Felt Peacock Baby Rattle

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This sweet little guy came about because I needed a gender-neutral baby gift and I wanted to try out some of the new colors of felt available from American Felt & Craft. Plus, it was a great excuse to use some of the cute ribbon scraps I’ve been collecting. I wanted to choose something that isn’t typically made into toys. Owls are SO trendy right now, but it’s time to give some other birds a little love! So, allow me to introduce you to Mr Peacock!

What I Used:

I started this little guy by decorating his body. I sewed his cheeks and beak on and made little eyes by sewing a long stitch then pulling it up into an arch with a tiny little stitch in the middle. I sewed his body to the feather piece with a little bit of batting to make him pop out.

I sewed each of the chartreuse ovals on, catching a loop of ribbon in the stitches of each one. Then I stitched on the aqua ovals and the purple circles.

I flipped him over and cut out 2 layers of crinkle material to fit inside him. I traced him, adding about a mm or 2 all around to get my backing piece. The extra space gives more room for stuffing and the rattle. I drew my backing piece up in the pattern, so you could use that if you prefer. I sewed the front and back together with the crinkle material inside, pausing 2/3 of the way around to insert stuffing and the mini rattle (wrapped in some batting.)

All done, and super sweet!

I still have three more Christmas ornaments to share with you this week! Which one should be next? Let me know on our Facebook page.

{ This pattern is free for personal use only. If you would like to purchase a $15 license to sell the finished project in your shop, go here. }

Felt Ballet Slippers Ornament

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Would you like to make and sell items from this pattern? Commercial licenses are available!

photo courtesy Tikkido/Tikkido.com

I grew up taking weekly ballet classes form a dear family friend. They were more for fun, and she often let me be the free spirit I tend to be when it comes to creative things. As I got older, my classmates outgrew ballet. The classes shrunk until I only had one or two other girls with me. I adored my classes – they were the highlight of my week! I still have my pointe shoes, and I’m planning on hanging them up in my new craft room.

Little Me

These pink ballet slippers are the second felt holiday ornament pattern in the series of five I designed this year. (You can grab the free pattern for my first, a gingerbread house, here.) This is a project that works up very quickly, but turns out so sweet!

What I used:

I started by sewing the two pink slippers down to the pomegranate pink inner shoe piece using a back stitch along the foot opening (see photo). I also did an applique stitch along the two shoe soles. I didn’t worry about sewing down the outer edges yet, as they would be sewn down as I sewed the ornament back on. Once I sewed down the two slippers, I used hot pink thread and did a back stitch to show where the two slippers overlapped.

I cut out the two sets of holly leaves and sewed each one down with a red vintage button from my late mother’s sewing stash.

I cut two pink ribbons for each slipper, to look like the double ribbons used to tie on point shoes. When I sewed the red backing on, I added some batting for dimension and I made sure the ribbons were caught in the top of each slipper. I fanned them out a bit so you can easily see both ribbons for each shoe. When the ornament was all sewn together, I tied the ribbons into a bow and placed a few stitches in the knot to hold it together.

Photo courtesy Tikkido/tikkido.com

This is another ornament that could easily be customized by using different colors of felt and new embellishments. If you make this or any of the other ornaments, I’d love to see yours! Post them on our Facebook page or email me a photo.

Stop by tomorrow for the next ornament. Which should I post?

{ This pattern is free for personal use only. If you would like to purchase a $25 license to sell the finished project in your shop, please email me. }

Felt Gingerbread House Ornament

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Would you like to make and sell items from this pattern? Commercial licenses are available!

Photo courtesy Tikkido/tikkido.com

Do you have the holiday season on your mind already like I do? You almost have to when you are a crafter, as projects take time to complete.

A while back, I was asked by Nikki of Tikkido to contribute some felt ornaments to an upcoming Christmas e-zine feature. Her theme was very sweet and girly, so I jumped at the chance! Too many of my projects are for boys or gender-neutral. It’s nice to use pink every now and then! I’ve designed 5 hand-sewn felt ornament patterns and I’ll be sharing them with you over the next few days.

Today’s pattern is a sweet pink gingerbread house. I adore how it turn out! You could very easily change the colors and embellishments to customize this pattern for your tree.

What I used:

I started by laying the icicles in place on the house front under the roof and chimney top pieces. Then I sewed the roof and chimney top down, leaving the icicles hanging loose.

I normally use two strands of embroidery floss while sewing with felt, but I used four strands of white to make a back-stitched arch to form the door. I sewed down the two windows and again used 4 strands of white to back stitch the window panes.

I sewed down the two trees and the wreath next. I used four strands of red floss to make French knot berries on the wreath. You could also use seed beads. I took a little scrap of red ribbon and folded both ends in to the center to make a bow shape. I made a stitch to hold it together then flipped it over and placed it on the wreath. I sewed it down at the center while cinching the middle of the bow.

Using a beading needle and one strand of thread, I sewed on lines of seed beads (going twice through each bead for strength.)

Photo courtesy Tikkido/tikkido.com

Once the front of the ornament was decorated, I cut out a matching back in red felt and started sewing the sides together. I added a loop of ribbon as I sewed across the top. When I was halfway around, I added some batting to the ornament to give it dimension. Once I sewed it closed, it was ready to hang! (For tips on sewing around felt edges, see my blanket stitch tutoral.)

Visit often this week to collect all five of my holiday felt ornament patterns! Which is your favorite?

{ This pattern is free for personal use only. If you would like to purchase a $25 license to sell the finished project in your shop, please email me. }

LED Holiday House Puzzle Quiet Book Page

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This quiet book page was quite the project! It is an interactive puzzle – you match the shapes to light up the LEDs. It is the second page in a series of pages I am doing for all 4 seasons. I’ll be doing one regular page and one LED holiday page for each season. The first was my Halloween Jack-o-Lantern page.

