The power of Pinterest

If you are unfamiliar with Pinterest, let me enlighten you...

It is the BEST. WEBSITE. EVER!
I'm am by no means a crafty person, but after a mere 2 hours on Pinterest, I feel like I can make anything! Who knew someone could make a wreath out of ______! (fill in the blank with something off the wall, and I'm sure someone has done it! And posted it on Pinterest!) It's only slightly addictive, and I can stop at any time... but I don't want to!

As you know, my children are addicted to Aunt Beth's felt board. While I am glad they enjoy the quiet activity, it made me sad that I could only have one quiet child at a time. So, today I decided to rectify that problem. I looked on Pinterest for some felt craft ideas, mostly for any patterns to follow. (I can craft or cook anything as long as there is something to follow!) I found some easy picture ideas, and made a shopping list. Here are the pictures I found. You can click on the pictures to see their blogs.



Cute, huh? Unfortunately, no patterns to follow- I'd have to wing it!

Joe is working this weekend- all weekend. I have no felt at the house, and I needed some other crafty materials, so I packed up the kids and we braved Walmart. On a Saturday. In the middle of the day.

Good news- we survived! Bad news- it was 2:30 before the kids finally went down for their naps, and I was so busy crafting that I didn't get my nap. :( But I got some great crafting done! :)



Felt. I wasn't sure how much I was going to need, so I only bought a pack of 12. I should have gotten other colors too!



I had this butterfly template from another craft I did for the kids. I cut 2 butterflies out of card stock, and cut one of them into pieces. The top tan butterfly is the felt one I cut out.



I cut another piece of felt into the different parts of the butterfly.



More shapes for decoration. As I worked on the different projects, I added more decorative shapes into the butterfly bag.
So, that was Abby's butterfly. Next, on to Isaac's monsters.



I had to free-hand the template for this one. I cut the tiny pieces out in two different colors so he could mix and match.



What would monsters be without googly eyes? I glues felt onto the backs so they would stick.

Here are the two monsters I created. I'm guessing Ike will be a lot more creative when he makes his.




And since I cut into the blue and yellow, Abby had blue and yellow pieces to add to her butterfly bag!

Andy's house was fairly simple. The house scene will have to fit on Beth's board, since it's too big to fit on the ones I made!



Not bad, if I do say so myself! I have 3 new felt activity bags.




To make my own felt boards, I needed directions. I found this picture on Pinterest, and followed the link to the blog that gave a short tutorial. (click on the picture to see the tutorial)



So, here is mine!



I bought the frame at the Dollar Tree 2 weekends ago for a different project, but it got used for this one instead! I bought 3 frames total, but only converted 2 into felt boards.

I did this while the kids were napping. As soon as Abby woke up, she came downstairs and demanded school. Here she is playing with her new butterfly board.



She liked it, I think, but she moved on to another activity I had bought at the Dollar Tree.



I bought one for each of the kids, and once the boys saw Abby with hers, all felt was forgotten. *sigh. I'm not too worried. They will come to their senses eventually.

Remember when I mentioned another Pinterest project? Well, once I finished this one, I decided to do the other. It's simple, really. You take a picture frame, some scrapbook paper, and some glue. Cut and glue the scrapbook paper onto the inside of the frame (on the backing) then you can write on the glass with a dry-erase marker! It's pretty and useful!



We are going to use ours to show Ike's memory verse of the week. This past week was Matthew 5:9.