Disney Pixar Blog Hop -- Dreaming of a Family Vacation in 2013

If you are here for the STT Valentine Treats Blog Hop, please click HERE.

 
Welcome to the original, and best, Disney Pixar Blog Hop!  I have been a participant in each of these very special hops since their inception oh-my-gosh-HOW-many-years-ago?!, and it is always my pleasure to participate with this great group of gals, including my "Sistah" Shawn Mosch, the Hop Hostess.


For this very special occasion, I made my first mini-album:

Tigger and/or Charlotte, same description: "unstopapabibble."

I have a dream, and I'll let you in on it.  I'm hoping that one day soon, I'll be able to take my hubby, our daughter Emily, her husband Josh and their daughter (my granddaughter), 2-year old Charlotte, on a special trip to Disney World. It will be Charlotte's first trip to the Magic Kingdom! We're hoping to go in May if we can swing it financially.

So I figured if I sprinkle some magic fairy dust on the wish and if I dream big, and make a mini album to capture the memories, the trip will happen this year. Will it?  I don't know yet ... but just in case ... in case Dreams REALLY Do Come True ... let's pretend that it's happening this May ...

The image at right is from a Google search. I printed it using my ink jet printer, then
enhanced it with gold Stickles. I added the flying Dumbo, popping him up with pop-dots.
There's room for a family photo on the inside cover.

Charlotte: "Love me some sketti!", age 2

 
Charlotte is our family's little pixie, so what better way to honor her spirit with a Tinkerbell layout on the next page?

The Tinkerbell at left is cut using Cricut's Tinkerbell and Friends cartridge.  The saying at right (glued onto
a pocket flap), "Small is the new Big", was cut also using the cartridge. I didn't like how the "is the new" cut, so
I set that using my computer and glued it over the cut letters.  I enhanced the letters with white gel pen.
There's room for photos under Tink's left hand, which is left loose, to tuck the photos under.

I'm not sure how many rides we'll be able to go on in the week we'll be in Orlando -- Charlotte's little, and I don't do roller coasters as I've had several head injuries (including one on a Disney roller coaster, the Rock'n Roller Coaster!). But I'm sure they'll evoke some screams, hoots and laughter!  This layout celebrates that shouting -- and leaves room for a 4x6" picture under the circles at right.

Pull the Mickey head from the pocket (above) and you'll find a park map of the Magic Kingdom:

I found the Magic Kingdon map on Google. Just search: "Image - Magic Kingdom map".

The following page allows room for writing or photographs of our stay in Orlando. We're planning on staying in a family villa nearby, so we'll have details about it here, and photos of course!

There's plenty of more room for fantastic memories to be recorded on the next 2-page spread (with side pocket) shown here:

The reclining Mickey Mouse is cut using Cricut's Mickey and Friends cartridge,
as is the "Mickey" on the flap at right. There's room for a photo tucked behind
Mickey's right ear, and more "stuff" in the pocket.

There's room for souvenir copies of our boarding passes and maybe Charlotte's pilot wings ... for saving our week-long Park Hopper tickets which don't expire, and other collectibles in pocket space (at right) in this layout, too:

While in the park, I'm sure we'll want to collect character autographs, so there are a few pages with color blocks for this purpose:

Pull the parading Donald Duck tab at top, and there's more room for autographs in the insert:

The inside back cover also has room for autographs!

Finally, when it's time to relax, dream and simply believe this is all happening, finally, a family trip to remember, let's visit Cinderella's castle and dream:

I'm hoping for a pretty Charlotte portrait at right, taken during a planned visit to the Bippity-Boppity Boutique!

A little Glossy Accents makes the
bubbles in Ariel's ocean seem real!

I certainly hope you had fun Dreaming Big with me. Maybe, just maybe, with a bit of glitter and pixie dust, wishing upon a star, the wish will come true. We'll see!!

BLOG CANDY ALERT!

What is your first Disney memory? Is it of a particular character, an event, a television show, a movie, or a visit to one of the Magic Kingdoms??  

I'll tell you my oldest Disney memory: It was July 1961 and our local drive-in movie theater had a special showing of the animated "101 Dalmatians". I was five years old, and my sister Janet was seven, and we were in the back seat of Dad's Dodge DeSoto station wagon. I was petrified of Cruella deVille, and somehow my sister decided to call me "CruEllen DeSoto" ... grrrrr....!  S-i-s-t-e-r-s!!!  

To win my blog candy ...

In a comment to this posting, share with me your first Disney memory, and be a follower of my CardMonkey blog, and you'll be eligible to win some special DISNEY BLOG CANDY!  Want to know what it is??  It's a $25 Disney Gift Card that you can use to "shop, dine, stay or play" ... at a Magic Kingdom, online, or at a Disney store!  How cool is THAT!?  In your comment, please be sure to leave a way for me to contact you when you win. Everybody's eligible, even non-US citizens!  

So now it is time for you to mosey on over to the next stop on today's Disney Pixar Blog Hop: Go to JAMIE at her Little Bits of Paper blogspot. Her blog is simply fantastic, and I can't wait to see what Disney project she has for us today!

