Christmas Crafting

This year I inched a little more towards my goal of simplifying and creating a more hand-made holiday. You know, less commercialization and mad Christmas rushing and more doing things as a family. I had a modest list of things I had planned to make that almost instantly got shifted around, and although I feel like I am not at all prepared for Christmas, when I take a look at that list, the gap between finished, not-quite finished, and utterly gave up on isn?t that big. Most of the list is either finished or just about there. The packages won’t be sent out before Christmas, but it’s the thought, right? yeah.
On that list is this little restaurant play mat for my nephew. I intend to make two more of these for both Ben and Callum in the coming weeks. I?m very pleased with them.

You may just recognize that material, since it is frequently featured in my recrafted items. I tell you, an old canvas curtain goes a long way, baby.
It?s a simple item, but judging from Callum?s excitement to ?test? it, I think it?s a pretty great idea. It was inspired by a felt play mat I saw online last year, an idea that Mom and I used to create a little fish pond for my own kids, which turned into an animal staging ground, and then a travel mat over our summer holidays.

Mom figured out how to get that play mat to fold into a bag, and then did all the sewing too. But I supervised, so you know, I still get to take some credit.
Last summer Steve and I were sitting in a restaurant with my kids, Michelle, and my god-daughter Julia. The kids were being kids and we were trying to keep them entertained and quiet so that we could enjoy our drinks and well, basically ignore them honestly. Michelle turned to me, half-joking and half-serious and said ?don?t you have some sort of play tote in your car for your kids at a restaurant??.
What a great idea! We spent the meal discussing several ideas that might work, determined it needs to be the size of a place mat, and then I spent a year toying with the idea in my head. This match car play mat is what emerged from my own crafting station; my Mom has made different restaurant play mats for my kids.

The mat folds in half and closes with 3 little snaps. The match car gets tucked into the front pocket, which closes up with Velcro so they don?t fall out and get lost in the dark depths of the car. Then it has little handles for carrying into the restaurant or the doctor waiting area. The scene is one that I loosely just copied from one of those car rugs you can buy for kids, painted with a mix of fabric and acrylic paint. I live in a small town, the fabric paint is both expensive and I didn?t have a wide selection of colors to choose from, so half-way through painting it I got pissed off and pulled out the acrylics. Here?s hoping that decision doesn?t come back to haunt me, or rather, haunt my nephew?s Mom. Heh.

I?m thinking I?ll also make something similar but the scene will be a forest with a pond and a pocket for small Schleich animals on the front.

5 Responses to “Christmas Crafting”

1. maria says:

   December 23, 2009 at 10:09 pm

   that is excellent! Naia needs something to keep her busy when we go out (really she needs a restraint).I only managed to buy christmas fabric for gift bags but never made them.
2. pogonip says:

   December 26, 2009 at 2:22 pm

   What a good idea! Acrylic paints work just fine. The fabric paints soak into the fabric and the acrylics tend to stay on top, in my experience. The trick is to heatset them. I’ve used the dryer on high. And I’ve ironed them using a paper on top so I didn’t gum up my iron. They’ve washed well too.
3. Christine says:

   December 29, 2009 at 7:26 am

   I am super impressed!
4. Candi says:

   December 29, 2009 at 12:53 pm

   These are awesome! You’re so creative. You could probably sell all this on Etsy if you had time to make extras!
   I did a few things with Jack… a hand ornament in plaster and paint it with watercolors! I created some handmade candy canes for the tree with pipe cleaners and red & white yarn. And we did a few drawings and a felt tree with little fuzzy balls glued on as ornaments! LOL! I’m not very imaginative that way– I need a project or craft to be outlined for me. I get a lot of ideas from the Family Fun website.
5. Christy says:

   December 30, 2009 at 6:22 am

   I wish I had an ounce of your craftiness, I’m one of those poor individuals that buys things – I need to change that, and I love coming here to see what you come up with!