Over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, my cousin was with us for all kinds of family and crafty goodness. This is the same cousin that has paired up with me for our upcyling venture, Twice as Fuzzy. So, basically, we make lots of messes together, and sometimes it turns into cute things as a bonus.
After getting some Fuzzy stuff under control, we moved on to her little girl’s birthday party. Before I move on, I have to give credit where credit is due. SHE is the party lady. I am more of the type to say “Oh, crap, it’s September already..probably should buy some cake mix when we shop.” She, on the other hand, is dismayed that she didn’t get her usual 6 month head start on preparations. Crazy.
With her hubs deployed and just 3 weeks to the party, efficiency has to be the key for her Monster Themed party. I won’t even go into what that means for her, because for me what she is doing is an all out bash. But these little monster party favors (and, let’s face it – rock awesome toys for any occasion) helped us to meet in the middle.
Felt Monster “Paper” Dolls
You don’t need much to make these adorable little guys.
Felt
Scissors
A bit of imagination
She is expecting 15 or so kids, so we made 20 monster bodies – 5 each of 4 styles. I didn’t make them very big because we didn’t want to have to make or buy big bags to put them in. If there are fewer kids, they can have more than one monster body. From one 12×12 square of felt, I got 5 monsters comfortably.
From there, we took various colors and started cutting out features that the kids can mix and match. Eyes of all sorts, horns, bows (for ties or hair bows), mouths…You have freedom to be imperfect because, well, they are monsters, after all!
And that was it. Really! We did freehand them, and I think that was part of the fun – sitting in the floor with Netflix in the background and a toddler crawling in and out of it all, cutting out monsters and eyeballs and chatting. The best part is, it is all SO tiny that if you don’t love something you’ve cut out, it’s no big deal to toss that little piece and try again. We got all of the bodies and about half of the features we needed cut out during an hour long episode of More Business of Being Born. An evening well spent, I think.
If you try this out, I would LOVE to see what you come up with! Every little monster is unique, and I fell in love with all of them.
And since she is still frantically planning for the party.. What is your favorite DIY trick for party planning?
Adorable – pinned!!
I love this one and so easy
These are adorable 😉 I’m going to have to keep this in mind.
Those are just so cute!
How fun!! This kind of makes me think of Colorforms too!! Loved those as a kid!!
These are so adorable, I think Isabella would love these!!!!
What a cute idea! This would make for great imagination play with my daughters.
I’ve never used felt but these are so cute that I am going to have to give it a go.
I can see making this for storytelling.
Definitely! It would be great for naming emotions, too.
Adorable. I’ll have to make these for the kids, they love playing with felt.
I had so much fun playing with them, too! haha..I can’t wait to see how they like them.