Adventure Time Wallet

 

So if you have looked around my blog you already know that my son loves Adventure Time (Birthday, Shoes, crocheted figures and Shirt ).  So it was an easy decision on what to put on a wallet I was making him, Finn.

 

 

You will need:

7 inch zipper

9.5 by 5.25 interfacing

9.5 by 5.25 white felt

9.25 by 5.25 white cotton

 

3.5 interfacing

2 pieces of 3.5 by 5.25 white cotton

 

5 inch piece of white Velcro

 

oval piece of flesh colored felt, iron on interfacing ironed on the back 

 

 

 

Iron and sew the face on first- on to the felt, between 2.5 inches from the top and 3.5 inches up from the bottom. Then sew the felt to the long piece of cotton, right sides together, leave an opening so you can flip. Also sew the two smalled pieces of white cotton together.

 

 

Ok- now this is where I discovered my mistake. I was making this wallet for my son to store his "Monkey Money" from the orthodontist in. "Monkey Money" aren't small coins, the are large wooden coins and the coin section I was making was only going to be 3.5 inches high and couldn't store the already 10 coins he had, not to mention any more he was going to get.

 

 

So if you are making a small pocket and zippered pouch, continue on with the small piece of white cotton fabric. Sew one side of the zipper to the side with the face and sew the other side of the zipper to the small cotton piece. Next sew a piece of white Velcro onto the bottom of the felt piece with the face.

 

 

So here it is with the bigger piece. Still sew the pieces together with the zipper in between. 

 

 

Fold the cotton piece over. Sew up the two sides and cut the zipper.

Also sew the other piece of Velcro onto the top of the longer piece.

When sewing with the smaller piece leave the top unsewn so you can put bills or ID cards in the unzippered pocket this created.

 

 

And you are done! Mine has a pocket big enough for all those wooden coins.

 

 

But is still small enough to fit in his pocket.

 

 

And has a cute little Finn face!

 

~Jessica

Little Liam's Lion

 

This is my nephew Liam. It seems like just yesterday we welcomed him into this world (shirts we wore to the hospital). But in reality it's been almost 5 months and like 5 month olds- he chews on everything and loves bold contrasting toys. 

I kept this in mind while I picked an animal to crochet him for Christmas. Looking through a file I have on my ipad of images I saved from the Internet (back before Pinterest) and I found this photo of a crocheted stuffed lion...

 

 

he is so cute! Since I saved the file I don't have the link to see who's photo or pattern this belongs  to(I can't find it on a google images search either?) so if you know please leave me a comment and I will place the link to this original lion.

 

 

It was a pretty easy pattern to figure out, I just made the body a rectangle and the arms/legs tear drop shaped. Really it is the face and mane that make him so unique and lovable.

 

 

I made him about 12 inches tall and the body about 5 inches wide. This turned out to be the perfect size for him to hold and use for a pillow.

 

 

Liam really loves the lion and rolled over just to reach for him a couple weeks ago... it's nice to be appreciated =)

 

~Jessica

 

 

Soccer Dolls

I am the coach of a 4-5 year old girls soccer team, named the Jaybirds. Our team has been together for 4 seasons and so we have become a really close knit group. We all appreciate the fact that all the kids and all the parents get along so well.

Well, I wanted make my girls some rag dolls for a while and while designing them out I thought I would dress the dolls in soccer uniforms... then it occurred to me that all the Jaybirds would love a doll for Christmas.

I tried to make each doll as unique as the girl they represented. Each with a different hair style and hair color, but with the same blue uniform and black shorts. The soccer balls on their shirts are painted on.

I also painted each one with their name and number on the back of the jerseys.

The faces are painted with black fabric paint.

The girls loved them!

Want to make a couple of your own? Here's how:

Cut out the base body parts out of flesh colored fabric.

Cut out 4 sleeve pieces and 2 shirt pieces out of what color you want to make the shirt. Hem the bottom of all 4 of the sleeve pieces and the neckline and bottom of the shirt, front and back pieces.

Cut out 4 leg pieces of the shorts and 2 short pieces from the black. Hem the top of the shorts and the bottoms of the leg pieces.

 

Cut the desired hairstyle out of felt. Doubling any pigtails or ponytails and sewing them together, wrong sides together and don't flip.

Sew the hairstyle onto the head- stitching nicely around the bangs that frame the face and by the neck on the back of the head.

Next, sandwich two pieces of the shirt sleeve between 2 of the arm pieces (all right sides together) and sew around leaving an opening at the top. Then turn inside out and stuff.

Do the same for the legs (the seam on the legs will be at the top of the thigh so make sure the hems of the short match up or it will look funny).

Baste the shirts, shorts and pigtails onto the front and back of the main body pieces. Then bast the arms onto the body.

Put the right sides together and sew around the body leaving the bottom of the doll open. Flip the doll inside out and stuff.

Fold the bottom of the inward and pin the legs and the bottom closed. Stitch straight across with black thread- and you're done! 

I tied the bows and hand stitched them on tight.

My little soccer players are as cute as their dolls =)

~Jessica

Peppermint Christmas Gifts

Browsing around Pinterest before Christmas I found a couple cute ideas that I made for teachers and girlfriends. And it all starts with peppermint essential oil...

 

 

Up first is the Peppermint Sugar Scrubs.

You can find a million recipes on the Internet, I just did mine really simple mixing 2 cups sugar with 1 cup oil and adding 1 tsp of peppermint essential oil. To make the red just add a little food color and stir well.

I found the jars 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby, which was really good since I made 8 of these.

The left overs that didn't fit in the jars I gave to my girls and I have to say these feel really  good on dry winter skin!

 

 

 

Next I made some Peppermint Rice Heating Pads.

I found this tutorial on UCreate's 28 Last Minute Handmade Gifts from the Green Wife.

 

 

 

All you need is flannel, rice and peppermint essential oil.

Sew along the outside of the rectangle with right sides together, leaving an opening to pour in the rice. Flip inside out, pour in desired amount of rice and then pin all the way across to keep the rice in place while you sew. Continue making the desired size pockets.

 

 

I made one for myself also =) and I can attest to the rice holding the heat for quite a while and the peppermint oil adding a smoothing/calming effect.

 

Hope you all had a great holiday season!

~ Jessica