Get Creative with THE LORAX: Roll A Dice Lorax Game

Today I am excited to share that I am participating in the "Get Creative with THE LORAX" blog tour in support of the movie DR SEUSS' THE LORAX by Universal Pictures.  The movie hits theaters on March 2!  I am sure many of you have already seen the trailers already but can I just tell you that I am super excited to take the kids to see this movie as we love seeing animated movies with a great story line and I really adore the book and the wonderful message it shares about taking care of our environment.  

The Lorax is the main character in the movie and I just love how they brought him to life and that he is voiced by Danny DeVito, could he play the grumpy Lorax any better?  :-)  I decided to make a Roll A Dice Lorax Game out of felt so that I could introduce the character to my kids as well as practice their numbers as two of my three children are in preschool.

Roll A Dice games are great for preschool and elementary aged children.  How the game works is that each number on the dice represents a specific body part.   When the child rolls the dice they count out which number it is and match the number on the dice with the body part from the game sheet.  The child will get to place that specific part body on the Lorax's body and their turn then ends.  If the child rolls a number that corresponds to a body part that they already added they pass their turn.  The winner is the child who completes their Lorax first.  This game is great for practicing counting, number recognition and of course taking turns!  You may want to make one Lorax for each child playing although that is not necessary.  

Roll A Dice Lorax Game

2 x 3 foot piece of foam board

1 yard of grey felt

2 pieces of 8.5 x 11 inch orange felt

1 piece each of 8.5 x 11 inch green, yellow, white and black felt

Hot glue and gun

Felt glue (optional)

Scissors

Straight pins or disappearing ink pen

Permanent marker

The Lorax Body and Body Pieces templates (see below)

Game template (see below)

One dice

For this project you will need various colors of 8.5 x 11 inch felt pieces you can buy at the craft section of most fabric or hobby stores.  You will also need a larger 1 yard piece of felt that you will need to cut from the bolt.  You can find bolts of felt at JoAnns or similar fabric stores.  

To make the felt board that the game pieces will stick to, you will need a 2 x 3 foot piece of foam board (I bought mine at the dollar store).  Lay the foam board over top of the 1 yard of felt and cut so that you have about 2 inches of felt on all sides of the board.  Cut a square piece of felt 2 x 2 inches from each of the four corners. 

Working with one side of foam board at a time, hot glue the felt to the backside of the board about 1.5 inches from the edge (See above left picture).  When you get to a corner, fold the felt over into a triangular shape, place hot glue near the corner and fold into place. This will give you nice mitered edges (see above right picture).  

Your felt board should look like this from the front!

Next print out the Body Pieces Template by clicking on the image above and printing.

Print out the Body Template by clicking on the image above as well.

Once you have cut out your template pieces, grab the different colors of 8.5 x11 inch felt and either pin or trace the template pieces onto them and cut out with a pair of sharp scissors.  

Here is a list for the corresponding felt color and template pieces:

orange = body, nose, two arms, two legs

yellow = eyebrows, mustache

white = two eyes

green = two eye colors

black = two eye pupils (or can just use a permanent marker!)

You should now have the body and all the body pieces of the Lorax cut out.  For the eye pieces I hot glued the green onto the white and then took a black permanent marker to draw in the pupil.  I used the marker to also make the nostrils of the Lorax's nose!

All the felt pieces should stick nicely to the felt covered foam board. Which works as a wonderful display when playing with multiple children!  When you are done playing the game just place all the pieces and the Game sheet in a ziploc bag for later.  

Click on the image above to print out the Game Template.  

When the Lorax's body is complete it should look like this.  Isn't he cute!

I hope you enjoy making this fun, interactive learning game.  It is great entertainment for small children!

Click Here if you would like to see the trailer to THE LORAX movie!

