Wee Felt House & A Little Mouse

Supplies:
Wee Felt House & A Little Mouse Template
3 – 12″ x 12″ wool felt rolls
Felted flowers and balls
Various scraps of felt or wool felt (for the mouse)
Coordinating embroidery floss
Embroidery needle
Poly-fil (for the mouse)
Snap buttons
Scissors
Button
Fabric glue
Pins

Directions:
1. Using your template as a guide to cut out the triangle portions of the house roof. For the body of the house, cut out five 5″ squares from your wool felt fabric. For the side of the house roof, cut out two 4″ x 5″ wool felt pieces. For the windows, cut out three 2″ squares, and for the door, cut out a 2″ x 4″ piece of wool felt.

2. Hand sew your door and windows onto four of the 5″ squares, set aside one to be the bottom of the house.

3. Pin the four walls of the house to one of the four sides to the bottom of the house. To attach, use a blanket stitch to connect each piece together. Go around sewing the all four sides of the bottom of the house. Continue sewing together the corners of each house. Then, sew three sides of the top of the house. Leave the top back of the house free of stitching.

4. To make the roof of the house, pin together the long side of the two 4″ x 5″ pieces together, then pin the ends to the two sides of the triangle (the 5″ side of the triangle should line up with the bottom of the roof. Blanket stitch all sides of the roof together, but leave the back bottom of the roof free of stitching. Then, pin together the back bottom of the roof to the top back of the house, and blanket stitch those two edges together.

Cut out a 1″ x 8″ piece of wool felt, sew each short end 3″ down from the top center of the roof with a blanket stitch, and continue to blanket stitch all the way around. This is the handle of the house. Using fabric glue, add the felt flowers and balls to decorate the house. This can also be hand sewn on as well.

Sew on the snap buttons onto the top right and left of the house; one stud on the bottom center of the roof, and one socket on the top center of the house body.

Wee Felt Mouse

Directions:
1. Cut out the felt pieces for your mouse using the template. Stitch on the inner ears onto one of the mouse body pieces; this will be the front of your mouse. Place the front and back mouse body pieces together, with the right side facing out, and stitch all the way around the edges of the mouse to create the mouse body. Leave a small opening, lightly stuff with Poly-Fil, and then continue to sew the opening closed.

2. Sew a strand of floss up through the bottom for the little legs of the mouse. Sew on a little felt foot on each end and knot. The bottom of the feet end up dangling about 1″ down from the base of the body. Sew another strand of floss through one side of the body and out the other side for the mouse arms. Sew felt hands on each end and knot. The arms and hands extend about 1″ out on each side of the mouse body.

3. Embroider on the face of your mouse and add any additional touches you may like. I added a tiny bow tie on mine. With your embroidery floss, add on a tail at the back of your mouse.

4. Line up the three cheese block sides with a triangle and stitch all the sides together to the triangle. Continue to sew the sides of the cheese block, and then add the bottom triangle and continue to stitch all the sides of that piece on. Before stitching the cheese block closed, add a tiny bit of Poly-Fil, and then stitch the cheese block closed. Make sure that all the sides, edges, and corners of the cheese block are stitched together. I had made all the pieces for this tiny mouse when I felt like he was missing something. Then it dawned on me: this little guy needs a cheese block. I think it was the perfect addition!

Isn’t this wee house and little mouse so cute?! He’s the perfect little friend to tote around with his wee house. You could also use the template to make a whole family of mice! There is certainly room for more to live in the house. This tiny house from a small box could also be used for the mouse (or mice) to live in.  It’s a present for one of the girls, but I’m tempted to give it to her already. To help fight the temptation, I better wrap it up for Christmas and put it under the tree. This project is a fun one to make and would definitely be a good present to make for Christmas. It’s also a great project to do with older children, and they could make little mice for friends.

Supplies for this project was provided as part of the Michaels Makers series.

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This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

I want to make this cute clay bunny bowl.

Ms. Tips is having a 30% off sale! These deadstock vintage sunglasses for kids are adorable.

Jean Jean Vintage is having a 15% off sale. This victorian seed pearl ring is gorgeous!

I loved the movie Maleficent. I thought it had such depth and it was a creative way to spin the old classic.

If you’re looking for a wooden dollhouse, this simple geometric dollhouse is really cute!

I’m stuck on what to get Ben for Christmas. The men gift guides I see out there never help me.

We finally got the Christmas music started, and while the tree has already been out, it’s time to get the rest of the Christmas decor out too. The girls are giddy with anticipation!

I’m thankful for friends who I can text on those hard parenting days, and for a husband who showers me with words of encouragement.

Don’t forget to Shop Small today and check out some of the small businesses I partner with on the right. Happy shopping!

Last year, the two older girls had lockets on their Christmas wish list. I found these two sweet lockets from Jean Jean Vintage, one of my favorite vintage jewelry shops, and they are so teeny tiny, but perfect lockets for little ones. I did some searching for a book to go with it, and found The Magic Locket (no longer in print) and bought it used to accompany their gifts. This was one of their favorite gifts last year that they took good care of and still love this year. Jean Jean Vintage is also a current sponsor and she’s having a 15% sale off all items this weekend, so if you’re eyeing something, right now’s the weekend to scoop it up.

Our Glow loves softies, so I got her this Misha Doll last year to accompany the Nino Ponte she already had. Glow’s a softie hoarder! You should see her bed, it’s 3/4 filled with softies! Animal ones are her faves, and she calls them all her “babies.”

