Superhero Mask and Cuffs DIY

Do you already feel the world is a safer place just by looking at this photo? I sure do.

Yup. The safety of the world is in good hands. The good hands of the cutest Superhero in existence.

I have previously shared this ridiculously adorable...er..I mean...manly Superhero in Training T-shirt.

Today I want to add a couple of necessary accessories for the superhero ensemble...yes I realize a real superhero probably wouldn't  say ensemble. They would probably say crime fighting gear, or something like that.

Anyway you say it...here is a little DIY on how to make a few pretty awesome crime-fighting-approved accessories.

First, we have a set of Superhero Crime Fighting Cuffs.

You need felt and velcro. Cut two rectangles measuring 4" by the circumference of your child's wrist plus 2" from one color. Also cut two rectangles measuring the determined width by 1".  Cut a piece of velcro measuring 2 1/2".

Sew the skinnier strip onto the center of two of the larger rectangle.

Sew the velcro on one of the striped rectangles and one of the plain ones. Sew on opposite ends. Repeat with the other set.

Sew the striped rectangle to the plain one. The velcro facing out on each side.

Cuffs are done and ready to be worn.

All we need now to finish off the ensemble...er...crime fighting gear...is a Superhero Identity Hiding Mask.

To make the mask you just need the Superhero Mask Template some felt and some elastic.

Cut out two pieces of felt in the shape of the face mask.

 To sew the eye holes, I keep the template pinned to the two pieces of felt. Then I sew on the inside of each eye hole in the template.

Once the eye holes are sewn in, you can remove the template.

Measure a piece of elastic that will allow the mask to snugly fit your supers head and add an inch.

Pin one edge of the elastic between the layers of the mask on one side. Then pin the other end on the other side.

Sew around the outside edges of the mask, securing the two layers together and securing the elastic in place.

The last thing that needs to be done is to cut out the eye holes.

With mask and cuffs in place, our Superhero is ready to save the world.

Or at leas the front porch.

Superhero crime fighting gear that any Super would be proud to wear.

I hope your Supers enjoy them as much as my Supers do.

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Pillowcase Heart Envelope Throwpillow

What? Is it only a couple days from Valentine's Day? Seriously?

Yeah, okay, so I know this. This was one of those posts that, although it has been done and even photographed for ages--like AGES, I tell you--I just didn't whip out a post.

So today, I am sharing the how-to on these sweet, very simple Pillowcase Throw Pillows.

The good news is that hearts (and bows) are not just for Valentine's Day. The other good news, yep there is more, is that this simple throw pillow how-to can be altered and changed for other seasons or for general decoration.

The possibilities for this Pillowcase Throw Pillow how-to is endless.

Between the heart stencil on the front and these adorable felt bows on the back, you are sure to make your sofa really happy with the addition of these lovely pillows.

These pillows are practically sew free. They are so very easy to whip up.

What you need:

standard pillow cases
freezer paper
fabric paint
felt, cut into 4"x20" and 2"x6" rectangles
velcro, cut into 2- 4" strips
hot glue
thread
18x18 pillow form

Take out the pillow cases and iron all the lines out of them. Fold the top over so the flap is 10". Iron the fold in place.

Trace a heart, or whatever shape you would like, on to the non-shiny side of sheets of freezer paper. Cut out the shape with an exacto knife.

Iron the freezer paper onto the non-flap side of the pillowcase. Once the freezer paper is securely ironed on, place a piece of cardboard in the pillow case so the paint does not bleed through. Next, apply craft paint in a thin coat with a craft brush. Apply more coats as needed. Make sure not to get too heavy handed around the edges.

Allow to dry for several hours, or cheat by drying the paint with a blow dryer. Remove the freezer paper.

Sew the velcro in place at the top middle of the inside of the pillow case, so that it has a closure.

Once the velcro is in place, it is time to make the bow.

Fold the larger rectangle so the ends overlap. The bow should measure about 9" wide once folded. Sew up the middle. Fold the smaller piece in half and just sew up the outside edge.

Turn the middle piece out so the seam is on the inside.

Fold the large piece a little to put it through the turned out smaller piece.

Arrange the bow and mold into bow shape. Make sure the seam for the smaller piece is in the back.

Attach the bow to the flap side, on the front, bottom, middle of the flap itself. Basically just over the stitches from the velcro you applied to the inside.

Once the glue dries, insert the pillow form. The weight of the felt bow will help the envelope flap stay down so there is no additional closure needed.

You can arrange the pillow heart out, bow out, or one of each.

My favorite part of these pillows, just after the ease of the project of course, is that BOW. Eek. Swoon. I love that bow.

