Author Archives: Stephanie

DIY Rainbow Car Wall Art

I’m working on a bright and fun “big boy room” for little Jax, who currently room shares with us. When I originally started planning it, he asked for a red “choo choo”, the color blue and “a rainbow”. Yes, my son loves rainbows, and that’s okay.

I expanded his request to an overall transportation theme. I’ve been working on a huge, two-wall mural for him with a city silhouette, rainbow, and green hills. There is a train engine behind his new red bed (purchased by trading in our coin jar contents) that is pulling a chalkboard paint train car. There is a Velcro road running along one wall with little wooden vehicles and signs. I did the other two walls in the great teal color of the city. It makes the red in the room pop! I’ll post more about the mural and the road project when they are complete.

I have a lot of DIY art projects in the work for his room, as my budget is tight. I started collecting Matchbox-type cars a couple months ago with the idea of gluing them to a canvas. The idea evolved into a rainbow mosaic of cars in an old frame I’d spray painted red for Jax’s room. I bought all but one of my cars from thrift stores. One pink one was from the grocery store, since pink is so hard to find. Probably about half of the cars were a gift from my aunt, who hunted down the colors we needed from her grocery stores in NM. Thank you Aunt Pat!!

I LOVE how this turned out, and it couldn’t have been easier.

What I used:

Lots of Matchbox and Hot Wheel type toy cars in rainbow colors
An inexpensive frame (I used red spray paint on an old black frame missing the glass)
Cardboard or foam board (I used the corrugated cardboard that came with the frame)
Black paint
Hot glue and hot glue gun
Optional: nail polish in the colors you need more of (pinks and purples for me!)

Collect your cars and lay them out as you get them so you know how many you’ll need of each color. I had trouble finding pink and purple cars, so I’ll let you in on my secret… Nail polish! Two or three coats of nail polish on some extra cars gave me florescent pink, berry pink and purple cars.

Paint the cardboard you are mounting the cars to black (or another solid color.) I used cardboard to keep the project lighter. The cars are already so heavy when combined. My frame is strong, but light metal. Once your board is dry, you can go ahead and hot glue them in place. I used a lot of glue on the bottom of each, focusing on the wheels. The glue starts out rolling into the wheel wells, but then it locks the wheels so you can get a good coating. As a bonus, I was able to pull one of and pop the dried glue right off the car. So if you are using cars you don’t necessarily want to damage, you should be okay (test it out yourself, just in case!) As I was gluing, I had the frame sitting over the backing board, so I was sure the cars fit just right.

I gave my mosaic a night to fully dry before hanging it. It looks so colorful and happy against the teal walls. It is the first item in his future wall gallery.

Here are some bonus photos of the room in progress. Jax loves it, and even slept there part of one night! Go Jax!

Vrooooom!

Thrift Store Gems

Toddler iPad App Review & Giveaway – Tizzy Seasons HD

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It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed an iPad app, but we certainly try out a lot of them! I mostly get apps for Jax by checking the iTunes app store regularly for free educational apps. As those of you on the Facebook page know, I often post links to apps that are free for a limited time as soon as I come across them.

When Tizzy Labs contacted me about their new app, Tizzy Seasons HD, I was definitely interested in checking it out. They described it to me as a “new imaginative play app for kids 2-6.” They added that their app “helps kids learn about the different seasons of the year through mini-games and puzzles.” Since I am just now starting to do preschool lessons with Jax, I am always looking for learning tools that can fit into a school learning unit. Seasons are something I hope to cover with Jax in the near future!

My first impression of the app was that it is beautifully illustrated. The graphics are lovely and the game is responsive to the touch. Jax hasn’t had any trouble manipulating the objects within each game. He was immediately drawn to play the app by the colorful icon and kept at it until he had played every mini game, thus earning all the “stars”. When you start, you choose a boy or girl character. Jax choose both equally as often.

But, the speed at which he went through the games was something I noted. Being a game for “2-6” year olds, my 2.5 year old did them all in about 10 minutes without any help, beyond my instructing him in one game. (There is an apple sorting game in the autumn segment with large, medium and small apples. I needed to point that out to Jax, as he had only sorted by color before then.)

I think the biggest thing I would want to change about Tizzy Season is that the app doesn’t actually teach you the season names! There is no text or voice overs, only icons. The icons are clear to me, but Jax goes to the main screen and tells me, “I play sunny day!” while clicking on the summer sun icon. I’d love some text and a voice over saying the season names when they are selected. For now, I just have to tell him as he plays.

Jax really is enjoying playing this game over and over, despite nothing really happening once you earn all the stars (you just start over again.) He tends to choose winter first, and likes to mention ice skating, despite the fact they don’t have an ice skating game. He just sees the frozen pond and thinks about it. He generally chooses fall next, followed by summer and spring.

This app retails for $1.99 in the app store. I think it is a fair price, given how nicely made it is and how many mini games it contains. It definitely wouldn’t challenge a child over the age of 4, but older kids would still find it fun. We only have an iPad 1, and the app ran smoothly without any crashes.

Tizzy Seasons is a fun and beautiful way to teach your preschooler about the seasons on the iPad!

Disclaimer: I received a free code from Tizzy Labs to try out this app, but wrote this review on my own accord. The opinion above is my own honest views of this app. Tizzy Labs also provided the two free app codes for the giveaway below.

Giveaway!

