Brown Bear, Brown Bear

My first little niece had her first birthday yesterday. I knew she would get a lot of toys so I wanted to give her something that would be fun, but also a quiet activity for her and her mom to do together. Plus I wanted to make it personal somehow.

I have always loved the children's book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

 I saw these and my mind started going.  Then I saw THESE and I was pretty much convinced I had to do them.  Then I saw these and pretty much freaked out.  I thought, perfect - hand puppets!  I am not too creative on my own, but I can copy pretty well.

I went Michael's and bought all the colors I needed for the various animals in the book.  (except for black - what craft store doesn't carry black felt?!) The felt squares are 10x12 inches I think for 29 cents each.  Total bargain project.  Except for the time involved, which was a lot.  But it was SO fun! 

So I studied that picture in the Etsy listing I linked to above.  Really studied.

I drew the main body pattern and altered the ears/wings/hair for the duck, bear, teacher, cat, bird, dog, and sheep.  Strider drew me patterns for the frog, fish, horse.  They were really tricky to get right. 

I hand sewed the features, hair, etc to the front side only.   Then machine sewed the front and back together to form the puppet.

They were pretty easy once they were cut out.  Embellishing them and adding 3-D fabric paint faces was fun.  I love the little dog - my favorite! 

I bought her the Brown Bear book in a board book format so it would last in the hands of a one year old.

Then I got a plastic pouch to keep it all in.  It's all about the organization, right?

(Sorry about the glare).  It was such a fun gift to give.  I was so excited to have her open it.  It makes a world of difference when you give something you have worked on yourself.  Happy Birthday, Sugar!




Linking to: Get Your Craft On