LeSportSac Moana Weekender Prize Pack!

LeSportSac has sent us this beautiful bag/cosmetic bag combo to share with YOU dear reader! 

I adore the new Moana collection. 

This weekender bag is just fantastic! I have multiple sizes in the weekender and I use them for everything from sleepovers for our children, to carry on luggage on planes. I have used my Monster's Inc one over and over and it remains in as good as new shape! 

The Giveaway:

In addition to the fabulous Moana weekender bag I am going to throw in a Pirates of the Caribbean Inspired Wish Bracelet from my Etsy shop and some surprise books from Disney Publishing!

The contest runs from 12/16/16 to 12/22/16  (U.S. only).
Use the rafflecopter links below! 

 

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Free Original Valentine's Day Printables!

Valentine's Day is a day when people show their love by buying cards, chocolates, and other special items for their loved ones. Many people look forward to this thoughtful holiday, while others seem to forget about it until the last minute.

Win a Figment Tote from Spark of Inspiration on Etsy!!

If you have been following Picturing Disney the last couple weeks you have probably already checked out the Disney Lover's Etsy Holiday Gift Guide! This round up of great Etsy shops includes an awesome array of different Disney inspired handmade items your friends and family are sure to love! At the bottom of the post is a great big giveaway where you can win items from the shops included! 

Wellll.... here's a little preview giveaway! Check out these great totes from Spark of Inspiration! I love the Orange Bird tote she sent me and can't wait to share little Figment with you! 

Want to win the Figment tote?

Here's what you can do to enter:

1.  Head over to my Instagram and re-gram the official pic! Make sure you are following both @PicturingDisney and @one_little__spark and you mention us in your comment when you repost.

2.  Don't have Instagram or want a second entry? Make sure you like Picturing Disney and One Little Spark on Facebook and then post the giveaway picture to Facebook and tag me in your comments! 

3.  Once you have posted to either Facebook or Instagram you can get an extra entry by commenting below!! 

What's your favorite park of Journey Into Imagination in Epcot?? 

Just long press on the picture to save on a cell phone or screen shot from the pic on IG! 

Contest ends on Wednesday night at midnight!

2013 Disney Lovers Holiday Gift Guide (plus giveaway)! UPDATED!

Your guide to the best Disney inspired handmade gifts Etsy has to offer!

Are you looking for unique items for the Disney lover in your life this holiday season?? Well look no further since I have scoured the handmade pages of Etsy to bring you the best in my roundup of the greatest holiday gifts for Disney fans in 2013! Check out the shops below, then enter to win a prize package featuring items from each shop! 

Shop Name: Natura Picta

Twitter  Facebook 

What you will find: Upcycled Vintage Dictionary Prints/Paper Goods/ Fine Arts

Disney Inspired Items: Prints, Notecards, Postcards: Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Pinnochio

Offer: Join us on NATURA PICTA Facebook or Twitter (or both) fanpages and you'll receive a Special Discount Code of 5% OFF for your purchase, that you can reuse several times and also send at your friends. The Special Discount expires on Dec 31, 2013.

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Shop Name: Chunkee Monkee Bowtique

Facebook 

What you will find: Finished Bottlecaps, Bottlecap sheets, Supplies, Pony Os

Disney Inspired Items: Awesome quality unique Up bottlecap replicas that have been recreated from other shops.  I have had my Grape Soda pin for a couple years now and it is in excellent shape even after I have dropped it and moved it from jacket to jacket. 

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Shop Name: Big White Yeti

Facebook 

What you will find: 

Hand poured all natural soy candles made in small batches with love, care, and creative names! These all-natural soy candles are hand poured in the Bayview neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI using pure soy wax, a cotton wick, and from the earth fragrances. 

Disney Inspired Items: 

Everything a yeti would want in his candles! These candles are perfect for any Expedition Everest or Animal Kingdom fan! 

Offer: Use etsy coupon code FRIENDSOFYETI to score 10% off through December 31st!

