DIY It's A Small World Framed Art

This was a super simple project, with a big impact. It was budget friendly in the scope of framed art, but still the most expensive part of the room makeover; go figure. But when you break it down, these were just over $12 each. Not at all bad for framed artwork. And these really tied the room together for me, so I was willing to spend the money.

I was able to purchase everything through Amazon. I shopping with Amazon because they deliver everything to the cottage. With two in carseats, shopping isn't full of magic for me! I found an adorable It's A Small World mini calendar here, and the frames here. I chose to use these shadow box frames because they were the cheapest black 8x8 frames I could find. As chance would have it, I really like how they look. And since the calendar pages were not quite 8x8, I simply matted them on 8x8 cardstock in various colors to match the art. I already had the cardstock, so that was a little money saved right there. I also used the cardboard inserts from the frames to figure out the placement on the wall, as in this tutorial on eHow. Brilliant! These pictures really did do a lot to complete the room, and I couldn't have asked for more perfect art work!

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

It's A Small World Kids Room: Subway Art

As a lover of graphic art, and a dabbler myself, this trend in Subway Art rocks my world. I just had to make some for our new Small World Room. In fact, with all those international farewell's already laid out for me, it was downright impossible to ignore. It's like this project was calling out my name. So, I skimmed over several of our vacation photos and found the words I wanted to use. I also referenced them for the fonts I chose. I mean really, how much easier does it get?

If you've never been through It's A Small World (which I find extremely hard to imagine, unless you are preparing for your first trip, in which case, I salute you for your admirable choice in vacation spots and blog reading), here is what you see at the end of the ride:

So how did I do it? It was simple. Measure the wall area on which you are going to hang the print. You can easily prints made at standard sizes, 11x14, 16x20, 20x30, so choose the size that works best for you. Don't forget to factor in the frame when deciding which size you want to use. I chose to use Shutterfly as my vendor. I had used them before to print posters for Doc's room, and I had a coupon to use. If money is an issue, shop around. You can find a good deal at many print shops. And don't forget to check out Staples and Office Depot. They usually have print centers.

To make your own subway art, open a document in Photoshop the size of the print you wish to make. Type each word in a separate text box. This gives you the ability to move them around and change fonts easily. Size them all to the margins you require. I used about an inch of white space all around so I would have room to mat and frame it. Then start playing around with fonts. As I said before, I had photos to reference, so that was helpful. And as a font enthusiast (and avid scrapbooker), I have a vast library of fonts to choose from (most of which I downloaded for free). If you need to find fonts, just search fonts on pinterest. You'll be swimming in them.

Fonts I used for this project (from top to bottom):
Eccentric Standard
Heavy Heap
Pepper
Wren
Rosewood Standard
Water Street
Ornatique
Mary Jane Tankard
Bimini

I hope your attempts at making subway art are as fun as this was for me! Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

It's A Small World Kids Room: Bunting

After our last trip through It's A Small World, I noticed that in every room of the attraction, there is something hanging from the ceiling. I wanted to try and evoke that feeling in the kids' room and this bunting was the perfect way to do that. And it was a fun way to use up some fat quarters I had lying around.

I used this very simple tutorial from Yvestown. It was easy to follow and only required two nap times to complete. And it was very budget friendly too, as I already had all the supplies on hand that I would need. The stack of fat quarters was purchased from Hobby Lobby for $7.00. In order to figure out how I wanted it spaced on the ceiling, I taped it to the wall with painters tape. That way I could adjust it until it was just how I wanted it. I originally used the clear Command Hooks to hang the bunting from the ceiling. I just tied a loop of thread around the binding where I wanted to hang it. But it eventually fell down. I'm sure the fabric was just too heavy for it. I put up plant hooks that screw into the ceiling and that has been a much more secure solution.

This would be a great project for a birthday or tea party too. I hope you have fun with it! Be sure to share your projects with us if you Disney-fy some bunting too. Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

It's A Small World Kids Room: Wall Mural

When I decided on the Small World theme for the kids room, I knew I wanted a wall mural. So I did a quick Google image search for Mary Blair, and there were loads of pictures to choose from. I settled on this image. This was her concept art for It's A Small World and it was just what I was looking for, a reference without looking like the ride itself, exactly.

