Showing posts with label play. Show all posts
Showing posts with label play. Show all posts

Monday, September 28, 2009

The Fort


A simple bedsheet can be magic.
A castle. A fortress...
A canopy of inspiration.
A shroud of silly fun.





Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Felt Play Kits For Sale!

I had a lot of Felt Play Kits leftover from our MOPS group (Mothers Of PreSchoolers) this morning. ( 11 available! SOLD!) I thought I'd give my blog readers the chance to purchase them. I'm selling them on my blog (not at WhiMSy love) & ALL the money will go right back to support my local (non-profit) MOPS group.
**UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who snatched up the kits! Enjoy!
I had so much fun putting these together that I am planning to offer other crafty kits for sale at WhiMSy love sometime in the near future!


Each Felt Play Kit comes with:

*1 9"x12" sticky-backed felt piece
*1 9"x12" felt piece (Colors for both large felt pieces range from dark brown, black, medium green & white. You will get a combo of 2 different colors selected at random.)
*13 medium felt pieces (4 1/2"x6") in purple, bright blue, emerald green, tan, black, brown, medium blue, light blue, navy blue, white, light pink, red, & grey
*5 small felt pieces (3"x4") in orange, yellow, bright pink, cream, & dark green
*6 random colored tiny pom poms (3 pair of each color)
*instruction sheet
*sheet of shapes to use as template


IDEAS FOR YOUR FELT PLAY KITS:
>School is almost over & this kit will be perfect for keeping little ones entertained!
>Perfect for keeping wriggly hands busy during church!
>Great for long car rides or road trips!
>Passes the time while waiting for mom & dad at their appointments.
>Spend some quality time with your kids. My girls & I can seriously play with this for HOURS! (I've been known to play with it on my own too!)
>Your kids can help you cut the felt into fun shapes!

Friday, January 30, 2009

Beanbag Tutorial


These beanbags are made from felt or fleece--your choice--as both materials do not fray when cut & it makes for a quick project! The other materials you'll need are: fabric, scissors, marker, ruler, contrasting thread, a sewing machine &...


...popcorn. Ok, so mine are not TECHNICALLY "bean" bags. But use what you have: beans, small pasta, rice, etc.


You can make whatever size you want. Mine are made by cutting 2 four-inch square pieces of felt/fleece.

Take one piece of felt/fleece & draw the design that will be the cut-out where the fabric will show through. As you can see, mistakes are perfectly fine. This will be on the inside of the beanbag, so it won't even show.

Cut out your design.


Choose a piece of fabric & cut it smaller than the square, but large enough to cover the cut-out design. Make sure you lay it on top of the felt with the right side facing through the design.

Sew the fabric to the felt/fleece. I stitched as close to the edge as I could.


I actually stitched around a few times in a random haphazard way. It started out as a mistake, & then I realized I liked it.

Next, sandwich your 2nd piece of felt/fleece to the back of the cut-out felt/fleece. Stitch around 3 sides, leaving about 1/4" seam allowance.


Fill your beanbag with the beans. Or popcorn. Or the lentils that have been sitting in the back of your pantry for 2 years. I used about 1/3 CUP. The tiny people like to help with this part. And just have your broom handy.


Sew up the last side & trim up any uneven edges. Or leave the edges all nifty & askew. It's up to you.


One beanbag down! That took less than 10 minutes to make.
I made up the star beanbags with the Kindergarten girls last night in my Daisies group at church. I did the hard part first & they helped me sew the edges & fill it with beans. Look, I even made a personalized one! My nephew will love it!
The dark grey & purple beanbags in the middle row were both made using felt. The others are fleece.

My girls & their sparkly shoes. I gotta get me some.


My girls & I tested the beanbags out.



Yep. They work.
I was thinking that you could even do the cut-outs on both sides. What about making the beanbags to spell out a word or someone's name? What about scented beanbags, adding a bit of lavender (or etc.) to your beans? And, of course, you could embellish the beanbag heck out of 'em too!

Next on my list of things to do is to find silly fun stuff to do WITH the beanbags!
Here's a link I found to get started...
UPDATE: Custom beanbags now available in the shop!