The planning of the circuits was a bit confusing to work out, but I really feel like I’m starting to get the hang of e-textiles. I admit, I went through two revisions of how I sewed the circuits before settling on the third. But, that is one of the things that makes e-sewing so forgiving. You aren’t soldering anything together… Not happy with it? Clip the threads and start again! But, don’t be scared. You can do it! Try the Halloween page first, or something similar using that wiring plan as a guide. You’ll get the hang of it!

This page can be made without the LEDs. Just skip that part and make it a regular shape puzzle. You could add a few more shapes if you wanted. You could still have the door open, but maybe put a photo or surprise behind it instead of the battery.

All of my e-textile supplies are courtesy of SparkFun. Their LilyPad line makes adding interactive circuitry to soft projects as easy as possible. They carry everything you need, from the conductive thread and fabric to snaps and needles. The lovely wool blend felt was provided by American Felt and Craft. I think the look and feel of wool felt is a match made in heaven for a Christmas themed page. The rich colors and soft, warm feel are just perfect!

What I Used:

This tutorial is going to be a little crazy! But, stay with me…

Red & Blue LEDs: Start by cutting some scrap felt into two strips that follow the roof line. On the first strip, stitch down the red LEDs: using conductive thread, make several stitches through the + hole of the first LED then use a running stitch across to the next. Make several stitches in that LED’s + hole and continue until you’ve linked all four positive (+) holes. Start a new conductive thread and repeat the process along the negative (-) holes. Don’t let the + and – threads touch. The strip holding the red LEDs will need to be layered behind the blue strip, so the running stitches need to be covered. I cut scrap felt and basted it down between the LEDs.

     

My strip of felt for the blue LEDs is thicker because the two circuits need to go over the red LEDs while still letting the blue LEDs line up. Stitch the positive (+) line of the blue LEDs the same way you did the red, but stitch along the edge to leave room for the negative line (see photos). Lay the blue over the red and cut out holes to let the red LEDs show through as shown. Then sew the blue LED’s negative line as shown.

At this point I tested both circuits and set them aside. To test: put a battery in the battery holder and cut two scraps of conductive thread. Lay the ends of one scrap on the + hole of the battery holder and the + hole of the last LED. Lay the other thread on the – hole of the battery holder and the – of the last LED. They should light up.

     

Main Circuitry: Pin the roof piece to one of the house shapes so you have an idea of where the LEDs will be. Cut a scrap of felt to go under the snow. Mine was about 8″ wide by 2″ high I suggest going 3″ high so you have more wiggle room. Cut out one set of the gray shapes and decide where they will be positioned on the house. Place the battery holder so the positive (+) holes are at the right.

Red: I started with the red circuit first. Sew a few stitches where the upper left corner of the rectangle will be. Do a running stitch up to just below where the far right red LED will go. Tie it off. (We will link it up to the LEDs later.) Start another thread by making several stitches in the upper right (+) hole of the battery holder. Go out and down (staying out of the way of the negative hole), then go right under where the rectangle will be. Go up and end near where you ended the first (negative) line. Now we stitch the other half of the negative line (broken by where the squares of conductive fabric will be.) Start a thread and make several stitches in the upper left negative (-) hole of the battery holder. Go out and down (staying out of the way of the negative hole), then stitch down and around the triangle as shown. You need to leave plenty of room over the triangle for the yellow LED circuit. End with several stitches under where the lower left corner of the rectangle will be.

You can test your red circuit by laying the red LED strip in place and running scraps of conductive thread from the – and + holes of the last one to the corresponding thread lines in the upper right corner of the house. Then place a scrap of conductive thread or fabric (I saved the selvage to use as test strips) to complete the gap where the rectangle will be. (See photo below of me testing the yellow.)

Yellow: Next is the yellow LED circuit. start a thread and make several stitches in the upper right (+) hole of the batter holder and go up and over (staying out of the way of the negative hole) to the triangle as shown. Position the LED just above the point of the triangle (with the positive hole on the left) and make sever stitches in the (+) hole.

     

The negative line of for the yellow LED is a quick one. Make several stitches in the negative hole of the LED then a couple stitches down to under where the triangle tip will be. Start a new thread and stitch several times in the upper left negative hole of the battery holder. make a line of stitching going out and down (don’t touch the blue line!) and end it under where the lower right corner of the triangle will me. You can test this circuit by placing a scrap of conductive thread across the gap in the circuit.

Blue: To start the blue circuit, make several stitches under where the upper right corner of the square will be. Running stitch up to just below where the blue LEDs will be as shown.

     

To sew the other half of the blue LED’s negative line, make several stitches in the lower left negative hole of the batter holder, then stitch down and under the triangle, just below the red line you made earlier. My lines were close, which is why I suggest using a slightly longer scrap of felt down there. Make sure you leave room below the line you are stitching. There will be one more line down there. Continue your stitching up to where the lower right corner of the square will be and make several stitches.

Make the positive blue line by starting with several stitches in the lower right positive hole of the battery holder. Stitch down and over to the left (it will be the third line running under the triangle) as shown. Stitch over and up to the roof, ending beside the negative line. You can test your circuit the same way you tested the red earlier.

Conductive Shapes: Cut out a second house piece and use the door pattern piece to cut out a hole for access to the battery holder. Pin the roof piece on to it and sew it down (I was not sewing things down to a background at that point. The light blue was just a layer to insulate my laptop from the exposed circuits while I photographed steps.) I also sewed down the windows and window snow, as they are overlapped by the shapes. Cut out your star felt piece and cut a hole in it so the yellow LED can show through. I stitched around the hole for strength and also stitched it down around the narrow width of the LED so the hole doesn’t move. Stitch down the star.

