Homemade autograph books

[Blaze12]

I was thinking of making my own, instead of buying the ones they sell, just to make it more special for our little one. Any tips, ideas, etc?? I dont know where to begin, but this community is so great and full of wonderful ideas I figured someone would be able to stear me in the right direction!!!!

 

[snyderla]

Sorry, I've never bought or used one. But I do remember reading a neat idea on here once for one. Someone suggested buying postcards of the characters ahead of time and having them autograph the postcards. I've also read where people have bought 4x6 photo albums and used 4x6 blank index cards for autographs, then placed a photo of there family member getting the autograph next to the card. I think you would have to bring something solid for the card to sit on while being signed.

I bet there are some other great ideas out there!!
Lori

 

[meeko_33785]

See if This Page has the info you're looking for.

 

[melee]

Hi Blaze12,

Before our 2001 trip I helped our kids (age 9, 6 and 4) make their own passports for EPCOT. We punched two holes along the edge of 3X5 index cards, reinforced the holes with those little adhesive things and tied the edge with fancy mylar ribbon. I copied Disney clip-art, flags from the countries, and text from a neat website that had Mickey Mouse in different languages. I also made copies of the word passport and their names to put on the cover. The kids did all their own cutting,"glue sticking", hole punching, etc. I thought the "kid crafted" look was great and so did the CMs at EPCOT. The kids got lots of attention and compliments on their work. They were so proud of themselves! At our character breakfast the characters admired their work and signed the blank pages we put in the back of the passports. It's three years later and now the kids are looking through their momentoes in anticipation of our Feb. trip. The passports are still prized possessions!
Enjoy your trip!

 

[melee]

Hi again...
Oops! We used 4X6 cards.... not the little ones!

 

[kessieann]

I have my book all ready to go and though it has probably cost me 3x more then a normal one I feel it is worth it.

I took a small 4x6 spiral album (which I got for 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby) and turned it into an autograph book. When stickers were 1/2 off I purchased a bunch of different Disney ones. Then when iron and stick on patches were 1/2 off I bought all the Princess ones. When Disney ribbon was 1/2 off I got a bunch of that also. I had glitter in my scrapbooking supplies as well as seed beeds which I used for Snow Whites apple.

Basically one side of the book will be for the autograph and the opposite page will be for a picture to be placed. This size also has sheet protectors available. Here are some links to my book in case you are curious (FYI I am a terrible picture taker). I just had so much fun making this book and I know it will be a keepsake for a long time to come

http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/millersbg/img_0998.jpg

http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/millersbg/img_0999.jpg

http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/millersbg/img_1005.jpg

http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/millersbg/img_1006.jpg

http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/millersbg/img_1007.jpg


http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/millersbg/img_1008.jpg

http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/millersbg/img_1010.jpg

 

[bobcat]

We made our own autograph books last year and they were a huge hit. I bought a small spiral notebooks, about 4x6, and the kids decorated each page with one character. We used clip art, stickers and scrapbook paper. We also added a flag for each of the World Showcase countries. We made them in the week leading up to our trip and it helped keep the kids busy. The characters loved seeing their pictures and the kids got a lot of attention.

 

[gopherit]

I made books for each of the 4 kids (my 3 kids plus 1 nephew). I bought 4X6 photo album ($1 each at Big Lots) that had a 3-ring binder. Took out about half of the photo pages. Covered it in Disney fabric, with each child's name painted on it. Then made pages using clip art from computer and stickers. Also made a "passport" section. For each country, there was a page for the stamp, then a page for the message. I bordered each using clip art of that country's flag. I also had little tabs that you could use to flip quickly to the section needed. When the trip was over and the photos were developed, the kids could slide in their fave pics in place with the autograph or country the picture represented. The kids LOVED these, and the CMs and characters went nuts too.

One word of advice -- make more than one page for the key characters. You will most likely see Goofy and Mickey, etc., more than once, and your child will invariably want the autograph each time (it was really cool, too, watching them compare the autographs and realize how very good these characters are at making the sig all the same!) It was also funny watching characters react to having their own special page. Terk went beserk, running around showing her page to anyone who would stop and look, as did Daisy Duck. But beware the character whose picture you do NOT have in your book -- yikes! Thought Captain Hook was going to make us all walk the plank.

 

[itsmetigress]

kessieann i LOVE that book..i have seen those patches marked down for a long time and never bought them because i though "what in the world would i do with those" now i know..but now i can bet i wont find anymore lol i am thinking of doing one like that now and having the princess sign with like a glitter gel pen and the costume characters ie mickey,pluto etc sign with a thin line sharpie {the thicker lines tend to run together} so its a little easier to hold than a regular pen..i can tell i will be hitting the craft stores today thanks for the great ideas guys...anyone know where there is some really good clip art for the characters i dont find patches of? wouldnt want to leave anyone out..

 

[Blaze12]

WOW!! Thanks for all the responses!!!!!!! Everyone has some really GREAT ideas!!! And the pictures of the albums look GREAT!!!

 

[meeko_33785]

Originally posted by itsmetigress
anyone know where there is some really good clip art for the characters i dont find patches of? wouldnt want to leave anyone out..

Check the Character Index on my web site. It has clip art for all the characters (the ones rated one to four stars are the ones that you could see out for meet and greets, the ones with five stars usually only do parades and shows, and the ones that say Seasonal usually only do MNSSHP and/ or MVMCP.)

 

[debm]

I suppose it depends on if you want to make them to save money or make them because you want something different. I was tired of buying the WDW ones each trip only to have them thrown into a box or under the bed and never looked at again. So this year I wanted to do something different. "Unfortunately" I got hooked in scrapbooking this year. So I actually took pages from my kids' books in a bag for the characters to sign. I didn't bring the entire book because it would have been much to big. We ended up using a couple of pages per kid with room for pictures. So now that I put them into the albums I have their pictures with the characters opposite the autographs or in some cases if there was enough room right on the same page. My kids are 10, 8, 5, and 1. I have to admit they love it! My oldest was looking at his last night. Then for my littlest one we used a 7x7 size page and had the characters sign only one per page. Then we made a little book for him with his pictures of Disney with the autographs. No longer will it be a meaningless book thrown under the bed. He loves to flip through the pages of him with the characters. "MiMi MiMi" he says for Mickey. This was actually my friend's idea so I can't take credit. But it worked great. We also made an ABC book of Disney for my son the same way with the pictures of us on the trip. Creative Memories puts out a Disney pack made specifically for the 7X7 book. Everything is already cut and the stickers are included so it took me about 1-2 hours to put it all together. He loves it! Let me know if you have any questions. Have fun! Debi

 

[frannn]

Once in a while the DS carries notepads/books/journals with princesses, winnie the pooh, etc. These usually have festive covers, their own pen, and lined pages with pictures on them. The pages are usually colored and lined. My DDs used the princess books, and each princess made a big deal about finding themselves on the cover. You could add stickers to this book as well. Last trip, we just got DD1 a WDW autograph book & pen, because she didn't understand the concept before we went. We'll see about our next trip!