Now I am trying decide in a house full of boys where else I am allowed to put bows!

Hope you find this tutorial useful for more than just Valentine's decor or that you pin it for next Valentine's Day. Gotta love Pinterest.

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Project Handmade Christmas Presents: Felt Food

Here is another installment of Project Handmade Christmas Presents 2012.

Last year for our niece I made a little apron and a set of felt cookies. Word on the street is that she loves, loves them and plays with them often.

So when we drew her name again this Christmas, I figured it would be grand to make her some more felt food.

I had some awesome plans. I can get carried away with plans for felt food. Making felt food is addicting and fun. In light of our house of illness, I kiboshed the kitchen full of food I had planned on making, and I kept it simple, making something for each meal.

Felt is easy and fun to work with. You don't need to finish the edges. You often don't even need to pin pieces together. You can make felt food as simple or as detailed as you have time for.

Felt food is the perfect toy for an imagination that likes to cook. All but Oldest still really enjoy playing with it  in our house. In fact, they were a little bummed that this was leaving our house. I made everything better by promising to make them some of the pretzels (their new favorite).

If you have a felt food lover in your house, this set is really quite easy to sew. Especially the breakfast and dinner patterns.

I have put together a very basic how-to.

What you will need:

felt in all the food colors ( you should need less than a 1/4 yard, but I always have felt on hand)
2 1/2"x16" strip of color for crust (not included in pattern)
batting or stuffing
coordinating thread
Breakfast of Champions pattern
Brown Bag Lunch pattern
Gimme a Slice pattern 1 and pattern 2

I am going to show the basics with the pancakes from my Breakfast of Champions, a felt food pattern I shared years ago. Your pancakes will look a little different because I did it without the pattern. However, the pattern will give you the shape. ALSO, this how-to is different then the original. It is a little simplified.

The first thing you will do is cut out all the pieces.

Then you will sew from top to bottom.

By that I mean, you always sew the top items on and then work your way down. So for the pancake, it is sewing the butter on to the syrup. Then sewing the syrup onto one pancake piece.

With the pizza it would be, the toppings onto the cheese, then the cheese onto the sauce, then the sauce onto the crust.

For the pancake and pizza, you will sew together the front and back pieces by layering the top and bottom right sides together. Then you will add a circle of batting to the top of your stack.

You will sew around the outside leaving a 2 inch opening for turning the pancake (pizza) out. Make sure the batting lays flat. Then hand sew the opening closed. Pancake done!

To make the lunch pieces, the meat, cheese, lettuce, and pretzels it is a simple matter of layering the pieces on top and sewing around the outsides. Now turning or stuffing.

The lettuce and pretzels have some sewing details, like the leaf ridge pattern on the lettuce.

Or the holes in the pretzels.

The most difficult item to make was the bread.

You pin the 1 1/2" crust strips to the outside of two pieces of bread.

You sew the ends of the strip together at the bottom. Then you attach the crust to the one piece by sewing all the way around the outside. Repeat on the other piece.

Then you take the two extra bread pieces and, right sides facing, pin the piece onto the crust edge not attached to the other bread piece.

Like so.

Sew around to attach, leaving a 1-2 inch opening to turn. Then turn out. Stuff it with batting. Then hand sew the opening closed. Bread all done.

So there ya have it, a breakfast option, a lunch option, and a dinner option.

 Hope your little chefs enjoy!

Felt Cookies: Quickish Gift

Awhile ago I saw this idea on MADE...you know that one pretty awesome blog. I immediately pinned it to my Projects To Do board. I mean I do love making anything from felt and I knew this would be a fun and easy gift to make. There wasn't a tutorial, but it was easy peasy to figure out what to do.

Really, it is easy. Cut out circles for any regular cookie. Then cut out random chip-like shapes for chocolate chip cookies or anything similar. Cut out heart or other shapes for sugar cookies, then cut a smaller piece from a frosting color.

For the gingerbread man and woman just trace yourself out a basic gingerbread person shape. Then cut out tiny pieces of felt to turn them into a traditional gingerbread man and woman.

Sew all the pieces on one of the two pieces for each cookie. When pieces are in place sew the two cookie pieces together. That is it!

See what I mean about easy!

Then your favorite little baker can have his or her own set of scrumptious cookies.

Some chocolate chip cookies. Some chocolate white chip cookies. We must not leave out peanut butter.

Of course your baker will need a gingerbread husband and wife.

And I personally think that no baking session is complete with out some sugar cookies!

Cookies are delightful, don't you think? Bonus....these are calories free.

Now I just need to package them up, gift wrap them and give them to one of my sweet little nieces.