Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Minnie's Masquerade Review

COME JOIN MINNIE, MICKEY AND PALS IN AN ADVENTURE THAT CELEBRATES THEMES OF FRIENDSHIP, TEAMWORK, SHARING, PROBLEM SOLVING AND DRESSING-UP

Just In Time For Valentine’s Day, Disney’s New Preschool DVD Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Minnie's Masquerade

Debuts February 8th, 2011

BURBANK, Calif., January 10, 2011 – Parents and their preschoolers are invited to join in the ultimate masquerade party with Minnie, Mickey and pals in a fun-filled collection of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse latest episodes that celebrate themes of friendship, teamwork, sharing and problem solving. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Minnie’s Masquerade is the perfect gift to dress-up your Valentine’s Day, available on Disney DVD February 8 from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

This latest release features four playful Minnie-themed adventures previously seen on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse TV show, a never-before-seen episode, and a free paper mask with festive embellishments that kids can personalize. And as a special option for consumers, Disney has packaged a version of the DVD to include the exclusive Mickey Mote – a child-friendly handheld remote control, shaped like Mickey ears, that takes children’s viewing experience to a whole new level of play. The DVD + Mickey Mote

Play Set is the ultimate value for moms and equally fun and engaging for kids! The Mickey Mote uses infrared wireless technology and may not be compatible with all devices.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Minnie’s Masquerade starring Disney’s Fab Five -- Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Daisy – takes viewers on an all new adventure as they dress-up in their favorite costumes for Minnie’s Masquerade Ball. In this episode, Minnie needs some help getting everything ready for her party including making royal crowns for their costumes, searching for Sir Goofalot’s lost shoe, stringing up paper lanterns and much, much more. At the ball, Professor Von Drake hosts the great Clubhouse Costume Show and gives out prize ribbons to all the friends who have dressed up in some funny and fancy costumes. All it takes is a heaping helping of imagination…and the right Mouseketools.


THE TRAILER




About Disney’s Exclusive Mickey Mote:

Disney’s Mickey Mote works with any Disney Preschool DVD that includes the Discovery Mode™ feature – an interactive “Watch & Play” feature on the DVD. All parents have to do is program the remote control - there’s an easy and quick set-up guide in each DVD- and select the Discovery Mode feature on the menu screen. Within minutes, kids will be easily responding to questions, throughout the story, about scenes they just watched by pressing one of four color-coded buttons on the device -- a yellow star, green circle, orange triangle or blue square – to click in their responses. Discovery Mode features include two levels of play, which provides more challenging questions as the child grows.

The Mickey Mote can be used with any Disney Preschool DVD that includes the Discovery Mode feature.

To date there are more than 11 titles that can be used with the remote control, just take a look at the backof the package to make sure.

REVIEW

To get straight to the point, my boys and I give it a 5 out of 5.

This is more than just an average DVD. The Mickey Mote that allows your child to watch and play along with the Disney characters!! They get to answer fun questions about colors, shapes, and sized in mode I and then move on to a higher level of play in Mode II. Your child can also enjoy the DVD straight through without using the Mickey Mote.

My boys are 2 1/2 and 7 and are both Mickey fans. They've watched and played along with the DVD every day since the day we received it in the mail. It's a big hit!

I found setting up the Mickey mote to be very easy...even though I fudged it up a bit the first time, I was able to go back and easily correct my mistake by following the instructions from the beginning. Disney offers 11 other titles that can be used with the Mickey Mote.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of the DVD to review. The opinions are 100% mine (and my boys').

Gnomeo & Juliet

Donovan has been begging me everyday to take him to see this movie. I think we can make that happen. From the looks of the previews, I think I'll enjoy it as much as he will!

Cold As Ice

We're no longer only covered in snow...now we're covered in snow and ice!

I'm sure my neighbors thought I was downright certifiable when they saw me outside in the icy rain with my camera taking photos of the bushes! LOL! They don't understand, but you do...right?!




All photos were taken with my 100mm lens.

It's A Snowpocalypse

We've had so much snow here in New Jersey that I had to scrap about it. It has snowed every week since the day after Christmas. I'm so sick of snow, I don't know what to do with myself. Our last snow storm left behind a hefty 19" on top of ton of snow already on the ground AND today it's sleeting and the promise of more snow is looming!!

