In this episode, Kris and Vanessa talk about all the water-based boat attractions at the parks from family friendly rides to thrill rides. Later in the episode, they are joined by Laura from Pixie's Tiny Things who uses her artistic talents to make custom painted shoes along with door mats, stickers and bags made from her artwork. As she says, she has a big personality and a big heart. She loves how much people love and appreciate her art and has owned her business for over five years.
Use the special promo code VANESSAANDKRIS to receive 10 percent off your order in her shop good through November 27, 2020.
For all the latest news about our episodes follow us on Instagram @dislovewithvanessaandkris.
In this episode, Kris and Vanessa talk about all the water-based boat attractions at the parks from family friendly rides to thrill rides. Later in the episode, they are joined by Laura from Pixie's Tiny Things who uses her artistic talents to make custom painted shoes along with door mats, stickers and bags made from her artwork. As she says, she has a big personality and a big heart. She loves how much people love and appreciate her art and has owned her business for over five years.
Use the special promo code VANESSAANDKRIS to receive 10 percent off your order in her shop good through November 27, 2020.
For all the latest news about our episodes follow us on Instagram @dislovewithvanessaandkris.
Welcome to the does love podcast with Vanessa and Kris. I'm Vanessa Ferguson, I'm Kris Johns. We would like to welcome you to show number 57 and for any listeners joining us for the first time, our show features things we love at 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. In as a reminder to our listeners, we appreciate if you take time to leave us a review on Apple podcasts or any other platform where you live, where you listen, we always give listeners a shout out on future episodes of the dis love podcast. So whether it be five star review, or we also think those of you who have also less dust those customer ratings, we greatly appreciate those too. And on today's show, we are going to be joined by Laura from Pixies tiny things. She is, as she describes herself, she's overly creative. She likes to talk a lot. She has a big personality and big heart, and she has amazing artistic talent, which she uses by painting on custom shoe design. She also takes her designs and has them created into stickers and door mats and printed on bags and other purses and things. So we're super excited to have her on the show. She's had her business for a little over five years, and we are really looking forward to sharing her story with you.
Kris Johns:And she did something awesome. She gave us a special promo code, Vanessa and Kris Vanessa, a N D Kris with a K use that code, get 10% off, find something that's unique to your personality at her shop and use the code of Vanessa and Kris to save 10%.
Vanessa Ferguson:And we'll make sure to put that in the show notes as well, to ensure that you're able to get that awesome discount. Now, of course, we always start out with our segment where we're going to talk about something related to Disney travel and something that we've done on several trips is that we've had multiple generations. I was on one trip where we had my grandma who was in her mid eighties all the way down to my cousin who was a teenager. So one of the things that we found is that there are a lot of boats slash water-based attractions around the parks that are friendly for all ages. There are a few that are thrill rides, which we'll talk about as well, but we're going to really spend time today talking about those boat based attractions. So there are a lot in each of the different parks. So we're going to go through and talk about them in two different categories. So we're going to look at family friendly rides and then those thrill rides that do exist in this category. But hopefully if you are going on one of those multi-generational trips, this will give you some great tips. And the one good thing about most of the water rides that we're going to talk about, they are inside, which in Florida is always nice because that nice, cool AC break is great. A lot of them are a little bit longer, which gives you kind of a nice break. You've been walking a lot and just overall, like I mentioned, they're just, most of them are very family friendly. Even the thrill ride ones are very family friendly as well. And as usual, we are going to start out in magic kingdom. And the first ones we're going to talk about are in that family friendly category. And one of my personal favorites is pirates of the Caribbean. And with my family, it was a tradition for many, many years. Our first ride of any trip would be going to ride on pirates of the Caribbean. And one thing I didn't realize, do you know how long pirates of the Caribbean is Kris long as in what, how long the ride is like minutes, minutes? How long would you think it is? Oh, at least four minutes. I was surprised it's actually nine minutes long.
Kris Johns:See, I just got you as some trivia. You stopped me.
Vanessa Ferguson:So it's a nine minute. All that could have been a good one
Kris Johns:Trivia question at the end. Oh, darn. I don't remember.
