Hey...do you have any more glitter?

This blog post is brought to you by: Pinterest. Ok, not really, but some of our crafts ideas are!  

We’re in between Disneyland trips right now so what better way to spend that “down” time? By working on crafts, Disney crafts, of course. Now each of us is guilty of “pinning” several craft ideas on Pinterest and then completely forgetting about them. However, today is the day we actually tried a few (of the hundreds) we've pinned, there’s only so many hours in the day!

Now before you head to any Disney Park, ears are a must. Well, at least for some of us they are. These ears will take a little practice to get Mickey’s full approval, but we hope you’ll enjoy them for now. This project took a little bit of searching to find just the right tutorial, but this one is very easy to follow. Foam board is used for the ear frame and we suggest cutting this with a hot knife (also handy for cutting craft pumpkins). You can find this in the wood area of your local craft store. We also put all that scrap fabric squirreled away in the back of the closet to good use. We decided to create custom ears to show love for our favorite local sports teams.

Not into ears?  How about a hair bow? Between the two of us, we have our fair share of Disney inspired hair bows - both store bought and handmade. The ones we've personally created are among our favorites and decided it was time to put our creativity to the test again.

There are several different tutorials on the Internet. Do your homework, read a few articles and watch a couple of videos to get the feel of what's involved. Here’s a good beginner video on how to make bows. It’s not hard so don’t be intimidated - it’s only ribbon and glue! Julia made a beautiful Sleeping Beauty bow and Tina concentrated on Daisy Duck and Sofia the First bows (in preparation for the upcoming D23 Expo). We also threw in a bow inspired by Disneyland’s 60th anniversary, for good measure.

You will have plenty of ribbon to make more than one bow, so if you're not satisfied the first time, try again. As you can see with the Daisy and Sofia bows, the same solid purple ribbon was used. Before you know it, your ribbon supply will be so abundant, you won’t always have to go out and buy more ribbon.  Oh, who are we kidding, of course you’re going to buy more ribbon.  There’s a lot of cute stuff out there!

The first step we always start with is picking a character model. From there, look for identifiable features that will make your bow instantly recognizable. Once you've got an idea, it can help to get it down on paper. Whatever your drawing skills may be, working out the design beforehand makes the bow making much easier.

Here are your basic supplies for making a hair bow:

• Ribbon (various widths are nice to have and add dimension to the overall design)
• Hair clips (we lined ours with ribbon for a nice finished look.  Some tutorials use a piece of shelf liner to help hold the barrette in your hair - the stuff that doesn’t allow your dishes to slide. We mainly use the French barrette clips and alligator clips with teeth so they stay in place)
• Glue gun (careful, it’s hot!)
• Needle and thread (careful, it's sharp!)
• Embellishments (to add a finishing touch, such as the rhinestone used in the 60th Anniversary barrette)
• Lighter (why you ask? To seal the end of the ribbon and avoid unsightly fraying. A quick, and we mean quick, swipe over the flame will do the trick and not scorch the ribbon)

So now that you’re a pro at making bows and you have more than any normal head can handle at one time, how are you going to display your creations? Why, make a bow frame, of course!  Except for the frame, we already had everything on hand which, once again, allowed us to keep the cost down. This also taught us an important lesson, keep all your craft supplies - you never know when you will need something until you need it!

Here’s what we used:

• Frame (Large enough to fit your needs. We used a collage frame that was 16"x20")
• Paint & varnish
• Ribbon
• Staple gun

Once we gathered our materials, we applied a couple of coats of paint onto the frame and then finished it off with the varnish. Once that was all dried, we used a staple gun to secure the ribbon to the back of the frame.

**Pro Tip: Stretch your ribbon as tight as you can as it will loosen up over time; and don’t cut it until after you have stapled it to the frame. Trust me, this will save you a lot of frustration. Also, overlap the ends of the ribbon before stapling as it adds a bit of stability to the ribbon and it won’t fray.**

Still have your paint out? Well then let’s use it on our next craft - character clay pots. These were just too cute to pass up when scrolling through Pinterest. Best of all, this craft only cost 78 cents per pot. Hmmm, there seems to be a theme here, inexpensive Disney crafts!

 

Now we didn’t tape anything off or create a guide, we basically dove right in. On most of the pots, we sealed them first, except for one. Whether it was a necessary initial step we can't say for sure, but we did it anyway. On the unsealed pot, we used non-flat paint and it took several coats for full coverage. Please note, these pots are going to be used indoors, so we didn’t use outdoor acrylic paint, but that's another option depending on your needs.

We suggest buying flat paint because the gloss and satin paints required multiple coats causing some frustration. If you want that high-gloss finish, the varnish will take care of that at the end. Also, use a quality paintbrush. The ones we had accumulated over the years were cheap, real cheap, and we ended up having the bristles from the brush come off and stick to the project, not the best look.

Here’s what you’ll need for this project:

• Clay pots (find at a home improvement store)
• Paint & brushes (you can find paint anywhere from 50 cents (not to be confused with the rapper) to $1.50)
• Sealer (optional)
• Varnish (pick your finish, we used high gloss)
  

  
  

And now for the grand finale!  As Annual Passholders to the Happiest Place on Earth, we always have a trip planned, so what better way to look forward to that day than with a countdown? Again, there are several countdown ideas out there, so look around and find the one that suits your needs and fits your style.

The best part of crafting is starting off with an idea and it evolving into something else entirely. Julia started hers off one way and her final product came out great and much different than the inspiration! Tina had some Disney scrapbook materials laying around collecting dust and finally put them to good use. We chose a picture frame to our liking and made sure that it had a glass panel - this is needed for writing the actual days on the countdown. By using a dry erase marker on the glass, you just wipe it off and update your countdown! We look forward to updating ours on a daily basis, as in first thing in the morning...that's normal, right?

This project doesn't take too many supplies and can be completely customized, but you will need these things:

• Frame
• Scrapbook supplies
• Dry erase marker

**Pro Tip:  Most craft stores have an App that you can download on your phone that will have coupons - like 40% off coupons. Download them before you leave to make it easier on yourself (also, log in to the app before you leave). Some you have to create a free account before getting the coupons.  By doing this at home, you won’t hold up the line once you get to the store. Or, you could be retro cool and cut coupons! Either way, be prepared.**

Well, that's all we created this time around. When you get the crafting fever it just takes over sometimes. Because, let’s face it, any craft can become a Disney craft with a little pixie dust...or glitter. We have more craft days scheduled soon, and we have something a little more sinister in the works for next time.

Hurry baaaack!