DisLove Podcast with Vanessa and Kris

DisLove E114 Art of the Disney Costume Exhibit and Alyssa from Made With Magic Designs

• Vanessa Ferguson and Kris Johns with guest Alyssa • Season 4 • Episode 114

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In this episode, Kris and Vanessa are joined by Alyssa from Made With Magic Designs.   Her shop features stickers, mugs and blankets to tanks, tees, and hats related to RunDisney events, dogs and of course Disney attractions.  Customers can show off their love for Disney magic in a way that makes them feel closer to the parks even they're thousands of miles away.

Use the code PIXIEDUST to save 10 percent off your order. 

Earlier in the show, they discuss the Heroes & Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume Exhibit at The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation.



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For all the latest news about our episodes follow us on Instagram @dislovewithvanessaandkris or on YouTube.

Vanessa Ferguson  0:04  
Welcome to the DisLove Podcast with Vanessa and Kris. I'm Vanessa Ferguson.

Kris Johns  0:08  
Now Kris Johns,

Vanessa Ferguson  0:10  
we would like to welcome you to show number 114. And for any listeners joining us for the first time, our show features things we love it Disney and in each episode, we have a guest who creates Disney magic for our listeners at home, or on their Disney vacations. From vacation planners to product producers, our guests can bring Disney magic into your life. And as a reminder to our listeners, we appreciate if you can take time to leave us a review on Apple podcasts or any other platform where you listen that just of course helps new listeners find us and helps the show grow. Now as usual, before we get started, we have a message from our friends at Orlando vacation.com.

Kris Johns  0:49  
Yes, and that message is save money. Use the code does love D is L O V E to say 5% off in any state of more than three nights in what's awesome is that they have great properties throughout Central Florida. And what's wonderful is that you can stay in something as nice as a brand new condo all the way to a McMansion. So if it's maybe you're doing a family reunion at Disney and you want to have everybody under one roof they can take care of you. Not only can they help you with your lodging, they also have a great deal on tickets for SeaWorld universal and of course Disney. And again that's Orlando vacation.com use the code does love the is L O V E to say 5% on any stay of more than three nights. The next time you're thinking about going to Central Florida think of Orlando vacation.com.

Vanessa Ferguson  1:35  
And of course on today's show, we are going to be joined by an amazing guest. Our guest today is Alyssa with made with magic designs, her shop features stickers, mugs, blankets, tanks, tees, and hats all related to a variety of Disney things from runDisney. To dogs, which were really big dog people. And of course to about Disney attractions as well. You it gives you a chance to show off your love for Disney magic, even when you're not right at the park. So that's one of the awesome things about some of her products. And Kris Alyssa has something for our listeners as well.

Kris Johns  2:12  
Yes, she wants you to save 10% by using the code pixiedust. So sprinkle a little love on your cart. The next time you go to her site, use the code pixiedust to save 10%.

