Quick n' felty stocking stuffers

Need last minute stocking stuffers for your teddy bear little princess?

I thought these felt treasures were the perfect, quick, last minute and inexpensive stuffer idea!

...and I sort of hoped you wouldn't mind me using Miss Bear to model Sienna's future hair decorations just for now.


I put all 3 of these together in oooh 15 minutes using pretty much felt scraps, glue and some old hair ties!

The head band is my personal favorite with the large teeth edge bow and a thin strip for band that I stitched to a scrap of thin elastic I had in my box of "don't throw away because you might use it for something somewhere sometime"
(hehe, glad I have that box now!)



I had some smaller scraps of pink felt about 1.5" x 3" that I thought would be perfect for a little pony tail holder bow.

Then I liked that so much that I fancied it up a bit for another brown one to go with this adorable dress I made her that you'll be seeing very soon....!


All I did for these pony bows is pinch together the square of felt (or 2 in the brown case), held it in place with a dab of fabric glue and covered up my messy work by wrapping around a thin strip of felt down the center. Just before I sealed the wrap with glue I stuck an old hair rubber band against the bow right under the wrap!



Since I give my ponies a tug and yank when I take them off... and so does the mini me in my life... I did do a couple of hand stitches to sandwich close the rubber band between the outer wrap and the bow. I used embroidery thread here, but I think any type of doubled up thread should be ok.


Don't you just love these easy little felt bows?!

I know I've seen these from a few different crafty bloggers out there, and I'm so sorry for not listing all of them, but I do know that I recently saw a great and simple tutorial for felt bow clips over at Craftiness Is Not Optional.

Very doable at the end of a shopping budget!

Then... while I was starring at all those scraps of felt I remember the brilliant idea that I saw that I almost forgot about until just in the nick of time!

Felt baby doll diapers!!


Now these honestly are NO SEW at all!

Just a few snips, tucks and stick ons.

I made a few different sizes for her various dolls, but they're adjustable so they even fit her smallest baby pictured above :)

I saw these a long time ago from the lovely ladies at Kojo Designs and almost forgot all about them until now!

Check out their tutorial here.


Another 15 minutes for these guys and I still had half of a nap time to spare!

Go head, stop reading now and go try it!

BUT WAIT!

Before you go....

I also want to take a few minutes here to say that one of my favorite Christmas presents, any presents all year are all you wonderful bloggy world friends out there that give me more motivation, inspiration and fun than I ever imagined this crafty mommy blogging business ever would!!

Thanks so much for all encouraging comments you and the great ideas you all share!

Merry Christmas to all!!

Easy Fairytale Princess Hat Tutorial

After seeing all those magical Disney princesses dancing around it's hard not pretending you're one too!

But even with the lovely little princess dress her mommy made her, she just seemed to be missing one very important thing....

A princess hat of course!

So I whipped one up in fairly or should I say fairy little time (wink, wink)

Wanna try?

Here's what you need:

• A quilter's square of fabric (I used satin, but you can do whatever)
• A matching square of strong interfacing or felt, or something thick to keep it up.
• Ribbon or tulle
• Elastic string
• Optional ric rac or decorative trim
• The usual sewing goodies

Here's what you do:

Step 1: Trace a basic cone

I used an old unfolded party hat to trace a basic cone shape and just made the top slightly taller to be more princess like.

You could kind of fudge this by making a semi-circle approximately the length of your child's head if you don't have a party hat to spare. The height doesn't really matter too much, but the taller you make it the harder it might be to stand up.


Step 2: Cut the fabric

Use your pattern to cut a cone shape piece of fabric and interfacing/felt. You'll end up with 2 pieces.

Step 3: Sew the interfacing and fabric together

Sew the interfacing and fabric together at the curve only. It helps to start in the center and sew in each direction.

Fold inside out to hide your seems. This is a good point to add any decorative trim or ric rac you might want to the rim of the hat.


Step 4: At the elastic string for a hat strap

Imagine the cone in 4 sections; you'll want to sew the elastic string from one end of the middle 2 sections to the other. In other words, just put it in the middle. But the sections helped me visualize exactly where when I was doing this :)

Sew those babies in place with a little back and forth stitching.


Step 5: Attach the ribbon and tulle

Place long strands of ribbon and tulle into the middle of the fabric side of the cone.

Fold the strands into the cone by folding the cone inside out, so the felt part is showing and the fabric part is on the inside. You'll want the long strands to go through the middle of the inside out cone and the ends just barely poke out of the top.


Sew the strands in place at the top by going back and forth a few times at the top side and tip of the cone.

Now go ahead and sew all the way down the cone to close the seam. I used a size 16, heavy fabric needle to go through all the layers. A straight stitch is fine here, but I went over it with a zig zag just to be sure it'll with hold the test of a 3 year old.

Snip off the little extra ribbon and tulle you have at the top...

Turn right side out and voila!


Or should I say...

Bippity Boppity Boo!


Her last princess dream comes true!

Ok, probably not last....

Let's just wait until she hears about prince charming.


But for now, princess friends is all this little lady cares about and thank goodness for that!

Quillow Pack Tutorial

Ok, ok, twist my arm...

Of course I'll share my quillow pack tutorial with you!!

You guys knew all along that I'd post it whether you commented or not, but can you blame me for not so subtly trying to coerce you into leaving more comments???

I can't help it!

I just really love hearing from other people like what they think of my hair brained ideas or similar ideas of their own or even just how their day is going.

So please, please, PLEASE send me fun comments to read :)

Did you get that?

Ok, just checking!

Now, for the moment you all have been waiting for...
at least for the past 20 seconds after you clicked on this post

The 10 quick steps to your very own Quillow Pack (park date sold separately)

Materials

• 1 1/2 yrds each of two coordinating fabrics for the back and front of the blanket (3 yrds total)
• 1 1/2 yrds of fabric for the pillow casing and pack straps
• 1 3/4 yrds of cording or ribbon to close the pack
• Optional- extra scraps to make a front pocket on the sack
• 2 1/2 hours uninterrupted sewing time.

Assume 1/4" seam allowance unless noted otherwise.
Measurements are for a 44" x 53" blanket that folds into an 18 " x 18" pack

Here we go!
Step 1
Measure and cut the following pieces of fabric:

Two large pieces of fabric 44 1/2" x 53 1/2"
Two 18 1/2" x 20" pieces of fabric for the pillow casing Two straps 2" x 27" for the pack straps and
one strip of fabric 1 1/2" x 18" for the draw string casing on the blanket

Step 2
Sew the 2 pillow casing pieces of fabric with right sides together and flip inside out.

Optional- sew a small pocket on one side of the pillow case. You can leave it open or close it with a button, but you should do these details now.

Step 3
Make a 1" casing for the draw string on the 20" side of the pillow casing by folding the edge down so that you end up with an 18" x 18" case.
The 1" casing will be the side farthest away from the edge of the blanket when you sew the pillow case on.

Step 4
Use the finished pillow case to trace the outline for the pillow case on the top center of the blanket piece that you would like to be the "bottom" side or the side that will touch the ground.
Next, make an additional line 1" below the bottom of the pillow case square for the draw string casing to close your sack.

Step 5
Fold the small strip of 1 1/2" x 18" fabric into a 1" wide casing (or wide enough for your ribbon, cording, draw string etc) along the bottom of the pillow case outline on the bottom blanket piece.

Don't forget to leave the ends open so you can run the draw string through!

Step 6
Sew the blanket pieces with right sides together on three sides first, leaving the 44 1/2" edge with your pillow case outline open.

Before flipping right side out again, sew 13" in on each side of the 44 1/2" open side, so that you have an 18" opening to flip the blanket right side out with right in the middle of the blanket where the pillow case will go.

Step 7
Make two 1 1/2" x 27" shoulder straps.

Tuck about 1" of the end of each strap inside the blanket at the edges of the pillow case outline and pin in place.
Sew along the edge twice to secure each strap to the blanket. Once the straps are each sewn inside the blanket, close the rest of the blanket by sewing along the edge between the straps.

Step 8
Bring the other ends of the pack straps to the center of the pillow case outline along the edge of the draw string casing you created in Step 6. Pin them in place at an angle right in the center like so:

I went ahead and snipped off the tip of the triangle I created when I folded my strap at an angle. You don't have to re-hem, because it will be sewn over anyway.

Secure the straps by sewing over twice.

For now, Pin the straps along the center of the pillow case outline to keep them out of the way while sewing on the pillow case in the next step.

Step 9
Sew the pillow case onto the bottom of side of the blanket along three sides with the opening for the pack (the side with the draw string case) facing downward and unattached.
Don't forget to put the side you want to show on your pack face down so it's touching the shoulder straps. In this case I have my pocket side facing down, because that's what I want to be on the outside of my pack when I fold the quillow up.

Step 10
Use a safety pin to pull your cording, ribbon, string etc through the draw string casing on the pillow case and bottom side of your blanket.

Tie knots at the ends of the string to keep it from sneaking back into your casing.

Repeat for the front and pack casings

And that's all!

She's ready for testing.... Fold in thirds like I showed you with my first pack. Or by clicking here.

Does it work?

Great!

Onto phase II of the testing... pull the draw strings to close the pack and throw it onto your shoulders.

Does it fit?

Well... ok, so maybe mine wasn't designed for this size model, but you get the idea!


Last but not least, head to the park with your quillow pack full of all your park date essentials...

Don't forget the BUBBLES!!

The kiddos love this stuff, even if they can't quite figure out how to blow just right...

Btw, recognize the fairy ballerina dress Sienna's wearing? Yup, we can't get it off her....

A park date in a quillow pack

When it's not hot enough to melt your shoes to the sidewalk our favorite playdate is a picnic in the park with our friends.

Swings, slides, fresh air, green grass, sand pits, splash pads, food all over the ground that you don't have to mop up.... what couldn't be wonderful about this?

The packing.

The ridiculous, you'd-think-we-were-packing-up-our-house-and-moving-to-the-park amount of stuff you have to tote along with you for a morning of fun. Sack lunches, water bottles, sun screen, hats, glasses, sand toys, picnic blanket, swim suit, towel, diapers, wipes, stroller, your sanity...

(Look at our stroller! I was lucky to have enough room for at least one kid.)

Even the most skilled husband car packer would never be able to squeeze, pile, shove all that stuff onto my cargo ship of a double jogging stroller. I feel like a Dr. Seuss book waiting to happen as I clench my teeth around my car keys and try to juggle a parade of park gear and children from the car to a shady spot to set up camp, I mean our blanket.

The solution:

My remix of the "quillow" have you heard of those? Quilts that fold into a pillow pouch? Maybe we were the only really cool kids whose mom made us take those to sleep overs.... well, this version of the quillow is more than just any ordinary quilt that becomes a pillow....

I prefer to think of this bad boy as a special, top secret sack pack with a hidden identity!

At first glance it's a normal sling back pack, but as you unload and unfold you see it magically transforms into a picnic blanket!


And right back into your secret pack by simply folding across in thirds like so

And then again in thirds vertically until you neatly tuck the blanket inside the pack......flip right side out and...

viola!

Now it's a sack pack all over again!

Now fill 'er up with all those sand toys, sunscreen, sanity and more!

woah!

Now that is what I call a walk in the park!

What do you think?
Will share a tutorial for comments!!! (hehe, I'm so sneaky!)