My first thought was to transfer the design using a projector and a pencil. Unfortunately, the projector couldn't get the image as large as I wanted it to be. So, instead, I went old school and put a grid on the wall (in pencil) and then transferred the design block by block.

If you're like me, the math involved seems overwhelming. Here's how I simplified it: draw a grid on the paper first - make sure the squares are small enough so that the image in each square can easily be transferred. I used 1/2" squares.

Count the number of squares across the top of your design (we'll call that measurement A). I have 21 squares across. Then measure your wall space, horizontally (we'll call that measurement B). Divide measurement B by measurement A (For me that's B divided by 21). Your result is the number of inches in each wall square needs to be. For me, I needed my squares to be 5.75". At that point I used my 18" ruler and the laser leveler and drew my lines on the wall. (If you look closely, you can see that I cut off the last bit of the design on the left side of the picture. I was willing to lose that to make the measurements easier to deal with.)

I used basic craft acrylic paints. The total cost in paint was $41.00. It's hard to go wrong at that price! I am mostly pleased with this decision, but I will say the coverage on the lighter colors was not so great; I had to put on 2 and sometimes 3 coats. The Folk Art brand was thicker and in general covered better than the Craft Smart. I'd say it's worth the minimal extra cost for the thicker paint. Once everything was painted on, I sealed it with a clear coat of Golden's Soft Gel Gloss Medium mixed one part water to two parts gel. The gloss is important here. The matte and semi-gloss will cloud the colors of your mural. After all that work, I really wanted the colors to pop! I carefully followed the "skyline" so that only the buildings would shine. Hopefully the sealant will make it last a bit longer; time will tell. Kids can be awfully hard on paint!

The finished product

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

Linking up today at:
{too} cute Tuesday
Tell Me Tuesday
Handmade Tuesday
Get Your Craft On Tuesday

Tinkerbell Treasure Hunt

For those of you who enjoy finding little goodies to keep your kids occupied during your Disney travels (or to bring a little extra magic to your vacation days), JoAnn's currently has a large selection of Monsters, Inc./University goodies in the $1.00 bins. I was able to find all of these items yesterday at our local store.

1. Fat quarter with Elephants (Animal Kingdom or Dumbo)

2. Monsters Inc. activity book

3. Bruce (from Finding Nemo) snack bin

4. Monsters Inc. puffy stickers

5. Monsters Inc. 3-D drawing pad

6. Small bow & arrow punch (Brave)

7. Monsters Inc. coloring roll & crayons

8. Monsters Inc. double pointed crayons

9. Monsters Inc. pack of 400 stickers

Some of these things will have to be made into other things, or used to create other Disney themed goodies, but all of the Monsters Inc. items can be given as is. GREAT for a long road trip or a daily gift while at the resorts! 

I hope you enjoy your own Tinkerbell Treasure hunts! Let us know if you find any steals in your neck of the woods. And until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

It's A Small World Kids Room Disney DIY

Next week marks the 44th anniversary of the premier of It's A Small World at the 1964 World's Fair. I thought it fitting that I share with your the recent conversion of our guest room to our kids' Small World room.

With a recent new addition to our cottage family, we had to do some shuffling of space. This meant I had the opportunity to redecorate our guest room and make it a kids room. And since we now have a boy and a girl sharing the space, I wanted something playful, yet gender neutral. My inspiration was Mary Blair, the concept artist for many Disney movies, and the signature style behind It's A Small World. I'll spend several posts showing you what I did to create this happy space. But here are some photos of the finished projects.

Completed Mural

Our It's A Small World Book Collection

Subway Art

Bunting & Calendar Art

Room with Furniture

This was certainly a budget friendly redo! Here's the cost breakdown:

• Paint: $30
• Subway Art: $9 (with coupon to shutterfly)
• Subway Art Frame: $26
• Bird Mobile: $10 (Zulily)
• Together Art: gift
• Fabric for Bunting: $7
• Small World Books: $36
• Small World Calendar: $12
• Frames for Calendar Art: $150

Grand Total for the room: $280. Not bad for such a cheerful and comprehensive update. I almost wish it was my room! Next post I'll share with you how the mural came together. Until then, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Small World Passporter Envelope

As one of my dear Disney Buddies likes to say, it feels like you need a Bachelors Degree in Disney Planning to take your first trip to Walt Disney World, and an Associates in Disney Dining. We know it can be overwhelming for the first time planner. If you are unfamiliar with our friends over at PassPorter, please head over and take a look. They are THE planning tool for our friends and family. Even after 36 trips, we find the PassPorter a useful tool before and during our stay in Walt Disney World. I always get one for any new family traveling with us.

