Disney DIY 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments | Wishing Star Ornament

Welcome back to our 12 Days of DIY Christmas Ornaments series! This ornament was so easy I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner!

About a year ago we had breakfast with the Princesses at Cinderella's Royal Table. We were even lucky enough to get seating before park opening, so we had some awesome opportunities for photos with just our family in them! Definitely something to think about when making your ADRs. There are lots of special little things that happen, and one of them is that you get a special plastic "wishing star" with your place setting. We are the sort of people who take all the little trinkets and freebies with us. It was cute, but it didn't really have a purpose and that gnaws at me a little. I like things to be meaningful and serve a purpose. So when I was thinking about my 12 days of Christmas project it dawned on me that we have 2 of these little cuties and they would be perfect on the Christmas tree!

The ornament itself was super simple. I cut a length of ribbon about 8", and stuck it in between the two stars while I superglued them together. That's it! So simple and a fun reminder of that morning at dinner. Of course, I could write the date and place on it with a Sharpie so the kids will know why it's on the tree when I am old and can't remember. But our tree is like that. It's a great big memory-keeper. And I love that.

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

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, Mousekateers!

Disney DIY 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments | Park Maps Star

Today we have a very budget friendly ornament for your Christmas tree. I spent all of $1.00 to create it. And even better, this ornament is quite simple. I think anyone could make this for their own family or as an inspired gift. I like how this star shape references Disney's Hollywood Studios, but you could conceivably use any shape that suited your particular park map. (A castle for the Magic Kingdom, an animal shape for the Animal Kingdom, etc.)

I started with a paper mache star from the $1 bin at Michaels, and a map from Disney's Hollywood Studios. I traced the star onto the map making sure the parts of the map I wanted (i.e. The Sorcerer's Hat and Star Tours) would be visible. I then used Gel Medium to adhere the map to the star. If you don't have that, Mod Podge would work equally as well. I made sure to give it a good two coats and dried it thoroughly between each one. When it was dry, I went over the edges of the star with gold craft paint. It seemed to fit the glamor of Hollywood. As I have mentioned, I also love sparkly ornaments on the tree! And that's it! Once it was dry it was ready for display. You could further embellish this with a date from a family trip, or glitter and sequins. It's really all up to your creative whims!

I love the holidays, and I hope this project inspires you to  infuse a bit of Disney magic into your holiday season. Until next time, may your holidays be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Disney 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments | Silhouette Mickey Paper Ornament

Welcome back to our next 12 Days of Christmas project! You are going to love this ornament project; it was so easy! And if you have the supplies already, it might even be free! I didn't have the paper I wanted, so I went to my local JoAnn's and purchased this Disney themed paper for $1 a sheet. That felt expensive, until I realized I could make 9 ornaments from my 5 sheets of paper. That makes these ornaments 55￠ each. Not too shabby for trimming your tree on a budget! (Or for giving inexpensive gifts, or as a special embellishment for your gifts....)

To create this ornament I used the 3D Traditional Christmas Tree Ornament shape by Lori Whitlock (design ID 34926) for my Silhouette SD. I used the 7 setting on the blade for both the Disney paper, which seemed thicker than other scrapbooking paper, and the glitter card stock. It worked like a dream. I used bakers twine to create the hanger, but you could use any other ribbon or string you have on hand. I simply made a loop and taped it to the inside of the ornament. I used my tape runner to adhere the sides together and that was it! This is most certainly a nap time friendly craft. It took me under 15 minutes to make this from start to finish.

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

Disney DIY 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments | Geodesic Ornament

Today we look at a beautiful geodesic orb ornament. And if cost-cutting is your objective this Christmas, you are gonna love this ornament! I was able to make if from completely free supplies and embellish it with objects I already owned. Nothing says "budget friendly" like "FREE!"

Here's the nitty gritty details:

I started with this tutorial from Balzer Designs.

My materials were all the same as those listed with the exception of scrapbooking papers; I used paint chip samples instead. I love them because the are nice and stiff and best of all, free! I used the larger ones, as I knew I would need to get a circle with a 1.75" diameter out of them. I also added a few supplies:
a bead for the end of the ribbon (from my mom's stash), a castle punch for embellishing (which I picked up at the parks years ago), a sharpie for personalizing the ornament, and glitter glue for the edges (both of which I already had on hand).

I followed the tutorial exactly. I wasn't too concerned about getting an exact match for the folds of the triangles. Because of this, my edges were a little uneven in some places. I solved this problem by adding the glitter glue to the edges. It worked like a charm. I also decided to add some writing to commemorate the trip we took in 2012. If you decide to do this too, write on the pieces BEFORE you adhere them to one another. It's much easier!

The entire project took me about an hour, with the exception of the glitter glue which takes a while to dry. One could easily make several of these over the course of two nap times. All in all, not a bad way to add beautiful ornaments to your tree for free!

I used colors that were inspired by Cinderella and her castle, but you could easily alter this to reflect your favorite Disney character, park, resort, ship, etc. I hope you enjoy creating your own unique Disney ornament. Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

From Belle's Library | Creating Magic by Lee Cockerell

This month's book selection is Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney, by Lee Cockerell. I absolutely enjoyed reading this book. I loved it. Mr. Cockerell sets out to share his 10 guiding principles from a life of management inside and outside Disney. At first I wasn't sure I would really like this book, because I am a stay at home mom and blogger. My world is my kids and my craft room. I mean really, what can a book on management strategies have to offer me? As it turns out, a lot.

