Disney Deals and Crafty Steals

One last go-round for the bandanna shirts we made
 for Easter ($2.50 each).

There are few things I love more than clearance sales, Disney World is one of them. So, I have combined the two in planning our family vacation this year. These are a few of the tips & fun projects we did to make this trip thrifty and extra princess-y.

By far, my best saving tip, pre-purchase the CD of professional Disney photos.  This deal saves $50!

Our last trip, I did not take advantage of the PhotoPass because I thought it was too expensive. I am not much of a photographer and that whole trip, we never got one shot of all of us together. It was a great trip, but no pix to prove it. I know it sounds cheesy, but these posed shots in front of castles and my girls hugging princesses are priceless to me.

They also include stock photos of the characters alone.  We plan to use them for future projects.

 After the vacation, when I went to order the CD to be shipped, they had a savings offer that covered my shipping.  You can also just digital download during that step as well.


The matching Girlies' outfits came from our favorite web sites (Old Navy, Target & Gymboree). Once things go on clearance in the store, it is hard to find all 3 sizes in matching colors. Online, is a clearing house for all the items and we have a better chance of getting full sets.  The matching is not something I like in real life, but it was helpful in the crowds of the Magic Kingdom.

mister fan via CouponingtoDisney

In the park, there are giant fans attached to water bottles. They prolly do cool you off, but they are larger than any of my tiny Girlies and retail for $437 each -- well, maybe not that much, but more than this thrifty momma was ready to pay. Couponing to Disney said to avoid the misting fan from Wal-Mart because it leaks. I wanted to avoid it because I didn't want to deal with extra water at all. We found tiny battery powered fans at Wal-Mart for $1.50 each. The blades are made of foam, which is important because my children love to try and lose fingers whenever possible. I used Minnie Mouse ribbon to make lanyards. Each Girlie got to carry her own cooling system (and drive her sister a little crazy) while waiting in line.

My address says we are Florida residents and that got us a pretty nice discount on park tickets. However, Pensacola is as far away from Disney as Charleston, SC. So, we ended up spending just as long in the car.  I needed some road trip solutions.

I stole this idea from less than perfect life of bliss and Disney-fied it just a little. These clothes pin tabs go up on the visor. As long as you are sweet & quiet, they stay up.  If you are bad, yours comes down. When we stop for gas, only the Girlies with tabs up get a treat.  All my Girlies are color code junkies, so we didn't even need names or initials. I made these in about 2 minutes using Paint -- flashback to 1993.  One big colored circle + one smaller white circle + one black circle + two smaller black circles = quiet tabs.You could use a circle punch to make them perfect, but my Middle Girlie cut these out, so they are beautiful to me.

Classy Clutter made some super cute DVD boxes into colored pencil holders.  We had some Disney movies and Wii game boxes floating around so I didn't even have to make new covers. I followed her directions for removing the disk holder section of the box. Dollar Tree had a pack of 21 thin markers (7 each was plenty). Luckily, I had some pillow cases left over from a previous project. They were made from that stretchy T-shirt material. It made them perfect holders because they were already hemmed and stretch to let the markers out, then bounce right back.  Road fun for 33 cents each -- awwww yeahhhh!

life size Cars you can climb on &
the headlights even come on at night

the big blue pool makes you feel like you are swimming
with Nemo & music plays under the water while you swim

My last 2 cents: check out the newest value resort, Art of Animation. I cannot say enough good things about it! It is themed Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, Lion King and Cars. If your children have ever seen a Disney or Pixar movie, they will lose their minds when they see this place. Everything is scaled so you feel like you are in the movies. Even if you can afford to stay in a fancier hotel, this one is amazing!

