Monthly Archives: November 2013

Mini Advent Ornaments Set Two

What I Used:

The Pattern
Felt scraps from American Felt and Craft (from my scrap bag – choose any colors you like)
Sequins (I used Classic Red, Moss, Gold and Crystal)
Felt Glue (great for holding tiny bits in place when pins are too big!)
Mini Pompom (I used white)
Baker’s Twine (I’m on year two using this cone)
Jingle Bell
Holly Embellishments (These, but try to get them at the craft store cheaper)

For all of the ornaments: I cut pieces of baker’s twine, doubled it over and tied a knot in the ends. When stitching the tops of the ornaments together, I made sure the knot of the twine loop was inside. I also made sure to stitch through the knot to secure the loop.

7. Angel

This little angel is so very special to me. I recently lost a loved one very suddenly. She adored angels. This one is for her.

I started by adding the sequins. On the back of the wings, I sewed a line of crystal sequins all the way across. On the front of the wings, I stitched 3 on each end. I stitched the two sides together around the outside. For the back of the halo, I stitched on a ring of 6 gold sequins. On the front of the halo, I stitched a ring of 5 (none where the head overlaps.) I put the two sides together with the back hair piece layered in place between, added a loop of twine and sewed the halo around the outside.

I then tacked down the face, arms, hands and front hair to the front gown piece. I stitched down the arms, hands and chin, then made a back stitch mouth and eyes. I tacked the halo/back hair piece to the back of the gown, then laid the wings in place. I back stitched a vertical line down the center of the wings to attach them. I stitched up the sides of the gown, and stitched the hair on, sewed the front and back together at the sides.

8. Gingerbread Man

The gingerbread man works up quickly! Using 4 strands of white floss (instead of my normal 2) I back stitched in a zig zag at his ankles and wrists on both sides. On the front, I gave him two red sequin buttons, a smile (made like a lazy daisy stitch) and two French knot eyes. I stitched the two sides together with a loop of twine at the top.

9. Train

The little red train is the same on both sides. I started by stitching crystal sequins to both sides of the steam, then sewing both sides together. I stitched the two bumper sides together. I glued the red swirls to the big white wheels then stitched them down and added red and crystal sequins. I stitched the wheels in place on the train bodies at their tops.

I used felt glue to tack down the roof pieces, windows and green wheels. I stitched the windows down and added rows of green sequins along the roof pieces. on the green wheels, I stitched a green sequin to the center of each using a starburst of long stitched to look like spokes. I decorated each train body with two gold sequins. I laid the two train sides together with the bumper and steam in place, as well as a piece of twine at the top (knotted at each end) then sewed them together around the outside.

Using a large-eyed needle, I threaded a piece of baker’s twine and knotted the end. I stuck the needle between a gap in the two sides of one of the candy wheels and came up through the center. I made a loop in the center of the middle green wheel, then went down through the center of the front green wheel. My needle came out of the center of the front green wheel on the other side, and I repeated everything in reverse. I ended it by bringing the needle out of one of the gaps in the last candy wheel, tying a knot as close as I could, cutting the twine and tucking the knot into the wheel.

10. Bell

The little gold bell is a fun addition to the tree play set, as it really jingles! On each side, I sewed a row of red sequins. I stitched each side together with a loop of twine at the top, pausing at the bottom to sew a jingle bell in place. I stitched holly embellishments on each side using red thread around the berries.

11. Letter to Santa

This little letter has a long way to go! I started by freehand stitching the words “Santa north pole” using back stitch. I tried to make it look like little kid handwriting. I cut a piece of white felt a little larger than the red stamp and used my micro-tip scissors to pink the edges. (You could use pinking shears, but I thought mine were too larger for the scale of the stamp.) I glued the three pieces of the stamp together, then sewed them to the letter front all around the red rectangle. I also sewed the green tree down, but left the white pinked edge loose. Using gray floss, I stitched a dashed circle and three back stitched lines to make the postmark.

For the back of the envelope, I tacked the tip of the fold down with glue, then stitched the red heart on top. I added three red sequins. I stitched the front and back of the envelope together with a length of twine (with knots at each end) in the top.