Vanessa Ferguson  2:22  
And the great thing is that you can use that in her Etsy shop or on her website. So we will have links to both of those in the show notes. Now we usually talk about things at the Disney parks. But if you've listened long enough, you know that periodically we if we go to a special Disney event, or if we've been another Disney Vacation related to something to the parks are different things we sometimes will do special episodes. And in this one, we are going to be talking about an amazing exhibit that has been put on by Disney archives that's been making its way around the country. It started out at the D 23. Expo a couple years ago and then it was in Seattle. And we were fortunate enough now it's made its way to the Midwest. And we'll be continuing on after at least here. It's at the Henry Ford Museum of American innovation, which is just outside Detroit. And it's only it's not too far about an hour for us. As I mentioned, it is the second museum to host this awesome exhibit. And you might be wondering, well what is this exhibit so the exhibit name is a quite a mouthful. It's heroes in villains, the art of Disney costume. So this is a really awesome exhibit and it will be on display at the Henry Ford for six months is just opened up at the end of June and will run through January 1 of 2023. It's in they have a special gallery there. That's by General Motors. And it's super cool. So we're gonna tell you a little bit about the exhibit, we got to go to a D 23 preview, which was actually held before the press event which I thought that was super cool. Didn't you think like really cool before the media. I mean, I guess maybe we are the media with a podcast. I don't know, that could be a stretch. But we were there for the D 23 preview. And not only did we get to view the exhibit, we also got to attend a special talk which was hosted by Becky Klein, which if you follow Disney, you know that she's now the director of The Walt Disney archive. So that was super exciting. So let's tell you a little bit about the basics about the exhibit. And hopefully you can get a chance we have a friend that lives in Kentucky and she's coming up to see this exhibit. So it's a big deal. People are really excited about it. I know those on the West Coast who got to see it have said great things as well. So we're gonna give you some of the facts and then we'll talk a little bit about our impressions of the exhibit. So just pretty basic, as I mentioned, is that the Henry Ford, with your museum ticket you're able to get in and it's really really the Henry Ford's own awesome museum on its own. Anyway. There's in there's some cool things they have in there. Now that this Disney exhibits there that show things with Walt Disney visiting there as well. But here's some of the highlights. Number one, they have the Cruella Deville costume from the original 101 Dalmatians movie they have from the live action Cinderella and the live action Beauty and the Beast. They have the bell costume ballgown and the Cinderella ball gown. And Kris, what did we do for both those live action movies?

Kris Johns  5:27  
We went to them. We hosted

Vanessa Ferguson  5:29  
a movie program in our Oh yeah,

we did. So it's kind of cool. We hosted a Movies in the Park program that we were involved with. And it was kind of cool for both of those movies. So to see those costumes in person. They also had histon in beast costumes from that and the Beast costume was really big. So that was super cool. They have of course, we know hocus pocus to is coming out. They had the original hocus pocus costumes for the Sanderson sisters. And it even hit the vacuum which was fun. And I think I don't know if it was the oldest but it was the most I guess the most iconic one to me. They had the Mary Poppins traveling dress from the original Mary Poppins. Next to it, they had some things from the Mary Poppins returns. But that I think was super cool. If you love now, Kris, probably I don't think ever watched any of the Once Upon a Time show. That is correct. But I watched it for a long time. They had some costumes from that. And then of course, they had some really neat costumes from Pirates of the Caribbean, they had Jacksboro and Barbosa. And I think the fun thing about this is it really spans like a 60 year period in Disney costumes. So it has things from Disney Studios, from TV, Theatrical presentations of Disney things. So it's just a wide array of things. Now, some of the general stats, there's 79 costumes from 32 films, man, Chris, I could give you some trivia here. Yes. And there are 24 different designers who've done them in 71 actors who wore them. Now one of the things is that it's super cool, because they have a lot of, I think seeing the costumes up close, you got to see the details that you don't always see in the film. So they had a lot of the small pieces as well. Tiras, the glass slippers. They had some different things from I guess they had photos that kind of showed displays and how they were used. I really liked when you entered the exhibit, there was a whole bunch of Cinderella costumes from different films. So it kind of really drew you in because I think Cinderella is a very iconic Disney story. And that was a good way to draw you into the exhibit. So that was super awesome. And we'll talk a little bit more about some of the other things like some of our personal favorites in that one thing that I thought was neat is they had we had to wait a long time for this, but they had a magic mirror interactive display. And you would stand in front of it. And it would show your picture refer you reflected in the mirror. And then it would flip through different the main costumes from the exhibit. So it looks like you were wearing Jack Sparrow's outfit or you were wearing Bell's ballgown. So that was super fun. Kris didn't get to do that. But I don't know. Could you see when I was we were trying to take pictures, but like you could see where it was showing me correct. So that's a fun thing. And I could see them doing more things like that in other exhibits as well because it was just kind of a fun thing. Now a couple of things that they will be doing with this. So if you do get a chance to visit check out their calendar because they're doing some fun throwback things like they're having a throwback film series that are they have everything they started they kicked it off with Pirates of the Caribbean, but they're showing a lot of the films that have costumes in the exhibit, which I thought that was fun. Yes. So they have the live action Cinderella they have enchanted which is one of my favorite Disney live action movies. On national treasure. They are showing hocus pocus around Halloween. So I think it's fun. Those are some fun things that they're doing. And then on Fridays, throughout the summer and into the fall, they are going to be looking at clothing studio demonstration. So they're going to have some of their same stresses and their costume individuals because Henry Ford is also adjacent to a historic village called Greenfield Village. So they have a big Halloween and holiday costume or holiday nights. And so what they're going to have is that some of their seamstresses are going to be talking about the craftsmanship that goes into creating costumes and historic documents and they're going to be doing that adjacent to the the heroes and villains display so I thought that was kind of a fun thing to so you can go and learn about how costumes are made. and how they make sure that they're accurate because even in a lot of the Disney films, there's some accuracy that they work towards. So I thought that was kind of fun. There's some extra things that you can learn about really nice extras. Yeah, with the exhibit. So when we were there, part of the event, as I mentioned, had the special talk from Disney archives. But for me, some of my favorites I already talked about, I really enjoyed the Cinderella section and she were first coming in. And I love enchanted to see that her big white gown. It's so much bigger than even looks like in the movie. That was something that I really enjoyed as well. The Mary Poppins original outfit, I don't know how you couldn't be wowed by seeing that in person because they had the carpet bag and the umbrella.

