Farm Animal Finger Puppets

A couple of months ago, I participated with a few friends in a "Toddler Busy Bag Swap."  There were 6 of us, and we each chose 1 toddler friendly project/toy/activity to make, and we made 6 of them.  Then we all got together, had some food, and exchanged our projects.  That way, we each went home with 6 different activities for our little ones.  

I made felt finger puppets, and just like every project that I do, I went a little overboard.  I made 10 different animals, and I made 10 of each animal!  I thought it would be good to have a couple extra to use as gifts.  Well, by the time I finished, I decided that 10 finger puppets was a little much.  My child would want to put them all on at one time, and that would get super annoying...so I decided to put 5 animals in each "farm."  Which gave me 20 little farms!!  I used 6 for the swap, and I've used a few for gifts.  Kids ages 2-3 really love them!!  

It took me about 3 weeks to complete the animals and the barn carry bag...this is working during naptime, and some evenings.  I used my sewing machine to sew together the basic puppet, and then used hot glue to attach the various felt/eyes/etc that made up the animal.  Here are pictures of each animal!!

 Chicken!!

 Sheep!

 Cow!

 Horsie!

 Pig!

 Puppy Dog!

 Duck!

 Bird!

 Mouse!

Cat!

Then, the barn carry bag.  My daughter, who is 2 & 1/2, loves taking the animals in and out of the bag.  She calls it her farm, and she gets excited when we give a farm to one of her friends.

These are the pieces for the barn.  First I sewed the long bottom piece to the bottom of the front and back pieces.

Then, I folded the bottom piece in half so that the front/back were flush, and sewed up the sides.  

 Flip it inside out, and you're ready to make it look like a barn!

I glued pipe cleaners around the outline of the barn.

Then I used pipe cleaners to create the barn door and window.

Then I forgot to take pictures of teh finished barn!!  I used the short yellow pieces above and cut them to look like hay, then glued them into the window.  The top of the bag is open, and I glued a small square of velcro to close.

These were a lot of fun to make, and it was fun looking around on the internet for ideas and creating the little guys!

To-Do List Follow Up

Well, it's been more like 3 weeks since my original post of things I wanted to do that week.  I really did get most everything done within a week, but then I had to add on taking pictures, getting them imported into my computer, and actually writing this post!! 

So - here are my accomplishments.

 I had to pull everything out of the closet before I could organize it.  

It looked like Michael's exploded!!

The boxes are things that were on the top shelf of the closet...old college yearbooks, old business notebooks, boxes of electronics we've bought that we need to keep for some reason, etc.  They all went in the attic crawl space, so I can get to them if necessary, but now I have the whole top shelf of the closet - that's where gift wrapping supplies and a few odds and ends go.

 I set up a station for my sewing machine (it's new, I'm teaching myself)...one side of the desk is computer/server stuff for my husband, and the other side is my stuff.  (I also added a folding table in the corner for cutting/ironing.)

And this is the beautiful organized closet!!  I cleaned Walmart out of their stackable containers...I haven't added up how much I spent yet.  :)  But I think it's worth it for the organization.  And I realized just how much yarn I have.  Most of the drawers are full of yarn.  I've got quite a few projects in my future!

 

This is the laptop sleeve.  The first one I measured wrong, so I turned it into an iPad case to give to my sister.  I love, and might be making some of these for Christmas gifts.  The liner is the same color as the buttons...I found DIY fabric button things at Joann's and just hot-glued them on.  The straps fasten with straps, because I haven't been brave enough to try to sew buttonholes yet.

My Ruffle bag!!  The first ruffle took me 2 hours, but the rest went on pretty fast.  I shall make some of these for Christmas gifts as well.

I ended up finding another old T-shirt to use to make this embellishment.  I didn't touch the stack in my closet, but I'm counting it anyway.  :)

Oh, my counter is so very neat now.  I got this coatrack from the Container store..the hooks fold up when not in use, so it's very sleek looking.  Things get a little smooshed when the door opens all the way, but it works.

The Crayon Family...Blue & Red make Purple!!  (I so didn't plan it that way, but it's pretty cool, huh??  Mine and the little are made from all felt...it was my first sewing project with my new machine.  Aaron's is just an embellished T-shirt, and he opted out of the hat (or "dunce cap" as he called it).

I finished 1 scarf for Special Olympics, and I'm halfway through another, but I failed to take pics of that.

And, I ended up doing an amazing job in the relay with an 11:05 average.  More detail here, if you want it.  

The to-do list was fun.  I make them all the time, and probably won't share them unless they're full of new, exciting (to me) projects like this one.  I've got a bazillion other projects in my head, but right now I'm working on Christmas decorating.  We're having at least 2 trees this year, perhaps 3.  Yay!!

So long...got to make wreaths while the child is napping!

To-Do List

These are things I want to do this week.  The aspirations are high!

Make this bag.

 

Get my husband to hang this purse/bag/coat rack so I can clean this messy counter.

Run a 12:27 average mile for my (5.1 mile) portion of the marathon relay tomorrow.   Yeah, that's kinda slow, but my training hasn't been going quite as well as I had hoped.

Make this laptop case.

Organize/clean my crap craft room.  I bought a bunch of clear drawer organizer stackable drawers today.

Make my husband's halloween costume out of this.

Finish crocheting scarves for the GA Winter Special Olympics.

Do some cool crafts with these worn-out T-shirts.  Like this, and this.

AND...

menu plan, and

grocery shop, and

exercise, and

clean my house, and

................. (yeah, the list never ends!!)

But it'll be fun!  I'll update next week (or month) with what I've done with all of this!