My Little Pony Soft Book

Here is the soft book that I made for my niece.
She's into My Little Pony right now so that was the theme I went with. Each page represents a different pony character and I put that character in the corner (using Shrinky Dinks). My girls love MLP (as if the hair bows I've shown didn't give it away) so this one was pretty simple.

Here goes:

 Again I labeled with the first initial, it was easy, especially since they didn't get sent out until after Christmas (*Cough*NewYears*Cough*) anyway.

 Princess Cadence - A simple mix and match page to build the Crystal Palace, similar to Cinderella's castle.

 Princess Celestia and Princess Luna - This is a spinner that changes from day to night (I just used a cardboard disk with a brad)
Princess Twilight Sparkle (And Spike) - Mixing potions with another abacus page (I seriously love the educational possibilities of the abacus)

 Apple Jack - Picking apples -- (This is the reason I bought the Cam snaps) Everything is attached because we know a 4 year old will not manage to not loose these little apples, even if the basket is made to hold them.
Rainbow Dash - This was the hardest one for me, so I went with just rainbow colored layers. The red is actually glued to the book but the others are free to twist around the brad in the corner and fold back over.

 Pinkie Pie - Color Matching - each balloon has a matching colored snap (the purple snap is more lilac, but I didn't have the snaps yet when I cut the felt)
Rarity - Dress-Up, because that's how Rarity is, all about fashion

And finally an ISpy page for Fluttershy. Since Fluttershy is all about animals, I made animals the object to search. (That's the butterfly on the left side of the panel.)

I got a message from my Sister-in-law containing images of them both playing with them and huge smiles on their faces. That's why I do these kind of things. I know some people say it's the cheaper route (PS- not always) to make a gift instead of buying, but I love putting thought and love into what the individual wants, and customizing it as needed. I usually try to buy something to throw in there too, so they don't think I'm doing it to be cheap- not sure if that's how it comes off but whatever.
I love it, and if it makes them happy, I am over the moon happy for them.
Sorry to end on a mini-rant, but it's how I'm feeling right now, and I said from the beginning this is more like an online journal than a blog, I'm not trying to push it on anyone, just keeping the memories together.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Batman Soft Book

Here is the soft book that I made for my nephew's Christmas gift:

 My nephew's name begins with the letter B (although, this works for Batman also).
Also, this picture shows that I used black and yellow Cam snaps for the closure. I bought the Cam snaps for this project (well, technically his sister's, but close enough) and now I'm in love and so is KL (she put snaps on her socks so they stay matched in the wash this weekend).

 The first page was just a simple puzzle page.
With this book, it was kind of fun to put it into "story mode"- I used the "directions" to lead it.

 Next, was a "paper doll" page. It wasn't finished when I took the picture apparently, but they were in dress suits and need to change into their super suits.
Then was readying the utility belt. There was a different tool in each pocket (anchored so they weren't lost, or thrown at his little sister) - there was a Batarang, a rope, and a key. I took to Google and found many lists of tools from Batman's belt, most are sprays or too big to fit in a soft book page, so I took what I could and made it work.

Bat Mobile - The wheels button on and off, simple fine motor practice.
Grappling Hook - This page slides the same was as Ariel in the princess page, I took the advantage of the side angle to add a satin cape, because why not?!?!

 Next we're tackling the villains, Penguin is an abacus page of weapons (batarang, "POW", throwing stars, and bat bombs). Joker is just a simple lift the flap, under the flap is the traditional comic book "BOOM". I tried to keep it simple and not to violent appearing.

And finally another ISpy page, looking for the villains. (Harley Quinn is showing.)

I found the cute, more kid-(and felt cut out)friendly character style by searching through Pinterest. The simpler animation was a God send for this project.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Soft Books Christmas Gift

This year we had my niece's name for Christmas, who is very similar to my girls and myself; she's crafty and loves to learn. So along with a few crafty and educational gifts (dry erase to be done multiple times, of course), I put together a Princess inspired soft book. So here goes.

I forgot to get a photo of the cover, but it was a simple crown, nothing too fancy.

First we have Snow White. She and the Seven Dwarfs are done in Shrinky Dinks and stitched on.
I love an abacus page because it's so educational. You can practice counting and addition, and it's just fun to push them side to side. So we've got the gems from the Dwarfs' mine.

 Next, we get to build Cinderella's castle. I used a sandcastle template, but cut it out of the proper colors. It's all velcro, so it can be mixed and matched.

Then Aurora (I looked up the years the movies came out and put them in that order, but I'm sure that the 6 year old I gave it to won't notice). Pink dress, blue dress - a simple dress up page, following the Disney version. I reinforced the dresses to make sure they wouldn't tear after several uses.

 Beauty and the Beast - The magical rose, the petals can be removed and put back, another simple Velcro page.
Ariel - She's on a looped ribbon so she can swim back and forth. There's also a couple lift the flaps (that I also, apparently, forgot to photograph) that expose Sebastian and Flounder.

 Mulan- this one was a little tricky, I had a hard time thinking of what to do. So I Shrinky Dink'd (sure, that's a word) a few characters and hid them in a pocket with some colored rice for an ISpy page. I was pretty fun to play with though.

Tiana - The frog's tongue is looped to "catch" the button flies.

 Rapunzel - Braid the hair- this is just sewing floss to be played with as her hair.

Elsa, well Olaf really - This page is 2-for-1, Olaf can be taken apart and rebuilt and the snowflakes on the white felt each match a snowflake drawn on the blue background.

That's all for this one, but there are 2 more that I'll post after they make it to their future homes. I finished them on the first day of the girls' winter break and it got super cold so I didn't want to take everyone out and then it snowed, so I REALLY didn't want to take everyone out. So they finally got out this week after the girls went back, and should be there early next week.


That's all for now,
Jo!