I teach toddlers at a corporate daycare and our theme this month is "Growing Things." One of our activities is to count felt flowers as we place them in flowerpots on a flannel board. Great! Wonderful! Only ... I didn't have ONE flannel board and I needed TWO, one for each of my classrooms. So I poked around online a bit and decided I could make my own.

Supplies: I used a large box and cut out the two largest panels with an exacto knife. Your flannel board can be any size you can want, provided you have that much cardboard/posterboard/plywood/etc. I got some "Snuggle Flannel" from JoAnn's on the cheap (it's in the children's fabrics section). I chose this blue pattern because it made me immediately want to put little felt clouds on it. I also bought a lot of felt (recycled felt is awesome!). I used a regular old glue gun to stick things to other things (and sometimes to my fingers).

Process: I measured out enough flannel to cover the box panel with extra to wrap over the sides. For my box, it turned out to be about a yard, cut in half on the fold of the fabric. I cut out the corners and hot glued the flannel on the backside of the cardboard. I didn't use any glue on the front, only on the pieces that wrapped around the back. Then I went about snipping and cutting flowers and some flower pots (which I drew defining lines on with sharpie) and hot-gluing flowers together. Voila! All in all, it probably cost me less than $5 for both boards. (And, yes, that is my bed, covered in embroidery floss. I need a craft room.)

         

One of my best friends is about to have her first baby and I knew I had to give her the perfect shower gift - a Subversive Cross Stitch! After the kit came, my boyfriend decided I needed to make one for his friend, too, whose wife is due at about the same time. So I ended up making two cross stitches out of the floss in one kit and I have more left over. I used 14-count white Aida and found the perfect square frame at Michaels. Perfect for the nursery, no?

I've just recently (thanks to Craftster) taken up more crafting and, after seeing some of the projects on here, decided to make my own veggie tea towel for my boyfriend's mother for Christmas. I've never embroidered before, but I cross stitch and can hand sew, so I figured it wouldn't be *too* hard. She's a vegetarian and he HATES anything green, so I thought it was the perfect gift idea! I ordered the fancy schmancy ULTIMATE kit - mainly because I wanted the adorable pink scissors - and set off to stitch a towel. The thread in the kit was gorgeous, so I decided to copy another towel I had seen and make the garlic/onion a purple onion (the pics don't do the color of the purple floss justice). I used chain stitch, back stitch, satin stitch, straight stitch and ... stem stitch! The stem stitch took FOREVER for me to figure out... I almost committed towel-a-cide with my fancy scissors. But I figured it out in the end (at least I think I did, I may have invented a new stitch!) Anyhoo, Pics!

(clickie those for big pics)

I ended up working on it until about midnight Christmas Eve-eve and went a little off the lines on the letters, but I think it turned out really cute and his mom liked it. Now I'm desperate for more things to put fruits and veggies on ...

My boyfriend is a huge Adult Swim fan. So, as part of my crafty Christmas, I found this awesome cross stitch pattern and decided to stitch it up for him. I did it exactly the same way - 16 count Aida, 2 strands. The only change I would make to the patterns would be Meatwad's eyes and teeth should be white. If I had been paying attention, I would have caught it before I made them brown and had to sew over!

Close-Ups:

When they were done, I washed, ironed, and mounted them on self-stick board for posterity and placed them inside a nifty collage frame (the openings are 4 x 6 in the one I used). I think it's hilarious, because the frame looks so formal and serious. Maybe I should do an black velvet painting of Carl next...

I bought a pack of plain white canvas totes to line and decorate for a friend and some of my son's teachers for Christmas. I knew immediately what I wanted to put on my friend's tote - a frappuccino. Starbucks is our home away from work and she's listened to me complain over coffee more often than I want to admit. Onto the bag!

First, I used round sponge painters to add pink and green polka dots in fabric paint on both sides.

Then I made a paper pattern for the felt applique and used it to cut out felt pieces, which I glued on. I had never used fabric glue before ... so the face/circle part is really stiff! I used a blanket stitch over most of the pieces, which didn't turn out so bad considering I hadn't done that stitch since junior high.

Finally, I sewed a lining out of a pretty pink/flowery fabric I got in quarters. I added a cell phone pocket on one side and a squarish pocket on the other side. The bottom of the canvas bag is square, but I made my lining with only two pieces. It bunches up a little in the bottom, but it works.

Overall, I'm really happy with how it turned out! I hope she likes it.