Vanessa Ferguson:Um, so it's a nine minute ride and of course I'm assuming most of you, if you've been to the Disney parks, you've written pirates of the Caribbean, you're going to go on that voyage. You get to see of course, the nice additions with cap Jack and captain Jack Sparrow when some of the after hours events return at the Halloween party at Mickey's not so very Halloween party, they've done some fun additions that we got to enjoy at past times. And it's just, of course, that classic Disney experience I will, as a side note say, I liked Disneyland's version better, but of course, magic kingdom is just as great as well. Now, moving along also in adventure land, you have jungle cruise and jungle. Cruise is always fun because the skippers tell those like corny jokes, you go through the different on the different rivers of the world. And one of the things that, of course you need to keep your eye out for is they have the headhunter. If you've ever done, we've done at Christmas time. I think the jingle cruise is pretty fun. What did you think about that when we've, when I'm, you don't remember Jingo cruise? Well, what was it on jungle cruise? They turn it into CR they add
Kris Johns:Christmas. Does that register? Oh,
Vanessa Ferguson:Well I'm sure it was nice. Yeah, you haven't been during Christmas time and even in 2020 with this much things that Disney has pared down on in terms of holiday things that jingle cruises back. So I highly suggest checking that out if you are there at Christmas. And the great thing is this is an attraction, even in the years, when there is a Christmas party, you can still check out the jingle cruise throughout the day. It's it's all the time during the park hours. And this of course is that classic Disney ride. I always enjoy it. I think it's a nice little break. It's nice. Of course that they have the skippers that are right there. And we like eating at the restaurant right nearby too. Oh yeah. That's a great jungle. Skipper canteen is a great restaurant as well. So jungle cruise is another one of those that everyone can enjoy. It's great for all ages. And from there, we're going to move over into, over into fantasy land. And it's a small world. I don't know about you, but I love it's a small world. I know some people don't like it because they get the song in their head, but I loved seeing the classic, all of the costumes that have been designed on the different, in the different rooms. I love the song. I love everything about it's a small world. I don't know. I always drag Kris on it. What are your thoughts about it's a small one?
Kris Johns:Well, I like it, especially in the summertime. Oh, from the eight it's hot and it's I think a relatively long ride and it's cute. I think it's the one thing that Disney has remade. So many movies. They tried to update certain things that they better just leave. It's a small world. I mean, in a hundred years, it better be 150 years old because it's just, it's cute. It's quaint, but it has a nice theme to it in the music. It's not bad, but it's just neat to see what they did. And I just hope he resists any sort of, kind of PC updating because of whatever people are going to complain about. But overall it's a fun ride.
Vanessa Ferguson:Yes. And I like just seeing for the different countries. And of course you have the classic costumes that were designed by Mary Blair in, if you get a chance, I highly suggest going over to the contemporary and seeing the mosaic that is there, that showcases parts of it's a small world. So that's always a classic. Everyone of all ages will typically like it unless they really hate the song. I know I've been on there with people in their eighties, all the way down to our daughter when she was two. So everyone really, really enjoys. It's a small world, I think, especially Disney fans now moving from there, something that is currently closed, they're saying for refurbishment, but it's just one of the attractions that's just been closed right now is Liberty square riverboat. Now the big Steamboat, the double Decker steam boat that of course takes you. It goes around Tom Sawyer Island. So it's Liberty bell. It's, you're cruising the rivers of America when you're on it. It's near rated by Mark Twain. And he talks about things about that era and travel. I it's been a few years since we've been on it. I have done it a couple of times. I mean more than a couple of times, but every time I do it, I find it relaxing. If you've had a especially hectic day at the parks, it's nice to go on there. Sometimes it's used for special events. I know there has been some events with Tiana where they had like an ice cream social sort of thing that you could get tickets to attend. That was on there. Sometimes they've had Tiana and some of the characters on it. Um, so it is always a nice classic, um, riverboat ride in particular, if you don't live anywhere near where you can be on a body of water with a riverboat, we live not too far from a historic village. That has one. So it's not so unique for us, but I know most people might not live near something like that. So Liberty square riverboat is always a nice attraction as well. And again, something that's great for all ages now, last but not least, we're going to round out in magic kingdom, you have the thrill rides. And in here there's going to be one thrill ride that falls under this category and that's going to be splash mountain. Of course, we know that it's getting re-imagined here very soon. But as of right now in 2020, we still have Briar Foxboro bear and Briar rabbit. And of course you have that iconic splash where you go down. And one of the things that I will say is I love seeing the characters and hearing the music and things on the ride, but we don't go on splash mountain hardly ever. I mean, it's been years since we've gone on sweatshop, correct? It's just that our ride. Yeah. I think the biggest thing is we're not scared of drops. We just don't like being wet when we walk around the parks and typically we are there till the evening, so it's not like, Oh, there'll be our last ride of the day. And we'll just go back to the room and dry off we're there til dark. And usually it starts to get a little chilly by then. So we typically skip splash mountain just because of that. Often they say that if you sit in the front, you're less apt to get wet. I will say at the Walt Disney world version, I typically don't get as wet as I have at Disneyland where you have those single, single rows. So again, though, a classic thrill ride, if you love the drops, which again, we're okay with, if you want to get wet, if it's a super hot day, it's also a great thing to
Speaker 3:Check out. So that rounds
Vanessa Ferguson:Out all of our boat. Water-based attractions at magic kingdom, and we're going to move over to Epcot. And Epcot is the one park that we're going to talk about. That doesn't have anything in that thrill ride category. It just has two family-friendly ones. And the first one, I wouldn't say any, most people probably wouldn't say it's their favorite ride, but I do enjoy it. It's very educational. You learn a lot. I like the restaurant that's above it. And that is living with the land
Speaker 3:That if you've
Vanessa Ferguson:Never been on it is in the land pavilion and in it, you're going to go through the different greenhouses. It's going to go a history of farming. And my favorite part of that attraction are of course, the Mickey pumpkins that you get to see growing and all the other hydroponics, you get to learn about some of the greenery greens and the fish and different things that are served in some of the restaurants on property. So that's always fun. And we really like garden grill, which is the restaurant that circles around. And you can see some of the different parts of that ride as well.
Speaker 3:And the second
Vanessa Ferguson:Water based attraction that we're going to talk about at Epcot is one of, I think this would be one of Kris's more favorite rides. Oh yeah. Frozen after. So what is it that you, so tell us a little bit about that.
Kris Johns:Well, I know it was the reimagining of Norway and, uh, it's very straightforward. I mean, it follows the same track, but, uh, it's, it's nice.
Vanessa Ferguson:So of course that goes through Arrendale you get to see Anna Elsa Olaf. The nice thing is you're right near where the character meet and greet is. So that is of course in the Norway pavilion, as Kris talked about, it has music. It has some cool and a Metronics towards the end where it has the faces and things that are that rear projection that are real realistic looking. So that is a nice attraction. If especially if you have any frozen fans in your family and right next door, you have grand Fiesta starting the three Caballeros. And that of course is in the Mexico pavilion. And that's a musicals ride as well. There's a lot of singing in it. If you're in a boat, you go through the attraction and you learn about Mexico a little bit about the history and some of the things that are there. It's a fun ride. There's usually never a wait for it. I like going in there and checking out the shops. There's some good food opportunities in there. So that's always a fun thing to do. I think it was a good, easy update for Disney. Hopefully I know Kris always has talked about that. He hopes eventually in Mexico they have, Oh, Coco. Yeah. So maybe one day we'll see it. But as of right now, you're going to see Donald duck and the three Caballeros there with him. So that rounds out the different boat based attractions at Epcot. And then we're going to move over to animal kingdom and an animal kingdom. We have family friendly and a thrill ride. So like just like magic kingdom, you have both categories. And the family-friendly one we're going to look at is the Na'vi river journey. This of course is in Pandora and the world of avatar. You get to see, it goes through really, for me, it's very pretty. I enjoy seeing it. You had the bioluminescent rainforest that you go through. There's a lot of just the sounds as you go through at the end, there's a shaman of songs who sings. There's no storyline. So if you are there in, you only have time for one ride. I wouldn't pick that one.
Kris Johns:Here's the thing. I mean, how long ago was avatar out? I mean, it's been over a decade at least to say it, it doesn't have a storyline. I mean, it, you don't really know. I mean, nobody quotes avatar
Vanessa Ferguson:So nobody would know the story.
Kris Johns:Well, I think part of it is like, it's like was the highest box office grossing film that culturally has a very limited impact. That's true. Frozen, you know, the songs, you know, the characters it's like, okay, the Navi, who is the evil guy, you can maybe pick them out of a lineup, but you don't know really who the protagonist, what the names are. And like in terms of people on the animals, like star Wars, there's this whole lore. I mean, even like, I'm not a star Wars fan, but I can tell you what most of star Wars is not the new stuff, but with advertising, correct. Like, Oh, that's that Lord Vader. He's the emperor Palpatine. I could maybe understand the desktop. I understand that. But you get to avatar it like
Vanessa Ferguson:The blue piece. Oh, it's
Kris Johns:Nice. It's a nice, it's almost, it's a nice little ride. But in regards to like knowing the story, it's like, well, people go into comas. They go to not where I don't, whatever the avatar world is. There's a Navi Pandora. Um, it's a nice ride. I mean, I, it really shows, I think it gets back to Disney strength, which is detail. Yes.
Vanessa Ferguson:Yes. That's the one thing it's very beautiful.
Kris Johns:But the same thing, like even like with the ride itself, you know, there's this long way it uses the technology. Well, but culturally it, it, nobody quotes avatar. No.
Vanessa Ferguson:So I guess that is a good point. They made a very, see they have a good scene setter. It really immerses you in the, in the land, but you don't maybe necessarily need a story. Cause we wouldn't recognize.
Kris Johns:Yeah. And nobody would like w with star Wars, if you got something wrong, people would go, Oh my gosh, you got that wrong. That's true in avatar. It's like, huh? Like, I don't know. I mean, are there avatar, fanboys? I don't know. I'm sure there are. I'm sure there are, but they're not as many as like star Wars and frozen. Like, I mean, I know frozen quite well. And if you were to make some issues with the Canon, I would go, Oh, that's not correct, but largely check frozen. You could. But like with avatar again, I'll just go back to, I mean, like if you look at Wikipedia, it was like one of the top 10 highest grossing films in history, right? And when you look at the other movies around it have a far bigger cultural impact than avatar, but
Vanessa Ferguson:Well, and if you're going to wait in a long line there, if you have a wide range of people with age Grange and maybe people that couldn't necessarily ride flight of passage because of some other, some restrictions, then Na'vi river journey does give you that taste of what the Pandora and the world of avatar is like. And it's really beautiful as you go up by the trees and stuff, as you enter into the ride. So that is the one family-friendly ride at animal kingdom. And the last ride there that is a boat ride is that Kali river Rapids. So this of course is one where you are going to get very wet. It's a whitewater adventure, there's geysers and jet streams that shoot water. There's water that comes down on you. I don't think we've ever written this. I have written it. You've never been, I've never taken you on. Kris is not one that likes to get wet. I always they'll give a ride. A try. I think it was long before we were married that I wrote this ride. Yeah. So, but if you have kids or anyone in your group that really likes wet and likes to just kind of have that water ride experience, the one nice thing is they do have lockers where you can put there, tell you and highly recommend, put your phones, any other mobile devices that you have when I've written it. The few times Kris would make fun of me, but I would wear a poncho. I've worn a poncho on this ride, and you might want to have like a towel or something because you are going to get wet on this ride. And the nice thing is you can watch, there are some spots where you can see where people are getting splashed on this ride, but again, it's, it serves the purpose. If you're in Florida, it's July, you're hot animal kingdom always seems even warmer with all the vegetation there. I would suggest you might want to go check out this ride and it is more of a thrill ride cause it's supposed to simulate like river Rapids. So you can definitely check that out. If you are at the park. Now we have one park left, Kris, and what is that? Or Hollywood studios, what water-based boat rides are there? I don't think there's any, there are not, there are not, yeah, there are not any rides as of yet, that could change. I'm sure as we see new additions to the park, I mean, I guess technically, but it wasn't a boat. I mean, you had little mermaid voyage to the, the stage show where you were technically under the water, but you weren't in a boat. Um, but no, there are not any water-based boat rides there. So that rounds out all of the different attractions that we are going to look at today. So when it looks like things that are those boat based attraction, you have a wide range of options. These are really family-friendly. Most of these attractions are great for everybody. Doesn't matter. Most of these family friendly ones, if you have any health problems, you can typically ride these, um, all ages. And that's one of the great things about them. They usually accommodate little bit bigger groups, so you can all ride together, which is also very nice. A lot of these have where like frozen ever after, or splash mountain, or when you look at, um, some of the other ones like, like, um, Kali river Rapids, you get, you can have photo opportunities, which are always great to have. So definitely check out, um, some of these different attractions on your next trip. Especially if you have a multi-generational trip, it's always great. And we are gonna get up our call with Laura and share all about her business with you. We would like to welcome Laura to the show today. Her business, Pixies, tiny things offers all kinds of unique artwork on shoes and purses and doormats. And she also has a lot of her custom designs that have been made into stickers and things that you can use on all sorts of things around your house. So we would like to welcome Laura to the show. Hey, but as in Kris,
Laura Rifkin:How are you guys doing today? We're doing wonderful.
Vanessa Ferguson:Great. So excited to have you on the show. I know you have all kinds of digital art and different things. So we're really excited to hear from you today.
Laura Rifkin:I'm actually really excited too. This is actually my very first podcast
Vanessa Ferguson:And you're not alone. We get a lot of our vendors who are that way, and we're just excited to be able to get the word out about your business.
Laura Rifkin:Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Vanessa Ferguson:Now, of course, we want to learn about you and some of the things you like about Disney. So we always start with an icebreaker and right now, so many of us are missing the things that the parks for in the evening. So we've been asking, do you have a favorite after hours ticketed event? Like Mickey's very Merry Christmas party or an after hours at the parks or those.
Laura Rifkin:Right. So I, I have canceled since the pandemic started, I have had to cancel six different trips we were supposed to do. And each time it was like, well, we have the next one. And then it was like, well, we have the next one. And I'm like, Oh my God, I'm just giving up. Uh, but Mickey's not so scary. Halloween party always been my favorite thing because, uh, I love dressing up. Um, I am extra nice to my husband all year so that I could get him to dress up me and my daughter. Cause normally, normally he's like, no, I'm not doing that. I got him to dress up as Peter pan. One year, I got him to dress up as mr. Incredible one year. And he was, and I think after awhile he was like, I don't understand why everything I have to wear has spandex it's okay. Go with it. It's fine. Um, but so getting dressed up free candy, obviously I am a Disney villains girl. I love their wardrobes. I love their songs. I love everything about them. And they really only come out on the Halloween things. That's, that's always a great time to be able to see them there. Uh, the one thing that I actually got that wasn't a normal ticketed event. Uh, I actually got invited by a, another DPC friend, uh, to a DVC after hours event. And that was exceptional because I got to do the perfect cast dance with max goofy and goofy. Oh my goodness. How fun. Right. And we all like sang I'd I like crazy people standing next to them standing next to, uh, the Goofy's rollercoaster in the back of Disney world. And I don't know if you know who Mike, you Gooby in it, but Mike, you go me in is the bowler hat guy from meet the Robinson. Nobody knows who that guy is, but he was there and we made such a scene screaming out. Like somebody said, I thought it was the Backstreet boys. And I said, yeah, I don't really know who they are, but I know who that is. Definitely a real Disney fan, right? Oh yeah. Yes. I come from Tampa, Florida. So we used to go to Disney all the time and we moved up here to DC not too long ago, but we're still, still can't get rid of me though.
Vanessa Ferguson:Right? Right now we went in March and hopefully they bring them back. But if you're a huge villains fan, we definitely recommend the villains after hours that they did magic. That was really cool. That was well,
Laura Rifkin:That was one of our canceled trip.
Vanessa Ferguson:Well, the only bad thing is they don't let you get photos with the villains, which doesn't make any sense. Hopefully that will change in the future too.
Laura Rifkin:Uh, we, we are because we were old veterans, so I have pictures from the Mickey's not so scary. Halloween party is from like 12 years ago where we got to take pictures of the Maleficent and captain hook and evil queen and everybody. So, uh, there's a great picture somewhere of me dressed as Tinkerbell and my daughter dressed as captain hub of us with captain hook. That's a fantastic
Vanessa Ferguson:Memory.
Laura Rifkin:And I don't know, I know, obviously we're talking about Disney world, but have you guys been to Disney land in California? Yes, we have. So I finally, I'm 38 years young and I finally got to go to Disney land for the first time, uh, two years ago and my husband again, you know, I have to be nice to him all year because I know that I'm going to make sure, just kind of tolerates it. He's like, Oh, do one day at the park. And that's, that's my limit. And I'm like, okay, that's fine. Uh, yeah, he sat by when we watched the Toontown as I sat on the floor and cry.
Vanessa Ferguson:Uh, yeah, it is so nice to make that pilgrimage if you've not yet.
Laura Rifkin:Right. Well, and it's, and people are like, but it's the same rides. It's the same thing. It's really not even, even, you know, the rides that they have at Disney world that are the same copies that Disney land rides, Peter Pan's magical flight is totally not the same.
Vanessa Ferguson:Correct. Yeah. In my one best friend, that's her favorite ride and she lives in California now. So she, we will go on it multiple times, whatever park rat Disneyland or Disney world. So yes, there's definitely differences now. And
Laura Rifkin:You have somewhere to stay for free next,
Vanessa Ferguson:Right? Yes. And so of course we want to hear all about your business and what are some of those products that kind of add from your enthusiasm with Disney?
Laura Rifkin:Of course. Uh, so I actually started off customizing and hand painting shoes for birthdays weddings. Okay. Basically anything. Um, and eventually that led to me painting on purses because there wasn't really a way to people were like, Oh, you paint is Belle and Cinderella. And I'm like, no, that's not all I can paint, but that's all people order. And that's all I have time to do because you can't really paint on a shoe. It's it's really matching up a Cinderella. Am I painting the correct character on the right size shoe for the person who likes Cinderella? The answer is probably not, but painting it on a purse, anybody can buy a purse. Yes, yes. So, uh, I ended up painting on purses, wallets ID holders, and then magic bands. Um, and then someone gave me the idea to make, uh, some of my designs into digital work and put them on stickers, magnets, and a couple of trading pins. And as exhausting as all of that sounds when I need a break from painting or whenever I get bored, uh, I like to take my weekends off and I like to work with clay and I make miniature sculptures and I make art. So constantly, always Oh, is working. Um, I've also painted a couple of wall murals at different homes. Uh, which again was like something somebody asked, Oh, could you paint this in my house? I was like, yeah, you want to transport me over there? Sure. Why not
Vanessa Ferguson:Sure to share some of those images too, cause I've seen some of your mural work and it's really cool.
Laura Rifkin:Thank you. Yeah. And again, you know, all, all of the custom hand painted accessories and obviously the mural work too, uh, are all usually commissioned pieces. Someone will email me and request a certain character or a movie theme or they'll say, Hey, you know, it's my husband's birthday. And he really likes goofy and uh, you know, max and power line, what do you suggest that we do? And I'll say, okay, well, does he wear slip-on shoes? Is he the type of person that would wear multicolored shoes? And if he's not, I'm sure he's got a wallet, right. There's probably something that we can put together for him. Um, and you know, sometimes, like I said, sometimes they know exactly what they want and other times they just kind of give me their favorite characters and I have to think of some way to make all those characters flow together in a design. And that's actually my favorite part of the designing process because I get to be freely creative, but I at least have like a basic sense of what the customer wants. And that normally makes me really happy because whenever I send out pictures, as things are progressing, you know, the, the giant heart eye emojis. Exactly. Um, and then, you know, whenever I mail things out, uh, I always ask them. I said, you know, if they're giving them to somebody as a surprise, try and sneak a camera in there or something. So I can, so I can watch because I've got the customer react. I mean, I've had people just absolutely break down in tears and that makes me cry. I'm really right. And again, going back to my, my Blackheart Agilon girl roots, I don't show emotion, but I'll cry for that.
Vanessa Ferguson:Well, and it's gotta be so touching to have something that you've envisioned and then have it come to life for somebody that didn't even know it was happening. Like it has to be.
Laura Rifkin:Right. Exactly. And I mean, I, and it's, it's actually crazy to think about this because you know, these are some people that I've never met, but I have one customer where I painted her graduation cap. Uh, I painted her in her house, her husband's wedding shoes, I painted their honeymoon shoes and now I'm painting their babies first. Wow. So I've been in this person's life and I mean, I physically don't know them, but I know everything about them.
Vanessa Ferguson:And so with that, please tell us what was the Genesis for you to start your,
Laura Rifkin:Uh, so funny enough, uh, the first shoes, uh, the first shoes I actually painted were for my own bridal party, from my own wedding as a thank you gift for putting up with my two and a half year engagement, uh, where I would call them and go, do you know the difference between blush and baby pink? And they were like, Laura would really don't care how I'm like, no, no, no, no, but really no, there's totally a difference. What's the difference between turquoise and teal. I, as an artist, totally know the difference. And they're like, yeah, we don't, they're both bluish green. Uh, but so that was actually something that I did for each of them. Uh, my three best girlfriends and my brother, um, where I basically just said, you know, who are your favorite characters? And I already knew what shoes they were wearing. And I said, okay. And I painted their characters on their shoes. And that was what they wore during the wedding. Um, and the way that my business actually got started, uh, I was actually a member of a group called dis brides on Disney, broad diary at the time it's on Facebook. And I posted the photos of my bridesmaid shoes after the fact. And I had a member of this group ask if I would consider to paint her a pair of shoes. And at the time I was like, wow, somebody wants to pay me for my art. That's a weird, and I said, sure, you know, let's do it for$45. And we painted them on a pair of Payless shoes. I'm sure it fell apart shortly thereafter, which is why I don't pay it on. Paleish also probably the reason why they went home. Um, but so the first sale of 50 tiniest things was made. And from there, I eventually became one of that group's first vendors specializing, mainly in wedding and bridal party shoes and eventually accessories. And while I've left, uh, the[inaudible] group, I still very much enjoy making wedding and honeymoon and all those life affirming sure. Shoes.
Vanessa Ferguson:And we got married at Disney and had our Valerie Newell there too. So I know it's neat to see all of the different creative things that people find to incorporate into their wedding. So it's just neat that you found that niche for yourself.
Laura Rifkin:Right. And I, you know, I've painted shoes for lots of people. Who've gotten married at Disney. And the cool thing about painting wedding shoes is that I end up with some amazing professional photography. Yeah. And I mean, it's fantastic though, knowing that I've made something and that's going to be in that person's wedding album for the rest of their lives. So it's really cool. Um, but I, on the other hand was poor. We got married, we got married in Tampa.
Vanessa Ferguson:Well, Hey, there's always chance for a vowel renewal, right? Probably not.
Laura Rifkin:We splurged. And we got a photo shoot at the beach club, which are actually some of my favorite pictures and it's my we're very easy going and a very goofy family. And so we moved really cute and like a very sunny beachy kind of, uh, uh, outfit that we all did. And of course the one, the one picture that we ended up blowing up into a giant canvas is me tickling my daughter, as my husband is holding her in his arms. And you can tell she was about to be her pants,
Vanessa Ferguson:Great memory for all of you, right?
Laura Rifkin:Like nobody wants to post picture no a that I want, I want the interaction,
Vanessa Ferguson:Right, exactly. That real life. So how do you think then, like your products themselves can add Disney magic to your customers and our listeners lives?
Laura Rifkin:Well, everybody loves to accessorize and while you can definitely wear my shoes in the parks and get your magic bands, custom painted with your favorite selection of characters. Like my daughter who likes Kylo Ren and stitch and BBH.
Vanessa Ferguson:Oh, wow. What a cool man.
Laura Rifkin:All right. And, but again, you know, you, aren't going to find Disney products that have all of these weird character combinations together, but I can do it for you. Um, but it's still really cool to hold onto a little of the magic. Once you leave the parks and you're back to your regular life, you know, without a castle in your backyard. Um, and you know, being able to have a favorite purse with, you know, princess Aurora vanilla beef on sweets and Rapunzel, or, you know, a leather bracelet with the entire cast of Robin hood wedding shoes with Superman carrying Ariel over the ocean. Oh my goodness. How cool. And all of those are actually things that I've done. Um, but so it allows your unique Disney side to be able to shine through, even though, you know, we can't all afford to live in the parks, but it's fun to just be able to have that little bit to take with us.
Vanessa Ferguson:When I think right now too, like I find myself wearing a lot of my Disney stuff that I might normally just use on trips in that just because we're at home a lot more and I'm working from home and stuff like that. And it's nice to be able to add that to your everyday life too.
Laura Rifkin:And it's, it's a really hard time right now. And, and you know, what if, if wearing a cartoon character makes you feel happy in your heart girl, you, you wear that right.
Vanessa Ferguson:Right. Now, what is some of, you've mentioned some of the unique designs. Do you have a personal favorite?
Laura Rifkin:Um, so I, myself am actually not a princess fan. I like doing the villains. Um, I also like painting anything that isn't like a normal type of a thing. Like the Robin hood bracelet that I'm doing right now is really cool because I've never gotten to paint Robinhood before nobody's ever asked for it. Um, haunted mansion, uh, doing a couple of splash mountain things right now because it's come out. So just really neat. I don't have people once said, who's your favorite Disney character? And I said, well, it's like a list of like 20. I narrow it down just three. And I said, I can narrow it down to 15.
Vanessa Ferguson:Right, right. Yeah. That's how I feel with stuff too.
Laura Rifkin:Exactly. Um, and I mean, you know, princesses all have their good points too. Everybody loves having a good hair day. I don't have good hair days.
Vanessa Ferguson:Yeah. Right, right. It's with it. You've talked about a lot of awesome designs. Where can people go online to see more of what you do?
Laura Rifkin:Uh, so you can just have yourself a Google, um, look for Pixies, tiny things. And I am absolutely everywhere. I'm on, that's the I'm on Instagram, I'm on Facebook. And you can even go to www dot, fix these tiny things.com because I bought
Vanessa Ferguson:Awesome. And I will make sure to put all those links in the show notes. So everybody, we all define you and we'll share lots of your great designs that you've sent over because you have such a unique touch that I think a lot of people are looking for those custom things, because like you mentioned so many times, like, I like a lot of different characters. Like I love figment, but then I also like Tinkerbell and different things that you're never going to get those together. And you offer some really cool stuff that allows you to bring all that together.
Laura Rifkin:Actually, the coolest thing that I did recently with Tinkerbell was it was Tinkerbell and Bruno from Frozen to the little lizard. Oh yes. And she was, she was hugging him. And then afterwards, my daughter, who of course is like my library, dry, common sense child. Why didn't you do Perry Winkle mom? And I'm like, Oh, for crying out loud.
