Party Hats for Molly

To celebrate the birth of baby Molly, Willie and JT and Nola and Kira all decided weeks ago that she needed a birthday party. These 4 friends (all 3 years old) created the perfect celebration for their new little sister and friend.

Of course, I was delighted to sew felt party hats. The kids made cards and decorated burp cloths. We ate tiny cupcakes and sang happy birthday.

Welcome Molly!

Crafty Birds - Making Cat and Rabbit Masks (and Tails)

The girls are into playing dress-up these days. They especially like being animals - cats and rabbits are favorites in our house.

Materials:

Cardboard

Felt

Scrap material

Elastic

Pen

Scissors

Glue and brush

Needle and thread

Step 1: Draw and cut animal shapes out of cardboard. To make the masks their own, let your child draw their own animal - Kira made a cat and Nola made a rabbit.

Step 2: Hold the mask up to your child and mark the eye holes. Cut out the eye holes.

Step 3: Paint the glue onto the cardboard mask and attach it to the felt.

Step 4: Cut the felt around the outside of the cardboard.

Step 5: Decorate with scrap material.

Step 6: Hold the mask up to your child so they can see through the eye holes. Mark where the elastic should fit. Make two slits in the cardboard and thread the elastic through the slits.

Step 7: Make sure the elastic is comfortable around your child's head and finish off the elastic by stitching a little cross.

To Make the Tails...

For the cat: cut out and sew a tail shape from scrap material, stuff and attach to ribbon.

For the rabbit: Make a large pom pom, tie a piece of ribbon around the middle of the pom pom that is long enough to tie around your child...

Cat and Rabbit Masks (and tails...)

Our days are filled with drawing, cutting, gluing, and sparkling.

Most days we draw and cut and glue and sparkle and move onto playing.

Some days everything comes together - Kira’s vision, Nola’s flare, and my enthusiasm – and a whole new game is born.

Yesterday we had one of those days...

(Here are the instructions for your very own mask and tail)

Felt Strawberry Garden

The girls loved my fruit and vegetables so much, that I modified patterns from the same Japanese book to make a strawberry garden. The set includes a felt watering can, seed packet, strawberries and garden.

We have been planting, watering and eating all day.

Yum!

Yum

Every piece of fruit I make turns out cuter than the last, and I just can't stop.

The patterns are from this Japanese craft book that I borrowed from a friend.

I can't understand a thing, but the illustrations are so good that it doesn't matter.

I have lots and lots more things to make...stay tuned for progress reports.