DIY Portable Felt Board- Great Xmas Gift for the Kids!

UPDATE: The free pattern and tutorial for this portable felt book is available now right here!

This year, I've planned to make at least half the gifts I'm giving this Christmas. I originally planned to make EVERY gift but that was just a pipe dream. If I wanted that to happen, I would've started making gifts in January! Unfortunately, I am unable to plan that far ahead of time (no discipline whatsoever here!) and so, I have decided to focus on making the majority of the kids' gifts because they're just so darn fun to make stuff for.

My first project is a portable felt board that I drafted a pattern for after researching some on Pinterest. Here's a link to one of the inspirations that I absolutely loved! This first one that I made was great but I need to add a stiff interfacing or maybe even some thin cardboard inside for stability- which I didn't have at the time because I kind of sewed it up on a whim yesterday. I've got all sorts of ideas in my head about adding a magnet board to the inside of one instead of felt. My kiddos looooove magnets! Maybe it'll be K's surprise gift since she won't be receiving another felt board for Christmas. Hmmm...so many ideas!

 K is going to keep this felt board tester. She's in love with the colors and is already bossing me around about which colors I should choose for each of her brothers and cousins.

This week, Joann's is having a fabulous fabric sale: 50% off all red tag fabrics so I stocked up on some including the floral patterned fabrics featured here. I'm thinking I need to go back for more but I already have so much in my craft room, it's coming outta my ears! 

I included a pocket on the inside to hold all the felt pieces. I might consider using velcro to close the pocket so the pieces don't fall out everywhere. So far, it's managed to stay inside when my daughter carries it around but kids are whacky sometimes and will swing and fling anything that has a handle on it- am I right, moms?

I've cut out only the Potato Heads so far but plan on making some fun dress up dolls, train and road tracks with vehicles, letters, numbers and food shapes as well. There are so many ways to customize each board for every child! That's what makes these so neat! 

I love how sewing just a small strip of fabric onto the velcro makes it look so professional. 

Once I've cleaned up the pattern a bit more, I'll share that and a tutorial in the next couple of weeks. This is such a fun, easy project that you can whip one up in a couple of hours and have a blast cutting out felt shapes while watching Netflix. =) 

 UPDATE: I went on hiatus shortly after this post went up and the pattern got tossed accidentally! I'll try to re-draft it using the finished one I've completed. The pattern and tutorial should be up this spring! Thanks for stopping by and checking this post out!

Easy Baby Minion Costume

I originally was not going to share this adorable costume I made for my baby niece but it was just too darn cute not to! I loved the results and how easy the project turned out to be! Have a look!

I found the overalls at the thrift store- in VERY good condition- and sewed up the hat and long sleeve shirt with soft, warm fleece. The Gru logo is made of felt and I simply sewed that on to the front of the overalls.

I love how the eye pops out of the hat! And the pink bow was so necessary because it's a girl minion!

 

So simple and so cute! I wanted my kids to be minions this year but they are already pretty opinionated about what they wanted to dress as! If you didn't see their costumes yet, you can go here to check them out! I love being able to dress them up as a complete set of characters rather than randomly chosen characters- it's so much more fun that way, isn't it?

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Halloween!

I just NEEDED to update this post with a picture of my darling niece in the costume! Ahhhh-I'm dying at how cute she is! =)

KCW Day 2: PJs!

Come check out what I made for KCW Day 2! I'd love a pair of these for myself! Click here to see more pictures!

Adventure Time Halloween!

Hey all- come check out the costumes I made for the kiddos this year! Super fun! Just click here to go to the original post! 

My Little Pony Grand Finale

Ok, ok, so I'm about five days late on this post but it'll be worth it, I promise! There's just so much to share from this fun little party we had this past Saturday, I don't even know where to begin! But I will begin with thanking my sister for helping with two days of prep and for doing the girls' hair and face paint/makeup. K especially enjoyed being all dolled up for her party and what makes her happy makes me happy!

Let's start with the decor...

I love the height the balloon topiaries give the table. Thanks to my awesome sister, A, for putting them together for me! I wrapped some colorful wrapping paper around some garden pots and once the topiary went in, I stuffed some fabric inside to keep it upright. 

On the wall above was this cute picture my other fab artistic sister, C, drew at my request: a K and Rarity poster with K's monogram in the upper right. Everyone loved it- I'm going to request one for my son's birthday in December! Won't they look great in the kids' rooms later on?

 

I decorated this plain white cupcake stand myself since I couldn't find anything ready-made on the shelf that fit our theme. I wrapped ruched tulle around the edges, punched some purple flowers out and sewed white pearly beads in the centers, then added some pony characters to the front of the cupcake stand. It turned out super darling! I will have to remember to keep colorful tulle on hand for decorating at all times!

 

K and I found some star lollipops for only 19 cents each so we grabbed handfuls of them and created little "lollibouquets" for the table. The blue and white swirly pops were leftover from our VHC party earlier this year. My kids don't eat candy very often at home so I needed to get rid of them somehow!

I set up the fashion and beauty boutique on a bench and side table, off the floor, so that the colors of these fun boards would be more visually appealing for the kiddos. I didn't have time to decorate the "shopping bags" but white is pretty chic, isn't it? You can also spy one of the skirts I had made for the fashion boutique in the bottom corner.

The beauty boutique was filled with necklaces, color hairsprays, hair extensions, nail polishes, and face paint. I also hung a picture of the six mane ponies that K colored inside the 'boutique.' 