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Shop Name: Bubble and Geek

Facebook  Twitter

What you will find: 

Handmade candles, lip balm, fragrances and other geeky necessities!

Disney Inspired Items: 

If you are like me and are just a fan of fandom’s look no further than Bubble and Geek for a one stop Geekery shop! They take beauty to epic proportions with their line of fragrance, soap, lip balm, lip scrub, body spray, and candles inspired by fan favorites like Kingdom Hearts, Nightmare Before Christmas, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Tolkien, and more! 

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Shop Name: 

delivEARing Memories

Facebook  Twitter  Instagram

What you will find: Pictures and trinkets touched by pixie dust

Disney Inspired Items: Get your fill of Disney inspired accessories like necklaces, earrings, keychains and even photos from Disney Parks and films! You can also request custom items from delivEARing Memories shop to customize pieces with your favorite characters or attractions prints!

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Shop Name: Dana Elyse

Blog Facebook

What you will find: Handmade and fully customizable metal stamped jewelry for many occasions and even some art prints.

Disney Inspired Items: A large array of hand stamped customizable jewelry as well as art prints that any Disney fan is sure to love! 

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Shop Name: Migoto Chou

Facebook 

What you will find: Trinkets and Treasures and Patterns Galore!

Disney Inspired Items: Beaded bracelets and charms, handmade earrings and necklaces, and patterns to make your own adorable Disney Parks inspired (and non-Disney) jewelry and charms. 

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Shop Name: Only One Mark

Facebook

What you will find: It only takes one mark to make an imprint on the world with paper goods and artwork.

Disney Inspired Items: Customizable invitations and other paper goods in all sorts of adorable fairy tale inspired prints as well as original wall art and other items like journals. 

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Shop Name: Pineapple Empire

What you will find:  Unique printed women's and baby clothing as well as accessories using felt and high quality iron-ons.  

Disney Inspired Items: This amazing Mary Poppins cosmetic bag is incredibly soft and beautiful.  Also featuring adorable whimsical designs.  

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Shop Name: Spark of Inspiration

Blog  Facebook  Pinterest  Instagram

What you will find:  Handpainted shirts and bags as well as handmade jewelry and keychains! 

Disney Inspired Items: Everything! This incredible crafty shop has something for literally every Disney lover on your holiday wishlist (and probably something you will want to pick up for yourself)! 

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Shop Name: Picturing Disney

Facebook Twitter Instagram Blog

What you will find: As always, my shop is a way to keep the Disney magic alive at home!  

Disney Inspired Items: Everything from Alice inspired bangle bracelets to ones featuring cowboy boots like Woody himself… Bags inspired by the Polynesian and Enchanted Tiki Room and even some other craft adventures and prints! This shop keeps my site up and running! 

Offer: 10% off orders of $15 with etsy coupon code MOUZE

Like what you see? Want to win all of this:

 Enter below using the rafflecopter widget for your chance to win the prize pack featuring items from each featured shop!  Contest for United States residents only this time! Thanks! 

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DelivEARing Memories: Pictures & Trinkets for Disney Fans!

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Rachelle from DelivEARing Memories Etsy shop! She and I have been following each other on Instagram for a while and I've always loved her unique creative take on Disney classics (as well as her great Disney IG pics).  In her shop she uses adorable images and likeness to create fun Disney trinkets and jewelry (as well as selling prints).

There are a lot of shops that offer picture trinkets like hers but her style is really awesome- I love the way she frames the images, the charms available to add-on, and the Disney ticket jewelry.  And I am not alone as she has gained her shop a 5 star rating on Etsy!

Just in time for Halloween she sent me an awesome Haunted Mansion keychain and Lillian Gracey necklace.  The image she used is my very favorite of all the stretching room pictures! I even rocked a full image cell phone case for a while! I love these Haunted Mansion items so much and feel like these would be great gifts any time of year.  With the holidays right around the corner look for your chance to win this keychain along with other recommended shop items in my Disney Lover's Etsy Gift Guide.

