A Kit, a Sale, a Preview OH MY!

We have all been busy busy around here. I have lots to share with you today so, refill your coffee mug and have a seat. Natalie released a new kit today - Animating Our World. This kit will certainly will get your inner artist going! Here is a preview of Animating Our World:

When I first saw this kit I thought 2 things immediately - Animating = Animation Academy in Disney's Hollywood Studios and graphic arts tools = Handy Manny. Granted, Handy Manny is a Handy Man and not a graphic artist but, what can I say, that is how my brain is wired. So, that is exactly what I did layouts of. I saw on Oprah where Peter Walsh, the clutter buster guru, was helping a family get their home organized. He took all of the kids art work, scanned it and made a book on Shutterfly. Brilliant! I can't wait to do the same with all of my budding artists' works of art with a touch of Animating Our World added in of course.

If you have never experienced Animation Academy I would HIGHLY recommend it! As you can see, even my little ones (ages 3 and 5 here) really enjoyed "drawing" and following along with the instructor as he guided our class thru drawing Mickey Mouse. The instructor chooses the character but sometimes will ask for suggestions. Keep in mind, you are being taught how to draw a Disney character from an actual Disney Animator and you will have, what I think, is such a cool FREE souvenir! This is one of our must-do activities. I like to go the Magic of Disney Animation building after lunch when the sun is getting to the hottest part of the day. Meet and greet some real characters then take a class. FUN!!

Hop Up, Jump In! (I am going to have that little diddy in my head all day now.) My girls LOVE Playhouse Disney (now Disney Junior) which includes Agent Oso, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny, the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and the list goes on. We enjoy starting our day in Disney's Hollywood Studios by having breakfast at Hollywood and Vine which includes a meet and greet with Agent Oso, June and Leo from Little Einstiens and Handy Manny (without his tools). My girls always have a blast! They didn't eat much this time because they were to busy parading around the restaurant hand in hand with Leo and June. These reservations can be difficult to get but for some reason, the restaurant had very few people. The girls LOVED spending so much time with all the characters - dancing and interacting with them. It was more of a play date then a breakfast. :)

I made my first alpha for the Handy Manny layout and can't wait to share it with you! I also wanted to let you know Natalie is having a sale!! Check back weekly on her blog to see which kits are going to be half off. WOW! An easy way to remember to do that is by signing up to follow her blog. Of course you are welcome to follow along the Creative Teams blogs as well.

Natalie's Blog

And there is still more! Never a dull moment around here. Two of the ladies on our Creative Team are gearing up to go to Disney World, another is getting ready to move to the east coast and I am getting settled into my new home. Natalie is also been a busy bee. Between us friends and because I don't want you to miss a minute, Natalie will be releasing soon more of her fabulous templates! Check back soon.

Don't forget to pick up your gifts we made just for you. Cynthia has fantastic frames, Linda has beautiful clusters and word art, Lisa has adorable title word art. TOO CUTE! Also stop by Natalie's Little Corner of the World to pick up Animating Our World kit and another great freebie. OH! and here is mine:

Download HERE

Just a side note. I am well aware of Disney's copyrighted images. It is what I do creatively to them that I claim as my own, not the image itself. I tweak the images for my own layouts and because, I know they are hard to find and could only hope to have them available when I am trying to quickly get a layout together, I share them with you. Freely I received them, freely I will share. Thank you for stopping by today!



Sneak Peek from Natalie's Place Designs

An exciting new kit coming soon...

Are You Ready to Rock?!

Hi there! I am SO excited to tell you about Natalie's latest kit, just released called Rock Star. This is a HUGE kit with 19 elements, 2 alphas, several overlays and a slew of elements.

 Now, between you and me, I have to say up front - grunge and hard rock are just not my "thing". I can honestly tell you that the more I worked with the kit, the more I could not stop playing with the myriad of combinations! Then I saw what Cynthia, Linda and Lisa came up with, I was blown away!! Here is my first layout.

My family and I just came back from Epcot-Pixar weekend and ran through Epcot's United Kingdom pavilion to get our sticker on our Cars2 booklet - Race Around the World. The Crown and Crest Shop had a lovely display of the Beatles memorabilia. Of course my girls just wanted to bang on the drum in the midst of a long line to see Tigger and Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh. They thought the "audience" just happened to be in the shop for their concert! And this is why I scrap. I did start out using a template from MouseScrappers own Lyn (tiggerenjen), who hosted template challenge #62, then modified it. I really love the guitar Natalie includes in the Rock Star kit. So, I decided to see what happens if I used an element like I would a template and voila.

I absolutely HAD to do something with the lightning bolt - it is TOO COOL! Linda did such a great Lightning McQueen layout I wanted to do something a little different. I told you this kit is versatile! Bolt is one of our family's favorite movies. We enjoyed visiting with Bolt, Mittens and Rhino (the Hamster) in Disney's Hollywood Studio about 2 year ago.

Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to stop by Cynthia, Linda, Lisa's blogs to check out their amazing layouts and more fantastic freebies. Also be sure to stop by Natalie's Place for the kit and another freebie that will put a little zoom zoom on your layouts.

Download HERE.

Give A Little Whistle

"Not just a little squeak, pucker up and blow! And if your whistle's a little weak, yell, Jiminy Cricket!". Inspired by Pinocchio's concience with a German influence, Natalie's Place Designs released "Give A Little Whistle" kit. Fourteen papers, a wishing well, a cuckoo clock, frames plus a slew of elements. I really love the attention to detail like the stitched circles and borders. This kit also includes two sparkle trails. LOVE that bling!

I bet you didn't know Sir Jiminy packs his shades when he is vacationing on the DCL!

While on our way to Norway's Princess Breakfast, I took this picture. I love how the sunlight streams and awakens upon Epcot's Germany pavillion. Later in the day we came back here to explore the quaint village setting. Leave it to my young daughter to discover a 4 inch, 10 oz Giant Gummy Bear! I believe this is the only place in the "World" where they can be purchased. I was thrilled when Natalie included a gummy bear scatter in the kit! Hence, in my daughter's eyes, gummy bears should floooow out of wishing wells. A giant gummy bear is now my daughter's must-have snack. As you can see from the freebie, here is mine. Prost!

Grab it HERE. Thank you for stopping by!!

How Cute! You NEEEEED this Participation Prize!!

Cynthia (CynthiaY2) is hosting the Weekly Challenge #84 over at MouseScrappers. In honor of Mother's Day she has whipped up a fun challenge - create a layout all about YOU! Look what a cute participation prize -

Hope to see you at Mousescrappers. The challenge ends May 10th.