The oh-so adorable Button Turkey!

I saw this Button Turkey idea at a fun blog Counting coconuts!  I knew I had to do it asap! What a simple idea to help Caden learn how to button!  This was so fun to do I'm thinking of ideas for a Christmas button buddy too :)

It did take me a little while to finish because I hand stitched it but I'm so happy with the result!
All you need to make this guy is the following:

-Felt in colors of your choice
 (the cuts to make are two circles for the body, a head, beak, eyes, the wattle, and 5 feathers)
-Needle and thread or sewing machine.  If you have an awesome collection of threads you can also match the stitching with the color of the felt. I only had brown but with the fall colors it didn't matter.
-5 buttons.  Your choice of type and color! I tried to coordinate the colors I had with the feathers to make it a color matching activity as well as a buttoning!
-Scissors
-poly fill for stuffing the turkey (or just some felt scraps like I did since you dont need that much to fill it!)

These are the colors I used for Mr. Turkey.

I used a bowl to trace for the body of the turkey so both sides would be the same size and shape. I was able to use one sheet for both circles.  (And the color looks different in this picture because I used a couple pieces of felt that had a sticky backing for the body and the head.  So you're seeing the paper backing of the dark brown here.)  You dont need to get the kind that has a sticky backing, I just wanted to try it out. And it worked well to keep the circles together around the filling while I stitched! 

For the other pieces I just freehanded it.  They are pretty easy shapes to cut and it's just for your little one's playtime so don't worry if something isn't perfect! 

When I was finished I prayed that Caden would like him and enjoy trying to button the feathers since I worked so hard on him! And SUCCESS!! 

He's gotten the unbuttoning part down thankfully!  When I first handed it to him he wanted to just pull the feathers really hard!  We are still working on the buttoning part and its so cute!  

Let me know what you think, if you have any questions, and what Thanksgiving crafts y'all have done! I would love to see them! 

Linking up:

My first slipcover!

Hey yall!!  So I'm really excited about this project because it's my first real sewing project with my sewing machine!!  I did use the machine for the first time a couple weeks ago when I sewed up some rips in the hubby's jeans.... but he informed me that one of the rips ripped again... :( oooopsie.  So I have to figure out what happened to that!

I put the bookshelf that used to be in Caden's room before I got this awesome book rack and put it in the front entryway for shoes.  This was Jeremy's idea!  At first I hated the idea.  But I said ok let's put it there and see how it feels.  

Well needless to say I ended up liking it :) Good idea babe! And Caden loves it too.  He LOVES shoes and loves to pick up and put things where they go so putting shoes in his own cubby is super fun for him :) 

Because I loved the idea of cubbies by the door I started looking at buying an entryway bench that had cubbies as well.  But they were all over $100!  boo! no way did I feel like spending that kind of money.  So I thought why not just make a cushion for the top of the shelf and create my own bench?! yay! 

So I went to hobby lobby and got some supplies:

I bought three foam pads that were 12 x 12.  The dimensions I needed were 11.5 x 36 and all the bigger foam pads at the store were so big and around $20 or more.  I knew I could cut them to the size I needed but I really didnt want to do that and I didnt want the extra foam since I dont forsee any projects in the future I would need it for and I would have to store it somewhere.  No thanks.  Then I saw the 12 x12 squares! Perfect!!  I could deal with a 1/2 inch extra.  And I didnt really care that it wasnt one solid piece.  And bonus, all the foam was 30% off!

This is the fabric I bought.  and it was on clearance!! booyah!!  Of course the clearance section was the last place I looked.  So I spent forever browsing all the fabrics and had a hard time finding one that would blend well with all the different paint colors you can see from the entry way.  The dining room is red, the kitchen yellow, the entryway a cream, and the living room a very subtle shade of green.  So this pattern was perfect!

I purchased a yard in case I made some kind of mistake.  I folded the yard in half long ways and cut it.  Then I took one piece and cut it to 40 inches.  I needed 36 for the length but the foam is 2 inches thick.  So I added two inches for each side.

I took the other piece and cut it into two equal parts.  This will be for the bottom where you can slip the foam in.

I then cut the width to 16 inches.  12 inches for the width of the foam and adding two inches for each side.

I took the bottom two pieces and folded over an inch on one side for a finished edge for the opening.   I ironed it down so it would stay.  I didnt have any straight pins! next project I will make sure to have some.

Here's the finished edge!

I placed the two pieces onto the top with the pattern side in, and measured an inch in along every side.  This is wear I planned to sew. I know I didnt need to do a full inch (all you expert sewers out there) But I was really nervous and wanted to give myself lots of wiggle room in case I messed up somewhere.

This is just to show you the opening. 

Here is is all finished and the opening of the slip cover.  I know I skipped pictures of the actually sewing part but really I was so nervous I was going to do something wrong and mess up that I was very focused and forgot!  But you get the idea. 

Ta da!!!  It turned out so great!!  It didn't fit as snug as I planned.  Probably because I didn't want it to be too tight so I overcompensated when measuring. It's still great though!

It looks so much cozier now :)

I've thought about adding baskets to the cubby but haven't gotten around to it yet. 

So yay!!  I'm so excited it turned out so great!  My first project :) Let me know what you think!