Visit DelivEARing Memories:
Etsy
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram







And don't forget...
The Haunted Mansion may have 999 Happy Haunts but there is always room for 1 more! ;)


DelivEARing Memories sent us these items for review and giveaway.

Disney Inspired Bangle Bracelets

As those of you who have been my readers for a long time know, I like to share the truth about situations I have had and my own experiences (like these posts about a Disney seller and an eBay buyer).  I like to use bad situations in my life to empower me and then share my wisdom with you all. :)

Recently, something happened with my etsy shop that has caused me to go back through posts on my own website, delete positive reviews and remove a partner shop from my site.  A lot of my readers are also my customers so you have seen how I created a whole line of Disney World inspired candles.  My shops sort of signature scents that became the most popular were Mickey Waffles and Polynesian.  Handpouring candles and updating and creating labels became a really fun and creative release for me and I enjoyed every minute of it.  Over the 8 months that I sold candles in my shop I poured 156 oz of Polynesian candles, 140 oz of Mickey Waffles, 60 oz of Yacht & Beach, 30 oz of both Grand Floridian and Caribbean Beach and created scents for Osborne Lights, Orange Citrus Swirl, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Wilderness Lodge, Boardwalk (& the Boardwalk Bakery), World Showcase Maragaritas, Philharmagic Cherry Pie, Epcot Flower and Garden Festival, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, and Gaston's Tavern Cinnamon Rolls.  You can find pictures of most of them located in the previous candle articles (that even had directions on upcycling your own candles) and in my sold orders on etsy  although I did sell some and have some commissioned for people in my town.

However, one of the etsy shops I had worked with in the past seems to have stolen my unique ideas.  First, by creating their own Mickey Waffles candle and then by stealing my shops niche: Resort inspired scents! I can only choose to decide it was not malicious or planned as a reminder that I should be putting good vibes out in the world.  Since candle-making was a way for me to make money to keep my site up and running, host and mail out giveaway items, and make some money on the side for my own Disney stash I felt like I had to do something. So, I offered up a huge discount on remaining stock and sold off nearly all of my candles.

I had been wanting to try making my own bracelets for some time.  I have wanted to design a thinner bangle to go with thicker wire ones like Alex & Ani and so I took this opportunity to create some bangles inspired by some of my favorite attractions and just some pretty ones from some of the nicer charms I came across.  Come check them out in my etsy shop and remember life is too short to let lemons make you sour- make lemonade! :)

Parks Inspired Etsy items 20% through September 1st!!!

While all over the country elementary, secondary, and colleges are back in session here in my neck of the woods the first official day with students isn't until September 9th.  I only have 1 working day next week and so it is officially the tail end of my summer.  While I start to think about the smell of freshly sharpened pencils, my "why I love history" speech to give my classes, and the crisp blue skies that come my way in the Fall, I wanted to try and give everyone a vacation-scented summer sendoff!

For the next week (through September 2nd) enjoy 20% off all items in my etsy shop on orders of $10! Simply enter code: GOODBYESUMMER at checkout for your discount! You will find Enchanted Tiki Room inspired handbags, Parks inspired candles, and some discounted print collections from the US Disney Parks!

Park Inspired Candle & Disney Gift Card Giveaway!

I have teamed up with Mouze Kateerz and some other fabulous bloggers for a gift card and candle giveaway!

Use the widget below to enter to win a $25 DISNEY GIFT CARD and my YACHT AND BEACH CLUB INSPIRED CANDLE JAR! Be sure to check out all the awesome Mouze articles and visit my etsy shop where you can find Polynesian Resort inspired, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party inspired, Grand Floridian inspired, and other candles! 

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New Disney Parks Inspired Items on Etsy!

 

As many of my regular readers, fans who found my site from Etsy, and regular visitors to my Facebook and Instagram pages know I love being crafty and when I need to pass the time or if I want to keep my mind off of something I like to find a project. 

