Monstar Christmas Stockings!!

This came from a great shop on Etsy and of course when I saw it I knew I had to make one for our family (I would have totally bought them but she didn't have enough variety for my family- I think hers are MUCH cuter!!!)!!! I needed to make our newest addition's stocking anyway so why not make a whole new set?!?!

Here is what I did....

Materials needed:
• lots and lots of felt (large pieces for the main stocking part and scraps for details)
• sewing supplies
• glue (for those tiny pieces you just can't sew or for all of the details if you want)

My crew of monstar stockings!

Me as a monstar (all crazy like :)

Pocket for stuffing yummy treats!!

My husband as a monstar (he's a bit of a grinch :)

Pocket detail

AJ (our 8 month old daughter) as a monstar (note the teeth- though now she has 4! :)

Pocket detail

Ethan our first child (he was still born but remains a part of our lives) as a monstar

Pocket detail

To make these I simply cut out 3 large rectangles with rounded corners (again, I am not a measurer so I just said this looks good and cut out my pieces). On one of the rectangles I cut off the top and made it the mouth and pocket for stuffing.

To create the loop to hang it from I cut out 2 small, long rectangles and stitched them together (to make it thick and stronger) and then folded it and touched the 2 raw edges together and pinned it in between the front and back panels at the top

Then the fun part...decorate...create your monster add all the details and when you like your monstar the way you like it figure out what needs to be sewn first and start sewing!!! *note to make it sturdier I cut out 2 of each body part that would hang off the main rectangle base and stitched them together but only glued or stitched details to the front.

For me, I stitched down the details on arms, hair, feet, ect... or glued them down if they were too small (and waited for the glue to dry before stitching anything to them). Then I took the mouth pocket part and I folded over the edge and pinned it and then added my tongue or teeth where I wanted them and pinned them then stitched straight across it (stitching showing). Then I added the tummy detail sewing it to the pocket part only. Then for the wings I stitched a line down the back piece. Next I stitched down the eyes/ and face detail. Then I took any body part that would hang out of the felt (arms, legs, tentacles, horns, hair) and placed them between the front and back panels and then placed the pocket part onto the front and stitched around the perimeter of the main rectangles. I added shoes and stitched around the outside of it.

It took me a while to figure out the best order to sew it all in (esp because I wanted to us matching thread for the body parts so it took A LOT of switching thread and I tried to minimize when possible!) but once I did I was so glad I did it. I would have had to leave out a lot of things had I not planned it a bit.

Now they are hung and stuffed and ready for Christmas morning (which will be tomorrow for us since we are going to be traveling for the holidays but still wanted to have AJs first "Christmas" be in our new house!)

Traveling Felt Fairy Scene

It's been a while since I have posted here but I have moved and now have an 8 month old little girl, so needless to say I have been a bit busy, but I have been meaning to make a bunch of posts (just because I stopped blogging didn't mean I stopped creating). So I will be trying to post a few new projects this week!!

The latest project I have been working on was from a blog that I read. (It's a great blog! You should check it out!) Anyway, I decided I would make this for my niece for Christmas since it was just so cute and so easy!! I made a few changes to mine (as you can tell) but her way would have been way easier and is super cute! But I just had too much fun and found myself unable to stop (and still think I could add more scenes each birthday or Christmas or she could add her own!)

Materials needed:
• lots of felt and in several colors!!!
• 2 larger rectangles of felt for the outside and inside panels (I didn't measure mine I just cut it out)
• scrap of chalkboard fabric (optional- but totally awesome!!!!)
• puffy paint
• button
• scrap of elastic
• glue (white glue that dries clear works well here)
• sewing supplies
• small googly eyes (optional)

• hot glue gun (optional- I used it to glue the flower together on the front)
• scraps of cotton fabric (I made the handles and the a's on the front out of this material)
• double sided fusing (optional -used for applying cotton fabric letters to felt)

Everything closed up and ready to travel

Finished board

Pocket on finished board 

Empty board with play pieces

Play pieces

Sample of finished scene

Finished scene with title on chalkboard fabric

Close up detail of chalkboard fabric

To start this project I cut out a large rectangle out of 2 big pieces of felt. I didn't measure- not my style :) One of the rectangles is for the outside and will be the front and back when closed. One rectangle is for the main inside panel. 

Next I made a pocket panel. I was going to just have a solid green piece for the grass but low and behold I did not have enough of one green so I had to get a solid piece of felt and placed triangles of "grass" around it and quilted it. I loved how it turned out! I also added a long rectangle of chalkboard fabric (mainly because I had some extra and I am in LOVE with it!!!) so she could write whatever she wanted there.

The next step was to make my sky more funky too. I cut out some "wind" shapes and quilted it as well. 

Next I worked on the detail for the front. Here I just cut out her name (nothing special just free handed it) and then took a piece of cotton fabric and ironed on the double sided fusing to it). I drew an a on a piece of paper cut it out flipped it and traced it on the paper side of the fusing then cut out both a's and ironed them on to the front (after dry fitting it and figuring out how I wanted it to lay it out). Then I took the other felt letters of her name pinned them down and just sewed a line down the middle (also sewing the cotton letters too).

For the handles I used the same cotton fabric and cut out 2 long rectangles the same size and then sewed them right sides together and flipped them, ironed them, and pinned them in between the inside and outside panels. I also took my little bit of elastic and placed it in the center between the inside and outside panels on one side.

Then I pinned it all together. The inside and outside panels as well as the pocket. Then I sewed it up on all 4 sides with a zigzag stitch and then trimmed the edges...you could use a Serger but sadly I don't have one :(

For the flower on the front I cut out petal shapes for the petals one larger size and one smaller sized. I then glued the center bottom part and pinched it together (being careful of hot glue!!!) and glued them all together large ones first and then smaller ones on top. For the leaves I cut out 2 leaf shapes and added a dot of hot glue to the center bottom and pinched. For the center part of the flower I cut out a circle using my pinking shears and then sliced little lines toward the center (but keeping the center solid). Then I folded it onto itself added dabs of hot glue and attached it to the center of the flower. Then I hot glued it on. 

To finish off the carrier/background I added the button to the front panel where her name was (opposite the side with the elastic) using the elastic as my guide for placement. 

To do the play pieces I just came up with things I wanted to do, such as fairies, castle, rainbow, bugs, animals, nature things...then I cut out basic shapes to create them (all of it was free hand but I am sure you could look up silhouette pictures if you wanted to trace them). I glued the pieces together and let them dry. For detail I added puffy pen lines and dots and such (even used glitter puffy paint for the wings of the fairies). Then for the eyes I used small googly eyes (because I always love a reason to use googly eyes :)

Once all of your pieces are done and dry place them in the pocket, add a pack of chalk (maybe a chalk eraser) and it is the perfect present for a little girl.

When my little lady gets older I think I want to make her a monstar making one...complete with eyes, mouths, warts, whatever :)