DIY Small Zippered Mickey Mouse Pouch

As you know, I'm a fan of little bags and pouches for travel. I saw this little beauty and thought it could be Disney-fied with a little alteration. And while I would work a bit on the shapes of the ears, this came together very easily and I would certainly do it again!

I found the original pattern from Dog Under My Desk on Pinterest. I had all the necessary supplies already in my stash, so this project was definitely budget friendly! If you don't already have what you need, I would say this can easily come in under $5.00 a pouch. Still well within my Tinkerbell Treasure limit. And wouldn't it be so cute for all your pressed pennies? Of course the author of the pattern, Erin, suggests using it as a housing for your earbuds. I also love this idea. Keeping those things from tangling with everything else in my bag is forever my mission! And a great solution for the kids! Especially since this isn't too girly - Doc would even use it.

I tried using different circle shapes for the ears, and in the end, went with this: 

As I mentioned before, I would probably choose to go with bigger circles next time. It's always a bit tricky sewing around circles, but over all, I was still pleased with the way this pouch turned out. It will definitely get used! And I can imagine an endless stream of variations for the fabrics and for making it fit different Disney characters.

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

DIY Disney Pressed Penny Push Pins

I am a self-professed pressed penny enthusiast. I always head to Disney armed with rolls of quarters and pennies. It's a great way to keep the littles busy while we wait for the thrill-seekers to to finish their attractions. I especially love to hit the penny machines in the shops on Sunset Boulevard in Disney's Hollywood Studios. The wait for The Rockin' Roller Coaster and Hollywood Tower of Terror can be LONG. If we didn't get fast passes and we've already finished the Disney Jr. show, this is where I go to keep the kiddos busy. Of course, there are penny machines throughout the entire Disney Resort. Some of the best pressed pennies can be had at some of the less-visited places. A pressed penny hunt can be a great activity for a non-park day.

And what's better than a 51 cent souvenir? This also means, however, that I have quite a collection of pressed pennies. And that I am always looking for something to do with them. It occurred to me that I could glue them to some flat head push pins to create a unique (and useful) souvenir. I LOVE a useful souvenir. I feel better about it taking up space in my house. So these fantastic little beauties were born! I used Gorilla Glue, but I think an epoxy or even Super Glue would do the trick.

So simple and so fun. I think they'd be the perfect stocking stuffer, don't you? Or perhaps a graduation gift? After all, the traditional graduation gift is money, right? Wrap these up in a sweet little box and include a couple of bills in there too. Voila! Thoughtful and easy - my kind of gift! And these certainly fall into the nap time friendly and budget friendly category as well. I just love these little gems. I see many sets in our future!

I hope you have fun making these, and until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

Tinkerbell Treasures: Coin Rolls

I saw this idea on pinterest, via Martha Stewart, as a stocking stuffer and thought it would be great for a Tinkerbell Treasure! I love the pressed penny machines in Disney. I think they are a great way to spend your waiting time -- waiting for a dinner reservation, waiting for the taller kiddos to finish their thrill rides, waiting for mom to check out at the shops. I'll buy that kind of patience for 50¢ any day of the week! Plus, there are all sorts of games you can play with the pressed pennies once you've collected a few (more on that in a later post).


For these coin rolls I decided to just wrap them in scrapbook paper scraps, but you could certainly decide to use a solid paper and ribbons that match your child's favorite Disney character, or specifically Disney paper. And I was tempted to skip the cellophane, but it really makes a big difference in keeping the ends of the rolls together and adding a sweet touch. A roll of quarters ($10) and a roll of pennies (50¢) should keep two kids busy for at least a couple of days (that's 10 pressed pennies each), that is, if they don't develop an obsession for collecting pressed pennies!

If you want to make these for the pressed penny lover in your life, I have a downloadable page of tags for you to use. Just click here, or click on the thumbnail below to download. Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Disney Monorail Scavenger Hunt Cards

I've always had a love-affair with the monorail system in Walt Disney World. It's magical in it's own right, and such a cool way to travel! As a kid I longed to stay in the Contemporary Resort so we could see the monorail swishing through the concourse on a regular basis.

And as a kid, we always played a monorail version of the license plate game, keeping track of the different colors we'd seen. Today there are twelve monorails operating in WDW. Rarely are they all on-line at once. But if you are lucky, you could see most of the following: Red, Orange, Yellow, Gold, Peach, Coral, Green, Lime, Blue, Teal, Silver and Black.

In the spirit of making the most of our wait time (there can be A LOT of wait time in Disney, depending on your travel dates), I created these scratch-off cards for the kids in our party. I used a heavy card stock to print these, and I would recommend making several extras as you may need them for those adults kids who tend to lose theirs in the parks, or for a learning curve with the scratch-off paint.

