Sewing Stuffed Animals

During this time at home I've been able to do some sewing projects that have been in the back of my mind for ages. I have a small selection of fleece fabrics and thought it would be cute to make some little stuffed animals. I say little because some of the fabric is in quite small pieces and I wanted to use up what I already have.

The first one I made was this dolphin. I used this pattern by Choly Knight. She has a lot of free patterns and when I just went on her site to get the link I found even more things I want to make!
I reduced the size of the dolphin pattern a lot as my white fleece is in very small pieces, so this dolphin comfortably fits in the palm of my hand. As it was so small I hand sewed it together which worked fine.

Next I made this crab using a pattern from While She Naps. As this one is a little bigger I was able to machine stitch the main body section together. Things got a little crowded under the sewing machine so a few bits shifted, resulting in the pincers and claws not being completely symmetrical on both sides, but it's cute nonetheless.

And finally, as I've made a start on Christmas stock, I made this little Rudolph by adapting this pattern found on Handsome and Pretty. It was a bit fiddly and the antlers are a bit wonky, but I like it, and am very pleased that I got it to stand up. I'm wondering whether to add some string or ribbon to make it into a hanging ornament.

Are there any projects that you've finally got round to during lockdown?

Easter Egg Hunt Quiz

During our current lockdown situation I wanted to come up with a fun little activity for my husband, because even 30 year old men need new things to break up the day and get them off the Playstation.

With Easter coming up I had an egg hunt in mind but wondered how I could make it more fun for an adult.

We've been doing a lot of quizzing so far with our friends over video chat, so I was inspired to combine a quiz with an egg hunt.  

First,  I cut out 12 egg shapes from coloured card and decorated one side of them.

Then I search for trivia questions with numerical answers, where each answer was between 1 and 12, and wrote them on the back of the eggs.

These are the questions I used:

1. How many terms did Jimmy Carter serve as US President?

2. How many landlocked countries are there in South America?

3. In English law what is the smallest number of people that can constitute a riot?

4. How many sculpted lions sit at the base of Trafalgar Square?

5. How many hundreds of miles would The Proclaimers walk?

6. On most phones, what number key also features the letters M, N, and O?

7. What was the MS Windows computer operating system version that succeeded Vista?

8. How many planets are in our solar system? 

9. How many rooms are on the Cluedo game board?

10. How many years did Tony Blair serve as Prime Minister of the UK?

11. What was the number of the first Apollo moon landing?

12. Total of the sides on a pentagon and a heptagon?

To set up the egg hunt I hung 12 pegs on our washing line and wrote the numbers 1 -12 on them using a white board pen.

Then I hid the eggs around our garden. We don't have a huge garden but it was big enough to hide the 12 eggs.

Then the hunt was on for Andrew! I sat back and enjoyed watching him go past one spot in particular where I'd hidden an egg very much in plain sight but he didn't spot it for a while.

When he found each egg he had to attach it to the peg with the correct number answer. A lot of the questions were quite tricky so there was a lot of switching round as he found more eggs.

This activity got his brain working, his body moving, and putting it together gave me something to do, so a success for all.

This game could easily be adapted for children with different questions, or for even younger children you could use coloured eggs to be put in corresponding coloured containers.
To make this game educational, for anyone currently home schooling, each egg could have a maths question with a numerical answer. If you were feeling really fancy you could laminate the eggs to use again and again with different sums or questions.

Painted Dog Wood Slices

In an attempt to broaden my range of products whilst still appealing to the dog market I've come up with these painted wood slice decorations.
I made a few of these for Christmas and they all sold on my Etsy shop, so I made more for the new year.

My Mum gave me a box of 50 wood slices for Christmas, so I don't think I'll be running out any time soon. I prime the wood first, just around the shape of the dog, and then use acrylics to paint the dog.

I love how this batch have turned out. I think my tiny dog painting skills are getting better with every one I do.

To make the paintings go further I decided to get a few of them printed on little pocket mirrors. I edited the images of Photoshop and added a pastel coloured background. I got them printed by Awesome Merch who did a great job. Delivery was quick and they even threw in an extra mirror! 

 Both my wood slices and mirrors are available in my Etsy shop!

Felt Dog Notebooks

Remember the handmade notebooks I made? Well I've made some more, but this time with felt dog faces on the front. At this stage, I think if you stood still for too long in my craft room I'd try to sew a dog face to you!

For this set of notebooks I used plain white paper for the pages, from unused sketchbooks, rather than different coloured paper like in my first set. I like the mix of papers but some of the feedback I got from having those notebooks out at craft fairs was that some people prefer plain paper. So I'm giving the people what they want!

Each notebook has 48 pages which are sewn together down the middle and attached to a card cover, which is covered in patterned fabric. I love a reason to dig into my fabric stash.

 I've listed the notebooks in my Etsy shop so if you're interested, check them out here.

Christmas Hair Accessories

For this year's Christmas craft fairs I decided to make some Christmas hair accessories. Hair accessories were the first things I starting making to sell so it's always nice to come back to them and create some new items.

I made this holly hair clip because I wanted something I could wear myself at the fairs. I liked how my one turned out so I made a few more to sell. Nothing says Christmas like a bit of sparkle from the sequins!

I then made some smaller holly hair clips that come in pairs after discovering I have quite a lot of these red buttons which are perfect for these clips.

I also made this gingerbread man hairband which I think is so cute! I think I could easily make a whole collections of these, each with a different Christmas motif.

Felt Stockings

A few years ago I made a lot of little felt stockings that sold very well at craft fairs.

I wanted to bring them back this year with some different decorations. I started by doing some fancier Christmas designs. Love the gingerbread man!

Then I made a range of dog stockings to go along with my felt dog decorations. I've already put these in my Etsy shop and they've been quite popular.

To reach a different market I've made some superhero stockings, since the super hero crochet balls I made last year did so well.

And then I made a few character stockings which I think are so cute! I've got Pikachu, Olaf and Peppa Pig.

These are the perfect size for a little chocolate bar, or they'd look great with a few candy canes sticking out the top. Or even a few pens and pencils if you fancy a stationary stocking!

A Felt Dog for Every Occasion

This year I've been expanding my felt dog business by producing dogs for different occasions.

I made a dog on a heart for Valentine's day.

A dog ghost for Halloween.

I even made a dog bride and groom to celebrate my wedding this year.

And of course my Christmas dogs in Santa hats are back for another year.

Check out all my felt dogs, and other animals, in my Etsy shop, and follow along on Instagram @lisasfeltfriends.