Felt Board

Ta-da!!! Presenting the latest project happening around this house: a felt board and a whole bunch of felt 'things-that-go'. It was a really easy project to do, super fun, but let me level with you - not cheap. (Plus I have a blister from the scissors...boo hoo).

Here's how it went down. Over the weekend we stopped by Fabric-Land to pick up 1.5 meters of the green and blue background fabric.  I cut out the green, pinned it to the blue, straight stitched it along the edge, and stapled the entire background to a 36x48" canvas artists' board from Deserres.

I bought a ton of felt squares in fun colours from the dollar store (plus I had some leftover felt from a high school project - its over 300 years old and in great shape!).  Also picked up child friendly craft glue from Mary Maxim, and new sharp scissors.  I ended up buying WAY too much felt. I will save it to create new felt board shapes as my son gets into dinosaurs, or pirates, or castles, etc...)

The dining room became our workshop. I will tidy it up today.  I don't bend down as smoothly as I used to (33 weeks!!), so we let the mess lie where it fell.  My son came up with what shapes he wanted me to make.  We have a rocket, a farm, the three bears cottage in the forest, and, of course, trucks and buses.  Most of the small shapes, such as the wheels, have been glued on (he pressed them into the glue), but I will take my time and sew each of them by hand.   I also added some velco to the shapes that seemed a bit heavy and fall off easily.

Here is the cost breakdown:
Artist canvas - $36
Blue Felt (sky) - $12 - $8/metre
Green Felt (grass) - $12 - $8/metre
Felt squares - $14 - $0.50/each
Glue - about $5
New scissors - about $12
Green thread - $3.50 (probably WAY cheaper at the dollar store)
Total: $94.50

Shocking, right?  I bought everything seperately on different days, so I didn't realize how much it cost until I did the math.  You could create a felt board using one colour background (save $12, and $3.50 for thread), tacked to a piece of cardboard (save $36), and buy fewer squares since I over bought (save $10), and use scissors you already have (save $12)...a more frugal (or sensible) version would only cost you $20.  (Are you judging me now? Just a little?)

Anyways, I LOVE LOVE LOVE it...and my son gets a kick out of it too.  I would like to mount it to the wall beside his bed, so we can use it for night time stories...but our drill died (I am not adding the price of a new drill to the cost breakdown!)

His room is almost done.  I just need to get my hands on a drill, and the truck photos redeveloped.

Fun, right? Worth $100? I think so! What shapes would you add?

Update: July 25, 2012