As the title says, these are common sense strategies and I found that I was able to apply several Disney principles to managing my family. I especially loved Chapter 9 entitled, "Burn the Free Fuel," the free fuel being admiration and recognition of your employees (or family members). As Lee says, this is a renewable resource. In fact, the more you do it, the more of it you have to burn. And there are some great stories about how Disney Cast Members are recognized in ways we, the guests, would never see. I'm a huge fan of Disney and I know working for the mouse has not always been lauded as wonderful, but knowing these stories, and there are lots of great stories, confirms for me that what I love about Disney is prevalent throughout the company, not just isolated to the guest experience. I almost makes me proud.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone. Not just the obvious managers, but to teachers and administrators, stay at home moms, nurses and caregivers, anyone who has to juggle the schedules of others and themselves. It's the sort of advice that can apply to everyone. And the sort of advice it's easy to forget in the daily hum of life. Thanks for the reminder, Lee.

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

Disney DIY 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments | Egg Carton Ornament Tutorial

I'm a huge fan of the holidays! So this year for our inaugural celebration on the blog, we are going to do 12 day of Christmas with handmade tree ornaments. From now until Christmas you will see tutorials for 12 different ways to bring a little Disney magic to your Christmas celebrations! It's not the same as being at the parks, but for those of us who can't be there, this will be a way to remember the magic at this magical time of the year.

When my mom and dad were just starting out, they were strapped for money (as most of us are). They didn't have a lot of money for decorating the Christmas tree, so they got creative. I guess making ornaments out of egg cartons was popular in the 70s. My folks made these ornaments for their very first Christmas tree. Even though we can all afford a bit more, these are actually some of my favorite ornaments on our tree. We still put them up every year. And of course, I wanted to make some Disney themed ones, so let me show you exactly how I made them.


Materials you will need:

• empty paper egg carton
• paint (red & white)
• thread or baker's twine (to hang)
• card stock (black)
• Disney punch (I used Mickey)
• glitter glue
• a button or bead

1. Cut Out and Prep Egg Carton
I used the pointy part of the egg carton instead of the shallow cups the eggs sit in. I cut out two of these and painted the insides of them white. I used two coats of paint as the egg carton material really soaked up the paint!

2. Punch Out Mickey and Prep for Hanging
I used a Mickey Mouse punch and punched him out of black card stock. I trimmed the card stock corners so it would fit in the space inside the completed ornament. I used my awl and poked a hole in the top of the Mickey paper and strung some thread through it, tying it into a loop; this will be the ornament hanger, so make sure it's long enough to loop over a branch.

3. Insert Mickey
I wanted my Mickey embellishment to dangle freely inside, so I tied a button to the thread about a half inch above the Mickey. This served as a positive stop for the thread and left room for Mickey to dangle inside the ornament. I then threaded the loop through the top of the egg carton piece. Mine already had a hole in the top; if yours doesn't, then simply use an awl to punch a hole through the pointed side of the egg carton piece and thread your loop of thread through it.

4. Glue Egg Carton Pieces Together
I used Gel Medium/Mod Podge to glue my egg carton pieces together, but Elmer's glue, Perfect Paper Adhesive or even Super Glue would work. To keep them in place, I used small hardware clamps. You could also use bulldog clips if you have them. I set this aside for about an hour to let it fully dry. Once it's dry you should have something that resembles an ornament. You just need to decorate it!

5. Paint the Ornament
I used red craft paint to cover the outside of my ornament. It only needed one coat of the red, but make sure you don't have any missed spots. I found that the egg carton paper made it difficult to get all the spots without a little touching up.

6. Glitter the edges
I like my tree (and my Christmas!) to sparkle. So I decided to use some glitter glue around the edges of the ornament to give it some pizzazz. I think it also helped to cover up some of the unevenness of the egg carton paper. Let it dry and you have your very own unique Disney-themed Christmas ornament! And for me, it was completely free. I had all the materials I needed at home! And wouldn't Jiminy Cricket be so proud of us?

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

Thanksgiving Prep the Disney Way

Thanksgiving is a big deal holiday in our family; on par and sometimes even bigger than Christmas in terms of getting together and preparing. We have even done Thanksgiving in Disney a time or two, the most fantastic was definitely when my Aunt and Uncle reserved a Grand Villa at the Boardwalk and prepared our traditional Thanksgiving feast for the entire family. What fantastic memories we have!

One of the things we always do is create a schedule for cooking. Mr. Photos from the Parks is a sensational cook and always in charge of our meals. (Sometimes we have two feasts, one with our traditional menu and one with a less traditional menu. This is usually our "friendsgiving" meal.) I am usual in charge of the baking. We have a couple resources that we like to use.

The first is this adorable Disney Planner. You can download it here.

The second is this handy chart that King Arthur had in one on its magazines last year. It's extremely helpful in timesaving for this busy mom! It gives a break down of everything that can be prepared up to 5 weeks in advance and how to freeze and reheat. Life altering.

I hope this eases your holiday cooking burden and makes it at least a little more fun! Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Disney Incredible Superhero Cuffs

Happy has been very into playing dress up lately; especially pretending he has super powers! It's something Doc never really liked. So we are a little sparse in the costume/superhero department. When I started scouring the inter-webs for some quick and dirty costumes and accessories, I found these incredibly easy (pardon the pun!) superhero cuffs from Kate's Creative Space. How could I say no?

When I say easy, I mean it. This fits well into the department of nap-time friendly crafts. Kate has the tutorial and the printables all on her blog. All you need is a couple of empty toilet paper tubes and some glue, and you're all set. She shows you how to embellish them a bit too, if you're so inclined. I just love how these turned out. And talk about budget friendly too! I don't care what Happy decides to do with them. I didn't invest much time and they didn't cost me a dime. It's hard to beat that kind of Disney magic. It might even make you feel a little Super.

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