12. Stocking

The little elf stocking actually opens! I started by stitching a line of red sequins on each of the stocking sides. I then sewed the two sides together, leaving the top open. I tacked the white cuffs in place with glue, catching a loop of twine in one side, then sewed up the sides and around the top. I added a tiny white pompom to the side with the twine loop.

Which one is your favorite of this set? What would you like to see next? I have to design 24, and your idea may be one! Stop by Facebook or Twitter, or comment here with your ideas.

If you are making a set, I’d love to see your finished ornaments! Tag me on Instagram @iolstephanie (if you are private, I’ll have to request to follow you), mention me on Twitter @iolstephanie or post a picture on our Facebook wall.

Mini Advent Ornaments Set One

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I will be designing 24 ornaments, and giving Jax one to unwrap every day leading up to Christmas. I’ll be sharing the ornaments in batches of 6. I am planning 2 sets this week and two sets next week. The first 6 are ready for you: a snowman, a candy cane, a cottage, a mitten, a cupcake and a mug of hot cocoa.

To see all the posts in this series, click here.

What I Used:

The Pattern
Felt scraps from American Felt and Craft (from my scrap bag – choose any colors you like)
Sequins (I used Confetti and Crystal)
Felt Glue (great for holding tiny bits in place when pins are too big!)
Mini Pompoms (I needed white and a green)
Baker’s Twine (I’m on year two using this cone)
Holly Embellishments (These, but try to get them at the craft store cheaper)

1. Snowman

This little snowman makes me smile! The way he is holding his tiny stick arms reminds me of how Jax stands and wiggles when he is really excited about something but trying not to show it. To making him, I started by embellishing the front body piece. I stitched the carrot nose on, then used French knots to make eyes, mouth and buttons. His arms are just long stitches with some little ones at the ends for fingers. I then sewed green sequins onto the brim of both sides of this hat while they were layered on their corresponding body piece. I stitched all the way around both sides of the ornament, adding the twine loop at the top. I finished him by stitching a tiny green pompom to the tip of his stocking hat.

2. Candy Cane

I had to make a candy cane for Jax’s little tree! They are such a Christmas classic. To make the candy cane, I lightly glued the white stripes onto the two red canes. I stitched down the white parts, then sewed both sides together, adding a twine loop at the top. On both sides of the candy cane, I stitched on holly embellishments. These aren’t buttons, so I used red thread and attached them near the berries.

3. Cottage

The Christmas cottage is very simple but very sweet! I used sequins to make colorful strings of lights. I started by embellishing the front of the house. I stitched on the red door, then sewed a green sequin on as a wreath. Above the wreath, I stitched two loops (lazy daisy stitch) and a French Knot to made a bow. I then took the two snowy roof pieces, laid them on their corresponding house pieces and stitched the lights on each. I did this with back stitch in a swagged line, with one stitch into the top of each sequin light to allow them to dangle. I stitched around both sides of the cottage, catching the twine loop in the top.

4. Mitten

This little mitten turned out so dainty and cozy! I decorated each side with the same stitched pattern of a starburst in back stitch and a few French Knots. There is a crystal sequin at the center of each starburst. I stitched the white cuffs onto each side, then sewed the sides together with a twine loop at the top corner. I added a little white pompom to finish it.

5. Cupcake

This little holiday cupcake could be decorated any way you’d like! I went with pink, as Jax loves strawberry *anything*. I stitched the frosting pieces to the liners, then embellished both sides with red and green French knots. I sewed the two sides together with a loop of twine at the top, then stitched holly embellishments onto each side.

6. Hot Cocoa

I love this little mug of hot cocoa! you might recognize it from the camping quiet book page. I did make a few changes, though. I started by sewing a red heart onto the front, then adding three red sequins. I glued the brown cocoa to the inner side of the mug back, then sewed the front and back together, I didn’t sew around the top, so I attached the twine loop at the top of the handle. No cocoa is complete without marshmallows, so mine were added via stitched-on mini pompoms.

Which one is your favorite? What would you like to see next? I have to design 24, and your idea may be one! Stop by Facebook or Twitter, or comment here with your ideas. I’d love to see your finished ornaments! Tag me on Instagram @iolstephanie (if you are private, I’ll have to request to follow you.)

Stay tuned for mini ornaments 7 – 12 later this week. I’ll be posting sneak peeks on Facebook and Instagram.