Kris Johns  10:45  
I said, Wow, when I saw you did say wow, wow.

Vanessa Ferguson  10:49  
And then the Jack Sparrow costume we have a friend that loves Jack Sparrow, and we had to send her a picture right then when we saw it. But Kris, what was Do you remember any of your favorites from the from the exhibit?

Kris Johns  11:02  
Okay, with Captain Jack,

Vanessa Ferguson  11:04  
he liked Captain Jack's. That's

Kris Johns  11:05  
the one I remember.

Vanessa Ferguson  11:06  
That's the one your favorite. Now, we talked a little bit about that magic mirror display. I think that was fun. Because even if you're not super into all the movies, it was just fun to see the differences. And we did walk away with so they had the talk in the theater at the museum. And I will say it was really cool to see Becky Klein. But the talk overall could have been a lot. Maybe we just like details about stuff. But it was very basic, very basic, mid. Yeah. So they they had some really cool pictures. And they talked about how they started to collect costumes, because costumes are something that really hadn't been a part of the archives. So they talked a little bit about that. But I would have liked more detail. And I don't know if it's because I'm a detail oriented person. But Kris is not a detail person. And he thought it was very surface level. Yeah, it could.

Kris Johns  12:00  
I mean, for people who came to Detroit of all places. I mean, Detroit is a place in America. But to come to all the way to Detroit, and then just give a very superficial high level talk. It's kind of a waste of a trip, in my humble opinion.

Vanessa Ferguson  12:16  
Well, in you had hardcore Disney fans, where you could have really went into details about this costume has this special detail or this costume has that,

Kris Johns  12:25  
that you could have gone into, like, we use this fabric this thread from this country that was made by this special Silkworm. Yatta, yatta yatta, there just could have been a lot more detail. It was just very, it would almost have been like if that they were doing a talk at that park where they're just getting people in Yeah, no, no, not, not the talk, not the talk.

