Monday, August 15, 2016

DOC MCSTUFFINS FELT PLAYHOUSE


I found Doc McStuffins buttons at WalMart and decided to make a play set to keep in my purse for when I have little bored granddaughters with me somewhere. I thrift-shopped the bag to keep them in, luckily in Doc colors, and I sewed the bandaid buttons on it. The felt scene is a folder type made from felt scraps and other things I had on hand. I had to modify it a little due to size, but overall I think it works. The felt play scene fits inside the little bag with the buttons, which will stay loose. I did add a fairy button I had on hand to be one of Doc's toys.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

PLAY STOVE/DISHES

My 2 1/2 year old granddaughter that lives with us has a play house in the backyard, and she loves to play in it. She pretends she is cooking and brings us imaginary dishes with imaginary food on them. I can't claim credit for this idea as I saw it on Pinterest, but today I made her a play stove for outside in the play house. It is the shoe box size plastic container. I had the idea to add knobs for her to turn. I bought a package of 2 small, unpainted wood knobs that I painted pink. My husband advised me to have metal washers on the inside and outside,and I had to buy shorter screws than what was in the package. He drilled 2 holes for me with his drill.  I left the screws loose enough so the knobs will turn. The dishes are all inexpensive plastic, and they store inside the box, If I had been thinking I might have looked to see if there was a solid bottom box that didn't show the dishes. Then again, I did want a box this narrow so it can fit on the little ledge in the playhouse without falling off, and this was the only kind available in this size.
The little one hasn't seen it yet, but she has a good imagination and I think she will have fun with this. I did look for a little plastic sink and stove combination instead, but they took up too much room, and I wanted there to be space for the little one and her friends to play.
The burners were put on with permanent marker, by the way. I cut some cardstock the size I wanted and then traced around it. Then I folded the square in half to use as a guide to draw the lines inside the burner, leaving space in the middle.
This was made to stay in the play house and be weather proof.

Saturday, June 11, 2016

FINISHED DOLLHOUSE

I had to improvise a stove. This is a little hinged craft box on its side, and I painted the silver square and "knobs", and the burners are silver buttons glued on with gorilla glue.
I also had to improvise the couch. I found a half circle plastic container and cut it down for the frame. I intended to have a pattern for this, but had to alter it and change it so much as I went that a pattern would never have worked. You could also make a couch without an inside frame and just stuff it well to make the shape.
I did the floors from individual stick on squares I found at a hardware store for about 69 cents each. I used tin shears to cut them to size,but I did lay down newspaper first to make a pattern for that.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

DOC PILLOWCASES

My little 2 1/2 year old granddaughter has been wanting a pillow. I bought a travel-sized pillow for her, but wasn't impressed with the available pillow cases to go on it. I decided to make my own. This is one yard of 44 inch wide material, cut in half to make 2 pillow cases. Knowing what I know now, I would buy one and an eighth yard and make a wider hem on the edge, but my granddaughter is still happy with this one.
I cut this out material exactly in half, sewed it up and blogged this in the time it takes to watch one Doc McStuffins episode.
My mistake; Not taking into account that this is a one-way material, so one pillow case's open end is on the "wrong side" , but now you will be warned and can prevent that.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

DETOUR

Okay, I told you to stay tuned, but I found this doll house for $5 and now I am re-homing the first one. I want to re-paint the inside and make some minor repairs, but I like this doll house better. It is about the same size, but makes better use of the space and has more rooms. It doesn't have a floor on the bottom, though. That is the table you see, so I do want to get a board for the bottom of this.

Saturday, March 12, 2016

LOOK & FIND

Okay, every family and their dog has one of these for church, right? I saw a heavy plastic material in a remnant bin and bought it, then kept worrying if my sewing machine could actually sew it and not have it leak. Then I had this idea, a pencil case. The filling is the filling they sell to make beanie toys, bought at a craft store. I had various small items already, a couple of squinkies, some novelty buttons and small toys I'd picked up here and there, also a few glue on gems. I will admit I carefully arranged some on top for you to see in  this picture, but the filler shifts and different items reveal themselves, Right now I have the zipper kept shut with a safety pin, but I am going to remove the zipper pull and try to jam the zipper some other way. This is a cute idea for church, doctor's office or anywhere you want to focus your child in a quiet activity, and my way was an easy way to make it. FYI I have also seen it done with rice, but I don't like the look as well,

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

TINY BABY BED


My little granddaughter got the new baby doll on Doc McStuffins today. She has played and played with it all day. I had some tiny bottles on hand from the store (baby shower supplies) and I gave her one. Also we made a blanket out of fleece. (not pictured) I kept thinking and thinking of how we could make a baby bed for her, and it came to me to cut down a Crystal Light package. (This is actually from the Great Value brand of the drink.) I just cut it down to size with scissors, then laid it down on 2 pieces of material to make a mattress, leaving enough around the sides for seam allowance.I stuffed it with some stuffing I had on hand, and it made it too thick for the bed I'd cut down, so I sewed stitches here and there to pull the bulk down, and it worked. I put heart stickers on, one inside and one outside. The outside one is not shown. These are puffy heart stickers and I am not sure they are going to stay on, so I may have to replace them with normal, flat stickers. This was a very quick project, but my granddaughter was very happy to get it. I think this little doll is going to be very popular as the newest Doc toy, so I thought I would share.

Saturday, February 27, 2016

STAY TUNED.......

Look what I found at the second hand store today. It just happens that I have a whole box of doll furniture that is just the right size to go  in this. And dolls. I just need to think a bit on how I want to finish it.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

PJ MASKS CAPE AND "MASK" - OWLETTE

My 2 year old granddaughter loves PJ Masks, so I decided to make her a cape and a "mask". The mask fits on the forehead, not over her eyes, because I want her to be able to see. :) I didn't know how to do a pattern for the cape, but it is out of one yard of fabric and I made a closure with a strap across the front and velcro. This is just the pattern for the little girl in PJ Masks, Owlette.
To make the mask, cut the 2 pieces (double material for each) and sew the half circle first to have it ready, then sew the other part of the mask and set the half circle behind it as you sew and, and sew it on. I used a blanket embroidery stitch to do this around the edges. Measure the child's head and cut elastic, then sew it on the edges.




PLAY MAKEUP - ANOTHER KIND OF FELT


Wednesday, February 24, 2016

PLAY FELT MAKEUP

I made this felt makeup to help my 2 year old granddaughter through the chicken pox. She loved it. I let her pick from patterned felt and sewed sew-on "gems" to the tops to add a little sparkle. The makeup case was bought from a second hand store for a dollar and was brand new, still with the tags on. I bought new $1 brushes from WalMart. I did blanket stitch across the folds to make the "cases" close. The little one has had a lot of fun with it and it can be stored with her "beauty salon" that is in her room. I might add that this makeup case has a mirror inside the lid, but you could sew silver fabric in the compacts to simulate a mirror if you wanted, or buy a safe mirror at the Dollar store.