This and That

FELT VASE

As most of you know (who read my blog regularly), I have a 3 year old girlie girl.  She loves flowers, pink, butterflies, dancing, hosting tea parties for her toys and dressing up as a princess.

Whilst Halloween shopping last month I found some green Daisy Reeds at Pier 1 Imports and thought they would look beautiful in her bedroom.  The only problem, I didn't want to put a glass vase in her room because undoubtedly it would be smashed in no time ... either by her carrying her vase of flowers up and down the stairs repeatedly or by her brother hitting it with his hammer.

My solution. To make a vase.

 

So using sheets of felt, fabric scraps, a button and embroidery thread I started cutting and sewing.

To keep the vase sturdy .. afterall it is felt ... I placed an empty 8.75oz plastic herb container inside.  That not only keeps her Daisy Reeds from falling over, but if she has some fresh flowers to put in her vase, we can put a little water in it too.

THE BIRDIE BAG

While the kids are at school, mummy gets her craft on.

I picked up the plain green, ready-made felt bag in the clearance section of (I think it was) Michaels quite a few months ago for 50 cents. 

Marisol is an avid collector of bags (a trait she obtained from me) … something that daddy is not happy about, especially when she goes from 50 cent bags to $500 bags in the years to come.

The plain green bag needed to be prettied up a little.

So armed with:

• the green bag
• a pink fat quarter
• white felt
• embroidery thread
• a needle
• black fabric paint
• and a paintbrush

I set to work.

I did a rough sketch of what I wanted to put on the bag.

I cut out a template and then used a fabric pen to draw the outline onto the fat quarter and felt before cutting.

Then I hand stitched the bird and her pretty wing onto the bag. 

Done!

TEA BAGS

I found a gift that I loved for a little girl.

It was missing one thing

Now her little tea set is complete.

Of course Marisol was none to happy that these weren’t going into her kitchen so

these were made too.

Now 2 little girls have tea bags for their tea sets.

Materials:

• felt
• embroidery thread
• craft cord
• stuffing
• glue

To make:

Cut out the basic tea bag shape using an actual tea bag as a guide.  You will need 2 brown and 2 white pieces per tea bag.   Stitch the cord between the two pieces of felt and add a little glue to the inside to make sure it doesn’t come out.  Before stitching the last inch or so of the brown section, put in a little stuffing.  Decorate the white tag if you like.

EASTER INSPIRED FINGER PUPPETS

 

What you need:

• Felt – white, pink, yellow, grey, orange and black
• Embroidery thread – pink, orange, white and black
• Eyes
• Permanent marker
• white pom pom

How to make:

Trace around your pointer finger from about knuckle to finger tip but make the line about 5 mm wider to allow for sewing.

Draw a stencil for the duck wings, bunny and mouse ears.  Cut out all pieces use as a template on the felt

As you stitch up the main body add in ears or wings accordingly.

Attach eyes and a tail for the bunny.

Draw other facial features.

* I made these today for an Easter egg hunt with friends.  Each finger puppet sat on a bed of jelly beans inside an egg *

* FEATURED AT: One Crafty Place

BUILDING A BARRETTE COLLECTION

Marisol is a true girl.  She may only be 2 but she knows what she wants.  She decides which shoes and dresses she wants from stores.  She hates not wearing a clip in her hair and has an obsession with lip gloss … or as she calls it, sparkles.

Wanting to save a little money, I’ve decided to try my hand at making hair accessories for her. 

Here was my first attempt at barrettes tonight.

I was quite pleased with how these turned out, but I’d like to get a little more creative with them.  I’ve found a lovely collection of odd buttons in my sewing box so maybe tomorrow I’ll try to make a few more.

These ones were made using snap barrettes purchased in a packet from Michaels.  Instructions on how to make the little ‘sleeping bag’ for the barrette can be found at Angry Chicken.

BARRETTES – part 2

Here are a few quick ones I whipped up this morning

I used the same sleeping bag tutorial from Angry Chicken. 

MAKE A MOUSE PAD

I mentioned previously that we’d set up a computer for the twins.  Well silly mummy bought the wrong kind of table and the mouse wouldn’t work on the surface of it. 

So mummy got to work to fix the situation and made a mouse pad.

What you need:

• Felt
• Mod Podge
• Brush
• Rubber – or in my case an old rubber placemat

How to make:

Sketch the shape you want and cut it out.

Place it on top of the felt and cut around it.  Using mod podge (which I found worked best if left to dry overnight) glue your shape to the rubber mat … as I mentioned, I used an old placemat that we no longer use.

Once dry cut around the shape again.  Here I glued extra felt pieces on to make eyes for my whale.

* FEATURED ON: One Pretty Thing