A Pretty Great Gift (with Disney PIXAR Lightning McQueen Build & Race)

When I was really little, my favourite thing to do was play with dolls. But my little sis, Annie, preferred playing with her toy cars. I would watch her play for hours on end, driving those cars around the imaginary carpet town and, I must admit, I never really got what made it so great. My dolls could be doctors, teachers or princesses with just the change of a costume, but what kind of stories could people who could never leave their cars tell?

Time went by and I never bothered asking, and eventually I forgot all about it. Then one day, I was sitting at home watching Cars, and as the opening scene flashed across the screen, it clicked. Of course it wasn’t the people inside of the cars that my sis was directing in her playtime stories… It was cars themselves! Call me crazy, but I didn’t get it until then.

 

With my narrow mind newly expanded, I knew what I had to do. I dug into my magical Klutz drawer and pulled out Disney PIXAR Cars Lightning McQueen Build & Race, and with some help from my sis, I discovered a whole new way to play!

We built our favourite characters (mine: Guido, hers: Fillmore) and set out the giant fold-out mat complete with tons of cool peel-and-stick stickers to customize our cars with. We whizzed and zoomed around the racetrack on one side, then flipped it over to ride around Radiator Springs, stopping at all our favourite spots, like Tow Mater and Casa Della Tires. And when the fun was all done, we parked our cars in the cool pop-out garage to rest.

This year, think outside the box when picking presents for your family and friends, because you never know what someone will get out of it. This year, my sister gave me a new way to play and that’s a pretty great gift if you ask me!

If you're looking to be inspired by the bounty of Klutz, head over here for a complete listing of books.

Disney Princes Purses - Handmade for Halloween

Halloween can be a great time to get crafty, from carving pumpkins to making decorations and baking spooky treats! But when it comes to costumes, especially when you're young and this Halloween business is serious stuff, sometimes a homemade costume just won’t cut it. I remember the horror on a school friend's face when she walked in to class in a mom-made Raggedy Ann, only to find herself in a sea of store bought fairies, pirates, and princesses. I thought her costume was the coolest, but I could tell that she was silently wishing her mom had hit up the store instead of the sewing machine.

When I heard that super-cute little Miss Emilia was going as Cinderella this Halloween, I jumped at the chance to add a little craftiness to her costume. I shared my copy of the brand new and boxy Make Your Own Disney Princess Paper Purses and we gave this little princess some accessories worthy of her namesake!

Little Cinder-Emilia got down to business, donning her royal gown and breaking out her fabulous zebra print scissors to cut out accessories.  She decked out her royal purse in pom poms, sequins, and stickers, and laced the purses up all by herself! She was even kind enough to make two more purses to share with her friends!

If you need more ideas for Klutz-made Halloween fun, check out what I got up to last year! Stop by my One-Stop Halloween Shop for tons of fun, 100% Klutz decorating and costume ideas, or check out how I made my pumpkins pop!

A Klutz Trip Down Disney Lane

Disney and I go way back. Back to a time when I could recite every word to Beauty and the Beast and would stage kitchen productions with nothing more than a cassette tape and a love of singing that could not even be discouraged by my horrible voice. And though I still delight in returning to my old Disney friends, I have never quite been able to recapture that magical bond we once shared.

Then I happened upon these two Disney-fied Klutz kits, Buzz Lightyear Foam Gliders and Make Your Own Princess Tiaras, and I had an idea that just might work. So, I called in some reinforcements—my favourite little kiddo and my kid sister—and found that getting back to that special time was as easy as one, two, three!

We set to work bedazzling tiaras, popping together planes and chatting about what we did over Spring Break, and I could already feel that familiar buzz of excitement beginning to return. I was reminded that four chairs and an old blanket can magically transform into a castle, and a handful of colourful plastic magnets can be anything from a cobblestone path to a fire to roast marshmallows over.

With my child-like enthusiasm sufficiently renewed and our tiaras set aside to dry, it was time to head outside for some flight practice. Setting our sights on our target—the Evil Emperor Zurg—we practiced our flight pattern and battle formations in the hopes of defeating our enemy. Turns out we weren’t terribly successful, but we had a ton of fun trying and boy, did those little planes really hold up in battle!

Eventually Zurg was defeated and the galaxy was safe once again, so we headed inside to celebrate in royal fashion. Belle is my best gal, but its Ariel’s voice that really makes me swoon, so I paid homage to my favourite mer-princess with a pretty pink crown decked out in seashells. And with expandable Velcro closures, thankfully these tiaras will fit even the most grown-up of heads. Decked out in our glittery gear, we smiled for some shots for the paparazzi and our adoring fans.

Finally, when we’d flown our last flight and twirled our last twirl, I remember another thing about being a kid—it’s exhausting! So I headed off to dreamland and my Disney adventure was complete.