I was really inspired by this site, where they have these amazing toys made out of children’s drawings. So, when Em handed me this drawing the other day, I wanted to try it out. Mine is completely simplistic compared to some of the ones I saw, but she loves it. It seemed to have the effect I hoped it would of feeling to her like something she created came to life.

This is not really a tutorial, just an idea to pass along. Here’s what I did:
1. traced her design and cut it out. To make it bigger, I’d scan it into the computer and print out a bigger one.
2. use traced one to cut out felt. Cut two.
3. Sew on the colored felt for tail. Apparently I got it wrong here. She said it was supposed to be Purple and not Blue with the Pink. But she said, “It’s okay mom.”
4. sew it together. Do the face first. I just used the same needle and embroidery thread. Then with this little thing, I had to stuff it as I sewed because there were so many tiny places. I stuffed with wool, but any stuffing would do. I might have used cotton balls in a pinch.

And… Ta Da!!! I gotta tell you, I feel so totally cool right now. This is what I want to do as a mom.

Now, of course she wants to do it herself. She’s been wanting to sew and I’ve just put it off because the needles are so sharp. Luckily I had picked up these plastic, (not sharp) sewing needles at some point. And just regular yarn and felt scraps I had on hand. I cut out the heart in felt (twice) and then went around the edge with a pointy thing…. I have an inscriber I use for my metal-work, but an awl would work perfectly. (*this link to  is so you can see what I’m talking about. I don’t have that one. I would get any of those on Amazon though. I like wood handles myself, but the prices seem to really range.)

So, I just made the holes. The plastic needles won’t go through the felt otherwise. My daughter is only 5, so sharp needles are definitely out for now. I actually got this idea from seeing these kits in the craft store. They looked great, but basically this is what they were and they were $12-$24. I can buy a whole lot of felt for that much.

She was so proud of this pillow and had so much fun doing it. It was also a lot of concentration. Just good on so many levels.

And I think this will be the next round of gifts I take to her friends parties; a  little sewing project kit.

The seamstress at work. This is the second one she did. She wanted a smaller one, which was kind of hard to poke, but still worked fine for her.

And then she drew this for the next creature to bring to life. She wants in on this one, so we’ll make it bigger.

I’ve learned from my daughter that there is no time to wait until I can really learn how to do things. Now is the time to create and even though these things are not technically, um, precise….., they’re perfect.