Animals of Europe for the Montessori Wall Map & Quietbook with Printables

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Are you ready for the next installment of the Montessori wall map? This has been the most epic sewing project ever… If you haven’t been introduced to our Montessori wall map and quiet book yet, you can read all about it here. This post is for the continent of Europe.

Animals of Europe for the Montessori Wall Map & Quietbook with Printables

Our Europe 3-Part Card Tray

Every continent (and the oceans) will have landmarks and animals. Europe has so many amazing landmarks! I ended up choosing an even mix of animals and landmarks for this project.

Overview and Map Patterns • Africa • Antarctica • Asia • Europe
North America • Oceans • South America

Those of you who follow along on Facebook or Instagram have been seeing what I’ve been creating for Europe. Things are definitely a tight squeeze when you put everything on the map at once. There is just so much awesome in a small area! I made: the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, the Tower of Pisa, the Colosseum, a harp seal, a mallard, a hedgehog, and a grey wolf. My choices were influenced by which figurines were available from SafariLTD’s TOOBs.

This project is totally free for you to use (though commercial use requires a license.) If you’d like to support my designs, one way is to make a purchase off of Jax’s Amazon wishlist. I use his list to bookmark school and craft items until I am able to get them. For more ways to contribute to this site, visit my support page.

Materials I Used

The Pattern (see the first post for the main patterns)

Felt from American Felt & Craft – big apple [red], cilantro [olive green], pastry [golden taupe], gold nugget [gold], chocolate [deep brown], fresh linen [off white], chai [taupe], doe [brown], jade [green], sparrow [light blue], ice [aqua blue], stone [heather taupe], elephant [charcoal], gray, white and black.

Hook & Loop – I used white snag-free Velcro on the backs of all these pieces and red hook & loop (loop only) on the front of the Europe puzzle piece. My red hook & loop was from here.

Felt glue to tack down the pieces before sewing, printer fabric for the continent label, embroidery floss in colors to match the felt and micro tip scissors.

For the Europe quiet book page, I sewed a running stitch (dashed) outline around the Europe pattern piece and sewed down snag-free Velcro to line up with the Velcro on the back of the Europe piece.

Europe: (Felt used: big apple red) For the Europe continent puzzle piece, I sewed down pieces of red loop Velcro. On the back, I sewed strips of white snag-free Velcro to correspond with the Velcro in the quietbook and the wall map. I finished it by sewing the two sides together around the edge with a blanket stitch.

Label: (Felt used: big apple red) For the continent label, I folded under the edges (just a tiny bit to hide the rough edges) and creased it with my nails. The printer fabric held the folds nicely without ironing. Then I stitched the label to some red felt and trimmed it down to be a border. I cut a matching felt rectangle for the back, sewed snag-free Velcro to it and then sewed both sides together.

For all of the animals, I started by gluing the pieces down to a scrap of background felt with a very light amount of felt glue. I glue multiple animals at a time to give them time to dry. I sewed them down, trimmed the background and cut a matching backing piece. I sewed snag-free Velcro to the back and sewed both sides together with a blanket stitch.

Harp Seal: (Felt used: fresh linen off-white for the baby seal, white for the background) The harp seal is super simple! I tacked down his body with glue and sewed around the edges. I made a small stitch for a mouth and satin stitched a nose. His eye is a black French knot.

We love this animal encyclopaedia!

Hedgehog: (Felt used: stone heather taupe for the body, doe brown for the ear and legs, fresh linen off-white for the face and cilantro olive green for the background) I first glued down all her parts in the proper order, adding the ear last. I stitched all the way around the edges and made a stitch at the base of her ear. Using brown, I made a French knot eye and satin stitched nose. On her back, I used dark brown and cream to make stitches to show the texture of the spines.

Grey Wolf: (Felt used: gray and elephant charcoal for the body and white for the snow and sparrow light blue background) I started by gluing down the front leg piece and the face (using the back/chest pieces to find the positioning. I then glued down the back/chest, followed by the hind leg and the ear. I cut a curvy piece of white and glued it down over where his feet would be to make the ground. Once it was dry, I trimmed around the wolf and stitched everything down. While stitching down the darker gray piece, I made my stitches longer and a little “sloppy” to make his fur look shaggy. Along the underside of his tail, the edge of his face and under his chest, I made light gray stitches the same way. His eye is a little stitch to make it look closed, his nose is satin stitch and his mouth is just lined with two straight stitches.

