Disney Arts and Crafts

We have been doing a lot of Disney related crafts recently, and I have to share them! This post is all clothes, but I'll do another with the autograph pillowcases and the bottles as soon as I have them finished. But for now, CLOTHES!

The thing I've had the most fun with is tshirts. I used the same freezer paper tutorial I used on the Jeep shirt, but made sure to have matte paint this time. They are working out beautifully, and I've gotten carried away making them.

Here are the ones that are finished so far:


Hitchhiking Ghosts (mine)



The Tightrope Walker from the Haunted Mansion (mine)
I'm planning on putting some kind of frame around this one



Aurora and Maleficent (mine)



Nemo (Amelia)



Beauty and the Beast Rose (Amelia)



Perry Fedora (Cadence)



Max as Powerline from A Goofy Movie (my sister)
In cast you need more:




Tom Selleck from Meet the Robinsons (my sister)
Again, more:



And here are the clothes that my AMAZING friend Jamie made for the little ones:


Mary Poppins Jolly Holiday Dress


Snow White Tunic (it will have yellow leggings under it)

  
Minnie Mouse Pillowcase Dresses


And last, the other clothes:


The new nightgown Aunt Sarah bought. It's "Roar-Ra!!" and she is VERY excited to have it!

  
Snow White and Cinderella from MamMaw

I have more tshirts coming, plus Ariel Rompers and an adorable Alice dress! I can't wait, and will have those pictures up soon. 39 days to go!!

My Disney Obsession

Ok, I admit it. I'm obsessed.

There, happy? I said it. I don't just like Disney. I ADORE Disney. I just like vacations there. I obsessively count down to the and plan out all the details. I don't just go visit the parks. I visit, have outfits for my kids, and know all the new attractions that are open. And I will admit that this trip is no different. So far our schedule is as follows:

Saturday
Drive to Orlando, spend the night somewhere offsite. Hoping to get there by 7pm or so, but no clue if it will actually happen with three small children.

Sunday
Check in to Coronado Springs, and hopefully be in Magic Kingdom by 10am.
Take Maddie to get her first haircut at 1 at Harmony Barber Shop, Sarah and Aimee will take the two big ones to become Mermaids or Pirates at the Pirates League.
Dinner that night at Chef Mickey's

Monday
Breakfast with Alice and Mary Poppins at 1900 Park Fare
Animal Kingdom until it closes
Probably either the Boardwalk, Downtown Disney, Polynesian to watch the Electrical Water Pageant, or a movie at one of the outdoor movie areas that night.

Tuesday
Hollywood Studios with Sarah and Aimee until they have to leave
Lunch at Mama Melrose
Either hang out at Hollywood Studios awhile longer, or do one of the after hour things above. Maybe the pool at Coronado Springs

Wednesday
Epcot all day, with dinner at Teppan Edo

Thursday
Whichever park the girls want to revisit, and dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe. I'm sure we'll spend time looking around Wilderness Lodge while we're there.

Friday
Whichever park the girls want to visit for one final hurrah, then head home.
Listen to fighting and disappointment for 12 hours. Probably cry.

Since we'll have little ones, I've tried to make sure there is downtime in there. I've also intentionally not done park hoppers this trip because it makes us have to pick a place and stay, and because (per Mike) I'm trying not to over plan us. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean I can't plan outfits and car ride activities and make pillowcases for autographs and whatever else my little heart desires!! More on those projects to come!

Heartbroken

Yesterday we found out that my boss didn't make it, and they couldn't find brain activity. They are talking about a possible visitation tonight and funeral tomorrow, but I haven't heard for certain. I also am pretty sure the front door of my work is going to become a shrine before long. I'm just in shock at the moment, and in a daze. Things aren't going to be the same without him.

The offers are rolling in!

Happy birthday to me!! A few years ago I signed up on a bunch of sites for my birthday, because I love freebies. For the last two weeks the special birthday deals have been coming in, so here's this year's list of what I got in my email box!

Food:
Sonic - Free medium tots, 14oz cream slush or medium soft drink
Baskin Robbins - Free scoop or swirl
Ruby Tuesday - Free birthday dessert
Back Yard Burgers - Free cobbler with purchase
O'Charley's - $5 off a $20 purchase
Arby's - Free 12oz shake with purchase
IHOP - Free Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity
McAlister's - $5 off next purchase
Schlotzsky's - Free small sandwich or pizza
Newks - Free Entree and drink

Other:
Macy's - Free shipping on my next purchase
Disney Movie Rewards - 100 bonus points
Brooks Running - Free technical running shirt and free shipping with $75 purchase
Swag Bucks - 50 Swag Bucks
Charm It - 15% off


And since I signed up right around my birthday, a lot of these places are also sending me Anniversary offers. Here are those!

