The Addams Family Scrapbook Layout

The boys’ high school drama club performed The Addams Family last spring and my youngest son Zach, who was in 10th Grade, was cast as Lurch. Having never seen the movies or old show, I knew he was a little disappointed at first. All he had to do grunt and act half-dead, but he totally made the role his own. He expressed so much without using any words, and anyone could clearly see he had a lot of fun doing it!

The photo on this layout was taken just as the curtain came up showing all the main characters in front of the Addams family tomb. I thought this photo deserved its own layout so here it is, but there is more than meets the eye. . . .

Scrapbook Tips

My go-to for show layouts, whether high-school or Broadway productions, is using the cover of the playbill as my starting inspiration. This was no different! The promotional material of The Addams Family uses a black and white cartoon sketching of the family in a vertical oval frame against a burgundy wall. That’s what I tried to recreate here, but logistically had to make some changes.

My photo worked better in a horizontal orientation and I found on oval frame to cut with my silhouette Cameo. To give it an aged look, I inked it with some black ink using a finger dauber. I like the subtle touch it added.

I searched what font is used on the actual playbill, but could not find it. So I found something similar to die cut my title.

Usually on the first layout of a show I like to include the program, ticket stubs, and any other memorabilia we have from that night. There was not really a great way to incorporate it and keep the look of the program, so I created a pocket that would hold this.

When I went to adhere my burgundy paper, I used 1/4” Scor-Tape on the bottom and sides of the page to create a pocket. In this pocket is the program and ticket stubs.

One aspect of this layout that I am particularly excited about is the fact that I created QR codes that when scanned, will bring up the videos I took of the boys performing. I got this idea from Debbie Sanders and Allison Davis of Scrapbook Generation. At first I was intimidated at the idea because I am not really tech-savvy, but I loved the concept of having the memory contained within the pages of my scrapbook. After learning how to do it, which is really quite easy, I have fallen in love with this concept!

I do have a recording of the entire play, but the reality is that I will most likely never watch it from beginning to end. I typically go directly to the scenes where Caleb and Zach are performing. I had recorded my boys’ performances in certain scenes and after uploading the videos to my YouTube account, I placed the QR code in the program next to the song featured in that video.

By looking at this program, I am able to watch my guys perform! It’s awesome to have this information right in the scrapbook. I love this so much that I am going through old layouts and adding QR codes so I can incorporate as many videos as I possibly can. This will be a huge undertaking but it is so worth it to bring my scrapbook layouts to life. I also think this is so important for my sons, seeing as they lost their dad when they were five and six-years-old. I have so much video footage of him that I will be able to add throughout the scrapbooks to preserve this information for them and their future families.

My family knows that my layouts contain tons of what I call "love letters" to them within the pages of my albums. I’ve made a conscious effort to include as much memorabilia as possible, as well as personal notes. My scrapbooks are a love letter to them, and they love that fact I have learned how to incorporate videos into my layouts!

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Bazzill and Simple Stories

Die Cut- Vintage Oval Frame by Tanya Batak Designs - Silhouette Design ID# 211940

Title Font - Fiddums Family