DIY Disney's Mary Poppins Spoonful of Sugar Chore Chart

Mary Poppins' Spoonful of Sugar Chore Chart

I know there are many of us out there who love the Disney Classics. Mary Poppins most certainly qualifies on that score! I can remember going to the drive-in as a little girl with my best friend, both of us propped up on Charles Chips cans in the back seat watching Mary Poppins and Burt traipse across the rooftops of London. It was magical! (I'm certain I am aging myself here: Drive-in? Charles Chips?! Does anyone even know what that is anymore??)

As I was rummaging around in my craft supplies recently, I ran across these adorable spoons from 7Gypsies (hard to find now, but Ebay might be a good place to search). I had been playing around with the idea of a Disney themed chore chart and immediately had the inspiration that these "spoonfuls" would be perfect on a chore chart featuring everyone's favorite nanny!

I wanted to make this simple for Happy - he's only 2, so we are working on a morning and evening routine right now. I designed this Mary Poppins printable chart which I am happy to share with you for free! All you need to do is print it on regular paper - not cardstock - and adhere it to some pretty Poppins-themed scrapbook paper. I pulled this out of the bottom of the stack, but I liked how the butterflies reminded me of Mary's bouquet of flowers/butterflies on her Jolly Holiday with Burt. You remember that, right?

To create the spoon magnets, I used some magnet strip I had on hand. I adhered it to the bowl of the spoon, and the handle end. I first tried some magnetic dots, but they were not strong enough to hold the spoon through 2 pieces of paper (this is why I recommend using regular paper when printing the chart).   I also curled the handle of the spoon just a little to get the handle end to touch the paper and adhere to the fridge. Of course, you could always just make some paper spoon magnets, or use other magnets altogether. (What about those pressed pennies?) You could even cover it with contact paper and make it a write-on, wipe-off board! Make it your own.

Let me know if you use this idea at your cottage. And until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

Mary Poppins DIY Movie Viewing Party

Sometimes, on a Tuesday, you just need a little something special to happen! I surprised our littles mid-week with a Mary Poppins Movie Party! They couldn't have been more excited!

There is an absolute WEALTH of information available on Pinterest if you happen to be planning for just such an occasion! I also used my Silhouette SD to great advantage. There are many pre-made shapes that work perfectly with the Mary Poppins theme. In addition, I have made my Poppins Party Pinboard available on Pinterest so you can see the ideas that inspired me, and perhaps try a few of these ideas with your friends and family.

Ok, let's get into the details!

Setting the Stage:

I used this Carousel Horse Hexi-box shape as my centerpiece for the table. I cut it from card stock using my Silhouette Portrait, and then used a dry adhesive and glue pen to assemble it; it went together quite easily. There is also a tutorial on how to assemble it if these things tend to frustrate you. The kids absolutely wanted to play with it from the moment they saw it!

I wanted a backdrop of sorts for the table, but didn't want to do anything overwhelming (read time-consuming). So I hunted up some Mary Poppins printables. I simply printed them and adhered them to scrapbook paper to frame them up a bit. All of these were free, and I am including my own printable of Jane and Michael's advertisement for a nanny. If you would like to print your own you can find the Nanny Want Ad here to download, the Lucky printable, the Keep Calm printable, and the Spoonful of Sugar printable, here.

The Food:

I wanted all the food to be themed in one way or another to the movie. And I also wanted a solid variety of sweet, savory and salty. So we started with Kite Sandwiches. These were simple. Little Chef, ironically, loves to cook, but is not an adventurous eater. So these are simple ham and cheese with a little veggie cream cheese for good measure. I cut the crusts off a sandwich and trimmed each half into diamonds. I then used sliced cheese to cut out the crosses on the top of the sandwiches. (I just laid it on top.) Finally, I used some frilly 4-inch toothpicks to create the tails for the kites.

You can also see here the chocolate coins which were our Tuppence, and our Rum Punch (which we made without the rum for the kiddos!). For the punch I just mixed orange juice, pineapple juice and some La Croix Coconut sparkling water in a pitcher. The flamingo straw toppers were again from the Silhouette design shop. We don't have much juice here in the cottage, so this punch was a real treat for the littles! Also, the version with the coconut rum was a real treat for the adults!! Rum punch, delicious!

We added to the sweets with Raspberry Ice (store bought sorbet). If you really want to make some granita from scratch, I found a recipe for you. It looks pretty simple to make, but time intensive. And a little bit of time saving sounded great to me on a weeknight! I passed on the homemade raspberry ice.

And then it was time to move on to the salty snacks!

My kids adore goldfish crackers, but I was having a hard time making them fit into this Mary Poppins theme. And then I saw these umbrella party favors and I knew I had my solution! Here is a link to how to make them. Instead of a regular handle I wanted the classic Mary Poppins parrot head. So I found a .png image on line and imported it into the silhouette, traced it and cut it out. Voila! A Poppins umbrella full of goldfish! My littles loved them! (And so did I!)

We also had these adorable cream cheese and black olive penguins! Of all the food we made for this party, I loved these the most. They were a little bit of prep work, but nothing overwhelming. And the effect was well worth the effort!  I guarantee I will be making them again this Christmas! You only need cream cheese (we used the veggie kind), black olives, carrots and 4-inch toothpicks to create them. You can find the full tutorial here. I used the same frilly toothpicks as I did for the kite sandwiches. The effect was exactly as I hoped! And these are incredibly delicious little snacks! The toddlers were not as thrilled with them, but the adults were definitely pleased.