Big Note: You don’t need the snaps I added to my puzzle! In fact, they almost make the conductive fabric unnecessary… But I was a little disappointed to find that (unlike the conductive thread) you needed some pressure when laying the two layers of conductive fabric together in order to power the LEDs. The finished puzzle pieces did not have enough weight to do this on their own once you let go. Since Jax is not old enough to understand he needs to press down on the pieces to get them to light, I went back and added snaps to hold the pieces down against the puzzle. I also used conductive thread when sewing them on to add conductivity.

Cut scraps of conductive fabric and sew them to the triangle as shown. Cut out a piece of felt to be your snowy ground for the page (mine is “soap sud” – a blueish white) and lay it over the bottom of the house. Sew the triangle down. Using conductive thread, make several stitches through all layers to link the two “broken” ends of the yellow negative line to the two scraps of conductive fabric. Each scrap should be connected to its corresponding line of conductive stitching. Test the puzzle piece by pressing a scrap of conductive fabric across the triangle. (See photo below.)

Do the same for the square and rectangle, adding scraps of conductive fabric (and snaps if preferred) as shown and sewing them down. Be sure to link the conductive fabric to the circuits with conductive thread. (See the last photo below. You can see my 3 dark stitches in the side of each square of conductive fabric.)

     

When designing this puzzle, I worked hard to find a balance between making the project easy to explain and having a design that was easy to product with minimal user errors (such as stitching circuits too close to each other and shorting it out.) In this third revision of the design, I knew this would be the most difficult part to explain. It really isn’t that bad, though! Stay with me…

Take your strip of blue LEDs and pin them in place between the house layers. The second photo above shows the top layer of the house pulled back. I hadn’t moved the roof piece up to the front house piece yet for that photo. Simply put, you need to connect your negative line from the house to the negative hole of the first LED and connect the positive line from the house to the positive hole of the same LED, WITHOUT touching! Touching the lines together will “short” the circuit and the LEDs will not light. To do this, I added an additional scrap of felt between the bottom house piece and the blue LED strip piece. I was able to directly link up the negative line from the house to the negative hole by just stitching up the house and then straight through the scrap of felt into the hole. For the positive line, I went up the house and then through to the scrap of felt, where I continued up and around the LED to get to the positive hole. I hope the sketches on my photos help explain!

You can new test and light up your blue LEDs with a strip of conductive thread. I kept mine pinned in place so the LEDs glowed while I cut tiny holes for them out of the front house piece. I stitched around the hole and stitched them down around the LEDs same as with the yellow star. You are done the blue! Phew!

   

To attache the red LEDs, lay them so they line up with the holes you made in the blue strip, as shown in the first photo below. It was easy to connect the negative and positive lines from the house to the corresponding holes on the LED. Just follow the house lines and check the LED holes to make sure you are connecting the right ones. The positive line will go up beisde the LED to where the positive hole is at the top of the LED. Keep your stitches in the hole you cut out of the blue strip to avoid crossing and shorting circuits. Test it out with a strip of conductive fabric across the rectangle puzzle. You finished all the circuits! I knew you could do it!

Decorating the House: At this point, after thoroughly testing all the circuits, I sewed the house and snowy ground down to the page. Before sewing the snow to the roof, I layered the chimney behind it. I also stitched down the opening of the door.

If you aren’t using LEDs, you can add a photo window or little surprise behind the door in place of the battery… Santa? A loved one? Whatever you’d like!

For the windows, I cut scraps of vintage lace as curtains, and stitched them down along the outside of the windows. Then I decorated the window garlands with beads and sewed the, down over top.

For the wreath, I decorated it with red seed beads before sewing it to the house. I folded a scrap of red ribbon into a bow shape and stitched it down at the top of the wreath.

If you are not doing LEDs, You can stitch beads or sequins down in place of the LEDs to be the string of lights.

Making the Door: Sew a snap to the house just above the door hole. Sew the matching half of the snap to the back of the tan door garland backing piece. Sew the door to the garland piece and decorate the garland with beads. I also added a sequin doorknob. Sew the front and back pieces of the door flap together and sew it in place. I sewed mine along the bottom instead of the left as it is not there to function as a regular door and that felt more secure. If you are not using LEDs, a regular door would work well, and you might not even need a snap.

Puzzle Pieces: To start each puzzle piece, you need to make the gray backing that will complete the broken circuits when laid in the correct place. To do this, sew strips of conductive fabric onto the gray backings so that they line up with the conductive scraps on the page AND span the gap. I also added the optional snaps to hold the pieces against the page.

Decorate the fronts of the puzzle pieces however you like! On my tree, I used sequin trim to make a garland and beads as ornaments. On the square and rectangle, note that you will need to show which side is the top of the shape (so the conductive fabric lines up.) I added a bow to the top of my rectangle, and cut out a quick heart shape to Jax would realize which end was up on the square. Sew the fronts and backs together.

Before sewing your page to its backing, add a felt “snow drift” pocket to the corner to hold the shapes while not in use. You don’t want to store them on the puzzle unless you upgrade your battery holder to the one with a power switch.

All done! Not so bad, right? I admit, it was tricky at times. Electrical wiring is not something I learned while pursuing my fine art degree in college, But I am sure proud of myself for figuring it all out! Mad props to my programmer brother for patiently checking all my circuitry drawings for errors!

Jax knew exactly what this page was for before I even had all three of the puzzle pieces sewn. He kept asking if the shapes were all done so he could play with it. He can’t do little snaps yet, but this page will help him practice. I close the snaps for him after he solves each piece.

  

If you make this page, send me a photo! You can email it or post it on the Facebook page. I’d love to see both versions with and without LEDs. Happy sewing!

