Cat Bag

Next up in the bags for traveling kids series.... Kitty Cat pencil case. This was inspired by a pin I'd seen that led back to Tokyoinspired. This is our take on it. I love it a lot. 

I made it with some gorgeous felt that I purchased in Germany from the loveliest little shop, which I am now kicking myself that I cannot remember the name. 

It's unlined and except for the feet and buttons, the embellishing is by machine. Small pieces of wool for the stripes sewn on before assembling the front and back. Doing the nose and whiskers was fun. Scribbling with the machine might be something I should try more often.

Then Jessica said, "Wouldn't it be cute if it had a fish?" 

So I did.

And it is.

If for some reason Miss Boo doesn't like this, I may be stealing it back....

Felt Dryer Balls Tutorial

... Well I guess we just kind of fell off... 

We've been busy having fun and celebrating things like birthdays. Oh and doing some major crafting... none of which we've taken pictures of! Hopefully we will get busy and blog some of what we've been up to next week- but I'm not making any promises!

This is useful to everyone! Don't get distracted by the first two paragraphs!

I think  I have mentioned here before that I part time cloth diaper. We've been having absorbency/ water proof issues and it's been driving me crazy because over all I really love cloth diapers but leaky cloth diapers make me want to start a bonfire. Now before I lose you all this isn't just about diapering... this is just so you know how I came up with this project. I finally had a chance to talk to the one other person I know who CD's and she said she cut out dryer sheets altogether and uses wool dryer balls that she ordered from Amazon. I had never heard of these before. Am I alone in this? I've always seen the nasty looking plastic ones that I just couldn't bring myself to buy but Wool?! That sounded doable! 

So of course a lot of googling and I was ready to DIY some...actually I was ready to make Mum do it for me... but she liked the ones she made so much she wouldn't share! From what we read the best method is to use wool roving yarn it seems to have less piling problems then straight roving (old sweaters also work... but I'm not cutting up any I still own). The two brands we found to work best are Patons and Full o' Sheep. The Patons brand yields 3 balls and the Full o' Sheep yields 2. 

 Unfortunately Bernat was an epic fail... just keeping it real!

So are you ready?- this is really complicated.......

Roll the yarn into a ball. It's not necessary to wrap tightly just wrap with medium pressure that keeps yarn in place. 

I like to roll mine keeping all of the crisscrossing at the same spot. 

When you get it to about tennis ball size cut off 18 inches and thread a long doll needle.

Then I just run the needle through the ball on either side of the crisscross 

I just repeat this a few times until I am out of string.

It looks like a button. 

Now make a bunch of them... It's definitely worth wrapping the balls neatly they stay together better for the felting process. 

If you want to do the process properly do a quick hand agitation with soap and get the wool fibers started sticking together. If you are lazy like me (and have wrapped them really well) then you can just toss them in the washing machine on hot and add a little soap.

They will come out looking a tad smaller and felted. 

Now you can stop here but if you are bored and want a total time suck you can decorate your balls-- 

Be prepared to be addicted it's fun! The stitch decorated ones are mine, the awesome perfectly decorated ones are Mums. She crocheted a net around them and they look beautiful!

 For best results have 8-12 in your dryer. We've been using ours for a few weeks and I really have to say they work just as well if not better then the dryer sheets did. Uber has even given them the ok - which means everything had to remain as comfortable and soft to wear as it previously was.  

I'm not going to go on and on about the benefits. There is plenty of well written information out there on how and why these work just visit this Etsy seller she has beautiful products and also sells oils to scent the balls. 

Toadstool Terrarium part 2

I made my first one back in January... who knew it would take this long to make another! This could seriously be addictive if only I had the time to be addicted! 

 The photo above was taken with a light box- which mum and I finally ordered and is really awesome (though this is my first time using it and I only had one light ... and really no idea what I was doing)

 This one is not in a light box... because I was to lazy to get it out at this point... and below on the shelf above our dinning room table where it will live. It still need to do something with the three jars on the bottom shelf ... it will probably include felt but I don't think it will be a terrarium...

