Happily Ever Hatter Update

The past few months I've been working on some new designs for Happily Ever Hatter! I've been so busy creating things that I haven't had a chance to share them with you guys!  I've had a few custom order requests along with designs I've come up with for my own trip to Disney.  Here's what I've been up to:

I had a customer request an Elsa Headband for her daughter to wear at the Disneyland 5K in August.  (She wore my Anna headband.)  I was planning to design an Elsa ear headband so it worked out perfectly!  The cape is my favorite part.  It flaps in the breeze!

I also had a custom order for a Pocahontas ear headband.  I'm really happy with how these turned out.  It took me about a month and half to get the right materials for it, but the end result was well worth the wait!  I absolutely love all of the different textures.

I mentioned I was working on some ear headbands for myself for my trip to Walt Disney World.  My favorite set of ears that I've made so far is my Haunted Mansion Maid Headband.  I've had this one on my mental "to do list" for a long time.  (We're talking years…)  I finally made them for my trip!!!

The headband came out better than I could have hoped.  I love the "bat hat" and the long bow tails on the back.  Sadly, I wasn't able to wear them this trip since I planned to get the matching t-shirt at the new Haunted Mansion store, Momento Mori.  (They were completely sold out of most sizes.)  However, I am determined to have my shirt for my next Walt Disney World trip in January!!!

One of my other creations from my trip was my Olaf Headband.  Those of you who follow my Happily Ever Hatter Facebook Page or my Instagram probably saw this as a sneak peek!  I love my cute little Olaf on the ears!

I wore them with my Olaf tank top and my "I Like Warm Hugs" button.  It was really cute.
  

I also created another Frozen design for myself: my Anna and Elsa Headband Combo. I couldn't decide between making myself an Anna or and Elsa headband, so I caved and made myself one with both of them.

I love how it came out and it was perfect for my Anna and Elsa stained glass tank top!

I also created a top secret Key to the World design exclusive to my Key to the World Travel co-workers!  I debuted it at our KeyCon2014 meeting and they were a huge hit!  

We took turns wearing them in photos with our surprise KeyCon guest- Sorcerer Mickey!!!  I think I'm going to be very busy making lots of these ears between now and our next KeyCon event!

Things are definitely heating up around here.  I've finally listed all of my new items in my Etsy shop.  I also have another custom order design and plenty of new design ideas I'm putting together.  I'm sure I'll think of more ideas.  I'm also prepping for the holiday rush.  I might even have a sale after Thanksgiving… hint, hint!  ;-)

Stay tuned… there are a lot of great things on the horizon for Happily Ever Hatter!!!  °o°

Color Run 2014

This past Sunday was The Color Run in South Portland!  Eliot, Elissa and I were joined by all of our BBQ friends!  For most of us, it was our first color run.    

We'd been planning to do the race together for a few months now.  My best friend Katie approached me with the idea to form a team, and I came up with a team name: Colors of the Wind.  (I'm a Disney minded creative genius!)  We're Disney fans, so it only seemed appropriate to go with it.  Shortly after naming and creating our team, I designed a team t-shirt concept.  I came up with the slogan "Paint Me All the Colors of the Wind."

We really got into the Pocahontas themed spirit!  Katie and Jenn wore awesome feather earrings and Katie, Jenn and Kathleen cut the sleeves of their shirts to look like fringe and they braided their hair!  We made sure to take a team photo pre-race.

While waiting for the race to begin, a few members of our group joined the Zumba warm up routine.  We posed for a few Pocahontas themed photos.  (We're pretending to shoot arrows if you're confused.)  We also took some photos with the "runicorn" mascot of The Color Run.  I also took some photos of the crowds of people in white shirts everywhere!

We made our way over to the start line around 8:30.  The race started at 9:00 so we spent a few minutes hanging out in the shade under some trees.  Part of our team decided to do a human knot.  Then we headed over to the start line shoot.