Happy Halloween from my Little Engineer!

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Happy Halloween from Jax & I! My little man decided he wanted to be a “choo choo” this year. He has since learned that he is actually an “engineer”. I love how his costume came together! And it was very cheap to do.

His clothes were: Osh Kosh overall bought when they went on sale for $10, an H&M tee for $5, thrift store Stride Rite shoes for $2, thrift store Osh Kosh hat for $1, and a craft store bandanna for $2.

To make the train, I used: a cardboard diaper box and other bits of cardboard, red and black duct tape, a sheet of yellow duct tape, yellow thin plastic tape, leftover black party plates, a dollar store floral foam ring, dollar store red LED push light, aluminum foil (windows), leftover black party cup, the straps off a black dollar store reusable shopping tote and some polyfill stuffing.

I took a few photos as I worked on the train. If you want to make one of your own and have any questions, just ask!

And now for the winners of the SparkFun $50 Gift Certificate Giveaway!

Lisa who said “I have to admit I just stumbled upon your blog while searching for quiet book page ideas and I am so impressed! I find myself excited to get up in the morning and play with my kids and these fun books, instead of staying in bed and just letting them watch T.V. :) I have a great network of crafty moms who will be so excited about this too! I can’t wait to show them how fun and easy it is. The gift certificate is such a great idea! Thank you for all the inspiration.”

Sarah J. who said “Love this page! I really want to do a page like this for my son.”

Hazel who said “wow.. such creative touch with the LEDs.. the possibilities are endless in a quiet book – christmas trees, dollhouse.. candles on birthday cakes..”

Congratulations to our randomly chosen winners! Thank you to all who entered! Lisa, Sarah and Hazel, you can email me to claim you prize, or wait from an email from me with the gift code sometime tomorrow.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

LED Halloween Jack-o-Lantern Quiet Book Page

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I’m so excited to be working with e-textiles again! (The robot page was my first effort.) Quiet books and LEDs can really be a perfect pairing. I really like to include a lot of interaction into my page designs, and what better to add than working lights?

This is a very simple e-sewing project – a perfect one to start with if you want to get the hang of it. And better yet? SparkFun has provided me with 3 $50 gift certificates so you can load up on supplies and create some LED projects of your own! Head to the bottom of the post to enter.

If you aren’t feeling up to the LEDs. this page works great without them. The main activity is a create-your-own jack-o-lantern face with pieces that hide inside the pumpkin.

This is the first in a series of pages I am doing for all 4 seasons. I’ll be doing one regular page and one holiday page for each season.

The beautiful felt for this page is provided by American Felt and Craft. See that beautiful aqua blue with swirls of cobalt it it? When I received samples of their newest colors, I HAD to change my background for this page to Pool Party. It is the perfect twilight sky color. It reminds me of when the sun has just barely set on Halloween night and you go out on the porch to light the candles in your jack-o-lanterns. Perfect. AF&C is having a giveaway on their Facebook page. Hurry and check it out!

What I used:

Start by cutting everything out. Lay the pumpkin silhouettes at the top of a full black sheet of felt and cut away the negative space above them. (See photos.) Pin it on to the blue background, leaving the top loose so you can flip it down if you are adding the wiring and LEDs.

E-Sewing: Start by basting your battery holder in place as shown under the black felt near the edge of your page. Thread your needle with conductive thread and tie a knot in the end. 1. Come up through the top + (positive) hole and make several strong stitches through it. Using the white ghost shape as a guide, do a running stitch up to where the button will be (so that the stitches will hide under the ghost.) Stitch several times through the button board as shown. Tie off  your thread with a knot, making sure the tail is short and can’t touch other threads. 2. Start a new conductive thread and make several stitches through the other hole of the button board. Stitch a running stitch over to the + hole of the first LED and make several stitches in the hole. Continue the + (positive) thread as shown until you’ve gone through all the + holes in a chain. Tie off with a knot and trim the tail. 3. Start a new conductive thread and make several stitch in the top –  (negative) hole of the battery holder. Running stitch over to the negative hole of the first LED and make several stitches. Continue the – (negative) thread as shown until you’ve gone through all the + holes in a chain. Tie off with a knot and trim the tail. 4. Insert a battery into the holder and test the button.

Pumpkin Silhouettes: Lay the black pumpkin shapes down over the LEDs and press the button to see where they are. Cut tiny rectangles for the LEDs to shine through. Stitch around the holes to fortify them, and stitch the short sides of the hole down to the page so the holes don’t move out of place. Stitch around all the pumpkins, but leave the straight section between the far right pumpkin and the edge of the page unstitched.

       

Cut a square of felt to be the lining of the little flap you left unstitched over the battery holder. Add half of  snap to the edge of the page (leave room for the edge seam) and add the other half to the lining. Sew the lining in using a blanket stitch on the two exposed edges and baste along the other two. (I basted by making long stitches on the inside of the flap and tiny stitches on the visible side.)

Ghost Button: Sew a scrap of black felt on to be your ghost’s mouth. I made mine a happy ghost. For his eyes, I made curved stitches. Find a white button with a convex back (so that the back curves out like the bottom of a bowl.) Test placing the button on top of the LilyPad button board and pressing lightly. If it turns on the lights, you have a winner. Sew the button in place on the ghost so it lines up with the button board, then sew around the ghost to secure him the the page.

Pumpkin: Sew the stem down to the page. I didn’t bother sewing the base of the stem, as it gets hidden under the pumpkin. Take your orange pumpkin piece and sew a running stitch to indicate all the folds in its shape. I used an orange-brown thread. Sew some yellow hook & loop tape to the inner yellow pumpkin piece (see the pocket photo below.) Pin the two layers together and sew a blanket stitch along the outside of the far right segment of pumpkin. (You’ll be sewing the opening of the pocket. Mine went from the bottom of the far-right fold line to the top of it. Pin the pieces to the page and sew around the rest attaching it to the page as a pocket. Sew some black hook & loop tape down to the page so it lines up with the yellow.