Vanessa Ferguson  12:46  
Yes. So that was that was the only disappoint, it was very cool to see they had several people that work in the archives, those that are responsible for handling the costumes. And then of course, as we mentioned, the director the archives, so that was cool to see, I just thought they could have done a little bit deeper dive. Now we did walk away with a special gift, we got a print that is of all of the different Cinderella outfits from the live action films over the years. And that was super cool. And we both got one and I think it's like 16 by 20. It's a pretty good size print. So we are looking forward to we're going to be renewing our one office and wanting to put one of those up. But I mean, even Chris isn't super into those kinds of things. But you like the gift that we got was nice. And if you do come they do not have any special merchandise in the shops, which I was a little disappointed because let's admit it Disney folks, we like to get something that connects to it. So I was glad we got the print from attending the event. But if you were just going to the exhibit, there isn't any extra merchandise or anything that you can pick up in the shops. But overall, is well worth taking time to visit if you're within a couple hour drive. If you know you like some of these films and you'd love to see it in person, you get your get a chance to be super close up to the costumes and to see them. And I just love how there was such a wide array of caution from so many different things that even if you're not a super big Disney fan of certain films, you're gonna find something else that you might like in the exhibit. And with that heroes and villains twist. That was fun as well. So I think overall, I mean, I would definitely recommend it. I've already recommended it to some people. I know it's not as big of a Disney person. What would you say about that? Well,

Kris Johns  14:38  
I mean, it was nice. I would I myself make the trip to Dearborn to see it. No, but I would go with Vanessa to see it and it was nice. It was very pleasant. Just show it what's neat to see is just when you're watching something on TV or the movies, it's it moves so quick, but to be able to really look at the texture and the detail. I think that was just how many little things they think cuz I mean, that was really neat.

Vanessa Ferguson  15:02  
Yeah. So if you are in the Midwest and are within a couple hour drive of the Henry Ford, definitely check it out. It will be there through January. But as we said it will be making its way around the country. So if you don't get to see it now, hopefully it will be near you very soon. It looks like they're doing about six months stints at the different museums. So hopefully it'll make its way over to you very soon. And we are looking forward to getting our interview up with Alyssa and having you get a chance to hear about her business. We would like to welcome Alyssa to the show. Her shop made with magic designs offers a variety of products from pet bandanas to shirts to some home decor. So we are really looking forward to having her on the show today. She is a former Disney College Program participant. She's also worked as a full time cast member. She's a dog mom and loves participating in runDisney events. So we are really looking forward to hearing all about her business. Welcome to the show.

Alyssa  16:03  
Hi, thank you so much for having me today.

Vanessa Ferguson  16:06  
Now, we always want to find out more about what you like at the Disney park. So if you could tell us what is your favorite Disney park and why.

Alyssa  16:16  
So my favorite park I would say currently, because I think it always changes depending on my mood. But right now, Epcot is definitely my favorite park, it hosts my favorite festival, which is the Flower and Garden Festival. I think it's still going on currently. And I'm always finding a new snack or a new drink to try whenever I'm there, finding little hidden gems spots in the countries to kind of just unwind, get away from the crowds. And it's always just a blast to be there, whether I'm by myself, with family or with friends.

Vanessa Ferguson  16:47  
And I don't know if you saw but we got married at Epcot. So that's our Well, it's my favorite park as well, too. You can for a lot of the reasons you mentioned for yourself. But for a lot of those reasons you mentioned as well. Oh my gosh, where

Alyssa  17:02  
did you get married in Epcot,

Vanessa Ferguson  17:04  
we got married in the American adventure Rotunda. So that's kind of our favorite park, for sure. And we had our vow renewal there in Italy 10 years later. So we are but I love all those things. You mentioned the festivals going and finding those unique shops, food, all that kind of stuff. That's why I loved Epcot event long before I got married there. Now we are here, of course to hear about your business. So if you could tell us a little bit about your business and what are the products you offer connected to Disney?

Alyssa  17:38  
Yeah, of course. So my spa business is one woman owned one woman run by me. All of the designs you see on any of the products I hand draw digitally on my iPad using an app called procreate. And then I import them to my print production platform. And from there, it creates a bunch of different products ranging from mugs to Fanny packs to tees and tanks you see advertised on my Instagram page made with magic designs, and pet bandanas, you'll always see either my pup or my parents, dogs advertised with those bandanas as well. And, of course holding a treat behind the camera to make sure they're looking tons, tons of different products I offer and I'm always happy to make more. So if there's a product you see that you're wanting offered for your park time or at home, always give me that feedback. I'm happy to try to accommodate in any way I can.