This week I crafted some new items for the Etsy shop. If you are new here I upcycle Disney World inspired scents (my two anchor scents in the past have been Mickey Waffles and Polynesian Resort with Poly being the most popular of all).  

Recently added items and changes include:

Polynesian scented candles housed in Slatkin & Co Turtle holders 

(I only have 1 green and 1 blue available)

Cinnamon Roll jar candle

(featuring the Cinnamon Roll at its new location in Gaston's)

New Packaging for Polynesian scented Candle Melts

Price drop on Polynesian scented small votive set of 4

 Harry Potter inspired and Walt Disney Inspired Illuminated Candle Holders

Photo Print Sets from Disneyland and Disney World

Come by, check it out and be sure to enter in the Gift Card Giveaway while you are browsing around my sites! :)

Disney Parks Print Etsy Giveaway!

The very first time I really started to network with other Disney fans was after my first trip when a friend introduced me to the DisBoards.  I soon after found out about the Passporter guide and was intrigued by their message boards.  Turned out after doing some trip reports and getting lots of planning help it seemed I had more than networked with other Disney lovers but made some friends along the way.  One of these lovely Disney ladies is Amy, who also has traveled to the Disney Parks coast to coast and loves photography.  Her photography is a totally different style from my own so I am pleased to share her Etsy shop and offer this giveaway! What is so great about this one is Amy is going to let YOU choose your prize! You will be able to choose any image for your 8x10 print prize! :)

You can find pictures from all of Amy's travels in her shop and she offers a wide range of macro Disney and non-Disney prints! Simply use the rafflecopter below and check out her shop on Etsy for a range of ways to enter! Remember that Etsy, Twitter, and Facebook are all free to sign up for and I love them all!

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Let the scent take you back: Disney World Inspired Candles!

When I was cleaning out my kitchen cabinets a few months ago I came across the light blue mugs from the ceramic M. Mouse Collection dinnerware I bought when my husband and I first moved in together.  Being a mug collector we never even unpacked the mugs which came from the dinnerware we had purchased.  I had been itching to try upcycling all my favorite candle scents ever since I had read about it online.  Basically, you use votives, tarts, tea lights and other candles from packs that you have accrued along with leftover portions of candles you no longer burned and can create your own new and fantastic scents by added scented oils and unscented waxes! I was super excited to put a Disney twist on it! I have all shapes and sizes and even created my own labels! And I got so into and my candled got so popular I picked up all sorts of jars and created all sorts of scents!!

Since I love to share how I create my homemade magic here is a step-by-step on the creation of my candle line! The only scents currently available are Mickey Waffles, Philharmagic Cherry Pie, and a redesigned Polynesian Resort as well as Florida Project... but I expanded to making some really awesome Harry Potter inspired scents and candle holders: Luna Lovegood, Hermione <3 Ron, and Snape illuminated candle holder! 

(But I had created the following scents along the way to give you an idea: Yacht & Beach Club, Polynesian, Boardwalk, Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Caribbean Beach Resort, Boardwalk Bakery, Mickey Waffles, Epcot Churros, World Showcase Margarita, Philharmagic Cherry Pie, Epcot Flower & Garden Festival, and Orange Bird Citrus Swirl.)

First you must either use a double boiler (or two old pots like I did) boiling water in one and adding to the empty pot the wax you want to melt for your new scent.  By my second wave I decided to buy foil pans that I could use as double boilers instead (I bought bread tins) and utilized the same concept.

Next, you make sure your wax has completely melted and your mug is completely clean.  Place a new wick (you can purchase them at craft stored) carefully in the bottom of the mug and pour in wax.  (I did not glue my wax in so that customers who burn their candles down can repurpose the mug back to drinking when they are done and have dishwashed them!)

 Then you need to let your candles set.  I had mine sit overnight before I even cleaned them up and packed them up to make sure all the wax had hardened!

Once your candle is completely hardened you can burn as you wish.  I recommend letting sit for 24 hours to ensure candle is ready!

scbb11Sketch: Recreating Amazing Retro Epcot Art!