Vanessa Ferguson:See, she's a good, she has good ideas though.
Laura Rifkin:Yes, occasionally. And then other times it's like way out in left field. We can reel that in.
Vanessa Ferguson:Right. Well, I think that's great where you said too, that you kind of take those ideas that people have, and then you're able to put it to paper and figure out that exact design. And that's why we're so excited to be able to share your stuff with our listeners. And we'll make sure to have all of that information in our show notes.
Laura Rifkin:Perfect. And then, uh, just in case, they're wondering the majority of my artwork, if they just want to be able to come on and peruse and look through everything, uh, is on my Instagram. And it ends up getting cross posted to my Facebook because some people have an Instagram. Some people have a Facebook. Um, my Etsy shop is actually filled with a lot of ready to ship items like my stickers, magnets print store mats, uh, and a couple of small jewelry items for custom shoes or accessories. Just shoot me a message. Either SV wherever, like literally I'll, I'll get a notification anywhere you don't respond. And I will respond for the most part. Uh, my best suggestion, if you're going to email me about shoes is to know the brand of shoes that you want. Uh, I paint on vans, converse kids, uh, all those come in a slip-on or a lace-up version converses. I generally only paint a complicated stuff on the high tops. And I've recently gotten into painting on the leather converse high tops, which I didn't even know were a thing. And the amount of detail that you can get on those is amazing because the material is so good. Um, I also paint on Nike air force ones and the night dreads. Um, funny enough, there are not a whole lot of duty fan for sure, but that's okay. Cause sometimes it's, sometimes you don't want Disney. Oh gosh. Right.
Vanessa Ferguson:Or you want to mix, it has Disney and other things I've saw that.
Laura Rifkin:Exactly. Um, but know what brand of shoes you want, what size your shoe or what size you are in those shoes, the characters that you want. And if you have one, the overall idea or the scene layout that you want to put together with it, and if not, you can just message me and say, Hey, Laura, how you doing?
Vanessa Ferguson:Right. Right. Well, we will make sure to have all your contact info in the show notes. And thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you.
Laura Rifkin:You very much. I really appreciate the opportunity to come on and reach a completely new audience.
Kris Johns:Thank you again to Laura today for joining us, remember, she's create a special promo code just for you to receive 10% off your next order. Use VanessaandKris, Vanessa, a N D Kris, with a K K R I S the 10% off your next order.
Vanessa Ferguson:And of course we are going to round out this week's episode with our two minute trivia and our wisdom from Walt coat. And that means Kris, you are up
Kris Johns:Trivia. Okay, Vanessa. Remember when we got married? Yes. We had a reception next to an aquarium. Yes. The living cease. Yes. Based off of millions of gallons of water. Okay. What is the size of that aquarium? How many gallons rank in terms of there is, I don't know how many aquariums in the United States, where does Nemo aquarium? Where does it rank living seas within all aquariums in the United States? Not the world. Just the U S Oh, like how, like it's, I'm
Vanessa Ferguson:Giving this as my answer, but it's the third largest or the fourth.
Kris Johns:I know
Vanessa Ferguson:I've read this before. I know. I think the Atlanta one is bigger. And then I think Shedd aquarium in Chicago is bigger. I'm going to actually go with
Kris Johns:Third. You are incorrect. What, what size is it? According to the internet. Okay. It's the second largest aquarium. Atlanta, Georgia.
Vanessa Ferguson:I think the Georgia one in Atlanta is bigger.
Kris Johns:Correct. So, uh, the one in Atlanta opened in 2005 has 6.3 million gallons of water. The seas with Nemo and friends, 5.7 million gallons opened in 1886 and third, which you are, you hit it on the head. Shedd aquarium, 5 million gallons.
Vanessa Ferguson:Oh. So I just had shed in living seas flip.
Kris Johns:Correct. And of course, but then there's also a big from, from third to, so a third was 5 million gallons. Fourth is the national aquarium at 1.3 in Baltimore, the largest.org. So the internet knows
Vanessa Ferguson:Very interesting and darn I knew like those were the top three. I just got the order wrong. It was close. And now we're going to end with our quote from Walt Disney. The most important thing is family. If you can keep the family together and that's the backbone of our whole business, catering to families, that's what we hope to do. And hopefully you can take some of these tips about the different water attractions. And when you're on your next family trip with people from lots of different generations and age ranges, you can check out some of these attractions. So thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the does love podcast with Vanessa and Kris I'm Vanessa and I'm Kris.
Kris Johns:This podcast is not affiliated with the Walt Disney company or its holdings, and it is intended for entertainment purposes only.