Showing posts with label Velcro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Velcro. Show all posts

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Detachable Olaf Plush


Do you wanna build a snowman??? A question familiar to probably every child in America and beyond, courtesy of Disney's fantastic movie Frozen! And who doesn't love that adorable snowman obsessed with the season that would deduce him to a puddle, as well as constantly getting himself decapitated and impaled throughout his adventures with Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Sven! Olaf is a character you can't help but love and my nephew, Derek, is no exception. Check out the stuffed Olaf I created for him. The best part??? He's detachable...just like in the movie! Now Olaf can get into all sorts of pretend play mischief, too!!!

I must note that I am sort of a "cut and wing it" kind of sewer, so there is no specific pattern for you to follow, but I can give you the basic idea as to how you can make an Olaf for yourself! Here goes...

Materials:

-1 yard white felt
-white thread
-needle
-sewing machine
-fabric scissors
-black, orange, and dark brown felt
-Velcro (about 1 ft. total of soft and rough sides)


Instructions:

1. Placing two pieces of felt together, cut out an uneven circle of about 8" in diameter (keep in mind, one of the most endearing things about Olaf is his 
    uneven-ness and whacky ways, so there is no need for precision here). Put both pieces off to the side.

2. Create 2 uneven circles out of white felt approximately 6" in diameter. Place both pieces to the side for later.

3. Create two oval-ish shapes (almost bell shaped) approximately 8"x6" (at its widest point). Refer to the pictures below to get an idea of the shape. 
    Place to the side with the others

4. Using white felt, cut out a rouded rectangle for teeth,  two-2" circlesr eyes, and 2-2x4" rounded rectangles for feet.

5. Using black felt, create three uneven circles approximately 4" in diameter for buttons, two circles about 1" in diameter for the eyes, and one mouth, approximately 4x6" at its largest point (refer to picture)

6. Using dark brown felt, cut out 3-4, 3" long strips for Olaf's hair, two, long, triangular pieces for his eyebrows, and two arms about 6" in length.

7. Take one of the white felt pieces that will make Olaf's head and pin on the mouth, teeth, nose, and eyes (white and black circles) in the appropriate 
     places.

8. Using white thread, handstitch the pieces to the felt

9. Using one of the middle pieces, pin on a black button. Handstitch the button onto the felt.

10. Using one of the large, bottom pieces, pin two black buttons onto the felt and handstitch.

11. Match each of the white pieces felt up so that the eyes, nose, buttons, mouth, etc. are placed in the insides. Pin the hair, arms and legs to each ot the 
      corresponding pieces and place the remaining material into the middle of the white felt so that no parts of the hair, arms, or legs are sticking out. Pin 
      matching pieces together (should be a total of three).

12. Sew around each pinned piece, leaving a 2-3 each gap to stuff them. Once sewn, flip rightside out, stuff, and handstitch to close.

13. Handstitch a 3" piece of rough Velcro to the bottom of Olaf's face, a 3" soft piece to the top of Olaf's mid-section, a 3" rough piece to the bottom of the mid-section, and a 3" soft piece to the top of the bottom part of Olaf.

14. Attach Olaf and enjoy the detachable fun!!!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Transform Stickers to Create Reusable, On-the-Go Activities


My house currently looks like every sticker in the world exploded ALL over it! I'm constantly pulling wads of wet stickers out of my laundry, scraping them off of floors and furniture and finding them on my clothing as I walk into work. Needless to say, we go through A LOT of stickers in my household, and I've been dying to figure out a way to hold on to some of the cute stickers we purchase and not have to spend my entire life unsticking them! As it turned out, the solution was simple!



Using my handy dandy Purple Cow laminator (which I am completely obsessed with), I laminated the stickers and cut them out, leaving a small border of laminate around each. I then placed a small piece of rough Velcro on the backs of the stickers. In case you weren't already aware, rough Velcro sticks to felt beautifully! With that being said, I placed the laminated stickers onto various colors of felt sheets, which I jazzed up a tiny bit to match the theme of the stickers. Oh, and PS-Michael's has a HUGE and inexpensive variety of licensed character stickers, which are very popular in my household! Also, The Dollar Tree just started selling some super cute Very Hungry Caterpillar stickers, which I was super pumped to make reusable (love me some Eric Carle)!


And there you have it, folks! Simply fold up the felt and pack it and the reusable stickers in a baggie to bring with you when you need it the most!

Sunday, January 19, 2014

"Let's Stick Together" Valentines


While I am grateful that my hubby and I are able to save money by not having to pay for childcare for Claire Bear (I work days as a teacher and he works nights and Saturdays in a restaurant), I am TOTALLY bummed (craft nerd alert) that she has no little daycare friends she can share valentines with! I currently can't stop browsing all of the adorable, valentines on the web and have brainstormed about a dozen ideas of my own; but, alas, I won't be trying all of them out on dozens of little munchkins and must narrow down those ideas to Claire's five cousins, which we will send in the mail, as none of them are local (sad face). Good thing she is only 1 1/2 and really couldn't care less about how awesome her mom's handmade valentines are, haha! Its the thought that counts...

Here are the valentines I made for Claire's girl cousins using some super fun Velcro rings and ball party favors I recently picked up.

Materials:

-Velcro ring and ball party favors (I found mine at my local dollar store)
-printer/paper
-scissors
-cardstock
-double-sided tape
Instructions:

1. Print out Valentine messages HERE
2. Cut out heart and adhere to cardstock in color of your choice. Trim cardstock to your liking
3. Use scissors or Exacto kmife to cut 2" slit in the middle of the card
4. Insert Velcro ring into the slit. Place tape on the back of the card to adhere.