There has been a new phenomenon at the Disneyland Resort in the past couple of years. A new trend and a new obsession with custom made Minnie Mouse ears created by guests and fans of Disney has emerged almost out of nowhere. These Minnie Mouse ears are replicas of the original Minnie Mouse ears sold on the resort, which was first created in the 1980's and was inspired by the Mouseketeers ears created by Roy Williams which was featured on the Mickey Mouse Club television program in the mid 1950's. Since then, Mickey and Minnie ears have become an iconic must have product for all guests of all ages for the Disney Resorts, in California and now all over the world. 

The purpose of these Minnie Mouse ears is simply to express oneself while visiting the Disneyland Resort. Minnie Mouse is mostly intended for girls and women of all ages. When Walt Disney created his theme park, he wanted to create an environment where kids and adults can have fun. Its meant to bring out that inner child in everyone and to escape reality and just be a kid again and to live in the dream of fantasy, the future and in the adventurous wilderness. When we put on these Minnie ears, we are playing dress up and make believe just as little girls would and its bringing out our inner child.  

All four of these Minnie Mouse ears below are created by the designer, Jessica Gochman, who is the House of Mouse Shop owner of an e-commerce website dedicated to assist designers sell their handmade crafts such as these below. The designer creates different types of personalities, emotions and even Disney characters represented in the form of Minnie Mouse ears.  

"Hand made sunflower mouse ears. The front of these ears are covered in artificial silk sunflowers. 

The back along with the bow is either a satin black glitter fabric or a matte satin black or a red bow with a matte black backing The headband is a black satin covered band, fits most all adults and children 5 and up." 

The personality being portrayed through these sunflower Minnie ears is warm and happy and something that a girl might want to wear on a warm and sunny summer day. The black head band and bow really compliment the yellow sunflowers and creates a simple look. 

"Peter Pan inspired Mouse Ears. Shiny green ears and your choice between a lace/ glitter tulle bow or a solid red bow. A red feather sticks out of the back of the bow just like Peter's hat! White sequin trim. Green headband. Fits adults and children."

This pair of Minnie Ears replicate the Disney character Peter Pan. The green manipulates the same green earthly color that Peter Pan is seen to be wearing. The red feather comes from the same feather Peter Pan wears on his hat from his costume and the red bow is an addition to the set of ears to make it feminine. It's another simple creation that Jessica has put together.

"Glittery sweet heart mouse ears with a pink bow. Perfect for a disneyland date on Valentine's Day!"

These pair of Minnie ears represents the lovers holiday Valentine's Day. The printed clothe used for the round ears displays the Sweetheart Candy with is a popular Valentines Day candy. The light Pink bow is the perfect finishing touch to this set of ears. 

"Handmade mouse ears inspired by Princess Jasmine from Aladdin. These ears a light blue to match her outfit, with a matte gold sequin trim along the edges. The bow is a shimmery gold with white lace back bow and has a blue gem with tiny blue crystals in the center."

It's difficult to match the exact hue of color based from a character but I think this color has been missed just by a hair. There is also not enough detail to suggest that these ears represent Princess Jasmine. Princess Jasmine does not wear any lace material as part of her costume so it is unclear why there is white lace used here in these set of ears. The golden bow and the blue gem is the only good choices made in these ears.

The problem with these designs is that the materials used are probably very light and flimsy, due to the fact that a designer probably has a small budget to work with and cannot afford to acquire better material which would be more expensive as well. These simple materials and design insists that these ears are not meant to last very long. Since they are not meant to last very long they're also not meant to be worn everyday, wearing them everyday would wear them out faster. The great design of these is that they are very girly and the colors are very bright drawing more attention to them from costumers and unique so they are a great sell for girls and women of all ages. 

Designer: House of Mouse (Jessica)

Sources: http://www.mickeymouseears.com/history-of-mickey-mouse-ears.html

R2D2 Backpack

Designer: Shelby Springer

"White Jansport backpack hand-painted to resemble R2D2. This is not a stencil, it is 100% hand painted, my own design. Great quality backpack, great for trips to Disneyland, Disney World, and everywhere in between. Fabric paint on canvas makes for a long-lasting design, even for kids.
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Please keep in mind that all items are hand painted to order, and need time to be perfectly painted"

(Reference: Etsy.com - StarWarsHandmade)

This hand painted backpack inspired by the popular character from the Star Wars saga R2D2 is a great example of craftsmanship and true dedication to a project and is a great reflection of putting your heart into designing a product for consumers who share the same interests as yourself, which in this case is the love for Star Wars. This  product is intended for kids, teens, moms, fathers, and all in between; basically its for anyone who loves Star Wars. You can use it for Disneyland/Disney World vacation trips or for school or just to take a trip to the park or to the beach. The designer took a Jansport backpack that is plain white that way it is easier to create any design she wished to make, like painting on a white canvas, free to paint limitlessly. The problem with a white backpack is that it gets dirty easily and quickly if not cared for carefully. 

iDuck

"iDuck: Plug your iPod into the egg, then the duck plays your music in the shower wirelessly (and it's waterproof)."

This product is intended for those who cannot and will not shower without listening to music. It's a great product to have because it's difficult to find a product out there that is accessible to have in the shower and that would be waterproof. Most people would just plug in their iPod's into a speaker device but we can't hear the music all that well when it's far away from us and when we're in a shower covered by glass doors or walls. It's a good replacement for other material choices because it's waterproof other products won't het damaged. 

No more milk spills

This milk dispenser allows you to pour milk into your cup or bowl without having to lift the gallon of milk and during it out. You place the dispenser onto to the cap of the milk and you turn the nob to dispense the milk and turn the nob back to stop dispensing. It allows you to easily remove the cap from one milk gallon to the next while keeping your milk fresh. It's mostly intended for families who having younger children, according to the caption in the photo, "so kids can get their own milk without spoiling". Younger kids tend to spill and waste milk when trying to pour milk into their own glass. It is an effective solution because when we waste milk we are wasting money and milk is getting more expensive these days and we shouldn't be wasting any money on things that could easily be avoided from wasting.

Patty Cake, Patty Cake

The Adjustable Alphabet Cake Pan

This pan comes with removable block pieces that allow you to create a letter, number, or shape when pouring the cake mix into the pan. It's a great tool to have in the kitchen for anyone who loves to bake and for anyone likes to take that further creative step into designing an extraordinary cake. The problem with this pan is that you are limited to bake in square and rectangular shapes and forms. The pan only comes with blocks that only allow room for straight edges and no curves for you cake. Your letters and numbers will come out in only a square form. I would suggest including blocks with curves and angles that way the cook can create circles and letters and shapes. Even with its limitation of shaping a cake, it's still a great thing to have in the kitchen because it takes that ordinary and boring cake into something better. The example shown above of a completed cake after using this pan, has taken a normal, rectangular cake into a special and memorable cake. It shows the person, to whom you are giving the cake to, that you took that extra step into making their cake into a special and one of a kind cake that is only meant for them. 

New and Improved

We all know who the Disney Princesses are and we recognize them because they are part of our childhood; most of us grew up watching Disney movies and the most popular characters, and the only other characters we associate the most with when we hear Disney (besides Mickey Mouse), are the Princesses!

These images below are design pieces created, most likely, by Disney artists and are meant to appeal to young viewers, probably leaning more towards little girls. It is meant to appeal more to little girls because you would usually find these figures on backpacks, notebooks, pencil pouches, etc. and what little girl wouldn't want their school supplies to be decorated in with their favorite Disney princess. A backpack with a Disney princess stamped on it would sell the backpack quicker and better than a plain backpack. 

So, we have each popular princess presented here but we have two images of each princess, to the left we have the original representation of the princess and to the right we have the "improved" representation, but why do we need an improved princess? Aren't they perfect just the way they are? Perhaps the reason for the makeover is the keep up with the trends of the new generation of girls. Lets analyze each image carefully and find the differences in the original and improved images.

(notice the order of princesses are in chronological order of oldest princess to the youngest princess in terms of their movie debut 1937-1999)

 

 Snow Whites body language has changed as well from the hands clasped together in front of her, giving us the shy and innocent feel to her character, to hands open and feet in motion as if she is dancing, and look, she even has a rose in her hand now. You can see the twirl in her dress and her left foot in front of the right foot showing us she is moving and no longer standing in one spot like the original image. Her dress now has sparkling glitter everywhere and she has romantic designs of swirls on the abdomen of her dress, and her bow is pushed to the right side of her head and no longer centered at the top.
Cinderella's dress design is almost completely different, its now brighter and flashier, even her headband is improved. The shoulder pads are now ruffled and she also has extra designs on her dress just like Snow White. She has strands of hair draping down the side of her face, it's now longer all gathered in a clean and classy updo, which is supposed to bring your attention to her neck.

Sleeping Beauty's body language hasn't changed, the only differences between the original and the improved is the dress, which now has more details, and her hair, which is now wavier. Her eyes also appear to be smaller and chinkier. 

Ariel is no longer wearing a pink dress, she's now wearing a green dress, with lace covering and sparkling star fish designs on the side and all of her hair is down, wavy, and loose, no longer swept to the side. The original Ariel seems more naive and innocent where as the improved Ariels seems more mature and grown up and it has to do with the color of the dresses. A pink dress reminds me of something a little girl would wear while green is a more sophisticated color. 

Belle's body language has gone from romantic is sexy. In the original image, Belle is smiling cheerfully at us, holding up a rose close to her face as if she's smelling the rose. Her arms are twisted to her right with her shoulders pulled back. Improved Belle has her back towards us, forcing her to twist her left shoulder back in order to see us; her face looking over her left shoulder exposing some of her back. Her hair is curlier and wavier and here again we see the strands of hair falling to the side of her face leading to her shoulders and back. The off-shoulder dress material is almost see-through showing us more of her shoulder. 

Ironically, Princess Jasmine is wearing a little more clothes in the improved image, but there are still differences seen here. Her body language is still the same, showing us how sassy she is. We see the single strand of hair again and now she's wearing hoop earrings instead of the big golden bell earrings. 

Pocahontas, being a selfless and non-materialistic person, is now wearing more accessories. She has on new boots and a new belt with a stone and feather on it. She's wearing a wrap around her skirt and she's wearing earrings with feathers on them. Her face even looks accessorized with rosier cheeks and darker lips and a tanner skin. 

Mulan has gone from a peasant farmers daughter to the Princess of China. She now wears a glamorous dress with nature designs with gold rimming and a long drapery dress. Half of her hair is tied up with an glittering hair accessory. 

So, it looks like the Disney Princesses are more grown up and sexier than ever before, because grown ups wear jewelry and hair accessories and beautiful dresses, not little girls. The improved images of the princesses are connecting to our generation of little girls. Younger girls these days and trying to grow up too fast, wearing clothes that grownups wear and experimenting with make up and learning about sex. The same way we see the Disney princesses is the same way we see our little sisters and daughters; innocent and pure and naive. So when we see the princesses all glamorized it's uncomfortable because we're so used to seeing them the exact same way since 1937!