Then, I used this tutorial from Artmind to make scratch-off paint. A couple of tips regarding the scratch-off paint: 1.) It bubbled up when I applied it, but most of the bubbles went away as it dried. The more you agitate the paint, the more bubbles you will get. 2.) A lighter color of paint is recommended. I used copper and it didn't scratch off cleanly - as you can see in the photo below. The gold was much better.

To create the actual card, I used a scanned image of the monorail from a promotional Disney flyer. You may want to clean up the edges of the image in Photoshop. To create the different colored monorails, I selected the color stripe so it could be changed to the different colors I needed. Due to copyright laws, I can do this for my own personal use, but not, I am sorry to say, to distribute it to others. Therefore, I cannot offer you a PDF as I would like to. I can, however, refer you to my March 5th post about how to select an image and create a PNG from your own photo, and this tutorial on how to select an area of a scanned image in Photoshop and change its color. It was much easier than it sounds. Give it a try. And remember that if you are scaling down your image significantly, you will not have to be so worried about little detail areas that don't look right on a larger scale. Some of them just disappear. Don't stress yourself out about the little things.

Of course, it was only logical that each kid got a pressed penny to use as a scratch-off tool! The edge was perfect for removing the paint. I hope you give this scavenger hunt a try. We had a blast using them. Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust.

DIY Small Zippered Mickey Mouse Pouch

As you know, I'm a fan of little bags and pouches for travel. I saw this little beauty and thought it could be Disney-fied with a little alteration. And while I would work a bit on the shapes of the ears, this came together very easily and I would certainly do it again!

I found the original pattern from Dog Under My Desk on Pinterest. I had all the necessary supplies already in my stash, so this project was definitely budget friendly! If you don't already have what you need, I would say this can easily come in under $5.00 a pouch. Still well within my Tinkerbell Treasure limit. And wouldn't it be so cute for all your pressed pennies? Of course the author of the pattern, Erin, suggests using it as a housing for your earbuds. I also love this idea. Keeping those things from tangling with everything else in my bag is forever my mission! And a great solution for the kids! Especially since this isn't too girly - Doc would even use it.

I tried using different circle shapes for the ears, and in the end, went with this: 

As I mentioned before, I would probably choose to go with bigger circles next time. It's always a bit tricky sewing around circles, but over all, I was still pleased with the way this pouch turned out. It will definitely get used! And I can imagine an endless stream of variations for the fabrics and for making it fit different Disney characters.

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

DIY Disney Pressed Penny Jewelry from EPBOT

I love my pressed pennies. I've mentioned this before. And I love to find ways to show them off. I stumbled across this tutorial on Pinterest that blew my mind! Such gorgeous jewelry from simple supplies. You'd be amazed. Before I send you over to EPBOT let me tempt you with a little eye candy (all pictures are copyright EPBOT):

I hope to show off some of my own jewelry inspired by Jen's gorgeous creations. But until then, I hope you enjoy her amazing ideas. May all your days be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Disney Pressed Penny Push Pins

I am a self-professed pressed penny enthusiast. I always head to Disney armed with rolls of quarters and pennies. It's a great way to keep the littles busy while we wait for the thrill-seekers to to finish their attractions. I especially love to hit the penny machines in the shops on Sunset Boulevard in Disney's Hollywood Studios. The wait for The Rockin' Roller Coaster and Hollywood Tower of Terror can be LONG. If we didn't get fast passes and we've already finished the Disney Jr. show, this is where I go to keep the kiddos busy. Of course, there are penny machines throughout the entire Disney Resort. Some of the best pressed pennies can be had at some of the less-visited places. A pressed penny hunt can be a great activity for a non-park day.

And what's better than a 51 cent souvenir? This also means, however, that I have quite a collection of pressed pennies. And that I am always looking for something to do with them. It occurred to me that I could glue them to some flat head push pins to create a unique (and useful) souvenir. I LOVE a useful souvenir. I feel better about it taking up space in my house. So these fantastic little beauties were born! I used Gorilla Glue, but I think an epoxy or even Super Glue would do the trick.

So simple and so fun. I think they'd be the perfect stocking stuffer, don't you? Or perhaps a graduation gift? After all, the traditional graduation gift is money, right? Wrap these up in a sweet little box and include a couple of bills in there too. Voila! Thoughtful and easy - my kind of gift! And these certainly fall into the nap time friendly and budget friendly category as well. I just love these little gems. I see many sets in our future!

