DIY Disney's Wonderland Caterpillar Socks

There is no denying it's been a VERY chilly winter, and let's face it; many of us have been spending an inordinate amount of time indoors due to the inhospitable temperatures outside. Due to such unexpected circumstances, I have been spending a great deal of time knitting. And my favorite sort of knitting is socks. One can never have too many pairs of hand-knit socks. If you have never tried a pair, you are sorely missing out! They are simply divine. And I love having socks that actually fit my oddly shaped feet.

These fun little circle socks by Anne Campbell reminded me instantly of the Caterpillar in Alice and Wonderland. I knew they would be next on my list. I'm a fan of self-striping yarn; in fact, I have oodles of it. But it's hard to see intricate patterns on it once it's knit up. I really like how this pattern stands out on the stripes. When I first saw it, I thought it might be hard to memorize, but boy was I wrong! These socks came together within two weeks, and that's with limited knitting time with the two littles! 

The other wonderful thing about these socks is that there is no grafted toe. I am terrible at grafting - it may have something to do with the fact that I am constantly needing to put down my knitting in the middle of grafting. No matter the reason, I was delighted to try this star toe. I may have found my new favorite bind off! If you are on Ravelry you can find my project details here. And if you are not, and you do any sort of knitting or crochet, well you should be. Take a moment and look around. I promise you'll be hooked! (See what I did there?)

Until next time, stay warm! And my all your days be filled with fairy dust!

A Freezer Full of Mickey Waffles

If you've ever had the opportunity to breakfast in one of the Disney Resorts, you know how magical those Mickey waffles can be. There is something so delightful about sitting down to breakfast and seeing Mickey right there on your plate. You know the day is going to be a good one.

Here in the cottage, the days just got happier. We now have a Mickey Waffle Iron! The whole family is excited about it. In fact, Little Chef couldn't WAIT to get his hands on it. It helps that we love waffles any way you make them. So starting our days with a Mickey waffle seems like a bonus!

We also make our own freezer waffles; with our allergy issues, we make a lot of things at home. Plus it's SO much cheaper to make them ourselves and freeze them. It's really easy. We just make the waffles a little underdone, let them cool, and put them into gallon size ziplock bags. I like to put a piece of waxed paper between each waffle as it goes into the bag. It's just makes getting them out a lot easier. When it's breakfast time, we simply pop them into to the toaster to heat them up. Easy as can be. And now we will have Mickey waffles to make our mornings that much better.

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

From Belle's Library | Peter and the Starcatchers

It's been a while since we've reviewed any Disney books - the holidays can do that to a reading schedule! But now it's the new year and we are ready to share our love of Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (of the Kingdom Keepers series). As many of you know, I am a fan of audiobooks. I'm not sure I'd get anything read if it weren't for listening to them with the kids! And here's where the first little delights comes in.

I must confess, I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter books (we're not talking about the movies here); I read them all as they were released, and then listened to ALL of them again on our various road trips. I think Jim Dale must have envisioned the same thing I did when reading these books, as his voices and cadence were perfect. I was DELIGHTED to hear the familiar narration of Jim Dale again as he read Peter and the Starcatchers! What a treat. His voice is one of my very favorites for audiobooks.

And the story delighted me as well. If you've ever wondered how Peter Pan and the lost boys, Captain Hook and Tinkerbell came to be, this story will tickle your imagination! I throughly enjoyed the twists and turns, the adventure and the magic of this first book in a series of (what I imagine will be) fantastic books. I do love young adult fiction (especially fantasy and adventure), and while reading the Kingdom Keepers I was recommended this Peter and the Starcatchers series by an Instagram friend, Kaifers. I am so very glad I took the recommendation to heart! And I hope you will too. This is a marvelous series; I highly recommend it! I think it's perfect for both boys and girls (and certain young-at-heart adults!).