While waiting in the shoot, we passed the time taking "selfies" pre-race and still clean. 

Before we knew it, our corral was at the front of the shoot and we counted down for the group in front of us!  We watched the "runicorn" dancing around and a few minutes later, it was our turn... 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... and we're off!!!

The race itself was so much fun!  Katie, BJ and Eliot wanted to run it, while the rest of us girls decided to walk the 5K route.  We got a lot more color than they did since we walked through the 4 color stations.  I didn't get too much green, but the little boy at the end of the yellow section pelted the back of my neck as I passed him.  I tried to even out my color when I passed through pink on the right side and purple on the left.  As the race progressed, we gradually got more coated in it.

Sooner than expected, we were already at the finish area.  (We later found out that the course was actually only 2.5 miles.)  Eliot, Katie, BJ, Dani and my parents greeted Jenn, Katie, Elissa, Kathleen and me.  We were also given some extra colored powder!

We took a lot of colorful post-race photos.  We did our own powder toss in the field next to the post-race party area.

We took some colorful selfies.

BJ and I decided we were both turning into the Wicked Witches of the West.  I dubbed him Zeleno when I saw how green his face was turning.  (It really reminded me of Zelena from Once Upon A Time.)

We didn't spend much time at the post race party, but it was fun to watch all of the colored powder being tossed into the air!

Eventually, it was time to head home from our colorful morning fun!  Katie and I had a good laugh when we saw Elissa and Eliot trying to keep their powder off of Katie's car.

The Color Run was a lot of fun and it is a great way to train for our runDisney events.  I can't wait to do it again next year!  I wish every run as as fun at this one!  °o°

Note: Most of these photos are ones I took myself.  But I would like to say a special thank you to Dani, Katie and Kathleen for the photos that I stole from your Facebook pages.  Thank you ladies!!!  ;-)

Keeping Busy

Hi Friends!  I wanted to say a quick hello!  I've been super busy.  What else is new?  Ha!

This past week we've been busy starting to prepare for Elissa's visit next month!  Eliot and I went to our local JoAnn Fabrics store and signed Elissa and I up for a Zentangles class!  I've been really interested in doodling lately and I've made a few drawings over the past few months.  I'm really excited to do this class with her and I can't wait to see the fun ideas we come up with!

Speaking of registrations, we finally got registered for the Color Run in South Portland! This is a long story... the race has actually been sold out for a few weeks now, but I'm a lucky ducky and I happened to refresh the Active website and it let me in this afternoon! Ironically, I'd gotten an email back from Color Run this morning about how it was sold out and they weren't sure if they were opening more spots.  I was going to pray that people backed out of it.  Anyways, Eliot, Elissa and myself are all registered and will now be joining our friends in the fun!  I picked out our team name: "Colors of the Wind."  Ha ha.  I love it; I'm so clever.  But, it's our team t-shirts I've designed that will be epic.  Stay tuned!

In not so happy news, Eliot's San Jose Sharks ended up on the wrong side of hockey history this past week.  They completely blew their 3-0 series lead against the LA Kings. In the NHL, teams do a best of seven games series during the playoffs.  Only 3 teams (well, now 4) have come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the last four games.  I'm still a bit disappointed, but at least I can still cheer for the Boston Bruins!  And Eeyore even has his Bruins jersey he can now wear.

As you've probably noticed, I still haven't been blogging as much.  I've been keeping myself really busy working on more hats.  I finally finished a creation for one customer that's taken me days to sort out.  But I'm finally happy with the patterns for the design and it came out great!  Introducing my Anna Ear Headband!  I absolutely love it!

I've still been gathering more supplies for other hat designs!  Eliot's going to be away visiting his family for 10 days starting next week, so I'm hoping to tackle some of those new projects while he's gone!

Finally, I'm also working on some blogging ideas and ways to make my blog better. There's a lot going on behind the scenes right now.  Just hang in there.  It will definitely be worth it in the end!   °o°