Driving has become a nuisance, not just because of the icy roads, but all of the snow that has been plowed to the side of the road has drastically narrowed streets, sidewalks have all but disappeared causing pedestrians have to walk in street. When I pull up to an intersection, I'm darn near in the middle of the street before I can see around the snow banks. Don't even try to go to the store because the enormous mountains of snow all over the parking lot have reduced parking spaces by 1/3, making them a hot commodity. As soon as I get in your car to pull out of a space and I can't help but laugh at the parking space piranha that a swarming around me.

I guess my Cheery Lynn Designs dies will be getting quite a workout. With all of this snow on the ground the only thing a girl is left to do is scrap.

I used a couple of CLD's new dies, Wittle Weaver and Large Circle Pierce Plate, on this layout to help add some texture.

Here you can see the texture that the piercing plate adds to the scalloped circle. How cute is that pierced snowman? He was really easy to pierce together. I simply cut small scraps of paper and taped them to the section of the die that I wanted. This way, I only had to run the die through my Epic Six once.


I used the Wittle Weaver to cut strips from striped paper to bring all of the colors in my layout together. I love the deep set texture this die adds.

For a complete list of the dies used on this layout, check out this post Cheery Lynn Designs blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today. I hope you are warm in your part of the world! Have a scrappy day!

52 Week Project - January Photos

One day last month, I saw that my girl, Sasha had 'liked' a link to a blog called the 52 Week Project on Facebook. She always finds the coolest stuff on the 'net, so I decided to check it out since I noticed it was photography related and knew it was something I'd be interested in.

Last year, I started Project 365, where you take a photo every day of the year. I failed miserably at it and probably took about 5 pictures before I gave up. I'm still interested in doing Project 365 as I've loved seeing other dedicated photographers' pictures...but I'm going to take smaller steps and build up to that.

The 52 Week project is a challenge blog dedicated to getting photographers of all levels to take a self portrait once a week for a year. This is right up my alley. For those of you who have followed my blog for a while know that my scrapping motto is to scrap yourself. I believe it's imperative to be included in our own family histories, which is why I make sure to get in front of the camera every now and again. I know for some, the thought of taking self portraits can be a nerve wracking experience, but Kim (author of the 52 week project blog) and the other participants make you feel at ease and have some great inspirational ideas, too!

I'll be sharing each of my photos here at the end of each month. I'm really excited about this challenge, so I hope I can stick it out all the way through...so far, so good.

Week 1 photo: taken 1/2/11 feeling kind of blah

Week 2 photo: 1/15/11 I'm staying true to my one and only resolution--to cook healthier meals for my family. I am loving Rachael Ray's new cookbook! I've already made about 6 or 7 meals from it and they were yummy!

This photo came out blurry because I wasn't in front of the camera when focusing and I couldn't get it right, but for some strange reason, I like the look that the blurriness adds. I just wished my eyes were less blurry, but hey they can't all be perfect, right?!

Week 3: taken 1/22/11 with my 50mm lens. I held the camera at arms length and snapped a couple of photos...I really like this one. I used Picassa to desaturate the photo until just before it completely turned black and white. You can still see the tones in my hat and a little color in my lips and my gold earring. I like how the light in my eye looks like 2 converging lines...almost like a road to my soul.

Week 4 photo taken 1/29/11 My boys and me on the day of Donovan's 7th birthday. I like how the shadows on my living room wall created sort of a vignette around us. I call this one Crazy Chaotic Love.

Donovan is my first born child. Every birthday that he celebrates is also a reminder of how long I've been a mother and in essence is an extra reason to celebrate!

I love these crazy boys to death!!

I think my weeks are a little off...but it's OK, I'll figure it out and get on the right schedule. I'm just happy that I stuck with it this month...baby steps...right...

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today. I hope you've enjoyed getting a little peek into my world. Have a wonderful February!

NEW Bella Blvd CHA Winter 2011

Man oh man do I have lots of goodies to share today!! If you've been glued to Bella Blvd's blog over the past week, then you know the new releases are out.of.this.world!! I am just over the moon that I got to play with a big box of Bella goodies! When I think of products that work well for boy pages, Bella Blvd is always at the top of my list.

So without further adieu....here are the projects that I created for Bella Blvd!!

Baby of the Family was created using Family Dynamix and features Mr. Xander. This line is filled with bright happy colors and can be used for many different topics.


Sweet Little Ones was created using the Sophisticates line which are beautiful monochromatic papers and chipboard embellies that coordinate with all of Bella Blvd's lines. How fab are those chipboard alpha?

The pictures are of Donovan and Xander and were taken nearly 7 years ago. I'm tearing up a little just looking at them, especially since today is Donovan's 7th birthday! They grow so fast!


