New TeeFury Collection!

One of the things that struck me when I watched Inside Out was the similarities to the characters in Winnie The Pooh. I've actually had some students write papers on how the characters represent different mental health issues. It's an interesting theory...I don't know if was a conscious decision on A. A. Milne's part, or if it just works that way because children go through so many different complex emotions.

Either way, when I saw Inside Out, Sadness immediately reminded me of Eeyore. Again, I don't know if that was a conscious decision on the Pixar writers' part or if it was, again, coincidence. I'd almost be inclined to say that Inside Out and Winnie The Pooh have similar understandings and depictions of childhood emotions, so the similarities make sense.

So when my TeeFury email this morning announced a new collection called "All The Feels" which mashes up Inside Out and Winnie The Pooh, I was in love. My favorite is, of course, the Sadness/Eeyore one and I may or may not have clicked "Add To Cart." :) See the designs by artist Kat Haynes below and get yours before August 4th!

Disney Art

When we tell people we have a "Disney Art Wall," we tend to get our fair share of skeptical looks and raised eyebrows. I can only imagine what they're picturing -- I would bet it involves lots of cutesy cartoons. 

But we'd like to think that it's a bit classier than that...we hope. Lots of artists have licenses that allow them to create Disney-inspired works without violating Disney's strict copyright policy and they're sold at places like the Art of Disney and the Wonderground Gallery. They're some of our favorite places to visit when we go to the parks and we try and buy one, nice piece each trip we take. The last time we went to Disneyland, we got a series of prints by J. Scott Campbell who does this really cool work where he mashes up a Disney Princess and her villain -- they only had 3, so I'm looking for a fourth one so I can make a set and frame them.

But, one of my favorite artists is Karen Hallion. She's the artistic and creative genius behind some of my favorite Geek Shirts, which are mash-ups of Disney Princesses and Doctor Who. (You can view and buy them here at TeeFury!) You can also view and buy some her art here on her Etsy site. 

A few days ago, when she came back from ComicCon, she listed some original artwork in her Etsy shop, and I was lucky enough to purchase a print of Elsa. And today it arrived in the mail! It's so pretty and I love it and I can't wait to display it!!

Lightning Strikes Cinderella Castle

One of my favorite things is watching summer thunderstorms. (Well, technically, they can occur during any season, but they're just so much more prominent during the summer.) I love sitting on the front porch, listening to the wind gust and set the wind chimes tinkling, watching the dark clouds roll in...and watching the lightning dance across the sky. A good summer thunderstorm is both an awe-inspiring and humbling experience -- you realize just how powerful and magnificent Mother Nature is.

Now combine a summer thunderstorm + Disney World firework in front of Cinderella Castle + Starbucks, and you'd have three of my most favorite things in the whole world.

Sadly, I rarely go to Orlando in the summer (the heat! the humidity!) so I've never actually seen a Disney storm, but if you were in the Magic Kingdom for the Fourth of July, then you could have seen what was apparently amazing sight:

(c) Alexandra Gaffney

(c) Cassie Moore

(c) Stephanie Schultz

And of course Disneyphiles have a great sense of humor about it: