{Craft: Mickey & Minnie Mouse Pumpkins}

Ready or not, folks, welcome to October!

I love fall, it has always been my favorite season. I love the crisp air, the falling leaves, the scent on the wind. Love. Love. Love. I love hayrides, bonfires, and Thanksgiving.

Today, incidentally, is the anniversary of the Magic Kingdom! It opened its gates Oct 1, 1971. Happy 42nd Birthday, Magic Kingdom! (See my Magic Kingdom Tips & Walk Through Guide.)

Just over a year ago we were taking our first steps ever into the Magic Kingdom.

Here we are...

 I was so excited when I learned they would be decorated for fall.

I knew as soon as I saw the Mickey pumpkins that I'd really need to make some for myself. I didn't get around to it until this year though. When it came time for me to make them, I decided to go with the iconic black Mickey head.

These are really easy to make. They are not, however, weather-proof. That is because the ears are made of this:

Basically, all you need are 5 things.

Cardboard, bamboo skewers, hot glue, black spray paint, and a pumpkin.

You'll need 6 for Minnie, because she, of course, needs her bow.

You can also add sprinkles of glitter like I did (you can see the black glitter on the Mickey photo above. Minnie had purple, obviously). I was having a hard time deciding what color to make Minnie's bow and glitter. Life decisions of this magnitude are really, really difficult. So... I deferred to my lovely bestie, (and fellow Disnerd) Lori, who I was shopping with. She picked purple for a Halloween, but not TOO Halloween feel.


You know what? I think it looks perfect. Well done, Lori, well done.

You'll start, of course, with a pumpkin. Spray paint it black. I used cheap flat spray paint. I love the color it made them. A very cool almost bluish black.  Then, grab some cardboard. Mine, obviously, was a Cheerios box. Try to sort of match the ears to contour of the pumpkin after you cut them out. It's pretty hard to get them exact, and honestly, it doesn't matter, they still look great. You can see my Mickey ears aren't perfect. Attach a dowel rod to the back, allow to dry (be careful, hot glue is HOT, this step is definitely for adults only). Spray the ears black as well. Sprinkle both the ears and the pumpkin with a little glitter when they are still wet (if desired). Using a knife or ice pick (again, a step for grown ups), make a guide hole in the pumpkin for the skewer. The skewer is too weak to pierce its way fully into the pumpkin. If making Minnie tie and attach bow (I used hot glue).

Stand back and admire your work.

So cute!

Since you've pierced the pumpkins they will eventually go bad, like a Jack-O-Lantern.

As I said, they are not weather-proof, but I like to put them out on the porch on nice days.

I really like the simplistic, classic look of the black pumpkins. I've scoured the internet and can't find any like them, so I'm feeling pretty happy with my decision to make them like this.

I really hope you enjoy them too!


Peace, Love, and Disney,
Tina

See all my Disney posts here.

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Mickey & Minnie Black Icon Pumpkins
craft tutorial by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

Needed:
Pumpkin
Black Spray Paint (flat or glossy, I prefer flat) OR
Black Craft Paint
Bamboo Skewers
Cardboard (I used cereal boxes)
Glitter (optional)
Polka Dot Ribbon (optional)

Tools:
Hot Glue Gun
Hot Glue
Scissors
Pencil
Knife or Ice Pick


Spray/paint your pumpkin black. It will take at least 2 coats.

Draw ears onto cardboard & cut out. Try match the ears to contour of the pumpkin after you cut them. It's difficult to get them exact, and honestly, it doesn't matter, they still look great.

Attach a skewer to the back of the ear, allow to dry (hot glue is HOT, this step is definitely for adults only).
Spray the ears black as well. Sprinkle both the ears and the pumpkin with a little glitter when they are still wet (if desired).

Using a knife or ice pick (also a step for grown ups), make a guide hole in the pumpkin for the skewers. (The skewer is too weak to pierce its way fully into the pumpkin)

If making Minnie tie and attach bow (I used hot glue).

{Mickey Mouse Easter Egg Cookies}

It's time I came clean about something. I'm a Disney addict.

See, the fact is, I've always loved Disney movies, who doesn't? However, I was never "into" Disney. The collectables, the jewelry, the clothes.

Things change, man, things change.

As I mentioned in this post, the Magic Kingdom is the place I never knew I wanted to visit.

In September, at 39, I made my first trip there. Ever since then, I've become infected. My brain has been addled. My mind is not right. Disney. Disney. Disney.

Send help? No. Wait. I don't want no stinkin' help!

I LOVE DISNEY. I'm not the least bit ashamed.

Here we are at the Magic Kingdom. So excited, we could barely breathe!

What you see there, is my first pair of mouse ears. I now own 9 pair. I can't help it, it's the Year of the Ear. What's a girl to do!?? Now, 6 pair are mini ears. Not Minnie Ears. Mini, as in tiny.

Cause yes.

I have pics of me wearing my other ears, but I won't bore you here, you can see them on instagram. haha.

Anyway. I've been missing Disney so much, and we won't be back there for over a year. I just felt like I needed to bring a little Disney into Easter. And I decided to drag Darla along too. Really, it didn't take much convincing (read, no convincing), because she, too, is a Disnerd.

