Boyfriend/girlfriend SCRAPBOOK (Cute little boyfriend activities, Valentine’s Special 2!!)

A boyfriend/girlfriend or couples scrapbook is the cutest idea I’ve ever had. It was this winter break…I was missing my crafty days and scrapbooking (I never got enough into it but always wanted to!) and thought, “what if I make it boyfriend edition” and sure enough, there was a lot of good inspiration on Pinterest. Maybe I’ll also sprinkle random scrapbooking tips throughout this blog post as well.

Tip #1: Use Pinterest!! It is literally made for this. Get inspiration. But also, make your own ideas. That will always feel personal, and will likely be some of your favorite spreads.

Tip #2: “Spreads” are what the design pages are called in a scrapbook or bullet journal (which is why I used to have before I tried scrapbooking this time).

It’s a great, unique idea, if you’re crafty and you’re into that. And if you like paper, stickers (I LOOOOOOOVE stickers), photos idk? which are all things I personally find very essential to my scrapbooking, though I’m sure everyone can and does do it a little bit differently and maybe prioritize things over others.

Tip #3: Use paper as a background for photos or anything else you put on the spread.

Tip #4: A mini phone printer is a MUST for scrapbooking! Scrapbooking is literally not scrapbooking without it, in my opinion. I got mine (a white/rose gold Canon Ivy printer) on Amazon for about $100 I think but it is worth every penny for the amount that I have used it! You refill the paper, it comes in packs of 10. The paper is also like a sticker. Which is super convenient. It prints and you just stick it, don’t have to worry about glue. It prints not to the best of quality but it is still definitely the pictures. You can print right off your phone, through an app. The only thing is that it discharges so quickly, after like 6 photos. But it’s okay. 6 photos is a lot anyway. That can cover a whole page almost fully. You want the photos, but you don’t always want it to just be the photos or the photos the focus.

But seriously the paper and stickers are the best part! I love looking at paper and stickers. I literally want more. So bad. All the time. It’s just so fun.

One of only things I’m looking forward to about going back to my prison tomorrow (Starting to write this on Wed. January 17th) is the fact that Madison has a really cool crafty store where they have so many cute little local homemade crafty things. Unique stickers, that I could look for hours. That I’ve never seen anywhere. So I’m excited. Probably gonna do that the first weekend back, meaning in a week. Next Saturday. I went there before, but it’s going to hit so different now that I tapped back into my creative crafty scrapbooking side/love. I’ve scoured all of the Shein site before for stickers (where I get all my clothes from lol) and paper. And they actually have a lot. And I have some right now. But I looked more recently and didn’t find anything crazy. So I’m excited for the store because they have more unique things and I know I’ll find so much because even as I was looking the first time without being into or actively scrapbooking at the time, the entire time I kept thinking how perfect it would be for scrapbooking and crafts. Or just like- that type of person. And that type of person is me = I am that type of person.

I’m very surprised that there’s something I’m looking forward to, there.

So important to find things that bring you joy, especially when life is exploding in bombs.

I will probably a little haul on this blog post of what I get. I also went to Hobby Lobby and Michael’s recently. And that was fun! Maybe I’ll add that too. I got like 9 different washi tapes and I believe I’ve literally used all of them at least once already. And a bunch of paper. And some stickers. Also a calligraphy pen and a paint pen.

Tip #5: Washi tape is a great decoration for scrapbooking, most popularly used to border pictures, but also seen to border anything (like the actual page, for example).

Tip #6: If you’re not familiar, calligraphy is when you make different thicknesses based on the amount of pressure you press down on the paper with your pen. People mix the different thicknesses for pretty lettering or titles. I don’t know much about original calligraphy though.

Tip #7: A white paint pen is perfect for scrapbooking paper! Because it is brown, the white creates a nice contrast, and has the scrapbooking look (kind-of rough, school and cardboard-y). A paint pen is also nice because it’s much easier to use than actual paint.

An idea that I had, and something I really want, but I don’t know if it exists (just like with the whole idea of this couples scrapbooking, and it apparently does exist) is something I could buy, and in terms of object, something similar to the mini phone printer, but instead of printing photos, it would print whatever stickers I wanted. Meaning I could design stickers, and the shape, and it’d print them. That’d be awesome. I need to check if anything like that exists. The mini phone printer reminds me of that because the size is perfect, and the pictures it prints are sticky. But it’s all the same shape, as you’ll see later on. It’s just a rectangle. It actually looks a lot like a Polaroid, now that I think about it. And also, the main thing is really the pictures. But with stickers, the main focus is just fun and decorative. And what really makes them stickers and makes them different is the fun different shapes.

