Fabric Pillow Matching

Here's a fun and simple activity I made for O a few months ago...I made small fabric pillows out of differently textured fabric for her to match. I made 2 pillows using each of the following fabric...fleece, flannel, satin, corduroy, velvet, and cotton (a couple of pairs of pillows are missing from the picture). O wears a blindfold to match the pillows. (I originally planned to make beanbags, but I decided to stuff them with pillow stuffing rather than beans so that the texture of the beans wouldn't distract from the texture of the fabric). These tiny pillows were simple to make and fun to use!

DIY Letter and Number Stamps

These stamps are simple, fast, and inexpensive to make. Here's how to do it...

To make these letter and number stamps you need 6 wooden blocks (1.5 inches square), foam letters and numbers (sold at WM for one dollar), and glue. O and my mom punched the letters and numbers out of the foam puzzle while I glued them (backwards)to the blocks. Simple, fast, and fun, and O was excited to have a new set of stamps to play with!

The inspiration for these stamps came from Ohdeedoh.

Embroidered Tulip Fairy Doll

Since O loved her Peppermint Fairy pillow doll so much (and I put it away with the Christmas stuff), I decided to make a Tulip Fairy pillow doll for her for Easter. The pattern came from Wee Wonderfuls. I love the sweet embroidered dolls from Wee Wonderfuls, and I'm looking forward to embroidering more of these sweet dolls for my sweet girls.

Sensory Beanbags

I made E a set of sensory beanbags for Easter, and she LOVES them!!! (O has started choosing E's clothes in the mornings...just in case you were wondering :)

To make the beanbags, I chose several different types of materials...cotton, fleece, satin, corduroy, flannel, and velvet. On one side of each beanbag is a textured material and on the other side is a visually stimulating material. I cut 4 inch squares out of the material, sewed 2 squares back to back, trimmed the corners, and turned the beanbags. I filled 3 of the beanbags with stuffing, so they are actually mini pillows instead of beanbags...I didn't want to put beans in the fabrics with a looser weave because I was afraid that the beans would come out and be a choking hazard. Three of the beanbags are made from materials with a tighter weave, so we filled them with rice, lentils, and beans (1 material in each bag) so that she would have different sensory experiences with each bag. The beanbags were so easy to make, and I'm thankful to my mom for finishing them for me...I don't have the patience to sew the openings closed after flipping and filling the bags :)

Felt Bunny Finger Puppets

These sweet felt bunny finger puppets were a last minute addition to O and E's Easter baskets that I didn't finish making until after midnight on Easter morning. I used the pattern and followed the directions from the Purl Bee. These bunnies were quick and easy to make. I left the tail off of E's bunny since I knew she'd be spending a lot of time in E's mouth, and I didn't want to create a choking hazard for my baby.

Spring Felt Crown

This Spring felt crown is my favorite handmade Easter gift for this year! O loved it, and I was surprised by how easy it was to make.

To make the crown, I cut a crown pattern out of paper. I laid it on a piece of wool blend felt and traced around the paper with disappearing ink. I cut 2 identical pieces from the wool felt, and then sewed the pieces together using a blanket stitch. (This is only my 2nd time doing the blanket stitch, so it doesn't look great, and I had to start over a couple of times). I left openings for the elastic at the base of the crown. After stitching around the crown, I cut the elastic to the appropriate size, pinned it into the holes left on the crown, and did a straight stitch to hold it in place. I made the felt flower from a Martha Stewart felt flower barrette kit and glued it to the front of the crown.

I'm pretty proud of how this crown turned out, especially since I did all of the sewing in a dark room in the middle of the night:)

Easy Embroidery...Maybe an IKEA Hack :)

I'm not sure if this project would qualify as an IKEA hack, but maybe...

I love the simple animals on the IKEA burp cloths, and I thought they would make cute embroidery patterns.

To make E's shirt, I photocopied the burp cloth, cut out the pictures that I liked, traced over the lines with an iron on pencil, and ironed the design onto a t-shirt. I embroidered over the pattern using the backstitch. This was fast and simple to do. I've embroidered several bibs and a couple of onesies with the different IKEA animals, but the monkey is my favorite. I plan to embroider several more t-shirts for E to wear...they are so much easier than onesies now that she is using the potty often (more on that in an EC post!).

