Starstruck

We are on week 2 of my sabbatical/whirlwind vacation. This week we’re going to “see the princesses” aka Disney. The kids’ babysitter told them a while back that Disney World is where all the princesses live so they’ve been talking about going to see the princesses. We have been using this as an excuse to work on our manners for the last several months. The phrase “we cannot eat with the princesses if we eat with with our hands” has been uttered dozens of times. I do think there has been some improvement to their table manners. Hopefully there is because we are eating with the princesses tomorrow in the castle!

Despite our best efforts (and worst efforts such as cajoling about princess behavior) Patricia still has a very quick temper. The other day this gem of an insult came out of her mouth when we were trying to get her to put on pants…

Patricia (scathingly): You are all black rainbows with a little bit of purple!

Harsh.

Julius has his moments too. I love that Julius and Patricia play so well together. Just listening to their conversations together is alone worth having two kiddos. This is the one we overheard yesterday:

Julius (proudly, to Patricia): I’m a good looker. I have big eyes.

Speaking of good lookers, I made a couple little things for the kids for Disney including autograph books and custom Mickey ears! The autograph books took very little time and I used recycled wrapping paper for the covers. I love making books and this was a great excuse to make them.

Autograph Books

What you’ll need (for each book):

• scrap heavyweight cardboard (mine was from a frame back that is no longer used)
• a sheet of wrapping paper (mine was reused from some birthday packaging)
• White copy paper (13 8.5″x11″ sheets – I made 2 at once and used 25 sheets)
• separate paper for the book plates if desired
• needle and embroidery thread
• White glue and foam brush
• sharpie (I got the click top sharpie so we don’t lose the covers)

1. Cut the copy paper in half to form 25 8.5″x5.5″ sheets.

2. Separate into 5 pages in a bundle then fold the sheets in half to form 10 pages that are 4.25″x5.5″

3. Using a ruler on the inside fold of one of the folded bundles poke holes using your needle at the 1.5″,2.75″ and 4″ marks.

4. Using a needle threaded with embroidery thread facing the spine of the folded paper go down thru the center hole, up thru the left hole, back down through the center hole and back up through the right hole then tie off with the tail of the string.

5. Repeat steps 2 thru 4 for the other booklets.

6. Tie all 5 bundles together on the left and right sides by tying all 5 strings on each side together.

7. Cut the cover for your book from cardboard by cutting two rectangles 5″x6″ and another rectangle for the spine .5″x6″ with an xacto knife.

8. Place the rectangles on your cover paper as shown below. Cut paper so it is has 1″ border for folding.

9. If necessary (like in the case of using recycled wrapping paper) iron your paper on cotton setting, moving constantly so it will not burn until it is flat. Note you can only do this with paper that is all natural fiber. If it has any shiny coating don’t risk this.

10. Coat the back of each piece of cardboard in a light even layer of glue by using the foam brush.

11. Press cardboard onto the cover paper and smooth out the paper. Repeat for spine and other side of cover.

12. Fold over the overhanging edges of the book cover.

13. Put a thin layer of glue on the cardboard edges (1″ wide) on the top and bottom of the book cover. Press top and bottom folds in place.

14. Fold the corner of the remaining overhang paper so it forms a triangle.

15. Put another thin layer of glue on the left and right edges of the cardboard and fold over the edges (each should look like a trapezoid when folded over). Let dry.

16. Cut 2 pieces of paper for the book plates if desired (should be 8.5″x5.5″). Fold each in half. If not using separate paper for the book plate skip to 19.

17. Apply a thin layer of glue to the outside of one of book plates. Glue to the stack of book pages you created, aligning the pages. Repeat for second book plate and other side of the stack of pages. Let dry.

18. Apply glue to the spine of the book and place the stack of pages, folded ends down onto the spine.

19. Place a thin layer of glue on the inside of the book cover, align the pages with the cover and then press down the book plate (or first page of the stack if not using book plate paper).

20. I used some permanent foil vinyl in gold to add some details to the autograph books!

21. Go get some autographs!