Tag: Valentine’s Day

30
Jan
2015

Simple Mickey and Minnie Mouse Inspired Valentine Garland Craft

Get out the paper, glue sticks, scissors, ribbon, and cookie cutters, it’s time to beat the snowed-in boredom!

We’ve had quite a few snow days lately. If you have children, then you know that playing in the snow doesn’t fill an entire day for our little Mouseketeers. The kids and I have been occupying that time with some fun Valentine crafts. Today I’m sharing how we made our Mickey and Minnie Mouse inspired valentine garland.

Supplies:

red cardstock
black cardstock
white card stock
standard hole punch
1″ hole punch
two different size heart cookie cutters
glue stick
pencil
ribbon

Now start tracing and cutting out your hearts from the red and black cardstock.

Both Mickey and Minnie Mouse hearts are made by cutting off the top half of a black heart and gluing the black piece onto the top half of a red heart. The Mickey Mouse inspired hearts have his two white buttons and the Minnie hearts have her polka dots. For Mickey’s buttons, punch two 1″ circles from the white card stock and glue the circles onto the red bottom half of a heart. For Minnie’s polka dots, we used a stand hole punch on white card stock and punched out 10 miniature circles. (Remember to empty your hole punch before making Minnie’s polka dots. It’ll save you from the clean up when your son dumps a hundred punches all over the table….experience has taught me.)

Once your hearts are glued and dried, use the standard hole punch to create holes on both sides of each heart. Connect the hearts together with some cute ribbons. Now you and your Mousketeers have made the cutest little Mickey and Minnie Valentine Garland in town!

Have you made any Disney-inspired Valentine’s Day decorations this year? I’d love for you to share them with me! Post a photo of your project on the Mouse Ears Mom Facebook page or if you’re a blogger and you have a tutorial, great! Share the link in the comments!

28
Jan
2015

D.I.Y. Olaf Inspired Frozen Heart Pillow

categories: Disney-Inspired Crafts

Looking for a fun and inexpensive Frozen-Inspired Valentine’s Day craft to make with your children?

At JoAnn Fabrics this past weekend I found adorable Frozen themed fleece on sale for 40% off! With Valentine’s Day just around the corner I thought it would be cute to make a miniature (5.5″ wide x 7″ high) “Frozen” heart pillow with the kids. After completing this one, Victoria, my three-year-old daughter, snatched it up for her Bitty Baby doll to use and Gavin, my seven-year-old son, immediately wanted to make one “all on his own.” How could he not? Don’t we all love this warm hug-loving little snowman?

I’m not the first person in the world to come up with the idea of a “no-sew” heart pillow. In fact, a quick Google search of “no sew heart pillow” will give you a ton of tutorial options to read. Regardless, I’ve included my tutorial in this post to give you some insight on how we made our pillow.

Supplies

Disney licensed material of any type is significantly more money per yard than your typical run of the mill fabric. So for this project I decided to use the licensed character fleece on one side and a generic blue on the opposite side. In addition, if you’re planning on following my directions for this project to make more than one pillow, note that you’ll need more of the Olaf print than the blue fleece. Why? Due to the character placement on the fleece, you will end up with a pillow that doesn’t have Olaf’s face represented and instead you’ll have Olaf’s feet or a partial face. It’s important to decide what images you want shown on the pillow and measure out from there before you start cutting.

Here are the exact sizes and supplies I used for making one pillow.

8″ x 7″ hand drawn heart template cut out of card stock
Measuring tape
Fabric scissors
Marking tool – I used a fine tip marker but a fabric pencil would have been easier.
18″ x 14″ piece of fleece “Olaf Winter Snowflakes Scene by Disney for Springs Creative Products Group, LLC. (NOTE: This material is for noncommercial home use only.) Why this large? If you are choosing to make multiple pillows, I found that allotting this size piece will guarantee at least one Olaf image as a focal point for the pillow.
14″ x 13″ piece of complimentary-colored solid blue fleece
Polyester Fiberfill

10 Simple Steps Tutorial

1. Using the heart template that you drew out of card stock, decide how you’d like the pillow to lay out. Below is an example of how I started. (However I chose to go larger as the original cookie cutter idea was way too small.)

2. Draw your heart outline onto back side of the Olaf fabric using your template.

3. Measure three inches from all sides of the heart to create an outside heart image around the originally drawn heart. (This three-inch border will be the area that you’ll need to mark and then cut for knotting.)

4. Cut an equal size heart out of the solid blue fleece. I did this by tracing my Olaf fabric heart after I cut it out.

5. Using your measuring tape and marking tool, mark off 3/4″ to 1″ pieces around the perimeter of the heart. They will act as guide lines to follow when creating your fringe to later knot.

