A Simple Guide to Making an Autograph Book

[debrose]

This is an awesome idea! I can't wait to get started on one for DD.

 

[dedepots]

I took loose autograph cards last trip and plan to do it again. I had them in a creative memories photo holder. I would recommend some type of photo holder instead of a coupon one since they are specifically made to hold items 4x6 (if that's the size you are using) and it will keep the pages from getting bent. You can find them in the scrapbook section of most craft stores. They also usually have the accordian on the bottom for expansion so they will fit the cards in them better, most coupon holders fan out on the top only. Office supply stores will probably have something that works too. I had a TON of cards with me and organized them by who I would see each day. I only took the cards for the day and several blanks so Ididn't need to carry so much. If we started our day at Chef Mickey's then I had all those characters together and then later at Magic Kingdom I knew I would try to see the fairies & princessess so I had them too. I used mini clip boards that I kept in my backpack for the characters to write on. Another great tip is to use the retractable sharpies. Not only are they big enough for the characters to hold you don't need to fuss with loosing pen caps.

 

[MusicMouse]

I took loose autograph cards last trip and plan to do it again. I had them in a creative memories photo holder. I would recommend some type of photo holder instead of a coupon one since they are specifically made to hold items 4x6 (if that's the size you are using) and it will keep the pages from getting bent. You can find them in the scrapbook section of most craft stores. They also usually have the accordian on the bottom for expansion so they will fit the cards in them better, most coupon holders fan out on the top only. Office supply stores will probably have something that works too. I had a TON of cards with me and organized them by who I would see each day. I only took the cards for the day and several blanks so Ididn't need to carry so much. If we started our day at Chef Mickey's then I had all those characters together and then later at Magic Kingdom I knew I would try to see the fairies & princessess so I had them too. I used mini clip boards that I kept in my backpack for the characters to write on. Another great tip is to use the retractable sharpies. Not only are they big enough for the characters to hold you don't need to fuss with loosing pen caps.

Thank you, Dedepots! It's always great to get reports of what works "in the field" for autograph book organization. And: to the DISboards!!

 

[pinkxray]

I just picked up my book from Kinkos. I love it and just wanted to that all the disigners. I think I got most of the disigns from donatalie and the inside Bolt picture and Stitch backcover from Tebi73.

Kinkos messed it up a little but it still looks okay. I had glued the cover, a blank sheet, and inside of the cover together to make it a little thicker. I also did this with the back cover. I said I wanted the cover and back cover laminated. The girl at the register took it over to a girl in the back. I could see the girl in the back pulling apart the pages that were glued together. So, then I asked for it back and said they were supposed to be glued and got a few paperclips to hold the pages together to show what was the cover and what was the back cover to be laminated. What happens when I pick up the book? The pages are separated again! I brought it home and just superglued the pages that should have been the cover together. It looks fine but now the inside cover and back cover aren't covered. Oh well.

Here is the book:

Front Cover

Inside of back cover

Inside cover and 1st page

back cover

inside page

 

[MusicMouse]

Nice job! If you want to, you can still laminate the covers yourself using clear contact paper. It will give them some extra protection from wear and tear.

 

[KristyBDJ]

ok, so you directed me to this awesome thread from my own thread...here's the question again. I hope you can help. I want to print my autograph book and Epcot passports as photobooks, not individual cards but the actual books you can have printed from photo sites. Anyway...all the designs from fellow DISers are on photobucket... they don't show photobooks in their store so whats the fastest easiest way to get those images to a site like Walmart to have the photobooks made? Did that make sense? I hope so. And I will admit, I have read through about half of this thread so if this info is in a post somewhere just point me in the right direction! TIA

 

[pinkxray]

Nice job! If you want to, you can still laminate the covers yourself using clear contact paper. It will give them some extra protection from wear and tear.

Thanks! I was wondering if I could just use contact paper to finish it off. I think I will try it.

