Our Waldorf Week of May 18

I actually made this felt crown several years ago and didn't think it would last a month. It's still going strong and one of the most used parts of our dress up box! I made it stiff by using cardstock as the liner.

I'm really enjoying the rainbow tulle over our nature table this month. I made the flower baby last week, and the flowers are leftovers from my Mother's Day bouquet.

It's a big week for Toby in our Super Sam stories this week. He finds his family! Of course, I had to illustrate it on the chalkboard. The kids were so excited for Toby to finally get his happy ending. They've been anxiously waiting for it for a while.

Here is Max's painting from Monday. He has become very adept at mixing colors and not just getting a brown sludge. I'm impressed and kind of jealous. I don't think I could do this if I tried. 

Fun With Felt: Pirate Hook and Eye-Patch

What kid doesn't want to be a pirate?  Fit them with an eye-patch and a hook and they will be sailing the seven seas in no time!

 1 - Draw a hook with a large, wide base.  Make the hook just a touch bigger than you would think since you will be sewing and stuffing it.  Cut out two hooks.

2 - Sew The two hooks together, wrong sides together leaving the base and the tip open.

3 - Stuff with fiber-fill until stiff.  Close end of hook.

4 - Cut out a large black circle and zig-zag stitch around the edges to reinforce.

5 - Open up the base of hook up to the beginning of the stuffing.  Sew each half of the base to the center of the circle, as shown below.

6 - Sew a small, thick strip of felt (reinforce with a zig-zag stitch) to the underside of the black circle.  This will be the handle for your child to hold.

7 - Cut out an eye patch and attach to two black ribbons or pieces of felt.  I tried to attach my felt to elastic to make it adjustable, but this only stretched out the felt.

 Ahoy, Matey's!  Arrgh!  Walk the plank!

Fun With Felt: Heart Purse

This little creation takes about five minutes and is perfect for Valentine's Day.

Simply cut two identical hearts and sew around the edges of each individually.

If you wish two decorate your hearts with any sort of applique's, do so now.

Sew the two hearts together, leaving the edge out, from the bottom point up until bout the height of where the top comes down and splits.  (I hope that made sense!)

Cut out two long strips of white cloth.  Zig-zag stitch down the middle of each strip to reinforce.

Sew each end of one strip to one heart, so that the bag can open wide.

Fill with goodies for Valentine's Day!

Fun With Felt: Travel Road Set

This post is the beginning of my "Fun With Felt" series.  I love making fun things with felt.  The nature of the fabric and crafts you make with it don't require perfection, and in fact imperfections only add to whimsical character of your creations.  Another plus for felt is how cheap it is!  I bought two packages of assorted colors of felt at Wal-Mart for $5-$6.  I just used whatever color of thread I had on hand.  So far with those two packs of felt I have made three little toys/gifts for the kids.  Not a bad bang for your buck!

This first post is about making a travel road set.

It folds flat to easily fit in a diaper bag.  Take it to church or on an airplane for a great quiet activity.  Just don't forget the cars and trains!

 I didn't do a good job of taking pictures through the whole process.  But it shouldn't be too hard to follow along.

1 - Choose two dark green pieces of felt.  Sew them together like the binding of a book (right sides together about 1/8-1/4" seam allowance).

2 - If you want to make your road set sturdy, cut out two pieces of poster board slightly smaller than the size of each "page".

3 - Cut out a road from the black felt.  Cut it in the shape you wish it to take on the felt.  Don't just try to cut a straight line and curve it to fit your needs.

4 - Sew each edge of the road to the green felt.  Don't worry about the unfinished edges (unless they are really large and need to be trimmed).  This is handmade and the felt makes the unfinished edge look cute.

5 - To make the bridge cut two straight pieces of brown felt slightly longer than the desired length of your bridge.  Remember you are going to make your bridge pop up, so cut it the desired length once in it's rounded shape.

6 - Sew three edges of your bridge together leaving one narrow end open.

 7 - Cut at least three strips of posterboard to fit inside the bridge, leaving about an inch of space the end.  You may want to cut more strips to get your bridge to the desired stiffness.  Insert the posterboard into the bridge.
8 - Sew the unclosed end of the bridge to a piece of velcro or attach it to a snap.  I used a snap, but I think velcro would work better with the felt.  Make sure that the bridge is now completely closed.
9 - Attach the opposite piece of velcro or snap where you want the bridge to attach on the green felt.  Sew the other end of the bridge to the green felt where you wish it to start.  Now you can detach the bridge to close the road set and put it back in place whenever it is in use.

10 - Cut out several very thin strips of dark brown felt and sew right down the middle to create the railroad tracks.  Sew the long pieces on first before attaching the cross-pieces.
11 - Take a brown paint-marker and draw the track onto your bridge.  (You could put the track onto your bridge before you sew it together, but this was just easier for me.)
12 - Add any other decorations to your set as you wish such as lakes, sand, town, etc.
13 - Choose a color for the "cover" and sew those two pieces of felt together just like you did thie two green pieces.  If you wish to attach pockets for cars and trains, do so now on the right side (not the side with the binding sticking out).
14 - Sew the cover to the gren felt right down the middle of the book to create the fold. 
15 - Place the posterboard pages between the green felt and cover on each side of the binding and sew around entire book.

You're done!  Hand it off to the little boy in your life the next time you need him to be quiet or hold still!