Autograph books

[devonsmommy]

Do you make your own, or buy the Disney one?

Dd will have her first trip so I need to decide if I want to make one or not.

Share your tips!

[tgmousechick]

I've done our own for our last two trips. Here's the one from 2006:

This was a paper bag album, and I made a bunch of cardstock tags for the characters to sign. The tags fit into the pockets created by the paper bags.

And here's the one from our trip in March:

This one's a hybrid project. I raided Britt's store and paired her great digi kits with a tag template that I made. I printed the tags and brough them with us, and then I added the photos when we got home.

I brought a clipboard with us, along with a retractable sharpie on a ribbon. The clipboard seemed to be a big help for the characters.

HTH!
Kim

[juligrl]

We've made both of our autograph albums. We took 3x5 cards along and a small clipboard to collect character signatures then put them together with photos in an autograph album when we got home.



For the other album, we were going to do the same thing and get signatures and build a book when we got home, but instead of 3x5 cards we had a stack of ring bound paper to collect autographs. But my older daughter, then 5, really likes to draw and decided to instead draw pictures of all the characters she wanted to meet and get them to sign the pages as she met them. I am so glad she did that cause now she has this really cool, unique autograph album from her trip. What I might do, now that I have a working scanner, is scan her pages from her book in and make a photobook using her drawings/character autographs with pictures of her with the characters.

For my younger daughter we did the 3x5 cards on that trip (November) with the intention of making them into a photo/autograph album like older DDs first one, but we haven't started on it yet. It's not going anywhere!

[devonsmommy]

Thanks for sharing your images, they are all GREAT!

I like the idea of the 3 x 5 cards and then putting them with the picture. I may try that. That doesn't take too much preparation before hand!

[mvmarcz]

I just started making my own and I can't stop!

[Peanut&Piglet'sMom]

I'm planning on making one as well. I bought a simple scrapbook (hard cover, spiral bound) at Target in the dollar bin and plan on decorating it 'Disney' style.

$1 vesus $5 or more is soooooo much better!

[stormer]

If you are going to make your own check out the Creative DISigns section of the boards. They have great ones you can print out on your computer.

Penny's:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1640251

Natalie's:
http://www.4shared.com/dir/5978989/a...s_DISigns.html

[wwlees]

Wow, you all are so talented!

Natalie, I peeked ahead at your 2010 autograph book... love it! Any immediate plans to add the stepsisters? Would love to include them in our upcoming early June trip if you have them. If not, I'm still happy.

Wendy

[Neverland Scraps]

I was going to make our own...but since Disney was our first family vacation celebrating DH's return from Iraq we went a different route. I had delivered to our room two (that's how many children we have) baskets with a special note from my husband. Inside the basket was a Tinkerbell Autograph Book (they each had a different one) as well as a Autograph Pen, a box of cookies, a light-up jewel tiarra, some chocolates and something else, but I can't remember! This made the moment more special as the girls realized that Daddy was home for good and we could finally celebrate.

If I had to do it again--I'd get an autograph book there that screams Disney, maybe have the whole delivery thing again since everyone enjoyed that a lot!

[mom of princess]

juligrl, I like how yours was done. I was thinking of doing something similar for my dd but didn't know how to work it. Did I make the pages before going and then hunt everyone down? or do I make general pages for everyone that look the same? I'm thinking I might just cut some cardstock and put them on a ring instead of finding a small clipboard. Or could I just use white blank index cards? we would look a little like the old-school newspaper carriers as we flip thru the cards to find a blank one but who cares?! We'll be at DISNEY and no one will know us anyhow!!
Did you carry a sharpie with you? or have a special pen for the characters to use?

[juligrl]

We took our own clickable sharpie, but I think most of the character attendants also had pens in a pinch. You could really take anything you wanted for the characters to write on as long as there was some kind of hard surface. We just took blank cards we made and a small clipboard since that's what we had, and made scrapbook pages for the characters autographs we had when we got home.

Not to change the subject, but...hi neighbor! I'm just up the road a few miles from Jeannette.

[TamiV]

I loved the idea of making a page for each character, but didn't want to stress about seeing someone I didn't have a page for or not seeing someone I did have a page for. I went cheap and easy!

I bought a spiral bound autograph book at the dollar store, removed the cover and created my own out of cardstock. Used some Jolee's dimensional stickers (40% off with Michaels I then stapled a clear transparency over the top to protect it from damage.

They turned out cute and were very inexpensive. I'll see if I can find a photo and post it!

[mom of princess]

Originally Posted by juligrl

We took our own clickable sharpie, but I think most of the character attendants also had pens in a pinch. You could really take anything you wanted for the characters to write on as long as there was some kind of hard surface. We just took blank cards we made and a small clipboard since that's what we had, and made scrapbook pages for the characters autographs we had when we got home.

Not to change the subject, but...hi neighbor! I'm just up the road a few miles from Jeannette.

where are you from? I married into Jeannette, grew up in Penn Twp, and work in Greensburg. But you could also see me at least every other week at Idlewild for a "local vacation".

[mdsouth]

Originally Posted by mom of princess

juligrl, I like how yours was done. I was thinking of doing something similar for my dd but didn't know how to work it. Did I make the pages before going and then hunt everyone down? or do I make general pages for everyone that look the same? I'm thinking I might just cut some cardstock and put them on a ring instead of finding a small clipboard. Or could I just use white blank index cards? we would look a little like the old-school newspaper carriers as we flip thru the cards to find a blank one but who cares?! We'll be at DISNEY and no one will know us anyhow!!
Did you carry a sharpie with you? or have a special pen for the characters to use?

I have a friend that is a CM and is very "close friends" with Goofy .

He said that the retractable pens are great or the Sharpies with a cap. Just take the cap off before handing it to the character. He also says don't tie the sharpie to anything since this makes it difficult for the character.

I just took a stack of blank notecards (I had blue ones and white ones) and kept the stack of notecards and the sharpie in a quart size ziplock bag. Then we just pulled out a fresh card and pen for the charcter. I used one color of notecards for my DS and another color for my DD. You could also use various colors for different characters. The ziplock bag keeps the autographs protected from the rain and water rides!

I plan on bringing two bags with me next time, one labeled blank and another labeled completed. Then I can drop the completed ones in the completed bag so I don't accidently use a card twice. This also will eliminate the mad hunt as the character is waiting to find a fresh card. I also like the idea of a having a very small clipboard for them to use.

The kids and I had a great time making our own autograph book upon our return. We included pictures of the kids with the characters and decorated the pages and cover with stickers and embroidered items (cover).

We love our personalized autograph books.

[mdsouth]

I love the idea of having your child draw pictures of the characters.


In fact, my favorite page of my son's autograph book (handmade with character signatures on notecards), is the page where he added his own drawing of Pluto on the page. My DS put the autograph book together after our trip. He titled each page and wrote little notes about his interactions with some of the characters. It is truly a keepsake with his own handwriting and drawings included.

I guess I better get busy and take a photo of his album and post it here.