 

[MusicMouse]

ok, so you directed me to this awesome thread from my own thread...here's the question again. I hope you can help. I want to print my autograph book and Epcot passports as photobooks, not individual cards but the actual books you can have printed from photo sites. Anyway...all the designs from fellow DISers are on photobucket... they don't show photobooks in their store so whats the fastest easiest way to get those images to a site like Walmart to have the photobooks made? Did that make sense? I hope so. And I will admit, I have read through about half of this thread so if this info is in a post somewhere just point me in the right direction! TIA

The easiest way to get the images to a photo site is to:
1) Go to the photobucket with your design choices, click to enlarge the image, right-click on the image, choose "save photo as", and save all of the images you want to put into your book in a separate folder on your computer.
2) Once you have all of the images you want, upload them to the photo site of your choice (we have had great results reported from shutterfly, snapfish, and artscow).
3) Make your book. If you want one design per page, try a 4x6 or 5x7. If you do an 8x8, you can put more than one image per page, but you will need to download your images from someone who does 8x8 images (elizablake has some really nice 8x8 designs here: http://s758.photobucket.com/albums/xx224/elizablake_bucket/Autograph Book 8x8/).

Good luck!

 

[cajunlace]

Last year we took a quick trip to the world and so I didn't have time to make any books so we purchased the plain paper ones at the resort and the problem that we had was that the characters we signing on both sides of the book. So we had a character's name on the front and the back of the pages. I know that the characters are in a hurry to get to many people but i wish that they would slow down and all sign on the same side. I hope ya'll don't have that problem with ya'll cards. They look great.

 

[KristyBDJ]

The easiest way to get the images to a photo site is to:
1) Go to the photobucket with your design choices, click to enlarge the image, right-click on the image, choose "save photo as", and save all of the images you want to put into your book in a separate folder on your computer.
2) Once you have all of the images you want, upload them to the photo site of your choice (we have had great results reported from shutterfly, snapfish, and artscow).
3) Make your book. If you want one design per page, try a 4x6 or 5x7. If you do an 8x8, you can put more than one image per page, but you will need to download your images from someone who does 8x8 images (elizablake has some really nice 8x8 designs here: http://s758.photobucket.com/albums/xx224/elizablake_bucket/Autograph Book 8x8/).

Good luck!

Thanks. I just thought there would be a way to do an entire album of images at once, rather than image by image. Anyway, I'll be working on that all day

 

[Caydence3]

Ok a few quick question

When you have the pages printed at (Snapfish, Wal-mart, ect) as a 4*6, do you paste them on cardstock thats a 5*7?

Also do you do one for each park? or for each character meal? Just wondering b/c I have ADR's for Storybook Princess and Cindy's Royal Table.

 

[MusicMouse]

Ok a few quick question

When you have the pages printed at (Snapfish, Wal-mart, ect) as a 4*6, do you paste them on cardstock thats a 5*7?

Also do you do one for each park? or for each character meal? Just wondering b/c I have ADR's for Storybook Princess and Cindy's Royal Table.

If you paste them onto cardstock, you should use 5x7 and paste them at the bottom of the card so that there is space at the top to be bound. Be sure to use something very strong as a glue, such as scrapbooking adhesive or rubber cement. If you don't want to mess with all of that, you can put them in a plain photo album that you can "Disney-fy" to make it personal. Some of these have turned out VERY cute, and then you can use the signed photo cards for scrapbooking or making a memory photo album later (signed card next to pic of you and the character).

My best suggestion is to put all of your regular cards in alphabetical order, and then put your character meal cards at the end, grouped by restaurant, so that they are easier to find.

 

[MusicMouse]

Thanks. I just thought there would be a way to do an entire album of images at once, rather than image by image. Anyway, I'll be working on that all day

Sorry, but there is no shortcut for this. Think of it as a labor of love... BTW, if you want a copy of the passport that is already in MS Word that you can print right onto cardstock (front and back) and then staple together, check out this thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1509917. It's a quick way to do them at home, and they really look like passports when you are finished.

 

[MusicMouse]

For those of you going during Spring break...

Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny will be appearing in Town Square at the Magic Kingdom from March 28th-April 4th.

Good Times Gathering Spot at Disney's Animal Kingdom will be open from March 28th-April 10th. Pocahontas will be there will her forest friends, including: Meeko, Chip, Dale, Miss Bunny, and Thumper.

 

[mollybug2]

I love love love these designs! I am having trouble, though... I went in Donatalie's Photobucket page and right clicked each image I wanted, did "save as," etc. When I upload this image to the photo site (I am trying to make them into a soft cover photo book) the images are not high enough resolution. What am I doing wrong? Thanks, I feel like an idiot!

EDITED TO ADD: DUH! I figured it out. I was only saving the thumbnails. Today is NOT my day!!! Off to open and save oodles of files!

 

[MusicMouse]

Don't feel badly, Mollybug2 - a lot of people accidentally save the thumbnails the first time! Be sure to post pics of your finished photobooks when you get them. I just love to see everybody's individual touches on their autograph books!

 

[jas0202]

Thanks so much for the directions and the links to all of the autograph pages! They are just awesome. We are planning our first trip, hopefully in November. I am thinking of making one of these books for each of our little girls. I do have a logistical question, however.

So, suppose that I print out all of the pages, but then we end up not seeing some of the characters... What is your recommendation for a "temporary" binding with all of the pages to take on the trip so the cards are held together, but then still having the ability to remove the pages that we didn't get signed when we returned home and make a more permanent binding when we get home? Does that make any sense?

 

[disneybliss2]

I'm tickled pink that I discovered this thread. I've been mulling over the idea of making my girls an autograph book, but had just recently decided not to because I feel overwhelmed by the computer graphics portion of these creations. I'm good w/ your basics--MS word, Excel, Power Point, etc., but I feel making these projects requires a whole other level of computer expertise. After reading through this entire thread, I feel inspired again. I just hope when I don't attempt to make one of these projects I don't start feeling overwhelmed all over again. I have a few questions before I start to make sure I understand everything and to clear confusions.

What is the benefit of saving a picture from someone's photobucket into a picture file and then transferring it to MS word if I'm adding wording (text box)? Why can't I skip saving it to pictures and just save it directly to MS word? (I'm assuming the quality of the picture is compromised????)

In the past, we used the autograph books we bought at WDW that was like a 4 X 6 photo book. One page to slip a picture in later and on the opposite side the character signed. It only had around 12 different character spots though (24 pages total); not near enough room for all the characters you encounter,so mid trip we bought a second one--added expense. Then we ended up buying just a simple autograph book that didn't have a spot for pictures; it just had plain white pages for autographs just because it was more cost friendly but would ensure she could get all characters' autographs. She doesn't ever look at it, though. (I'm sure it has something to do w/ just the plain white pages and just a signature. Also, when she was little and couldn't read, it was hard for her to know who was who).

I like the idea of making my own now so that I'm not buying multiple books, and it would be cuter than plain white pages. Should I just print off the pages from Donatalie's site that has a picture of the character for the page to be signed, or should I do a 4X 6 book that would have a page for a photo of my daughters w/the character for me to add later and a spot for the autograph? I'm afraid it would end up being waaaaay to long if I held a spot for a photograph to accompany every character which would add expense and make it too bulky. Could I leave 2 spots (one for signature & one for photo) for my girls' favorite characters only?

Last question: do you find it cheaper to print the character signature pages off as pictures at Wal-Mart and then binding the book or putting into a 4X6 photo album, or is it cheaper to create into books on a photo site such as artscow? (Does Wal-Mart do these as well; anyone like theirs?)

Sorry for asking so many questions!!!!!! I've learned a lot by reading this thread and am inspired. Hoping w/ a little direction from you guys on the questions I asked that I can figure all of this out. THANKS!

 

[MusicMouse]

Thanks so much for the directions and the links to all of the autograph pages! They are just awesome. We are planning our first trip, hopefully in November. I am thinking of making one of these books for each of our little girls. I do have a logistical question, however.

