The Little Monster Project
So this month, I have a slew of kids' birthdays to celebrate. Also, Christmas is coming up - and I loathe the idea of spending the money my husband works so hard for on worthless, plastic toys that my kids will adore for a day and a half - before they're added to an overflowing bin of forgotten toys.
I decided to try and make some little gifts for the kids having birthdays this month. So I googled some homemade toy ideas online. I found some great ideas - but none that really stood out. Then I came across a site selling little homemade monsters. They looked easy to make - so it inspired me to create a monster of my own to give this year.
This turned out to be one of the cutest and easiest homemade gifts I've ever made. Start to finish - my first one took about an hour. I hand sewed all of it. I used my machine for the bulk of the work on the second one and it took much less time.
Here's a little photo tutorial of how I did it - and instructions for making your own.
First - look around the house for fabric. Of course you can buy new, but that sorta defeats the purpose of frugal, homemade gifts... I used a T-shirt I had bought for myself from a thrift store. It was a thick, good quality shirt that just never seemed to look right on me. I also found some left over fabric from some pillows I had made a couple years ago. Those, and some other fabric scraps I had were enough for the entire project.
1. Cut out a monster. I made mine slightly smaller than a standard bed pillow. I gave him very easy little arms, legs and ears - keeping in mind I wanted a project I could finish quickly.
Then I made his eyes, mouth and tooth out of one of my kids outgrown shirts and some other scraps. I sewed everything in place by hand.
2. Next, I traced the monster face onto the other piece of fabric I had and cut it out. The boy I was making the gift for is turning one, so I also cut out a circle and a #1 to sew to the back. For the number, I used another piece of my kids old shirt. Pretty simple.
3. Finally, I hand sewed the pieces together, inside out - and left a few inches open for stuffing. Turned that monster inside out and stuffed him - then stitched the opening together to finish.
I decided to try and make some little gifts for the kids having birthdays this month. So I googled some homemade toy ideas online. I found some great ideas - but none that really stood out. Then I came across a site selling little homemade monsters. They looked easy to make - so it inspired me to create a monster of my own to give this year.
This turned out to be one of the cutest and easiest homemade gifts I've ever made. Start to finish - my first one took about an hour. I hand sewed all of it. I used my machine for the bulk of the work on the second one and it took much less time.
Here's a little photo tutorial of how I did it - and instructions for making your own.
First - look around the house for fabric. Of course you can buy new, but that sorta defeats the purpose of frugal, homemade gifts... I used a T-shirt I had bought for myself from a thrift store. It was a thick, good quality shirt that just never seemed to look right on me. I also found some left over fabric from some pillows I had made a couple years ago. Those, and some other fabric scraps I had were enough for the entire project.
1. Cut out a monster. I made mine slightly smaller than a standard bed pillow. I gave him very easy little arms, legs and ears - keeping in mind I wanted a project I could finish quickly.
Then I made his eyes, mouth and tooth out of one of my kids outgrown shirts and some other scraps. I sewed everything in place by hand.
2. Next, I traced the monster face onto the other piece of fabric I had and cut it out. The boy I was making the gift for is turning one, so I also cut out a circle and a #1 to sew to the back. For the number, I used another piece of my kids old shirt. Pretty simple.
They're great little gifts for babies and young children. I'll be making them all month for the rest of the kids' birthdays on my calendar. My own kids have also put in their monster requests for Christmas.
Here's a link to the lady who makes (much nicer) monsters for sale: http://blog.revoluzzza.com/2009/06/05/get-your-revoluzzzionary-creature/
Do you have any cool homemade gift ideas this year? Leave a comment and share some inspiration.
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