Hanging Felt Mickey Mouse Countdown to Disney World

Ok, I know there are a million and two different ways you can countdown to Disney World. And they are very cute and very easy but you know me... I like to be different.  I had seen something like this done for Christmas, I think with a tree and it was an advent calender.

I  had sketched it out in my trusty notebook and then  went into Photoshop to smooth out the rough edges and  figure everything out without having to cut anything ....yet. The red square was 24"x 24". The Mickey head was 19" wide and 16.5" tall.

When I got my design all figured out,  I printed out just the letters so I could cut them out of felt.  I literally took the printout , laid it over the felt and cut them both together.  I do have a new Silhouette machine and I bet you could cut felt with it but I don't have a fabric blade yet.  That will come soon enough , I'm sure.

I also went to Hobby Lobby and got a huge piece of red felt to be my background.  I designed it to be 24x24" so I have a bunch leftover but I'm sure I'll find something to do with it later.

I took the red felt and  sewed it together around a wooden dowel rod. Then I attached the cute , yellow ribbon I bought from Hobby Lobby  last year.

The mickey head that will be the cut up to be the countdown was a little more difficult to do. I again printed out the mickey head in pieces form Photoshop and then taped them back together and cut out the shape.  Then I took my felt, a yard stick, and some chalk. and made some marks on the backside of the felt. Then cut them with a good pair of scissors. I really do need to get myself a rotary cutter.  I bet it would be easier.

I wanted to give my girls guidelines as they are building their Mickey head. I thought about using my Silhouette machine but I haven't  done too much with heat transfer vinyl.  I wanted to keep it simple.  My mom suggested at just use a Sharpie and trace around the shapes and be done.  It worked out great.  The kids don't care about fancy and now it looks like a big numbered puzzle to them. K is very good with her numbers and this helps her know which square to put it in next, even though counting backwards it still a little awkward to her.

Monday
What is the Gunny Sack -Making the world Cuter -DIY Show Off
-I should be mopping the Floor


Tuesday
 Tip Junkie - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia -The Kurtz Corner
Sugar Bee - Romance On A Dime -The Winthrop Chronicles

Wednesday
 Someday Crafts - Sew Much Ado
 -SNAP

Thursday
Beyond the Picket Fence - Somewhat Simple - Live Laugh Rowe
- The Shabby Cottage The Taylor House- House of Hepworths 

Friday
Naptime Crafters - Stay At Home Nation
Young and Crafty -  My Turn(ForUs)
Delicate Construction
Serenity Now

Saturday

Six Sister's Stuff
Cheerios and Lattes

Walt Disney World Autograph Books

I have to say I was super excited about the whole getting autographs thing down at Disney world.   I've  been seeing all kinds of cool autograph books that other bloggers and Etsy folk have made. Of course , I wanted to make some of my own. My kid's loved them.

I wanted a big sturdy book with a strong back and front cover because this thing is going to take some abuse, I'm sure of it.  Someone else I read said to make sure that you have the space to be able to put pictures of the kids with the characters. I knew then I was looking for a 5x7"  size notebook of some sort. I went and looked at Michaels and they had some with strong cardboard backs but thin yellow paper covers.  Boo. 

I went ahead and bought a whole bunch of Disney scrapbook paper and stickers. Along with some plain colored/patterned paper for accents.

Then I went to Hobby Lobby and Ta Da !  I found some. They say they are for watercolor and mixed media. The pages are nice and thick and both the front and back covers are strong cardboard.  Yipee!  I was very happy.

I was trying to figure out how to make the paper fit the front cover so I took the original cover of the sketchbooks and used it as a template and cut away.  I even cut all of the little holes out. Then I cut a slit through the middle of each other holes to pop the little ends around the ring part of the sketch pad.

 I took some spray adhesive I ahd , went in the garage , sprayed and then quickly but carefully  put down the paper.  You have to be fast with that stuff. It wanted to stick right away and  I almost lost a piece of my paper. I kinda freaked out a little.

Then I created some vinyl letters and mickey head with my Silhouette machine. What can I say.... that 's things awesome! Also I added the stickers I bought and we had some books! To add an extra layer of protection , I Modge Podged everything.  I figured it would keep everything more in place and keep some dirt off of the paper. 

I listened to what everyone else said about the thick retractable Sharpies and Office Max happened to have a sale on them for .50!  I got K her green and S her blue.

I also didn't want the insides of the covers to be bare so I modge podged those as well.

Here are some pics of just two of the autographs we got. They are all so cute.  I'm also going to put a picture of each girl with the character by the page they signed. So they can open them up and see them anytime. The girls LLLLOOOVVVEEDDD getting the autographs!!!

