Disney Things to do in Quarantine!

Long time, no see!  Of course, that's how everyone's feeling now--not just me for abandoning my blog for so long!  Honestly, it can be easy getting lost in everyone else's blogs and social media accounts dedicated to Disney, and start to feel like I have nothing new to add to the conversation, but THAT'S NOT THE POINT OF THIS BLOG!  The point is, I love Disney, and I love writing, and that's that.  So in the spirit of revisiting passions during self-quarantine, I thought of sharing a list of fun activities to keep you in a Disney frame of mind!

What to Eat

My friend Marla (a wonderful artist who also teaches the sip-and-paint classes offered at the Disney World hotels--follow her on Instagram @marla_e_artist) told me that Disney is sharing certain park favorite recipes on their app, My Disney Experience!  So far they've shared a Dole Whip recipe (blend 4oz pineapple juice with 2 cups of frozen pineapple, and add one big scoop of vanilla ice cream, to make 4 servings), and the Disney Parks Blog has a Mickey Mouse Beignets recipe, and churro recipe!  There are a lot of copycat recipes floating around on the great interwebs!  I've also seen Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bars and Mickey Ice Cream Sandwiches at my local grocery store (I currently have the sandwiches in my freezer).  I recommend using InstaCart or Shipt for any grocery errands (and please tip your shoppers)!  You can also make Mickey-shaped ANYTHING if you have cookie cutters, circular food (Oreos, Nilla wafers, banana slices), and/or imagination!  Just the other day I made a Mickey-shaped chocolate chip cookie sundae, thanks to my oversized Mickey cookie cutter!

What to Watch

Disney Plus is a great option if you need a daily dose of Disney!  I'm making my way through the Star Wars saga, myself!  For those who still watch TV, Spectrum is offering the new season of the DuckTales reboot (season 3) on demand for free until May 31!  (I have so much to say about how DuckTales is KILLING IT that I might have to make a separate blog!)  Over on WDW News Today, they've posted a list of character shows from Tokyo Disney made available to watch on YouTube for a limited time (some of these aren't available anymore).  You can always type in parade names and Point-of-View ride videos of attractions from any Disney park on YouTube and you'll find lots of fun things to watch!

What to Craft

The Flower and Garden Festival is my favorite Epcot Festival and I was SO BUMMED that I didn't get to go before the closures.  So I channeled that frustration into these floral Minnie headbands for my mom & myself with woodsy-looking wire, fake flowers, and headbands from Michaels!  I learned by watching a youtube tutorial years ago, and you can, too!  The Disney Parks Blog is also sharing video tutorials of how to draw a VERY LONG LIST of characters!  Disney Family also has a long list of crafts to choose from, including this colorful pom-pom Mickey pillow!

What to Wear

These days you might feel like it doesn't matter WHAT you wear--you don't have to go anywhere, and no one will judge you but your cat.  But our appearances affect how we FEEL!  Don't forget what Jerry told George when he showed up in sweatpants!  I have a long history (starting in 2012 when I first stumbled upon the tumblr account) of putting together Disneybounds (if you don't know, please drop everything and click here), in which you put together an outfit based on a Disney character (it's not a costume).  Canadian Leslie Kay and her friend dreamed this up years ago when they were getting excited for a trip to the parks--they were Disney-bound, and playing it up to get excited about their trip!  A woman after my own heart!  This trend has really blown up over the last few years and she even released a book this month!  If you have Instagram, you can follow the trend at @thedisneybound where she shares flatlays of outfits and pictures of people just like you and me in their Disneybound finest!  Another fun Disney fashion account to follow is @ashtinelikekutcher, who also posts flatlays (all the elements of an outfit arranged together and laid out flat, like an outfit display without the mannequin) of Disney-inspired outfits, and where to find everything!

What to Listen To

I've been listening to a Disney mix on Pandora (I ask Alexa, "Play Disney on Pandora," and she says, "Disney--CHILDREN'S--radio, on Elyse's Pandora Account" and I feel like she's making fun of me every time) on those rare occasions when I'm not on the couch watching TV.  I'm not a podcast-listener yet, so I don't have any Disney ones to recommend, but I'm sure they exist!  You can also look up soundtracks on Spotify and YouTube.  On Instagram, @michaeldoesdisney was posting daily COVID-19 related Disney spoofs that are very entertaining to watch, and he also recommended an account, @disneyworldsounds, which uploads exactly what you'd think--minute-long sounds of Disney World, including ride music and announcements, parade music, voiceovers, and environment sounds (i.e. Main Street USA background music)!  You can also tune into one of my live couch concerts where I play originals and covers (including Disney songs and a special ukulele Disney medley I put together) on my instagram account, @elysebuckley!

