I looked up quiet/busy books on the internet and came across a plethora of sites that other moms made for their kids. There was one site, Lella Boutique,  that created the book in a theme but I didn’t find it to be a busy book but more of a touch and feel book. Still good idea but I want something more interactive.

Here are a few sites that I came across that have wonderful tutorials on busy books:

The Crafty Crow

Elisa Loves

Doing Without

Simply Sew-per!

Leafy Treetop Spot

Empty Bobbin

I think these are all great sites and even have other great ideas on stuff to make. The one site that intrigued me the most was Doing Without. It’s a great site with lots of tips and ways to save you money, especially if you already don’t have a lot to begin with.

I finally finished the fruits and veggies. Due to time limits and the need to ship out one of the four sets, I had to make some cuts. I originally wanted to have grapes, bananas, eggplant and a last-minute cut, corn on the cob. The decision to cut those items was mainly the time involved to make them. Bananas and eggplant would have been simple to make but ran out of those colors to make them. So I decided if there was time still available that I would make them but time had run out. Grapes and corn on the cob had a lot of pieces involved in them, especially the corn on the cob.

The corn on the cob has several pieces. For the corn kernels alone was 11 pieces and each one had to be sewn to create a row of kernels to give it that look of corn on the cob. As for grapes, has a lot of pieces to put together and it depends on how big and how many grapes you want to put on it. I was worried that a two-year old would keep pulling on it to the point they would eventually fall off due to thread fatigue or the felt being stretched out of shape.

After finishing all the fruits and veggies, I wanted a tiny shopping bag for them but nothing look quite right. Either they were too big or the material was too cheap and felt like it would rip or fall apart too easily. I wanted something just a little more durable. I stopped in JoAnn’s fabric and craft store and see if they had any small canvas bags. When I got there they had medium-sized shopping bags, fanny packs, hobo bags and a bunch of aprons. Then I noticed that there was small backpacks. They offered black, natural and bright pink. I couldn’t pick black since they were all out. I was going to go with bright pink for the girls but it clashed with the ribbon I plan to decorate each with. One will get Dora the Explorer, another will get Disney Princesses, another will get Disney Cars and for my little niblet, she’s getting Hello Kitty  since there wasn’t a ribbon that was Toy Story or Ni Hao Kai-lan. I should have those on the backpacks tomorrow and be able to ship out the Disney princesses backpack so she can have it for Christmas.

I’ll be back in the New Year and a new project. I have a few ideas and I’ll decide during the holiday time to figure out which one I’ll do first. Happy Holidays  and Happy New Year to everyone!

I’m hoping to get all these done this week so I can at least ship one of them. The others will be given in person for Christmas. I really hope these kids will love them and play with them often. I’m look forward to getting this project finished and moving on to the next one.

Earlier in the week, my father thought he was catching the flu and on top of that was feeling sore in his legs which he attributed to helping my brother out with some remodeling of his house. While we were having dinner, we kept asking him if he wanted anything  and we were noticing that he was having problems hearing. He was also grumpy but then again who isn’t when they don’t feel good and anything you do seems fruitless. Throughout dinner, he kept moving from sofa to chair and back to sofa only to find some way to be comfortable. Nothing was working. To top it all off, he refused to go to the hospital. He tried to call his doctor and left messages. By, the time dinner was over, he became quiet but still in pain. I remember after my brother and sister-in-law and their little boy went home, my mom was commenting on how my dad was acting and how stubborn he can be. I said just go in and tell him we’re going to the ER and that’s that. She didn’t really want to do that. Sometime later, my mom called me and said they were heading to the ER. A couple of hours later, I try to get hold of her and when I finally did. She was upset and wanted us there. It turns out that as they arrived at the ER, my father was losing the ability to talk. The doctors and nurses were assuming he was having a stroke. They did tests and turns out it wasn’t a stroke. We were grateful about that but after some testing, they found out he had meningitis. It turned out to be a long fight for my dad. He spent a majority of the month of December including Christmas in the hospital. It was a depressing holiday time last year for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. At least for Christmas, we knew what was wrong with him. It just felt like his body wanted to take its sweet time getting better.

Did this Thanksgiving seem any different from last year? Yes, it was. We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner from Mariano’s. My little girl got to enjoy it more since she got to play not only with her cousin but with grandpa or who she lovingly calls ba-ba. This year, I am definitely thankful that I still have my father and she got to have a wonderful time spending it with him since last year she couldn’t.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Drip Pan Magnetic Board

I was browsing through my mother-in-law’s pinterest board that she has for Izze and her cousin. Just ideas gathered from all around the internet. She had on the site, one for a large magnetic board built by using a large oil drip pan. These drip pans cost under $10 from an automotive store.

Izze's Magnetic Board

Since the wall we were putting them up was wide enough we opted for two boards. The alphabet magnets were from Toys R Us for about $4.99. To hang them on the wall, originally we were just going to drill holes and screw them on the wall but since we didn’t know where the studs were we opted for industrial strength velcro. We had some on hand and placed them at all four corners of the pan and one in the middle. It’s only been up an hour and still holding up. I would say the project cost less than $30.

I got the idea from this site, ohedeedoh, who got the idea from this site, Nic and Kate. Both are great sites, check them out.

Garlic, Lime, Sweet Potatoes

Since my last post, I ordered some more felt in colors I didn’t have. I basically got a sheet of every color but skipping the blues and greys and purples too. I did this because I couldn’t tell from the picture if the greens I was looking at would be the shade I wanted. Needless to say, I still may need to order some more felt not only because I might not have enough green to do four heads of lettuce but for the project I intend to do next.

So far I have finished making apples, tomatoes, sweet potatoes (as seen in the photo above) and garlic. I copied the garlic from one from Ikea had in their vegetable basket. The one thing that is different from it is the size. Ikea’s garlic bulb is small where as mine would be the equivalent of elephant garlic.

Right now, I have ready to  sew are carrots, oranges (I still have three to make), yellow bell peppers, kiwis, pears. I have still have to cut out lettuce, corn on the cob and bananas. All of which, I am not sure I have enough felt to get four of each kind but I will see what I can and just order another sheet of those colors and order some blues and greys for the next project at the same time.

ISBN 978-4-529-04604-6 C9477

I’m not sure I mentioned that I am using a Japanese craft book (see photo above) for my patterns to make the play food. What I like about this book is that the size of the food is small so they fit perfectly in tiny hands. Every time I finish one, Izze grabs them gives them a little kiss and a hug then runs off with them.

One of my favorite blogs I like to visit, Japan Craft Journal. They have a post about the book as well, you can read it here. I wonder if they ever got around to making any of the food. I usually go to this site when I find a new Japanese craft book to see if they have tried it and what problems they might have come across before I make an attempt at it.

So far, what is my recommendation of this book? I might not know Japanese but I do enjoy their craft books. With this book in particular, it was difficult at first to figure out what patterns pieces went to which food item and sometimes not sure if certain pieces even go with that particular food. If you know basic sewing and can do fine by going by pictures instead of reading the directions, you’ll do fine. If you want to make some felt play food for your little ones but need directions besides just pictures, try etsy.com and do a search for felt play food. You’ll find a wide range of foods to even tea sets all made from felt. Just the other day, I saw a pattern to make a fridge, stove and sink for felt and cardboard. No matter what you’ll find for patterns on etsy, you’ll find something.

As I mentioned, my first project I am making is felt food. I noticed that my daughter loved the fake food from Ikea. It was a simple veggie basket that had a tomato, lettuce, garlic, leek, and mushrooms. Everything was made out of fabric. It then dawned on me that I had seen books at the Japanese bookstore that showed you how to make fake food from felt. Now when I saw these books, it was before I had my daughter. I also thought that one day when I had a baby I would make them. Now, it’s time to make the donuts or in my case, the fake food.

So far I have completed some limes, sweet potatoes and then I had to take a break. I also need to take some pictures of those two items. Then I needed to try something different so I tried an orange. It has seven sections in one color and then a small piece on top in another color. It’s all sewn by hand and stuffed with some fiberfill.

My first attempt at making something was an onion. I bought some felt from Jo-Ann’s fabric store. However, I found the more I sewn, the more the felt stretched out, it became thinner in some parts than others. So I checked other sites like Felt-o-rama. This site offered lots of links to other sites that offered patterns to make fake food from a veggie or fruit to fake pasta or a personal favorite that in the future I might try, Chinese food. I found that wool felt is the preferred fiber type for making felt food. Since then I ordered some felt made that orange, sweet potatoes, limes and an apple. When I compare it to that onion, I find that the wool felt feels nicer and works a lot easier than the acrylic felt that seemed to fall apart the more you worked with it but I can understand if the wool felt is a bit pricey the acrylic felt is more budget friendly and I would look for patterns that are more for sewing by machine than by hand.

After trying the orange, I wanted to try something in a different color. I picked red and tried the apple. This one had six pieces for the body and one for the stem. I was going to add a green leaf to it but since I am giving it to children under four years of age, I don’t think that leaf would last long, especially in a kid who is under two.

I plan to make more veggies and fruit and intend to add some bread, Chinese food, and pastries. I have planned to make four of every veggie and fruit to make four food baskets. I hope to give one to my daughter and one to each of her three cousins. I’ll keep you posted on the next few items.