Felt Food - Circus Animal Cookies

These little frosted animal cookies happen to be two of my grandchildren's favorite cookies. They call them "pink and whites." They can't get these cookies where they live overseas and they often ask me to send some to them. Who can blame them? They really are a bite of deliciousness, and the inspiration behind my next creation.

As an early Christmas gift, I've been making these two grandchildren felt food. My husband commented that I should make them their favorite cookies too...."why not," I thought?  So that is what I created - felt Circus Animal Cookies.

In case you're now in the mood for a few cookies too, here's a pattern I created so you can have a night of fun making some felt cookies! 

Supplies:

• 1 piece of 8 1/2" x 11" bright pink felt - makes 9 cookies
• 1 piece of 8 1/2" x 11" white felt - makes 9 cookies
• pink thread
• white thread
• embroidery thread: royal blue, yellow, green, pink, red, white
• a little bit of batting for each cookie
• a needle

For the Circus Animal Cookies pattern click here.

1. Cut out the cookies, using the provided pattern. (You'll need two pieces per cookie.)
2. Randomly make French knots using 3 skeins of thread, twisting the thread around the needle twice.  Make a lot of French knots with a variety of colors.  It's easiest to do all one color of thread and then another color of thread. 
   
3. With a sewing machine, right sides together, sew around the edges of the cookies with as small a seam as possible, leaving a 1" opening at the bottom or side of each cookie.
4. Clip the corners.
5. Turn the cookie right side out. (This is not easy to do but they will eventually turn, I used the eraser part of a pencil and carefully pushed using dull tipped scissors. Good luck!)
6. Slightly stuff the cookies.
   
7. Sew closed the opening.
8. Add your finished cookies into a clear sandwich bag.
   

Don't they look so delicious? Hopefully my grandchildren will think it's fun to pretend that they're delicious too. If you're now craving cookies and milk, then I'll declare my work here done for the day!   xoxo Grandma

Fall Pleated Playsuit

A little girl can really climb and play in this playsuit.  The pattern was easy to make and the "pleated playsuit" pattern was free!  For the fabric, I used a hunter green, black, white and rust Hawaiian print given to me by a neighbor.  Honestly, I never would have purchased this fabric but I think it made into a practical playsuit for a preschooler.

 The peasant top under this playsuit was made from a battenburg pillowcase. 

By using an upcycled item, the cotton fabric in this top is super soft. 

With the leftover fabric, I created flowers and attached them to a black elastic headband.

I'd love to know if you've used this pattern.  If you haven't tried it yet, you'll want to head to Elegance and Elephants for your free pattern.

Happy creating,

xoxo Grandma

Styling Sophia

I made these autumn dresses a while ago, but it wasn't until Wednesday that I had such an adorable preschooler to model them for me.  In her honor, I'm calling them Sophia's dress. 

The inspiration behind this creation came from the fabric I used on the aprons. Those little aprons started out as fabric samples for upholstery and I loved the fall colors and the horse images on the fabric. The colors are perfect for the fall and my little model liked the horses too. Isn't every little girl fascinated with horses? But she was even more fascinated with the buttons on the aprons of these Matida Jane style dresses.  

Sophia's Dress, view #1: ruffle on the bottom

Sophia's Dress, view #2: button detail along top of apron

Sophia's Dress, view #3: longer apron and bodice

A huge shout out to my friend Xela for letting her little girl model for me. She's darling!

Happy creating!

xoxo Grandma

Junior Aviator

Last week, I put this aviator jacket into the mail. I'm happy to report that it arrived safe and sound to its final destination -- St. Louis. And as promised, here are a few photos of my grandson in his new jacket - in plenty of time for Halloween. My daughter said he likes the soft fake fur collar the best. I guess it's kind of like a stuffed animal around his neck & he definitely loves his stuffed animals. 

Isn't he the cutest little aviator you've ever seen? I just want to hold him & kiss his sweet little cheeks!

Want more creative costume ideas, see this, this, this or this.  Happy creating.
xoxo Grandma

Long Distance Stories

Hi, today I'm a guest over at My Mommy Style, please check out their blog for tips from me on great books to read to your little ones virtually or snuggling with them.  So, this is where you'll find my little secrets on how you extend precious time with grandchildren even when they're thousands of miles away.                                                                                      

What's your child's favorite book? xoxo Grandma

Sweatshirt Into An Aviator Jacket

This newly finished project has sent me flying high with happiness! Here's a peek at my version of a toddler's aviator jacket. It was made from an upcycled sweatshirt purchased years ago as a souvenir for my daughter; she moved out and left it at home, which means it is fair game to upcycle!

The reason for this project was fairly straight-forward, I suppose: my daughter bought her son the cutest vintage looking aviator hat with goggles for winter (something similar to this). Of course, she suggested I make him a jacket to go along with his hat. This is now his official Halloween costume. The best part is he can wear it any time, not just Halloween.

I also used a child's t-shirt from a thrift store for the back airplane graphic 

This design was used on the back of the jacket.

and an eagle patch from an upcycled hat - gotta have patches on aviator jackets, you know. I purchased about 1/4 a yard of the brown fur and one additional patch. I finished this jacket last week and had to wait for the silver paint to dry so I could add his official flight wings. Then it rained and rained and I didn't get a great photo of it but never fear, on Friday, I shipped off the finished product to St. Louis, where my daughter lives, and my daughter promised she'd send me photos of her little guy in his new jacket. I'm sure he'll look darling. Can't wait to see how it looks on him! Stay tuned!

Happy creating!
xoxo Grandma 

Halloween Party Hop; Costumes - A Blast From the Past

Costumes, of course, are a must for a Halloween party. Are you looking for costume ideas? I often get ideas by looking at photos from the past. Today, I want to share with you a few costumes that I created for my children...a long, long time ago.  

These photos are a blast from my children's past.  

I hope one of these photos inspires you as you prepare for Halloween. 

Star Wars anyone?  Chewbacca is a great character and a fun costume.  
This costume won first prize at a community party in 1992.
Start with long fur fabric. Make the costume have long legs and arms.  

Out of beige fabric, make a Star Wars "belt" to hold your child's candy. 
Find a Chewbacca mask (there seem to be a lot of vintage ones out there) and your child will be ready to trick-or-treat.

One year, we had an Indian and The Lone Ranger complete with his horse, Silver, for costumes.

The Indian costume was upcycled from a bell bottom jumpsuit. Add a feather headband and a beaded necklace. For her shoes, find moccasin-style slippers.

To create the Original Lone Ranger, find white pants, a white shirt, a red scarf or bandanna, a cowboy hat, cowboy belt and a simple mask which was made from black felt.  The perfect footwear would be cowboy boots.  Most little boys absolutely love cowboy boots!  The horse was created from two cardboard boxes and painted white. The detail was added with a black permanent marker.

A princess needs a fancy dress and as much bling as you can find....plus a few loyal followers. To create your princess, glue on a few extra rhinestones and a little feathered marabou to her crown.  Find a real fur piece to wrap around her shoulder, if possible (you may need to raid Grandma's closet for this). Plus it'll keep her warm while she's out trick or treating.

Pirate costumes are fun and easy to create for either a boy or a girl.  I'm currently working on some updated pirate costumes for my 4 year old grandson & 18 month granddaughter. The above photo illustrates that you can use a top and pants that your child may already have to create that look. Add a sword or eye patch and a red or black scarf for their head and easy as can be, you've got a pirate look without spending a lot of money.

Have fun looking at all the posts in this Halloween Party.

xoxo Grandma

Events To Celebrate: Halloween Party Activities

Love to be in the Kitchen: Build Your Own Jack-O-Lantern Cupcakes

Utah Coupon Deals: Halloween Party Favors

Cupcake Diaries: Halloween Krispy Treats

Simplistically Sassy: Halloween Bat & Ghost Craft

Annelily Design: Halloween Spider Web Craft

xoxoGrandma: Halloween Costume Ideas