Dairy Queen - BOGO medium blizzard
Marble Slab - BOGO Shake
Arby's - Free Classic Roast Beef Sandwich
Schlotzsky's - Free 32oz drink
Disney Movie Rewards - 50 bonus points

Overall a pretty good haul! I won't be able to use all of them, but I've enjoyed trying!

I just can't help myself

I think it's impossible for me to go longer than a few weeks without some kind of project. Usually it's something cake/cupcake related, but I'll admit that I LOVE craft projects. I mean, almost live and breathe them. Since we're counting down to Disney, I've been trying to decide on outfits for the girls. I found these awesome shirts through my wonderful friend, Pinterest, and that page had a link to this tutorial (which I already had pinned...) I decided this would be the perfect way to get Cadence some cute shirts (and me, too!), especially since I can get shirts really cheap through work. Mike and I are headed out in the Jeep this weekend, so I'm experimenting with a shirt for that before I order a ton of other shirts for Disney - just in case it doesn't work.


In progress...

Some things I've learned:
• The tutorial says to make sure you use the matte paint. MAKE SURE TO USE MATTE PAINT. I got the slick paint because it's all they had at Walmart when I ran in there on my lunch break. IT SUCKS! I've done a bazillion coats, and while I think it will be cute, I have no idea if it will hold up. So, listen to them. USE MATTE PAINT!!
• Have a really sharp exacto knife! Some of the little tiny areas were hard to get out because my knife wasn't as sharp as it could have been. When I do the next ones, I'm buying some new blades.
• This isn't a quick project. It's not hard, but you do a lot of waiting for paint to dry, and cutting the image out of the paper is pretty time consuming. Don't start it if you don't have time leave it out for awhile.

I think I will order a few shirts and try again with the matte paint, because I can definitely see the potential. But I'm not sure how this one will work once it actually dries. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works!

A heavy heart, but hopeful...

Yesterday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. When I arrived at work, I found out that my boss, Dwayne, had fallen while on vacation in Florida, and was in ICU in an orlando hospital. At that point we didn't know much, just that it was bad. We knew that he had a skull fracture, brain swelling, and was not responsive. We also knew that he was barely clinging to life. Later in the day we also found out that his son had been arrested in connection to the fall, and all kinds of rumors were spreading like wildfire. By last night he wasn't any better, and I went to bed last night praying that it was all a bad dream.

This morning was a little better, and we found out that he was stable when we got to work, but there still wasn't brain activity. Later we heard that he reacted to some reflex tests, and swelling was going down. We were all thrilled, and knew that gagging and coughing meant brain activity. By 4pm or so, we found out that they had been able to get the son out of jail (even though he's not allowed to see his dad at the hospital, and he has to have someone with him 24/7), and best of all, Dwayne moved a toe - twice! I told Mike I never thought I'd be so excited to hear that someone moved their toe. When we left work he was still on a ventilator, but signs of brain activity are showing up and swelling is decreasing. We've also heard that they don't think there is any spinal cord injury, which is amazing.

Things seem to be looking up slightly, and I'm just praying it continues. Please, God, let it continue.

Business cards? Maybe...

I did the cake for my friend's son's birthday party that was today, and was told while I was there that I should have brought business cards to hand out. My grandmother always made cakes when I was growing up (and is still doing them now!), and it seems she's rubbed off. I absolutely love doing cupcakes, but have recently discovered fondant, and may have found my new passion! It's so fun, and fondant is way more forgiving than regular icing is. I have another cake to do this coming weekend, and I've been asked to do two more in August. Maybe I'll be like Nana soon and have a way to support myself and come home.

Alyssa's 2nd birthday cake:


Dominic's 5th Minion birthday


And my favorite...
Maddie's 1st Alice in Wonderland birthday

P72 - Day 5: This sucks

This isn't going well at all. Day 1 I did it, and it was good. Day 2 I was dying from Day 1, but decided to try Ab Blaster and Cardio. I made it half way before I couldn't take Mike's comments and looks and I gave up. Day 3 and Day 4, I didn't even try. That's right. I totally skipped them.

So we've made it to Day 5. It's supposed to be sculpting day, and I'm about to start it. I have brownies in the oven, and have decided that will be my reward when I'm finished. Mike is gone for a while, and I've figured out I do much better without him around. I guess this means I'm back to getting up at the crack of dawn to do this - yay (sarcasm). I'm just going to keep reminding myself about Disney. I want to be in shape for Disney.