6. With the two pieces of fleece fabric placed on top of each other, cut three-inch strips into both layers of fleece at the same time.

7. Continue to cut three-inch strips from the outside of the heart to the center heart marking until you’ve cut the entire outside heart.

8. Start knotting! Making sure that the correct side of the fabric is facing outwards, double knot each strand from the top fleece to the bottom fleece, stopping only when there is a about four or five strands left to knot.

9. Stuff the heart with Polyester Fiberfill.

10. Double knot the remaining strands and you’re done!

Although this little Valentine heart is frozen blue, I’m sure the hug-loving snowman on the outside will warm up the heart of your child this Valentine’s Day.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

14
Jan
2015

DIY: Celebrating a Disney-Inspired Valentine’s Day

categories: Disney-Inspired Crafts

During this past Christmas season my kids loved counting down to Santa’s big arrival using various advent calendars. They quickly hopped out of bed each morning and the opening of doors, boxes and pulling little plush characters from pockets began. But now it’s over and depressing January is upon us. Victoria has resorted to asking me daily when Santa will be returning. So to combat the January blahs, I made these Mickey and Minnie Mouse Inspired Valentines Boxes to use each day as we celebrate the days counting up to Valentine’s Day.

Yay! Valentine’s Day is only one month away!

The idea is that each day the kids leave a special note to each other each night for the first two weeks in February and Mommy and Daddy leave them each a small Disney surprise inside their boxes. Last weekend, I shopped at Dollar Tree store and found a ton of great Disney branded items, including Valentines! Here are a few of the things I found. I was thrilled to find all of the Frozen-branded, Princess-branded and even Star Wars-branded items!

Every one of these items fits nicely in the kids’ surprise boxes too!

If you’d like to join in on the fun and make your own Mickey and Minnie Mouse Valentine boxes, here’s how I made them.

Supplies for Mickey:

“Celebrate It” brand mail box (Or any red box that has a lid you can cut a slot in.)
2 sheets of black card stock
2 heart stickers (Part of a bag of stickers that included the small hearts used for the Minnie Mouse box. I purchased the sticker bag for $1 at Dollar Tree.)
Glue Gun
Scissors

Since the box I chose to use was already red, all I had to do was wrap the lid in black card stock. To make sure that the wrap was tight, I used a hot glue to keep the card stock in place.
Next to make Mickey and Minnie inspired ears, all you have to do is trace the top of an average drinking glass, but flatten the bottom of the ears by adding a little flap to fold over. Wanting to make sure they stay put, I hot glued them onto the top of the box. (See photo below.)
Add the stickers and you’re done!

I’m hoping the kids will enjoy this daily celebration of our family’s love for each other. I’m certain the kids will enjoy the daily Disney treats but personally I’m looking forward to reading Gavin’s kind hand-written “nice” notes to his baby sister and Victoria’s “surprise” valentines to her big brother. Victoria has started making her Valentine’s already!

Have you started celebrating Valentine’s Day yet?

30
Jan
2014

Easy Mickey Mouse-Inspired Valentine’s Day Craft

categories: Disney-Inspired Crafts, Disney-Inspired Party Planning

Keep your table clean with this fun and simple-to-make placemat…well at least part of your table clean.

Yesterday, in our elementary school’s after-school Disney craft class, I had a great time helping young Disney fans make a Mickey Mouse Valentine’s Day placemat. The first and second grade students did an excellent job and they enjoyed watching the lamination machine seal their artwork. If you have a little Mousketeer that loves Mickey Mouse this is a perfect craft to complete with him. If you don’t have a lamination machine, no problem. Your local business supply store, like Staples, offers laminating services. To laminate this project our local store would charge around $3.00US per placemat.

Here’s a break down of what you’ll need for your little artist.

For this project you’ll need a Mickey Mouse Craft Punch. I purchased this punch at A.C. Moore Craft Store. On a side note, I have to tell you that you’ll love it! If you don’t have an A.C. Moore store near you, I’ve seen the punch available for purchase on-line. In addition, you’ll need a 12″ x 12″ piece of scrapbook paper for your base, a glue stick, an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of copy paper, and one pink and one red piece of construction paper or card stock for the Mickey punches.

Cut your heart base out of the white copy paper by folding the paper in half and using the entire half of the paper. Start at the bottom tip and cut to the side corner for the shoulder of the heart. Have your child use a glue stick to attach the paper heart in the center of the 12 ” x 12″ scrapbook paper.

Next, fill in the white heart with the colored paper Mickey heads. I started with the color red Mickeys and glued each one in place with the use of a glue stick. There were a total of 41 red Mickey punches and 22 pink Mickey punches used on my placemat. What was really fantastic about doing this project with the kids is that each child decided to complete the project their own way. They didn’t care that I had used exactly 27 Mickeys in one row and 21 Mickeys in another row. All the placements came out really cute and unique to each child. I had them write their names and grade level on their finished piece, so Mom & Dad will remember how little and adorable their child was when looking at the placemat years down the road.

