Frozen Blog Party: My Answers to the Questions :)

 It's time for me to share my own answers to my blog party questions. :)  Those of you who have not participated yet can see the original post HERE. :)

 Kristoff and Anna, just 'cause they're adorable. ;)

1. Who is your favorite Frozen character (or characters) and why?

   I really love them all, but I'd have to say my top favorites are Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf.

   I love Anna because she's so cute and awkward and just a normal, likeable person.  I think she's the type of princess a lot of girls can relate to because she's not perfect. :)  Even more importantly, just like Eugene and Rapunzel in Tangled, she is willing to sacrifice herself to save someone she loves.

     Kristoff is great because beneath his gruff exterior he's a big softie.  I love that he's not the typical handsome prince you see in so many animated movies.  He and Anna are really cute together, and it's fun seeing their friendship progress throughout the course of the movie.  I also love the fact that he is willing to let Anna go when he thinks that's what's best for her.

    Olaf is a character I did not expect to love.  When I saw the previews, I assumed he'd be another goofy sidekick character, thrown in for comic relief and not much else.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover the heart and depth to his character...and the fact that he was really quite funny. :)  As an added bonus, he shared one of the best definitions of love:  "Love is putting someone else's needs before your own..." 

   
2. Which is your favorite Frozen song (or songs) and why?

    I adore the entire soundtrack to this movie, so this was tough to choose.  Honestly, though, I really like "Love is an Open Door", even though Hans is not what he seems.  It's so fun to sing, and I just love the way Kristen and Santino's voices sound together.  I especially enjoy the last chorus, when the string section does that cool thing in the background and Hans hits that awesome high note (I know, my musical terminology is very technical). ;)

   I also love "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" and "Frozen Heart".  "Let it Go", "In Summer", and "Fixer-Upper" are nice too.  Who am I kidding?  I really love ALL of the songs. ;)

   
3. If you could make one change to the movie, what would it be?

    I would be tempted to make Hans just a shallow jerk instead of an attempted murderer...just because I was so excited that Santino Fontana was in this movie, and so crushed when I found out he was the bad guy.  (And now every time I hear him as Prince Topher in the Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella Broadway soundtrack, I keep waiting for him to say, "Oh Cinderella, if only there was someone out there who loved you!") :}  At the same time, I think the movie works the way it is, which is obvious from its huge success. :)  

  
4. Would you want to see a Frozen sequel?  What would you want it to be about?

   I would be interested in a Frozen sequel if it was well done, like the Toy Story sequels.  As some of you have already mentioned, I feel that Frozen does well as a stand-alone, and I would hate to see that ruined by a less-than-stellar sequel.  I'm sure Disney is looking for ways to make the most of this franchise since it was such a big hit, but the story and the characters have to be there to make any additional films a true success.  There have been too many disappointing Disney sequels in the past that have almost ruined the originals for me, because I always think of the sequels when I watch them.

   I also think it would be rather difficult for Disney to please everyone with a sequel.  For example, so many people loved the fact that Frozen did not focus as heavily on romance, but what a lot of viewers would want to see in a sequel would be more of Anna and Kristoff's relationship, or even their marriage (like Eugene and Rapunzel's in "Tangled Ever After").  And I'll admit, I wouldn't mind that myself, as long as it was set a few years down the road and not right away.  This might frustrate the crowd that were so happy with the first film, though.  "And we're back to the romance again!" ;)

   On the other hand, if they chose to focus on Elsa and Anna once more, there could be a great story there.  Think of how interesting it would be to see their relationship grow now that they could be together again.  It would be nice to see a little more development of Elsa's character, too.  While Frozen was about both of them, a lot of it focused on Anna (which I didn't mind).  Maybe the second film could focus more on Elsa.

  I have to say, though, I kind of like leaving the ending the way it is.  It gives the audience the opportunity to come to their own conclusions about what happened after the movie.

  And you know, to avoid all of the possible disappointment, how about this great idea from someone on Pinterest?

 

(Repinned to my Frozen Pinterest board HERE)

A short sequel all about Rapunzel and Eugene's time in Arendelle.  How cool would that be? :D  I would pay to see that movie! 
  

5.  Ice Palace or Arendelle Castle?

   Arendelle Castle...I'm not into icy furniture, and I hate being cold. ;)

   
6.  If you could choose a sidekick from the movie, would you choose Sven or Olaf?  Why?

   Sven is a big cutie, but I'd have to say Olaf.  He would cheer me up when I was feeling blue. :)
  

7.  Do you think all men pick their noses, as Kristoff claimed?

   I can neither confirm nor deny this theory, but I have my suspicions that it might be true. ;)
 

8. Which Frozen character is the most like you (or the one you relate to most) and why?  

   Probably Anna.  I've always been kind of clutzy, and I've always had a problem with just blurting things out and then having to backtrack. :}  ("I mean, not fuller...you don't look fuller...") ;)

   

9.  How many times have you seen Frozen so far? 

   Six.  Four times in the theaters, once online for Little Gal's birthday party, and once on Blu-ray Tuesday night. :)  And Friday, it looks like I'll be watching it again with a friend who hasn't seen it yet. :D


10.  In keeping with my overall blog theme, ;) which of the Frozen dolls that have been released is your favorite?  (e.g. the Disney Store fashion dolls, Disney Store Disney Animator's Collection and Toddler dolls, Limited Edition Disney Store dolls, Mattel dolls, etc)

   I'm definitely a fan of the Disney Store fashion dolls.  I'd love to get the Deluxe Fashion set with Elsa and Anna in their coronation gowns, but not for the $70 it would cost to get it through the store, or the even higher price I'd pay on eBay. :}  I'll stick with my original classic dolls...I'm very thankful to have those with how difficult they are to find. :)  I love the DAC Kristoff and Toddler Anna and Elsa dolls, too. :)  And if I was independently wealthy, I'd go for the Limited Edition Elsa in her coronation gown and the Limited Edition Anna in her winter attire. :)

 

Hope you guys enjoyed the answers!  Thank you to all of you who have joined in the fun so far. :)  It's been great hearing everyone's thoughts on the movie. :)

Stay tuned for more Frozen fun, coming soon!

Frozen Blog Party: The Giveaway :D

GIVEAWAY CLOSED 

And now for the giveaway! :D  I am super excited because there are eleven prizes to give out, so we will have lots of winners! :D

I'm trying something new this time around since the prizes are all fairly small.  This giveaway will be open to my readers around the world as well as just in the United States, with the exception of the last prize (more on that later).  I figure this is a good time to try shipping internationally.  If it's horribly complicated and crazy, I may go back to "US only" shipping for my next giveaway. :}

But enough of that...let's take a look at the prizes! :D

I was very blessed to find two different Etsy sellers who were willing to donate some of their Frozen items for our prizes. :)  The first is Belinda of Ella's Heart Designs.  Belinda has lots of lovely and affordable items in her shop, including keychains, necklaces, and more.  She donated three items for our giveaway:

 

1. Elsa Bottle Cap Keychain

 

It will come in this cute little baggie, just the way she sent it to me.

 

I love the glitter she uses in her bottle cap pendants...it reminds me of Elsa's ice powers. ;)

 2. Anna and Elsa Bottle Cap Keychain

 

It will also come in its own baggie.

 This picture gives you an idea of the size of the key chain.

 3. Frozen Bottle Cap Pendant Necklace

 This one was a complete surprise that she threw in without telling me.  It was so sweet of her...and such a fun discovery when I opened the package she sent. :)  The necklace has ribbon and cord for the chain and has a clasp at the back.

 Here's a closer look at the pendant itself...many of you will recognize this as the Frozen movie poster. :)

My other giveaway donations came from Alyssa "Elfie" of Magic 'n' Mayhem.  Elfie has a beautiful selection of necklaces, keychains, charms, and more in her shop, and she does wonderful work.  If you love Olaf, you'll love the items she donated:

 4. Olaf "In Summer" Necklace

It will come in a baggie like Belinda's items.

 5. Olaf "Snow Angel" Necklace

 Here it is in the baggie.

 6. Olaf Clip Charm

 In the baggie...I think you get the routine by now. ;)

 Here's a look at the clip on the Olaf charm.  According to Elfie, you can use it as a zipper pull or a charm to attach to anything you choose. :)

 This gives you an idea of the size of the charm.

 7. Olaf Keychain

  

 In its special baggie.

 

Olaf is so cute! :)

Elfie also surprised me with several extra things.  I believe I asked for one necklace, and I ended up with four items!  I was amazed by her generosity. :)

Both Etsy sellers went far above and beyond what I asked.  I'm so thankful to both of them for donating all of these items to make our giveaway extra special. :)  Thanks so much, Belinda and Elfie!  

I hope that all of you get a chance to stop by their Etsy shops and check out their other goodies.  

Meanwhile, we're not quite done with giveaway prizes, so let's take a look at the others! :)

 8-10. Frozen Fan Art Postcards 

 A while back, shortly after I drew my Anna and Kristoff picture, I decided to try making it into postcards through Costco's photo center.  As a result, I have three postcards to give away.  They will be given away individually, so three different winners will receive them.  They are printed on cardstock-type paper...

 ...and have "From:", "Message:", and "To:" on the back, just in case you actually want to send them to someone.  I tend to keep mine...they make great doll-sized posters. ;)  (By the way, they are not stained...my camera is still leaving spots on all my pictures, and I can't figure out why). :(

 Even though the postcards are prints, I signed and dated each one.  So someday, when I'm famous, you'll have a signed print of mine, and you'll be able to say, "I knew her when..." ;)

And now for our final giveaway item.  Because this prize is slightly larger than the others, this particular prize will only be available to my readers in the United States.  Sorry guys, I just don't want to try and figure out International shipping for these.

 11.  Mini Elsa and Anna Dolls

 

 These are the mini dolls, around 4 inches tall, with MagiClip dresses.  They will be given away as a pair, not individually.

 

 Okay, so now that you've seen the prizes, here are the giveaway rules.  Please read them carefully:

1.  This giveaway is open to all of my readers except for the 11th prize listed (the mini Elsa and Anna dolls).  Those will only be given to a reader within the United States.

2.  If you are under 18, please get a parent or guardian's permission to enter, as I'll have to get your mailing address.

3.  To enter, leave a comment on this post with your name or username, email address, and the country you're from.  Comments with email addresses will not be published.

4.  For extra entries you may:

     -Follow this blog

     -Follow me on Facebook

     -Follow me on Pinterest (at least one board)

     -Post my Frozen Blog Party Button on your blog or share it on any other social media site (it's at the top of my right sidebar)

     -Answer the Blog Party Questions from my previous post

    If you are already following me on any of the sites listed above, you can count that towards your extra entries.  Also, while answering the Blog Party Questions gives you an extra entry, it is not a requirement for entering the giveaway.  

Be sure to leave a comment on this post telling me what you did for your extra entries so I can count them.  

Also, if you leave me a link to your blog with the answers to my party questions, please leave them in a comment separate from the one including your email address so I can publish the link to your answers and share them with everyone. :)

4.  Important:  Doing the above increases your chances of winning.  However, to keep things as fair as possible, there will be a limit of one prize awarded per winner.  So if I draw your name a second time after you have already won something, I will redraw for the second prize.

5.  To keep things simple, I will not take requests for specific prizes.  I'm assuming I will have quite a few entries, and trying to keep who wants what straight is just going to be a bit too complicated for me. :}  Everyone who enters will be entered for everything (although my out-of-the-US readers will not be entered for the two mini dolls).

6.   The contest will be open for entries until Wednesday, March 26th.  On Thursday, March 27th, the winners will be chosen by random drawing.  The winners will be notified via email and will have one week to respond with a mailing address.  If I have not heard from the winners by Wednesday, April 2nd, new winners will be selected.

     

I hope that all made sense. :}  It's always so hard to get all the information I need without making it too confusing.  If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment and ask. :)

Have fun entering the giveaway!  I can't wait to discover who our winners will be! :D

Frozen Blog Party: The Questions

Ah, after a long day of art classes, there's nothing like sitting in the living room, watching a brand new Disney Blu-ray ("Frozen", of course) with my girls. :)  We had a great time watching it earlier this evening. :)  I'll be doing a review of the Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack later in the week as part of the blog party.

For now, though, I'd like to get the blog party questions up.  This is a fun activity open to anyone who would like to participate.  Those of you who decide to answer the questions, please leave a comment on this post with a link to your answers on your blog or other online site.  A big part of the fun is getting to read all of the different answers to the questions and making new friends. ;)

If you don't have a blog or a website of your own but would like to participate, feel free to leave your answers in the comments below. :)   


   1. Who is your favorite Frozen character (or characters) and why?
   
   2. Which is your favorite Frozen song (or songs) and why?
   
   3. If you could make one change to the movie, what would it be?
   
   4. Would you want to see a Frozen sequel?  What would you want it to be about?
   
   5.  Ice Palace or Arendelle Castle?
   
   6.  If you could choose a sidekick from the movie, would you choose Sven or Olaf?  Why?
   
   7.  Do you think all men pick their noses, as Kristoff claimed?
   
   8. Which Frozen character is the most like you (or the one you relate to most) and why? 
   
   9.  How many times have you seen Frozen so far?

  10.  In keeping with my overall blog theme, ;) which of the Frozen dolls that have been released is your favorite?  (e.g. the Disney Store fashion dolls, Disney Store Disney Animator's Collection and Toddler dolls, Limited Edition Disney Store dolls, Mattel dolls, etc)

I hope you have fun answering the questions.  If you'd like to just choose a few instead of doing all ten, feel free to do so...I know it can be overwhelming to do that many questions sometimes. :}

Stay tuned for my blog party giveaway post, coming up next! :)                  

Announcing Never Grow Up's "Frozen" Blog Party!!

Hey everyone!  Sorry you haven't heard from me all weekend.  Things have been busy and I've had a lot of computer issues.  I'm still fighting with my desktop daily, but I'm going ahead with the blog party as planned.

Also, a huge thank you to the three of you who nominated me for the Liebster Award.  I'm hoping to get to those questions soon, but I wanted to go ahead with my plans for the week while I had the chance! :)

I'm very excited to announce that today is the official beginning of Never Grow Up's Frozen-themed blog party!!  We're starting today in celebration of Frozen's release on Blu-ray and DVD, which I will be buying later this afternoon. :D  I have a great week planned, including giveaways, questions to fill out, and posts in keeping with the theme! :)

For starters, I thought I'd share a mini tutorial of my fan art I drew for my header:

 

I started with some Frozen Valentines and a very rough sketch...  

 ...then started filling in the details, slowly but surely.  

 

I was thrilled with how Elsa turned out! :D 

 Here she is next to the Valentine I used as a reference.

 

I erased my temporary features from my rough sketch of Anna and then started again.

 

I was pretty pleased with how she turned out, too.

 

I changed the position of her pupils because I wanted her looking at Elsa in my drawing.  Anna's head angle was a rather difficult angle to replicate.  I definitely found it more challenging than Elsa.

 

Here's the finished sketch...

 

...and then a closer look.

 

As always, I did the "backwards test" (looking at the picture backwards against the light).  They still looked pretty good, so I knew I hadn't done too badly with my proportions. ;)

 

I recently purchased a set of art pens at Michael's which I have been thoroughly enjoying. :)  Here's the one I used to trace Anna and Elsa.

 

Here they are, all traced and ready to be cleaned up with an eraser.

 

I was a bit disappointed with Anna's mouth and nose, and I also ended up giving her an extra chin line.  My problem was I doubted myself and changed her look while I was tracing (not usually an advisable thing to do).  I knew I'd have to work that into the shading somehow so I wouldn't make her look too odd. :}

 

And here they are with all of the pencil erased.

 

A closer look again.

 I ended up using a combination of colored pencil and markers this time around, basically because I didn't have the right skin tones for the girls in my markers.

 I also liked using the colored pencils to give Elsa's eye makeup and facial features a softer look. 

Her hair was a bit tricky, but I finally decided on using a tan-colored marker and a blue colored pencil.  I think it worked out just right. :)

 Even after adding color, I was still disappointed with the way Anna turned out.  Between my flub on her chin and messing up her lips, she just didn't come out quite the way I had hoped.  I almost wish I'd kept her as a pencil sketch...I liked her much better before I traced her.  Oh well, live and learn. ;)  This is only the second time I've drawn Anna, so I'll figure her out eventually. ;)

 

It was really fun playing around on Ribbet.com with all of the special effects and such.  I'm quite pleased with the way the header turned out, and I can't wait to try out more Frozen fan art! ;)

And while we're on the subject of art, I have to head out to my art class, but stay tuned for more fun!  I'll be announcing the giveaways and putting up party questions within the next day or so, and I will also have a blog button for the party up as soon as I possibly can.

Talk to all of you again soon! :)

 

As always, here's a copy of my previous header. ;)