Mallard: (Felt used: gold nugget gold for the beak, jade green for the head, chai taupe for the body, chocolate deep brown for the chest and wing and ice aqua blue for the water and background) I glued down the body and head pieces, then glued the chest and wing on top. I cut a thin, wavy blue strip for water and glued it down over the bottom edge of the mallard. I stitched down all the mallard’s edges, then using dashed stitches, I stitched through the center of the water wave. At her neck, I made two long stitches in white. The eye is a French knot in brown, with a tiny stitch for a nostril and two long stitches to make the beak opening.

Sewing the Landmarks

For all the landmarks, I started by sewing the front piece. Then I cut out a backing felt to match the final shape and added some snag-free Velcro to it. I finished sewed around the whole edge, switching colors where needed. For all of the detail work, see the photos for a sample of where to stitch.

Colosseum: (Felt used:stone heather taupe for the building and sparrow blue for the background) I glued down the building and stitched down the edges. With brown floss, I stitched 3 rows with back stitch. On the lower three levels, I stitched arches using a lazy daisy stitch that is open at the bottom. On the top level, I made tiny vertical stitches for windows.

Tower of Pisa: (Felt used: gray for the building, white for the ground ,cilantro olive green for the ground and sparrow blue for the background) I cut out a small green piece for the ground, then glued it down with the white ground on top. I glued the building on top. Using a medium gray floss, I made long stitches across the building to make each level. On the bottom level, I used it to make vertical stitches for columns. On the top level, I made an arch with an open lazy daisy stitch. I switched to white floss and made the rest of the columns.

Eiffel Tower: (Felt used: chai taupe for the structure and sparrow blue for the background) The Eiffel Tower is tacked down in place with glue, then I stitched around all the edges. I made criss-crossed stitches all over it similar to the beams it has. In some spots I made long horizontal or vertical stitches to make the real tower.

The beautiful landmark replicas seen here were provided by SafariLTD. I am working with them to make this project the best it can be.

Eiffel Tower: (Felt used: pastry golden taupe for the building, white for the clock face, elephant charcoal for the roofs and sparrow blue for the background) For Big Ben, I glued everything in place then stitched down the roofs and the sides of the clock square piece. On the tower, I made rows of back stitching with long, vertical stitches in between. I stitched black clock hands on, then stitched a square around it in the taupe floss. Using dark brown, I made little windows above the clock. Using gray, I made the points coming off of the roofs.

Montessori European Animals 3-Part Cards

The series of 3-Part cards I am making for this project is something that Jax will be using for many years in homeschool. I have been focusing on the animals in these posts, but at the end of the project I will make a set featuring all the landmarks we sewed. Eventually, we will expand our collection of cards even more to include cultures, more landmarks, and so much more. Three part cards are extremely flexible learning tools.

Click here to download my free pdf file to make your own animals of Europe cards. To make mine, I cut them out, glued them to red construction paper (to match Europe’s Montessori color) then laminated them. I use this laminator and I’ve been very happy with it. It makes everything so shiny and strong! My photos come out slightly faded from the printer (I use normal paper) but turn gorgeous after lamination. (Quick tip: Add a dab of glue stick on the back of your pieces before you place them in the lamination pouch to keep them from sliding around as you feed it through the machine.)

Our main way of using the cards for now is to pull out our SafariLTD’s TOOB figurines and match them to the pictures. We like to watch short videos about an animal, then study some pictures and draw our own. The TOOBs we used for these animal cards are: River TOOB (mallard), Arctic Toob (harp seal, wolf – which is actually a husky!) and Pets TOOB (hedgehog).

SafariLTD kindly provided the World Landmark TOOB and the Around the World TOOB for this continent. We are working with them to make this project the best is can be!

I know many of you are sewing along (or plan to after the holidays!) If you are, stop by my Instagram @iolstephanie and leave a comment on one of my photos (I can’t see your photo if it you are private, but I can request to follow you temporarily if you leave a comment on mine about it) or share photos on Facebook. You can also email me. I love seeing what others make from my patterns!

Please be sure to visit the other ideas featured on Montessori Monday. There are many great links!

Christmas Tree for Toddlers

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Holiday crafting goes into full swing for me in November. I definitely have more ideas than time. I decided a good way to choose my large holiday project for to let YOU decide! Thanks to all of you wonderful Facebook fans, I hosted a vote.

The winning project? A felt Christmas tree play set that is toddler safe. Kids love Christmas trees – who doesn’t? This project will give your little one their very own tree that they can’t break.

This is a 20″ high stuffed felt tree with sweet little “lights” that are really felted wool balls from my stash. The balls will do double-duty later: they will create places to hang mini ornaments! I will be posting a series of 24 mini ornaments that you can either give to your child all at once, or use in an advent calendar.

To see all the posts in this series, click here.

What I used:

The Pattern
36″ x 36″ square of dark green craft felt for the sides (from the craft store for $4)
20″ x 20″ square of green felt for the base
Yellow felt for the star
(I recommend the same green or a red. I used what I already had!)
Polyfil stuffing. Lots! I used a 32 oz. of this.)
20mm felted balls (an assortment of 12)
10mm felted balls (an assortment of 24)
1″ of green hook & loop
(Mine is from the fabric store. There is a lighter green here.)
Yellow sequins

Sewing the Tree

I started by cutting out the pattern and taping it together. Using my layout guide, I cut out 8 of the side pieces. I didn’t worry about cutting on the “right” side of the felt (felt is sometimes scratchier on one side.) Luckily this felt felt pretty similar on both sides. If you want to cut yours out all on one side, note that my layout has one flipped.

I hand stitched the tree using a blanket stitch. You could definitely save time and sew the straight edged on a machine with a zigzag stitch. You could possibly machine stitch all the sides, but you’d need to add seam allowance.

I made 4 pairs of tree sides, each with two pieces laid on top of each other, then stitched each pair together along the straight edges. I then started sewing the pairs together into an accordion shaped along the wavy edges. I then sewed the two end pieces together so the tree became tree-shaped with an open bottom. I stuffed as I sewed, just because it made handling it easier. I adjusted the stuffing later.

I laid out a 20″ square of felt for the base. I didn’t have any more dark green, so I used lighter green. I think it would look lovely with either more dark green, or a pretty holiday red. Using the corner template (taped together), I cut out the base shape.

Using a blanket stitch, I sewed on the base, leaving half of one point open to allow me to finish stuffing it. In my photo, the lighter green helps to show how the base is attached. When the tree is finished, the base does curve down and is visible. I don’t mind the look of the two greens (and that felt was free from a friend!) but you might prefer something else.

The next part is the hardest to explain, and gives you a bit of a workout. With the base sewn on (but leave that hole still!) and the tree lightly stuffed, you can see that it doesn’t have that finished tree shape. To make that, I made stitches along the straight seams that went through the center of the tree, pulling those seams in.

Think of the way you sew a button onto a cushion so that both sides sink in. I did that along both axis of the tree (it looks like a + from above), making stitches all the way through every 1.5″ until I was about 2/3 down from the top. You might have an easier time with a long needle and stronger thread, like in that cushion tutorial. I just used my arm strength to squish the tree as skinny as possible then pushed my longest needle through.

See the photo of Jax above. In it, I’d started stitching the center in, and had finished the topmost third. I did several inches at a time, pausing to perfect the stuffing. I had the stuffing the firmest at the top, softer towards the bottom. Play with it until you are happy.

Once I’d finished shaping and stuffing the tree, I sewed the base opening closed. Then I took a small piece of green hook & loop tape and sewed it to the top of the tree. There was a tiny hole at the top that I stitched closed first. The hook & loop tape will hold the star on the tree.

The next step was to sew on the felt balls. I sewed one large ball onto the tip of each tree tier (12 total). I sewed 3 small balls onto each of the 8 side panels (24 total). You can do as many or as few as you’d like. Keep in mind that if you make mini ornaments, they will be hanging from these balls. I plan to do 24 mini ornaments (and will be sharing the patterns with you!)

Sewing the Star

I started by taking the pie wedge piece and rolling it into a cone that would fit my circle base. I stitched down the length of the cone to hold it closed, stuffed it with polyfill, and stitched the base on, added the other half of the hook and loop tape as I went around.

I took the two sides of the star itself and decorated them with sequins: one in the center and 2 in each point. I then sewed them together around the edge, pausing halfway to stuff it and insert the base cone in the bottom.

Your little tree should be complete! Jax told me he loved it, which is the best complement ever! I know he will be very excited to unwrap a new ornament each night to hang on his own little tree. I hope you’ll sew along with me as I complete all 24 mini ornaments. I have the first 6 underway. For sneak peeks, join my Facebook page or follow me on Instagram @iolstephanie.

Polar Family Felt Ornament Patterns – Penguins & Polar Bears

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Last year I made a set of felt holiday ornaments with the theme of Christmas Cottage. I really enjoyed the process of designing and sewing them, so I knew I’d do it again this year. I made some loose sketches and chose a color palette so I could order supplies, then began designing the patterns once November started. (Eek, it’s November!!)

This year’s theme is Polar Families, inspired by some of the animals Jax and I have been studying in homeschool with our world continent project. There will be four designs: a penguin daddy and chick, a narwhal family, a pair of penguin mates and a polar bear mama and cub. The latter two are featured in this post.

What I Used

I am listing all the supplies I’ll use for the 4 ornaments, noting the ones not needed for these two.

The Patterns: Penguin Mates & Polar Bear Mama and Cub
Felt (in white, fresh linen, poppy, orange whip, lemongrass, blueprint, dolphin and sparrow)
Sequins (in crystal, coral, and dragonfly; additional for the narwhals: chocolate chip, oh fudge and mermaid)
Red Ribbon
Stuffing or Batting
Felt Glue

These beautiful sequins are a new offering of American Felt and Craft!

Penguin Mates

After I cut out all my pieces, I tacked them into place on white felt with a thin layer of felt glue. I cut a wavy strip of white felt for the snowy ground and tacked it down across the bottom. Then I trimmed down the background felt so there was just a small edge around the penguins.

For the penguins, the heart and the top of the snowy ground, I stitched all the edges down with matching floss. (I use 2 strands.) I stitched crystal sequins randomly onto the snowy ground using 2 stitches each.

On the white background, I stitched snowflakes: a plus sign shape of four stitches, all stitched towards the center, then four more longer stitches on the diagonal in between.

I cut a length of red ribbon and a piece of orange whip (coral orange) felt to fit as the ornament’s backing. I stitched all the way around, adding stuffing halfway and catching the ribbon loop in the top. I used a blanket stitch.

Polar Bear Mama & Cub

After I cut out all my pieces, I cut a wavy strip of sparrow (light blue) felt for the snowy ground and tacked it down across the bottom dolphin (grayish teal) felt with a thin layer of felt glue. Then I tacked down the remaining pieces, only sticking the base of ear ear down. I trimmed down the background felt so there was just a small edge around the polar bears.

For the polar bears, the heart, the scarves and the top of the snowy ground, I stitched all the edges down with matching floss. (I use 2 strands.) I stitched crystal sequins randomly onto the snowy ground using 2 stitches each. For the ears, I made three small stitches in the base of each so the rest of the ear could stick up. On the mama’s scarf, I stitched coral sequins. I stitched dragonfly sequins onto the cub’s. At the bottom of each scarf, I made 4 upside-down V stitches as tassels. The polar bear’s noses are satin stitched. Their mouths are straight stitches. For the eyes, I made a curved stitch, then tacked the curve in place with a teenie tiny stitch wrapped around the center, much like you’d do with the lazy daisy stitch.

I cut a length of red ribbon and a piece of lemongrass (green-yellow) felt to fit as the ornament’s backing. I stitched all the way around, adding stuffing halfway and catching the ribbon loop in the top. I used a blanket stitch.

Are you an Etsy or craft fair seller? Would you like to sell these ornaments, or any other item sewn from an Imagine Our Life pattern? Visit my Etsy shop and contact me for custom commercial licenses. All authorized sellers get featured on the website.

If you make one of these ornaments, I’d love to see it! Stop by our Facebook page, or mention me @iolstephanie on Instagram or Twitter. (If you are private on Instagram, I’ll have to request to follow you to see it.) Happy holiday crafting!