Crafty Christmas

Well now that the holiday is complete I can post pictures of all our handiwork. I must say that I was pretty busy this year making gifts big and small for people. I am still in love with felt and I think that things turned out pretty well.

My first projects were for my secret Santa from my preemie message board. I made a felted wool wreath ornament for the mom and a stocking toy for her daughter.

I decided to branch out with my felt crafts and felt some sweaters from good will. I went and picked up three wool sweaters (a red one, a grey one and a red and grey fair isle) and washed them in hot water and dried them on high. This causes the sweater to shrink and the wool fibers to link together. Once this is done you can cut the sweaters and the fabric does not fray. It is pretty cool.To make the wreath you cut out about 60-70 1.5 inch square pieces of felted sweater and use a needle and thread to string them together. After they are all strung you pull the two ends together to make a circle tie it off and attach a bow. It is super easy and they turn out really nice. I made two with just one arm of each sweater. I ended up giving felt to my mother and still have tons left over.

I went back to my felt roots for the stocking toy creating something like my cornucopia with a Christmas theme. I found patterns for a stocking online and modified it for my use. I then made a few small toys to put in the stocking. Some I found patterns on and others I designed myself (I bet you can tell which ones!) I think it is pretty cute. I hope that little L enjoyed playing with it.

Shazam and I also worked on some gifts for Little E. We designed a set of ABC flash cards for E. I made them in power point using clip art and we had them printed at the local copy shop four slides to a page and then each card was laminated. They are really cute and E loves playing with them. She keeps handing me the cards to tell her what the picture is. 

 Due to a snafu with the copy shop we actually got four sets of them (thankfully they only made me pay for one!) If you are interested in receiving one as a little gift from Darwin's mommies make a comment on the post and I will pick someone at random. If you would like the ppt file to print your own let me know.

We decided to go for it and make a felt farm set from a pattern I bought from Etsy.  Of course I procrastinated and we made the whole thing the week before Christmas.  We ended up not making the fence that was in the design but I think it is just fine.  It took 3-4 hour work sessions each night last week for Shazam and I to finish the set.  We finished around 10 pm on Christmas Eve.  It was worth it though.  It turned out great. 

This was one of those times that I was glad I am married to someone who is crafty and can sew.  I must say that not only did we finish the project we didn't bicker at all which tends to happen when we are trying to finish a project of some kind.  Shazam and my minds work in very different ways and this can cause some conflict when we need to complete a task.  Anyway Little E spent some time playing with her farm before we went off to our family celebrations and I am sure it will get lots of attention if the weeks to come.  Little E is super sick today and hasn't been playing with much today.  Poor little girl is a stuffy mess...again.