I’m prepping for our Disney World vacation that is coming up in October… I KNOW I have two more months, I’m a planner, remember? Anyway, our last trip to Disney when our oldest was 5 was FILLED with meeting all sorts of characters… as was our Honeymoon trip to vacation (seriously, my husband had never been… he was a kid in a candy store – best honeymoon EVER). We purchased the Disney Autograph book and pen last time, but there really wasn’t a good way to add pictures and the book isn’t cheap. I decided this time I would make each of my kids a book that they could bring with them and fill with all of their favorite characters signatures and when we got home we could fill it with pictures of them and said characters.
Today I’m sharing how I created mine… for $2.60 each!
I started with index cards that I picked up at Staples. The first two packs of 100 were $.50 each. I bought two. I also picked up some book rings – the smallest quantity they had was 16 for $4.49. Lastly I grabbed three colored Sharpies for $.99 each. I created the covers on the computer and printed them out – they were sized to 3×5. You can also decorate the blank note card with scrapbook paper, pictures, stickers, markers, etc. Optional: I found a bunch of Disney Character images online, put them into a document and printed onto a full sheet label.
I divided the cards up – I used 6using 60 per book. I then used my hole punch to punch two holes in the left hand side of the cards.
I used my laminating machine to laminate the covers and then punched holes in those as well. Grab your book rings and assemble your books.
Embellish inside pages as desired, tie on your Sharpie and you’re done!
Take a peek at the back covers:
I love that these can be hung from the hook and they are surprisingly durable! I saw some note card boxes at Staples that I thought would be a great way to store these special keepsakes. I plan on printing 3×5 pictures of the kids and the characters onto card stock and then inserting them into the books next to the characters signatures.
Thank you so much for this post. I want to let you know that I posted a link to your blog in Creative Busy Bee Craft Inspirations, under the Page 1 post on Aug. 28, 2012. Thanks again.
Thank you so much for this post. I want to let you know that I posted a link to your blog in Creative Busy Bee Craft Inspirations, under the Page 2 post on Aug. 28, 2012. Thanks again.
You are so organized. What a great idea!
great idea! i need to make a book for my daughter. we are going to disney in about 3 weeks!
This is all kinds of amazing! We’re going to Disneyland in October also. I’m totally doing this! Thanks!
Kim we love checking into your blog every week. THis is a super fun idea and we would love for you to link it up in our Crafty Showcase. It runs Sat-Thur and then we feature our fav pics on Friday. Stop on over!
susie @Bowdabra
http://bowdabrablog.com/2012/08/25/saturday-showcase-craft-projects-16/
Very cute! Hope you have a great trip in Disney World! I’m planning to make books for our kids for our trip to Disneyland in September and I will post it on my blog also, but I would love to link to yours as well because they are very cute. My site is preschoolears.com.
Those are really cute and they look easier to handle than the books you can buy at Disney! Pinning and thanks for the Pin It! button.
We r taking our 4yr old (then she’ll b 5!) in may 2013! I may have to make this early tho bc idk if I can wait!! Btw I wld suggest the click top sharpies! I already purchased some for our trip! They have the same piece u can use to tie to the book but theses no lid to worry abt losing or coming off in the backpack & getting all over!!
Leslie in Arkansas
how many pages do i actually need
I’m not sure. It depends how many times you want to stand in line to meet characters! Mine had about 60 pages each and that was more than enough. We probably used about half. Some characters that are seen together (Jasmine & Aladdin) will sign the same page.
Where did you get your Ariel pic and how did you edit it to add the text?
Did you laminate the pages that the characters signed also? And did you get add pics of the kids with the characters if so how? Thanks
I did not, but you could easily do so once you are back from your trip. I was going to take the books apart and add the signature cards next to photos in a scrapbook, but the kids did not want me to do so! You could easily add in 4×6 photos into the little booklet though.