Jack-O-Lantern Pieces: For each jack-o-lantern piece, I sewed the yellow shape down to some black felt using a running stitch. Cut out around the shape so that the black is a bit wider than the yellow. Cut another piece of black felt to match and sew it on as a backing.

 

Jax adores this page and really loves making different emotions with the face shapes. He spent a whole bedtime routine the first night saying “He’s mad!!” and laughing hysterically over his memory of the smile turned upside down. You could add shapes of your own. There is plenty of room in the pocket!

  

The Good Stuff

I’m excited to announce a really great giveaway! I reached out to SparkFun recently because I think e-textiles are a really great match for quiet books. My next page will be very interactive and provide feedback to the child while they play. SparkFun has generously offered up three $50 gift certificates to their online store. (You will need to have at least $50 pre-tax and pre-shipping in your cart for the code to work.)

To enter, leave a comment on the blog post below. Make sure you include your email address in the right field so I can contact you if you win.

The Boring Stuff: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Sweepstake is open to those age 18 and older. Entries must be received between 12:01am 10/24/2012 and 12:01 10/31/2012. Three (3) winners will be chosen on 10/31/2012 and will each win one (1) $50 code for sparkfun.com. The codes require that you have at least $50 pre-tax and pre-shipping in your cart to work. International shipping charges and fees may apply. See the SparkFun website for details. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. If a potential winner forfeits or does not claim the prize, the prize will be re-awarded, at the sweepstake host’s sole discretion. All prizes will be awarded. Neither Imagine Our Life, prize sponsor SparkFun nor their affiliates will have any liability whatsoever for any injuries, losses or damages of any kind caused by any prize or resulting from acceptance, possession, use and/or misuse of any prize or participation in this promotion. Acceptance of a prize shall be construed as the winners’ consent to having their first name and last initial posted on the sponsor’s site following the contest duration. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Good luck! If you sew this page, with or without the LEDs, please send a photo or post it on the Facebook page. I’d love to see it!

Dollhouse Quiet Book – Cover & Assembly

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My dollhouse quiet book is complete! It turned out so sweet and cute. I really enjoyed doing a girlie project! Click an link below to go to the other pages of the book for patterns and instructions.

There is no pattern for the cover, but I will go over everything I did. Leave a comment here or on the Facebook page if you have any questions!

Stack the three folded pages like a book. I did mine: kitchen, bed/bath, then the backyard.

Sew together the two center pages along three sides (top edge of book, outer edge and bottom edge.) Don’t go all the way to the center of the middle page with your stitching (see photo above), but leave a gap so the book can easily fold closed.

Another view of the center pages sewn.

Do one last step to prepare your pages to be covered. Cut a strip of felt to cover the spine of your book. I used pink, since many of my pages use that color.

  

Sew the spine along the top and bottom edges. I also added a couple stitches on either side of the spine in the center to hold it in place.

 

inside of cover – outside of cover

Cut two 8.5″ wide x 9″ high pieces of felt in your cover color. Overlap them so they fit perfect around your closed book. I pinned one to the front and one to the back, then overlapped them and pinned. Sew both sides of the overlap. I had the front side of my stitching on the outside of the cover, even though one of the overlaps is on the inside.

Take a 12″ x 6.5″ piece of felt in your roof color and fold it in half (to 6″ x 6.5″) The fold will be the part of the roof that hangs down over the door when folded over the top of the book. I sewed my Velcro on last, careful to go through one layer of felt, but you can do it before sewing the roof. Sew the sides of the roof closed and sew the third side down to the cover as shown above.

I added another closure – a little strap in my cover color  (2 layers of felt with Vecro) that wraps around the open pages and Velcros closed. Normally this kind of strap is attached to the back, but I didn’t want to have a square of Velcro on the front of my book. I pinned mine in place then sewed a door down over top of it. My door was 2.25″ wide x 5.5″ high to be the right scale for the doll. A vintage button works great as a door knob.

I made a wreath on the door by cutting little leaf shapes and sewing them down in a circle. I cut tiny pink trapezoids then folded the points in and sewed them down into rose buds. I added some periwinkle French knots.

To make a shuttered window, cut your window shape, then cut the shutter color twice as wide. Center the window on the shutter felt and sew through both to attach it to the cover. The shutters hang free. I back stitched the window panes and added a strip of white for the window sill.

I added a green blob to make a rose bush. Cut 1″ strips of felt about 1/4″  thick and tapered at both ends to make the roses. Stitch the point at one end down, then fold and twist it into a spiraling circle shape, stitching it down as you go.

Sew the cover to the first and last page similar to how you sewed the inner pages. Stop sewing along the top and bottom when you get to the spine. The cover will bubble out when the book is open, but fit snug when folded closed.

You could probably add a handle along the center of the roof piece if you wanted to. The cover turns the whole book into a sweet little house and holds the book snug and closed.

Welcome!

This quiet book is a lot of work (aren’t the all??) but SO worth it! You end up with hours of adorable, girly fun. I admit to having fun with it! A lot of the pieces are tiny, so this is for the 3 and up crowd, but it is a homemade treasure that will stay in the family for years.

I hand sewed this entire book with wool blend felt provided by American Felt and Craft. One a project like this that you want to stand up to many, many hours of playtime, it is absolutely worth the extra expense of wool felt. The colors I used for this cover are: white, wild blueberry, jade, forget me not, pink tutu, orchid and sweet pea. AF & C has some brand new delicious looking colors of felt in that I can’t wait to try!

