DIY Alice In Wonderland Disney Tea Cup

I found a wonderful glass mug at the Dollar Store recently, just big enough to do a glass etching on it. And it seemed to say Alice In Wonderland to me. And so this project was born! I used my Silhouette SD to create a stencil that says "Drink Me" using the font Started By A Mouse. It reminds me of Fantasyland - where you can find some fabulous spinning tea cups!

This mug was big enough that I didn't have to finagle the stencil too much around the curves. Once the stencil was on I applied the Armor Etch with a popsicle stick and 10 minutes later, the mug was done! I really love how quickly the etching cream works. This definitely qualifies as a nap-friendly project. And it's budget friendly too! The mug cost a dollar and I already had everything else I needed. You can't beat that!

As an added bonus, I thought I'd share my favorite sleepy time tea recipe, developed right here in the cottage!

Merryweather's Night Time Tea

makes one tea bag (two infusions)

2 lemon verbena leaves, crushed

1/2 tsp. lavender

1/2 tsp. lemon balm

1/2 tsp. peppermint

1/2 tsp. ceylon tea (optional)

Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Disney's Wonderland Caterpillar Socks

There is no denying it's been a VERY chilly winter, and let's face it; many of us have been spending an inordinate amount of time indoors due to the inhospitable temperatures outside. Due to such unexpected circumstances, I have been spending a great deal of time knitting. And my favorite sort of knitting is socks. One can never have too many pairs of hand-knit socks. If you have never tried a pair, you are sorely missing out! They are simply divine. And I love having socks that actually fit my oddly shaped feet.

These fun little circle socks by Anne Campbell reminded me instantly of the Caterpillar in Alice and Wonderland. I knew they would be next on my list. I'm a fan of self-striping yarn; in fact, I have oodles of it. But it's hard to see intricate patterns on it once it's knit up. I really like how this pattern stands out on the stripes. When I first saw it, I thought it might be hard to memorize, but boy was I wrong! These socks came together within two weeks, and that's with limited knitting time with the two littles! 

The other wonderful thing about these socks is that there is no grafted toe. I am terrible at grafting - it may have something to do with the fact that I am constantly needing to put down my knitting in the middle of grafting. No matter the reason, I was delighted to try this star toe. I may have found my new favorite bind off! If you are on Ravelry you can find my project details here. And if you are not, and you do any sort of knitting or crochet, well you should be. Take a moment and look around. I promise you'll be hooked! (See what I did there?)

Until next time, stay warm! And my all your days be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Disney 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments | Rose Pomanders for Belle & Alice

These rose ornaments struck me the moment I saw them on Pinterest! I immediately thought of Belle and knew I wanted to make yellow roses, reminiscent of her fancy ball gown. And when our Poppins suggested a "Painting the Roses Red" pomander, I was sold! The whole time I was putting that one together, I was humming along in my head! And truthfully, you won't believe how easy these are to do.

To make these I simply followed the tutorial over at Under The Table and Dreaming. She recommends using hot glue, but I found that tacky glue worked well for me. And instead of gluing the roses together as I made them, I formed the spiral tissue, spread glue all over the ball, and then formed the rosettes on the ball. I found it easier that way. I also used an egg carton to hold the ornaments steady as I was working on them, the same way I did with the Monster's Inc. Pomanders. Lastly, instead of gluing on embellishments, I used the same pearlized straight pins from the Monster's Inc. ornaments, in the centers of these roses. I liked how it looked and felt that it gave it that extra bit of security.

These were so quick to do, I made both of these from start to finish in an hour. And the cost was minimal. I had everything I needed at home with the exception of the styrofoam balls. And they look so elegant. No one will believe that they are just tissue paper and straight pins! Until next time, may all your holidays be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Disney 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments | Mad Hatter's Top Hat

I found this little gem on Pinterest and immediately knew that I wanted to make it the Mad Hatter's top hat! I used the pattern, but lost the instructions. So I punted in making this. I actually used the sewing machine to put it together. I would NOT do that again! I would strongly recommend following the instructions provided by Angel. It would be so much easier than trying to sew it together!

Other than that, here are the variations on my little Mad Hatter's hat:

• Instead of using fleece, as the pattern calls for, I used felt; specifically, felt from The Purl Bee. I love the quality of it. 
• To decorate mine, I used a strip of contrasting felt and a ribbon slide I had in my scrapbooking stash. I created the 10/6 tag from a bit of card stock. 
• I used tacky glue to adhere my embellishments. It worked very well.
• I used super glue to adhere the alligator clip to the brim (because I was too lazy to get out the glue gun!). I would recommend the glue gun for a stronger hold. I had to reapply the super glue, but second time's a charm. It was quite stable after the second application.

So this wasn't the easiest ornament to put together - mostly because I was too disorganized to do it right! But I do love the end result, and I must say, so does Little Chef. He wore it for hours!

Until next time, may all your holidays be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Alice In Wonderland Disney Tea Cup

I found a wonderful glass mug at the Dollar Store recently, just big enough to do a glass etching on it. And it seemed to say Alice In Wonderland to me. And so this project was born! I used my Silhouette SD to create a stencil that says "Drink Me" using the font Started By A Mouse. It reminds me of Fantasyland - where you can find some fabulous spinning tea cups!

This mug was big enough that I didn't have to finagle the stencil too much around the curves. Once the stencil was on I applied the Armor Etch with a popsicle stick and 10 minutes later, the mug was done! I really love how quickly the etching cream works. This definitely qualifies as a nap-friendly project. And it's budget friendly too! The mug cost a dollar and I already had everything else I needed. You can't beat that!

As an added bonus, I thought I'd share my favorite sleepy time tea recipe, developed right here in the cottage!

Merryweather's Night Time Tea

makes one tea bag (two infusions)

2 lemon verbena leaves, crushed

1/2 tsp. lavender

1/2 tsp. lemon balm

1/2 tsp. peppermint

1/2 tsp. ceylon tea (optional)

Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Disney Inspired Socks

Imagination by Knit Picks

I love knitting socks. I love it so much I attended a sock knitting convention two summers ago. Seriously. So when Knit Picks introduced it's sock yarn line, Imagination, I was beyond smitten! But socks take time to knit, and unless you have lots of road tripping time, that is hard to come by in this neck of the woods right now. So instead of knitting and presenting the sock to you, I thought I'd present my best ideas for this new sock yarn and let you do the knitting (or dreaming with me!).

Let me just say, this yarn is so beautiful. There is a colorway for everyone's liking. And the blend is a Merino/Alpaca with a touch of nylon. I can only imagine how soft it must feel. That's my favorite thing about hand-knitted socks: how utterly comfortable they are. Once you start you won't go back, trust me. And hand-knit socks are usually a welcome gift!

But on to the socks! First up is Enchanted Forest. These would be a lovely tribute to Snow White or Sleeping Beauty growing up in the forests of their youths. I would absolutely knit Bacchus socks with this yarn. I love all the bobbles on the trees!

Second, how about a tribute to The Little Mermaid with Mermaid Lagoon and Johnson's Wave socks? I love the colors of the Mermaid Lagoon socks. So beautiful. (It also seems to me that there are really Sully colored. I'm sure there's a pattern out there just right for Monsters U!)

Finally, I love the idea of some Alice in Wonderland socks. So I paired Looking Glass with these Vorticity socks. They remind me of the topsy turvy experience of Alice being in wonderland, and the spin down the rabbit hole.

I could go on and on, but we'll stop there for today. If you knit any of these up, I'd love to see them! Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust.