There are so many amazing small shops out there with some of the cutest Disney merch ever! One of my absolute very favorites is Second Star to the Right Co. -- the cutest magic merch and the sweetest owner, Claudia!
Claudia is sharing all the goods about small shops, the Disney community, and Disney vacation tips here on the blog today! Check it out (along with a peek at some of her merch!):
Tell us about you!
Hi! I'm Claudia Norris and I am a Canadian based small shop owner and Disney lover! I have loved Disney for as long as I can remember... the movies, the music, the parks, all of it is so magical! When I'm not working Second Star to the Right Co. I'm usually writing a song or blog post, editing a YouTube video for my channel or performing at a local coffee shop or restaurant! I also co-host a weekly podcast with my mom called The Mother Daughter Podcast! I have believed in magic, fairies and pixie dust since I was little and I'm also a HUGE Harry Potter fan! I am also a certified makeup artist and love everything beauty and makeup related. Gossip Girl is my all time favorite TV show and most days you'll find me sipping something from Starbucks!!
What inspired you to start your company?
I have always loved creating things, and I have always wanted to own my own business and be my own boss. I love making music and songwriting but I also love Disney, and I wanted to incorporate that into my life more! Before my 2017 WDW trip I was looking for cute shirts for me and my best friend to wear to the parks and stumbled across the Disney small shop community! I found some amazing designs but there were designs I wanted that no one else seemed to sell! So I bought an iPad and started bringing my dream designs to life. Every item in my shop is hand drawn, created and wrapped by me in my home studio with love and pixie dust! I knew I wanted to sell t-shirts but I'm also a huge sticker and planner lover and I wanted to sell pretty, shiny planner stickers too. So I released shirts, foil stickers, and foil prints in my initial launch, and I now also sell full color art prints and scrunchies!!
What is your favorite item in your shop? Where do you get the ideas for your merch?
Honestly trying to pick my favorite item in the shop is so tough! I put so much love into each of my designs but I'd have to say right now I'm loving our "She's a Wildflower" tee which was inspired by Alice in Wonderland and is perfect for Spring in or out of the parks! I'm also obsessed with our brand new scrunchies... I've been wearing them non-stop and we have so many fun colors and prints that it's super easy to match them to any outfit since there are so many options!
Ideas for merch come from all over... anything from Disney culture to pop-culture, new Disney releases or things going on in the parks! And rides, food, and iconic Disney sayings/characters, etc. are great for inspo! Also, this Disney community is full of inspiration, both my hair goals and park goals shirts were inspired by all the snack goals tee designs out there! Since I hand draw every element of each design (from the castle on my Disney Destination shirts to any wording or doodles!) it's really easy to doodle a new idea or phrase that I come up with, or I'm inspired by and then create new merch from that!
Favorite part of being a small shop owner? Advice for others wanting to start a small shop?
My favorite part of being a small shop owner is being able to add a little extra magic and pixie dust to someone's wardrobe or upcoming trip! I LOVE interacting with my customers on Instagram and the Etsy platform. It makes me SO happy to see people in my designs in the parks, and watch them open up their magic mail on Instagram Stories! I have made so many new friends and great relationships in this community and those probably wouldn't have happened unless I opened up my shop.
My advice to anyone wanting to open up a small shop is super cliche but honestly just go for it and open... it is scary and nerve-wracking but it is so worth it! As Walt himself said: if you can dream it, you can do it which I fully believe!!
How often do you go to Disney? What are your best tips for Disney vacation planning?
I try and go to either Disneyland or Disneyworld once a year... I haven't been to both parks in the same year yet but that's definitely on my Disney bucket list! I also have never been to an international Disney park but I am dying to go! I would probably go more often if there was a Disney park in Canada haha!
I think my best tip for planning a trip to Disney is google everything! There are so many great resources and blogs online to help you with your trip, anything and everything from where to stay to what to eat to which rides to do at what times. But when I was planning my Disney World trip in 2017 I went to AMA (an insurance and travel planning company in Alberta where I live!) and the one in my city has a Disney expert who helped us book everything for our trip and get the best bang for our buck! Which was so helpful because the Canadian dollar is not great right now compared to the USD. If you're going to Disneyworld I think staying on property and getting a dining plan is a no brainer! You get free transportation from your hotel to the parks so if you can't or don't want to rent a car you don't have to. Also, the dining plan was amazing because it kind of feels like you're eating and snacking for free during your trip which is the dream haha! I haven't stayed on property or done a dining plan for Disneyland but I did get the MaxPass during my last DL trip and it was totally worth the $10 a day! Some days we were able to ride 20+ rides because of it, and you get to download all your photopass pictures for free!
My other big Disney travel tip is to plan what you want to do and when you want to do it. I am a total type-A so I love a plan. (See above for my love of planning haha!) I find that if I don't have some idea of what I want to do/eat/ride/see/take pictures of during the day, time gets away from me and I feel like I've missed things! Also taking advantage of booking Fastpasses in WDW about 2 months before your trip (you can do this if you're staying on property!) helps give some structure to your days and helps you do everything you want to do! Also, mobile ordering snacks is such a time saver... who wants to wait 15 mins for dole whip when you could be getting to your next ride instead!
Who are some of your favorite Disney small shops or bloggers to follow/connect with and why?
I have so many small shops and Disney bloggers I follow and love but some of my favorites are:
@OhYeahEm at @OhYeahApparel. Em's blog and style are such an inspiration to me (I designed my gallery wall in my studio after the one in her office!) and her and Scott and their pup Rosie are so fun to follow! They were actually one of the first small shops I followed and purchased from, their Disney tees were so great but their new apparel is amazing for everyday life! Anthropologie meets Disney vibes... a match made in heaven!
@FariytaleFoodie who owns @OnceUponApparel is another one of my faves... Katie takes the most beautiful pictures and has the prettiest Instagram feed! I love her blog as well, and again her and her husband David and their new daughter Maddie are just so sweet. Katie always has the best IG stories, and I love that they make everything in their home studio like I do!
@MyOhMySupplyCo is one of the coolest small shops I know... they have some of my favorite designs ever (hello their "Sing to me Paolo" sweatshirt is everything) and are millennial aesthetic goals... Lindsey and Ali are killin' the game!
@Tristin.Todd is so fun to follow, his pictures are edited so well and he is really great at incorporating his love for Disney but also his other passions into his feed!
@Golden_Aimeee has the sassiest attitude which I love and she's not afraid to speak her mind which is so refreshing! Aimee also isn't a Disney local (like me) so she adds a lot of her daily life into her Disney feed like Tristin does. That is a real inspiration to me since I can't get to the parks as much as I'd like to for my own feed and photo opportunities haha!
@MagicandWishes Allyson was one of the first Disney accounts I found and I love her gorgeous feed and her hilarious personality! She is such a beautiful person inside and out and is a WDW local so her feed is full of... well magic and wishes haha!
Disney Favorites
Movie: Little Mermaid
Character: I think this answer changes all the time, especially depending on which Disney movie I've recently watched! So even though Ariel is my fave princess, my favorite character right now has to be Oswald.
Song: It's a tie between "Friends on the Other Side" from Princess and the Frog and "What Dreams are Made Of" from The Lizzie McGuire Movie! But I find myself singing "How Far I'll Go" from Moana allll the time when I'm working haha!
Park: In Disneyland, it has to be Magic Kingdom and in WDW it's Epcot!
Attraction: Tower of Terror is my all time favorite ride (RIP to ToT in Cali Adventure) but I love Everest in AK, People Mover in MK, Test Track in Epcot, Ariels Grotto in DCA and Indiana Jones in Disneyland!
Resort: I've only ever stayed at All Star Music (yup, we 100% picked music because I'm a singer haha!) and it was great! However, my dream is to stay at the Grand Floridian since it's so beautiful and... grand haha.
Festival: I went to Flower & Garden in 2015 before I was a Disney shop owner, so I didn't follow any Disney bloggers yet and didn't actually realize it was a special festival! So I saw all the topiaries but didn't really do any of the activities. And when I went to WDW in 2017 Food & Wine was going on but I didn't participate in any of the special food or wine haha. So I'd have to say from seeing pics online it's a tossup between F&G and Festival of the Arts! They both look SO fun and I would love to attend either... or both!
Sweet Snack: The Nutella and fruit waffle in WDW's Magic Kingdom is definitely hard to beat and I think it is my fave. However, it could be considered a breakfast item so an honorable mention will go to the Jack-Jack cookie in DCA... SO yummy!
Savory Snack: You can NEVER go wrong with a Mickey pretzel with cheese dip (you have to get the cheese dip!!) however my all time favorite pretzel is the stuffed cream cheese pretzel... and it's sort of savory so I'm adding it here haha!
Quick Service: Satu'li Canteen in Animal Kingdom is definitely my fave.
Table Service: In WDW, it's a tossup between Tutto Italia Resturante in the Italy Pavilion in Epcot and the Coral Reef Resturant also in Epcot. In Disneyland, the Blue Bayou has my heart. But Boathouse in Disney Springs in Flordia is my favorite Table Service outside the park.
Don't you want to go buy everything Claudia has ever made now?! If you do, CLICK HERE to visit her etsy shop!! All the photos in this post have the name of the shirt featured in the description under each pic, if any of those catch your fancy. BUT she also has SO much more available on her shop! She just recently released her shirts for Flower and Garden and I'm obsessed-- all of the heart eyes.
I can't wait to wear my Second Star to the Right Co shirt on my trip in May and show off Claudia's amazing handiwork (be on the lookout for pics:)!
So glad and so thankful Claudia shared her magical stories with us :)
Follow @secondstartotherightco on Instagram for the latest updates and all the magic from Claudia!
Have the best day ever, friends!!
<3 belle of the parks
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