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Site News and Events

MouseScrappers Design Challenge 2 – It’s Time For A Blog Hop!

The MouseScrappers Design Challenge 2 Collab Kit can now be purchased in the MouseScrappers Store. We are so excited to reveal the kit to you!  If you didn’t participate in the challenge, get yourself over to the MouseScrappers store to scoop up this amazing member created collab!  You can find the kit in the store HERE. This incredible kit contains 2 templates, 14 mini kits, 1 cluster set and 2 alpha packs. And, believe it or not, you can have it all for only $3.00! Yep, you read that right, the total cost for this HUGE collab kit is $3.00. Layout options include Princess Tiana (The Princess and the Frog), Piglet, Elliot (Pete’s Dragon), Tinkerbell, Sleeping Beauty, Marie (The Aristocats), Tangled, and the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival, just to name a few.

You can see larger images of the individual submissions in the Design Challenge 2 Gallery. You’ll also see some amazing layouts created by the MouseScrappers Creative Team already posted in the gallery. If you create a layout using this collab, please post it in the Design Challenge 2 Gallery.

Some of the Design Challenge participants are also offering coordinating freebies on their blogs!

The official start time of the blog hop is 9:00 am CST but these blogs are from all over the world so please be patient and try back later if there is nothing posted when you visit.

Here is the complete list of the stops on the blog hop:

It would be great if you took some extra time to leave some love for them when you download their freebies.

The May/June Design Challenge is already up and running; come join us! You can find the thread with the color swatch, instructions and all the other information you need in the MouseScrappers forum HERE.

Categories
New Releases Store News

MouseScrappers New Releases – June 1, 2012

We’ve got some super exciting news today! Besides having a total of EIGHT new releases, we’re also releasing the MouseScrappers Design Challenge 2 Kit! I know many of you have been anxiously waiting for this day, wanting to see what our amazing group of aspiring designers created this time around. Let me tell you, you won’t be disappointed! But, I’m going to make you read to the end of this post to see the full reveal. I know, I’m mean. 🙂

Two of our in-house designers have some amazing releases for you this week as well. Are you as excited to see what in store for you today as I am?

Polka Dot Chicks

Tammy and her daughter have done it again. This week they’re releasing an add-on to their iNSD grab bag release, What’s Black ‘n White? If you missed it that weekend, you’ve just GOT to check it out now! A little mouse told me that they have some other add-ons to this kit in the works, so keep watching.

What’s Black ‘n White & RED is the newest addition to this series. Can’t you just imagine how incredible this add-on will be with their original release? I can see it being used to scrap everyone’s favorite mouse duo. The Chicks were inspired by the Animator’s Palate restaurants from the Disney Cruise Line. Sadly I’ve never been on a Disney cruise, but looking at the photos I can see why they were so inspired! Or, what about your school colors? I know my high school colors were red and white so this kit would work perfect if I allowed those photos to be seen in public. How about your child’s sports team? What colors are their uniforms? I bet these kits would work for that too.

Next up the Chicks have the most adorable polka dotted alpha pack I think I’ve ever seen! Their Magical Polka Dotted Alpha comes in black, brown, green, white and yellow and can easily be used to scrap all of those character meets. It’s so versatile I can even see you using to scrap a birthday party or summer barbecue.

We have another incredibly versatile alpha pack from the Chicks today. Magical Basics: Clearly Alpha is the PERFECT complement to every layout! I am a told alpha-holic. There’s no such thing as too many alpha packs, right? I sure hope not, because if there is, I’m in some SERIOUS trouble! The options for this alpha pack seriously are endless. Clear alphas can be layered and clipped over a paper to give your paper an acrylic look (just shadow the paper, not the alpha), or they can be used on their own. Since the alpha is clear it doesn’t distract from your gorgeous page or photos.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I seldom scrap without a template. Templates are an absolute MUST in every scrappers stash. They are seriously the perfect way to jump start all of your pages. And with how easy they are to modify by adding layers, removing layers, rotating layers, etc, each template can end up creating countless unique layouts.

To sweeten the deal, all of the Polka Dot Chicks NEW releases are on sale through Sunday, June 3rd for 25% off! And just look at what our wonderful Creative Team made by combining these products!

 

True North Scraps

Our favorite designer from the land up north is so excited to be able to release her Smooth Sailing kit, alpha pack and solid papers that she created for a design challenge she participated in earlier this year. What is it with these ladies and their cruise-themed releases? Are they trying to tell us all to go take a cruise? I don’t know WHAT’s going on, but I DO know that this is kit is just adorable!

Dawna has some adorable kids ready to go swimming, pirate elements, a cruise ship, dress clothes and countless additional elements in this release. Even though it’s cruise-themed, I can easily see it working to scrap your 4th of July photos, or photos from a beach outing. For that matter, for those of you who live by the ocean or a lake, I can see you scrapping your water photos. I have one photo in mind of me when I was a child and took a boat tour out on Lake Superior that this kit would be PERFECT for!

For those of you who just HAVE to have it all, Dawna’s even bundled it all up! Isn’t she a sweetheart?

All of True North Scraps NEW releases are on sale through Sunday, June 3rd, for 30% off! Yep, that deal even includes her bundle. So, don’t wait, Sunday will be here before you know it!

Just look at these gorgeous layouts our Creative Team made with these new items.