What to Do

Now that you have some ideas, you can combine your favorites into activities!  I love having video chats with my friends, using the Marco Polo app, and Zoom for longer conversations, and I'm grateful to the US Postal Service for still delivering letters and packages to those in need of a pick-me-up (or essentials)!  You can have a video conference party with friends (perhaps you all get dressed up in your favorite Disneybound with a Disney-themed cocktail), a movie watch-party (my friends and I text reactions as we watch together), or send some heart-felt letters with doodles and photos to the friends you wish you were with!  Decorate your windows to make someone's walk a little brighter!  Make chalk art of your favorite inspirational messages and characters!  If you miss being at the parks, you can recreate some rides or park decorations, or even turn your bathtub into a lazy river!  Dress like Ellie and have a picnic on your own "hub grass!"  Comment with any other ideas below, and have a safe and fun time, making your own magic!

More Disney Nails

I love doing my nails.  I've never had them done at a nail salon, mostly because I have too much fun trying out new styles and techniques and am often indecisive.  If I don't like what I've done, I can just take it off without feeling guilty about spending too much!  Anyway, in anticipation for this past Disney trip, I did my nails in quite a few Disney themes.  This first one was inspired by Aladdin on Broadway, which Jim took me to as a Christmas present (we saw it this past March).  They are Princess Jasmine-inspired (with my little Vinylmation Abu keychain)!

I tried some Up nails!  I'd seen this idea on many instragram accounts and finally attempted it myself, although I was out of white nail polish so I had to use White-Out, which didn't come out that well!  I've seen these done more recently with tons of balloons all over the top 4 nails, and the house a lot more detailed with pastels, but I didn't have any tools at the time besides dotters!  (Now I have a detail brush but I haven't quite figured out the best way to use it yet!)

I'm not a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland but I do love the art!  I have a lot of pinks so I decided to make Cheshire Cat nails.  This was my first time using gold striping tape (it is difficult to work with!!) and I had a thin brush for the painted stripes.  It reminds me of the Pop Vinyl collectibles, since I gave the cat 2 small round eyes!

When we'd officially booked our trip, I celebrated by giving myself the Minnie Manicure they seem to offer at the Saratoga Springs spa.  I thought Disney would offer crazy-awesome themed manicures, but this was the only one I could find!  I used french manicure nail strips which I still need practice with!  I'm holding my Minnie Mouse phone handset here :)

My friend Katherine and I love Winnie the Pooh so I made a classic Pooh on my thumb holding onto that big red balloon!  I used nail beads for the bees that surround him.  I was very happy with this!  My summer campers were thoroughly impressed!  (The beads fell off overnight because I was reluctant to use a topcoat.  Whenever I use a topcoat it makes my nail art smudge in the direction of the brush.  Any tips?)

My piece de resistance, Lady and the Tramp nails!  I am most proud of these!!  I think they are the best nails I've done yet!  Jim & I love this movie, and I challenged myself by attempting an homage.  Lady is wearing a yellow rhinestone as her ID tag (which also fell off by morning haha!  But I had a gold paint dot underneath anyway).  

The "cement" on my thumbnail was really fun (in the movie they add their paw prints to an already-drawn heart in the cement)!  I coated it thickly with gray (essie's "chinchilly"), then drew on it with a dotting tool.  You could see the blue underneath so when it dried a little, I blotted on more gray.  It came out better than I had hoped!  Here's a little step-by-step I put on my instagram (you can follow me at @elysebuckley):

And finally I bought a set of mini nail polishes at Sir Mickey's in Fantasyland while we were at Magic Kingdom.  They are villain-themed (aaah!!) but I bought them anyway!  I painted these last night (large circles are really hard to do!!  I used the brush from the bottle, but there has to be a better way.  Anyone have ideas?  I wonder if there is a tiny sponge they make for that..).  The gold is nice and opaque, and the silver pops on dark colors.  I had to use about 4 coats of the blue to make it this dark--it's not as clean as the other colors.  I didn't try the purple yet, and the black was my own.

Do you love Disney nail art?  Send me a link to your blog or instagram account in the message area below!

By the way, I was the Little Mermaid for Halloween...

