[make] week 3: felt finger puppets

For Week 2, I was focusing on Horton Hatches the Egg.  There are not that many characters, so why not puppets?  Even better, felt finger puppets that can be made in an evening.

Hello Clementine inspired the elephant and I found this little baby elephant on Flickr.  An interpretation of this little chick created Mayzie and the egg, well it's a couple of ovals.  As for colors, I tried to match the original Horton Hatches the Egg book and used grey for Horton and his little Elephant Bird, red and teal for Mayzie and red for the egg.

I quickly realized after cutting all the pieces, my idea of  letting the girls assemble and glue the finger puppets together would be super time consuming. If you are braver than I am, feel free.  Either way, some directions for assembly.

For Horton:

Sew the base shapes together with the stitch of your choosing leaving an opening at the bottom.  I used a simple running stitch and matching embroidery thread. Use black embroidery thread to make his trunk creases.  Insert his brad eyes on the front.  Glue Horton's face to the rectangle base, glue his ears in place on the back of his face and then glue the back circle to his face, his ears and the rectangle base.

For Mayzie:

Insert the wings and wing accents into the base on each side.  Sew the base shapes together with the running stitch leaving the bottom open.  Insert her eyes and glue her beak onto her face.  Glue her feathers the the top of her head and glue her face to the base.  Glue the other oval on the back of her face and on the base.  The base should be sandwiched between the two ovals.  Glue her tail feathers to the lower portion of the back base.

For the Egg:

Sew the base shapes together leaving an opening at the bottom.   Glue one oval to each side of the base and to each other.

For Baby Elephant Bird:

Sew the three sides of the base shapes together leaving an opening at the bottom.   Insert an eye on each side of the baby elephant bird.   Glue one body piece to the base, insert and glue the tail and then glue the other body side to the base so that they match.  Glue an ear and a wing on each side of the elephant bodies again trying to locate them in approximately the same place on each side.

All done.  As for any additional tips, on all the bases except for Mayzie's, if you choose to use a machine for your sewing, I would suggest tracing and sewing your bases together before cutting them out of the felt. Mayzie's base has the wings inserted into it so it will have to be cut out prior.

Also, I started using fabric glue and ended up switching to hot glue.  Obviously if you have children assembling these, fabric glue would be the way to go.  Just be warned it's going to take a while to dry and can be frustrating especially with over two layers like with Mayzie's top head feathers.  With hot glue, it's instant gratification and I'm ALL about that, so that's my preferred method.

I hoped you enjoyed my take on felt finger puppets and please let me know if you try it.  If you are interested in my patterns I will be happy to share, just leave me a comment!

[make] sydney's bag

Sydney turned two.  Every two year old little girl needs her very own coloring book messenger bag with coordinating crayon pouch.  Did I mention she has a removable flower pin in case she needs to mix it up?

This is one of the bags I've enjoyed making the most.  Despite the fact that it's for a beautiful little girl, the fabrics are just really pretty and the fact that you can tie the straps to fit any little person may be the only way I make straps from now on.

[play] wee chicks

These little guys have opened up a hand-sewing revolution for me.  I've figured out I can do it in the car-rider line; a parking lot; or just outside while I watch the kids play. Katie calls these little guys the 'Wee Chicks'.  They love putting them in and out of the baskets and most definitely switching their little egg 'blankets' around.  Mom ordered a dozen, six girls and six boys of course.

I actually made them for Easter presents but I've given most of the away.  Maybe some colored ones will find their way into the Easter baskets.  That's what I get for trying to be prepared early!

[play] schooling fish

I think felt fishs may be my favorite.  Not nearly as slimy or wriggly.

[play] crabbie buddies

With no regard for spelling, especially when referencing crabs, on with the post.  Henry turned a whole year old recently and to keep with the theme that Miss Amy laid out, crabs were in order.  So this is what I came up with! 

Happy Birthday Henry and I hope you get lots of play time out of your little crab buddie and their sand castle.



If you are interested in little crabs of your very own, check out my Etsy Shop, playpending at http://www.etsy.com/shop/cphensley .

[play] time for breakfast

Okay, so it's felt but it's so cute!  The egg may be my favorite. 

Jack decided lunch was necessary as well.  Bologna, he loves it.

[play] hello hoppies

introducing hoppy ... but he needed some friends so,

and then it got out of control, you know bunnies -

the end.

pattern/inspiration: Betz White; material: fat quarters from Hobby Lobby and Purl

[play] doll army

An army of wooden clothespin dolls they may have makeovers before it is said and done ...

because some of them are just weird looking ...

but some of them are kind of cute, aren't they?