Monster rice bag tutorial

I was pretty Bored tonight so I decided to play with some felt! And I came up with a little monster rice bag for my little man to snuggle up in bed with. You know those rice bags that we all have and love, you pop them in the microwave and then they heat up your feet or heal your sore back. Last year for Christmas I made me and a bunch of my girlfriends some, now my little boy just loves it. So I decided I would make him his very own and one that was maybe a little more his style!

This project is way simple, and so fun because there is NO WRONG WAY! and any mess ups don't matter at all because it just adds character to the little guys.  

Step 1. This took the longest for me! Trying to decide the shape of his body! I ended up drawing this shape and you are more then welcome to print it if you want! But really look at it??? NO PERFECTION HERE! just draw some weird shape and you can make it into a monster body!  After you have decided on the shape cut two pieces of that shape out of the felt. I just layered my pieces and cut them at the exact same time.

STEP 2. Next use your other felt pieces and give the guy some personality. Do what ever you please!! One eye, no eye, hair etc.

Step 3. Sew all of your little pieces to the top part of your monster. I have seen this done hand sewn or by machine. I used black thread because I thought the contrast would be a little fun but I don't think I love it! I also tried a new stitch on my machine around the eye balls, again not sure if I love it but whatever, it was fun to try out.

I sewed my little claws up into the body so that when I turned the monster inside out they would stick out... Does that make sense? Look at the pic...

Step 4. Sew right sides together all the way around. I left an opening on his foot to pour in the rice you can leave your opening where you think will be easiest to sew back up or to hide the opening.

Step 5. For some weird reason I store my rice in 2 liter bottles so I already had a funnel shape for the rice stuffing, so you can pour in your rice however you want!! (make a paper funnel or something) But go ahead and fill that bad boy up!

Step 6. Sew up your opening, Plop the guy into the microwave and give him to your buddy to snuggle up to to keep warm! Depending on how big you make your monster depends on how long to keep it in the microwave. For my normal one I usually do 2 min but that was too long for this little guy, I'd say 1 min to 1 1/2 min is good.

I think this is a fun little boy gift idea, I might make them for my little man to give to all of his little buddies. This monster is kind of small, I think next time I will make a bigger one, but this would be great for pocket warmers and just a little warmer for bed! Have fun! Send me pics if you make one!

P.S. what about cute flowers or hearts for girls?? or Valentines gifts!

Bottle Cap Fun!

SO I was at my favorite co op store the other day and they had these bottle cap thingys all over the place. They were really cute, and I decided I needed to figure out how to make them. So I kind of did but I am not 100% happy with it yet! Anyways I went to my craft closet and pulled out this gloss glaze stuff I had bought for a previous craft and bam it hit me this stuff would work. So here we go... I made these ones as magnets but I have seen them glued to hair clips, or how cute would they be as paper weights, or glued to the end of a paper clip, I don't know??? What else???

So now that I had the gloss my next, thought was where am I going to get bottle caps? I guess this project is more popular then I knew because Hobby Lobby had them and Ben Franklin, who would have thought??? I thought I was going to be drinking the night away!

PS I bought the gloss from Hobby Lobby forever ago, and this stuff lasts FOREVER!

Next, I looked in my embellishment drawer, yep I have an embellishment drawer! I decide to test it with Halloween brads, I just tore the brad part off of the back. and I cut a circle out in Halloween paper glue them both to the cap, and then put my gloss on top.

 You have to let them dry for like 24 hours and there you go you are done! They are simple and easy!

I tried doing it with stickers, and plain paper too, but the gloss discolors your paper, so I am thinking maybe if you laminated your print first and then glossed it it would maybe work?? I am not sure, but for now I guess I'll just stick to metal or plastic objects!

Finger Puppet Stocking Stuffers!

SERIOUSLY!! You know me I LOVE a good etsy shop, and I also love CUTE AND CHEAP!! Check out these darling finger puppets! I don't know about you and your kiddies but my kids Love love love to hear stories especially when we use picture books, flannel boards, or puppets. My cute friend Marie (you should check her out too) emailed me and introduced me to this shop. I love this idea for my kids Christmas stockings. Marie was able to actually meet these cute shop owners and said that they had all kinds of story sets such as the three little pigs, little Red riding hood, and even the nativity set. How darling! I can't wait to put my order in. The best part is that each puppet is only $2.00 each. Or if you are able to attend a boutique I guess their boutique prices are only $1.00 a piece! So if you live in UTAH (woo wooo) check out these boutiques and you find these darling puppets in person! (oh how cute would this be for a gift with the puppets and the actual book!!)

They will be displayed at:


Country Barn in Kaysville 3-6 November

Blue Goose in Lehi 4-6 November

Simple Treasures in Ogden 10-13 November

Candy Cane Boutique in Spring City 11-13 November

Holy Cow in Pleasant Grove 17-20 November

Sweet Tweets in South Jordan 18-20 November

Booth Barn in Pocatello 26-27 November

Beary Unique in Woods Cross 26 November- 4 December

Simple Treasures in Farmington 1 -4 December

Battlecreek in Pleasant Grove 2-4 December

Heartfelt in SLC 2-4 December

PS they do custom orders too!