If you sew this quiet book, I’d love to see photos! Email me or post them to our Facebook page. Happy sewing!

Quiet Book Dollhouse – Bed & Bath Page

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This page is a part of my Dollhouse mini quiet book. You can find the instructions for the doll and the kitchen page here, and the backyard page here. In the next couple of days I will post the cover! The book is designed on 12″ w x 9″ h felt sheets that will fold in half to 6″ w x 9″ h when closed.

All the felt for this mini book has been provided by American Felt and Craft. I am using their wool blend felt, which cuts like butter and has been holding up so much better than the craft store recycled felt I’d been using. If it is in your budget, it is absolutely worth upgrading for a long-lasting handmade item such as a quiet book. They have some new colors of felt in, and I can’t wait to try them!

What I Used: The pattern, felt (in pink tutu/pink, rainy day/blue-gray, toffee/tan, sunshine/light yellow, soap sud/pale gray, hot pink, white,  limeade/lime green, doe/brown, royal purple/purple, buttercream/pale yellow, sweet pea/pinkish-purple, gray flannel/gray and bisque/flesh), felt scraps (I used rubber ducky/yellow and orange juice/orange for the duck, and forget me not/periwinkle for the front of her nightie.), clear vinyl, white snag-free Velcro, size 1 sew-on snap, 3 small buttons (red and blue for the taps, a mini aqua one for the nightie.), ribbon scraps (many blues for the water, wide polka dot for the mat, hearts for the bed spread, silver for the curtain rod, pink for the towel and robe and white ric-rac for her nightie.), sequins, white snag-free Velcro and a child-safe mirror.

Backgrounds: The background of the whole 2-page spread is a full sheet of pink felt. I cut two rectangles of felt to be the floors (one tan and one blue.) I also cut some light yellow to give the bathroom side a different wall color. On the bathroom floor piece, I sewed the tub and tub feet down so there was some overlap (as shown above.) I didn’t sew it down to the background yet, though. I sewed down the yellow wall and just pinned everything else in place. While sewing the yellow wall, I sewed in a length of silver ribbon about a half inch down from the top. This will be for the shower curtain later. Leave it loose so just the ends are sewn into the sides of the yellow background piece.

Bath Tub: To finish the bath tub, I cut out the two sides of the bubbles and sewed sequins on to the front. Mine were Darice “Crystal Iridescent” that I bought at the fabric store. I sewed both sides of the bubbles together and layered it behind the tub. Using the dashed line on the tub pattern piece as a guide, I folded the extra tub fabric backwards to make a rounded lip. Then I sewed through the tub, the tub fold and both layers of the bubbles to attach them all together.

Showing the floor pockets

Once that was done, I sewed down a ribbon as a bathmat and sewed the floor down to the background along the sides and bottom (also sew the little bits of floor seen to the left and right of the tub). This turns the tub and floor into a big pocket so the doll can fit in her bath.

Bath Fixtures: Sew one of the faucet pieces to the wall, and sew the two buttons on a taps. With the other two faucet pieces, sew them together with different scraps of blue ribbons sticking out one end to look like water. Lay the faucet with water over-top of the one on the page, and stitch it down just at the top so it can flip up out of the way. It will be hidden under the towel while not in use.

Sew the towel bar by folding it and sewing the open edges together. Decorate the two towel pieces with some ribbon and sew the front and back together. Wrap the top of the towel around the bar and sew it on. Position the towel/bar on the page so that it covers the second faucet and water stream and sew the sides of the towel bar down.

What really adds a lot is the little mirror. I hunted the thrift stores for fabric baby books and snagged the mirror out of the one I found. I left the green fabric edging on mine and chose my shower curtain fabric to match. However, you can make your own mirror. Here is a tutorial about it.

The shower curtain is one layer of felt that is folded at the top and sewn around the silver ribbon. Because felt is thick, the curtain doesn’t slide/bunch on the ribbon like a normal curtain. It just flips up like a peek-a-boo panel. You could hem some regular fabric to use as a curtain if you wanted yours to slide.

  

Bed: I cut a slit in the tan floor piece to match the length of the top of the bed (stopping at where the bed curves at the foot.) I sewed the pillow on to the upper left of the slit (see the above photo.) The bed gets sewn down below the slit (I pinned mine at first so I could sew through both the bed and the blanket at the same time.) I decorated the bed spread with a ribbon and sewed the left side into a fold. I sewed the blanket on to the bed, leave the wavy bottom hanging open. When the bed was all sewn to the floor, I sewed the floor down to the background. The open slit makes a pocket for the doll to go in when she lies in bed.

Shown with clothes from the other pages

Wardrobe: For the wardrobe, I cut two pieces of felt for each door (I used brown on the outside and pale yellow inside.) I also cut some clear vinyl about half the size of each door and sewed them into small pockets to hold the doll’s hat and toys. On one door, I sewed on a folded strip of felt with a snap. On the other, I sewed the other half of the snap. This holds the doors closed.

To assemble the wardrobe, I cut a large square of clear vinyl (the size of the two doors closed) and sewed it down to the page as a pocket. Then I sewed the doors on to each side.

Extras & Clothing:

On the back side of the robe, I sewed two bits of snag-free Velcro where it would match up with her underclothes. On the front, I sewed down the two collar pieces and pinned on a ribbon belt. When I sewed the front and back together, I made sure to catch the ends of the ribbon belt in the seams.

For her nightie, I decorated the front with the contrasting felt, then added ric-rac trim and a mini button. I sewed Velcro on the backing piece and then sewed the two halves together.

The rubber ducky has French knot eyes. I sewed the body pieces together, then sewed the beak on.

The teddy bear has pink ovals sewn on for his muzzle and tummy. I added a satin stitched nose and two French knot eyes. The ears are each one thickness of felt that I sandwiched between the two sides of his head while sewing him together.