Kris Johns  18:37  
Awesome you know, with that, you know you mentioned you know the designs you create what made you decide to take your designs and create a business.

Alyssa  18:44  
So believe it or not, I started on a sketch pad. So the good old pen and paper pencil and paper, I would be doodling on my work notes at my full time job, doodling on the paper menus at restaurants if we I had a pen nearby, the disposable menus as they were using for quite some time. And then my parents actually got a Cricut machine and I started experimenting with a Cricut making T shirts for people especially my boyfriend's always like I have an idea to put on a shirt. And I would use the Cricut and make it for him. And after doing that for family friends him he kind of inspired me I got laid off during the pandemic. He was like, why don't you start selling this you do a really good job. And my concern was those designs weren't gonna hold up using a Cricut. So even though I started out using a Cricut I did my research, got an iPad invested in it to make sure that these designs would hold up for those that decided to support me and hit the ground running that way. It's kind of went off from there and I don't think I ever would have started this business if he didn't encourage me to do this because he saw something that I didn't see in myself.

Vanessa Ferguson  19:58  
Wow, that's very awesome. I'm now talking about some of your designs. How do you think that your products add Disney to your customers as well as any of our listeners lives,

Alyssa  20:11  
of course. So if they're like me, they're over 1000 miles away from any Disney park. And that's not ideal. So my products can definitely bring that everyday magic to wherever they're at, whether they're across the country, maybe they're right down the street from the parks, and they just can't get there. If they want to enjoy their morning coffee out of a Disney inspired mug, wear Disney inspired t shirt while running errands or walking their dog using that bandana. They can bring that magic that they feel every time they're in the parks every single day. And I may be biased, but I probably wear all of my stuff more than any other clothes I bought from like your typical target or Amazon. But it's definitely something that I pride myself on is allowing them to bring that magic home and share that with others and showcase how much they love the parks even when they're not there. Now,

Vanessa Ferguson  21:09  
I've looked at some of your designs, and I have some favorites, but could you tell us what are some of your favorite designs?

Alyssa  21:15  
Yeah, so my favorite right now is the magical day T. It comes in a variety of different colors. So it comes in long sleeve tanktop a bunch of different options. So if you're wanting to wear it for the holidays, you can grab it in green, but maybe the summertime, those yellow oranges, a lot of different options and they're super versatile in the sense you can layer them over a long sleeve. Wear a flannel over top for the cooler times. And then for the hotter months, the T shirts always nice and cool. It's that super soft Bella canvas material. So super lightweight, super breathable, and not as heavy as those Gildan or maybe the comfort colors options out there.

Vanessa Ferguson  21:58  
Now we are big dog people. And I love that you have pet bandanas. Do you have a favorite pet bandana design?

Alyssa  22:06  
That would be the snack it to me

Vanessa Ferguson  22:08  
pet bandana.

Alyssa  22:09  
So I wear my snack it to me design shirt, I wear it with magic. He's my pup, the black lab you see in lots of stories and pictures on our Instagram account. It's his favorite band. And I'd like to stay tuned because he's always wearing it when we're out on a walk go to the dog park. So that would definitely be my favorite. And when I make those at home Mickey shaped snacks. I'm always sneaking him on as well. So I would like to think that would be the favorite bandana.

Vanessa Ferguson  22:37  
Now, if I were wanting to get you mentioned all these custom options with color, and if what type of shirt you want, if I were planning to get a shirt for an upcoming trip or as a gift or something, what sort of lead time do I need when I place an order.

Alyssa  22:53  
So our production time that doesn't include the shipping and delivery is four to 10 business days. I say that big range of time because some of our mugs, I use a provider service print production service, that's third party. So they're US based, so they can they're all US based products. But they helped me do the printing and the legwork for to make it easier for me, because again, I'm a one woman known shopped. So I would say that four to 10 business days because sometimes printing a product such as a pet bandana, a blanket may take a little bit longer versus a mug, a t shirt. And then the turnaround time from shipping is pretty quickly depending on your local postal service. So definitely in total, I would say give yourself at least two weeks. Perfect.