Sustainable Homestead

Cayce from Sustainable Homestead sent us 2 lunchbox napkins and a reusable baggie to try, and I thought this review would be perfect for Earth day!

We only use cloth napkins in our house as I can't stand the waste of paper napkins. (Elliott insists on buying paper towels, but he doesn't use them very often, and I usually just use them for art projects :) All of our napkins are quite large, so it was fun for O and E to have napkins that were just for them! They are the perfect size for little hands and faces (and they must taste good, too!). I love the fabrics that Cayce uses for her napkins, and we use them often when we have picnics on our porch and in the yard. They are fun for an impromptu game of peek-a-boo in addition to being great as napkins.

The napkins are approximately 7"x7" and are made from 100% cotton fabric. They have rolled edge hems and are double thickness.


The reusable baggies are perfect for picnics or school lunches. Here's what Cayce has to say about the baggies...

"Are you looking for a good no-waste replacement for those thin plastic baggies? Look no more! My reusable baggie is made from soft ripstop nylon with pretty rolled exterior seams and features a reinforced fold-over top to hold items inside. Fold over closures are easier for little hands to open and close. No food bits stuck in velcro. No crumbs trapped in internal seams. Ick! Just bright and bold colors and easy clean up with this reusable baggie! They are approx. 7"x8" unfolded, a similar size to their throw-away plastic counterparts.

These bags also make GREAT party favor and gift bags! They can be made in almost any color or combo of colors to suit your individual needs. What a great way to promote green living at your next party or event!"

We were so excited to use these products, and I'm sure that we'll be using them for years. They are very well-made, and it feels good to use handmade, reusuable products instead of mass produced, disposable goods. Thanks, Cayce!

Make sure to mention Chasing Cheerios when you order (for the next 2 weeks) to get 10% off your order! Earth Day is a great day to start going green, so give it a try with these fun, handmade products!

More Freezer Paper Stenciling

I love E's elephant shirt! I love to make matching shirts for my girls, and this time I made pink elephant shirts and blue horse shirts. I'm addicted to freezer paper stenciling :) I realized that I'd forgotten to set the stencil with an iron when I made the butterfly shirts, so I'm hoping that these shirts will last up a little longer.

Handmade Rainbow Gnomes

Clare from Little Red Whimsy sent us a set of rainbow gnomes to play with and review. I was very excited to receive this set since I love for my girls to have well made, original, handmade toys that inspire creativity. This set includes 6 gnomes that are made from wooden pegs. They are dressed in tunics made from wool felt and hats made from 100% wool felted sweaters. They come with 6 matching mushrooms in a drawstring pouch.

I especially love the gnomes with the braided hair. They are so sweet and are the perfect addition to our fairy play. O and I have had so much fun with these little gnomes, and I know that both girls and I will be playing with them for years. If you are looking for a special handmade gift to put in your child's Easter basket, I think these dolls would be perfect!

Also, Clare at Little Red Whimsy takes custom orders. Make sure to browse her "sold" section as she will take custom orders for items that she does not have in stock.

I think this Gnome Sweet Gnome Mushroom Cottage Stacker is just AMAZING!!!

Handmade Toss & Catch Toy

Here's another forgotten post that I just found saved in draft...it was written last summer. I think this is the last of the old posts. I guess I'll have to find time to start writing new posts again :)

I made this throw and catch toy for O months and months ago, and she is just starting to like it :) To make the toy, I cut a milk jug in half and put duct tape around the cut edge for safety. I attached rubber bands to the ball and to a hole I punched in the jug. Then I showed her how to toss the ball in the air and try to catch it in the jug. My 5 year old niece LOVES this toy, and now O does, too! (I think she was too young when I first made it...she was 2).

Handmade Fairies

We love fairies! My mom made faires for the girls from pipe cleaners, embroidery floss, silk flowers, and felt for Christmas (with a little help from me). She followed the directions from Wee Felt Folk.

