KTTW Christmas Exchanges

As I mentioned the other day, I love sending and receiving magical Mickey mail.  It's also no secret that I love my Key to the World travel agent family.  So when I found out we were planning to do a few holiday exchanges, I was definitely in for some fun!

We had an optional Christmas Card Exchange.  I signed up to participate along with about 40 other agents.  We had to send a minimum of five cards, but we were allowed to mail more if we wanted to.  This year, I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew since they already went in the mail a little later then they were supposed to.  (Moving into a new house and sending out Christmas cards at the same time can get dicey.)  I sent the minimum to my required list, plus a few extras to my close KTTW friends.

We also had a KTTW Sock and Sweets Swap.  I've never done one before, but it was a blast.  You basically send your partner a pair of socks and some candy, a snack or a treat.  I loved seeing everyone's pictures of their socks and sweets on our Facebook group page.  One of the guys sent another agent holey socks.  It was hilarious!

I was paired up with Jill.  I sent her a pair of fuzzy Christmas color polka dotted aloe infused socks and I got myself a pair so we'd be sock twins!  I also sent her a candy cane, Santa Pez, and a small box of Russell Stover chocolates.

Jill's package took a little longer to get to me, but it wasn't her fault.  (I had forgotten to update KTTW with our new mailing address!)  After my package went on the grand tour, it was forwarded to our new house.  Unfortunately by that point, our mailbox had been knocked over and was sitting on the ground.  Once the USPS tracking said it should be out for delivery, I knew it was sitting at the post office for me to pick up!

I retrieved my package and brought it home to open.  My jaw dropped- Jill got me five pairs of Minion socks!!!  She also included an 8 oz package of Disneyland peanut brittle!  Yum!  I love my gift and she really outdid herself.  Thank you so much Jill!!!

This was a ton of fun.  I'm honored to be part of this wonderful family of travel agents!  I really hope we do another Christmas swap again next year!!!  °o°

(Note: Sorry for the lack of photos.  This was right in the middle of me not having a cell phone so I wasn't able to take photos of my Christmas cards or my swap package!)

Disney Bride Christmas Exchange

Being a Disney Bride is an incredible honor.  It's like being part of a magical sorority of sisterhood.  No matter when your wedding was, you're always a Disney Bride.  I'm very proud to be part of an online community of Disney Brides on Facebook.  We share our wedding photos, stories, encouragement, tips and advice with each other.

This year, we decided to have a few holiday exchanges!  One was for Christmas cards and the other was for an ornament.  Of course, I signed up for both of them.  I love sending and receiving fun Mickey Mouse mail.  I was placed in a group of twelve girls and we all had to mail each other Christmas cards so we'd received 11 cards in total.

I wanted to include a little pixie dust in my cards.  I mailed all of the girls a gift card for 50 free 4" x 6" photo prints from Snapfish.  Eliot and I had given them to our wedding party as a thank you after our wedding was over and I had some extra cards!

Then, we were also paired up with one of the girls to get an ornament.  My ornament buddy's name was Elizabeth.  She and her husband were married in 2015 so I found two picture frame ornaments with the year on them.  I wanted her to have some ornaments with their wedding year so she could put some wedding pictures in them!

In turn, I received an ornament from my buddy Lisa.  She ordered me a beautiful ornament from Etsy.  The US postal service took a while to deliver my package, but it arrived just in time for Christmas!  I love it!  It's so cute and it looks great on the tree!

I'm so glad I participated in both the Disney Bride Christmas Card and Ornament Exchanges!  It was tons of fun!!!  Plus, it was also a great way to get to know some of the other girls in the group.  I hope to do it again next year too!  °o°

Fun Find: Disney Snowman Holiday Card

Do you want to build a snowman?

Photo Source: Disney Greeting Card Creator

Well, now you can!  Here's another fun find that I discovered while scrolling down my Facebook newsfeed.  Disney has created an online greeting card creator where you can "build" your own snowman and animated Frozen inspired greeting card to share with your family and friends!  Click here to build a snowman!

Photo Source: Disney Greeting Card Creator

You are greeted with an envelope and a "greeting card".  Once you click the snowflake, the animated card shows you graphics of Cinderella Castle from Walt Disney World, a ship representing the Disney Cruise Line, Sleeping Beauty Castle from Disneyland, Aulani in Hawaii and Norway from Adventures by Disney.  

Photo Source: Disney Greeting Card Creator

There is lively music playing while you watch your animated card.  It reminds me of the music from Frozen.  I also love the rosemaling patterns that are consistent with the designs in the movie!  I absolutely love those little details!!!

Photo Source: Disney Greeting Card Creator

Elsa and Olaf then appear.  Elsa blows the snowflake and uses her magic to help you build your very own snowman!  You can make all sorts of different snowmen.  I love all of the accessories!  You can pick from pirate hats, scarves, fairy wings, Santa hats, antlers, a Mickey ear hat, and more!

Photo Source: Disney Greeting Card Creator

Once you "build" your snowman, you can share it with your friends and family on Facebook, Twitter, or via email!  Make sure to tag it with ‪#mydisneysnowman!  I don't know about you, but I want to build a snowman!  Come on let's go and play!  °o°

DIY: Gingerbread Mickey Christmas Cards

Hi Friends!  As promised, here is the tutorial for the Gingerbread Mickey Christmas Cards that I made for the Christmas in July Card Swap!

Materials:

Brown, Green, Red and Striped Cardstock (scrapbook paper)
White Cardstock, Paper or Cereal Box (for making a template)
Pencil
Scissors

Paper Cutter

White Ink Pen
Red Pen or Marker
Brown Pen or Marker
Mickey Mouse Hole Punch
Glue
Double Sided Tape

Steps to Make Gingerbread Mickey Christmas Cards:

1.) Sketch the template

Take your white cardstock (or cereal box/paper) and make a Mickey Mouse gingerbread man template.  I used a few photos of Mickey and Minnie gingerbread merchandise from Toyko Disney that I found on Pinterest.  (Top left photo found here.  Bottom photo found here.)  I used the photos as a guideline for creating my shape.

2.) Trace and cut gingerbread Mickeys out

Once you are happy with your gingerbread Mickey, cut the template out.  Use the template to trace gingerbread men out on your brown cardstock.  I used a pencil to trace on the smooth side of my cardstock.  I wanted the rough side to be the gingerbread. When you're done tracing, cut out all of your gingerbread men.

3.) Make the cards

Cut your cards out of green cardstock using your paper cutter.  The cards can be any size you wish, just remember that they have to fit into an envelope!  I made my cards 4x6 inches.  (I cut the paper into 6" x 8" sections and folded them in half.)  Next, cut your striped paper so it's a little bit smaller than the 4x6 inch size.  I cut mine about 1/4" smaller so there would be a small border around the edge.

4.) Decorate the Mickeys

Next, you have to decorate your gingerbread men with "icing".  Trace the outline of your Mickey with your white pen.  Then add a few squiggly lines at his arms and feet.  (See photos above.)  Finally, add a little bit of white "icing" to his ears.  Use your red pen to make buttons and your brown pen for his face.  (You can decorate him more!)

Note: I originally attempted to use puffy paints to create a 3D icing look.  (Photo below.)  It turned out really cute, but it was time consuming and very messy.  It was too easy to smudge them.  Since I had so many to do, I abandoned this idea and went to the store to buy a white ink pen instead.

5.) Put Card Together

Once you have all of the pieces for your cards cut out, you can put them together.  I did this step after decorating my gingerbread Mickeys to make sure the ink dried all the way. Use the double sided tape to attach the striped paper to your cards.  (You can also add some white cardstock to the inside of the card if you'd like to make space for writing a message.)  Once your gingerbread Mickeys are dry, use the double sided tape to attach them to the front of the card.

6.) Add Embellishments

Finally, make the card pop with some embellishments!  I punched out red Mickeys and used glue to attach them to the inside of the card.  (I thought it needed a little more color on the inside.)  You can add anything you'd like: ribbon, glitter, stickers, stamps, etc.

Once everything is glued down and dry, you're done!  Enjoy your Christmas cards!!!  °o°

Scrapbook Swap: Christmas in July Card Swap

Yesterday, I told you guys about the scrapbook bottle swap we did last month!  We also had a "Christmas in July Card Swap" in the Disney Scrapbookers group on Facebook! As you all know, I love the holidays and I love Disney.  Therefore, this swap event was definitely on my to do list!

It was set up so we each made a card for everyone who participated.  Since we had 20 members sign up, we were given the option of being divided into smaller groups. In true Melissa fashion, my vote was to be in the big group.  (More group members, more cards!)

We ended up with two smaller groups of four people, and one large group of twelve.  I was in the big group, so I had to make eleven cards for the swap.  (But, I made myself a few extra cards because they're so darn cute!)

Before I settled on a design, I searched for ideas on Pinterest.  Pinterest is my "go to" location for inspiration.  I started a Christmas Card board to collect my ideas and thoughts.  Sorry- this one is a secret board!  I can't give out all of my awesome ideas!  ;-)

I wanted a fun card design.  But I also needed one that wouldn't be too difficult to replicate multiple times.  Eventually, I decided to go with a Gingerbread Mickey Christmas card.  I love gingerbread houses.  (It's probably the interior designer in me.)  And I've always thought gingerbread Mickeys were really cute.  In the end, I found the perfect balance of cute, but not too complex or complicated!

Here's how they came out!  I absolutely love them.  I've always enjoyed card making.  I used to make all of my furniture store co-workers Christmas cards each year.  I really should do it more often!  (Want to make your own?  Stop by tomorrow for a tutorial!)

Of course, the main point of the card swap is to give and to receive!  Here are the cards I have received so far!  (A few of them are still on their way.)  I'm so happy that I signed up to be in the big group!  I really wanted to see all of the cards.  This is a great way to get new ideas to make my own cards for Christmas!