Kris Johns  23:41  
Awesome. You mentioned all these awesome designs, especially like the dog bandanas where can people go online to see more of what you have to offer.

Alyssa  23:48  
So we actually have a bunch of different social media platforms. I utilize Instagram mainly as our primary source of posting new design, sneak peeks and giving shout outs to customers. And our Instagram is made with magic underscore designs. So I definitely recommend given that page of follow first. I also have a Facebook page. And that's just going to be facebook.com/made with magic designs. And then the other social platform I'm still learning how to use and I know it's super popular is Tik Tok. So the Tick Tock page is just made with magic designs, no underscore no dots in there. And I try to post my shirts, maybe if I'm pairing it with another small shops, items such as ears, bracelets or scrunchies. I've tried to utilize that platform to whatever is trending, whether it's a sound, whether it's a transition to try and have a fun way to get the shop out there as well.

Vanessa Ferguson  24:43  
And with your shop, we'll make sure to put the links because you have your own website for ordering. Is that correct? Yes, I

Alyssa  24:49  
utilize the Shopify platform. So that is www dot made with magic designs.my shopify.com And if you're gonna go on there, I They will give everybody this little 10% off code. So all you have to do is plug in one word Pixy dust at checkout, you'll get 10% off your order. A lot of times that covers it shipping, it covers more than the shipping, the more you buy, the more you get off, obviously. So definitely utilize that cold if you're listening.

Vanessa Ferguson  25:19  
Awesome. And I will make sure to put that in the show notes as well. So thank you so much, Alyssa for joining us today and telling us all about your business.

Alyssa  25:28  
Thank you so much for having me, and I can't wait to listen to it in the future.

Kris Johns  25:32  
Thank you again to Alyssa for joining us today. Don't forget to use the code pixiedust to save 10% on your order. on her website or in your Etsy store. Check the show notes for more details.

Vanessa Ferguson  25:42  
And of course, we are on to our Two Minute trivia and our wisdom from Walt quote. And Chris, you are up with trivia.

Kris Johns  25:49  
Okay. Well, you know, we're talking about museums. And so I asked Vanessa, some preliminary questions that she already knew. So I'm going to ask you, where is the Walt Disney Museum? This is not the question but a question.

Vanessa Ferguson  26:01  
For those of you who don't know, it's in San Francisco. And we've not gotten to visit yet which I am very disappointed.

Kris Johns  26:07  
Yes. But with that, right now, the Museum of Flight has a traveling exhibit, the Walt Disney Studios and World War Two. Oh, that sounds interesting. So as part of the war effort, and we're we're to Walt Disney devoted how much of his wartime output to producing training, propaganda entertainment and public service films have like a percentage of his overall business. So he was in 1939 100% of his time was towards a Disney film. And by 1941,

Vanessa Ferguson  26:44  
I think like 75% too low 90%. Wow. Oh, go ahead, finish. So

Kris Johns  26:52  
he did it without profit. You gotta get it. He had some commercials. But he produced a lot of what? graph again? Call it propaganda. Yes, exactly. And he did that, at the support the United States government.

Vanessa Ferguson  27:06  
I have to give a little side note, I teach communication classes. And I teach a class where we talk about propaganda. And I use some of Walt Disney's cartoons from World War Two, when we talk about propaganda in my college classes, awesome. One is with Donald Duck. So definitely, it's very interesting. If you get a chance, go on YouTube and look for some of those. Some of those films that they did are fascinating, for sure. It's very good. Interesting. That would be a fun exhibit to see as well. So thank you so much for joining us on this episode of The does love podcast with Vanessa and Kris. I'm Vanessa 

Kris Johns  27:44  
and I'm Kris.

This podcast is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company or its holdings and it is intended for entertainment purposes only.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai