12 Days: Giant Fairy Tale T-Shirt Roundup

Lots of fairy tale shirts in a variety of contemporary designs from lots of different tales today! I've tried to find a wide range for guys and girls and many different illustration styles. These are the best I've found around the web, though I'm sure there are many more (but this post has already taken days and days!). Please feel free to add any suggestions you have in the comments! The websites where they're available can be reached by clicking on the image or the title below it.

There are lots so let's get right to it:

Sequel of the Piper Fairy Tale

Taming the Wolf

Blue Beard
(I know - he wasn't really a pirate.. or was he?)

Cute Cartoon Bremen Town Musicians

Rapunzel

Red
(While this was in my archives it was also suggested by one of my readers but I can't find the comment to credit her. So sorry!)


Too Patient Rapunzel

Ecko Red Allover Rose
(It's not really a fairy tale tee but it instantly made me think of Sleeping Beauty)

Sinister Dexter (an homage to classic fairy tales)

Once Upon A Time

grimm's garden

Hansel & Gretel's Revenge
(the house is printed on the back of the tee)

Red is dead
(yes, she has a chainsaw
- go see the site if you want a close-up!)

Three Little Pigs: Mechanized Assault

Baba Yaga Shirt

The Dark Side of the Fairy Tale

Red Riding Hood

Owl and Cat Masks

The Princess and the Pea

It's For You

There are a number of sites where you can vote on the t-shirt designs to help get them printed too. Apparently, the popular ones will be put into production as t-shirts for sale to the public, although I'm not completely clear on how best to make this happen. You can always contact the artist/designer directly, if these interest you. I've linked to where you can view and vote.

The Big Bad Wolf Was An Opportunist

Make Like A Tree and Leave

Boy Who Cried Wolf

The Forest Hoodlums (2 designs)

A Stomach for Sauerbraten

The Musicians of Bremen

Cooking With Hansel & Gretel

Dissection of the Wolf

Hansel and Gretel

Poison Apple

And if you're looking for more traditional illustrations of fairy tales for your shirts the first place you should check is SurLaLune's CAFE PRESS STORE and SurLaLune's ZAZZLE STORE. There are some slogan and graphic tees here too. My favorites among this additional category (please note they come in many options of tee/shirt styles) are:

Cinderella Around the World

Il était une fois...
(Once Upon a Time, in French)

You Can't Catch Me!
(I have a toddler you see and this is SO cute and appropriate for him!)

Phew!
I had some more commercial ones to show you but the site wasn't working. Please feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments.

NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)

Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!

Entries close THREE DAYS on December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.

(Check out yesterday's prize preview post!)

Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

Wonders & Marvels Fairy Tale Week - Some Giveaways Finishing Tonight!

I should have posted on this earlier but got distracted sorry. Was just reminded by SurLaLune... (thank you Heidi!)

For those who don't already know, the awesome site Wonders & Marvels is having a fairy tale week with articles (I've just caught up on everything - fabulous stuff) and awesome giveaways. Some of those finish TONIGHT at midnight EST!

Hurry!
CLICK HERE TO GO THERE!

Read, comment, enjoy and you might win something too.This is one of the best fairy tale themed weeks I've seen with excellent articles and books for those who love and study fairy tales - especially the old ones. Curious about the image here? It's discussed in Heidi Anne Heiner's article there today "Five Great Fairy Tales You've Never Read".

Go HERE - quick!

R.I.P. Roy E. Disney

On Wednesday December 16, 2009, Roy Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney, passed away from a year-long battle with stomach cancer at the age of 79.

You can read the details in many places (see HERE for an excellent obituary) but I felt it important to mark the sad news here, as it's due in no small way to his continuing the work of his Uncle Walt, that fairy tales remain popular today. It's another great loss for the Disney Company during 2009.* At least he was able to see the return of a popular hand drawn fairy tale film with "The Princess and the Frog", which is where the company really found it's legs and began its great legacy (with "Snow White").

Roy with Mickey, Minnie and his wife (since 2008) Leslie DeMeuse-Disney
who also shares his love of sailing and film

Roy E. Disney loved animation. His fight to keep the company true to his Uncle's intentions is well known through the large numbers of Disney 'cast members' (employees) and beyond but what is less well known is that he was also an avid ocean sailor and contributed greatly to the sport right through to the Olympic level (you can read more about that HERE). His ashes will be scattered at sea after a private funeral.

My condolences to his family. He will be greatly missed.

* Disney lost another key member of the 'family' earlier this year when Wayne Allwine, who was the voice of Mickey Mouse for 32 years, passed away from complications with diabetes in May (his wife, Russi Taylor, carries on voicing Minnie Mouse as she has since 1986).

The Princess and the Frog: 2 New Clips

Fan Art from "The Princess and the Frog"
Artist Unknown

Here are two more clips that were released just before Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" hit theaters.
The first one is from the song sequence "Almost There" and pops into a Mary-Blair-esque style for a short while (think retro-style, like the development for Disney's Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella):


If you can't get that clip to play (it's been temperamental for me) try this one HERE.

The second is our introduction to the 'fairy godmother' type character of Mama Odie:

"Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway Prize Peek!

As promised here's a sneak peek of the lovely prize for the "Pursuit of Happiness" giveaway happening during my 12 Days of (Gifts Ideas Before) Christmas posts:

Click for a much larger view
and please note: the images are not shown at the true ratio to each other
(I just wanted to put them neatly in a row for you).
Also, they will not have the 'London Particulars' stamp over the images.

The winner will have the choice of a complete set of these seven prints (each 5" x 7") documenting the Professor and Happiness' travels

- (Note: This particular set is exclusive and not available through London Particulars!) -

OR
you can choose to have The Professor and the Castle (shown below) in poster size (12" x 18").I'm seriously wishing I could enter this myself!

The story of Professor Aubrey Thistlequick and his cat 'Happiness', as well as all the details for the giveaway, are HERE and if you read the post carefully you'll see you have the opportunity of a second entry into the drawing if you can find some extra information... ;)

Entries close IN LESS THAN A WEEK on December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.

The wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

12 Days: Cardboard Castle Kits

These lovely building playsets are affordable, recyclable and sturdy. And you can customize them because the painting part is up to you (or the clever little one you 'gift' it to). I love things like this because they're great for playing in general for girls and boys of many ages, for adding to storytime but they're also great for grownups who are involved in theater and writing as a creative tool.
The buildings, which include a number of different castles, a tree house, a farm, a windmill, a dollhouse and a fort are by Calafant and come in two sizes. The smaller, less complicated buildings (like the one below) come with non-toxic markers. You can get small toys too which can be used on their own or as accessories, such as this carriage.Creative Toy Shop (which factors recycling toys into the products it carries) is also having a special 25% off sale on these Calafant buildings when you use code CMP25 at the checkout (for orders over $20).
You can buy these buildings and the smaller toys HERE (don't forget to use the sale code!).

NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)

Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!

Entries close IN LESS THAN A WEEK on December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
(Watch for a preview of the prize in the next few posts..!)

Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

Alice In Wonderland Cupcakes!

These are completely adorable, perfect for a Mad Hatter's tea party... and there's no way I could ever eat them.I love the presentation with the Mad Hatter's Hat too - gorgeous.
Natalie Bode a.k.a. Obliviousfire on Flickr is the 'cupcake artist' has a lot of cupcakes on their Flickr photostream, including these lovely Christmas ones below. The Alice and the Christmas ones are her most recent cupcake themes and were posted this week, but she has many more - all beautifully made.You can see many more lovely cupcakes, including more close-ups of the Alice ones, HERE.

12 Days: Rapunzel Skateboard

A Rapunzel skateboard - how can you not want one?

The art is by by Jasmine Becket-Griffith (a.k.a. Strangeling), whose art is becoming known everywhere and licensed with different stores too and she's selling products with her art through Zazzle (like this skateboard) and through her Etsy store HERE (you can even get her original acrylics through her Etsy store direct from her).

About this gorgeous painting:

"Rapunzel in Rococo" - Rapunzel is shown in a tall tower with a muted French country landscape behind her. The window is impossibly ornate in proper Rococo style, and her hair cascades impossibly long down the length of the painting.

Strangeling has carefully chosen, and in some cases adjusted, her designs for the skateboard shape (and her shoes too!) so these look really nice from all angles. You can order different types of boards according to your needs/preferences and they're less expensive than I expected ($63.50) too. Have a look HERE. The only thing is, I think I'd want another print to just look at... (You can see a close up of details at Strangeling's website HERE.)Strangeling has a whole series of fairy tale paintings (Red Riding Hood, Kitsune, Alice, Nutcracker Suite, Snow White, Beauty & the Beast, Miss Muffet and some other less specific) and various products they're printed on. You can see those HERE (eg. check out the gorgeous 'photo sculpture' of Snow White and Her Animal Friends, shown below, HERE). She also has an official website with even more exclusives HERE.
NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)

Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!

Entries close IN LESS THAN A WEEK on December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
(Watch for a preview of the prize in the next few posts..!)

Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" - 1st Weekend Summary

As you know, "The Princess and the Frog" hit theaters last Friday and many people have been holding their breath to see how a fairy-tale-hand-drawn (and black princess) Disney film would do.

Rather than explain and quote at length, here's a summary (please note, these points are compiled from many articles. I have not yet seen the film myself):

• Good news: The Princess and the Frog was a strong number one at the box office all weekend

• Bad news: It didn't open as strongly as the Disney Execs were hoping (i.e. match Pixar's opening takes)
  

• Good news: It still recouped over a quarter of the disclosed production costs in the first weekend so should be strong enough to support the idea of a) more fairy tale films b) more hand drawn films

• Bad news: There's still a long way to go before it makes a profit (at the box office, that is - this doesn't take any merchandise sales into account of course!)

• Good news: Even harsh critics are calling it 'a good film'

• Bad news: It's considered rather girly so boys probably won't be attending much, bringing potential box office numbers down (this should have been expected though with the word "Princess" in the title)
  

• Good news: Mid-December releases tend to have a long life so prospects look good for it's box office future (and takings and therefore investment in future fairy tale films)

• Good news: The general response is that Disney did a good job of a) a black heroine b) representing New Orleans c) a fun yet romantic story that kept audiences engaged

• Good news: Audiences are loving the hand drawn look (so there will be more support for more hand-drawn fairy tale films in the future)

As you can see there's more good news than bad. The big test will come when "Sherlock Holmes" and "Avatar" are released to see how PatF does then and how much staying power it has (despite that it's targeted at a completely different audience). If you're interested in reading more in depth I recommend starting HERE.

Projection: With audiences and critics responding very favorably, the frog's legs are looking quite strong (as is the future of more fairy tale films from Disney). :)[Disney fairy tales currently in production: Rapunzel (CG), King of the Elves (CG), Snow Queen (hand-drawn).]