Would you like to win a free code to download your own copy of Tizzy Seasons for the iPad? Enter for free below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Quiet Book Dollhouse – Backyard Page

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This page is a part of my Dollhouse mini quiet book. You can find the instructions for the doll and the kitchen page here. Still to come are the bedroom, bathroom and the cover/construction. The book is designed on 12″ w x 9″ h felt sheets that will fold in half to 6″ w x 9″ h when closed.

All the felt for this mini book has been provided by American Felt and Craft. I am using their wool blend felt, which cuts like butter and has been holding up so much better than the craft store recycled felt I’d been using. If it is in your budget, it is absolutely worth upgrading for a long-lasting handmade item such as a quiet book.

Shown with food from the kitchen page.

What I Used: The pattern, felt (in ice/light blue, soap sud/pale gray, jade/green, peacock/aqua, hot pink, white, rubber ducky/yellow, limeade/lime green, doe/brown, forget me not/periwinkle, beet/dark red and bisque/flesh), felt scraps (I used a zebra print craft felt for the swimsuit and cilantro/olive for the leaves), clear vinyl, white snag-free Velcro, size 1 sew-on snaps, 2 small buttons, thin blue and green ribbon, white snag-free Velcro and ribbon scraps.

Pool Background: I started by cutting a strip of white and sewing it down along the top to make the edge of the pool. I took a large rectangle of peacock blue and sewed it down along its top edge, overlapping the white. I cut a piece of clear vinyl the same size as the blue pool water and sewed it down along the sides and bottom, going through all three layers (vinyl, blue felt and background felt), making a clear pocket.

Patio Table: I sewed the hot pink table top down, then used a back stitch to sew the legs. I took a scrap of thin, yellow ribbon and sewed it down to make a pole for the umbrella. The umbrella was sewn down along the bottom curve, letting the scallops hang free.

Pool Toys: The inner tube is just sewn back to front. For the beach ball, I sewed the colored segments to each side, then sewed the two sides together.

Garden Background: I cut some jade green felt into a hill and sewed it down to the left side of the page to make the ground. I sewed the fence pieces down to a rectangle of green felt, then trimmed the green from between the pointed tops of the fence posts, as shown above. I sewed the fence into a pocket on the bottom of the page. The doll can stand behind the fence, or you can store the page pieces there.

Flowers: For each flower, I started by sewing a button to the front piece and a leaf to the back piece. I cut two lengths of ribbon – one blue and one green – and had them sticking out of the flower (as shown above) when I sewed the fronts to the backs. At the end of the green ribbons, I sewed on folded rectangles of jade green felt.

Planter: I folded the top of the planter down (towards the front) and sewed it down to make a lip. I positioned the flowers and their green ribbons where they needed to be on the page, and pinned down the planet over top. I sewed along the sides and bottom of the planter, but made sure to leave holes where the ribbons stuck through the bottom. This is so you can pull the green felt tabs to pull the flowers back into the planter.

Clouds: The clouds have snaps sewn to the back pieces. I pinned the tops of the blue ribbons in between the cloud pieces before sewing fronts to backs. I pulled the flowers all the way into the planter then marked where the other halves of the snaps needed to be to hold the clouds in place. I sewed them down to finish the clouds.

Watering Can: The watering can is made by sewing the fronts and backs together with the following things sticking out: A bit of yellow ribbon to make a handle, three bits of blue ribbon coming out of the spout and a scrap of blue felt in the top to make the water.

Find directions for the doll on the kitchen page

Swimsuit: The swimsuit has a ribbon and bow sewn to the waist of the front piece to make a belt. At the bottom, I took a length of ribbon and sewed it down in loops to make a ruffle. I switched the direction of the the loops halfway through. I sewed bits of snag-free Velcro to the white back piece then sewed the front and back together.

Garden Outfit: I started by sewing bits of Velcro to the back of the white back piece. I then sewed the yellow boots to front of it. I sewed down the pants, folding up the cuffs and sewing them in place. I decorated the shirt with some back stitch and daisy stitches before sewing it down.

Garden Hat: I sewed thin blue ribbon across the brim of each side of the hat. I took a scrap of flower ribbon and folded the ends under to make a little square with one flower motif on it. I sewed one of those down on to each side. I sewed the hat together, leave the bottom open so you can slide it on the doll’s head.

Hope you’ve been enjoying my free quiet book patterns! I love seeing what you’ve done with them. Email me your photos, or leave them on our Facebook page. Stop by tomorrow for a toddler iPad app review and a giveaway of two free app codes!

Quiet Book Dollhouse – Kitchen Page

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Having a little boy, I don’t often get to do super girly sewing projects. I really wanted to design a dollhouse quiet book, so I decided to go for it!

This page is sponsored by American Felt and Craft, who provided the beautiful wool blend felt. It is such a delight to work with! The feel of it really doesn’t compare to craft felt. If you can afford to spend a little more, I really recommend using wool blend felt. It has been holding up so much better than the acrylic.

You’ll notice from the photos that this page is laid out different than my others – there is no blank area on the side to allow for the binding/grommets. This is because I plan to fold the pages in the center and sew them together as a mini book that is 6″ wide x 9″ high when closed. I will be posting each double page separately, then showing how I bind it all together. You could use the elements from this page to design a regular quiet book page, but you’ll need to rearrange and shrink some things.

