Fluff Talk Thursdays: Show Your Stash

 

My stash, from left to right, top to bottom:

• Lily’s small-size Huggabuns diapers (this particular version is no longer made) with liners underneath
• Bumgenius 3.0 snapped to fit Lily with liners (also snapped to fit Lily) underneath
• Johnny’s medium-size Huggabuns diapers (also no longer sold in this incarnation) with liners underneath
• Imse Vimse training pants for Johnny with home-sewn cloth wipes (see this post for instructions) underneath
• Lily’s home-sewn newborn cloth diaper covers (see this post). We used wipes as inserts for these, and she already outgrew them being the fast-growing child that she is…

The Bumgenius 3.0s are my favorites, but I only have three. They also don’t really fit Johnny at 20 months and 26lbs, so they aren’t the ideal one-size diaper in my mind. I would love to try out some one-size FuzziBunz or Smartipants but we have a decent stash of sized diapers that work just fine so I can’t justify the expense. Thirsties diaper covers also look lovely, although I always prefer snaps over velcro (ironic given that I put velcro on the diapers I made, I realize, but I didn’t have any of those fancy diaper snaps). I also want to try my hand at sewing an RRP diaper and one of Katrina’s fleece soakers – once I figure out how to use my sewing machine with three children in tow, that is!

And while we’re on the topic of sewing, if you’ve always wanted to learn but didn’t get the chance, consider joining Valerie from the Frugal Family Fun Blog’s FREE sewing workshop here – you have until August 31st to sign up!

Penguin puppets!

These puppets are based off of this free pattern. I printed the pattern half-size so that it would fit tiny toddler hands, and then made a few minor changes (I shortened the white part and made the main body a bit thinner). They were super easy to put together – I hand-stitched the eyes and beak, and then used my sewing machine to finish the rest super quickly.  You could even glue on the eyes, nose, and white body – but only if your children don’t try to pull any glued objects apart the way mine do.

I’m not sure if it’s because of my changes or because I used pink and blue felt instead of black (Emma’s request), but these wound up looking like a cross between penguins and snowmen to me…what do you think?

Thankfully, their lack of authenticity doesn’t make my children love them any less.

Geometric Shapes Truck

Here is our latest Geometric Shapes felt board activity. The shapes for this truck are the same as those used for the geometric shapes train and the geometric shapes castle. My plan is to make an entire collection for my daughter (and eventually son and second daughter once she arrives and grows up a little) to build and rebuild on their felt board (see instructions for a felt/flannel board here and here). Here is the pattern for this one:

And here is the finished product:

This truck was especially popular with Johnny, who made many truck noises before destroying it. Emma can build it by putting the pieces on top of the pattern paper, and then looking at this picture or at a second truck built by me to see where the small circles and square go.

While we’re on the subject of geometric shapes and felt boards, check out the awesome artwork one of Emma’s friends made for her using the shapes from the geometric shapes train (the pieces are glued onto a piece of glitter felt):

Geometric Shapes Castle

This castle can be made using the same shapes from the Geometric Shapes Train.

Geometric Shapes Train

This craft was inspired after we made this Cut and Paste Train posted at No Time for Flash Cards.
Both kids enjoyed building the train, so I decided to make them felt shapes for a train. Here is the design I created:

My plan is to create a series of standard shapes made out of felt that can be used to create various scenes/pictures. Then I can just get out the shapes and design sheets and my kids can use them over and over, or create new designs of their own.

Here is the felt train. Emma really enjoyed making it over and over, with a little help.

Gingerbread Man Craft

I couldn't get the photos for this to post, so I just have patterns. There are two patterns, for two different crafts.

The pattern on the right was designed to be cut out and decorated with stickers, fabric, yarn or colored paper. This gingerbread man has more space for more decoration :)

The pattern on the left is for a felt dress-up gingerbread man that you can dress up in the clothes I designed for the felt bears (see here and here for patterns, no sewing required).

Felt pumpkin pie

Here's the pattern. Four slices will fill the IKEA play pie pan pictured above. The edge piece may be a bit long, but you can just trim the end if needed. I used double layers of quilt batting - so I cut eight pieces, not 4 like the pattern says. It all depends on the thickness of the batting you use. The pieces were stitched together using a blanket stitch.

Winter clothes for the felt bears

Winter clothes for these bears

Felt Board Dress-up Bears

I made these bears to go with this flannel board. They took almost no time to make and my daughter loves them. You can turn this activity into a game by putting pictures of the different outfits on cards (or just having colored cards in a container) and having your child put the outfit/color that matches the card they drew on their bear. Turn the dress into a skirt by cutting it in half.

The faces on my bears were drawn on using a regular gel pen.

Felt Food

I'm very fond of felt and fleece as fabrics, because they are easy to work with and fairly forgiving. I designed this felt bread to fit into the children's bread pan sold at Ikea when the pattern is printed full scale to fill up an 8.5x11" sheet of regular paper. I'm not sure how scaling
blogger images works. If anyone knows a better way to include a pattern like this, please let me know.

The loaf of bread can be made using a single square of felt, sold for 20-30 cents in most craft stores. I bought a bag of stuffing for $3, and I barely used any.

You can use the pattern piece for the end of the loaf to make slices of bread (just cut out a 1/2" strip of felt to sew around the edge) and to make "jam" and "peanut butter" fillings. Yellow rectangles make pretend cheese, and a brown circle works as a hamburger (sew two together and stuff them if you want it to be more realistic).

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich:

I sewed everything together using a blanket stitch. Both of my kids love their play food, and I don't have to worry about lead paint!