Last year, Santa brought this Build Your Own City set to the girls when we were in Texas. As you probably realize from reading this blog, we love making dollhouses, so this colorful slotted style is another fave. It’s easy to put away and store and put together when they want to make a village for their mini My Little Ponies. Usually, most of their toy requests revolve around things for their My Little Ponies.

This unicorn set is one of the new gifts for this year. The two youngest are each getting their own set to be a unicorn. I got the unicorn horn from here, and the wings I bought from Fawn Shoppe.

We’re pretty much done with all the gifts we need for the girls. We try to get them a book of sorts (the big girls requested 2015 planners), and maybe two things from their list, plus one big ticket community item from Santa. The two older girls have some handmade gift requests, so I’m going to need to find time to make these things happen. Basically, the things on their list are simple items like coloring and sticker books, craft projects, and handmade gifts (apparently, they think I can make everything), so we might have splurged on their community gifts a bit. They wanted this camper play tent (they saw it in the catalog when it came in the mail), so while I want to try my hand at making one for them, we bought it as backup in case I ran out of time.

One of the not-so-simple-requests True had on her list was “to own Disneyland.” Definitely can’t make that happen, but yeah a camper tent is much more doable. How do you handle Christmas gifts for little ones? I know there’s the wear, read, play route, but my kids aren’t into requesting clothing items just yet, nor do they need anything in particular, so that guideline doesn’t typically work for us.

Things are prepped for our Thanksgiving dinner and all the cooking gets done today. We will have turkey, stuffing, Brussels sprouts, and pecan pie! Tomorrow we visit with family and celebrate the special day, but tonight we will have our own little feast at home. It will be the first time we do our own mini Thanksgiving with just the six of us.

The girls have been working on their thank you cards for friends and family (and other projects they come up with), and it’s been more laid back around here since they don’t have school this week. Today’s agenda will be to get ready for our dinner tonight and I will let the kids take charge of the decorations. I think that will keep them occupied long enough while I’m busy in the kitchen.

If you’re still in need of some recipes for Thanksgiving, I’m going to be doing this turkey (in a crockpot) and this stuffing. I made it for our fall potluck last year, and we all loved it, so it’s on the menu for our feast tonight. Do you have any go-to turkey and stuffing recipes to share? It gives me a year to think about it for next year!

Some Cans, Ping Pong Balls, and Fly Swatters

Supplies:
Cans (or even a box)
Ping pong balls
Fly swatters
Duct tape
Non-stick scissors

Directions:
Decorate the cans.

To play the game:
Set out the cans on it’s side, give the each player a fly swatter, and the objective is to get the ping pong balls in the can. Another variation, is to gather a few more cans, sit them upright and have children walk and maneuver the balls around the cans.

My girls wanted to draw arrows on the ground so they knew where to aim, and they took turns pairing up trying to get the ping pong balls in the cans. It’s a good activity for developing their hand and eye coordination. I love how something as simple as tin cans, ping pong balls, and fly swatters (we don’t use these to swat flies, but to play games like this) can provide children entertainment. The game was taken from their book Unplugged Play, and this was an activity they picked out to do. I shared about the book here, and it’s one of their favorites to flip through to find projects and activities.

I would totally wear all their outfits in these photos, well, except maybe not the fox tights. I love those tights, but on an adult, I don’t think they would be as cute, at least not on me. The personalities are so evident in the outfits they choose for themselves. Brave is rockin’ that flannel, of course in red and blue (always check the boy section at Old Navy, lots of good stuff for girls too!). Soul, the most girly dresser of them all, must wear a dress (or a skirt), and True likes to mimic the styles I’m into. She knows I love my leopard boots (and sneakers), so this is her way of matching me. I wish her leopard sweater came in my size, so maybe it’s the other way around, and I want to be like True. Glow has started voicing her thoughts on what she wants to wear, so it will be interesting to see how her style evolves since she has three older sisters she can mimic.

on true: leopard sweater, drapey-ankle pants, leopard sneakers, c/o old navy. hat, gap kids. on brave: plaid flannel, denim, c/o old navy. shoes, vans. on soul: ruffled dress, denim jacket, fox tights, c/o old navy. shoes, superga. on glow: striped moto jacket, skinny jeans, high-top sneakers, c/o old navy.

This post is sponsored by Old Navy. Thank you for taking the time to visit this space as I’m very thankful for the support you give me and the brands I partner with.

Homemade Thank You Cards

Supplies:
Thank You Card Printable
Cardstock
Scissors
Various paints
Paintbrush
Pens

Directions:
Print out the cards onto cardstock and cut it across the middle horizontally. First, paint any design you might want behind the words, and allow that to dry completely. Then, fill in the words with paint or marker (or fill in lettering with paint).

I used watercolor on most of them, and others I used black paint, with a very fine paint brush, to fill it in. Using marker would work to fill in the lettering too. Honestly, I just enjoy making my own cards, and you don’t really need much direction with these. Just print them out and have fun! I prefer homemade cards over store bought ones. Once upon a time, I wanted to make my own line of cards (way back in college when Ben and I just started dating and I was even making my own paper!).

I don’t think I let the people in my life know exactly why I’m thankful for them, so this week the girls and I are going to sit down, and write out thank you cards for our loved ones (and mail them out too!). I’ll let them decorate their own and write their own messages. They are always sending letters to their Grandmama, so I’m sure they will love this challenge.