Felt Elephant Mobile // Pattern and Instructions

Update -Benzie is now blogging over at Benzie Design - don't miss any of our new tutorials or news!


I love having simple stitching projects around -it's easy to pick up while a child is practicing her reading or while my husband and I have a movie night. These elephants are perfect -you can make just one -or a trio for a garland!

--We used Benzie wool blend felt in Pumpkin, Cantaloupe, Rainstorm, Swan, Zucchini and Fern.
--Benzie's DMC floss in Zucchini, Rainstorm and Pumpkin.
--6mm safety eyes
--needles -we used a embroidery needle to sew the elephants and a long doll needle to make the garland.
--stuffing
--pattern

1. Use the pattern to cut and trace your elephant and the ears. We love using freezer paper to trace the pattern. You'll notice that we use three different size circles. The two large ones are for the ears and the small circles accent the garland.

2. First sew on the ears (large circle first then the small lighter toned circle) using the applique stitch. Then attach the safety eyes. I love how these little back dots make little animals and dolls come alive! Finally, I used a blanket stitch to connect the sides of the elephant -don't forget to stuff!

3. We made a wall hanging with these guys -first we lined them up in the color order we liked best.

4. Assemble! We threaded our doll needle with Rainstorm thread and brought the needle through the center of the elephants and dots. We also made a mobile using these 3 elephants, accent circles and an embroidery hoop. But a single little guy would look just as adorable! Happy crafting!

Felt Flower Bouquet DIY

Benzie's very first blog post included some finds of alternate wedding bouquets -some used ribbon and some felt but we inspired you to think differently about the fresh bouquet that traditionally adorns brides. Jen at Something Turquoise did just that -she rocked the felt foliage and pumped out 8 diy's that cumulated in one beautiful bouquet in all its wool felt glory. Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?

In order to make a single bouquet in the colors pictured -all you need is a 9x12" bundle of 15 sheets in these Benzie wool blend felt colors: Pink (2), Cotton Candy (2), Fern (2), Sage (2), Butter, Parchment or Linen (Jen used Parchment but our new color Linen might be a more creamy fit!), Rainstorm, Oats, Graphite, Rose and Mulberry. If two sheets of the same color are selected (like the Pink) -you will receive it in the larger 12x18" sheet.

To get all the crafty details and to view the eight flowers and foliage diy's check out Something Turquoise. And let me know if you make the bouquet or just your favorites -tag with #benziefelt -I would love to see what you create!

DIY Felt Bows in Minutes

I recently taught my 7 year old daughter how to die cut felt -and one of our favorites are felt hair bows -just because they are so quick!! We worked as a team -she ran the felt through the die-cutter while I glued and we had a whole set in no time at all!

Supplies:

--Bow die cut, there a a couple of really cute bow dies in this set (it's a must have!)

--Evolution die cut machine (instructions here)

--Benzie Felt, we used Rose, Ochre and Blue Spruce -and check out the image above to see how we laid out the die -we are able to make 3 bows out of just one 6x9" sheet of felt (that's 3 bows for less than $1!)

--Hair Clips

--Glue

After you run your felt through your die cut machine -just fold and glue as shown above. Feel free to use whatever hair clip works for your hair. I made some for me using french clips just last week -I loved how I could make a hair accessory in just minutes!

And then we went extra fancy and packaged up the bows -we were giving these in addition to a birthday gift -but wouldn't these make great favors? We used We R Memory Keepers "Captured" set. Can I tell you how much I love all the Albums Made Easy card collections? I always have some laying around -they are great for writing notes, keeping lists or crafting with -and so pretty too! 

I grabbed one of the large cards and used my x-acto to cut vertical slits to match up where I wanted to clip the bows. Then I attached a coordinating card and taped it to the back using Sticky Thumb and finished the design with some ribbon and an eyelet. After that was all set up I slipped the hair clips in the precut slot. Perfect little gift right? And easy -the best combo!