Louis The Alligator Hand-Knit, Disney Inspired Socks

Because a girl can NEVER have too many pairs of hand-knit socks, I have created yet another pair to cozy up with this winter. And because I am a Disney girl through and through, they are, yet again, inspired by a Disney animated character!

These socks are my homage to Louis The Alligator from The Princes and the Frog. He and Ray Ray are my favorite characters from that movie! These socks, once knitted up in green, made me think of Louis playing his trumpet at Mardi Gras! They have festive bobbles along the leg and jazzy stripes throughout.

While this pattern was not one of my favorites (because lord knows purling most of the pattern can slow a knitting sister down!), I love the way they turned out. I probably won't make this pattern again, but I will be sporting them on Mardi Gras! You can find out all the particulars (like yarn and size) by following the link above to my Ravelry page, if that's your sort of thing.

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

DIY Mary Blair Small World Inspired Building Blocks

I've been working on this project for some time now and finally had the time and energy to finish it! My regular followers will know that I am a huge Mary Blair fan. HUGE. Her concept art for It's A Small World decorates a wall in my house. If I could find a way to make the mural at the Contemporary Resort mine, I would do it.

So when these plain, ordinary, wooden blocks came into my life I had the inspiration to decorate them with the same geometric shapes used in the It's A Small World mural. I like the idea of being able to play with that art.

For color, I decided to use my Sharpie markers mostly because I didn't want to wait for paint to dry on each side of each block before going on to the next one. If I were doing these for a baby or child who would be likely to put them in her mouth, I would stick with the non-toxic paint. Fortunately for me, my kids seem to be past that stage (another milestone!) in their lives.

I noticed that in using the Sharpies, the colors were exceptionally dark, especially on the sides where the wood grain was darker. I would certainly consider painting them if I wanted the color to be brighter. But since these are simply for me to play around with, the Sharpies were a quick and easy choice. Plus I feel like I have more control with a marker than I would with a paintbrush.

I really love the way these turned out. And I love having them at my desk to play with when I need a quick mental break! Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

Life Is The Bubbles Design on RedBubble

This is the perfect carefree design for the Little Mermaid fan in your life, OR the Disney Cruise Line aficionado, right? Inspired by Sabastian the crab's song, Under the Sea, this whimsical design pretty much sums up my feelings about Disney as a whole! And I think my toddlers would say the same!

You can find this little gem on my RedBubble page along with lots of other great products sporting this design, including kids wear, bags, tech skins and cases and even leggings! You just never know what is going to float your boat! Just scroll down the page at RedBubble to see everything this design comes on. And don't forget to look around at all the other great Disney inspired designs in my portfolio as well!

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

Disney Lunch Box Notes | Back To School

School is already underway here at the Cottage, so I thought I would re-run one of my favorite items for back to school: lunch box notes. You can print and use these notes right away. I hope you will enjoy this post from 2013:

It's back to school time and those first few weeks can be rough getting back into the routine! If you have a student (or frankly, a teacher) in your life you know how hard it can be. These sweet lunch box notes are a perfect mid-day pick-me-up. There are lots of these out there but these are my favorites. Add a little magic to your loved one's lunch.

Disney Family has a cute selection, both boy and girl themed. These are the boy selection.
Disney Stationery has lots of great notes including these wonderful Wall-E notes. Check out the link for more from Mickey and the gang, your favorite princesses, a pirate and a few dwarfs.

And finally, if your kids are a bit older and enjoy trivia from the parks (*cough*, Doc, *cough*), then here are 6 from the cottage. We hope you enjoy them. Simply click here to download them for yourself. Special thanks to Disney Trivia for the questions and answers!

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

Disney DIY Paper Airplanes

Our littles recently went to the local library and stumbled upon a paper airplane demonstration. You would have thought it was the second coming! They loved it and showed everyone the airplanes they made. And ever since there has been some paper airplane madness here in the Cottage!

I remembered having pinned some Mickey airplanes on Pinterest and decided to look them up. Sure enough, there they were! And now I am sharing them with you. You can find the cut-outs to download on the Disney Family website. They are simple to make and loads of fun!

In fact, even the high-schooler got in on the action, remembering he had this Star Wars book of paper airplanes hanging out in his room. That was even more amazing to the little ones. Even to this mama, this book rocks. If you have a Star Wars kid (or adult!) in your house, you should seriously consider this for them! I would definitely recommend it for those with a good attention span and a command of scissors. The designs are complicated and one even frustrated the teenager to the point of balling it up and tossing it out! 

These were a great boredom buster for our family, and as summer drones on for some of you out there, maybe this will be a good diversion. Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!