If you have a book that is (if loosely) related to Disney in some way, I would love to know about it. Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress T-shirt and Greeting Cards now on RedBubble

I am so excited to offer this brand new design through RedBubble! As always, this design is available on a number of shirt colors in a wide range of sizes and styles, including those for kids and babies!

Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress is one of our don't-miss attractions when we are in the Magic Kingdom. It's just not the same if we miss it. As an original, it still works. You can catch us singing "It's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" in the parks or just hanging out in the cottage.

If you are a fan of vintage Disney, then this design is perfect for you. It's also available as a card, poster, canvas or sticker, just incase the mood strikes you. I am hoping to offer it for iPad and iPhone cases too in the very near future. I'll let you know when that happens!

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

Disney Park Map Candle

Here's another idea for all you Disney Park Map collectors out there! This one would be a great project for gifting to Disney lovers as well!

I started with Mod Podge, a map of the Magic Kingdom, and a 2.5" x 5" pillar candle. I trimmed the map so that just a bit of Splash Mountain was cut off and just a bit of Space Mountain was cut off. I also cut off the bottom part of the map just below the hub. You could, of course, trim the map so it showcases whatever you'd like. I wanted to be sure to get all of Fantasyland on mine. I then tore the top edge of the map to give it some interest. After I had the map just as I wanted it, I sanded the back side of it with fine grit sandpaper, just to rough it up and make sure the Mod Podge would soak into it a bit.

I put Mod Podge on the back of the map and slowly smoothed it onto the candle. This was tricky and I had several areas with wrinkles. I did the best I could to smooth them out, but a few remained. If you need it to be really smooth, you will need to have more than just a few minutes to make that happen. (Let the record show that I did not have more than 5 minutes!) And I might recommend starting with the area you want to have facing out, and working toward the edges of the map as you smooth it down. At least the main area you want showing will be nice and smooth. Still, I am quite happy with the resulting project. It will look lovely on the mantle.

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

Scrapping Disney | Dumbo and Storybook Circus

I've been a digital scrapbooker for many years now, and I love it. I love how little mess there is to clean up; I love how you can stop right in the middle of something and pick it up where you left off with no problem; and I love how flexible the cropping and changing of digital element can be. It makes it so much easier for this busy mom to actually get any scrapbooking done!

I've been wanting to start a Project Life style scrapbook for a while now. It looks so simple and easy - exactly what I need in this stage of my life! And I found the perfect designers for my Disney pages! This layout was completed using Project Mouse (FANTASY edition) - a collaboration of Britt at britt-ish designs and sahlin studio. I love how fresh and modern the design is and how it captures all our favorite rides in Fantasyland - both new and old: It's a Small World, The Mad Hatter's Tea Party, Peter Pan's Flight, even Be Our Guest! If you are a Disney scrapbooker, I highly recommend checking out Project Mouse. I don't get paid to recommend these products, I just really like them! And for those who are curious about the template, I used the Digi Pocket Page Protectors from Scrap Girls, another digital scrapbook supplier I am very fond of.

I think I'm really going to love this Project Life scrapbooking; I might even find myself caught up by the end of 2014! (Ok, maybe not; but a girl can dream!) Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

From Mrs. Potts' Cupboard | Mulan's Campfire Brew

Today I am pleased to introduce a project I have been working on for months! I am a serious tea drinker. Serious, in that I drink a lot of it, and I know how I like my tea. I would not go so far as to say that I am snobby about my tea; I love a steaming cup of Constant Comment from Bigelow, or Lady Grey from Twinings, as much as I love my French Spice Quartet from Teavana. But I would say this, Starbucks, you have a lot to learn about tea. It is NOT coffee.

As a tea connoisseur, I have been blending my own flavored teas for a while. I still purchase my favorite blends; there is no match for Disney's Mad Tea Party Blend. I always get compliments on it when I serve it at sorority meetings, so I stock up whenever we are in the parks! But I think Disney could do more with princess tea parties and tea blends specific to the princesses. After all, they've done a marvelous job with their cosmetics lines.