In case you get lost along the way, here is a complete line-up of the blog stops today and tomorrow:

Day One - Saturday, January 19th
Shawn ~ http://craftychicsblog.blogspot.com/
Amy ~ http://www.lovetocrop.com/
YOU ARE HERE:  Ellen ~ http://cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com/
Jamie ~ http://jamielanedesigns.blogspot.com/
Jenny ~ http://jennyplace26.blogspot.com/
Kathy ~ http://kathyscozies.blogspot.com/
Lori ~  http://scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/
Madison ~ http://funkycards.blogspot.com/

Day Two - Sunday, January 20th
Shawn ~ http://craftychicsblog.blogspot.com/
Amy ~ http://amychomas.blogspot.com/
Bobbi Jo ~ http://sweetsassydiva-gspot.blogspot.com/
Jenny ~ http://www.crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
Kathy ~ http://kathyand3kids.blogspot.com/
Tami ~ http://www.scrappinrabbitdesigns.blogspot.com/
Claire ~ http://www.scrapmyway.blogspot.com/
Kim ~ http://uscrap2.blogspot.com/
 
Until next time,

Disney Pixar Hop - Day #2: Capturing the Magic of Tinker Bell!

If you are here for WHITNEY'S SWEET 16th BIRTHDAY HOP, please click HERE

Welcome back to Day #2 of the Original, fantasmic Disney Pixar Blog Hop.  There are many imitators of these Disney hops, but none is finer than this series, originated by Shawn and Melissa.  Melissa finds herself super-busy at this time of year, so I volunteered to step in to assist Shawn this time. She's my "Scrapping Sistah" -- such a sweetie, and the genius behind the "My Cut Search" team.

I always have super-fun trying to come up with something a little "different" to feature on these hops.

This about explains my brain.


"Different" -- that'd be among my least favorite words, don't you know?  "You know that new girl in homeroom?  Well, she's different."  "Yes, we got the gift you made, Ellen. Sure is different."  Said that way, the word takes on negative connotation. 

Conversely, isn't it better to be diFfeReNt, as opposed to "same old, same old ... run-of-the-mill ... nothing unique to that one."  Yes, I'd rather be diFfeReNt ... and I do spend considerable time "Catching the Muse," or "Capturing the Magic."  Thinking about that is how I came up with this project:

That's Tinker Bell in there,

caught like a firefly on a warm summer's night.

To make this project, I cut Tink at some ungodly tiny size (3.5" I think) ... terribly difficult because there are itty-bitty pieces to place.  I used the Cricut Tinker Bell & Friends cartridge to cut Core-dinations cardstock. Tink's dress and wings have been sprinkled with pixie dust Stickled for extra magic.  To cut the wee thin-stemmed leaves, I turned to my Silhouette Cameo which I demo'ed at last month's crop I hosted in suburban Philadelphia.  (That's where I made this project.) 

Tink is stabilized by a leaning post (a thin dowel) which has been poked into a half-round ball of moss-covered styrofoam that's glued into the lid of a 6" high clean jar that I inverted to make it look like a terrarium. I tried other things with this -- glitter in the jar, a Magic Kingdom sticker in the back -- but none of it looked as nice, clean and crisp as the unadorned jar.

Did you know that Tinker Bell is one of the four main spokes-icons for Disney, opening up Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights when I was a kid, with a dash of pixie dust?  (The other three characters who are "franchise reps" for Disney are Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Winnie the Pooh.)  In 2010, Tink earned her own star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. 

Left: Tink in "Peter Pan's Ride"; Right: Tinker Bell in "It's a Small World"

And she's a featured character in one attraction/ride in every Disney Theme park but one (Hong Kong)... do you know which ride?  Yup, you guessed -- "Peter Pan's Ride" in Fantasyland.  Can you guess in which other attraction she appears?  * . * .  * My hubby's favorite:  "It's a Small World."

Oh, blog readers, that's an inside joke. My hubby John HATES that Disney attraction! We got stuck in it once when the cable system on the boat snapped. Sat there, floating for well more than an hour. Yes, with that insipid song running over and over and over and over ......    Life has never been the same since then, LOL.  John was about to swim ashore on the 128th go-round of that song. No kidding. For him -- in honor of his 58th birthday celebrated this week, I've put the song on Playlist here, so he'll hear it during this blog hop. 

Hi, honey.  I love you.

So now it's time to move you onto your next stop on this great blog hop:  KIM at UScrap2!

Be sure to visit Shawn's starting post, where you'll see the grand prize being offered for this hop -- a Scrap'N Easel-Ette, perfect for us cardmakers! 

Also, if you leave a comment on this post and are a CardMonkey follower, you can win the Making Magical Memories journal I showed yesterday.  (If you comment/follow on yesterday's post, you might win that "diFfeReNt" Disney t-shirt I made with Grumpy's image -- by the way, that's GRUMPY, not my hubby John, on the t-shirt, LOL!! Hi, honey. I still love you!) 

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed your stay as much as I enjoyed making my projects for this hop.

OH, and in case you need the full list of blog stops, I'll post it below.  This is your DISNEY PIXAR BLOG HOP Day #2 "Easy Pass" -- click on the names, and you'll go right to their Disney Pixar post for today! 

Shawn

Ellen 

Kim

Bobbi Jo

Jenny

Jessica

Jenny 

Tami

Kathy

Kristal

Thank you again for visiting ... Now go forth and create!

Make every day a "diFfeReNt" kinda day

DeFiaNtLy DiFfeReNt & CreAtiVeLy Yours,

P.S.  If you just can't get enough Disney, here are pictures of projects I made for previous "Disney Pixar Blog Hops":

September, 2011 - Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood 3-D box

November 2011 - Wall art for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Close-up views of each vignette

Ariel birthday card - front here, and inside below

Cards by Mickey - Christmas

And here are links to Disney Pixar Blog Hop's Day #1 posts. DON'T confuse these with the links (above) to Day #2's posts. Be sure to "capture" them all to stimulate YOUR Muse!

Shawn

Ellen

Tami

Madison

Cathie

Lori

Amy

Kathy

Amy

Sarah