Woodland Felt Scene

Here’s a woodland felt scene that I made for my daughter’s birthday.  This is simply a red felt background with moveable pieces.  It started as a memory game, then a felt board, but since I’m having a hard time controlling the clutter around here, I wanted something that could roll up and be put away on a shelf.  Here are the templates:

woodland-felt-scene-page-1

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The felt mat is made from two contrasting pieces of wool felt 9 1/2″ x 30″ and sewn with a ribbon in between the layers. I sewed some extra stitching around the figures and sewed the background together, but since felt glues easily, you could do this project without a sewing machine.  You could even make these shapes from paper for a rainy day coloring project.

A quick note about felt:  Always use wool felt or a good quality wool blend.  I buy my large pieces at a big box fabric store by the yard.  The smaller colored pieces I order from various places.  You can’t always get a wide selection of colors by the yard.  If you have a dressmaker’s fabric store, they will also have wool used for suiting that would work well, but might be more expensive.  Acrylic felt will fall apart, so if you care about your project, use wool!

As always, projects shown here are for personal use only.  If you make this, please post a photo in the Make it Monday Flickr pool here.  Thanks!

Make Your Own Toys

Stick it to the man this year and make some toys yourself.  I went through a stack of toy catalogs and found some toys that you could make.

Make-My-Own-Monster Custom Design Kit from FAO Schwarz ($249).

Embroidered Growth Chart from Chasing Fireflies ($98).

Fairy Tale Handbags from Chasing Fireflies ($64).

Try this tutorial from UK Lass in US.

Customized Superhero Cape, from Chasing Fireflies ($48).

Try my tutorial here.

Hopscotch Play Mat from HearthSong ($39.98).

Under the Sea Hideaway from Magic Cabin ($64.98).

Doorway Puppet Theater from Magic Cabin ($39.98).

I am doing some recycling as well.  I raided my parents’ attic and found an old puppet theater and some doll beds that will be getting makeovers.  I’m also planning to find a nice large coffee table at a thrift store, rehabilitate it, and make it into a craft table for the kids with lots of new art supplies.  Vintage finds from e-bay and Etsy can also help you save money and  feel better about not adding to the clutter of the world.

Not feeling crafty?  No time?  Check out my Handmade Toys page for sites where you can buy handmade toys.

Handmade Toy of the Week

Four Little Girls, $26 from Too Cute.  She has some really sweet dollhouse stuff in her shop as well.  Feeling crafty?  Make your own little dolls.  I’m going to try to make each of the girls a doll that looks like them.  We’ll see how that goes! With both girls having birthdays in December, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by my long list of craftiness.

Handmade Toy of the Week

Florentina DeLa Vaca, $44.75 from Hasenpfeffer.

Swivel Owl (with head that turns), $40 from Aqua Koala.

Luci, $35 from MorningLori.

I couldn’t choose just one.  In my quest to find non-Webkinz softies for my daughter, I have come across some great finds.  Since she doesn’t know that there is an online game associated with Webkinz (shh), I think any one of these could take down a fuzzy little Webkinz in a fight.  She loves surprises, but the one surprise that I don’t want on Christmas morning is tears.  This is the challenge of finding handmade goods for kids who see a world full of commercials!