tooth fairy pillow DIY - Star Wars style

My friend Jenny from high school reached out to me last week with an interesting request. Her oldest son, Dylan, was about to lose his first tooth. He is a very light sleeper, so the traditional tooth fairy method of sneaking into his room and slipping money from under his precious little head just wasn't going to work for them. Her request was for a tooth fairy pillow to hang on the door knob. Brilliant.

She said that he likes red, blue, yellow, and Star Wars, and left the rest up to me. Then creativity immediately struck.

Storm Toother!

(see what I did there?)

sunday stitch vol. 14: hound dog is the new sock monkey

Earlier in the week I shared with you how I whipped up a fox costume for the big kid. This costume smokes that one in the speed department, clocking in at a mere 15 minutes.

Well, to be truthful, I had a bit of a head start.

2 Halloweens ago, I made Henry a sock monkey costume. And it was amazing. Sorry for the blurry photo. It was 2012 and I only had an iPhone 4 or something.

I used this tutorial, in case you want to make your own. It uses actual socks, all pieced together. A labor of love.

Cute as it was, this Halloween Henry decided that he would be The Fox and Max would be The Hound. I like making their costumes by hand, so my plan was to find a brown long sleeved onesie and brown hat to transform into a dog costume. Much like my fruitless search for orange tights for Henry, I came up disappointed.

But then, light bulb moment. A hound dog looks remarkably like a sock monkey. It just has longer ears.

BINGO.

I pulled the monkey costume from the closet and began the transformation. I removed the red patch on the bottom with my seam ripper (lest people think a hunter shot the poor dog or that he had mange or something) and removed the red pom pom from the hat. I saved them, but I'm really not sure why. Just in case, I guess?

I cut 2 dog ear shapes from brown felt, folded the monkey ears down, and top stitched to secure. Done and DONE.

These two little guys are going to be pretty darn cute on Halloween. That is, if Max keeps the hat on and Henry keeps the mask on. Otherwise they'll just be kids in brown and orange outfits and look like they have a mom that didn't try. That's really the more likely scenario. Whatever. As long as they get plenty of Snickers for me to steal.

I promise I did not ask Max to pant like a dog for the photos. He did that all on his own. He's a method actor.

Got your costumes ready? I'd love to see pictures if you whip anything up for your kids or yourselves! Post them to Simply Crafted's Facebook page.

Be sure to check out other fun sewing projects over at hi and hello.

 


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simply crafted fantastic fox costume

sunday stitch vol. 13: all hallow's leggings

cowboy vest tutorial

super hero cape tutorial

fantastic fox costume

As I mentioned in Sunday's post, Henry decided that he would be The Fox and Max would be The Hound from the classic Disney movie. I am pumped that I got by one more year without having to buy a highly flammable (and highly crappy) super hero costume from my arch nemesis, Party City.

Guys, this is really simple. Just some felt, some stuffing, some elastic, and basic sewing skills. In a couple of hours you'll have a super cute Halloween costume that nobody else will have. And you'll laugh and laugh at all the matching Elsa's and Anna's and give yourself a mental high five.

sunday stitch vol. 12 - meet elanor and james

This week I whipped up a couple of new rag dolls for my friend Katy. She game my original rag doll to her sister and it was such a hit that she wanted two more. Don't mind if I do!

The mom-to-be is expecting boy and girl twins (awwwww). This time around I modified the pattern a bit:

• Fabric hair instead of yarn hair. I thought it would have a much cleaner look (it does) and I had a bit of heartburn about a baby ripping the yarn out of the doll and eating it. Mostly because my baby is trying to eat everything under God's green earth at the moment.
• Before attaching the arms and legs I stitched them closed. That way I'm not so stressed about sewing all the layers together so the stuffing doesn't escape.
• I changed up the faces. I like these felt eyes and stitched noses better than the original. I used glue to stick the felt together and to the doll and then machine stitched over it.
• I deleted an X chromosome and added a Y chromosome for James.

James is a wee bit pinhead-ish. If I make a boy doll again I'll probably increase the size of his noggin.

Elanor - you're just right, down to your crooked smile. She's rocking that 3D lash mascara that everybody on Facebook will not stop talking about.

Congrats to the mom to be, and hope you like them Katy! The new mama will also be getting a set of swaddle blankets for her little burritos.

What have you guys been sewing this week?

Hop over to hi-and-hello to check out her sewing projects this week by using the link below.

 


  YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY:

sunday stitch vol. 6 - quirky rag doll

neon sergered swaddle blanket "tutorial"

the perfect baby shower blanket

sunday stitch vol. 8 - quilt as you go pillow sham

sunday stitch vol. 5 - pencil bag

I like to pretend that I know my way around a sewing machine. I've been using one since I was about 8 years old, after all. There is this one thing, though, that I've never done and kind of hate to admit.

I've never sewn a zipper.

Gasp!

Oh wait, we're talking about sewing. It's not that dramatic.

But alas, it's true. I've been intimidated by zippers for some reason for another. But it's time to be a big girl and figure it out so I can make clutches and pillows and dresses. My crafty friend and former neighbor, Nicole, was sweet enough to drive all the way out to the burbs and teach me her ways.

It was pretty simple. A couple of rectangles of sturdy fabric, a couple of rectangles of felt, thread, and a zipper.

Pin it up.

Quilt a couple of rectangles for stability.

Make a cool chevron pattern because we're cool like that.

And sew in the zipper.

OK, I skipped the photos of the actual zipper step. That's because you need to click here for the full tutorial. Give credit where credit's due. We skipped the gathering part and just sewed 2 rectangles together.

I can see 2 years into my future, sending sweet Henry to Kindergarten with an awesomely color coordinated pencil pouch/lunchbox/backpack combo. The other moms are going to hate me, aren't they. Ah, screw them. These pouches are adorable.

Thanks Nicole for getting me past my irrational fear of zippers.

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY:

sunday stitch vol. 1 - donuts and cowboys and blankets, oh my!

sunday stitch vol. 2 - snuggle bot

sunday stitch vol. 3 - attack of the octopus

sunday stitch vol. 4 - quickie quilted blanket

cowboy vest tutorial

Howdy partners!

As a boy mom, I'm always looking for crafty things to make for my little guys, but honestly, it's fairly slim pickins. So when Henry asked me last week to make him a Cowboy Vest like Sheriff Woody and Sheriff Callie, I jumped on that horse faster than a tumbleweed in a tornado.

{Sorry, my inner Texan is coming out on this one. I'll try to stop.}

Being a true Texas girl, I just happened to have some cow print fabric lying around (doesn't everybody?) and some left over red jersey fabric from Henry's Super Hero Cape, so no trip to the fabric store required. I love it when that happens.

Henry used to have a cowboy vest in his life. We borrowed this beauty made my my boss and friend Lindsay for her little buckaroo the prior Halloween. OMGeeee my belly was so big. This was just 9 days before my due date with Max. I was having contractions and thought we might just have a Halloween baby.

He didn't come for 13 more days. Figures.

super hero cape tutorial

Well, it was bound to happen eventually. Our house has been overtaken by super heroes. Henry is officially obsessed with all things super. So naturally when I asked him what kind of birthday party he wanted when he turned 3, it had to be Super Hero themed. 

Since I harbor a deep loathing for Party City - have you been in one of those? It's like a friggin' labyrinth in the seventh circle of Hades - we are having a homemade version. More akin to the Adam West style campy super heroes that I loved to watch on Nick at Night as a kid. By now you all know of my great love affair for all things 1960s. Sidebar, it just occurred to me that I may have subconsciously named my second born after Maxwell Smart, which also came on Nick at Night. Whoops. At least I didn't name him Joe Friday. 

At any rate, I wanted to come up with a party favor that: 

1. Didn't cost a ton of money. 
2. Wasn't made of cheap plastic that would break within moments of the kids leaving. 
3. If it didn't break by some miracle, wouldn't junk up my friends houses or be so loud that they all hated me. 

My solution: Super Hero capes for everyone!

You might think I'm moderately crazy for willingly volunteering to create upwards of a dozen custom capes. You may be right. Only time will tell. But I will say that they are super easy, and fast, and you only need the most basic of sewing skills. 

To the bat cave! I mean, sewing table. 

st. patrick's day felt bunting garland

Top o' the mornin' to ya! 

Sorry, that was lame.

I'm not a huge fan of over the top decorations for holidays (except for Christmas...and sometimes Halloween...), but I thought the O'Lenney house could use a bit of Irishing up. 

Thankfully, I keep a drawer full of felt for just such occasions. Doesn't everyone? Well, you should. This is crazy easy, and although I used my sewing machine, this project can be done without sewing. 

Let's get started.

getting crafty: felt doll (with pattern)

Thanks to the magic of Facebook, I have reunited with my childhood best friend. Jill and I became besties (before that was even a word) at the age of 6. Aren't we adorable? We were basically inseparable through elementary school until I moved away after 5th grade. I only moved 25 or so miles away, but these were the days before cell phone and email, so we lost touch.

Fast forward to a few years ago, Jill and I reconnected when both of us had our first babies within 6 weeks of each other. Olivia was born in February 2011; Henry in April.

This past weekend, Jill invited us over to Olivia's 3rd birthday party. I was super pumped. A special friend deserved a special present. I asked Jill what Olivia wanted (and what Jill didn't want any MORE of), and she suggested a doll. Bingo.