DIY Monsters Inc!!

So li'l Sid got lots and lots of little toys during my baby shower... absolutely adorable ones... but you know me.... till I haven't made one my very self.... its just no fun!!!

So since i had lots of left over felt and wool from all my previous projects I decided to out them to use.

What inspired me during this little DIY project of mine.... was that while browsing for baby stuff on Pinterest I found these madly adorable and grumpy looking monsters...

my favorites!

A great tutorial....

Doesn't link to the original... but to Craftgawker which has several more mini felt creatures!!

I was sold!!! No cutsie adorably namby pamby teddies for my kid....My kid is gonna grow up like Boo from Monsters Inc. Kickass!!!

So here is my version of making some fun Monsters!!!

This is really small ... like just about three or four inches in height..... much more fun!

I know I know I should have used a gray thread.... I was just feeling lazy to go get it!!!!

The following is my tutorial in a tutorial - The blanket stitch!!!

Take the needle thru the felt....

Pull it thru the loop....

And ta-da!!!

You can cut the cotton in this fancy shape but once its in its all smashed up together anyways... so don't bother!!!!

Make this stitch nice and good.... so that no cotton comes out..

Done ;)

Once you make one.... you'll get addicted.... they are fast and easy and oh so cute!!! Wait did I say cute? No No .... menacing and scary and frightening is what I meant...... right?!!!

Nah!!!!!

(They are cute!!!!)

ps: I have linked this post on two link parties: 

one is at whipperberry and the other as part of the weekly story at colorsdekor

DIY number book

I'm sure I am a great masi..... but since both my nephews live abroad I hardly get the chance to prove it!!!!

And if they were to live in the same city I would bombard them with fun stuff all the time.... but being what the situation is.... i get few opportunities to show my love..... so this time i decided to make both of them really special gifts

Since both are now around two years old... I figured they would take to learning numbers... So I decided to make them little number books...

I have had a massive crush on all things felt... Love the fabric love the colours and love that little kids can't tear it like they would paper!!!

So I went on a mad hunt in Bombay for felt fabric... Not as easy as you would think... I finally struck gold at the ever green something special of cheap jack fame... Expensive but good quality.... I bought pretty much every color they had!!!!

I had seen these really fun activity books made of felt on Pinterest and was fully inspired....

So there are two versions..... the first one I made I glued all the little elements onto the felt fabric. I used a good fabric glue.... but for some reason I don't think it will be long lasting.... I need to ask my sister!!!!

The other one I actually sat and stitched each little element...... took me forever.... but I think it will stand the test of time... more like the test of a little baby going at it!!!!!!!

Figuring out the little elements for each number was such a task....  though it really got my creative juices flowing.... what elements would a little baby boy connect to? flowers stars hearts the sun..... a million options but then they had to also be something that I could cut easily.... considering my page size was just 3" x 3"....

The other major task was binding.... firstly binding each page together... had to learn the blanket stitch from my mommy.... for that finding the right thickness needle and wool that would go through two layers of felt was important!!!!! The over all binding was much easier..... and pretty quick... considering how fat the book turned out to be...

Here are pictures of both the books....

The colors are all exactly the same.... just the first ones are all taken on my old google nexus and the second book was shot with my mums nikon..... guess this is direct proof that good old regular cameras beat a phone camera anyday!!!

Since I first made the book of the first set of pics, you will see plenty of changes in the second set... I guess I learnt from a lot of silly mistakes....

So the reason I used the same color for all the balloons this time was because my brother said that a kid will associate the same colors when he is counting and if the colors of the balloons are different he would get confused.... Don't know how far that might be true.... but I thought may as well!!!!

The clouds were my favorite.... and on the light blue sky.... I just loved them!!!

Same thing with using similar colored hearts as the balloons..... also I liked not outlining them no? what do you think?

You'll notice my number cutting has become much better in round two.... much neater!!!

The fishes were the worst!!! From cutting to stitching to sketching on them.... oh my God.... next time no fishes!!!!

This is the only one where i preferred the original placing ..... so much prettier.... also don't you feel the stitching and no outlining of the numbers is really neater?

After the clouds this is my favorite..... so pretty they look!!!

Again I prefer the original writing.... much clearer I think.....