We got Lady and the Tramp too!  You have to go into Tony's and ask the ladies at the front desk. They'll take your books in back and bring them back to you with their little paw prints on them. awww :)

Have you made a book like this before? Let me know. I'd love to come check them out and pin them.

Monday
What is the Gunny Sack -Making the world Cuter -DIY Show Off
-I should be mopping the Floor


Tuesday
 Tip Junkie - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia -The Kurtz Corner
Sugar Bee - Romance On A Dime -The Winthrop Chronicles

Wednesday
 Someday Crafts - Sew Much Ado
 -SNAP

Thursday
Beyond the Picket Fence - Somewhat Simple - Live Laugh Rowe
- The Shabby Cottage The Taylor House- House of Hepworths 

Friday
Naptime Crafters - Stay At Home Nation
Young and Crafty -  My Turn(ForUs)
Delicate Construction
Serenity Now

Saturday

Six Sister's Stuff
Cheerios and Lattes

Pressed Penny Containers for Disney World {with Silhouette file download }

Do you know what one of the cheapest souvenirs is at any theme park or tourist attraction?.....Pressed Pennies!!

Normally they cost around 51 cents. That  is 50 cents and the penny to press.  We get them at the Zoo here in Saint Louis, Grant's Farm and the Transportation Museum just to name a few. The girls love them and I love how inexpensive they are.

I've seen all over the web how to use Mini M&M containers to hold your money for your pressed pennies.  You take  2 quarters, 1 penny, 2 quarters, 1 penny, 2 quarters, 1 penny, 2 quarters, 1 penny.....until you fill up the container.  I had been looking for the Mini M&Ms with no luck  but around Easter I found these really long special Easter colored ones.  They looked kinda big but I hadn't found the small ones yet until 2 weeks after Easter at Party City.  Of course. The big ones looked like too much the smaller ones looked too small. They only way to figure it out was too see how much we could fit in each one.

One roll of quarters will get us 20 pressed pennies. Our books hold 36. I filled up the larger penny holder and got 30 pressed pennies worth of money in there =$15.30. And I put the remaining $6 in the smaller container.  We could get more but with all of the other souvenirs we are getting, I think we're good.

I wanted to be clean and simple. I went into my Silhouette program and created some mickey head shapes and their names to put on the side. I used the Paper Source vinyl that I bought from Hobby Lobby.  It's kinda silly though because K loves green and S loves blue so I really didn't need to put names on them at all.  You could even just use the cool stickers  that you can find at any hobby store.  I saw a ton when I was shopping for all of my Disney crafts.

The mickey head shapes were about a 1x1" size  so they wouldn't wrap around the tubes too much when they were places on. And the font I used was Cheri.  It's so cute.

Pardon the bad Photoshop on the tubes.  I forgot to take the pictures until after I put their names on the tubes. Whoops.

Super easy and super cute.

Here is the Silhouette file you can download : Mickey Silhouette File

Monday
What is the Gunny Sack -Making the world Cuter -Debbie Doo -DIY Show Off
-I should be mopping the Floor


Tuesday
 Tip Junkie - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia -The Kurtz Corner
Sugar Bee - Romance On A Dime -The Winthrop Chronicles

Wednesday
 Someday Crafts - Sew Much Ado
 -SNAP

Thursday
Beyond the Picket Fence - Somewhat Simple - Live Laugh Rowe
- The Shabby Cottage The Taylor House- House of Hepworths 
Two In Diapers-Mommy Brain Mixer


Friday
Naptime Crafters - Stay At Home Nation
Young and Crafty -  My Turn(ForUs)
Delicate Construction
Serenity Now

Saturday

Six Sister's Stuff

Cheerios and Lattes

Pressed Penny Books for Disney World ( with Silhouette Files )

So begins my " May: Month of the Mouse" series. There are 6 parts to this series in anticipation of our trip to Walt Disney World. {squeal}


My girls love getting pressed pennies as souvenirs whenever we go to any kind of tourist attraction like our Zoo or Grant's Farm.

When I found out that  WDW had then and there were something like  over 500  different kinds, I was super stoked. This would keep them busy and  maybe distracted from all of the other more expensive stuff there.  Don't get me wrong, we're going to let them get a bunch of other stuff too but I wanted to keep it to a minimum.

I saw on Diseystore.com that they had penny books but they were like  $20 a piece. Ah....no way.  I went to my trusty friend Google and typed in Pressed penny books and up popped Ebay.  Normally Ebay and I don't get along. I've had some bad luck but I ordered two of the pressed penny books from
 seller tranzcollection  for $4.69 a piece and then they discount the shipping when you buy more than one. Pretty sweet, right?

They are 3.5" inches wide and  6.5"  inches tall black with  44 openings, 36 pennies and 8 quarters.  There is a front that's not too pretty and a back I can decorate... so I will :)

I wanted to keep it simple since it's a small space so not a lot of decor on these. And I wanted to use my Silhouette machine my hubby got me for Christmas and make it with vinyl  but I'm sure you could do any and all of this with paper and maybe a little ModgePodge to help it stick on?

K loves green and Mickey Mouse. S loves blue and Tinkerbell.  That made my design decisions easy I went online and found some images I liked and imported them into Silhouette deluxe edition to create my cutouts.  I also used the font Waltograph since it looks all Disney-like.

screen shot of my window open in Silhouette

After the designs were ready I cut them out and  applied them to the books...voila! I did have to double up my vinyl cutouts on the plain green color. It was very kinda transparent. It was Paper Source brand from Hobby Lobby.  The price was great but maybe that's what you get . In fact , all of the vinyl used for this was this brand.  I thought it cut well and did the job.  They have a bunch of colors available and I don't have to order off the internet in a pinch.

Now they aren't as plain as they were before.

I created separate files for the solid color cutouts and then the silhouettes of the characters and test. You can  download the files I created here.  I hope they come in handy for somebody?

Penny Book Micky and Tink Designs Silhouette File
Solid Color  Background Silhouette File

( My opinions are all my own about everything in this post.  Nobody gave me or paid me for anything)
Monday
What is the Gunny Sack -Making the world Cuter -Debbie Doo -DIY Show Off
-I should be mopping the Floor


Tuesday
 Tip Junkie - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia -The Kurtz Corner
Sugar Bee - Romance On A Dime -The Winthrop Chronicles

Wednesday
 Someday Crafts - Sew Much Ado
 -SNAP

Thursday
Beyond the Picket Fence - Somewhat Simple - Live Laugh Rowe
- The Shabby Cottage The Taylor House- House of Hepworths 
Two In Diapers-Mommy Brain Mixer


Friday
Naptime Crafters - Stay At Home Nation
Young and Crafty -  My Turn(ForUs)
Delicate Construction
Serenity Now

Saturday

Six Sister's Stuff

Initial Ornament Wreath

I've seen all of the cool ornament wreaths on Pinterest  but I wanted to be different .  I wanted to make mine of our family's last name which starts with an H.

I went, measured the front door  where I want to hang it,  and sketched it out for my hubby who  so nicely cut it out of  a piece of very thin plywood(1/4").

 

 I took it outside, back in July ( I know, it 's been a while in the making. That whole " Christmas in July" thing just never happened) and sprayed it shiny silver so that if any of it shown through , it wouldn't look as bad. I used Valspar  silver metallic spray paint.

I had been hanging on to some old glass Christmas ornaments for years that I bough to go outside on a tree but that didn't happen either.

 When I started to glue them on , I quickly realized that I didn't have enough since I was only using the red, green, and silver ones. I went back to Garden Ridge where I originally got them and bought another container of red, green, and silver ornaments which was the theme I wanted.  Obviously you can do that with any color scheme. Now what should I do with all of those Blue and gold ones?

I just started gluing on different sizes and colors, stacking them  until it started looking full and the way I wanted it to. I did take off  the little hanger "crowns"   that were on the top of all of the ornaments. When you need to glue them top down, it makes it a whole lot easier.

My hubby helped me drill some tiny holes into the plywood and ran framing wire through it and  voila!

Our family initial on the front door for Christmas!

 I'm kinda excited as this is the first wreath I have ever made and  first thing I have hung on this front door since we moved in  almost six years ago.   Please don't send the empty door police after me, I'm trying to get better!  Remember I had  an empty mantel for years and now mantels are fun for me!

Monday
What is the Gunny Sack -Making the world Cuter -Debbie Doo -DIY Show Off
-I should be mopping the Floor


Tuesday
 Tip Junkie - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia -The Kurtz Corner
Sugar Bee - Romance On A Dime -The Winthrop Chronicles

Wednesday
 Someday Crafts - Sew Much Ado
 -SNAP

Thursday
Beyond the Picket Fence - Somewhat Simple - Live Laugh Rowe
- The Shabby Cottage The Taylor House- House of Hepworths 
Two In Diapers-Mommy Brain Mixer


Friday
Naptime Crafters - Stay At Home Nation
Young and Crafty -  My Turn(ForUs)
Delicate Construction
Serenity Now


Saturday

Six Sister's Stuff

Cheerios and Lattes

How to make Bunsen and Beaker Costumes

(This is a flashback blog post. We did these costumes back in 2007. I was WAY preggo with K and having issues so that's why I'm not doing much in the pictures and why there aren't as many pictures as my normal DIY stuff.)

At the time we were trying to think of an idea for costumes for our friends' annual Halloween party. We had awesome  ideas in the past and didn't want to disappoint. Heck we had even won a few contests.

Being that I was preggo,  I wanted something comfortable and warm. Halloween here in Saint Louis is usually very cold.  We went online looking and found that someone had done a Bunsen and Beaker costume.

You remember...from the Muppets? Meep Meep and explosions? That's some funny shiz-nit. So we looked at the picture we found and got started.

For Beaker we got:

- a white poster board
- 1 yard of  pink felt
- two round Styrofoam balls
- one egg shaped Styrofoam ball
- One orange feather boa for the hair
- a doctor coat from the Halloween store
- can of orange spray paint

For Bunsen we got:

- 1 yard of green fleece
- one of those hold-in-your-hand-and-bounce-it ball from Target
- pair of goofy glasses from Target ( popped out the silly eyes)
-a doctor coat from the Halloween store


We started with Bunsen since we knew we were going to paper mache his head and it would take a while to dry.  We blew up the bouncy-boppy ball and then started to make and apply the paper mache.  I don't remember ever doing it before and  it was easy but messy.

After it was dry, we  cut a smiley mouth so that I could see out. We figured I would be Bunsen since  he's kinda shorter than Beaker.

Then I started to apply the green fleece and stretch it around his head. I had have my mom help and cut it around the top of his head so it would lay flat and just have a small seem up on top.

 I then took some smaller pieces of felt and hot glued it to the sides of his head for his ears. Super easy and looked good. His nose was a little harder. We just had to sew a triangle, glue it on three sides to the head and then stuff it with some old pillow stuffing. It didn't take much. then we glued down the other end.  I got out the crazy-eyes glasses , popped out the crazy eyes and then glued them on the head as well.


With Beaker, We started by taking the poster board and wrapping it around J's head.

We drew him a mouth to see out of and cut it out as well. Then we hot glued the  fleece onto the poster board making sure to leave a bunch at the bottom of the head so J could tuck it into his shirt.

 As we were gluing the felt on we had to cut and then push it into the mouth opening and then glue it again so you couldn't see the poster board.

 I used a sharpie maker and a toilet paper roll (yep) to make the pupils on the Styrofoam eyeballs. The toilet paper rolls kept them the same size.  We took the egg shaped Styrofoam  and sprayed it orange outside.  We may have been able to paint it but it just seemed easier.

We wanted his hair to look like it did on the show so we bough the orange boa and then looped it around the outside of the poster board and then also attached it to the inside of the poster board, looping it back and forth so  that would sit right above J's head. See below.

Our heads were finally done. All and all it took two nights with all of the drying involved but it wasn't hard at all.

 We also decided that we didn't want to see our own hands , So we hand sewed ( very primitively since the they only needed to last one night) some four fingered gloves out of the green fleece  and the pink felt.  We put on our doctor coats ( we bought at the costumes store for about $15 a piece), jeans and some ties  voila!  There we were in all of our  Muppet glory.

We actually ended up selling them  in 2010 for $20 at a garage sale.  It was a shame but they took up so much room in our storage area. We saw the kids that bought them  in our neighborhood that same year.  Sniff Sniff.  They lookd good though.  I'm going to post all of other costumes coming up soon. Like I said... we were good at coming up with the couple costumes :)

What costumes have you made

Monday
What is the Gunny Sack -Making the world Cuter -Debbie Doo -DIY Show Off
-I should be mopping the Floor
Great Fun 4 Kids

Tuesday
 Tip Junkie - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia -The Kurtz Corner
Sugar Bee - Romance On A Dime -The Winthrop Chronicles

Wednesday
 Someday Crafts - Sew Much Ado
 - Southern Lovely  -SNAP

Thursday
Beyond the Picket Fence - Somewhat Simple - Live Laugh Rowe
Loving this Crazy Life - The Shabby Cottage
The Taylor House- House of Hepworths 
Two In Diapers-Mommy Brain Mixer


Friday
Naptime Crafters - Stay At Home Nation
Young and Crafty -  My Turn(ForUs)
Delicate Construction
Serenity Now
Here Comes the Sun

Saturday

Six Sister's Stuff
Cheerios and Lattes
Natasha in Oz -Say G'Day