If you would like to see more crafty projects from the "Get Creative with THE LORAX" blog tour here is the complete list of participating bloggers:

Feb 1        Today’s Creative Blog              Temporary Tattoos     

Feb 2        Katydid and Kid                       Puppet & Puppet Theater using recycled materials

Feb 3        zakka life                                Truffula Tree Pencils

Feb 6        Smashed Peas & Carrots         The Lorax Game [using all the body parts from The Lorax]

Feb 7        WhiMSy love                           Pom-Pom Pillow with Lorax Mustache

Feb 8        Little Birdie Secrets                 Garden Planter

Feb 9        Art Projects For Kids                Yarn Pom Pom’s on Twigs (Truffula Trees)

Feb 10      Dabbled                                  Stenciled T-Shirt

Feb 13      Prudent Baby                          “UNLESS” Garden Stones        

Feb 14      TonyaStaab.com                     Lorax-themed Party Table

This post is brought to you by Universal Pictures

XOXO,

How to Make Mario and Luigi Costumes {Tutorial}

So here they are!  The Halloween costumes are complete, hip hip hooray!  They are truly adored and they survived some pre-Halloween festivities this weekend too.  I loved so many of your guesses as to what I was making and I loved hearing all the neat things your children are going to be too!  Halloween is just so fun because of all the costumes, isn't it?

I'm usually not much into making my kids their Halloween costumes since I feel like why put all that work into something they will only wear once but now that they are older and requested these I do have to say it was so fun and I think I may do this every year especially since these are definitely worthy of being dress-up clothing that they can wear year round.  I just have to tell you that Noah and Penelope were absolutely ecstatic when I started sewing these together last Monday, it was so cute!  They would just about die at each fitting and when I was finally done they were screaming with joy.  Priceless, I say, absolutely priceless.  The fact that they have worn them everyday since has just melted my heart.  I love these guys!

Noah has been asking everyday for the past month or so if he could be Luigi for Halloween, he wants all his super powers...throwing fireballs, becoming a giant or teeny tiny mini Luigi, and fighting off bad guys...awesome!  Plus add in the fact that he is trying to find the beautiful Princess Peach who was stolen away and hidden by a mean guy...or that is how Noah tells the story anyways...and who would't want to be Luigi or Mario, right!  ;-)   At one point we had the game for our Wii and Noah and my husband would play together in the morning before he went to work.  My husband would be Mario and Noah would be Luigi. For some reason he thinks Luigi is the bomb, I think it's because green is his favorite color.  Anyways, that is where his love for 'Mario Man' and 'Luigi Man', as he calls them, comes from.  

Since Noah wanted to be Luigi, I thought it would be perfect if Penelope would be Mario...and as luck would have it when I asked her about it she actually did want to be him!  She really looks up to Noah and wants to do everything he does, even if it means being Mario for Halloween cause then she could be just like Noah :-)  Eloise became Princess Peach because, well, it was the only other character I thought I could replicate somewhat easily!

I think her Princess Peach dress turned out beautifully!  I'm definitely not a fan of melty costume satin but I guess one project a year won't kill me.  I left her gown quite long as I thought it looked more princess-y that way.  Don't worry though, I made sure that she wouldn't be able to trip on it when she walked.

Their costume consists of a pair of felt blue overalls with big yellow buttons, long-sleeved t-shirts from Target (Penny's is actually a boy's t-shirt one size smaller than she would wear in her girly size), kid's sized magic stretch gloves from the Dollar Store, Felt mustaches that I re-used from this party here, and the classic Mario and Luigi hats which I made based off this tutorial here.  I made the white circle using my Go! Baby machine with this circle die and free-handed the letters 'L' and 'M'.  The only change I really made to the hat tutorial was that I added a 1.5" piece of 1/4 inch elastic to the back so that the hat stayed on as it's a one-size-fits-all kinda hat and felt stretches just a wee bit.  

I thought today I'd show you how I made their overalls.  I cut and sewed up both of these in one day...probably in less than two hours (of course it went much faster the second time around!)  If you have a little Super Mario fan in your house maybe they'd like a pair too?!  

Mario and Luigi Overalls

1 yard of blue felt per overall

1 pair of well fitting pants to use as a pattern

rotarty cutter and mat

sewing machine and/or a serger

2 big yellow buttons

First fold your felt in half so you can make two pants legs with each cut of fabric.  The fold your pants in half with the front facing out and pull out the crotch area so that it form a point like you see in the picture above.  Cut around your pants straight across the pants hem and then along each side using about a 1 inch seam allowance.  Cut the top of the pants straight up 3-4 inches as this part will feed into the bib part of the overalls.

Now fold your pants with the backside facing out.   Make sure you pull out the butt area to a point as well.  Cut around the sides allowing 1 inch of extra fabric as a seam allowance and cutting straight across the bottom pants hem.  Leave about 3-4 inches at the top and cut.  