 And here's a shot of Micah (totally unedited as far as I know) a friend took this picture at the wedding. Look at those eyes! This little booger is almost 6 months old and he is all sort of mischievous already!

I have something fun to show you tomorrow... though I will probably post a little later in the day then normal...

Leather Fun Part 2

The Spotted Pillow - because who wouldn't want one?!? This was my second idea for the leather.

I cut circles out of the leather and then decided to add a punch of color in as well so I used 100% wool felt in 3 shades of blue. I didn't plan the layout as well as I probably should have but I think it turned out ok. The leather spots are smooth and rough side out to give the brown spots texture.

I then hand stitched all of the dots on with pearl cotton.

It was a really fun project. Though not baby friendly since leather probably wont go through the wash that well. But that's ok because it was made with someone in mind who may or may not have a problem with circles.... that person may want to locate a 14x26 pillow insert... if that person is reading this and wants it!

And here is a Micah shot for you- he's playing with a gift from his Aunt Sherie sent him and he LOVES it! Its a maple wood teether. I just put it on his play mat the day we got it in the mail and he found it all on his own and started chewing

It's now one of his favorite toys. He loves that his Happy Apple and his pirate bear- golden beard who I need to get a picture so you all can see him!

Pine Cone Tutorial

I figured it out!!! Here's a quick tutorial- hope you guys enjoy. If you make them please link to yourself in the comments so I can see how they turn out for you!

Please do not sell anything made from this tutorial it was provided free to you for personal use only.

Please let me know if I made any errors and I will correct them.

Supplies

-styrofoam eggs 1 7/8"x 2 1/2"

-grosgrain ribbon

-1/4 yard of 36" wide felt by the yard will make 3 pinecones

-rotary cutter with wave blade

-hot glue gun

eggs are from Joanns

-Cut a 28" piece of ribbon.

-Fold ribbon in half and put a drop of hot glue at the center

-Stick ribbon to the top of your egg
-Cut out 1 1/2" circles

-Scallop your edges

-Cut diamond shape at the center

- Set aside
-Using a wave rotary blade cut (3) 36" strips at roughly 3/4" wide

-Snip at the center of each indented curve
-Start rolling the felt adding drops of hot glue as you go.

-Stop when the roll is about 1/2-3/4 thick.

-Push the center of your roll out a little to create the tip of the pine cone

-Add glue to the top (the non rotary cut side) allow glue to cool down for a few second and then adhere to the bottom of the egg.
-Start wrapping the egg with the felt gradually working up the egg until the top is reached.

-It might be necessary to cut a few pedals off the long strip and glue them on individually when the top is reached

Add a drop of glue at the top of the egg and then pinch the ribbon together at the top of the egg.

-Thread the ribbon through the scalloped circles and then glue over the top part of the pine cone to hide the edges.

-Clean all of the hot glue hair off the finished pine cone

Make a bunch more and wrap them up in a cute bakery box for a gift!
And just because here's a picture of the little guy. Seriously the double chin just KILLS me- he is so scrumptious!

Micah's Mobile

I'm FINALLY done with the last piece -for now- of Micah's room. I wanted to do a mobile over his crib but I wasn't big on anything I saw out there ... so of course I made my own! Thank goodness Uber likes it because apparently he hates mobiles....he was nice enough to wait until I was done with it to tell me!

I went ahead and repeated the sea theme from his sea turtle quilt. All the creatures are needle felted from beautiful wool roving. We've got a beluga whale
an octopus
a manatee
a pelican
a sea turtle
a sea horse and a pacific blue tang... more commonly known as Dora
and here's what it looks like from Micah's perspective. He likes having something to look at! Alright and just to make everyone happy here is a Micah shot!
His great grandparents sent him this awesome rocking horse! He loves it!

Next up pictures of the completed nursery!!