As you may have noticed, I am all about fan appreciation.  I love seeing fan art and when designs and crafts are made with love they carry a special magic with them no matter what you order.  I shop on Etsy more than I do Amazon, and hit locally owned shops over big stores like Walmart on a regular basis.  There is something more personal and personable about this type of experience and the same goes for internet artists! In a late night session of RedBubble browsing my husband and I stumbled on Stephen's retro Epcot artwork.

Now we love Epcot and love the 1980s (me and Epcot are the same age right now!) but the merchandise seemed few and far between when we were in the parks.  I felt like I wanted to see some real EPCOT Center shirts for men and women, posters, phone cases, etc but was a little disappointed. Stephen's designs are everything anyone who still spells Epcot in all caps is looking for! ;)

You can find his (scbb11Sketch) merchandise at the following online shops:
Posters: http://www.scbb11sketch.imagekind.com
Tshirts, iPhone cases, and stickers: http://www.redbubble.com/people/scbb11sketch
Postcards: https://www.etsy.com/shop/DesignPavilion
Click away and you will see they are amazing!

And, he is so fabulous that he has sent me a set of 11 postcards to give away!!! To really boost the retro factor of our giveaway I will be adding this lovely little Walt Disney World 40th anniversary vinylmation to the mix!!

Parks Style: Unique Disney Bangles & Where to Buy Them!

If you have been reading my blog for a while now, you probably know that I am not totally into fashion but love to wear magic with me everyday.  I am a teacher and usually wear tees and cardys to work each day, on the weekend you can find me in jeans, flip flops, and a hoodie.  While I like to look well put together I have been known to be up for work and out the door in ten minutes.  I am obsessed with nail polish and bangle bracelets and have love finding fairytale creatures and other Disney references in bangles Ive picked up over time.  During my last trip, however, I got the best trio of bangles and have been wearing them ever since!!

1- My sister bought this awesome cuff from Etsy for my 30th birthday! You can find it in the shop LemonLime Creations!

2- At Epcot's World Showcase in the Mexico Pavilion on the opposite side of the tequila bar you can find La Tienda Encantada.  It was around $12 and there were a lot of different choices.  I liked this neutral blue and it clips closed on the front.

3-  Alex and Ani bangles are some of my FAVORITES ever and the Disney website has been sold out of them for months! I nabbed the Walt Disney World one from the gift shop at our hotel (the Polynesian).  It was average price for an Alex & Ani running around $35.

Easy No Sew Disney Tee Makeover!

After some late night pinteresting I came across this great no sew halter tee shirt idea from Wobisobi! I decided that since I had picked the wrong size in part of my order from Second Star Studios I would use my shirt that was a little too large for this craft! 

When you follow the link you will see that the directions are amazingly concise and clear AND all you need is the shirt you want to makeover, scissors, and some chalk!

 

Here are a couple pics of my finished product: I am in love!! :)

Second Star Studios on Etsy + Gift Card Giveaway!

After searching for Disney's Robin Hood merchandise (a favorite of me and my husband) I came across Second Star Studios over on Etsy.  After receiving my products and having the chance to chat via etsy message and follow along with their Facebook page I am more than pleased to tell you how much we love our products from their shop! They are fun and unique and my husband and I have both gotten compliments on our tees-- and can't wait to where them to Disney World! :)

If you didn't catch the picture above on our Facebook page, then I thought you would appreciate some links to grab your own Second Start Studios items!
1- Never Grown Up tee
2- Night Sky tee
3- Oo-de-lally tee
4- Oo-de-lally tote (while there is not current listing for this item there is a "request custom item" button available in the left sidebar of the shop)
5- Disney Prints

And don't forget to check out their adorable children's apparel!
Interested in some Etsy Disney shopping and SecondStarStudios??
Well, enter below for your chance to win a:
$25 Etsy Gift Card & set of 5 prints from Second Star Studios!

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