Autograph books?

[new_mommy25]

Does anyone want to share pictures? I've been looking online and I see there are all types. Some people do index cards, some make scrapbooks, some just buy notebooks, etc. I'd love to see what the BBB mamas have made. :love-retry:

[Momof3Labs]

No pics but I went to Michael's and bought pre-made photo mats that had plenty of room to write around them (each held two 4x6 photos). We had the characters sign the mats. It really came out cute!

[new_mommy25]

No pics but I went to Michael's and bought pre-made photo mats that had plenty of room to write around them (each held two 4x6 photos). We had the characters sign the mats. It really came out cute!

That's a cute idea. Were they scrapbook mats or mats that go in a frame?

I went to the craft store today for inspiration and saw cardstock stacks. I was thinking about having the character sign directly onto those and then pasting them into a scrapbook along with a picture when we get back. That would be a fun project for the kids to do and I wouldn't need to stress about making character pages ahead of time.
http://store.scrapbook.com/dwv-ms-10-003.html
http://store.scrapbook.com/dwv-ms-130001.html

[belovedgandp]

I bought a spiral bound 5x7 (about) scrapbook at Hobby Lobby. It was on clearance ultra cheap. I used some Disney scrapbook paper to cover the front.

Before going, I decorated the fronts with each child's name and some stickers. I had a few stickers I put on the corners of the pages inside. We pretty much opened the book randomly for characters to sign. I tried to leave a few pages blank between meals and such.

When we got home there were autographs on 16 or so of the 24 pages. I put pictures of my sons with the characters to fill in the blank pages.

[Momof3Labs]

We used mats that go in a frame. I like the idea of not pre-making something too character specific as you never know who you will see (and you may, for example, see Mickey a few times and get his autograph that many times).

[Rainbows&Roses]

If you hunt around on Disboards (in the crafts area IIRC) there are people who make templates using Disney images. They have accounts on flicker or something like that and you can access them and print them out at whatever size you want.

I printed them to 8.5 x 11 on lightweight cardstock and put them in protective plastic pockets and put it all in a flexible vinyl binder that fit in my backpack.

It was kind of a PITA to lug around, but we got nice big signatures from all the characters we wanted and some even wrote special messages since there was a lot of room. I printed extras for the princesses and others we were going to see often and had some blank framed templates for characters we saw and didn't anticipate.

We got lots of positive feedback and I think tailoring them to the characters you are anticipating seeing is a great idea because many of them made special notice, like Pooh kept pointing at himself and then at the picture (we captured a great photo of my DD giggling at him at this moment) or Alice in Wonderland discussing her story when she saw the scene on her card. It just got us a little extra time/attention and my DD loved the fact we had them personalized.

Eventually they will be made into a scrapbook with the pics near them, but for now she likes looking at the signatures.

[new_mommy25]

Thank you! I actually did see a few posts with templates but none that large. I only saw ones that people printed out at photo stores size 4x6 and that seemed small to me. Where did you print out your pictures? Did you use Kinkos?

[Rainbows&Roses]

Thank you! I actually did see a few posts with templates but none that large. I only saw ones that people printed out at photo stores size 4x6 and that seemed small to me. Where did you print out your pictures? Did you use Kinkos?


I just printed them on my home printer. It didn't seem to take much ink since just the frames were in color.

Most of them are made smaller, but I was able to blow them up a bit so most were full size. Some were a touch blurry due to the resolution, but not too bad.

I wish I could tell you how I did it or which ones I used, but it is part of a big Disney planning blur in my head.:)

[JTsMom]

Thank you! I actually did see a few posts with templates but none that large. I only saw ones that people printed out at photo stores size 4x6 and that seemed small to me. Where did you print out your pictures? Did you use Kinkos?

We didn't do autograph books, but I'm thinking if you want something larger, one option would be to just go buy Disney scrapbooking paper, cut it to the size you want it to be, and glue a white (or whatever color) rectangle on top of it. Alternatively, you could just buy some cardstock, and have the kids decorate a border with Disney stickers.

OR- LOL, I swear this is my last one- I just really like this stuff- make your own template- all you'd have to do is use some clipart pics.

ETA: Like this- took 2 mins.
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z60/babiesandmommies/mickeyautographcopy.jpg

[new_mommy25]

Thanks Lori! Those are so cute! My DD had preschool today so I spent the morning over at the DIS boards. Oh my! I feel like my head is going to explode - so many choices!! I think I am going to make my own templates and print onto cardstock, or just buy a stack of colored cardstock and have the kids decorate with stickers. Then have bound at Kinkos. I found this while googling: http://tinyurl.com/csx85t
Now I have to figure out sizing. 4x6 or 5x7 or 8.5x11?

I'm thinking that I'll just buy a pack of retractable Sharpies. Those will be the easiest for the characters, right?

[bubbaray]

OMG, you ladies are FABULOUS!!!

Could someone make me some of these pages???

Seriously. I'm soooo challenged with clip art.

[JTsMom]

Angie- awesome! Glad it helped a little. :) Michael's has a great assortment of Disney scrapbooking stuff- don't forget your coupon. An alternative to having it bound at Kinkos is to just slide the pages into a scrapbook after they are signed. They even have Disney ones (in various sizes), and you can use a 40% coupon. There are also a couple sold in Disney. There are 2 benefits to using an actual book- it's probably cheaper, and it would have page protectors, so if the kids look at it a lot, it will be protected. Just a thought.

Melissa- I'll make you a couple- what kind do you need? Do you like the border, or no border? Size?

Holy cow, I just looked at the disboards ones, and they are WAY more elaborate- check these out!
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1640251 I don't know how to do anything like that!

[bubbaray]

Lori, I just PMd you! :bowdown:

[egoldber]

We use card stock (have used various sizes over the years) and decorate them ourselves with stickers.

I think the best size is 8x8 for getting good signatures, still have enough "decorating room" and isn't too much of a PITA to lug around.

For us it's always a fine line between decorating too many pages ahead of time or having to decorate "on the fly" while waiting for a character. One year we were VERY sad to not be able to find Daisy Duck when we had a decorated page for her. Who knew Daisy was so hard to find?

My kids like to get a character's signature every.time. they see that character. So it can be a bit of a PITA if your kid starts to get REALLY into the autographs like Sarah is. But it is (mostly) worth it for the great character interaction. :) And it's a thrill for all of us when we stumble across a character we've never seen before. :ROTFLMAO:

[lil_acorn]

At downtown disney they sell the scrapbooks. For $8.95 you get the scrapbook that has the place for the photo on teh left side and the character to sign on teh right side. I looked into making one but honestly it was cheaper and easier to just buy it! My kids love it - they still look at it at night.