos and videos. I have uploaded a sample of it (not the whole book) for you to check out if you would like. It's an iBook file so you will need to have iBooks to check it out. Over the next few blog posts, I'll explain how I created it!