I hold a special place in my heart for Disney movies, but the love story in the movie Up is especially beautiful to me. I am a sucker for a childhood sweetheart story. My husband and I met when we were kids. We went to the same day camp, almost every summer, for our whole childhood.
So on our first anniversary of dating, I decided to make his gift completely Up themed. I didn’t have this blog back then, so I don’t have pictures of the whole basket, or how I made things step-by-step. But I will do my best to explain what I did.
The first thing I made for his basket was Our Adventure Book:
In the movie, the character Ellie, writes the “Stuff she’s going to do” in her adventure book. She tapes in pictures and draws things in her book. So I tried to do something similar.
Supplies:
For the Outside:
- a small, brown scrapbook
- red paint
- a picture of “Our Adventure Book”
- Mod Podge
- Xacto Knife
- painters tape
For the Inside:
- notebook paper
- masking tape
- a pen
- printed pictures of places you want to travel to
Directions:
For the Outside:
- Tape a straight line down the left side of your scrapbook, front and back. Use a picture of Our Adventure Book as a reference. (I also painted the inside flaps of the books)
- Paint the left side red. It may take a couple of layers.
- Once the paint is dry, remove painters tape.
- Cut out the letters, globe, and rope accent from the picture of Our Adventure Book that you printed off.
- Place the rope accessory in the center of the red area you painted on the front of your book. Mod Podge it in place.
- Arrange letters and globe and Mod Podge them in place.
- Once dry, Mod Podge then entire book, front and back.
For the Inside:
- I started by writing the story of how he asked me to be his girlfriend on the notebook paper. I ended the story by saying: “I have loved every second of this beautiful year and I can not even wait for all of the future adventures we will have together.” I wrote in a “childlike” style, to keep with the theme.
- I ripped the notebook paper edges roughly and used masking tape to hold it in place.
- Next I took the pictures of places Zac and I wanted to go together all over the world. I ripped the edges of them to make it look like I ” ripped them right out of the book!” just like Ellie did in the movie. Then I taped them in with masking tape and wrote the name of the place.
- I filled the book with all the places we want to go together.
- Then I went back and filled the extra space with doodles.
Back then, these adventures were very out of reach for us. But today, they are actually possible. So I have decided I am going to add more pages so I can tape in pictures of us visiting these places as well! We have visited Disney World and we are moving to Hawaii. So we are checking them off, one page at a time!
The second thing I added to his basket was Our Adventure Fund:
In the movie, they have a jar labeled “Paradise Falls” that they keep their change in. Something I have always done, is save my change. So this seemed like a logical thing to do with Zac.
Supplies:
- Change Jar
- Notebook Paper
- Masking Tape
- Change
**I bought my change jar from Bed Bath and Beyond. It counts the change as you drop it in. You don’t have to buy this change jar.
Directions:
- Write “Adventure Fund” on the notebook paper, or anything else personal to you.
- Rip it out so it matches the Adventure Book.
- Tape it to the jar.
Through out the years, Zac and I have collected over $500 in change. This gift ended up being very practical for us. Since we haven’t sat down to roll the change, we are still collecting it. By the time one of us works up the patience to sit down and roll it all, we will have enough money for a really nice vacation.
Lastly, I put together his Up Themed Basket:
Supplies:
- Basket
- Adventure Book
- Adventure Fund
- Up on Dvd or BluRay
- Candy
- Photo in Frame
- Balloons
Arrange all of the above together in a cute way. Give as a gift! Knock his socks off!
Zac loved the adventure book, and we ate a lot of chocolate while we watched Up together.
I keep Our Adventure book in front of our DIY Travel Globe, on our dresser and they look GREAT together! Have fun with your Up themed gift, or use these Up themed Ideas for your wedding, party, or anything you could possibly think of!
**Note that all of these pictures were taken over two years and two moves after I made them. They are a little beat up, but they are still hanging in there!
Once Upon My Fairy Tale 