Crinkle Owl tutorial

Having 2 children our house is filled with toys, but I have found that some of their favorite things to play with were not toys at all.  For example water bottles, spoons, wrapping from the baby wipes, and paper towel tubes.  So when the baby class that I teach was ending and wanted to give them something that their babies would love to play with.  Originally I was going to make a small “taggie” blanket, but of course I had to make up something a little cuter.  So I came up with the idea to make a owl taggie, but I remember how much my kids loved things that made the crinkle noise.   Here is my tutorial for a owl crinkle “toy.”

Supplies: 
2 10x10 pieces of minkie fabric
Scraps of minkie fabric for wings and eye
Crinkle material (I bought a roll of cellophane at the craft store, but I have read that some people use baby wipes bag, or cereal bag)
Scraps of ribbons for feet
Thread, pins, and sewing machine
Batting (optional)
Instructions:
1.  Cut out all  pieces.  You will need an owl, a pair of eyes, nose, and 2 wings.  To make an owl pattern I looked on Google image search, but they were a little more detailed than I wanted so i just freehanded one.  I am not an artist, but it was pretty easy, and if I could figure out how download one let me know.   To make the wings I traced another copy of the owl pattern and then cut out an oval like shape.

2.  First I sewed the circles together to make the eyes.  This was probably the most tedious part of the sewing because they were so small.  I did a brown, pink and then another brown (you could leave out this piece, but they looked a little “dazed” to me).
 
3.Pin and then  sew nose, eyes, and wings onto the front side of the owl.  I liked using a zig zag stitch to sew them on for added durability.

4. Pin 2 pieces of cellophane (or whatever plastic you are using) to the front of the owl and baste.  Also I liked adding one layer of batting between the layers of cellophane.  You may not want to have the batting go all the way to the ears b/c it is difficult to turn, but since you will topstitch it the batting will not shift.

5.  I then sewed over the nose and wings again with a straight stitch to make sure everything would stay in place (you cannot really see the stitch.)

6.  Pin the back and front of the owl right sides together.  for the feet I pinned  a a scrap of ribbon, making sure the fold is inside (close to the nose).  I forgot the feet on this owl, it still looks cute, but babies love tags/ribbon.  Sew leaving a small opening for turning (I like leaving an opening on straight side so I made my opening between the ears and wings).
 
7. Trim excess and turn inside out.

8. Pin opening closed and topstitch around the entire owl remembering t0 backstitch.
 
9.  Trim excess threads and give to baby!  Sorry the color is not too good on my pictures, but they look really cute in person.


Notes:
- add more ribbon around the owl to make a taggie
- add stuffing to make an owl softie
- Put cellophane just behind the eyes and wings if it is too noisy for you.
-washing: cool water with like colors, and low heat in the dryer or line dry ( I have washed mine once and the cellophane stayed in place and was just as crinkly) 
Let me know what you think and if you make one.  Any tips on downloading a pattern, let me know.  Enjoy!

Superhero Wristband Tutorial

Being a mom of 2 young boys means that I have learned a lot about superheroes. For example there is not just Batman, Superman, and Spiderman. Oh no, there is also The Flash, Green Lantern, The Atom, Wonder Woman (ok I remember that one), Green Arrow, Robin, and Aquaman. And these are just some of the heroes; I have not even named any villains. Flying around the house pretending to fight crime and the evil villains of the world. So I thought I would help them make the world safer by making some superhero costumes.
I began with reversible Batman/Superman cape and then I thought they needed some more equipment. So a wristband (that can make calls to Batman and can shot bat rays) and a tool belt for all the crime fighting "supplies." So I thought I would tell you all how to make one for your superhero. I am calling it a mini tutorial, because I do not have any pictures, but it is pretty straightforward. Next up masks and superhero tool belt.
Supplies:
Felt (I like using a wool felt blend, but any kind will do)
Felt scrap (for emblem)
Velcro
thread
Stabilizer (optional)
1. I cut the felt into 2 long skinny rectangles about 7.5 X 2 inches each.

2. Sew together (you do not need to sew right sides and turn, because felt does not fray).

3. Pin on the Velcro to each side. Remember to sew the hook on one side then turn it over and sew the loop on the other side opposite from the first.


4. On the felt scrap fold in half (so you have 2 layers) and draw/trace the emblem you want (for this tutorial I am making a Superman wristband so my shape is a “triangle”). Topstitch around the perimeter of the shape.

5. Cut shape to be sewn onto the emblem. Any shape will do here are some suggestions: batman symbol, star, lightning bolt, or letter/initial. Since my Superman first initial is a “B” I choose to sewn a “B” on the emblem.

6. Pin and sew around the shape.

7. Pin emblem onto to the wristband. Sew where the emblem overlaps on the wristband (see picture).


8. Cut off any remaining threads (I always forget this part) and let you superhero save the world (or in our case his little bro)
.
Notes:
- To make a Batman symbol I just copied a picture from Google and pasted it in a word document so I could change the size. Then I printed it out, traced on black felt, and cut. I then topstitched the Batman symbol to the yellow ovals.

-Sorry if my cutting mat looks dirty, I just cut A LOT of fabric on it.
So I know that is hard to visualize these steps, so let me know if something is unclear

My Pillow Buddy

I would like to say that my boys do not watch tv, but they do. Which means that sometimes they hear commercials for all kinds of toys, like Pillow Pets. I have heard the (annoying) song and seen them in local malls and despite the whining I resisted buying one for them. Then I was blog reading and I came across Twelve Crafts Till Christmas and saw that she had created a tutorial for a pillow buddy. Brilliant! I have tried to make stuff animals before with no success, so I was a little worried about making one. However, everyday I would hear "mom did you make my pillow" I could not resist. Also TCTC tutorial was  great and very easy to follow. The only thing I changed was that I did sew on the soft side of the velcro before sewing right sides together (my hand sewing skills are not great).  The hint to look at google images coloring pages of animals really helped me draw the pillow buddy's face.  Thanks Twelve Crafts!

I Am Back!!

Oh My Goodness. For a while today google deleted my blog saying that it was Spam (not exactly sure what that means, but I know the food version is not good). I am glad they decided that I was not Spam and instead a real blog. For awhile I was really mad because I had spend a lot of time getting to understand how to "blog", but I realized that it was just not that important compare to other things (healthy children, good hubby, great family...I could go on).   However, I am really excited to be "back."  Sorry if it deleted some of my links I posted on your blogs, I am going to try and go back and make sure everything is still there.  Thanks and happy blogging (again)

Baseball Birthday Mania

Today was the big party for my 5 year old...where has the time gone. It went wonderfully and I think everyone had a great time. Since being on a little league team he has been obsessed with baseball so he had a "awesome" time. We had the party at his preschool, so there was plenty for everyone to do (even for the younger siblings). I made the baseball bean bag toss (see this post), filled a water table with water and toys, and of course the pinata (which was quite fitting since it was a baseball party). For the cake I make baseball cake pops following instructions from bakerella. I think they turned out pretty well considering it was my first time and I am not a fabulous baker. For the favors I made Angels baseball backpacks. As always I forgot a few things (the candles), but the birthday boy had a great time which was all I really cared about.