The book will contain one felt doll (or possibly two) with Velcro underthings. I plan to make two outfits per double page. They will be stored on the bedroom page, but there will be places to put them on each spread. Here the table is a pocket. This page also contains many little food items that were a great way to use up felt scraps! Because they are tiny, I’d recommend this page for a 4 year old unless you are supervising. The colors I used are all totally changeable, so just think of them as suggestions. I was in love with that green “honeydew” color and wanted to pay homage to the avocado appliances I grew up with.

What I Used: The pattern, felt (in pink tutu/pink, soap sud/pale gray, white, honeydew/spring green, hot pink, salt & pepper/dark charcoal and bisque/flesh), felt scraps (in lilac, gold nugget/gold, peacock/aqua, rainy day/light blue, big apple/red, cilantro/olive green, rubber ducky/yellow, orange juice/orange, chocolate/brown, banana nut muffin/tan and gray flannel/gray), clear vinyl, white snag-free Velcro, size 1 sew-on snaps, 7mm mini buttons, ric-rac and ribbon scraps.

I sewed this entire page by hand, but you could certainly machine stitch some or all of it.

Background Elements: I started by sewing a strip of felt down for the floor. I used “soap sud” which is a white with a pale tint of pink and blue to it.

For the frame hanging above the table, I cut a rectangle of clear vinyl to fit the opening, then straight stitched it onto the back. I sewed the frame to the wall, leaving the top open so you can slide in a photo. (I stitched across the top of the frame just so it would would match the other sides – but it isn’t sewn to the background.)

For the window, I cut a rectangle of light blue and sewed it down with a + shape of white back stitch. I sewed a strip of white to the bottom for the sill, then sewed the curtains on, leaving the bottoms open for volume. I made two little aqua blue bows and sewed them on as curtain ties. I stitched through the knots so they won’t untie.

I added a shelf under the window to hold the tea set. It is just a strip of hot pink felt sewn down over a small pocket of clear vinyl. The vinyl holds the tea set in place while it looks like it is just sitting on the shelf.

Oven: I sewed down the inside of the oven with snaps in the upper corners, then sewed down the stove top above it. I added 4 7mm buttons (from the craft store) as dials and two felt burners. I made the door by sewing the matching snap halves to the upper corners of the inner door felt and sewing some ric-rac to the door front as the handle (I added squares of felt over the ends of the ric-rac to hide where it was sewn on and prevent fraying.) I then sandwiched clear vinyl between both door sides and sewed them all together. I sewed the oven door to the oven along the bottom, making sure the snaps lined up.

Refrigerator: I started by sewing down a white rectangle the size of both doors. I also sewed a strip of the door color down to separate the freezer from the fridge. I cut scraps of clear vinyl and sewed them down into pockets to hold the food. I added one snap for each door. To make the doors, I sewed ric-rac handles to the front pieces the same way I did it on the oven. I sewed the matching snap halves to the white inner door pieces, then sewed the two sides of each together. I sewed the doors down along the left sides, making sure the snaps lined up.

Table & Chair: I started with the chair (half a chair, really.) The table is sewn as a pocket so the doll can “sit” at the table. I added the top portion of a chair to make it look like she’s sitting. I did some decorative stitching, including a daisy stitch in the center. I sewed it down so the bottom would be hidden behind the table. To make the table, I sewed the hot pink trim to the bottom of the tablecloth. I added an extra layer of white felt to the back of the table top (the oval shape) so the bright chair wouldn’t show through. I also added a line of stitching in gray to show the edge of the table. I sewed the table down along the sides and bottom to make a pocket.

Tea Party Items: For the tea set, I cut a front and back piece for each item (one tea pot and two cups) and sewed them together. With the cups, I left the tops open.

The cookie sheet is made with tan ovals sewn to the top layer of the cookie sheet, then the front and backs are sewn together.

For the fruit bowl, I sewed together two layers for each fruit, then sewed the bowl around them, so they are stitched in place and can’t get lost.

I did the same with the ice cream bowl. (I didn’t have extra pink, since I used the full sheet for the background. I ended up cutting a square of felt out of the back of the page behind the oven and using that for the strawberry ice cream!)

For the cake, I started with the flame, sewing the back and front together. I then sewed the two sides of the candle stick together around the base of the flame. I sewed the two layers of the plate together. I sandwiched the end of the candle between the two cake pieces and sewed it down around the top of the plate.

The milk has two identical sides – each with an M sewn on. Then, the two sides are sewn together.

Doll: The doll is made with colored felt on the front and plain white on the back. I started by sewing the hair on to the body piece around her face. I then embroidered her features on. For the mouth, I used the same technique that I used one my princess finger puppet, but I added a stitch of white for teeth between her lips. Her nose is a dashed stitch that is tilted up a bit. I started the eyes by stitching the almond/eye-shape with white thread. I made a French knot in the center, and made a tiny stitch from the edge of the knot through the center to really hold it in place. I outlined the tops and outer corners of the eyes with brown thread, then back stitched eyebrows. Her under clothes are cut out of snag-free Velcro to hold her outfits on. I sewed them down the same way I would sew felt. I sewed a tiny belly button, but it’s hard to see. Once she was decorated, I sewed her backing on.

Clothes: Her red dress was decorated with black back stitch at the cuffs, collar and hem. The buttons are pink French knots. Her apron is a cherry ribbon I found at Dollar Tree. I folded the bottom under into a curve as I sewed it on. I made her apron belt with a scrap of pink ribbon. I sewed Velcro to the back piece, lining it up with her body, then sewed the front and back together.

The green dress has a gingham ribbon scrap sewn on as a belt. I sewed on a white collar and added two 7mm mini buttons. I sewed the Velcro on to the back then sewed both sides together.

