Love Mail

Out of all of our Valentines things this year, I am most excited about the mail bags that I made for Brady and little baby. I have seen these cute mail bags at Pottery Barn Kids for a few years and always thought that I could make those. I can't find them online now, but I did see some similar in the store this year. 

Of course I think that about a ton of things at PBK. This time I tried, and I really love how they turned out.

The best thing about them is how easy they were to make, and for two bags they cost less than $4! Want to make some and see how easy they are?

What you will need:

(I actually made two bags out of this amount)

3 pieces of large size stiff red felt ($3)

1 smaller piece of stiff white felt (.79)

scrap ribbon

velcro

scissors

sewing machine or embroidery floss

optional glue

First you want to cut your pieces of felt, ribbon, and velcro:

-back and fold over red piece- 18" x 8.5"

-front red piece - 9" x 8.5"

- two side red pieces - 9" x 2"

- one bottom red piece - 8.5" x 2"

- 2" white letters

- 2" hearts white and a smaller red

- 4.5" x 2" white piece with mail slot 

- 2" of velcro

- two 23" ribbon pieces with heat sealed ends (you may want to make these longer depending on where your bags will be tied)

Once all of your pieces are cut you can begin putting on your embellishments. Make sure you cut a hole for you mail, and sew on your Velcro first so that your heart can cover up the stitching. Place your Velcro so that the back/flap piece and front will attach once the bag is complete.

I had to sew mine due to the fact that I am losing my mind, and everything thing else including my glue, but a fabri-tac glue could work well also. I added curves to my corners, and sewed around the front flap with a white thread to add a bit more to the front.

Sew on your hearts, MAIL letters, and you white mail slot. I also added my ribbons at this point, but make sure you pin them out of the way, so they do not get caught up when sewing your bag together.

You should now have a front piece with Velcro on it, a bottom piece, and two side pieces. You should also have a back/flap piece with Velcro on the underside, hearts on front, a hole for the mail with a white edging for the hole, the MAIL letters, decorative hearts, and two ribbons on the back side.

Now that everything is sewn on, you only have to put your bag together. I sewed side pieces to the front first, with wrong sides facing. Next was the bottom piece, again with wrong sides facing, and taking special care around the corners.

Lastly you can sew on your already embellished back/flap piece, with wrong sides facing each other and watching your corners. Snip threads, remove your pins, and you are done! The explanation/ wannabe tutorial might not have been easy, but I promise, this is way easy in person. Please ask for any questions.

They make a great addition to our Valentines decor. Best part is that we get to leave love notes and a surprise for Brady to find each morning.

Yesterday it was two candy hearts with a note, and today it was some new matchbox cars from my stash with a note. He loves to run downstairs and see what mail he has gotten that morning. You never know, his love language could be receiving gifts, and lets be honest it is fun to spoil your kids a little.

Pottery barn kids made a pretty cute bag, but for 20 or so dollars a piece for 14 days, I think I will stick with these. Thanks for looking, and check back the rest of this week for a few more valentines day crafts.

Linking up to:
Gluesticks - get your brag on
Shaby nest - frugal friday

Felt lunch

Also from my mom, Brady got a felt lunch. It is too cute. We got him a play kitchen for Christmas, (so he can be a chef and between him and his father I will never have to cook again), so it goes perfectly with it. It is all felt, and all hand sewn. Such great detail, she has a ton of patience.

First is a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich, with a bag of chips. I love how the chips look like ruffles. Brady loves to count how many chips he "eats". 

 Next is a sandwich with american cheese, swiss cheese, bologna, tomato, and lettuce. The tomato and lettuce are my favorite.

 What a perfect meal! Thanks Grandma!

Matryoshka doll

I have received many handmade things recently that are beautiful, but not made by me. There are so many things in fact, that I wanted to spend a few posts on them to show them to you.

First I start with a Christmas present from my mom. For a charity bazaar she made these cute felt, Matryoshka doll ornaments. Along with other items women sold in the bazaar they had a great contribution to the orphanage's in Russia.

I could have gotten better pictures, but that would involve going back into all the Christmas things, and that is not happening for a long time.
Interestingly, even though Matryoshka dolls are very popular in the United states right now, they are not in Russia. Crazy how that happens. I love handmade things from the people I love, check back for more soon.

Monster doll

Since I made a black apple doll for my girl cousin for her birthday, my little 4 year old boy cousin needed something too. I decided he needed a boy type doll. So I made him a monster.

He is made out of felt, which is super easy to sew, and very kid durable.

After sewing his face, legs, and arms, I sandwiched all the parts together and sewed them right sides together.

Left a hole, and turned him right side out.

Stuffed him to completed cuddlyness.

And sewed his hole shut. Now he is a cute little friend, perfect for a little boy. No way anyone can ever be scared of monsters with this little guy around!

Quiet Book

Have you noticed how long the quiet book has been on the list of projects to do? For a long time! Well, it is finally done! It took a while, the nap problems did not help, but I am so happy it is done. Brady really likes it. It will be perfect for church, and our trip to Texas next week.

The cover, with a velcro closure

The next page is Brady's name

With velcro, so he can learn how to spell his name.

On this page he can take the apples on and off the tree, and count them. He can also put the apples in the basket.

Stop light

With velcro to match the colors. He always tells us to "go go" at stop lights and we are trying to teach him that we have to wait for green lights.

The car page

He can drive the car and put it back in it's house.

Matching shapes

The farm page

With little finger puppets inside, chick, pig, and cow. (Those eyes later ended up in someone's nose, so I had to take them all off and draw them on. googely eyes are not good for some 22 month olds.)

The dresser with doors that open and have clothes inside

Then you can take the clothes and dress the boy

Clothes-less boy

Art pages

He can display his art work here once he is done

He can color lots of wonderful art work.

The back has a pocket that can store extra fun things or treats in.

Here are all the fabulous links for quiet book ideas. I am so thankful that there are creative people out there that I can steal (I mean borrow) from.
The Quiet book Bible
Where I got the farm page
A quick and easy book
Another cute book

So there it is, my labor of love. I hope to add different pages as Brady gets older, and when he needs more complexity for his brilliant little mind!

Felt Letters

Brady and I are starting to work on learning his letters, well I already know them, but he is learning. :) So far every letter is B and R. Which is great progress since those are the first two letters of his name. I mean he is only 21 months.

I decided that he needed some letters to look at and play with. I have seen cute rag letters that I really liked, but Brady is still a bit young. It would be one more thing left in the play room. I like magnet letters, but I was afraid they would scratch the fridge. So I combined the two and made felt magnetic letters and numbers.

They are just two layers of felt sewn together, with a magnet in the middle. I hand sewed them because it was actually quicker than sewing them on the sewing machine. They may not be safe for children who tend to eat things, because of the magnet, but Brady is pretty much past that stage.

Where is the R? Missing already! Don't worry I found it later in the pantry.
Of course the letters need a place to live so I also made a little bag for them. That way they don't always have to be on the fridge.

He really likes playing with them, hopefully he will be reading by two, right?