Heirloom in the making!

Have you ever used felt to make stuff?  It had never crossed my mind and honestly I can't imagine why not because it's so well suited to the way I like to make things!  (i.e.  quickly and easily.  Ooh!  and cheap!) 

Well, thanks to the internet and all you other crafty pants out there, I have now added felt crafts to my repotoire!

The Bot has been having a hard time sitting still during sacrament meeting at church these days and I've had it in my mind to make him a "quiet book" for some time now.  I had one when I was a wee lass and I loved it!  The one I had was all sewed and embroidered and I haven't quite mastered the whole sewing thing yet.  Also, it takes too long and is too expensive (at least if I did what I had in mind it would have been).

Enter felt!

I died and went to Hobby Lobby the other day and while I was there, I picked up a few different colors so I could try it out.  While the boys took their nap this afternoon, I sat down at my craft station (a.k.a kitchen table) and gave it a go!

First, I had to figure out what exactly I wanted this quiet book to look like. I think an ABC theme would be fun :)

You may notice a few "interesting" things on my idea sheet.  Keep in mind that it's a work in progress and I'm a very "interesting" person.  :)  I should run my ideas by you to see what you think.  Getting a feel for the general public should come in handy as I'm sure there will be several people in my ward who will at some point catch a glimpse of the book and I need to know if people are going to think I'm on crack.

So here's a run down of what's going in the book as of right now.  I tried to use things that Rowan sees all the time or really likes:

A- detachable apple on a branch

B- basketball with hoop and net

C- cow with grass to eat

D- dinosaur and volcano (but I had a better idea that I forgot)

E- indian elephant with palm trees

F- freeze pop (in a freezer that opens)

G- goldfish (in a bowl)

H- house (our house-with little felt versions of us!)

I- ice cream (with detachable scoops of ice cream)

J- Jack-o-lantern (pumpkin pocket with different face shapes inside)

K- kangaroo w/ joey filled tummy pouch

L- lightbulb (any fun ideas for this one? Rowan looooves lights)

M- mullet :)

N- noodles

O- orangutan (I saw some fur at Hobby Lobby and I put it back because I didn't think I'd need it.  Didn't think I'd need it?!  Who do I think I am!?)

P- prison, haha. with a little removable guy in stripes behind bars and a ball and chain

Q- quail (with real feathers--but like...not that I plucked from a real quail or anything)

R- rocket (with that sparkly string stuff to simulate fire from the rocket bum)

S- sunrise (he'll be able to pull the sun up from behind a desert horizon with little cacti)

T- toilet w/plunger and liftable lid (if you've seen all of my videos on my other blog, you'll know why this makes sense.  I have no explanation for "P is for prison" other than that a tiny felt felon in a tiny felt cell looks really cute in my head)

U- umbrella (plastic umbrella with sequins for rain)

V- vacuum (again, if you know my son, you'll get this)

W- wheels (movable wheels on an old-school bicycle)

X- x-ray (the hubs is an x-ray tech) i'll have a felt guy and a little x-ray paper that'll go over his abdomen or something

Y- yodeler (because I felt like it

Z- zipper (there will be a zipper in the middle of the page and a big letter 'z' will be inside it

Here's what I have so far.  I'm going to have to go get a bunch more stuff now that I've decided what I'm going to do.

I still need to do some sewing and gluing and stitching on these things (you may have noticed the cow is missing the rest of his face).  I'm so excited to finish it!!  I keep telling myself that it's worth whatever time and money I invest in it because once it's finished it'll be a family heirloom that we can pass to each kiddo.  Although, I might have to make a girly one if Buck ever produces a female heir!

Sillhouette Giveaway at V & Co.!!

Ok, I know I'm probably not going to win (and one of you will because of this post, lol) but I thought you should know that there's a giveaway goin' on over at V & Co. and you should pretty much go check it out!  Chances are you'll want to enter into the giveaway for yourself after you get a look at what's up for grabs. (Sillhouette craft machine, say what!?!)

Also, if after having seen this DIYer's dream machine, you don't win it and thus feel compelled to purchase one, I will understand completely any desire you might have to send it over to me as I'm sure you've thought to yourself in the past while perusing my blog- "Hmm...her projects would be a million times more awesome if she had some sort of mechanical assistance..."

Good luck to all!  (But to me especially.)

;)