I hope you have fun making these, and until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

Tinkerbell Treasures: Coin Rolls

I saw this idea on pinterest, via Martha Stewart, as a stocking stuffer and thought it would be great for a Tinkerbell Treasure! I love the pressed penny machines in Disney. I think they are a great way to spend your waiting time -- waiting for a dinner reservation, waiting for the taller kiddos to finish their thrill rides, waiting for mom to check out at the shops. I'll buy that kind of patience for 50¢ any day of the week! Plus, there are all sorts of games you can play with the pressed pennies once you've collected a few (more on that in a later post).


For these coin rolls I decided to just wrap them in scrapbook paper scraps, but you could certainly decide to use a solid paper and ribbons that match your child's favorite Disney character, or specifically Disney paper. And I was tempted to skip the cellophane, but it really makes a big difference in keeping the ends of the rolls together and adding a sweet touch. A roll of quarters ($10) and a roll of pennies (50¢) should keep two kids busy for at least a couple of days (that's 10 pressed pennies each), that is, if they don't develop an obsession for collecting pressed pennies!

If you want to make these for the pressed penny lover in your life, I have a downloadable page of tags for you to use. Just click here, or click on the thumbnail below to download. Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Disney Monorail Scavenger Hunt Cards

I've always had a love-affair with the monorail system in Walt Disney World. It's magical in it's own right, and such a cool way to travel! As a kid I longed to stay in the Contemporary Resort so we could see the monorail swishing through the concourse on a regular basis.

And as a kid, we always played a monorail version of the license plate game, keeping track of the different colors we'd seen. Today there are twelve monorails operating in WDW. Rarely are they all on-line at once. But if you are lucky, you could see most of the following: Red, Orange, Yellow, Gold, Peach, Coral, Green, Lime, Blue, Teal, Silver and Black.

In the spirit of making the most of our wait time (there can be A LOT of wait time in Disney, depending on your travel dates), I created these scratch-off cards for the kids in our party. I used a heavy card stock to print these, and I would recommend making several extras as you may need them for those adults kids who tend to lose theirs in the parks, or for a learning curve with the scratch-off paint.

Then, I used this tutorial from Artmind to make scratch-off paint. A couple of tips regarding the scratch-off paint: 1.) It bubbled up when I applied it, but most of the bubbles went away as it dried. The more you agitate the paint, the more bubbles you will get. 2.) A lighter color of paint is recommended. I used copper and it didn't scratch off cleanly - as you can see in the photo below. The gold was much better.

To create the actual card, I used a scanned image of the monorail from a promotional Disney flyer. You may want to clean up the edges of the image in Photoshop. To create the different colored monorails, I selected the color stripe so it could be changed to the different colors I needed. Due to copyright laws, I can do this for my own personal use, but not, I am sorry to say, to distribute it to others. Therefore, I cannot offer you a PDF as I would like to. I can, however, refer you to my March 5th post about how to select an image and create a PNG from your own photo, & this tutorial on how to select an area of a scanned image in Photoshop and change its color. It was much easier than it sounds. Give it a try. And remember that if you are scaling down your image significantly, you will not have to be so worried about little detail areas that don't look right on a larger scale. Some of them just disappear. Don't stress yourself out about the little things.

Of course, it was only logical that each kid got a pressed penny to use as a scratch-off tool! The edge was perfect for removing the paint. I hope you give this scavenger hunt a try. We had a blast using them. Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust.

DIY Disney Pressed Penny Coin Purse

This could be my favorite DIY yet. I'll admit, I'm a big fan of the pressed penny machines. I save my pennies and quarters all year long. I love having something to do with the littles while the thrill seekers find their thrills. I've tried a couple different ways of carrying coins into the parks, but they are heavy and awkward in a bag. When I ran across these awesome iconic Mickey coin purse frames, I knew I had my solution!

First things first (because I know many of you will need to know): I ordered these purse frames from Etsy; they came all the way from Hong Kong. If you want to find your own, try looking at this shop. Just realize that shipping will take a while to get here, so plan accordingly. I may have squealed just a little at the post office when I went to pick them up. They really are so adorable!

This is also a great way to use up fabric scraps. I found another shop on Etsy selling crazy cute Japanese fabric themed with Disney; if you're interested, simply search for it in the supplies category. You'll have plenty of choices.

To make these I used this wonderful Purl Bee tutorial, as well as this tutorial, to create my own pattern. They were both very instructive. I would recommend making at least one practice purse before using your favorite fabric. There is a small learning curve. The frames I purchased had holes for sewing; I like the look of them better. So I did not use the tutorial for attaching the frame, nor did I need the rope they used. Instead, I used their instructions as a reference, and sewed the purses in with embroidery floss that matched the frame color. The stitching was visible on the inside of some, but I liked that you could tell they were handmade. I was giving them as gifts.

We hope you enjoy pressing those pennies, paying for your souvenirs, or just remembering Disney when you reach for your change. Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust.