DIY: Disney Autograph Book & Travel Album

We’re heading to Disneyland in a few days and I am getting so excited!  I’ve heard about the autograph books kids bring and wanted to make one for Ashleigh.  I kept coming back to the idea of incorporating a travel type scrapbook in with the autograph book.  All the talk this summer about smash books and the like, I just wanted to create a hodge-podge type little keepsake album.  So the plan for this album is to use the plain white pages as the autograph pages and to stick in photos and “stuff” from our trip.  I’ll also write notes about what we did, maybe jot down some exact times + locations while we’re there and of course some of the fun things Ashleigh says and does.  I’m really wanting to pick up a Fuji Instax Mini 7 camera before we go but not so sure I can splurge on it.  Although those little polaroids would be so perfect in this album!  We’ll see what happens between now and then.

Here’s how I created the album

1.  I grabbed a bunch of paper supplies from my stash.  I picked up the tinkerbell sticker and several princess stickers at 50% off awhile back.  I’d been saving them for something special.  I decided on a 6″ x 6″ sized album and cut some plain white cardstock and a handful of colored cardstock to 6×6.  I grabbed some stick-on gems, some envelopes and a few other things.  I didn’t end up using everything.

2. I used a couple of 12×12 double sided cardstock (pattern on both sides) to create some pocket pages.  I first trimmed 3″ off one end of the cardstock so it was 9×12.  Then I used a scoring blade and lightly scored at 3″.

3. I folded that 3″ up to create the pocket.  Then used the scoring blade again to lightly score at 6″ before folding in half to create the pocket pages.

4. I created the album cover digital style.  I used some patterned paper from Cinzia Loosemore’s (Life is Beautiful) as the background.  I added the Disneyland text using a font called “started by a mouse“.  Then included the month + year (since I like to document with dates).  The back cover is just the background paper.  I printed the covers on 8.5×11 then trimmed to 6×6.

5.  To assemble the album I used my Levinger Circa punch and Circa discs.  I’ve had this punch for awhile thinking it would be perfect for these travel style albums.  You could also use a three ring system, spiral or cinch style binding.  The thing I love about the Levinger punch is how easy it is to swap around pages.  I punched the white autograph pages, the colored cardstock, the pocket pages I just made, some scrap paper, a few envelopes, and some little tabbed notecards I picked up.

6.  I mismatched pages and sizes to give it that hodge-podge feel.  I even threw in some lined yellow notebook paper.  I bought some mixed tape by American Crafts and I’m going to use that to smash my photos and stuff into the book.  I think the colors coordinate just perfectly.  When we get home from our trip I’ll accent more with the princess and other disney stickers I have.