Stay tuned for two more double pages for this dollhouse book, followed by the exterior of the house and book construction! I am posting progress photos on the Facebook page as I go. I am also working on a solar system page, so photos of that may pop up too.

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Preschool Fun – Letter A for Apple

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This post has been updated to feature our whole week of activities.

This week I started homeschooling Jax. He will be 3 in February, so we are starting with very basic preschool lessons. He knows his alphabet, can count to 20 (and sometimes 35) and knows colors and shapes. I want to focus a lot on pre-writing skills, crafts for dexterity, music, science and tasks that increase attention span.

After asking on the Facebook page, I decided I’d share what we do here. I only expect to post once a week about his lessons. I have to work in the afternoons, and some mornings are taken up running errands (that pesky grocery shopping!) But I’ll try to stay on top of it and share where I get my resources.

This week we are focusing on the letter A is for apples.

We started our school week with A-shaped apple pancakes. To make them, I used a pancake mix that only needs water. I replaced half the water with unsweetened applesauce and added cinnamon, ginger and all spice. I used a spoon to drip the batter into the shapes. Then I peeled and chopped an apple and put it in a bowl with a tablespoon of brown sugar and some cinnamon. I stirred it up and microwaved it 2 minutes for yummy cinnamon apple topping.

Monday

We started at the chalkboard to take a weekly photo for our alphabet book. Jax held up a mini apple (and couldn’t resist sneaking a bite.) After the photo, I helped him trace a large uppercase and lowercase A on the chalkboard in pink, then had him do it himself in blue. He did great!

We moved to the table and worked on tracing the number 1 with dry erase markers. (I got our number tracing sheets here and laminated them.) Jax has been excited about his new dry erase markers since we got them Sunday night. I had to guide him in tracing all the 1s. He just wanted to scribble.

We moved on to craft time.

Color Sorting Apple Trees
The first craft is a color sorting with an A is for Apples theme. Start with a blue background paper. Cut out 3 brown As to use as tree trunks. Cut out three green treetops. Make the labels, one for each color: red, yellow and green. You’ll need about 6 pom poms of each color, a glue stick and a plate with some glue to dip in. I glued down the treetops and A trunks with Jax’s guidance, then added a color label to each tree. I had Jax pick a pom pom, dunk it in the glue and stick it on the right tree. He really loved it!

a is for apple
I wanted to do a lowercase A as well, so I pre-cut a red lowercase A, a white circle for the apple flesh and a green leaf. I guided Jax in putting glue on the backs of the shapes, then he put them on the paper (following my instructions.) I showed him how to make an apple seed, then he made the rest. (You could glue real seeds down with an older child.) We drew one lowercase A together, then I had him do one. (I told him to make a circle, then add a line. He did better than I thought he would!)

I will be putting all of his creations (except for lumpy things like the pom poms) into a hard bound sketch book (14″ x 11″) with an alphabet theme. I’ll show what we have at the end of the week.

We moved on to an alphabet matching game I printed out. I had a set one upper and lowercase letter cards that were cut in half, plus a set I didn’t cut out at all. I had him take each half card and put it where it belonged on the uncut sheets. He was very proud when he finished, but I had to work to keep him focused. I got the printables here.

We did story time next. I choose Pepo and Lolo and the Red Apple (Jax loves it because we act it out), How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? and Planes. Jax chose a couple other books as well.

I offered Jax the chose of music time or math, and he chose math. We used our abacus to do some simple addition. He doesn’t get it yet, but we are getting closer.

Resources:
Number Tracing Pack – Confessions of a Homeschooler
Alphabet Flash Cards – Homeschool Creations

Tuesday

Tuesday Jax woke up with a cold, so it was tough having him stay focused. We kept our activities short and I followed his lead as to what he was interested in doing that day.

He requested the “ABC cards” game (Alphabet Flash Cards) we did Monday, so we played that again. When he had them all matched up, I added a twist for cleaning them up. I asked him to find different groups of items, such as “things you can eat”, “toys”, “animals” or “things that are blue”. I’m really happy we had these printed these out. I think we’ll get a lot of use out of them.

We did the same number tracing page that we did on Monday. I stuck a laminating sheet to the front of it so we could reuse it. Jax has trouble making the 1’s because I think he finds them boring. It is much more fun to scribble wildly and make big swooshes.

We did a worksheet for tracing uppercase As to put in Jax’s alphabet book. We counted the steps to remember how to write it: one, two, three! The worksheet was from Oopsey Daisy. Jax did really well and did the last three As on his own, with me just setting his hand at the starting point for each A.

We did some dancing to music after that, with me having him follow my movements the best he could. I’m going to try to do music and movement once a week at least. Since we wasn’t feeling well, we ended on storytime. We read Dr. Seuss’s ABC and My Nursery Rhymes Collection.

Resources:
Number Tracing Pack – Confessions of a Homeschooler
Alphabet Flash Cards – Homeschool Creations
A is for Apple – Oopsey Daisy

Wednesday

We had errands to run, so we did school in Starbucks on the iPad. We made a picture book with sounds with My Story – Book Maker for Kids. We practiced writing with Write My Name. I really love that app. We stopped by the playground to play with other kids, but Jax managed to hit his head hard, cutting our playtime short.