I can’t decide which “room” in this dollhouse is my favorite! I love them all…

Night Night!

If you sew the dollhouse quiet book, I’d love to see it! email me photos or post them on the Facebook page!

DIY Rainbow Car Wall Art

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I’m working on a bright and fun “big boy room” for little Jax, who currently room shares with us. When I originally started planning it, he asked for a red “choo choo”, the color blue and “a rainbow”. Yes, my son loves rainbows, and that’s okay.

I expanded his request to an overall transportation theme. I’ve been working on a huge, two-wall mural for him with a city silhouette, rainbow, and green hills. There is a train engine behind his new red bed (purchased by trading in our coin jar contents) that is pulling a chalkboard paint train car. There is a Velcro road running along one wall with little wooden vehicles and signs. I did the other two walls in the great teal color of the city. It makes the red in the room pop! I’ll post more about the mural and the road project when they are complete.

I have a lot of DIY art projects in the work for his room, as my budget is tight. I started collecting Matchbox-type cars a couple months ago with the idea of gluing them to a canvas. The idea evolved into a rainbow mosaic of cars in an old frame I’d spray painted red for Jax’s room. I bought all but one of my cars from thrift stores. One pink one was from the grocery store, since pink is so hard to find. Probably about half of the cars were a gift from my aunt, who hunted down the colors we needed from her grocery stores in NM. Thank you Aunt Pat!!

I LOVE how this turned out, and it couldn’t have been easier.

What I used:

  • Lots of Matchbox and Hot Wheel type toy cars in rainbow colors
  • An inexpensive frame (I used red spray paint on an old black frame missing the glass)
  • Cardboard or foam board (I used the corrugated cardboard that came with the frame)
  • Black paint
  • Hot glue and hot glue gun
  • Optional: nail polish in the colors you need more of (pinks and purples for me!)

Collect your cars and lay them out as you get them so you know how many you’ll need of each color. I had trouble finding pink and purple cars, so I’ll let you in on my secret… Nail polish! Two or three coats of nail polish on some extra cars gave me florescent pink, berry pink and purple cars.

 

Paint the cardboard you are mounting the cars to black (or another solid color.) I used cardboard to keep the project lighter. The cars are already so heavy when combined. My frame is strong, but light metal. Once your board is dry, you can go ahead and hot glue them in place. I used a lot of glue on the bottom of each, focusing on the wheels. The glue starts out rolling into the wheel wells, but then it locks the wheels so you can get a good coating. As a bonus, I was able to pull one of and pop the dried glue right off the car. So if you are using cars you don’t necessarily want to damage, you should be okay (test it out yourself, just in case!) As I was gluing, I had the frame sitting over the backing board, so I was sure the cars fit just right.

I gave my mosaic a night to fully dry before hanging it. It looks so colorful and happy against the teal walls. It is the first item in his future wall gallery.

Here are some bonus photos of the room in progress. Jax loves it, and even slept there part of one night! Go Jax!

 

Vrooooom!

Thrift Store Gems

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We’ve been thrifting a lot, as usual. It just works out so well to get books and toys used and then pass them on when Jax outgrows them. We’ve also been getting a great deal of wall frames and decor items for Jax’s big boy room makeover. I’ll be featuring a lot of projects from that room as I get closer to completion.

I’m really bummer that our beloved children’s thrift store is now closed. They moved some of the things they were selling in to two tiny rooms of the regular thrift store. It won’t be the same, though. There just isn’t room to have the same stock.

Today was the first day of the official change, so we swung by the store to check it out. The main room was SO STUFFED with clothes racks now that Jax freaked out and needed me to carry him. I found a pair of 3T Children’s Place jeans for him to grow into. In the two kids rooms there was mostly books at this point. I let Jax pick out a $0.50 train toy while I went through them.

I’m in the process of switching Jax’s library over from baby board books to hardback story books. He finally understands not to rip the paper pages and will hold still and listen while I read to him.

Here is what I got today: Tabu and the Dancing Elephants, The Tiny Seed (World of Eric Carle), Giraffes Can’t Dance, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Press Here and two board books he was interested in, Dinos To Go : 7 Nifty Dinosaurs in 1 Swell Book and Curious George’s Are You Curious?.

Looking forward to all the new stories to read together!

Here are some more recent thrift store finds…

Toddler iPad App Review & Giveaway – Tizzy Seasons HD

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It’s been a  while since I’ve reviewed an iPad app, but we certainly try out a lot of them! I mostly get apps for Jax by checking the iTunes app store regularly for free educational apps. As those of you on the Facebook page know, I often post links to apps that are free for a limited time as soon as I come across them.

When Tizzy Labs contacted me about their new app, Tizzy Seasons HD, I was definitely interested in checking it out. They described it to me as a “new imaginative play app for kids 2-6.” They added that their app “helps kids learn about the different seasons of the year through mini-games and puzzles.” Since I am just now starting to do preschool lessons with Jax, I am always looking for learning tools that can fit into a school learning unit. Seasons are something I hope to cover with Jax in the near future!

My first impression of the app was that it is beautifully illustrated. The graphics are lovely and the game is responsive to the touch. Jax hasn’t had any trouble manipulating the objects within each game. He was immediately drawn to play the app by the colorful icon and kept at it until he had played every mini game, thus earning all the “stars”. When you start, you choose a boy or girl character. Jax choose both equally as often.

But, the speed at which he went through the games was something I noted. Being a game for “2-6” year olds, my 2.5 year old did them all in about 10 minutes without any help, beyond my instructing him in one game. (There is an apple sorting game in the autumn segment with large, medium and small apples. I needed to point that out to Jax, as he had only sorted by color before then.)