MouseScrappers Design Challenge 2 Collab Kit

I know I teased you with a sneak peek on Wednesday… But now the moment you’ve all been waiting for is here! We are so excited to release the MouseScrappers Design Challenge 2 Collab Kit! All of the ladies who participated put a lot of time and effort into their submissions and I do believe it’s paid off. I know our Creative Team sure was excited when they got their hands on this last week. If you didn’t participate in the challenge you’re definitely going to want to purchase the collab! This incredible kit contains 2 templates, 14 mini kits, 1 cluster set and 2 alpha packs. And, believe it or not, you can have it all for only $3.00! Yep, you read that right, the total cost for this HUGE collab kit is $3.00. Layout options include Princess Tiana (The Princess and the Frog), Piglet, Elliot (Pete’s Dragon), Tinkerbell, Sleeping Beauty, Marie (The Aristocats), Tangled, and the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival, just to name a few. So, without further ado, I present you with the Design Challenge 2 Collab Kit.

And look at what all our Creative Team did with this collab! Like I said, the ladies were so excited to get this and get to work.

Later today there will be a blog hop hosted by several of the ladies who participated in the Design Challenge. It’s scheduled to start at 10:00am EST. So if you’d like to grab some freebies that coordinate with the Challenge kit, come back to the MouseScrappers blog then to see where all the train stops.

That’s all for this week, folks! So, what are you waiting for? Please remember to not run, but safely walk to your first destination of the day – the MouseScrappers Store! And don’t forget the sales that both the Polka Dot Chicks and True North Scraps are having end on Sunday, June 3rd. Thanks for stopping by, and “see” you next week for our next edition of magical new releases.

Categories
Travel Tips

Staying Off Property in Florida

For years we only stayed on property when visiting Walt Disney World. We always purchased the dining plan with three sit down meals as well. We continued this tradition for 7 visits. The advantages of staying on property are tremendous including the Magical Express Transportation to and from the airport, ability to purchase Magic Your Way Tickets and the Disney Dining Plan. Only WDW resort guests have unlimited use of the WDW transportation System and can take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours in the parks. If the parks are overcrowded, WDW resort guests are given priority. There are additional privileges including delivery of merchandise from the park and Downtown Disney stores, beautifully themed resorts that keep you immersed in Disney 24/7, and Disney Cast Members and Disney Guest Service that is incomparable.

In 2008, my parents were unable to use their time share and asked us if we wanted to transfer it to a property near Disney. We had just been in October of 2007 but my parents had to use their time share by the end of June. We were hesitant to stay off property but we now had three children and it made sense to try it out since the accommodations were free! We stayed at the Westgate Vacation Villas and we were less than 10 minutes from the Walt Disney World Resort. The accommodations were only a year old and the space was huge! We were in a two bedroom lock off that had two bedrooms, two queen sofa sleepers, a full kitchen, a mini kitchen, a huge living room, a smaller living room, two full bathrooms, and two sets of washers and dryers. Our oldest girl was seven years old and our twins girls were two years old at the time. We loved the space and the resort. We even loved having breakfast in the Villa before leaving for the parks, cooking and eating a few dinners, and doing laundry. I know it seems crazy to cook and do laundry on vacation! Having access to a full kitchen with the three children was an advantage since they had wasted so much food during our last vacation and we could feed them what they love to eat. The best part about doing laundry on vacation was unpacking clean clothes when we arrived at home. We had never been to WDW in the summer and we were thankful to have purchased two cases of water that we kept frozen so that we could have cold water in the parks. We even went to non-Disney parks for the first time as a family! We were surprised that we found leaving Disney property each night was a nice break from everything Disney.

Advantages:
• Less expensive (okay – so there is no comparison to free but in general off site resorts are less expensive)
• Huge accommodation (on par with the size of bathrooms in the Bellagio in Vegas)
• Quick access to non-Disney parks, restaurants, and shopping
• Found it relaxing not being immersed in the Disney excitement 24/7
• Easier and faster transportation to and from the parks with our own vehicle

Disadvantages:
• None of the perks of staying on property
• We felt like we were spending more money at the restaurants on property because they were not prepaid as part of a dining plan.
• No Disney Theming
• No Disney Guest Service

With that being said, my Husband and I concluded that we really liked it because of the size of the accommodations and convenience of having a kitchen and laundry room. In addition, we have stayed at six different hotels in the Orlando resort area and all three of the Universal hotels. We really missed the Disney theming and the Disney Guest Service. All of these hotels were nice and all of the Universal hotels are themed but it is not the Disney experience. The employees at all of these hotels were courteous but as I mentioned before, the Disney Guest Service is incomparable. If you are a Disney nut then you know that everything at Disney is well thought out and scripted from the placement of every shrub to carrying out the theme to include even the trash receptacles. All Disney Cast Members are trained in the Disney Traditions and are expected to uphold those traditions. They are expected to deliver a seamless experience to the guest. The Disney experience cannot be duplicated. We really missed the convenience and atmosphere of being in a WDW resort.
Although we have enjoyed off site experiences, our next investment will be to join the Disney Vacation Club. We feel that would be the best option for our family especially since we now have four children. We would have the Disney experience and still have the conveniences of home.

Categories
New Releases Store News

MouseScrappers Design Challenge 2 – Sneak Peek!

I know many of you have been asking about the Design Challenge 2 Kit. Although you can’t actually purchase it until Friday, June 1st, here’s a little sneak peek to hold you over. 🙂

Categories
Photography Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday – Disneyland Paris WALL-E and Eve