And because no movie party is complete without popcorn, I made these themed popcorn boxes! I used the Let's Go Fly A Kite Tile and the popcorn box shape with my Silhouette Portrait. These, surprisingly, took the longest time to assemble. The Fly A Kite tile has a LOT of intricate pieces cut from several different colors of card stock. I love the overall effect, but I'm not sure how many of these I could do. I'm glad I was only working on three.

A word about popcorn here (because I can); I am a huge fan of popcorn made on the stove. None of that chemical infused microwave popcorn for this family! It's so simple and much less expensive too. Plus, our family prefers the taste and smell to the microwave variety.

And there it is: the recipe for your very own DIY Mary Poppins movie viewing party. Of course, you could do the same thing for a Saving Mr. Banks viewing party as well.

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

From Belle's Library | Home by Julie Andrews

Let me start by saying, I think Julie Andrews has been remarkable in everything she's done. I love her acting and singing and wish I could have seen her perform on stage. So right away, this book, Home, by Julie Andrews, was going to appeal to me.

This is an autobiography, read by the author -- which I love -- about her early life. It takes the reader right up to her moving to LA to do Mary Poppins with Walt Disney. I didn't have any expectations about this book going into it, and I'm glad. It's a rather quiet story about a young, very talented girl with a very tumultuous childhood. I didn't realize there was so much upheaval in her early life. She seems such a staid and even person!

It was interesting to hear about her early years performing in the vaudeville circuit, her amazing voice coach and her early romance. I always wonder about the stories behind the personalities we've come to know and love. It's always more complicated than we think. As one would expect, this is a very upbeat story, highlighting the best memories and even finding the silver lining to a rough childhood. It was a wonderful read. If you have fans of Julie Andrews in your life, or of the musical theater, I am certain they would find this book appealing. To the average Disney fan, it may fall a little flat.

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

From Belle's Library | Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers

I grew up watching Walt Disney's version of Mary Poppins. In fact, it was the first drive-in movie I ever went to. We dressed in our pjs and popped our popcorn and I sat on a Charles Chips can so I could see from the back seat. And I fell in love. My best friend and I would re-enact scenes from it in the back yard for months, singing the bits of songs that we remembered until my mom and dad bought us the LP soundtrack that we would memorize word for word. It was magic, that story.

When I stumbled upon the book, Mary Poppins, by P.L. Travers, while browsing Audible lately, I thought I should give it a try. And while I never saw "Saving Mr. Banks" in the theater (due to our inordinately snowy winter) I knew the basic story of P.L. Travers and her infamously touchy relationship with Mr. Disney. I was curious as to the original Mary Poppins stories and how they captured Walt Disney's heart enough to put up with so much grief from their author. And without a doubt, these stories did NOT disappoint.

I instantly recognized Mary Poppins from the movie. She was not terribly different in the the books. I thought she might have been sweetened up a bit from the reviews I read on line, but not at all to my way of thinking. And her magic was just as captivating as it was when I was 8-years-old! That, and the fact that there are other stories, not told in the movie version makes this even more fascinating for me. In fact, I may try this as a family read-aloud in a few more years, when Little Chef and Minnie are able to stay tuned in for more than 10 minutes. I think it would be ideal for a Disney road trip!

If you are at all captivated by Disney's version of Mary Poppins, I highly recommend this book. And what's more, there are several other books in this series, so if it catches fire in your household, there are many more stories to discover! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Disney's Mary Poppins Spoonful of Sugar Chore Chart

Mary Poppins' Spoonful of Sugar Chore Chart

I know there are many of us out there who love the Disney Classics. Mary Poppins most certainly qualifies on that score! I can remember going to the drive-in as a little girl with my best friend, both of us propped up on Charles Chips cans in the back seat watching Mary Poppins and Burt traipse across the rooftops of London. It was magical! (I'm certain I am aging myself here: Drive-in? Charles Chips?!)

As I was rummaging around in my craft supplies recently, I ran across these adorable spoons from 7Gypsies (hard to find now, but available here; Ebay might be a good place to search too). I had been playing around with the idea of a Disney themed chore chart and immediately had the inspiration that these "spoonfuls" would be perfect on a chore chart featuring everyone's favorite nanny!

I wanted to make this simple for Happy - he's only 2, so we are working on a morning and evening routine right now. I designed this Mary Poppins printable chart which I am happy to share with you for free! All you need to do is print it on regular paper - not cardstock - and adhere it to some pretty Poppins-themed scrapbook paper. I pulled this out of the bottom of the stack, but I liked how the butterflies reminded me of Mary's bouquet of flowers/butterflies on her Jolly Holiday with Burt. You remember that, right?

To create the spoon magnets, I used some magnet strip I had on hand. I adhered it to the bowl of the spoon, and the handle end. I first tried some magnetic dots, but they were not strong enough to hold the spoon through 2 pieces of paper (this is why I recommend using regular paper when printing the chart).   I also curled the handle of the spoon just a little to get the handle end to touch the paper and adhere to the fridge. Of course, you could always just make some paper spoon magnets, or use other magnets altogether. (What about those pressed pennies?) You could even cover it with contact paper and make it a write-on, wipe-off board! Make it your own.

Let me know if you use this idea at your cottage. And until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!