I think the biggest thing I would want to change about Tizzy Season is that the app doesn’t actually teach you the season names! There is no text or voice overs, only icons. The icons are clear to me, but Jax goes to the main screen and tells me, “I play sunny day!” while clicking on the summer sun icon. I’d love some text and a voice over saying the season names when they are selected. For now, I just have to tell him as he plays.

Jax really is enjoying playing this game over and over, despite nothing really happening once you earn all the stars (you just start over again.) He tends to choose winter first, and likes to mention ice skating, despite the fact they don’t have an ice skating game. He just sees the frozen pond and thinks about it. He generally chooses fall next, followed by summer and spring.

   

This app retails for $1.99 in the app store. I think it is a fair price, given how nicely made it is and how many mini games it contains. It definitely wouldn’t challenge a child over the age of 4, but older kids would still find it fun. We only have an iPad 1, and the app ran smoothly without any crashes.

Tizzy Seasons is a fun and beautiful way to teach your preschooler about the seasons on the iPad!

Disclaimer: I received a free code from Tizzy Labs to try out this app, but wrote this review on my own accord. The opinion above is my own honest views of this app. Tizzy Labs also provided the two free app codes for the giveaway below.

Giveaway!

Would you like to win a free code to download your own copy of Tizzy Seasons for the iPad? Enter for free below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Quiet Book Dollhouse – Backyard Page

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This page is a part of my Dollhouse mini quiet book. You can find the instructions for the doll and the kitchen page here. Still to come are the bedroom, bathroom and the cover/construction. The book is designed on 12″ w x 9″ h felt sheets that will fold in half to 6″ w x 9″ h when closed.

All the felt for this mini book has been provided by American Felt and Craft. I am using their wool blend felt, which cuts like butter and has been holding up so much better than the craft store recycled felt I’d been using. If it is in your budget, it is absolutely worth upgrading for a long-lasting handmade item such as a quiet book.

Shown with food from the kitchen page.

What I Used: The pattern, felt (in ice/light blue, soap sud/pale gray, jade/green, peacock/aqua, hot pink, white, rubber ducky/yellow, limeade/lime green, doe/brown, forget me not/periwinkle, beet/dark red and bisque/flesh), felt scraps (I used a zebra print craft felt for the swimsuit and cilantro/olive for the leaves), clear vinyl, white snag-free Velcro, size 1 sew-on snaps, 2 small buttons, thin blue and green ribbon, white snag-free Velcro and ribbon scraps.

Pool Background: I started by cutting a strip of white and sewing it down along the top to make the edge of the pool. I took a large rectangle of peacock blue and sewed it down along its top edge, overlapping the white. I cut a piece of clear vinyl the same size as the blue pool water and sewed it down along the sides and bottom, going through all three layers (vinyl, blue felt and background felt), making a clear pocket.

Patio Table: I sewed the hot pink table top down, then used a back stitch to sew the legs. I took a scrap of thin, yellow ribbon and sewed it down to make a pole for the umbrella. The umbrella was sewn down along the bottom curve, letting the scallops hang free.

Pool Toys: The inner tube is just sewn back to front. For the beach ball, I sewed the colored segments to each side, then sewed the two sides together.

Garden Background: I cut some jade green felt into a hill and sewed it down to the left side of the page to make the ground. I sewed the fence pieces down to a rectangle of green felt, then trimmed the green from between the pointed tops of the fence posts, as shown above. I sewed the fence into a pocket on the bottom of the page. The doll can stand behind the fence, or you can store the page pieces there.

Flowers: For each flower, I started by sewing a button to the front piece and a leaf to the back piece. I cut two lengths of ribbon – one blue and one green – and had them sticking out of the flower (as shown above) when I sewed the fronts to the backs. At the end of the green ribbons, I sewed on folded rectangles of jade green felt.

Planter: I folded the top of the planter down (towards the front) and sewed it down to make a lip. I positioned the flowers and their green ribbons where they needed to be on the page, and pinned down the planet over top. I sewed along the sides and bottom of the planter, but made sure to leave holes where the ribbons stuck through the bottom. This is so you can pull the green felt tabs to pull the flowers back into the planter.

Clouds: The clouds have snaps sewn to the back pieces. I pinned the tops of the blue ribbons in between the cloud pieces before sewing fronts to backs. I pulled the flowers all the way into the planter then marked where the other halves of the snaps needed to be to hold the clouds in place. I sewed them down to finish the clouds.

Watering Can: The watering can is made by sewing the fronts and backs together with the following things sticking out: A bit of yellow ribbon to make a handle, three bits of blue ribbon coming out of the spout and a scrap of blue felt in the top to make the water.

Find directions for the doll on the kitchen page

Swimsuit: The swimsuit  has a ribbon and bow sewn to the waist of the front piece to make a belt. At the bottom, I took a length of ribbon and sewed it down in loops to make a ruffle. I switched the direction of the the loops halfway through. I sewed bits of snag-free Velcro to the white back piece then sewed the front and back together.

Garden Outfit: I started by sewing bits of Velcro to the back of the white back piece. I then sewed the yellow boots to front of it. I sewed down the pants, folding up the cuffs and sewing them in place. I decorated the shirt with some back stitch and daisy stitches before sewing it down.

Garden Hat: I sewed thin blue ribbon across the brim of each side of the hat. I took a scrap of flower ribbon and folded the ends under to make a little square with one flower motif on it. I sewed one of those down on to each side. I sewed the hat together, leave the bottom open so you can slide it on the doll’s head.

Hope you’ve been enjoying my free quiet book patterns! I love seeing what you’ve done with them. Email me your photos, or leave them on our Facebook page. Stop by tomorrow for a toddler iPad app review and a giveaway of two free app codes!