Ways to keep bub entertained!

I've got a gorgeous 11 month old girl who is the light of my life, but sometimes I get caught up in everything that needs to be done around home that I get a little cabin feverish. I'm a bit of a list maker and I thought I'd put together a list of things to do with babies to help get me out of the house more often. Now as many stay at home mums know, it can get very expensive doing things with babies, and there are plenty of programs out there to spend your money on (music, swimming, gymbaroo etc), so here's a list that is cheap or free. Print it out, stick it on your wall/fridge/pinboard and feel free to pass it on!

Little Felt Brown Bear

My first attempt at a felted bear and I'm quite happy with the results!

Materials: Wool stuffing and roving, Wooden beads for eyes, buttons, cotton, Nylon twine.

Here are some photos to show the progress...

Making the core for the body. The needle has lots of little barbs which mash the wool together. It's also very very sharp and hurts like anything when you accidentally stab yourself!

Here's the first of the 'turds' I had to make that would eventually be my little brown bear. Adam thought I was making 'Mr Hanky the Christmas Poo' from south park. Might have to make that one for Dad for Christmas! hehehe.

All the little turds are finished! hehehe. Now to turn them in to something cute.

Attaching the ears to the head.. it's actually starting to look like something recognisable now.

Giving little brown bear a nose and paw pads.

Attaching the arms, legs and head to the body.

So there you go, my first needle felted bear. A little rustic but with loads of character. After some consultations via Facebook he's now Bastian the Little Brown Bear

Tea Party / Book themed favour bags

I'm having a fundraising afternoon tea and book swap to raise money for the Cancer Council here in Melbourne. I wanted to make some favour bags for the girls to take away as a thankyou for donating.

The blue bags were a good find from a party supplies store, the thank you card on the front was a great printable I found online! If I can find it again i'll post the website here. I printed those out on some polkadot scrapbooking paper. The little pegs I found really cheap at the office supplies shop- a perfect way to finish them off!

So with the look of them decided, I needed to choose things to go inside. Given they are for a book swap/afternoon tea I wanted them to have that theme. I found some bookplates online too (just google bookplates) and printed them out on coloured paper.

I was originally going to make some felt bookmarks and put them in. but I've decided that the guests can make their own bookmark at the tea party, with some normal and adhesive felt.

On the tea party side, I've put in some chocolates, a tea bag and a gorgeous teaspoon. I was hoping to have a tea strainer as well but it was all going to get a bit pricey.

Here are some pictures of putting them together and the final product. Now I just need to clean the house and bake some cupcakes!!

Cutting out the thank you cards - just with some scalloped edge scissors

Assembling all the bits and pieces

The Contents: 3 bookplates, a fancy teaspoon, a teabag & some chocolates

One finished!

The whole lot finished and ready to go. I love the look of them and hope the girls like them too :)