Ice Cream Cones

  I scream,
you scream, we all scream  for  
ice cream!

   What child doesn't like ice cream? Of course I wanted to make an ice cream play set for my granddaughters imaginary play. While shopping at JoAnn Fabrics, I ran across this darling piece of flannel material with sparkling ice cream cones. Perfect!  Of course I bought a yard!

   
       I hope you can see the little sparkles on the delicious ice cream. I think the sparkles make the ice cream so inviting!  The smallest cones are about 2 1/4 inches tall , while the tall four dip cones are about 3 1/2 inches.  The perfect size for little hands to feed to a favorite doll or friendly stuffed animal. There are 18 different varieties, some with sugar cones and some with cake cones. Some cones are soft serve and some are scooped. Of course don't forget the sprinkles or the cherry on top!  

     First, I cut four of each cone. I wanted to make two sets.
The material was matched wrong sides together, zig zagged  stitched, and trimmed. As  each cone came to life,  I smiled and knew they would be enjoyed and played with. Each was cuter than the next.  No sharp edges for my little ones to get hurt. 
                   Just soft ice cream fun.

     Using Altoid tins, a piece of felt was glued to the lids with tacky glue.  Then some left over felt ice cream was glued to the felt.   Now we have a little storage case for all of our ice cream. 

COMPARE AND CONTRAST
     Even though all the cones are different, you can still have your child find       similarities. 
  * Find all the cones with a cherry on top.
  * Find all the cones that have one scoop if ice cream.
  * Find all the cones with blue ice cream. 

      These little ice cream cones and their tin carrying cases were so much fun to make. You don't have to be a great seamstress to make something like this.  Just the energy to cut, match , and sew.  I'm sure your little one would be happy to help in the matching process before you do the sewing. Get your kids involved in any project,  and they will feel more connected when it is done. Hopefully, they will have ownership and pride in their new toy and want to keep it all together and not lose any of the pieces.

     I do hope that I have inspired you to make a simple toy for a child in your life to play with.  Nothing fancy, just hours of imaginative play. 

   Please leave a comment.  I'd love to read your thoughts.

Enjoy this beautiful ICE CREAM day!

Beti   

Felt Food

Felt Food!

Yum! 

            I have been looking at all the posts on Pinterest concerning everyone making felt food. It looked so appealing and didn't seem that hard to make, so I thought I would give it a try.  My granddaughters have play kitchen sets, so this would be the perfect addition to their dramatic play.

                  I started out with cookies.  Round pieces of felt sewn to look like sandwich cookies were so simple to do. Adding a little bit of hand stitching to one side made it look like a frosting design on top.  I was able to work on these on the airplane or in the car when traveling.  The chocolate chip cookies were also fun and easy. Little brown, round circles stitched to the large top circle was quick to do. Some tiny chocolate chips were created with French knots instead of felt circles. Then the top and bottom were stitched together.

            Pasta was a quick and easy food to make.  My pinking shears came in handy when making the ravioli and bow tie pasta. I stuffed the ravioli with little bits if left over felt from cutting the cookies. These went together in no time at all. Very easy for a beginner sewer.

      
         Fruits and Vegetables were other food groups that I decided to work on.
The strawberries were also fun and easy. A half circle of red felt and a few stitches of tan embroidery floss made the strawberry come together quickly. A little green star shaped piece of felt was sewn on the top for the leaves and stem.
         The corn and carrot are made with the same basic shape. When working on the corn I machine stitched the felt in a checker board pattern to make the kernels of corn. The side seam was sewn next. Then the top and bottom were gathered to finish each piece. A piece of cream colored felt was sewn on one end of the cob to make the flat end. Green felt was added to the carrot for the leaves.

  
        All the fixings for a sandwich would be a good addition to the felt food collection. Making the bread was a little more tricky than I thought.  It didn't turn out as well as I would have wanted. But once you put all the pieces together, it will pass for a pretend sandwich. The cheese slices were just pieces of felt.  You can't get any easier than that!

        Egg and toast is all you need for breakfast. 

 
        I just had to make some desserts! Donuts and ice cream of course!          A kitchen would not be complete without dessert! These were so much fun to make.  I smiled the entire time working on them.

        I know that my felt food doesn't meet the standards of the food you might find on Etsy, but I hope my granddaughters will enjoy playing with their assortment of felt goodies for years to come. 

Felt Vegetables

  Felt  Vegetables

       My family was having baby shower with the theme
 " A Farmer's Market ".
     
      So I thought it a crate of felt vegetables would be a cute addition to the serving table.  So this is what I came up with. A head of lettuce or cabbage, carrots, pea pods, an egg plant, a corn on the cob, and an apple or tomato.
     
    When this baby grows into a toddler, they will have play food for kitchen. Every child needs to have dramatic play in their day. So what better way than to give a crate of "fresh vegetables" to include in the play. The bright colors are a stimuli for the senses and great for color recognition.

          Here is my attempt at a head or lettuce or cabbage. 

         These are more like baby carrots.

                       The peas in a pod.

              I love the color of the egg plant.

             Yellow sweet corn is ready for some melted butter.

           I suppose this looks more like an apple but it could be a tomato if the stem and leaf were a little different shape.

     I added a crocheted pale yellow chick to keep an eye on all the veggies the crate. 

     So if you are looking for a gift from the heart for a child, give these colorful, felt veggies a try.

Beti

Bacon Green Bean Bundles

                   I'm really not a good cook, but I tried these Bacon Green Bean Bundles for Christmas Eve dinner.  The  platter was empty at the end of dinner. 
         I found the recipe on Pinterest.......
    Spend with Pennies.com   The recipe was very simple and tastey!
You can't get better than that!

    Give them a try for New Year's Eve.     

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
 Beti