So yeah.... these were my fun number books.... hope both those little boys are enjoying them as much as I enjoyed making them!!!

DIY Shadow Boxes- Part One!

During my second trimester, at my mother's house, apart from eating there really wasn't much to do..... also since I was going to be missing a close friends wedding I decided to make her a really nice gift.... I also had another close friend who had had a little baby boy and another close friend who i don't remember giving a gift for her wedding..... so basically I had lots of gifts i had to give and with time on my hands i decided to make them!!

Now I say close friend close friend close friend because they really are.... they're school friends.... the kind you've literally grown up with.... and since we had a really small class with more or less the same forty girls from nursery to 10 standard.... we are all pretty damn close.... to the point that we know each others siblings and pets and boyfriends and now husbands and just about everything.... but these three in particular are my favorite! 

One has been my friend since nursery.... we lived a few lanes apart and when i was six i ran off to her house when I wanted to play and no one at my place would take me to her place.... One I have practically lived at her place for class projects and dance rehearsals.... my favorite dog apart from my own was hers.... Leo.... the sweetest most loving golden retriever.... and the third... well she is my first brush with knowing what a "bff" is!!!! Truly... we were soul mates... we were so close we used even post each other letters because we had so much to talk about!!!!!

so yeah.... special gifts for some really special girls!! 

I have always loved shadow boxes but never got around to making them..... seeing the wedding invitation of the friend who was already married, and the decor for the naming ceremony of the little baby boy, inspired me...and i decided to give this a shot!!! 

I started with the baby boy.... loved his name "Agastya". 

Of course as soon as i started i got confused.... a boy... that eliminates butterflies and flowers!!! Finally after much brainstorming and sketching i decided to give his name priority and make a cityscape.... my mum's suggestion! cuz she loves my cityscapes!!!

I took a 12 x 12 x 3" box, made by the guy who frames my mums paintings. I really wanted to play with the depth, so i made the 3D alphabets with thermocol and wrapped them in wool.
 (theromocol isn't the best idea.... I had one or two alphabets break while wrapping them in wool... and that just took up too much of my time making new ones)

I liked the idea of some elements hanging from the top some being placed on the base. Some being at the foreground and some at the back. 

This is how the box would look hung on a wall (right now mine is on the sofa!!!) The biggest mistake I made was in placing the car... you just can't see it once the box is closed  :( silly me.

Sorry the pictures are all dark.... still working on bettering my photography! But you can see the detailing of the felt flowers on the tree and the beautiful wool wrapped alphabets!!

The buildings are my favorite part.... and the car even.... even though it turned out to be a bit of a fail :(

This is the first wedding box.....

This was my gold attack shadow box!!!! I wanted this to be fully bling Indian wedding inspired.... but with a very sophisticated edge to it... just like their wedding card. Also for some reason I just couldn't find their wedding picture, so I hunted on their facebook accounts for a great picture and fell in love with this one!

Kaleeras were a major part of the wedding decor and my favorite part of the wedding too... So that was one of my main elements. I used a silk thread instead of wool for these letters because I feel it looks more rich. And I used a part of their wedding card, a leaf which was their wedding motif, behind the alphabets.

I loved that the colors of the box came from their wedding card itself..... such bright beautiful colors!!! 

So that's how this box looks completed!

The last box is in the next post  :)

DIY Shadow Boxes - Part Two!

And now for my favorite.... for no other reason but it has my flowers!!! I love love love making fabric and paper flowers.... !!

The color theme of her wedding was white and coral.....I fell in love with coral.... its just such a pretty color.... so feminine!  

So I made lots of  flowers with a mix of coral and white satin and net.... the four fabrics looked great together!

Again I used wool for the alphabets.... i think its given a very soft touch to them don't you think? The white rose was something my mum had saved for years... it was on her work desk and i robbed it!!! 

That's a part of their wedding card.... love the design!!!

Since I made this before their wedding I had to use their engagement pictures. I love the idea of photobooth pictures... so I've tried to photoshop them to give that effect!!! And black and white pictures I think are the prettiest!!

So yup.... these are all the fun gifts I made while in Bombay.... I also made two felt number books for two nephews..... they're coming up next  :)