So, suppose that I print out all of the pages, but then we end up not seeing some of the characters... What is your recommendation for a "temporary" binding with all of the pages to take on the trip so the cards are held together, but then still having the ability to remove the pages that we didn't get signed when we returned home and make a more permanent binding when we get home? Does that make any sense?

You have a couple of options. You can leave your cards unbound, slip them into a photo album to carry around the parks, and then bind the ones with autographs when you get home. You can also just have them spiral bound at Kinkos, get all of your autographs, and then take out the blanks when you get home. This is what I did, and it was fairly easy to take out the spiral wire, remove the blanks, and then put the spiral wire back in.

 

[MusicMouse]

I'm tickled pink that I discovered this thread. I've been mulling over the idea of making my girls an autograph book, but had just recently decided not to because I feel overwhelmed by the computer graphics portion of these creations. I'm good w/ your basics--MS word, Excel, Power Point, etc., but I feel making these projects requires a whole other level of computer expertise. After reading through this entire thread, I feel inspired again. I just hope when I don't attempt to make one of these projects I don't start feeling overwhelmed all over again. I have a few questions before I start to make sure I understand everything and to clear confusions.

What is the benefit of saving a picture from someone's photobucket into a picture file and then transferring it to MS word if I'm adding wording (text box)? Why can't I skip saving it to pictures and just save it directly to MS word? (I'm assuming the quality of the picture is compromised????) Yes, when you don't save it as a picture, the quality is degraded.

In the past, we used the autograph books we bought at WDW that was like a 4 X 6 photo book. One page to slip a picture in later and on the opposite side the character signed. It only had around 12 different character spots though (24 pages total); not near enough room for all the characters you encounter,so mid trip we bought a second one--added expense. Then we ended up buying just a simple autograph book that didn't have a spot for pictures; it just had plain white pages for autographs just because it was more cost friendly but would ensure she could get all characters' autographs. She doesn't ever look at it, though. (I'm sure it has something to do w/ just the plain white pages and just a signature. Also, when she was little and couldn't read, it was hard for her to know who was who).

I like the idea of making my own now so that I'm not buying multiple books, and it would be cuter than plain white pages. Should I just print off the pages from Donatalie's site that has a picture of the character for the page to be signed, or should I do a 4X 6 book that would have a page for a photo of my daughters w/the character for me to add later and a spot for the autograph? I'm afraid it would end up being waaaaay to long if I held a spot for a photograph to accompany every character which would add expense and make it too bulky. Could I leave 2 spots (one for signature & one for photo) for my girls' favorite characters only? I would print out the characters as 4x6 cards for a small book. If, after your trip, you want to put each card with a picture, you can buy a scrapbook or photo album that is big enough to hold one card and one picture on each page (or two cards and 2 pictures if you want a larger finished product). You can also do this as a digital photobook after your trip if you want to scan your autographed cards into your computer and then upload the card images and photos to someplace like shutterfly or artscow.
Last question: do you find it cheaper to print the character signature pages off as pictures at Wal-Mart and then binding the book or putting into a 4X6 photo album, or is it cheaper to create into books on a photo site such as artscow? (Does Wal-Mart do these as well; anyone like theirs?) I know that you can make digital photobooks at Walmart, but I can't vouch for the quality. I have only had books done at Shutterfly. Most of these photobook places have places to sign up with your e-mail to receive discount offers, which helps defray the cost significantly. You will have to run the numbers yourself, since it will really depend on how many images you want to include. Remember to factor in the value of your time and the cost of binding (about $9 at Kinkos). I printed mine onto cardstock with my own printer, so that I only had to pay for cardstock and however much toner I used.

Sorry for asking so many questions!!!!!! I've learned a lot by reading this thread and am inspired. Hoping w/ a little direction from you guys on the questions I asked that I can figure all of this out. THANKS!

I'm so excited that you have decided to give it a try! I've answered your questions above in red. And there is no need to apologize - feel free to ask as many questions as you need to!