DIY Disney Autograph Memory Book

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It is a little over a month until our big family trip to Disney World . All of us are excited from my 2-year-old granddaughter, Ci Ci to my 67-year-old father. We can’t wait to see Ci Ci’s reaction when she sees her favorite character , Mickey Mouse. I remembered when my older daughters were young, they loved taking their little autograph books to their favorite Disney characters to get their signatures and a big hug. They still have them but they only just contain signatures nothing else to remind them of the adventure.

I want Ci Ci to look back at her a special autograph book at not only the autographs, but pictures and little items in pockets to to remember back one day what we did. How many of you have kids that don’t remember that expensive trip to Disneyland? I do! Maybe this will help. This project would work for any travel experience for any age.

My eldest daughter and I had so much fun making this and it was so inexpensive. It took awhile to find inexpensive Disney die cuts, stickers and 5×7 scrapbook and card stock paper. I watched for 50% off sales at Hobby Lobby and bought Birthday Party Decorations at Wal-Mart. Like any inexpensive craft and/or up-cycle project patience is key.

Supplies:

6″ x 6″ (or any size you like) chipboard squares purchased at StudioCee
Binder Rings – 3 or 4
5″x7″ scrapbook and card stock paper
Spray Paint – Red, White, and metallic (if you like)
Spray Adhesive
Embellishments – Chipboard Disney Characters, Stickers, Birthday Disney Character Decorations or any other type embellishment you would like to add.
Glue Gun
Scissors
Ruler
Sticker Letters in desired font
Mod Podge and Brush

Step 1: Making the Front Cover

I sprayed one side of a piece of chipboard white. Then attached the sticker letters to say “Sierra 2013″ to personalize it for her.

Apply Letter Stickers in Your Choice of Font

Spray paint entire cover including letters red, set aside to dry.

Spray Paint over Stickers all over Red.

Step 2: Applying Scrapbook Paper

Begin to put together the pages for the pictures and the autograph pages by assigning the left side to be a scrapbook page for a picture and the right side to be blank colored card stock for character signatures. Attaching the paper to the chipboard is more tricky than it seems. First you must shake the spray adhesive well. Spray from about 10 inches above the chipboard lightly.

Spray Adhesive to Attach paper to chipboard

Spray from a 10 inch distance lightly

Apply the paper. The spray adhesive is very sticky and you have a limited time to get the paper on right if you pre-cut the paper. In retrospect. I found it easier to adhere the paper on first then trim the paper off. It provides a more precise fit. Lesson learned! Make sure to smooth the paper so there are no creases or bubbles.

Smooth the paper onto the chipboard

When done, this is how the pages looked. It is important to make sure they are consistent. Be sure one side is for pictures and the other is for autographs.

completed pages one side for photos and one for autographs

Step 3: Prepare the Covers

By now the front cover should be dry and it is time to remove the letter stickers and decorate it. Removing the letter stickers with paint on them is fairly easy. I usually use a pointed knife to get it started, so I don’t mess up the paint. At this point you can hot glue any decoration you want. It is important to mod podge it when done to make the decorations secure.

Remove Stickers

Cover with removed stickers with white paint showing through.

Decorate the front cover as you like.

Step 4: Decorate

It is time for the fun part. Embellish, decorate and be creative. Use embellishments, scrapbook paper, stickers, or just about anything you can think of. For Ci Ci’s Book, I found some chipboard Disney Princesses, and some party decoration with Mickey, Minnie and the standard Princess, and some Tinkerbell Stickers. All at bargain prices. Hot glue the embellishments and then mod podge each page when done to make sure it is secure.

Some of the party decorations were too large to put the entire decoration on the page. By hot gluing the corner of the page and then pressed the decoration on. Let it dry and then cut it to fit the corner for a cute pocket.

Glue around page to create a pocket

Affix the decoration half way on the corner on the glue.

Cut around edge of page and you have a pocket

Step 5: Binding the Book

All you have to do now is punch holes in the chipboard (unless you get it pre-punched like I did) and then just punch holes in the paper.

Punch holes in paper and chipboard

Then insert the binder rings to bind book. Then it is done.

Attach binder rings

The back cover, I decorated with scrapbook paper and cutout of Mickey Mouse like I did the other pages. Now I have a perfect Disney Autograph Memory Book for Ci Ci’s first trip to Disney World.

Adding more embellishments to decorate back cover

Should you want to make a similar book, you can find a chipboard book punched and with the rings very reasonably at StudioCee They will do custom orders of different size books with different amounts of pages.

Have you seen or done any thing prior to a vacation to cut costs? Please share them with everyone? I could certainly use some ideas!

My Personal Accent!

Angela

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Angela

Owner and Blogger at My Personal Accent

Thank you for reading my post, I am Angela, the owner of My Personal Accent, I am from the Portland, OR/SW Washington area. As a single mom with three beautiful daughters and an beautiful granddaughter, CiCi. This blog gives me an opportunity to do three things I enjoy most; involve my family (sometimes kicking and screaming), share my thrifty creative side and continue to be a life learner. I enjoy finding something unwanted for a deal (or free) and turning it into something new and useful. I invite you to learn and create something together.