My mom put the fairies in an unfinished box that she will finish with the girls to make fairy houses. She made specific fairies to match a series of stories that she tells the girls at bedtime. She plans to eventually write a book of the stories for the girls, and we've started planning how we'll illustrate it. She also gave the girls unfinished dollhouse doors to make into fairy doors. O has had a wonderful time playing with her fairies, and we've recently had some fun new additions to our play that I'll be reviewing next week.

A Simple Baby Toy

E LOVES her new toy! I put 4 of O's beads onto a piece of elastic and knotted it at both ends. E grins, laughs, waves her arms, and kicks her feet in excitement when I pull the beads apart and clack them back together. More than anything she loves to chew on the elastic knots :)

Matching Stenciled Shirts

O and I made matching freezer paper stenciled butterfly shirts for O and E last weekend. O chose the butterfly stencil from a set of nature stencils that she received for Christmas. I traced the pattern onto the freezer paper, cut out the pattern, and ironed the paper (shiny side down) onto the shirts. I mixed fabric medium with acrylic craft paint, and O and I painted the shirts. This was a fast, fun, and easy project with great results!!!

O was very excited to have matching shirts with her sister since they have both grown out of their matching appliqued shirts.

O has had a great time pretending to be a witch lately...she wears her orange witch hat and high heeled "glass slippers." She's quite a sight :)

We made these shirts a couple of weeks ago, and I was surprised by how much the butterfly faded in the wash. Maybe cheap acrylic craft paint and fabric medium isn't the way to go...

A Simple Storytelling Game

O and I have had fun telling stories together using this storytelling game lately!

To make the game I borrowed these wooden figures from her phonics bags and put them together in a drawstring bag (from IKEA). To play the game we take turns taking one figure out of the bag at a time. The first person starts the story, and we keep adding to it using the figures as prompts. I was surprised by how much O enjoyed this game, and I was happy enough with it that I bought more figures from WM. You can find these (already painted) wooden figures at WM, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels. They cost about 50 cents each.

Valentine's Paper Dolls

O has enjoyed these fun Valentine's Day paper dolls that I printed on magnetic paper. Although, I admit that I was more excited about them than she was :) I'm looking forward to making more magnetic paper dolls for her soon. Happy Valentine's Day!

No-Sew Felt Fortune Cookies

I had fun making felt fortune cookies for O and my niece for Valentine's Day. I saw lots of no-sew felt fortune cookie tutorials on various blogs, but for some reason I just couldn't make sense of them. I decided to just try to make one on my own, and it was so easy! Here's what I did...

First, I traced around a drinking glass and cut the circle out of felt. Then I put about an inch long strip of fabric glue on one side of the circle, folded the circle in half, and held it together with a clothes pin.

I waited a day before doing the next step. I folded the cookie and put a drop of glue on either side and held it together with a clothes pin. I hope the pictures make sense because I'm not explaining it well at all :) The clothes pins were stuck to a couple of cookies, but it worked well overall.

I cut small strips of paper and wrote messages on them. I slipped them into the cookies and was done! I think the girls will have fun writing their own messages and sharing the cookies with their family and friends :)

Heart Pocket Pillows

My mom and I made heart pocket pillows for O, E, and my niece. The pattern and directions for this gift came from Handmade Home. The pillows were quick and easy to make and are perfect for sending little love notes to our sweet girls.

Play Make-Up Kit

My mom made O and my niece a bag full of play make-up, and this gift was the HIT of Christmas! (even more so than the doctor kit!)

To make the pretend make-up, my mom collected empty compacts from friends and family. She also bought cheap make-up from the Dollar Tree. She disposed of the actual make-up and filled the trays with fingernail polish. The polish took a couple of weeks to dry (it was VERY humid, which is why it took so long to dry), and now it looks just like REAL make-up!

O and my niece have had a wonderful time pretending to put on make-up, but they REALLY enjoy setting everything up and having us pretend that we are customers who are buying the make-up :)

This compact of brush-on lipstick is my favorite :)

This eye shadow is lots of fun, too!
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I think it's so funny that O loves make-up so much since her mama rarely wears any make-up at all (I can't stand the stuff). I'm glad to have an alternative to the nasty, gooey pretend make-up that you find in the toy section at most retail stores.

My mom got the idea for this gift from a website that she read months and months ago (can't remember where).