It should come as no surprise, that I have my PassPorter with me at every planning session. I like to have sticky notes, or post-it flags, and my favorite pen with me too. (I have a bit of a pen obsession!) So this fabric envelope from Bolt was the perfect solution for my PassPorter. Follow the link for the excellent tutorial. I made just a couple adjustments of my own.

I chose to do a button and loop closure on my envelope, and adjusted the length of the fold over elastic to measure 14.5" in order to fit over my PassPorter cover. This will accommodate the deluxe cover, or the entire book of the regular PassPorter. If you've never used fold over elastic, it's really great stuff! It comes in all sorts of colors and patterns. And Amazon has a nice selection of it too.

The fabric is November Books Kokka Children of the World. It reminds me of the It's A Small World attraction (one of my favorites!). I have only been able to find it on Etsy, and it can be expensive, but I love it so much I don't mind spending a little extra. The contrasting fabric (seen on the envelope flap) was purchased at JoAnn's. It's their store label.

Because this project requires very little fabric, it would be a great stash-busting project. And it's quite budget friendly too. I had everything I needed except the fold over elastic, and that was in the $6.00 range. Not bad at all for such a cute and useful item. If you make one of these for your Disney trip, please leave us a link to it in the comments. We love to see what our followers are doing! Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust.

Space Mountain T-shirt Orders Until Friday!

Don't forget that there are only 4 more days to order these one of a kind Space Mountain T-shirts!

I created this shirt from my own photo of the iconic Disney attraction. Every time my son wears it, people ask him where they can get it. It can be yours too, but just for a limited time. After Friday they will be gone.

These shirts are 100% organic cotton and come in navy only. Both adult & youth sizes are available. Adult shirts are $20 and youth shirts are $17. There is a $6 shipping fee for the first shirt, the rest ship for free! Head on over to my Etsy shop and order a couple. They'd make terrific Christmas gifts for those Disney enthusiasts in your life!

DIY Mickey Oreo Pops

These are a labor of love, and definitely not a nap-time friendly project. But if you are a fan of Oreo cookies, or know someone who is, then it's totally worth it. These pops tend to be a bit fragile, so traveling with them can be tricky. They may be best left to party favors and at home magic. Still, the impact is great, so I still say give them a try.

I was inspired to try this when I ran across this pin on Pinterest. I tried a couple of different ways of doing this. The first and foremost recommendation is that if you are putting them on sticks, definitely get the double stuffed Oreos. They are easy to get the stick into and unlikely to break. (Wilton brand sticks can be found at your local craft store, or here.)

Getting the mini Oreos to stick onto the big ones was a bit of a challenge. I melted Wilton's light cocoa candies and used that as the glue. In retrospect, I would use the dark cocoa next time as it matches the Oreo color better. I found that melting the chocolate so that it wasn't runny was the best bet, as it provided a nice paste-like texture: enough to stick the cookies together, but not so thin it was running all over the mat and not staying on the pops. I also found the ideal tool for applying the chocolate was a small spreader.

Although these look fun and taste great, I was not pleased with the fragility factor, as I wanted to take these with us to Disney. Even surviving airport security, let alone the flight, seemed a bit perilous. I tried covering them in chocolate, but the Wilton's didn't spread evenly and they looked lumpy. (Although Doc said they tasted great!) I also tried using magic shell, but that didn't set up properly. I might try melting chocolate chips next time.

If you give this idea a try, I'd love to hear how it worked for you! And if you have any tips on how to make these a bit more resilient, please, please, share. Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

Linking up with:

Disney Living

Skip To My Lou
Craft-O-Maniac
Monday Funday @ Uncommon Designs