I wanted to tell you guys all about my costume!!  I hope you don't think it's too late now that it's November.  I mean, technically it was "Halloween" today in my neighborhood.  Thanks to "Superstorm Sandy," the kids' trick-or-treating day was ruined, and moved to today.  So really it's not that late.

So I was The Little Mermaid.  Because of my red hair, really.  Ariel is every girl with red hair's favorite princess.  Anyhow, what a process.  How to do the top, how to do the bottom, etc... First, I made Flounder.  I was determined to have a Flounder purse as part of my costume, so if my costume alone wasn't that convincing, people would look to my purse and go, "ooooh!"  I drew a picture of Flounder from a Google image search.  Then I cut out a Flounder body shape and cut it out of felt.  I sewed the pieces together:

It was a little difficult to add the bag bottom and give him some width, but I folded some pieces of paper this way and that and figured it out.

 

I added the fins and stitched the smile (all the stitching was by hand), then added the tail.  Turned him inside-out and poof:

I was so pleased with this!!  I stitched on some lace with little pearl beads on it as the strap, like sea foam, right before the trip to Disney.  You'll see pictures of that later!

I considered many things for the top.  I bought a shell at AC Moore, thinking I'd make a mold of it from papier mache.  2 real shells would be too heavy!  Then I found 2 shell-shaped tin dishes at a thrift shop for $2.  Well they were too small to be decent, so again I had to think of something else.

Finally, I figured I would get some dark purple fabric to attach to a nude strapless bra, and put some puffy paint around the back as the thin strap.  I got a T-shirt at AC Moore (just $3) to cut up and use as fabric.  It worked!!  I folded 2 pieces into squares, gathered them at one end, and sewed them to the bra.  Here it is before I sewed it.  Again, I had to hand-stitch all that.

I hooked it closed and put it around a couch pillow and an old scrapbook to draw the puffy paint on the sides.  It worked really well!  I'd measured the width it was pulled to versus myself and all the little wiggles in it stretched out flat when I put it on.  This took 2 nights because each side had to dry before I could do the other.

The skirt took a heck of a lot of work.  First I bought some fabric and just sewed it on me.  It was way too tight to walk around comfortably, especially if I was going to Disney World.  The zipper was a disaster, because I hadn't followed any pattern.  I had to trash my first skirt attempt.  :(

Fortunately, my brother-in-law Hiro went to fashion design school in Paris and worked in Tokyo as a designer for years.  He made a pattern to my measurements and helped me translate it to real-life size on tracing paper.  From that, I cut the fabric, sewed it together, put on the zipper, and added the fins!

That's a picture from the first skirt, but I used the same design for the fins on the second skirt.  Except I stitched all the sides over because that fabric had a lot of little strings hanging and pulling off.  I stitched one light green square onto another, but sticking off the sides so it would form a tail shape!  For the skirt, I used my sewing machine!  It was a pencil-skirt shape with a slit up the middle so I wouldn't rip it walking around. 

Finally, here's the finished product.  You can see the full costume in this pic:

Then I found a dinglehopper on the kitchen table :)

The top of my skirt was the very last thing I did.  It was actually done like 3 minutes after the party started.  I cut a length of the fin material, folded it over, and gathered it in the middle front.  I sewed it onto the top of the skirt (at first it came apart and I was panicking, but my friends are all "fashionably late" so it was fine).  I was still doing my hair when my first guests arrived!  There's actually one of those bump-it things in my hair, and some bobby pins and little claw clips.  I'm wearing green seashell earrings and a pink poofy flower :)

Here's a more "appropriate" version of my costume that I wore to Disney!  You may have seen this in my MNSSHP post (and it's the only picture of the "sea foam" strap I put on Flounder, sorry!):

I bought a sequined purple tube top off ebay, and when it arrived I had to take it in (again, Hiro came up with the "how").  I also gathered the front middle to give it more shape!  Let me tell you, sewing with sequins is HARD WORK.  I also bought gold-glitter shoes from Wet Seal (much cheaper than the Toms version, and more comfortable) to look like sand, or just to make my feet less noticeable.  Haha.

I had my dad take a picture of my hair because I didn't know if it looked alright all night (because this was after we came back).  I was pretty happy with it :)

Hooray!  It was a great Halloween.  I'm sure we all want to be Disney Princesses sometimes :) By the way, you should have seen all the purple this top left on my skin!!  I felt like Ursula instead!  Hahaha.  Hope you had a great Halloween!  Please send me links of your costumes if you'd like :)