Woodland Animal Snow Globe ADVENT

An advent for my sister (and I made one for myself at the same time and Emily helped make the animals on both). This is the "Woodland Animal Christmas Snow Globe" ADVENT from SugarHouseShop on etsy. 

I love this advent!! Love it! I made this for my sister because I had made her an advent in the early 90's that is really outdated. I think my sister still loves it because she puts it out each year but I don't love it 😉

(SKIP ALL THE WRITTING BELOW IF YOU DON'T CARE HOW IT WAS MADE)

I made some alterations though after looking at these advents made by other people:

1.  The sides of theirs pulled when the pockets where full. 

So I made pockets with gussets. Totally solved that problem.

2. It's see through. And the felt looks cheap when see though. So I ironed Pellon Shape Flex interfacing (SF101) in white to the back before putting everything on. Totally Solved that problem.

3. I trimmed about 5" off the top white felt so there was less white showing between top of globe and dowel.

4. I only hand sewed the animals and embroidered the numbers. The instructions say to hand sew the the globe, tree, snow and base on to the background--I machine stitched. Also to hand sew the balls closed after inserting the magnets. I used a glue gun.

5. I didn't use any sequins. I'm not a sequins kind of girl.

6. I ironed on Wonder Under between the globe, tree, etc so they stayed on while I machined sewed. I used pins too but the thing still sags a little.

At the end is a picture of the plastic slip cover I made for it when it's being stored for the year. It's like a giant pillow case and the snaps are on the top so if any ornaments fall off the are caught in the bottom of the bag. It can be hung for storage or rolled.

Felt Campifire

A felt campfire for my sister! 

My sister is a 4th grade teacher and every year they do something called Westward Expansion/the Pioneer trail in her class (Emily did it in her class a couple months ago) It's an interactive game where students role play as settlers heading west on the wagon train. For one part of it my sister has the kids sit around a campfire. She had a paper campfire but it was falling apart sooo I made her a new one!

It was also her birthday present.

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I made this from looking at the one on the landofnod.com website, etsy sellers and tutorials/pictures found searching google. I'm contemplating making a pattern because mostly people are selling them already made. If you are a sewer it's really hard to buy finished products when you can sew it yourself! For cheaper. But I hate writing patterns so it may never happen.

The fire is in two parts and has one layer of Timtex in between the felt. Emily suggested I not sew down the orange fire and let it be floppy.

The logs are my favorite! 

The rocks are all sewn onto the mat because kids are little turds and will play with the rocks. In a classroom this is not good. Besides it makes clean up really easy as everything folds up and goes  neatly in an ikea shoe box. 

The log with the branch and leaves is my favorite of the 3 logs.

I used mostly wool blend felt from Benzie felt on etsy. The red and the brown are the only 100% wool felt from achildsdream.comhttp://www.achildsdream.com/ **Holland wool felt

Island of the Misfits Stockings {#5&6}

Yahoooooo! They are done! I finally made the cats an updated matching stocking and because my sister is spending Christmas with us, I had to make a "guest" one! At the end of the post is a picture of all the stockings together. 

Just in case anyone wants to know, the stocking shape is from an old McCall's pattern. The over-all design of the stocking (the blue, red gingham, etc. and placement of it) is based on a Pottery Barn stocking from years ago. The island of the Misfits characters were made by finding images online (I also had help from Jessica) printing them out to the size I wanted. I traced, cut out and sewed them on. For the names, I sent blank pieces of white cotton to my friends mom in the states and paid her do it. The back of the stocking look exactly the same except for the decoration (characters) and they are fully lined.

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So here is the "guest" stocking:  Hermy holding some freshly extracted Bumble teeth. 

and here is the cats stocking: King Moon Racer! 

The picture below is to show a little of the process of making the characters.

and here are all 6 in all their glorious glory!

Felt Carnivorous Plants

Emily and her friend Sara are doing their 4th grade science fair project on carnivorous plants. Emily chose the Venus Fly Trap and Sara chose the Pitcher plant. I suggested Emily make her model from felt and she was excited to do it. I made up a pattern and cut the pieces out. But she sewed them herself. I also made up Sara's pattern and cut her pieces out but she sewed her's on her own too. All I did was get them started with one or two stitches.  I really really think these turned out sooo awesome!! Emily's Venus Fly Trap will live on our book shelf for sure.  Her's is all wool felt and Sara's is acrylic felt. The stems have wire in them and so does Sara's "lids".

Below are the pattern pieces I  made up. 

Felt Woodland Mobile

 

In 2012 I was pregnant for a 3rd time...then wasn't. I miscarried very early in the pregnancy but not so early I didn't have time to make or buy stuff for the baby. This is one of the items I made and even though there will be no baby #3, I will keep this and hope one day my girls can use it for their babies.

 

The mobile use to be a pottery barn one that both girls used but I have no idea what I was thinking when I bought it because they have much cuter ones for sale or I could have made my own! Here is a photo where you can see the old one (sort of). I used animal/bird/mushroom/tree shapes from varies books and googling. All is wool felt and the tree has poly beads at the bottom of it and poly fill in the rest. It still plays the same music as the original.

Teacher Gifts (Christmas)

Two boxes of donuts for Ava's teachers (she has two teachers). Made from wool felt, beads and this pattern reduced 70% which puts them at about 2.5" across.  The boxes are light weight card stock made on the Silhouette using one of their templates BUT reduced in size (I had to play around till I found the right size). Look at the little scallop inserts! So cute! I used plastic from a sheet protector for the box windows. 

 And these are the ones for Emily's teacher. It's only one box  (she has one teacher and no aid) but I wanted to show both sides because Emily decorated hers. 

 and these are what they look like on the tree.

A Head Only a Mother Could Love

Look at that beast of a head? Only a mother could love that. I have no idea what I did wrong or if it's supposed to be like that. It won't stay up to well and his legs can't even hold his own head weight! I stupidly put a doll joint in its neck so the head can swivel but the joint is too big (just experimenting).  He's made from this adorable book  called Felt Friends from Japan and as usual, made ages ago but never blogged (pictures are from the old house). He's made from wool felt and has poly beads in his legs for weight but it didn't help. I keep calling it a he.....he's supposed to be hand sewn but i didn't want a Frankenstein Bambi:)

I have been completing projects started a long time ago. Some when I was pregnant with Ava!