Huge Mario Stocking

So I never actually got around to taking a picture of L's Mario stocking before Christmas. I snapped a pic today, before taking it down. He basically dictated what he wanted on it, and I freehand cut them out of felt.

Next year I'll probably do something similar with whatever they're into, but I'll either sew them, or use fabric glue. The craft glue I used for this spur of the moment project wasn't very durable.

Huge Yo Gabba Gabba Stocking

I went overboard on the stocking stuffers this year. They weren't going to fit in the small stockings I made for the kids last year.
I saw some huge stockings at the Dollar Tree, just asking to be embellished. Here's the first one, shown hanging on the wall before the glue had even dried.
I just freehand cut the characters out of felt, and glued 'em on.

Pretty cute, and not bad for a buck, huh? My daughter loves it. :)

Felt Photo Envelope

The rule in our family the last few years has been generally no gifts for the adults. Just as well, I suppose. The family keeps getting bigger, and the budget keeps getting smaller.
I make a few little exceptions though. One of them is a stack of photos of the kids over the previous year for aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Among the grandparents particularly, this seems to be one of the most highly coveted gifts of all.
This year I wanted a nicer presentation than just an envelope, but didn't feel like making photo albums or scrapbooks, as I have in previous years.
This was my compromise.

As usual, the picture is wonky, but the project is not. :)

It's a  felt envelope, embellished with a little machine embroidery, and trimmed with a vintage button. Easy, and quick to make, (I made several this evening,) but I think it turned out cute.
You could make a similar little envelope to dress up your gift cards too.

Easy Felt Food

Several days ago, I dropped a link to these cute templates from the current issue of Family Fun magazine. I've made felt food for the kids before, but was looking to do a quick, easy set this time around, because I'm up to my neck in unfinished projects right now. These fit the bill. I started them this afternoon, and finished them tonight.

These were constructed from felted sweaters. (Well, except for the yellow corn. You don't find a lot of bright yellow sweaters...) There were several pieces, like the garlic and onion that I didn't make, because I didn't have the right color felt. I'll be keeping an eye out at at the thrift store for a beige or white sweater.
Even if you've never sewn before, this would be an easy, easy project.
I'm putting this little set away for Christmas.

Mario Brothers Felt Board

It seems that Pokemon is slightly on the decline around here, apparently due to a new found interest in Mario Brothers. L has been spending his days building elaborate Lego sculptures of Mario characters, and drawing scenes from video games.
I remembered having seen some pretty awesome Mario projects on Craftster, and after finding this fantastically done Mario felt board, I was inspired to make one for L. My original intention was to pretty much make an exact duplicate of the one on Craftster, and give it to L for Christmas. 
Once he saw the pictures I printed for inspiration, he went crazy though, wanting one NOW. As such, I ended up using permanent markers instead of embroidery, and whatever colors of felt I had on hand, even if they weren't quite right. I also didn't have one large continuous piece of blue felt for the background, but L didn't seem to mind. He spent several happy hours playing with this set.

Pretty fun, right? I'm partial to Mario too.

Volcano Play Mat

Another felt play mat today, along the same lines as yesterday's. L had very specific instructions about this one. He wanted curvy roads, a volcano, and rocks.

We've been on toy burnout around here. The kids seem sick of everything.
I love that this little project made from stuff I had lying around has re awakened an interest in cars, at least temporarily. :)

Felt Car Play Mat

I love when I start making something for the kids, and they get so excited about it that they stand by the sewing machine, waiting for me to hurry up and finish it.

Heavily inspired by this project at Serving Pink Lemonade, I decided to whip up a little felt play mat for the kids. I didn't have any Wonder Under, or whatever she used, so I just sewed everything up on the machine. Her way looks a little neater, but in typical fashion, I wanted to do it NOW, so I just used what I had.

You may be wondering by now if L owns any shirts, since he's never wearing one. He does, but it's all I can do to get him to wear pants sometimes...

They kids are currently fighting over the play mat. I'm going to have to hurry up and crank out another.
(You should check out all the projects at Serving Pink Lemonade. Lots of good stuff there.)

DIY Post Office Kit

We're actually going to be doing a mail carrier/mail unit study here next year, so this is going be useful for us, besides just being fun.

The way I see it, there are two routes you can go for this kit. For an older child, I'd put together an actual mail kit, complete with a book of stamps, some fun stationary, some stickers, a cool pen, and a list of relevant addresses, (grandma's, a favorite cousin's, etc.)

I may in fact do that anyway for L, who is just now getting interested in getting real mail.

For little ones, like V, a toy felt set seems like a better idea. Here's the simple set I put together for mine (constructed of felt, and machine sewn,) but if you're feeling a little more ambitious, here's a great tutorial for a more elaborate mail set.

I was going to try to construct a felt mailbox, and then thought better of it. I think we still have a couple of little tin mailboxes lying around here from Valentine's day.

DIY Pretend Flower Gardening Kit

After seeing this cute DIY Garden Center kit at Frugal Family Fun Blog a while back, I was inspired to create a somewhat less crafty and hopefully toddler friendly version for V.

My version includes:

A gardening apron from Dollar Tree.

A couple of bunches of flowers from Dollar Tree.

A little gardening kit from Tuesday Morning.

A totebag I made from some old fabric I had lying around.

For a total of about six bucks.

After I made up the little kit, I saw this other super cute variation of the idea at Sew Can Do. Now I'm thinking I need to whip up some seed packets and worms...

Yep, Another Rockstar Birthday Banner

I posted several weeks ago about the U Rock Banner I made for my niece Madison's upcoming birthday. Here's another along the same lines.

She knows I've been working on this stuff, and she's getting excited. I hope she likes it...

Rockstar Goody Bags

I'm trying to squeeze in a little time here and there to work on my niece's birthday party. Here's the second item I got to cross of the to do list: the goody bags. They're made of felt, and machine sewn. I sewed the bags for V's party by hand, and I thought they turned out super cute, but my hands and wrists are hurting so bad these days (Arthritis? Carpel tunnel? I dunno.) that I opted for using the machine this time. Not quite as cute, but not bad.

(The applique pattern came from another blog, which I bookmarked, and now cannot find. I think AOL is eating some of my bookmarks. Anyone recognize it? I'd love to give proper credit...)

U Rock Birthday Banner

My little niece turns 11 this year, and my sister wanted me to help come up with a cool, themed party for her. I decided to go with a rockstar theme. Madison loves to sing and dance, and one of the focal points of the party will be a Wii karaoke game for the girls to play.
I'm going to be using a mostly hot pink and black color scheme.
This is the first completed project for her party: a felt birthday banner. There are a million tutorials on the project, but I ended up using the basic template from Pick Up Some Creativity. After fussing with cutting the letters out for what seemed like forever, and then deciding I didn't like the way the turned out, I opted for sticky felt letters from Hobby Lobby. Much faster, and frankly more legible than the ones I had made.

I love planning birthday parties.