& Puppy Dog Tails was created using Tail Waggers and Cat Naps and again, features my boys. This is Bella Blvd's pet line, but as you can see, it's not just for pets! I'm loving those adorable little puppies and that fantastic woodgrain paper!!

Mr. Trouble features my little trouble maker and was created using the ever so adorable Mr. Boy line. I love all of the new lines, but this one, I really love. All of the sayings are perfect for my 2 busy body little boys!


This card was also made with Mr. Boy. How cute are those dinosaurs? This collections is also filled with stars and rocketships...it doesn't get any more "boy" than that!

Life Is Good was also created with the Sophisticates line.


My final project is a mini album featuring my family of 4. All of the elements are from the Family Dynamix line.

back cover

Inside pages of the mini album

(chipboard album is from Buzz and Bloom)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have enjoyed these projects as much as I enjoyed creating them!!

NEW Creative Imaginations and New Petaloo

Craft and Hobby manufacturers are busy in sunny California setting up their booths and preparing to show off their new releases. I wish I could be there, we just got hit with another foot of snow here in NJ.

I've started posting some sneak peeks for the companies that I created projects for and will continue over the next few days.

Today, I'm sharing a layout and card that I created with one of Creative Imaginations' new releases designed by Samantha Walker called Heidi. The first thing I noticed when I opened my box and pulled out these beautiful papers was the versatile color pallet. I knew that I could easily use the red, orange, and yellow combination for any project about girls, or the blue, green, and yellow to highlight a project for boys!!

I used Heidi, along with CI's new gingham cardstock, some banana papers and corrugated cutables to create a Springy layout featuring my friend Dolores' little daughter. (The pennant banner and fence were cut using dies by Cheery Lynn Designs)


I used patterned paper and a sticker from this collection to create this baby boy card.


I'm also sharing an 8x8 layout and card created using the new brightly colored flowers and crocheted trim from Petaloo.

I used the flowers here to "hug" the photo of the boys and me. (I used lots of luminarte Radiant Rain shimmering spray to create the background and change the color of the lace trim)


I mixed one of Petaloo's existing products, Candies, with the new brighton flowers and crocheted trim to create this simple, elegant card.

I had a lot of fun working with all of these products! Stay tuned for more new releases!

Thanks for stopping by the blog today! Hope you have a scrappy day!!

Creative Imaginations New Release - Marrakesh

"Christine Adolph's new collection, Marrakesh blends warm, rich colors along with beautiful patterns. Look for Marrakesh in store this April!"

Check out these and other new releases from Creative Imaginations on the blog!

I am a huge proponent of scrappers including themselves in their own scrapbooks. The rich colors and gorgeous patterns in this collection had my name written all over it, so I just had to create a layout about me! I punched scalloped strips from the different purple papers found in this collection and layered them for a textured look that mimics my "new favorite dress". I added a bunch of Petaloo flowers and punched butterflies to finish off the layout.


The design of the layout inspired this card. I repeated the layered punched border strips to create a very mature looking birthday card.


I also used Marrakesh on this little purse mini album featuring my friend Dolores' little girl. I painted the handle and edges of the mini with egyptian gold luminarte.

See the button in the center of the flower? I made it with clay! Go me! I rolled the clay out and then pressed a dimensional button die from Cheery Lynn Designs, cut around it, poked out the holes and then let it dry. Once dry, I painted it with luminarte and then added it to my project.



I'll be posting lots more CHA projects in the next few days!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

New Dies

I am in love...not only with my sweet little Xander, but with Cheery Lynn Designs new doilie dies. So long plain ole white doilies, with these new dies, you can create doilies in limitless colors...and the details are AMAZING!!

I used the English and French doilies on my project, but there are 6 new doilie dies to choose from.

supplies: patterned paper, stickers, canvas border, metal badge, rub-ons, tickets- Pink Paislee; dies; Cheery Lynn Designs; ink- Clearsnap; cardstock- Worldwin; pen- sharpie


This card was created for gonescrapbooking/examiner.com, using Echo Park's new Be Mine collection.

supplies: patterned paper, sticker- Echo Park; cardstock- Bazzill; pearls- Want 2 Scrap; gem, flower- Petaloo

Upcoming Classes

Two weeks from today, I will be teaching these 2 mini album classes at Croptopia Getaways Winter Event in Whippany, NJ.

Love U Tag Mini Album
Saturday, February 5th
9:30 am- 11:30 am


Family Mini Album
Saturday, February 5th
1:00pm- 3:00 pm