So in an effort to accomplish that very task, I've begun blending teas and flavors for my very own teas dedicated to the Disney Princesses. And today we start with Mulan to help celebrate the coming Chinese New Year! If you've never tried Lapsang Souchoung tea, it can be rather surprising. It's a smoked tea and there is no doubt about it. In fact, I had to ask Mr. Photos from the Parks to please store it in the garage while I was pregnant with our last baby! The aroma can be quite strong. But when I'm not pregnant, I love the smoky aroma of the tea. It certainly evokes the feeling of sitting around the campfire. I think it's best when prepared more like a chai. If you've never tried it, I suggest taking a gamble and giving it a go. It's not for everyone, but if you like it, it can be a welcome change in the tea rotation. And if you happen to be in the Animal Kingdom, stop by my favorite Tea Kiosk in Asia: The Royal Anandapur Tea Company and see if they are serving it; I know I've had it on occasion there.

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

Mulan Chinese New Year Viewing Party

Chinese New Year is about to begin (January 31st) and it's the Year of the Horse! What better way to ring in the new year than with a Mulan viewing party? Thanks to Pinterest, I had no trouble putting together a Year of the Horse snack bar for our viewing pleasure. Because a good movie deserves good snacks!

We started with these Khan horse cookies, using a new chocolate sugar cookie recipe that I love! The dough was really messy to work with; Little Chef and I had chocolate everywhere! Still, they are well worth the effort. I used my Silhouette portrait to cut out these adorable take out boxes. I used regular scrapbooking paper that I already had on hand to make them, not card stock. I was a little tentative about how sturdy they would be, but they held up really well.

I then cut out these popcorn boxes on the silhouette. I sized them so they were as big as the portrait could take, about 6" wide per side. I had some old China themed Jolee's embellishments that I used to decorate the boxes, but you could always use a horse or lantern cut from the silhouette too.

We rounded out the snack bar with these awesome horseshoe donuts (which we made from scratch using this wonderful recipe; and substituting our left over egg nog for the buttermilk), and "tea" which was really apple juice. I just love this tea pot my sister found while antiquing! So perfect for our party (not to mention my It's A Small World obsession)!

And for those of you looking for a comfy way to enjoy Mulan, check out these adorable cozy socks and satin robe from Hot Topic:

We had a great time watching Mulan and kickstarting the New Year. Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

Make Your Own Vintage Disney Cocktails | Monorail Yellow

Growing up Disney meant that I watched the adults head off on their "Monorail Tour" many a time wish, longing to go with them. For you new readers, the adults in our travel party always took one night and did a traditional tour of the bars on the monorail: The Tambu Lounge at the Polynesian, and The Top Of The World at the Contemporary (neither of which exist as such anymore). Disney in the 70's was a simpler place! And I remember the first year I was able to go with the adults! It was better than turning 21 (at that time, you could be 18 and get into bars in Florida). I knew I had arrived!

One of the signature drinks back then was the Monorail Yellow. You can still find bar tenders who know how to make it, and it's worth asking. I LOVE this drink. It's rum based and definitely tropical in flavor. And this is when it pays to have a vintage cookbook - we have the recipe! At our latest get together with our former traveling buddies, we busted out the pitcher of Monorail Yellows to great cheers. We just can't help ourselves!

And just for you, dear readers, I have included the recipe here. Enjoy it! Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

Monorail Yellow Cocktail

1.5 oz Rum

3 oz Orange Juice (We have also used an Orange Banana Juice)

2.5 oz Pineapple Juice

.75 oz Coconut Cream

3/4 C Crushed Ice

Maraschino Cherry

Combine rum, oj, pineapple juice, coconut cream and ice in blender. Blend thoroughly until there are no ice chunks. Pour into tall glasses and garnish with maraschino cherry.