For anyone else out there that want’s to see how I glued the Mickeys onto the heart, here’s a close up of the center.

Now I have one more afterschool simple craft idea I need to come up with. I’m thinking about teaching the students a little bit about the purpose of molds…and not the kind of mold that cause illnesses. They’ve already learned how to take something away by using the craft punches and have used tons of glue too.

Any ideas you’d like to share? Please do!

Thanks for stopping by the blog today! Have a Magically Mickey Day!

26
Jan
2014

Mickey and Minnie Mouse Heart cookies

categories: Disney-Inspired Party Planning, Disney-Inspired Treats

A Minnie Heart That’s Oversized With Sweetness

Last week I shared with you an inexpensive and simple Valentine Mickey and Minnie Mouse magnet project for you to make with your little Mouseketeers.

http://www.mouseearsmom.com/2014/01/16/inexpensive-and-simple-valentines-day-craft-for-children/

Last night I decided to turn the magnets’ designs into chocolate covered sugar cookies. My two-year old daughter, Victoria, loves Minnie Mouse and I thought this Minnie Mouse Inspired heart-shaped cookie would be a cute Valentine to hand out. I’ll attach a little note saying, “My Minnie Heart Is Sweet for You!”

The cookies were easy to make, but because of drying time, expect to spend a little extra time to complete the steps. If you’d like to make them too, here are the supplies that you’ll need:

Heart shaped sugar cookies
Red chocolate
Bright White chocolate (for Minnie Mouse’s polka dots)
White M & M candies (for Mickey Mouse’s buttons)
Dark chocolate. I found Chocolate Cherry Cordial Candy Melts from Wilton at our local craft store- YUM!

Once you’ve made your sugar cookie hearts, melt your red chocolate in a shallow pan that’s big enough to allow you to lay a cookie down flat in the pan.
Lay each heart, one at a time, in the red melted chocolate. Using your fingers, gently pick the cookie up and shake the excess red chocolate off of the heart. Then lay it on wax paper. To make a Mickey heart, take two M&Ms and place them on the bottom of the heart before it starts to dry.
After the red chocolate has solidified, melt the dark chocolate in a small container that is deep enough to submerge the top of the hearts.
Dip the tops of each heart in the dark chocolate. Now the Mickey hearts are done!
To complete Minnie’s look – melt a small amount of white chocolate in a decorator bag. I like to use Wilton’s disposable bags. Once melted, snip the very tip of the bag off, making a small hole in the bottom. It’s important that you don’t cut off too much of the bag or it will allow too much chocolate to pour out at once.
Last but not least, pipe Minnie’s white polka dots onto the bottom of the remaining cookies. Done!

Are you ready for Valentine’s Day? I’m working on it, but I still don’t know what to have Gavin hand out! He couldn’t care less about Valentine’s Day, telling me to “Just pick something out Mommy”. I’m wondering if it is being six years old and a boy that’s has Valentine’s Day on the bottom of his favorite holiday list. Oh well, at least my little Minnie Mouse fan is excited!

Tag: Valentine’s Day

Get out the paper, glue sticks, scissors, ribbon, and cookie cutters, it’s time to beat the snowed-in boredom!

Supplies:

Now start tracing and cutting out your hearts from the red and black cardstock.

Have you made any Disney-inspired Valentine’s Day decorations this year? I’d love for you to share them with me! Post a photo of your project on the Mouse Ears Mom Facebook page or if you’re a blogger and you have a tutorial, great! Share the link in the comments!

Share this:

Looking for a fun and inexpensive Frozen-Inspired Valentine’s Day craft to make with your children?

Supplies

Here are the exact sizes and supplies I used for making one pillow.

10 Simple Steps Tutorial

Although this little Valentine heart is frozen blue, I’m sure the hug-loving snowman on the outside will warm up the heart of your child this Valentine’s Day.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Share this:

Yay! Valentine’s Day is only one month away!

If you’d like to join in on the fun and make your own Mickey and Minnie Mouse Valentine boxes, here’s how I made them.

Supplies for Mickey:

Have you started celebrating Valentine’s Day yet?

Share this:

Keep your table clean with this fun and simple-to-make placemat…well at least part of your table clean.

For anyone else out there that want’s to see how I glued the Mickeys onto the heart, here’s a close up of the center.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today! Have a Magically Mickey Day!

Share this:

A Minnie Heart That’s Oversized With Sweetness

Are you making anything special for your kids to hand out to their classmates? I’d love to hear about it! Have a great Sunday everyone!

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