Thursday

Jax was interested in playing with his new supermarket set. I recently bought this for him from MYHABIT, and I love it! (You have to sign up to see the sales they have there, but it is free.) It is a great toy! It doesn’t come with food, but you get a cash register with money, a scanner and a card swiper, plus a produce scale. Mine arrived with a crack in the card swiper, but they sent me a whole new cash register set to replace it. The set isn’t on MYHABIT any longer, but Amazon has a decent price. Zulily has a different one that I like a lot, too.

I already had a magnetic chalkboard up on the wall and wooden number magnets, so I drew some of the food items we had and Jax and I did number recognition games for each one.

I wasn’t feeling well Thursday, so we repeated a lot of the activities we had done that week, including rereading the same books. He enjoys the repetition so he can start saying the words along with me.

Friday

First page in Jax’s alphabet book.

We focused on alphabet crafts for Jax’s alphabet book on Friday. I have been cutting out letters and pictures from old magazines and ads, so we glued them down to a page with the letter A on it.

We did a lot of practice writing upper and lowercase As, first on the chalkboard, then on colored paper. We said “one, two, three” to make the big As, and “circle and a line!” for the lowercase As. He did very well and was excited by my cheering him on and high-fives. I cut some out to glue down around a large A he wrote.

We did some quick letter puzzle crafts with construction paper. I drew the letters with dotted lines and cut out paper strips to match. Jax put the puzzles together, then we glued them down.

Resources:
Alphabet Cut & Paste Sheets – Homeschool Creations
Alphabet Beginning Sounds Poster – Homeschool Creations

Castle Puppet Theater Quiet Book Page

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It’s a quiet book page! It’s a puppet theater! It’s both!

This page was inspired by the rich colors of wool blend felt carried by American Felt and Craft, who provided the felt for this project. (Visit AFC’s Facebook page for sales and giveaways.) There are so many beautiful shades of green, gorgeous grays that look like stone and bright jewel tones. And the fact that the wool felt is stronger and thicker than craft felt helped to make this page work well.

This page doesn’t use anything special other than some plastic canvas, I used glitter ribbon for some of the tiny pieces, like the crown and the sword, but you could swap that for felt. I also used many shades of green because I had leftovers from other pages. The ground (“fresh cut grass”) and the dragon (“jade”) are the most important greens. the leaves (“limeade”) and shrubs (“cilantro”) could be swapped for one of those.

What I Used: The pattern, wool blend felt from American Felt & Craft (in fresh cut grass, beet x 3, powder blue, white, gray flannel, salt & pepper, cilantro, limeade, royal purple, doe, orchid, rubber duckie, peaches & cream, indigo, jade, orange juice), plastic canvas (I got mine at the craft store), glitter ribbon in gold and silver (I got mine at the craft store) and sew-on gems.

This page fits into my normal quiet books, yet unfolds into a working finger puppet theater. There is a pocket to store the three puppets, a wizard, a princess and a knight, plus a stuffed dragon that flies on a loop of ribbon. There are two supports that can be stored in a loop of felt when the page is closed. The supports slip into little pockets to prop the stage open.

Supports: Sew two layers of plastic canvas inside the felt strips to make two supports. I cut my plastic canvas slightly smaller than the felt.

Castle Facade: Start with a 9″ square of gray felt and cut away the roof line using the sky pattern. Layer a strip of light blue behind the castle piece to make a 9″ square again and sew them together. Cut out the puppet theater hole. Sew on the windows and door, then sew on the shrubs. I cut out a bunch of little leave and stitched a wandering back stitch vine up each side of the castle. I used two back stitches to attach each leaf. Sew on the two purple tower roofs. Cut bits of ribbon or felt into triangle flags and sew them to the roof peaks. (My ribbon was non-fraying, so I was able to easily cut it into shapes.)

I embellished my roofs with embroidery to look like tiles. To do that, start with a long horizontal stitch, but don’t pull it tight. Come back up through the felt down at the point where you want your tile to end, making sure to put the needle through the stitch. Go back down through the felt making a tiny vertical stitch that holds your first long stitch down into a scallop shape. Repeat, staggering the scallops as shown.

Backstage: Cut out the burgundy felt into the 9″ square with a matching hole cut out. Sew it to the back of the castle facade with plastic canvas in the middle. Take the two curtain pieces and overlap them slightly in the middle. Sew them to the top back of the theater piece.

The castle theater gets sewn to the right hand side of the two-page spread. Line the top of the castle up with the far right side of a full 9″ x 12″ sheet of burgundy felt and sew it down along the bottom. On the left side, decorate the few inches that are in front of the castle with grass and a road. I matched my road with the width of the door.

Cut out the storage pocket felt piece and sew it to the page under the castle as shown on the pattern and the photos. the skinny side pockets are where you insert the bottom of the supports. Sew the smaller pockets to the back of the castle after pinning them to see what angle works best. Sew the pockets upside-down so the top of the supports can slip up into them.

Front Lawn: That side of the two-page spread is super easy. I just sewed more road down to the grass color. You could embellish yours with flowers, a fountain or a hedge maze… Whatever you can imagine!

To construct my page, I sewed purple felt (I just used craft felt) to the back of each side of the spread. You have to start and stop your seam to get around where the castle is attached on that side of the page. I then lined the pages up facing each other (as they will be when the page is closed, and sewed my usual seams.

Puppets: All three of my finger puppets have plain white felt backs. If you wanted to have yours be two-sided, you’d need to work out how they would look from behind.