I was actually in between a Polaroid and a mini phone printer. But I’m so glad I went with mini phone printer. I would not use the Polaroid. I’m not even that into pictures…unless it’s for scrapbooking, to be honest (that’s a different topic for a different post a different day, though). If you’re thinking about scrapbooking, it is much more convenient to take pictures with your phone in the moment, and print them off later very conveniently through your phone through an app. You don’t have to think with the Polaroid, about catching pictures, and at the exact right moment, and you only have a set amount of film. But your phone has unlimited storage to take pictures (for this point). You have more options with the pictures you choose to print from. And the Polaroid doesn’t print sticky, and it would be more bulky to glue it on the paper. The mini phone printer prints smooth and thin. And you just stick off the back and stick it onto paper. Both are similar sizes and shapes (a small white rectangle). A Polaroid’s actual picture is maybe smaller, because of that little caption thing it has on the bottom.

So I guess it really depends on your goals, but for scrapbooking, mini phone printer = a must!! It’s an investment that’s worth it, take it from me, someone who’s used it a lot, who’s into this stuff.

I want to go over my entire scrapbook with you. Well, some select pages. Not everything. Just the sole reason of it would be too much is enough already.

I’m sorry in advance apparently I’m really bad at taking pictures and so some of the pages are a little cut-off. But nothing too serious. You still will very much get the idea of just about everything.

Here is an original spread. Using actual text messages/text images, with actual time stamps. The upper left picture was a sunset picture during our first time ice fishing together (his first time, my second time). The bottom is an aesthetic image I had in my mind, though I don’t think it really worked. Attempted to make a heart with our boots (also during ice fishing). But instead my legs look like Vecna got me and I’m about to be taken.

Pictures from our first Christmas together. Upper right and lower left is from when we made gingerbread houses. Upper left was a walk in Milwaukee after ice skating. Bottom center is perfect little sugar cookies that we made (decorated versions not shown, but we decorated them with green and red frosting that we made them that had like a million grains of sugar, and hot pink sprinkles. They were pretty but I guess I decided to go for the process instead. Either way our cookies looked pretty good and tasted quite sugary, I guess like they should). The center picture that is framed in sparkly gold washi tape (and bottom right corner) were from actual Christmas Day. Also notice how I had the perfect “Merry Christmas” paper in the background for this. I didn’t even know I had it to be honest! In the center is also a frosting window with gumdrops; the drawing was inspired from our gingerbread house. Very faintly in the upper right corner is a gingerbread man that I never finished. My favorite part might honestly be the Starbucks green bow to the left of center. I thought those were stickers, but I had to cut it out and flatten it out and I struggled gluing it on because the corners kept popping up. But it was all worth it. I have ranted about these winter bow cups. They are the best part of Christmas, and make my life worth living (I’m not lying).

6 month anniversary. Not much to point out here. We went to an escape room. I love all the orange theme because I love orange and it’s an underrated color. I used the wintry cutout because our 6 month anniversary was in winter (contrary to beginning of dating which was summer). Some variety. Went a little crazy with the washi tape but I loved all the outlining. I tried to match the washi tape by colors. Orange for the pictures of us at the Mexican restaurant (which was an amazing restaurant btw, very cute atmosphere inside, amazing elote, and they had mango juice) because I was wearing an orange skirt. I also found stickers of time (because time anniversary AND escape room; it fit both). And a key for more escape room symbolism. I matched those with gold tape for the key, and colorful marble tape for the watch. That one was annoying to wrap. I had to cut it up in so many pieces. But I loved how it turned out, so all worth it!

Tip #8: Find stickers related to your spread and be creative with it. Like how the clock, in this example, is both symbolic of time, anniversary, and time for an escape room. It will make it more special for you if you find your own secret hidden meanings.

Tip #9: To wrap washi tape around a round object (like a clock) you will have to rip up the washi tip in many pieces. It takes extra, work, time, and patience, but I promise you it’s worth it!

Tip #10: In crafting, in people who want to live aesthetic lives, in everything, theme is everything. If you can, if you want, pick a theme, see a theme, and stick to it! Whether it’s colors, color-matching, vibe-matching, or matching to your event that you’re scrapbooking about. There are so many different ideas, and it’s completely subjective too, what your theme is and how you adapt to it, so be authetic!

Wedding that we went to. I had fun with the “the boys” because they took some funny pictures. Looking tight, I guess. I matched colors of the washi tape again. I had the perfect champagne color for the bridesmaids. I also loved the stickers I had for these. Pretty mosaic church windows (at least that’s kind-of how I think of them, because my church always had pretty mosaic windows) and pretty mosaic pink-purple butterflies.

With this page, I just want to point out that not everything in the scrapbook has to be based around pictures, even though that is most and that is good, but it’s ultimately memories. This one was about a symbolic show that we watched. We both picked out quotes we liked from the show. Two sets of stickers to symbolize two different characters. The show is very cottagecore so that’s what the fifth stickers is all about. And the background of the fox was perfect not only because there is fox symbolism in the show, but because a lot of it is based in winter and very aesthetic. Very associated with winter, for me.

Most of our spreads are original and just our own pictures and creations, however this one was inspired by Pinterest. I have board and we have actually made quite a bit from it. This one is simple, but I just love how it turned out, honestly. I love the touch of the (very expensive $8 from Michaels) colorful hearts in the timeline and the stickers.