This pretty monogram decoration is made from foam core painted over several times in gold and bronze. I originally wanted to cut the poster of K and Rarity and put it inside this frame but once I saw the poster, I just couldn't bring myself to cut it. So instead, I put K's monogram inside. I wanted to introduce some gold to the decor since Rarity's house is filled with gold oval framed windows.

For activities, we did some face painting, hair and dress up and also decorated some t-shirts!

Isn't my niece fabulous as Rainbow Dash?

And my sister did such a great job with the hair!

Adorable!

My littlest enjoys his pony ears too. I hot glued all the ears to headbands so they would be easy to put on or take off.

My niece and my son showing off their t-shirts designs. Too darn cute!

And the birthday girl getting ready to blow out her candles! Happy 5th birthday again to my big girl! She truly enjoyed her special day thanks to the help of family and friends! 

Hope you enjoyed these DIY party ideas! Thank you soooo much for stopping by today!

The Rarity Tunic/Dress Pattern and Tutorial

My next free pattern, available in 2T-5T, along with a tutorial for the version shown below is now up on my Fresh Off the Bolt blog! Go and check it out now by clicking on the Fresh Off the Bolt tab above! Thanks and happy sewing!

The My Little Pony Rarity Birthday Dress!

Yay- it's finally here! I've been talking about this party dress since my first post on K's My Little Pony birthday party and now I can finally show you what I've been working on for the past few days.

Here's Rarity, the fashion designing pony that my daughter is obsessed with.

And here's the dress I made. I totally put the diamond cutie mark on the wrong way but K didn't even notice. Ah well- we all know which pony this is, right? 

I love the ruffles around the neckline. It is so girly, frilly, and exactly like Rarity's style. 

I'll be releasing the pattern for this dress later this week, along with a picture tutorial. I'll have sizes 2T/3T and 4T/5T available for this dress. My daughter's dress here is the 4T/5T version. It's slightly big for her because it's going to be used as part of her dress-up wardrobe for some time. 

Check out the little surprise on the back of the dress! The lace trim creates a curly tail effect- and K totally loves it. 

Isn't it fun? The circle skirt is full and swingy without being bulky- perfect for partying or just playing dress up. I gotta admit that the upper half is my favorite part though. I love the ruffled neck and the layered flutter sleeves and how they frame her cute chubby face. Mostly, I love that she loves it. 

Stay tuned for the pattern later this week! I'll make it available on my Fresh Off the Bolt blog in multiple sizes and options- yay! If you want the pattern, follow me there so you get it as soon as it's released! Also, you should go see my adorable striped tunic dress version of this same pattern! It's my favorite- even K's step-dad complimented her about it and that must mean something coming from a guy who doesn't care about fashion, right? =) 

My Little Pony Birthday Party Decor- Take Two!

To see our My Little Pony grand finale, click here!

For K's 5th birthday, I've been trying to recreate the above picture into a theme! It's been so much fun- mostly because Rarity is so much like me: she loves designing clothes and loves beautiful things! Let's see my progress so far:

Well??? The colors are very similar, aren't they? I knew I wouldn't be able to make it exactly imto Rarity's home on my minuscule budget, but if I could match the color scheme and the lavish patterns then I'd get it close enough so that K can see it coming to life. Nearly 5-year-old eyes are very discerning, I've learned!

All right, so to the left, we have the "Beauty Boutique" where makeup and hair will be done. I ordered the face paint set from Party City online. I think it was around $10 and I got free shipping too.

Since all the Halloween goodies have already gone up, I picked up some pink and purple hair spray too. The girls will dig this, I know! 

Here's an image of what I wanted to do with the face paint. So pretty, isn't it? I think mommy might need to join in on the fun on party day too!

And to the right we have the "Fashion Boutique!" That's pretty self-explanatory! I'll be using K's dress up rack filled with all the dresses I've made for her and she and the girls will get to mix and match pieces to create their own special looks. I may even just let them go home with them since K has quite a bit of clothes!

I'm calling this a "lanternlier" because it's a lantern made fancy to look like a chandelier. I just put this together yesterday and I'll be pairing it with some paper pompoms and balloons in coordinating party colors. It's gonna look so pretty hanging above the boutique!

This mirror was an awesome find at the Goodwill! It's small enough to hang on the boutique 'wall' so the girls can see their makeup easily.

I cut this necklace holder out of scrap cardboard and K decorated it with MLP stickers. I also cut slits into the bottom so it can slide onto the back board that is the "wall" of the boutique. Isn't it so practical and cute? I like it because the girls will be able to remove the necklaces easily without them tangling up.

All dollar store materials created this sign. The flowers were thrifted though

and I have more that I plan to use to decorate "pony hair" that will go in the party guests' hair. 

This awesome throw will be used as a rug in our fancy little boutique. Thrifted treasure- I love it! Isn't the chevron pattern so modern? And K can still use this in her bedroom after the party too so that was a great $2 spent!

Also thrifted: these fabulous pink and white globe lights! I got three of them for $3 each! Also another item that can be used elsewhere after the party.

And these are just some fun party signs I created for our boutiques. 

I'm getting excited for a party that's not even mine! I have some fun activities planned as well and I'll share those next time as I start to gather my materials. 

I have a special Rarity dress I designed just for my daughter. I'm still trying to find the time to actually sew it together but kids, school, and life just keep getting in between me and my sewing room!

But when I do get it together, I promise to share the pattern with you. I don't know if I will have time for a tutorial but the pattern will still be put up. It's fairly simple and can be customized to be any of the ponies or just an everyday dress!