This swap was a blast and it's definitely put me into the Christmas (in July) spirit.  I really hope we do another card swap around Christmas!  I've got so many different ideas!  °o°

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you get to spend it with the people you love!

Eliot and I have a low-key evening planned.  We figured that all of the local restaurants would probably be a zoo since it's Valentine's Day and a Friday.  Plus, we have another snow storm coming tomorrow, so if people are planning to go out to celebrate, it's going to be tonight!  Instead, we opted for a quiet night at home watching movies and the Olympics on our DVR!

Photo Source: Walt Disney World Facebook Page

We exchanged our cards earlier and decided to skip the gift giving this year.  We've already eaten enough candy hearts in the last month.  Seriously, I probably ate at least 2 pounds of them.  I love fresh flowers, but they'll eventually die.

Photo Source: Disneyland Facebook Page

Honestly, we'd much rather save our money for another trip to Disney!  Registration for WDW Marathon Weekend 2015 is in April!  Yikes!  Save those pennies!  Anyways... 

Photo Source: Walt Disney World Facebook Page

Earlier today, I had way too much fun posting Valentine's Day cards on all of our friends Facebook walls.  Walt Disney World and Disneyland both released a few pictures to "share" on your Valentine's wall.  If you haven't seen them, check them out!  I've posted a few here as a preview!  They're pretty cute!  (And it's quick and free to send if you forgot a gift for that special someone in your life!)

Have a great night everyone!  Don't eat too much candy!   °o°

Preparing for Christmas

Christmas is quickly approaching and honestly, I feel like I'm so far behind!  Anyone else feel that way?  Being sick threw everything off, and I'm scrambling to get caught up!

On Friday, I worked on our Christmas card photo.  I had a random design idea and went with it.  About 45 minutes later, our custom photo card was complete!  It came out so cute!  I absolutely love it!  (I can't wait to share it with you... but I'll wait until I actually put them in the mail for our friends and family.)  Eliot loves it and thinks that I should sell it as a printable on Etsy.  So maybe I'll have it available for you guys next year?  Here's a sneak peek!  

Saturday we were preparing for Winter Storm Elsa.  Ok, so it was really named "Electra." But as my Facebook fans know, I decided to call it Elsa.  It's more appropriate, right?  We were supposed to get 14-18 inches of snow!  (In the photo below, we are in the 8-14" area, but they later adjusted the forecast telling us to expect more snow.)

Photo Courtesy of WABI Facebook Page

After running around getting gas, food, and having oil delivered, we were ready for Elsa! Eliot and I spent the rest of the day putting up our Christmas tree and decorating the kitchen and living room with window clings.

On Sunday, it was clear that Elsa had arrived overnight.  Around noon, Eliot and I went outside to shovel our walkway and back deck.  Our walkway was about 16 inches deep! And then our back deck ended up being over 2 feet deep due to the snow drifting!  Check out that pile of snow on our table!  The final snow total for our city was 16 1/2 inches!!!

We lost our decorations in the winter wonderland of snow!  Eliot had snow-pants on so he jumped in and dug Mickey, Minnie and our inflatable snowman out of the snow.  Minnie's nose was just barely sticking out of the snow so we could locate them.  (I wish that I'd taken a picture; it was pretty funny.)  Our pathway markers are still under the snow, but they're trying to peek out!

Sunday night I watched the Once Upon a Time winter finale.  Argh!  I won't spoil it for those of you who have not seen it yet.  But what was that?  It's getting really crazy!  I think I have a love/hate relationship with it.  I can't believe that it won't be back until March!!!  Is it March yet?!?!?  Now?  How about now?  Ugh.

Monday, we woke up to a beautiful sunrise.  I spent the day curled up on the couch on "stake out".  I was expecting FedEx and Home Depot was coming to deliver our new dishwasher.  FedEx came around lunch time with a surprise: Our wedding albums!!!  

I was so excited to get our wedding photo albums!  I know what you're all thinking. "You're just getting them now?  Over a year later?"  It's not Disney's fault!  We had so many beautiful pictures that it took us a long time to figure out which ones we wanted in the book.  (I just ordered them in a few weeks ago.)  They did not disappoint.  The albums are absolutely beautiful!  Check out those cute Mickey details inside the book!  Love it!!!

I was on the couch the entire afternoon waiting for Home Depot, so I decided to finish my Once Upon a Time Season 2 marathon.  (I only had 3 more episodes left to watch.) While watching, I worked on a few more decorations for our kitchen cupboards.  I made a Christmas tree, a Santa Mickey hat and a Gingerbread Man.  Then, I used my Mickey Mouse paper punch to make some ornaments for the tree.  They're made out of card stock and colored with markers.  They're pretty easy to make and don't require too much time so it was a nice way to relax.  And our kitchen looks all festive now!

However, I still have a lot to do.  Over the next few days, I'm planning to work on more Christmas projects and a lot more decorating!  Stay tuned!!!  °o°