A Felt-board Birthday Card...

I've been desperate to get my hands on some felt for a while as I have so many ideas that use it, but not even a scrap of it in the house.

So today I went a bit crazy and bought these.  Two of each colour in the store!  I'm sure I'll use them though.

My first idea was to make a card for a little friend of Miss S's (whose birthday it is tomorrow).  I had the idea at 4:30am (!) this morning to make a felt-board card that he can then play with after the party.

It was all experimentation, but I am really happy with the result, so here's how to make one if you'd like to try this idea yourself.  It could be given as a card, as I am doing, or as the main present.  It would make a great Christmas gift for the preschooler in your life!

To make a felt-board card, you will need:

* One piece of medium-blue felt about A4 size
* Scraps of felt in whatever colours you like.  I used, red, brown, yellow, orange, green, purple and white.
* Needle and embroidery floss in a variety of colours
* A large cereal box or A4 sized piece of medium card (if you'd like to make it into a card)
* Black ink pen
* Scissors
* Glue stick
* A range of small objects to draw around - I used a tealight, gluestick and cookie cutters

Fold your piece of A4 sized felt in half to make a crease.

Unfold and with two strands of embroidery floss and a running stitch, stitch a border all around one half. This will be the cover of the card.

Now begin making shapes for the card.  I did two scenes:  One a house, trees/grass and a sun, and one a rocket with stars and a moon.  Pieces of the two scenes are interchangeable to make different pictures.

Here's how I made some of those pieces:

The trees:  I drew around a tea light using a black ink pen and cut the circles out.

Then on some scrap cardboard I drew around my tea light again and then drew a trunk shape.  You could print out the picture above to use as a template if you like.

Cut out the trunk and draw around it onto some brown felt.  Cut the trunks out.

I then embroidered a few stitches on the trunk using two strands of light brown floss and using backstitch.

Next I made the house by cutting a large rectangle out of red felt and bordering it with a running stitch in yellow.

Then I made a door, windows and a roof using the same technique.  The door handle is a french knot.

 

I also made some grass by drawing freehand on to some green felt and cutting it out.

Then I added a sun and a moon the whole picture was complete.  You could add whatever you like to your picture and embroider whatever details you like as well.

Now for the rocket in space scene...

Cut a red rectangle for the body of the rocket, an orange triangle for the roof, three small yellow circles for the windows and orange fire coming out of its base.

Trace around a star shaped cookie cutter to make stars and around your tea light to make a moon.

Stitch around the border of the larger shapes as desired.

If you would like to make yours into a card, stick two pieces of cardboard down to either side of the card using fabric glue (I used gluestick which worked just fine).  Leave a gap of about 5mm in the middle to ensure it can fold properly.

I then covered one side with green felt again so that the inside could be used too.  On the other side I will write the birthday boy a message.

Now it was finished I decided to "road test" it with Miss S (4) and it was an instant hit!

She opened the card up to use the whole piece of felt and set to work making pictures with the shapes.

This was a robot...

Then I started getting requests for new shapes... "I need pink squares! I need more orange triangles!  I need wings for the rocket!"  So I obliged with a few additional shapes.

She even found a red scrap on the table that I hadn't tidied away yet and made a tail for her shooting star.

I think it's safe to say it passed the preschooler road test.  I really hope Miss S's little friend likes it!