Crafty Chic Mommy: March 2010

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE....

....That Crafty Chic Mommy is now on FACEBOOK. I would love for you to join my group. I'm going to be doing my first giveaway soon...one of my crayon cozy's custom designed for you.... and it's exclusively for my facebook fans!!

Thanks for all your support!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

TIPS FOR TOTS TUESDAY - Crayon Cozy Tutorial

Last weekend our family went out for breakfast. Gone are the days of relaxing conversation over a fresh cup of coffee and eggs benny.....we have a toddler people. Basically we're chugging our coffee to keep it from being spilt and gobbling our food as fast as we can to get the heck out of the place.

Life must go on and we still want to enjoy the odd dining out so I decided to make Ashtyn a crayon cozy to help keep her entertained.

Since I have so much felt left over from my felt play house I decided to use that for the material. Really in the end it was a better choice for me since I didn't have to worry about finishing the edges.

What you'll need

Two pieces of felt
Ribbon
Pinking Shears
Crayons
Pad of paper

1. Cut out two pieces of felt. When deciding what size make sure to factor in how many crayons you want your cozy to hold and how big your pad of paper is. My cozy is 5 inches by 9 inches in size.

2. Next cut out a piece of felt to hold your crayons. I wanted my cozy to hold four crayons so I cut it 4 iches by 3 inches.

3. Sew a piece of ribbon along the top to prevent the felt from stretching when the crayons are put in and out of their pockets. Take your pinking shears and pink down the sides for a nice decorative touch. Note: I figured doing this would prevent my ribbon from fraying but this wasnt so, in the end I ended up using a match to seal the ribbon ends a bit.

4. Next sew your crayon pocket onto the felt backing. I started by sewing a straight line down the middle (backstitching for reinforcement) and then working my way to the sides to make the pockets for the crayons. I left a 1 inch space between each line to hold the crayons comfortably. I used a piece of tape to show me where I needed to sew.

5. Sew around the sides and the bottom of the felt pocket to secure it to the big piece of felt.

6. Cut another piece of felt that will snuggly hold a small pad of paper. I found some cute little pads of paper at Michaels with the cardboard backs on them to easily slide behind the felt pocket.

Sew down both sides of the felt leaving the bottom and top open.

7. I decided to put my logo on this project using this printer friendly cotton that I purchased at Michaels. The cotton has a hard removable backing on it to allow it to be used like normal paper in a printer.

8. Now that the note and crayon pockets are sewn on it's time to sew the front and back pieces of felt together. Pink around the edges first then slip a piece of ribbon at the edge of each side to allow the cozy to tie together.

9. Thats it...your done. Now fill it with crayons, paper and a few stickers and pop it into your purse for the next visit to the doctors office or breakfast rendevous.

I'm linking this to

Thursdays Treasures @ Treasures for Tots

FELT PLAY HOUSE

I'm so happy to announce that Ashtyn's felt play house is FINISHED. Welcome to the little blue house on 1116 Cutieville Lane. Shall we take a tour?

Ding dong, is anyone home? The porch light is on....a special delivery for Ashtyn....could it be a letter from Grandma?

Usually the front door is open because friends are always welcome....and mommy's and daddy's too.

Lets head on around to the side of the house where a fresh spring breeze dries some clothing hanging out on the clothes line. Once the clothes are dry put them into the laundry basket.

Wait a minute, I hear some sniffing on the other side of the house....who could it be? It's Ashtyn's beloved Boston Terrier, Derby, smelling the spring flowers.

Now lets head to Ashtyn's garden in the backyard. I think I smell the sweet aroma of red juicy apples.

Once we're done picking apples, lets harvest some fresh veggies like lettuce, carrots and pumpkins.

The pumpkins are looking great. They will make perfect Jack-o-lanterns come October.

Thanks for visiting Ashtyn's cozy little house. Please visit again soon.

I had so much fun making this charming little house for Ashtyn. It took many hours of hard work but I'm happy to say it turned out exactly how I had envisioned it. It's all sewn...no glue used. As you can see in the pics, I used velcro to allow the fruit to become removable. We didn't have a suitable table for this playhouse so we built the frame from PVC pipe. In the end I like how it makes the playhouse transportable and easily stored away. Although I think that will be easier said than done.

A big thanks to Fawnda over at Fireflies and Jellybeans for doing her five week Felt House Along. She got me motivated to tackle a large yet very rewarding craft project.

I'm linking this to

Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage

Show and Tell @ Blue Cricket Design

Thursdays Treasures @ Treasures for Tots

Made by You Monday @ Skip to My Lou
I Made it Without My Hubby @ shanty2chic

Friday, March 26, 2010

FELT BRACELETS

For some reason my pictures aren't showing up for my guest post over at Crystals Craft Blog. I'm not sure if that is something that I'm only experiencing or everyone is. Anywho I here's my craft below with some fun crafty ideas that can be made with felt.

I'm happy to say that Ashtyn's felt house is almost complete after four long weeks of snipping, sewing and designing. Now that the bulk of it is done I'm left with lots of felt scraps. I got an idea this morning when my daughter was rummaging through my costume jewellery. I dragged out my pinking shears, velcro, ribbon and buttons and put my felt scraps to good use by making felt bracelets.

By looking at the picture its pretty easy to see how I made them but I thought I'd share anyways.

First start by measuring your childs wrist

Then cut a strip of felt that length and use your pinking shears to give the sides that zig zag look.

Sew on your ribbon of choice

Next add whatever you fancy....a button, felt flower, a little pocket to store treasures....

If you're going to be adding buttons just be sure to keep in mind that they are choking hazards. I sewed mine on REALLY well so my daughter has a hard time turning it into a snack.

Once you've decorated your bracelet to your liking then sew two opposite pieces of velcro to the ends. One on the back and one on the front of the bracelet. You could also use snaps if you prefer.

And there you have it....some cute felt bracelets. Easy, very cheap to make and a good way to put those small scraps of felt to use. And above all they are ADORABLE. Ashtyn loved her bracelets so much she didn't remove them for two hours.

To complete this post I looked for other great projects that can be made with felt. Especially for the girls with lots of left over felt from their felt house along. I love some of these ideas so much that I've put them on my to craft list.

Pocket Bracelet @ My Plum Pudding