If you don't have a pair of pants available to use as a pattern, Dana has a great printable pattern you could use here!

Next using a 1/2 inch seam allowance, either serge or sew (using a zig zag stitch...I would use a zig zag stitch over a straight stitch when using felt for pants as felt is slightly stretchy and these seams usually get stressed with little kids putting on pants!) both front and back sets of pant legs together just at the 'J' shaped curve at the upper right part of the pants legs. 

Here's a close up for you.

Then open up each set of pants legs into a V-shape and lay them one on top of the other, right sides together.  Serge of sew (with a zig-zag stitch) along the inside of each leg.  

Your overalls should look like this now.  Now just sew or serge the sides of the pants, turn right side out and set aside for a moment.

  

Next cut 2 pieces of felt for the bib part of the overalls.  You will want to measure the top of your pants and make that measurement your width.  My bib measurements were 12 inches x 14 inches.  Don't worry so much about the length as you will need to try the overalls on your child to figure out how high you would like them to be on them.  Cut 2 straps out of the blue felt as well, 14 x 2.5 inches in length.  

Lay one piece of bib felt at the top portion of the pants making sure the edges line up nicely with the pants side seams.  Pin and serge or sew it in place.  

It should look like this from the inside once both front and back bib pieces are in place.  

Then cross the straps at the inside of the back bib piece like the picture above.  Sew across (I used a straight stitch here) at the very top of the bib where the straps meet the bib.  Then sew a triangle in the middle of the straps right where they cross for added strength.  Fold the sides of the bib in at an angle to give your overalls that classic graduated shape.  Sew using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Using your rotary cutter, cut off the excess felt.  

It should look a little something like this now.  I neatened mine up a bit after seeing this picture...yikes!

Do the same angled look with the front bib.  Then if you have a buttonhole option on your sewing machine you can go ahead and add your two buttonholes.  If not, you can just cute two buttonholes with an e-xacto knife.  Felt doesn't fray so the buttonholes should be okay although you may want to use a very small zig zag very close to the edges to help them from stretching out too much. 

Try the overalls on your little one and figure out where you need to sew on the buttons and that is it!  Now you have yourself the cutest little pair (or two!) or Mario and Luigi overalls :-)

Please let me know if you have any questions about these.

I am happy to help you anyway I can!

And I hope your costume making is going well, only two weeks to go!!

XOXO,

Easy Children's Bookmarks

So, my momma went back home on Friday, super sad face :( It was so nice having her here for a couple of weeks. She is one of those amazing grandmas that entertains the kids and wears them out from the moment they get up until the minute they go to bed. Totally ab-fab for me, the 24-hour milk machine.

Even though this was the hubs and my first weekend back to reality (parents of three, for reals!?!), I was able to get a few little projects done in between all the boobie time that little Miss Eloise has been requesting these days. I'm not sure about at your house but lately at ours we have been reading out of lots of "big" books, you know, books with chapters or multiple stories in them. Because of this we have been in need of some bookmarks. And not just any bookmarks would do either. We needed some cute, fun, kiddie bookmarks, yup, only that kind would do in our house :)

This project is a super easy one...fun bookmarks for the kids that they can even help you make. Holla! for a summertime activity for the kiddies that doesn't require a lot of money!!

A fun Flower bookmark for Penny's book and Pencil for Noah's book :)

You can personalize them for each kid...

And make them any length to fit any book...

Too cute!!!

And, they are really easy to make...oh, did I already say that?!

Children's Bookmarks

A length of Trim, Ribbon, or Rick Rack

Felt scraps

Fabric glue or hot glue gun

Scissors

Lighter (to keep ends from fraying)

Some of my goods...

Okay, so this is so easy I'll just explain it in a few steps.

1. Cut a piece of your ribbon, trim or rick rack to the length of your desired book.

2. Take a lighter and singe both cut ends to reduce any fraying that might occur.

3. Grab your felt scraps and cut out a fun shape to place at the top of your ribbon/trim. Make sure you double over your felt so you get two identical shapes.

(Some easy ideas are flowers, hearts, initial of your child's name, doggie or kitty face, sports equipment like soccer balls, basketballs, baseballs, fruit, etc...)