Now that August is here, we will be heading back to school and I will be working more on houses and blogging. Thanks for coming along with us on all our crafty Disney adventures. Hope you had a lot of your dreams come true this Summer, too.

running out of pixie dust, 
just bec

before & after party @ thrifty decor chick nifty thrifty tuesday @ coastal charm show me what you've got @ our delightful home  tuesday to do @ the blackberry vine tip me tuesday @ tip junkie  tutorials & tips @ home stories a to z  take a look tuesday @ sugar bee crafts  one project at a time@ a bowl full of lemons  tuesdays treasures @ my uncommon slice of suburbia  wow me wednesday @ ginger snap crafts   sugar & spice @ 733 a creative blog  wow me wednesday @ polka dots on parade  under $100 @ beyond the picket fence  show off your stuff @ fireflies and jelly beans  thrifty thursday @ thrifty decorating  pinspirational thursday @ the artsy girl connection  thrifty thursday @ tales from bloggeritaville  hooking up with hoh @ house of hepworths  strut your stuff @ somewhat simple  crafty, scrappy, happy me @ crafty, scrappy, happy  share awesomeness thursdays @ the 36th avenue  get your brag on @ gluesticks  a glimpse inside @ catch a glimpse   feathered nest friday @ french country cottage  freestyle friday @ happy hour projects  thursday temptation @ two yellow birds decor  from scratch friday @ marriage from scratch  feature yourself friday @ fingerprints on the fridge  flaunt it friday @ chic on a shoestring  the pity party @ 30 handmade days  weekend wrap up @ tatertots and jello anything goes link party @ bacon time  friday free for all @ five days five ways  frugal friday @ the shabbby nest  mad skills party @ mad in crafts  serenity saturday @ serenity you   manic monday @ serendipity and spice

TuTus for Tomboy Princesses

My girlies are full on Disney Princess junkies. They each have their own favorite princess. They will tear up the dollar section at Target whenever they see something pink.  However, they are also going to climb and run and jump and scratch and spit.  Then, they will spill something yummy all over whatever Princess gear they are wearing.  

On our family trip to Disney, we finally booked the character dinner in Cinderella's castle. Baby Girlie is old enough to enjoy & remember it. Big Girlie is in that last five minutes of Princess before she starts chasing boys and hating family vacations. Perfect timing for overpriced chicken nuggets and hugs from Belle, Ariel, Aurora & Cinderella! It was totally worth it -- the adult food is amazing and the personal attention from the cast members was incredible.

On previous visits we had seen lots of little girls in the long (polyester) princess costumes. My girls would not wear those hot little numbers to Princesses on Ice, much less Central Florida in June. I wanted something just as cute and trademarked, but way more comfortable.

Solution: T-shirts & TUTU skirts!!!!

I scouted through a few of the million tutu tutorials. For the tulle, we went with Rapunzel's hair, Belle's dress, Snow White's skirt yellow. The bike shorts from Gymboree determined the length.

While waiting for the tulle to go on sale at Hobby Lobby (when roll ribbon is on sale), I found IdeaRibbon.com, a wholesale company that is even cheaper than any craft box store's coupon or sale price.  They have much longer rolls (300' long instead of 100') -- I made all three skirts with one roll.

this is my highly technical way to measure the strips quickly for two different size skirts.  from the edge of the table to the first line of painter's tape - little girlie skirt.  from the edge of the table to the second line of painter's tape - big girlie skirts. repeat 40-50 times per skirt or till you run out of tule.
sorry about the excellent shot of my hooters and fat roll -- that is what I get for giving hunky husband the camera.

I liked the look of slip knots because we were using yellow and needed the coverage over the elastic band.  I was also worried that double knots would poke them in the back while riding rides.  There is no way to ask a child that or test it without putting the idea in their head that it is uncomfortable. I still hate that email telling me there is no good place in my mouth for my tongue.


So, the slip knots are prettier, but not as secure. I refused to spend my day in the Magic Kingdom fussing over them. Necessity is the mother of invention. So, we pulled in a whole roll of tiny yellow ribbon. One tight knot at the base of the slip knot was enough to secure it, but too tiny to feel. They held up great from Its A Small World, to the spinning tea cups, all the way to dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table.


The t-shirts were the standard little girl shirts with cap sleeves, $3.47 on the table displays at Wal-Mart. We added iron-ons of our favorite princesses. These are from UltimateTransfers on Ebay.  She was so fast in shipping them and even replaced one that was damaged in our broken mailbox.  I just love great customer service from cyberspace!


I've spent so much time trolling thrifty Disney sites, I just figured everyone would be decked out in matching t-shirts created on Silhouette and homemade over-the-top hair bows. Apparently, the Pinterest revolution is strong, but some people really do just wear regular clothes to the park. We got lots of looks, several complements, a couple of "where did you get those?", and (my favorite) two moms saying, "I'll make you one when we get home!"

Cinderella asked my Middle Girlie, "Is that your Fairy Godmother?" 
"That's just my Mom."  
"Well, she gets you out of all kinds of trouble and I know she made you that dress!" 
BEST COMPLIMENT EVER!!

bibbidi bobbidi boo,
just bec

i sometimes link up at these great parties:


before & after party @ thrifty decor chick nifty thrifty tuesday @ coastal charm show me what you've got @ our delightful home  tuesday to do @ the blackberry vine tip me tuesday @ tip junkie  tutorials & tips @ home stories a to z  take a look tuesday @ sugar bee crafts  one project at a time@ a bowl full of lemons  tuesdays treasures @ my uncommon slice of suburbia  wow me wednesday @ ginger snap crafts   sugar & spice @ 733 a creative blog  wow me wednesday @ polka dots on parade  under $100 @ beyond the picket fence  show off your stuff @ fireflies and jelly beans  thrifty thursday @ thrifty decorating  pinspirational thursday @ the artsy girl connection  thrifty thursday @ tales from bloggeritaville  hooking up with hoh @ house of hepworths  strut your stuff @ somewhat simple  crafty, scrappy, happy me @ crafty, scrappy, happy  share awesomeness thursdays @ the 36th avenue  get your brag on @ gluesticks  a glimpse inside @ catch a glimpse   feathered nest friday @ french country cottage  freestyle friday @ happy hour projects  thursday temptation @ two yellow birds decor  from scratch friday @ marriage from scratch  feature yourself friday @ fingerprints on the fridge  flaunt it friday @ chic on a shoestring  the pity party @ 30 handmade days  weekend wrap up @ tatertots and jello anything goes link party @ bacon time  friday free for all @ five days five ways  frugal friday @ the shabbby nest  mad skills party @ mad in crafts  serenity saturday @ serenity you   manic monday @ serendipity and spice

Deciding to Stop Quitting

My family had a wonderful time on our Disney Vacation. I made lots of Pinterest inspired crafts and outfits to make the trip extra Princess-y. Maybe I will blog about a couple of them.



I used that as an excuse for not blogging.  In truth, I do get obsessed with whatever I am focused on at the time.





Therein lies the problem. When I first started blogging this January, I got sucked right in. Every day I was reading blogs, writing my own blog, planning blogs, doing projects for my blog, shopping for future blogs, posting on Facebook about my latest blog... well, you get the idea. It is easy to see why blog became a cuss word around my house pretty quickly.

via Pinterest

Maybe it is because I am a Capricorn or an overachiever or a total mixed bag of nuts, but I have never been good at balance.  My house was a wreck (except for the part I needed to photograph). My girlies were eating a lot of Ramen noodles for dinner. My laundry baskets were stacked to the bajesus! My Hunky Husband was super supportive, but silently hating this whole thing. My parents came to visit from another time zone and I had them babysit while I made a pillow. NOT COOL.  So, I let the pendulum swing all the way to never blogging.

While I was gone, my little site got 10,000 views. Happy Dance Time!  In blog world that isn't really amazing (Thrifty Decor Chic does 40 gazillion a day).  For a new baby blogger that is a big deal and I'm sad because I missed it -- there was no happy dance.  However, I don't want to miss all the girlie, friend, husband & family happy dance moments because I'm too busy checking my blogger stats.

So now, I take the next turn in the road -- to blog with balance. At least enough balance that it works for my family. We are all a little weirdo around here.

finding my new normal,
just bec