Knight: For Sir Knight, I started with his basic shape cut out of gray. I laid his face in place and sewed the helmet and neck pieces over top. I sewed his eyes with French knots and a tiny horizontal stitch going from the center of each knot out to the corner of his eyes. This makes sure the knot doesn’t wiggle loose. His mouth is just back stitch. I sewed down his tunic and the trim next. For his shield, I cut some glitter ribbon into a J for Jax. You could do a cross or another letter or symbol. I sewed the J to the inner shield piece, then sewed that and the outer shield piece down. I cut the sword blade and hilt out of more glitter ribbon and sewed them down, adding the glove over top.

To make his backing, I cut out white felt to the same shape as his body, but added an extra 1/4″ to each side from the bottom down. The knight is fairly skinny, so adding width to the backing gives room for bigger adult finger to play too. The photo to the right shows one side sewn and the other side read to be sewn. Once you’ve sewn the back on (leaving the bottom open for your finger), trim the bottom edge so it is flush with the front.

Princess: The princess was fun for me! I don’t get to do many girlie sewing projects. You can personalize her by changing up her colors.

I started with her shape cut out in pink. I sewed down her belt, arms, hands and puffy sleeves. I sewed on her sash and added some sew-on gems. I laid her face piece in place and sewed her hair down over top. I added some stitches to her face to make her chin, then made a French knot pearl necklace and earrings. I made tiny stitches in the knots as before to secure them. Her eyes are the same as the knight’s, and her nose is a little stitch. Her mouth has two stitches for the lower lip (the bottom stitch a little smaller), then a longer stitch with a little “v” stitched over top to make the bow of her lips. See the drawing to get the idea.

The finishing touch was her crown, made out of glitter ribbon with a sew-on gem.

Wizard: The wizard is pretty simple, but very cute! Start with his shape cut out of indigo felt. Lay his face in place and sew the beard down on top of it. Lay a scrap of ribbon (mine was purple) on his hat, and sew the hat brim in place. Cut a scrap of felt in a mustache shape and sew it down along the top side. His eyes were made the same as the others’ and his mouth is made like the princess’s lower lip (the two dashes.) Sew down his sleeves and hands, then sewn on a star and stitch the wand with back stitch.

For both the princess and the wizard, I cut their finished shape out of white felt and sewed the back on (with the bottom open) to make them into finger puppets.

Stuffed Dragon: The dragon is the hardest part, as I made him into a full stuffed animal. I wanted him to be able to fly in to the castle from any angle.

The dragon has two sides that are the same, but mirrored, so do everything twice for him. I started with the wings. I stitched two curved back stitch lines to show the veins/folds int he yellow part. Then I sewed each wing together with the yellow layered between the green backing and the green outer edge. Remember you need a wing for each side, so they have to point opposite directions. Sew the green body pieces to the yellow body pieces and then sew a wing onto each (picture 1 below.)

For his face, I stitched on the white eye, then made a French knot with a reinforcing stitch for the iris. I back stitched an outline around it. I satin stitched a sideways tear shape for his nostrils and back stitched an arc over each one. I sewed the two sides of his purple crest together and the two sides of the flames together. I cut out a bunch of back scales (including a few smaller ones for the end of his tail.) Have a loop of ribbon ready for his back. I sewed the two sides of the dragon together from under his chin, around his nose (with the flames in his mouth) over his head (with the crest in place) and then down his back, adding scales and the ribbon loop between his wings (see photo 2 below.) Sew all the way around his tail, but stop when the green ends.

Sew all the legs together, and sew them in place on each side. Add a little stuffing or batting – not too much or he’ll be too fat to store int he page. Take the chest piece and stitch it to the edges on the yellow as shown below. Trim the piece as needed to get it ti fit just right.

Jax didn’t know what a puppet show was until I started sewing this, but he got so excited when he figured it out. His current favorite thing to do is steal the puppets off my hand mid-show. He told me the knight puppet is “Jackson”, the princess is “mama” and the wizard is “dada”. Hah! (No, my husband doesn’t have a long white beard and a wand.)

You don’t have to sew this into a quiet book page. You could add a Velcro closure and felt handles to turn it into a portable puppet theater case!

Enjoy! Stop by the Facebook page to see progress photos from my next two pages. they are fun ones!

DIY Ribbon Station

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Scroll down for a giveaway!

This couldn’t be easier!

I’m in the process of turning Jax’s old nursery (a room that adjoins our master bedroom) into a craft room. A spare room down the hall is becoming Jax’s big boy room. My budget is pretty much nonexistent, so I’m thrifting and salvaging whatever I can. On a recent trip to my childhood home, I picked up this old hutch shelf that was on the floor of the basement under our utility room table.

After driving it the 60 miles home, de-spider-egging it, sanding it and washing it, I had this:

Not a pretty sight…

It had good bones, and I am in need of craft room storage. eventually I’d like a table for the room that is wide enough to put these shelves on. For now, they will take up a chunk of my vintage desk. The desk came in the basement of our house when we bought it. Since the desk was painted white (but needed a fresh coat), I decided to paint the shelves as well.

For both the desk and the hutch, I used white paint that we had in the basement. I also used it on a vintage dresser from my childhood basement.

Once it was painted with two coats, I headed to the hardware store. I got a dowel, spray paint and screw-in eye hooks. (I already had the larger screw-in hooks.) My shelf was about 25.5″ wide inside the shelf. I had my dowel (which came in a 3′ length) cut down to 24″. I chose a 3/8″ dowel because it is strong and less likely to bow under the weight of the ribbon spools. It is exactly the width of the holes in most of my spool, so the smaller spools got put in vintage jars.

I screwed the eye hooks into the ends of the dowel and spray painted the whole thing, as well as the two hooks. When it was all dry, I screwed the hooks into the sides of the shelf and loaded my ribbon on the dowel. I ended up opening my hooks wider so I could slide the eye hooks down onto them easily.

Scissors on hand to cut my ribbon.

It was so simple, but works so well!

My shelves don’t have a lot going on yet (don’t mind that unpainted letter S up there – I just got it int he dollar spot at Target.) I haven’t even finished painted the room, so I’ve yet to fully move in. But I am so happy to get all those pretty ribbons out of ziplock baggies!

What do you think of how it turned out?

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Thrift Store Gems

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Sometimes I visit the thrift stores because I haven’t been there in a while, and other times I feel compelled to. The latter is when I tend to find my best deals!

Yesterday I was compelled to visit all three of the thrift store in the area. They are all run by the same charity: a children’s goods store, a clothes and housewares store with an outdoor kid’s area and their newest all-around store that has furniture. That new store is difficult to visit with Jax because it has breakables everywhere and a toy section with signs saying not to touch (the opposite of the rules at the kids’ store.) I was ready for it, though, with Jax in the stroller with my phone and a bag of crackers.

I go turbo speed through thrift stores with Jax. He isn’t very patient when he isn’t allowed to “help” and touch. But 5 minutes is plenty when you aren’t looking through the clothing racks. I was lucky I’d chose yesterday to visit – they were having a 50% off sale on all furniture that had been there over a week (they date the price tags.) Unlike last visit, they had wooden chairs! I had two choices: there were 2 ladder-back chairs for $9.75 each that just barely made the week cut-off and a lonely Windsor fan-back, brace-back chair for $4 (it has paint stains) that was a couple weeks old. I chose the Windsor due to price ($2!!), comfort and not wanting to break up a matched pair. My grand total at that store was $4 for the chair and a wall hook thing to paint for Jax’s big boy room.

Next stop was the kids store. I normally love it, but it was an hour later than I normally go (and summer), so it was packed with moms and kids. Jax immediately started misbehaving from over-stimulation. I looked super-quickly, bought him 2 dvds for $4 total, then carried him screaming (him, not me) back to the car. Ugh!

I almost skipped the last stop, but it was only a block away and I’ve been on the hunt for some large kid items (a push trike and a wooden table). They put their kid items outside by the donation drop off at that location. It is mostly plastic ride-ons and kitchens, a million sit and spins and other plastic flotsam. But, I’ve found a great wooden fridge there, and I’ve seen tables in the past.

When we got there, I wasn’t impressed. Everything was dirty, broken plastic. But I let Jax explore the heap for a while. A woman pulled up in her minivan while he was playing and handed two Radio Flyer trikes to the donation volunteer. He walked them right over to the toy pile while she drove away. They were both pretty much perfect – just lacking the push handles for the back! I figured if it cost less than $10 I’d get it, as I know Radio Flyer is good about stocking replacement parts.

Jackson’s “Bi-cuh-sill-lull”

We carried it inside and before I could even ask the price, They said, “$3!” Say what?! Sold! Jax sat on it ringing the bell as I paid. He had fun riding it with his daddy later that evening but he gets a little frustrated after a while. His legs need to be one inch longer to really make it easy to pedal all the way around. It is super squeaky and needs an oiling. We are looking into the parts needed to add the handle on. Even if it is $20, it is still cheaper than the original $70 price!

I need your help!

I’ve chosen the wall color and fabric for my craft room. The fabric will be on a bulletin board and I’m purchasing a yellow and white ironing board cover from Etsy. But what color should the chair be? Yellow or coral? Thanks to all who have given opinions already on Facebook! It’s such a hard decision! You can’t go wrong with a creamy, buttery yellow, but the chair was only $2 – why not go bold and bright with coral?

$2 thrifted chair – paint it yellow or paint it coral?

A quick note: I’m also working hard on my next quiet book page! It has a lot of details, so it is taking a while. Stop by the Facebook page if you’d like to see regular updates. I post photos nearly every day. I also post them to Instagram (username “iolstephanie”).

Sewing Basics – Blanket Stitch

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I often get asked how I sew the various loose elements that go with my quiet book pages. For the most part, I use a blanket stitch. Here is a little tutorial with a few tips and tricks I like to use.

Cutting Out the Shape

When an element has a front and back, I like to cut both sides out at once so they match up well. Since most felts have a softer “front” side, I fold my felt sheet and pin the pattern piece to it so I end up with the soft felt out for both sides of the element. I cut the shape out loosely at first, because it can be awkward to hold the whole sheet while cutting. Then I go in and cut it accurately. I remove the pattern paper and trim any uneven edges and felt fuzzies with sharp scissors.

Starting to Sew

I use two strands of embroidery floss when I sew. See my detailed tutorial on how to thread your needle with 2 strands here. Basically, you cut your thread twice as long as you’d like to work with, separate out one strand of the 6, fold it in half, and thread it through your needle, loose ends first. This will give you a loop at the end of your thread.

Decide where you want to start stitching. I like to choose a less visible place. Here I chose the inner corner of the heart. Bring your needle up from behind, but don’t pull the thread all the way through. run your needle through the loop at the end of the thread and pull tight. Start the next stitch by coming up from behind. Again, don’t pull the stitch tight yet.

Run your needle from front to back through the loop, then pull the stitch tight. Repeat: come up from the back, don’t pull tight, go back through the loop and pull tight. When you get to a corner, it’s best to do a stitch straight into it. That way your corner stays defined. Continue on until your thread starts to get short.

Ending a Thread

But what happens when your thread gets too short and you have more to sew? Here’s what I do. Start by flipping your piece over and run your needle through the last stitch you made. Don’t pull it tight yet.

Pass the needle through the loop of thread and pull it tight. There will be a tiny knot at the edge of your piece. (Repeat this if you really want a strong hold. Or use a drop of Fray Check.) Insert your needle into the hole of the stitch and pass it between the layers of felt, coming up through the hole of another stitch. Cut the thread off flush with the felt. This will hide your thread tail inside the piece.

Starting a New Thread

Now we need to start a new thread. Thread your needle the same as before so you have a loop at the end. Start to sew the same way you did in the beginning, but start over-top of your last stitch. This way, you won’t have a gap in the thread running along the edge of your piece. Bring your needle up from behind, but don’t pull tight. Go back through the loop of thread and pull tight. Move over and come up through the felt from behind to start the next stitch. Continue on in blanket stitch.

Finishing Up

Finishing up is pretty much what we’ve been doing before. In order to not have a gap in the thread along the edge of your piece, Make a stitch over-top of your first stitch. Then, on the back of the piece, run your needle through the stitch and back through the loop of thread to make a knot. Pass the needle down through the stitch’s hole, between the layers of felt, and back up through another stitch’s hole. Clip close to the felt to hide the thread tail.

All done!

Link-o-rama!

Banana Split Quiet Book Page

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First, a quick announcement – the winners of the camping quiet book page felt and supply give away! The two winners of mini LED lights are Renee R. and Jean J. The grand prize winner of felt, crinkle material, a mini LED light and some clear vinyl is Ashley S. Congrats! I’ll be emailing you for you mailing addresses. (Renee, email me. I don’t have your email address!)

Just before my birthday weekend, I realized we were going out of town on an 8 hour round trip in the car to the beach and I wouldn’t have the supplies for my next page yet. I dug around in my stash to see what I could make from my stash of scraps. I was inspired when I looked at some of the samples sent to me by American Felt and Craft. Sprinkle beads, nut beads and a felt cherry? Sounds like an ice cream sundae to me!

I went with a banana split and had just enough of the green dot felt I used in the ice cream parlor page to make them coordinate. I actually had to sew an extra seam to make the pages smaller because I didn’t have enough light blue and green dot to cover the whole 9″ x 12″.

What I used: The pattern, sprinkle beads, nut beads, red felt ball, felt (in green dot, pink dot, light blue, white, pink, hot pink, brown, dark brown, yellow cream and gray), clear vinyl, blue-tinted vinyl (you can use more clear instead) and 3 sew-on snaps.

The Background: Very simple… just sew a table onto your background felt! Later, you can add snaps to attach the sundae dish.

Sundae Dish: I sewed light blue felt and blue tinted vinyl together along the curve of the bowl to make a pocket, then I sewed across the top of the vinyl to make that edge match the others (and make it feel less sharp.) I sewed three snaps along the back so the bowl can come off, but you could just sew it to the page.

Ice Cream Scoops: I sewed the two sides of each scoop together with some scrap felt in the middle to give it some thickness. You could use batting, but I was in the car and that was what I had!

Sundae Toppings: I sewed the toppings the same way that I sewed the ice cream scoops, except I decorated the front pieces first.

Strawberry: I sewed the sprinkle bugle beads to the strawberry topping.

Pineapple: I sewed down little pie wedge shapes of cream felt to make pineapple chunks.

Chocolate: I sewed the nut beads to the chocolate sauce.

Whipped Cream: I sewed the cherry felt ball on to one side of the whipped cream, making sure I really secured it down with a bunch of stitches. You could use a circle of felt stuffed with some batting instead of the felted ball. I then sewed the two sides together.

Ice Cream Tub: I sewed the pink top piece to the main white tub piece, overlapping them a bit. I sewed on the lettering and the oval ice cream colors. (Sew the white of the oval on first, then layer the pink and brown over it so they line up.) I then sewed the ice cream tub on the the page along the sides and bottom to make a pocket to hold everything.

Sprinkle Jar: The sprinkle jar is a pocket for the spoon to go into. The front of the pocket is made of two layers of clear vinyl with sprinkle beads sewn inside. I started by sewing the light blue background to the page. Then I folded my vinyl in half and started sewing around the edges. With one side still unsewn, I filled the vinyl pouch with beads then sewed it shut. I placed it over the blue background with the smooth folded edge up, and sewed the sides and bottom down, making the pocket.

Spoons: The spoons are just two layers of felt sewn together with some decorative back stitching on the bowl to give it depth. I also sewed on the sprinkle beads to the spoon that goes in the sprinkle jar.

This page sewed up very quickly! It was a good project for the car, though I did all the beading in the hotel and at home so I wouldn’t spill. You could definitely mix and match the elements from the ice cream parlor page and this one. I just scaled the ice cream a bit larger for this page.

Jax enjoys it, but I knew he would – all of the food pages are big hits for him! The first thing he did was take all the parts and put them in and out of the ice cream tub. Then it was time for a tower of ice cream! And, don’t try to separate him from that sprinkle spoon! It is a prized possession!

Enjoy! If you make one of my pages, I’d love to see… Email me a photo or post it on the Facebook page.