4. Glue the felt shape to the top of your ribbon/trim making a felt sandwich around it.

5. Let dry for 20-30 minutes and then use in your favorite book!!

For this little pencil bookmark, I used yellow, pink and dark brown felt scraps. I hand stitched the pencil lines with some regular sewing thread and a hand needle. Easy Peasy!!

The bookmark hard at work!

Yup, haven't lost our page yet!

Ahhh, it's the little things in life!

:: :: ::

Aannd, here's a picture of MY momma with Eloise!

Love you Momma!!

Thanks so much for coming to visit us and helping us get used to life with three munchkins!!

You're the BEST!!

A Project for the Hubby

Okay, so here is that little project I made for my hubby...FINALLY! It was just sitting in my camera begging for me to download and get it on the blog for you :) Little Eloise is napping like a champ (she's ONE week old as of this morning!!!) and was sweet enough to nap with the rest of her siblings so I could put this together for you...let's just give her a little baby round of applause :)

So, the hubs was for once on the receiving end of a sewing project and right before Eloise was born I was actually getting around to the pile of other projects he has been wanting me to get done for a long time, mainly repairing clothing for him from a pile that has been sitting and growing for, dare I say, more than a few months...yikes! See, even he benefitted from all that nesting energy! I think the pile of shirt and pants is down to two now, woot woot! He is one happy guy.

Anyways, I digress...here's that long-awaited project:

Isn't it cute?

It holds one of these babies:

Yup, that's an ipad. It was one of his Father's Day presents that took me the longest while to justify buying. I mean, it's not a phone and it's not a computer...I just didn't get all the rage. I do have to say though, after playing with it for awhile, it is pretty cool. now. after having it awhile. It is especially nice to have for the kidlets, now they can play with their games and watch their shows and NOT be calling anyone by accident. That was always no fun.

So, I made him this cute little cozy to protect his ipad when he has it out and about. It's made from felt and was oh-so-easy to make. We also have a silicone jacket on the ipad (protection is key as the kiddies play with it too) so the dimensions for the cozy will also fit an ipad with a little extra something on it...just so ya know.

Etch-a-Sketch ipad Cozy

2 pieces of red fleece measuring 24" x 10"

1 piece of gray fleece measuring 9.5" x 6"

2 small circles of white fleece

1 7.5 inch piece of velcro (mine was red to match)

red thread

white thread

black thread (for any words you want to stitch)

disappearing ink pen

sewing machine

rotary cutter and mat

**I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures to this tutorial...we were (and still are) crazily working on taking a wall out of our kitchen before Eloise came so my crafting and photographing were really done in the little spurts of time I had in between all the chaos.

The basics you'll need for this project.

Ok, so first write whatever wording you want to have on the gray fleece part of your Etch-a-Sketch with a disappearing ink pen. Then using a basic straight stitch on your machine, sew over your wording. I made sure to keep my letters all connected just like they would be on a real life Etch-a-Sketch.

Then, on one of your red fleece pieces, cut a window 8.5" x 5" near one end. Center your gray fleece under it and pin in place. Sew together with a straight stitch, I did this twice around the window.

Next, sew on your two white circles at each bottom corner for the little white roll-y handles that Etch-a-Sketches have on them.

Then, with your other piece of red fleece, place your velcro pieces one on each short end about 1/2 inch from each edge. This is going to be your inner lining fleece.

Once you sew your velcro on, place this piece of fleece (with velcro facing in) against the piece of fleece with the window...so essentially right sides are together. Sew only the short ends of the fleece together. Flip right side out when you are done. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures of this!! At this point you will have the right side of the window facing out and the velcro side facing out as well.

So, next just fold the long rectangle of fleece you have now in half so that the two velcro pieces are facing outside from one another and the window is in the inside. Sew down both long sides and then flip out. That's it. Does this make sense? I am a complete mush brain right now and really wish I would have taken some pictures of the last few steps since I know how helpful pictures can be. Really, if you have questions please let me know!!

A peek at the inside, you can see the velcro right there at the edge.

Looks cozy, eh?

Don't you just want to snuggle up right in there too :)

Getting stuffed with the ipad...

Yup, I think it'll keep that ipad nice and cozy!

What do you think?

Retro fun...

for Everyone!!

Just the way it should be :D