Trolling the internets looking for Disney goodness, I came upon Mickey Easter Egg cookies that they sell at the parks in the spring and decided to put my own spin on them. You can see the originals here, on A Cup of Disney (scroll down a little).

I used an egg shaped cutter & a shot glass sized glass to cut out the cookies. Then I just squished the ears to the egg a little (they'll bake into each other), and baked.

I covered these in fondant. Thought fondant is not my favorite thing to eat, it does make for a great presentation. The Marshmallow Fondant that I used is pretty good actually. I'm still more of a buttercream girl though!

I cut the fondant to fit, added a little icing (make some buttercream or a little canned frosting will work) to 'glue' the fondant on. I added dots and tiny Mickeys to one (dab on a little water to the back of the accents and the fondant will stick to itself), a larger Mickey to one, and stripes with a Mickey to another. There are lots of ideas for decorating these guys though. Go wild!

I painted on a bit of luster dust to give a little shimmer.

The cookies are rolled to a 1/2" and baked about 8 minutes, so they are still soft and chewy,

and amazing.

I can't keep the Bean's hands off of them.

How cute would these be packaged up in Easter baskets? Sure to delight little ones, and big nerdy ones like me!

Even if you don't go the fondant route and top with a sweet, tasty buttercream instead, they would be totally adorable.

Clearly Easter. Clearly Mickey.

Now, you have to see what Darla made! She's starting with the exact same dough, so you could make both cookie types from the same batch!

Mickey Mouse Easter Basket Cookies

It's gonna be a Disney Easter up in here!

Tina, Disnerd Extraordinaire

*

Mickey Mouse Easter Egg Cookies

1 recipe Rolled Sugar Cookies

1 recipe Marshmallow Fondant

OR

1 Recipe Buttercream Icing

Food Coloring

Luster Dust for Fondant (optional)

Sprinkles for Buttercream (optional)

{ All About The Mouse Party }

As I've mentioned before, I have monthly, themed game nights.

Last night was this month's.

Since returning from The Magic Kingdom in September, I've been a little obsessed with Disney. A little, as in, 4 orders to the Disney Store in a week's time.

Gah. Issues, I have 'em.

Anyway, it was a no-brainer that one of the game nights had to be Mickey/Disney themed. Luckily, I had no set plans for November. Kismet.

I've mentioned my parties take anywhere from a couple hours to months to prep for. Well, this was a couple hour type deal. Not complicated AT ALL, yet still so fun.

I made up some Mickey Oreo Pops. I've seen these made dipped totally in chocolate, like here, but, I decided to go the simple route. 

Required: Double Stuff Oreos, Black Candy Melts, Lollipop Sticks.

Melt a few of the candies, dip a lollipop stick in it, then insert into Oreo. Then, dip 2 of the unmelted wafer into the chocolate, then into the top of the Oreo to look like Mickey ears.

Quick, easy, and so cute.

I found some Mickey Mouse Peeps at Walgreens. They are in the Christmas Candy section.

I also made some Filigree Mickeys just by melting some chocolate and piping it out into the shape.

I wrote names of Disney characters onto cups. Everyone picked a cup (I held them so they couldn't see the names on them). I'm quite happy to tell you that the Bean was Cinderella. Yeah, that happened. Here my niece holds her Maleficent cup.

I found the fun straws in the Christmas section of my grocery store. 12 for $1.

We then played my super old Disney Trivia game. The most recent movie in it was Beauty and the Beast. L.O.L. It was still fun. Some questions were super easy, and some were so, so hard. Movies we'd never heard of, soundtrack questions, etc!

Early this year, my friend Stephanie told us about this game. We've now deemed it "Visual Telephone" , and it is seriously the most fun ever.

If you have 8 people, you cut paper into stacks of 8 (if you have 5, stacks of 5 papers, etc). Each person gets a stack of 8 papers. The first person writes a word, passes the paper to the left,  the next person looks at it, moves it to the back, and tries to draw it, passes to the the left. The next person looks at the drawing, moves the paper to the back of the stack, and then tries to guess what that drawing is and writes it down, then...passes it to the left.  The following person then draws what that person wrote, repeat process until the original is back to the original author. It is so funny. Sometimes they stay the same, like Jack Skellington and Pinocchio did for us last night, but usually, you'll end up with craziness. Don't worry if you cannot draw, that makes it even more fun.

Last night all of the drawings had to be Disney themed. Please excuse my wonderful writing in the first photo. It says 'bad llama' (Emperor's New Groove).

This one was all going well until the Bean drew the dinosaur looking llama.

Thumper becomes Roger Rabbit, becomes Diva, becomes rabbit. Ok.

Sleeping Beauty becomes Shrek (not Disney, for the record, haha)

When I say it's time to play this game every month, I get cheers. You should definitely try it with friends and family. It works best in groups of 5 and over though.

So, that's it. My Disney party.

There were Disney shirts, Mickey Ears, and Mickey Fingernails (mine)

I had planned on making super cute Mickey cupcakes like my friend Darla made, but I didn't get them done. Next time!

It may have been super quick with barely any planning, but it was a ton of fun!

Tina