Day 2 - Plushies

High on yesterday’s success LeeAnn and I embarked on a journey into the world of Plushies! The production of stuffed animals as toys began in 1880 when the Steiff Company, in Germany, converted their machinery to produce a new type of product, a stuffed elephant that actually started as a pin cushion.[1] Perhaps the most well known stuffed animal is the teddy bear, produced by the same company in 1902 for Theodore Roosevelt.

LeeAnn was very excited when I told her what we were doing tomorrow. As we picked out some felt from the hobby store she said, “Good, my pet rocks need some friends.” I did my homework that night; we picked out the animals we were going to make and worked out rough patterns. In fact I felt so confident I decided we would make the animals out of real fabric and sew them. I was afraid the fabric glue and felt would not hold up to an active three year old.

What was I thinking? I had forgotten my watch words entirely! Simple, no! First off, I’m not the most experienced seamstress and I’ve never made a pattern before in my life. Colorful, yes we did use lots of color. Easy for little hands to do, not on your life! After taking about two hours to work out the patterns and how they fit together, a period of time where my daughter was reduced to drawing with markers on scraps, I was ready for her to choose out fabric. Five minutes later I was cutting and sewing and she was back to coloring on fabric discards. Hours passed with LeeAnn getting more and more fussy, but finally we got to a step where she could participate, Stuffing the plushies! It took her about a half and hour, even so, after leaving her with nothing to do for so long it was great. Then we glued on the eyes and tiger stripes and were done. She claimed she had fun and she loves her plushies, nevertheless I don’t recommend this project for a toddler at all. Six hours of work, mostly done by moi and tons of clean up. Below are directions for a no-sew version of felt plushies. Much more toddler friendly!

No Sew Felt Plushies (Penguin, Octopus, Scarab)

Supplies:

Felt Pieces

Fabric Glue (Make sure it does not need to be heat set)

Scissors
Polyester Stuffing

Googily Eyes

Glitter Glue

Clothes Pin or Small Clamp

Instructions:

1. Using a pattern, or making your own, cut out the body shapes
2. Glue the edges of the body front to the body back, leaving a two inch gap so you can add stuffing. Set aside and allow glue to dry.
3. Once dry, add stuffing until desired puffiness is achieved. Glue gap closed and clamp shut while completing it.
4. Cut out additional felt body parts and glue onto animal.
5. Glue on eyes and accent with glitter glue. Let dry at least 24 hrs before letting child play with toy.

---

[1] http://steiffblog.com/steiff-news/unique-plush-toys-evolution-of-the-stuffed-animal.html

Day 1: Pet Rocks



LeeAnn and me with our
pet rocks

 All I knew about pet rocks is they were some big fad in the sixties or something, but when I read in my daily craft journal that my first project should be something simple, that fits in my hand and uses stuff around the house;[i] that was the project that immediately jumped to mind. Actually it was more like, a duh, pet rocks, why would anyone else think otherwise. For some reason only known to me and my very weird family, thoughts like this occur every so often. The utterly obvious which is never that obvious to everyone else.

Anyway, back to pet rocks. As it turns out Gary Dahl, their creator, actually came out with pet rocks the year I was born, 1975. He and his friend came up with a genius marketing campaign which quickly made Dahl a million dollars in 6 months time. Their genius, pack these river rocks with googily eyes and pipe cleaner glasses in a pet carrier with a tiny training manual. It was so cute people readily handed over their $3.95 (that’s like $12 these days). By 1976 the Fad was over, but Dahl had already traded in enough of his rocks to be rolling in cash.[ii] Today you can find many websites on how to make your own pet rocks and even virtual pet rock sites. The original pet rock is still available at his own website, http://www.petrockpals.com/.  

As far as making pet rocks with my toddler I tried to keep three watch words in mind; simple, colorful and easy for little finger to do. Since it was a beautiful day we decide to work outside. LeeAnn and I have always been rock hounds, we pick up pretty rocks on road sides, river beds, nature walks, and so on; so I picked out four rocks from our collection that were small enough to hold but too large to swallow. She likes more color than the tans and browns of our rocks so we painted our rocks with non-toxic paint. I had her position the eyes, noses and a crystal princess crown on her rocks, which I then glued down for her with a hot glue gun. To add a cute touch we used some insect stamps to put a bug on our pet rocks. At this point I wanted to coat them with clear coat to make them more durable. When I started on the first rock I learned quickly that googily eyes cloud over with the lacquer spray. So I let LeeAnn go play on her swing set while I dismantled the pet rocks and sprayed each one. Once dry I reglued the adornments and tada four really cute pet rocks. LeeAnn came back for pictures and the naming ceremony.



Purple = Carlos, Pink  = Princess Clarabelle, Blue = Daddy Yellow = Fred (Cataract Fred)



How to Make Pet Rocks

Supplies Needed

Medium to Large River Rocks

Non-Toxic Paint

Paint Brushes of Varying Sizes (if you don’t mind the mess they can use fingers too)

Googily Eyes

Crystal Stickers

Foam Stickers

Pipe Cleaners

Stamps and Ink

Hot Glue Sticks

Hot Glue Gun

Spray Lacquer Clear Coat

Directions (just suggestions, really its up to you)

1. WORK IN A WELL VENTILATED AREA
2. Paint your rock. It may require several coats depending on how dark you want the color coating to be. We left ours very translucent so the rocks texture could be seen beneath the paint.
3. ADULTS ONLY - Once the paint is dry spray the rocks with the lacquer finish. Allow to dry until dry to touch.
4. Have your toddler arrange the eyes and other decorations on the rock. You may have to help them shape things like glasses, wings, etc. Once complete an ADULT should hot glue each item down so they stay on while you child plays with them.
5. Lastly you can use stamps to add small finishing touches, like tattoos or as with us small bugs found on our rocks.
6. Let dry until the lacquer no longer smells, give your pet a name and have fun.

---

[i] Scanlin, Norah; A Daily Crativity Journal, 365, Make Something Everyday And Change Your Life! Voyageur Press 2010 Minneapolis, MN

[ii] Read more: The History of the Pet Rock | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5426489_history-pet-rock.html#ixzz1JFohHNu3

What is Glitter, Pompoms, and Sticky Fingers all about?

So, I'm a stay at home mom with a very active three year old child. She loves to play with her toys, run, jump and generally leave a mess around the house. I love to play with her too, but to be perfectly honest, after about two to five minutes my interest has completely waned. Other that reading to her I feel like I can't play with my daughter at all. She is at that age where she's learning to play and her games have no structure and no rules, very hard for a type A personality to deal with. She wants me to play with her all the time, but I just don't want to!!!

I do however love to craft. I spent an afternoon recently making sock puppets with my toddler and it was the best afternoon I have ever had with her. We made about six puppets and spent several hours making, then playing with them. That wonderful rainy afternoon sparked the idea for this blog.

For the next 365 days, LeeAnn and I will do a craft project each day together. Be it small or large we will make something together developing her creativity and imagination each day. As an aide to help us come up with ideas I have purchased Noah Scalins Daily Creativity Journal. Tomorrow begins our big experiment in mother daughter bonding on a epic scale. Wish me luck!