Frugal Family Fun Blog » felt

My Kind of Baking

Valerie — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 18:42:15 +0000

I made up a few pretend baking kits for the girls — which kept them happily occupied, and it’s a great quiet time activity! They are SUPER easy and quick to make up. I cut up some very inexpensive craft felt using a few cookie cutters as my pattern, added some pieces for “icing” and a few bits of felt for “sprinkles” (the MOST important part about baking!). Once I gave the girls a couple of cutting boards, and a small rolling pin, they kept themselves entertained for a good long while!!

They were too busy rolling out the dough….

….cutting out the cookies….

…adding on the icing….

…and carefully decorating their cookies with SPRINKLES! Yummmm!!!

They look almost good enough to eat… almost!

I adore Clara’s “cookie towers”, don’t you??

They would pretend to eat their cookies and then the whole process would start all over again, so they baked batch after batch of cookies!

Not bad for a few pieces of $0.25 felt and a few things we already had on-hand!

Have fun!!

Handmade Holidays – Soft (Felt) Pretzels

Valerie — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:50:28 +0000

I sewed some quick and easy soft pretzels for the girls using just two 9″ x 12″ sheets of craft felt and some stuffing. It’s been a great addition to their fold up kitchen set! The pretzels are just long skinny tubes sewn from the felt (no measuring, just eyeballed it), stuffed (by Mark, thanks, honey!), then bent into a pretzel shape and sewn into place. I sewed on some salt, and cut a strip of yellow felt to be used as mustard. They would be perfect for little handmade holiday gifts or stocking stuffers too!!

Bon appétit!

DIY: Travel Play Kitchen Set

Valerie — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:15:00 +0000

This travel play kitchen set was super-frugal to make, and is perfect for small living spaces since the entire set folds up!

I’m thinking we’ll take it with us for trips to the garden plot, visits with grandparents, or just playing outside in the backyard like we did this afternoon.

I used an ordinary folding TV tray table for the base, and sewed the stove top cover using wool felt. Here you can see the curtains under the stove where Emily stores a basket of play food, pots and pans.

As soon as I put it outside, the girls wasted no time and got busy cookin’!!

Emily liked firing up the burners….

….and drying her hands on the kitchen towel.

Clara thought the “drawer” pockets were so much fun!

They played outside until it was time to get dinner ready!

What I loved about bringing the kitchen set outside was how it led to all sorts of neat “play” food experiences, like leaves for “salad” and grass for “spinach angel hair”.

Bon Appétit!!

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Pretend Play on a Dime — Donut Shop

Valerie — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:42:00 +0000

It rained all day today, so while Clara was napping, Emily and I had a nice pocket of time for some crafting. She worked on some adorable paper dolls, and I put this together — A Mini Pretend Donut Shop!

I used tan felt to sew the donuts (and batting to stuff them), then cut out pieces of felt for the icing and even some sprinkles. I love how the shoebox lid doubles as a serving tray!

I found an envelope to store all the icing pieces….

…. and the plain donuts also double as bagels! The girls thought the pieces of waxed paper were a nice touch.

Since all of the pieces fit so nicely into a small shoebox, I thought it would be perfect to take along on vacation just in case we have a day of rain.

Clara woke up just as I had finished putting the set together, and we played Donut Shop for hours!!! Emily and I got very specific with our orders so Clara could practice her counting, “I would like one donut with vanilla icing and 4 chocolate sprinkles, please. No more, no less!”

Oh, and she loved pretending to put sugar in my coffee. Did I mention she makes a mean mochachino?

Have fun!!

I linked this post to — Show Us Your Best!

Shop Update! Butterfly Play Set

Valerie — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 21:24:00 +0000

Once upon a time, there was a little caterpillar who liked to eat lots of leaves.

When he was full, he spun a cocoon, and went inside.

He was in there for a long time!

Then, the cocoon started to move, and…… out came a beautiful butterfly!!

Emily had so much fun playing with this felt butterfly play set! If you would like one of your own, ~~there is another set available for sale at our Etsy shop~~. [That was quick! Thank you, Marie!!] The proceeds from the sale go towards fundraising for the Walk Now for Autism Speaks event going on this weekend. While no one in our family is on the autism spectrum, Emily has several friends who are.

Included in the set are a butterfly, caterpillar, and a cocoon to store them in — all made from felt and lovingly hand stitched by yours truly.

If you wish to make a donation toward the Walk Now for Autism Speaks event, please visit our team fundraising page. Thank you!!

Felted Easter Eggs

Valerie — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:19:00 +0000

The girls and I had so much fun making these CUTE felted Easter eggs! To make your own, you will need some wool roving. If you have trouble finding wool roving, you can purchase it online here.

Start by filling a pitcher with some very warm water, and add a few tablespoons of dish soap.

Stir up the water in the pitcher until the soap is well-combined.

With a small amount of wool roving, get it wet and start rolling it into a ball in the palm of your hand. Clara was eager to keep up with her big sister, and with just a tiny bit of help from Emily, she was able to make a few eggs of her own.

Add more wool roving, bit by bit, until the egg is the desired size. Add stripes or dots to your eggs, make them multi-colored! Go CRAZY with your wild egg designs!

Once your felted ball is the right size, gently shape it into an egg shape.

Wow!! This is so much fun!!!

I see some felted Easter egg hunts in our future!

So pretty! Added bonus — kids with clean hands!

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