Disney It's A Small World Keychains from Etsy: MouseMadeMagic

 

The two handmade, Disney parks inspired keychains shown above came from the Etsy shop MouseMadeMagic, and were purchased in August of 2019. I checked the shop’s current inventory, and not only have they changed their shop name to AbbyandArthur, but they also no longer seem to carry keychains of any sort. However, the shop does feature handmade bags, made from Disney print fabric.

It can’t be easy to print small details onto the textured ribbing of grosgrain ribbon, even with proper equipment. It was also difficult for me to photograph these small details.

The purple and teal ribbon features simple geometric shapes that copy the exterior design of Disney’s It’s A Small World attraction, including the clock face from the clock tower.

The white and gold ribbon takes inspiration from the attraction’s interior design, featuring the ride’s signature dancing dolls, along with whimsical, stylized representations of global landmarks.

The teal webbing the ribbon is mounted to is a perfect color choice in my opinion, since it seems to exactly match the purple and teal ribbon while also complimenting the white and gold ribbon.

Aesthetically speaking, I’m quite happy with these keychains. Admittedly, I’ve never used them as actual keychains, since I’m unsure how the materials would hold up to heavy use. However, since I bought these to be part of my collection, I see long term wear-and-tear as a non-issue.

Signed, Treesa

A Day At Churchville Nature Center: Fall 2025 (Keychain Souvenirs Haul)

Churchville Nature Center is located on a nature preserve in Northampton Township, Bucks County in Pennsylvania. The property features nature trails, native wildlife gardens, a seasonal Butterfly House, and a ‘Take A Book, Leave A Book’ Little Free Library. The Visitor Center has educational exhibits and live animal displays, wildlife viewing areas, and the obligatory gift shop.

I personally enjoy a curated nature walk experience, with trails that are maintained, clearly marked, and not too long for my stamina to handle. The fact that Churchville Nature Center has a Little Free Library is a nice bonus feature. However, I just can’t seem to visit any historic site, museum, state park, etc. without making a stop at the gift shop.

This geode keychain came from Churchville Nature Center’s Dragonfly Niche Gift Shop. A geode is defined as a rock containing a cavity lined with crystals or other mineral material. I chose this particular geode keychain because the exterior rock it had a less uniform and more textured appearance compared to the others for sale, which made it stand out to me. I actually have a decent-sized sub-collection of rock and mineral keychains. I've already shared some of them previously in my "Hobbies And Fandoms" post, if anyone's interested in taking a look.

Signed, Treesa

Oktoberfest Church Fundraiser: October 2024 (Keychain Haul)

 

This keychain was purchased from a craft vendor at the annual Oktoberfest fundraiser held by my local church, in October of 2024. I seem to have a bad habit of putting keychains aside to photograph, with the intention of writing blog posts about them, only to misplace them. Regardless, the vendor I bought this from had a number of handmade, custom keychains using this classic ‘motel key tag’ shape, with different phrases and designs.

I was drawn to this particular keychain because I liked the sentiment of having a 'happy place', and because it made me think of the Disneyland slogan “The Happiest Place On Earth”. Fun Fact: “The Happiest Place On Earth” slogan is exclusively for Disneyland, while the similar slogan “The Most Magical Place On Earth” refers to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida.

I also liked the pale purple color of the lettering on this keychain. Not only is purple my favorite color, but I thought the letters looked striking against the black background. While it was tricky to photograph, the letters actually have a slight glitter effect as well.

I know this post is very late, and there’s not much to it. But I thought the keychain was still worth sharing.

Signed, Treesa

Spring Craft Fair Church Fundraiser: April 2025 (Keychain Haul)

My local church has been holding a lot more fundraisers in recent years. It used to be just the summer carnival and the Christmas bazaar. The Oktoberfest was added later on, but is now well established as well. However, lately it seems as though my local church will use any excuse to hold a raffle or a festival. With church attendance being down in general, statistically, the additional funds are unfortunately needed to keep the lights on, the air conditioning running in the summer and the heat on in the winter, the grass cut and winter snow in the parking lot plowed.

The majority of the church’s fundraisers also feature craft vendors now, regardless of the event’s theme or the season. I will frequently make a brief stop at pretty much any fundraiser my local church holds in search of handmade keychains for my collection. Due to past experience at such events, I was confident I would find a keychain or two at the 2025 Spring Craft Fair. However, I was somewhat surprised by the rather…eclectic assortment of vendors this year. After I got home, I jotted down some notes on the ones that had stood out the most to me, in preparation for a blog post I planned to write to show off my new keychain acquisition. In typical fashion, for me, I ended up misplacing those notes. So this post is now very late, something I apologize for profusely and take full responsibility for. But since I did find my notes, and since the keychain is still worth sharing, here we are.

Notable vendors at the church’s spring craft fair in 2025 included:

1.     Representatives from a specialty pickle shop

2.    A local, self-published fantasy author trying to sell copies of her books (I read the back cover of the first volume in her book series while at the craft fair. And if the rambling, densely packed writing style used for the cover blurb matches the rest of the book, I don’t think I’d manage to get through the whole story.)

3.    A pair of girl scouts promoting a presentation they had organized on positive body image as a project towards earning their silver scouting award

4.    And lastly, a woman selling a hodgepodge of home décor items and designer bags for cheap. There was a Lauren Conrad purse shaped like a seashell that I was looking at, until I discovered it still had a store security tag on it, which to me seemed suspicious.

As I mentioned already, I did find one keychain I liked at the craft fair. I thought it was a crab when I bought it, due to the coloration and the eye placement. However, the leg count is off for a crab. Crabs are decapods, meaning they typically have ten legs. The keychain has only eight legs, so it might actually be an octopus. On the other hand, the black stitching on the two front appendages does seem to suggest crab claws. Regardless of which one it is, I still think this handmade keychain looks adorable, with its cartoony features. However, I don’t know enough about fiber arts to say whether it is knitted or crocheted. I did ask the vendor, but I forget what she said. Why didn’t I write that down I wonder?

Signed, Treesa

The Summer Of Barbie: 2023 (A Pop Culture Touchstones Post)

In July of 2023, the Barbie live-action movie was released in the United States. It became the highest-grossing film of 2023 and was nominated for eight Academy Awards. That summer was dubbed “The Summer Of Barbie”, and terms like “Barbiecore” and “Kenough” became buzzwords.

In the interest of full transparency, I’ll go on record to say that I rode the pipeline from playing with Barbies in my childhood, to ‘collecting’ Barbies in my teen and adult years. I loved Barbie when Barbie wasn’t cool, and I still have a soft spot in my heart for fashion dolls, even though my doll collecting hobby is currently on the back burner. Although fashion dolls aren’t as much of a priority in my life as they once were, knowing me I’ll probably go back to them eventually. I always do.

However, despite my enduring fondness for Barbie, I still haven’t brought myself to watch the live-action movie. I know how sensitive I can be, and I’m worried how I’ll react to a cherished icon from my formative years potentially being skewered or poked fun at for the sake of satire and social commentary, even if it is justified. My own childhood ideals of what Barbie is or isn’t are still so ingrained in me, that I worry it would wound me too deeply if they were challenged by an official source authorized by ‘the voice of corporate’.

But to get back on track with this post, the movie’s promotional campaign and its popularity resulted in the Barbiecore trend taking hold in both fashion and décor. Hot pink was the in color for that season, both to wear and for decorating. And it seemed like every retail store from Forever 21 to Five Below had displays of Barbie themed accessories for sale.

So, as a throwback to that now passed, pink-tinted summer, here’s a Barbiecore keychain.

I bought it on clearance at a liquidation store after all the hoopla was over. The keychain itself is made from metal and shaped like Barbie’s signature, with pink, script lettering. Fun fact, the color “Barbie pink”, a specific combination of pink and magenta, is actually trademarked by Mattel. This particular keychain was produced by Innovative Designs, LLC under license from Mattel.

I’m hoping to do more ‘Pop Culture Touchstones’ posts in the future, using my keychain collection to revisit past trends. So far, trying to research exactly when certain things were trendy has been a bit tricky for me, even with the internet. Does anyone remember what year those gecko keychains made from plastic ‘pony beads’ took the children’s crafting world by storm?

Signed, Treesa

'Throwback' Package From Heathersmoo: August 2021

I thought that I already blogged about this particular gift package when it arrived. But apparently, I hadn’t. At least, I can’t find a post about it here. This package was originally sent in August of 2021 by my keychain collecting email pen pal, Heathersmoo of Livejournal. Inside was a sweet note from Heather, along with two keychains, one for me and one for my “IRL thrift store Bff” (as Heather referred to my best friend/willing thrift store shopping buddy in the note). I'd already delivered my best friend’s keychain gift quite a while ago, which might explain why I thought I previously posted about Heather's package here on the blog.

According to Heather’s note, my keychain was “the fancy one with the plane”. The one for my best friend didn’t have an added jewelry charm. Both keychains were handmade by Heather herself, and her wire-wrapping skills definitely surpass mine. To be fair, I don’t really practice enough to develop a talent for wirework jewelry.

The red wire coils and blue beads give this keychain sort of a patriotic vibe, while the pink and red color combination of wires gives more of a Valentine’s Day feel. In my opinion, the fact that the keychain isn’t clearly one or the other gives the piece more versatility. While I do enjoy holiday themed items, in season, I’ve noticed that, with clothing for example, there are certain pieces that I don’t wear very much because they’re specifically holiday themed and feel inappropriate at other times of year. I can get away with wearing a snowflake patterned fleece jacket all winter, at least here in the northeastern United States. But characters in Santa hats or even holly and poinsettias are specifically associated with Christmas here in the U.S., and I'd feel too uncomfortable to wear them in January.

I'm sorry for going off topic there. The point is, this keychain was a very thoughtful and much appreciated gift, even though it took me a few years to post about it. So, thank you Heather. I hope that you and all of my readers are doing well. January can be a rather humdrum time of year, but spring comes eventually.

Signed, Treesa

Hit Clips Giveaway Results

It’s December 1^st, and time to announce the results of the Hit Clips song cartridge giveaway. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive any entries for this particular giveaway. So there’s not really anything to announce, except that the giveaway has officially ended. Hopefully, I can find some time in the midst of all my holiday preparations to post something more interesting in the near future.

Signed, Treesa