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

We're going to Disney World

I've missed  you guys so much.  Life happens and I just couldn't get motivated to get back into it for a while.  I've been reading everyone else's blogs and missing doing my own.  I hope I can at least talk to you guys once or twice a week. But  let's get back to the matter at hand......

Yes!!! We are finally going to Disney World with the girls!! I can't wait. I'm so excited and I hope they are to :)

I've been before............ in 1982 ( remember..I'm the oldest girl in all the pictures. Get ready for the gawkiness)

gotta love the eighties, am I right?

 

1983....

(I'm the one on the left)

1987........

I have no words for that whole outfit I'm wearing(blue shorts) and the hair

and 1994.........

and this one with all the fanny packs... yikes

 but my hubby and girls have never been.  We thought about waiting until they were both a bit older and were able to ride some more of the rides. But when my Aunt recently passed away, it reminded me how short life is and how you never know what is going to happen.  Why wait?

I talked with my good friend, Heather, who had just recently  become a certified Disney travel agent with Wish A Upon A Star With Us and she hooked us up. She's actually there  as we speak doing some more training. I can't wait to hear any new stuff she finds out. She can work with you completely over the phone and online. She can also send you stuff in the mail.  I had been before but there is SO MUCH MORE to do and see since  the last time we went and I wasn't the one doing the planning last time when I was 16, my mom was.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.....

....which hotel is best for you and your budget?
.... and do you or don't you get the meal plan?
.... do you buy the Photo Pass or Photo Pass +?
.... do you trade pins or don't you?
.... To nap or not to nap?
.... since we'll have a car and staying on property , do we drive ourselves or use the buses?


My head was spinning for a while.  I'm sure some of the stuff we won't figure out until we go.  I know I've read a million and two blogs to hear about everyone else's experiences.  I learn something new from everyone I read. Really, all of the websites out there are awesome.

Here are a few of the ones I liked the best . Heather told me about a bunch of them and some I found on my own via Pinterest.  Check out my Disney Pinterest board to see all of my Disney stuff.

All Ears  ( loved that they had menus for all of the restaurants on this one. This should save us a bunch of time wandering around)

Mouse Savers   ( this one had alot of tips for saving money on food and souvenirs)

Walt Disney World Prep School(she has so many great tips and facts. She is so thorough. I can't even tell you everything I learned.

Kenny the Pirate(This guy tells you where to find all of the characters while you are at the parks. Invaluable if you want autographs)

Touring Plans

of course Disney World.com

I'll let you know how it goes but until then I had to get ready with some Disney crafts of course. They'll be coming soon. I'll have  pressed penny book decor, penny holder decor, mickey countdown,  autograph books, and t-shirts.

I can't wait to share.


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 -
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 - Young and Crafty -  My Turn(ForUs)
Delicate Construction- Serenity Now

Saturday

Six Sister's Stuff

Cheerios and Lattes

10 things I learned on a car trip with two small kids

                This is what 15 hours looks like....goldfish crackers all over and feet in my face.

1. Dual DVD players are super NICE!
They weren't plugged in the whole time but when the wining and complaining go to be too much. It saved
me and J.

2.  Bring every pool/water  toy/floaty you can fit in the car. Even if you don't think you'll need it.
We had to buy many things that we didn't think we would need  and left at home but then we did need.


3. The kids liked the pool more than the ocean.
It was a little wavy to say the least so once we showed them the calm, warmer pool. K didn't want to go  back to the beach. We tried to explain to her that we have pools at home but not beaches. She didn't really care.

4.  Be prepared to be a bad recycler.
This was hard for me. I'm normally a great recycler. I recycle everything. But down in Pensacola Beach. I couldn't find any kind of community recycling place and the condo complex definitely didn't care one way or the other. I had to suck it up and say sorry environment for a whole week.

5.  Don't bring too much stuff for yourself ( the mommies and daddies) to do.
We brought all kinds of IPod, IPad, speakers, magazines, books.... you know...thinking we could do something besides watch our kids. Nope. We were busy we the kids whenever they were awake and when they were napping or asleep.... We were napping or asleep. Long gone are the days of reading a magazine on the beach..unless we go somewhere without kids. I know, we were a little delusional.

6. The kids may not sleep at all in the car.
Everyone was saying" Oh, they'll sleep for hours". You are all  F-O-S. They slept for 30 min each on the way there. Yes, you read that right....30minutes....for a 15 hour car drive..... That's nuts.  I know my kids are not normal but come on..... 30 min?! really?

7. Pack less toys and books for them.
I packed 6 books per kid and a small book bag of toys per kid. And they proceeded to read the same two books all week and play/fight over the same four small toys all week. Lesson learned.

8. Not even cute maps help after 15 hours in the car with a 30 minute nap.
 She was doing really well with the map until hour 13 and then it was every five minutes " Are we at the beach now?" But it did work until then.

9. Portable apple sauces, squeezy yogurt tubes and goldfish crackers are a god-send.
 Buy and pack as many as you can into a cooler. They helped avoid many meltdowns and supplemented alot of the meals we stopped to eat when they didn't like anything on the menus.

10. That it should only get easier or at least a different kind of hard.
 They were really great for the amount of time they were in the car.  I had to keep telling myself we were asking a 4 and 2 year old to sit for hours and hours and hours.

Vacation at Pensacola Beach, FL ( Wordless Wednesday)

( Here are the best of what I took. Please be kind. I was/am sick. cough . cough)

Sunrise the morning we left somewhere in Missouri

After 15 hours in the car...this was a great sign to see.

  Their first beach photo the day after we got there.

  View from in front of our condo on the beach looking East.

  This was the first thing they did after we gave them the toys.

I'm not sure you can tell but it was quite an incline from the waves to the seaweed up there.

Us under our pavilion( that days later the wind pick up,threw, and destroyed) and  I circled our condo  on the first floor.

 Lifeguards with yellow caution flag out.  Everyday we were there, it was yellow.

 What? See I'm cute.

  And now I shall eat your apple.