A quick print, a stop at the store to laminate all of the cards and pieces, and now we have a really fun (and cute) game. The boys love it!
Showing posts with label games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label games. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Halloween Bingo
I love the fun printables people take the time to create and share - - all over blogland. This is one that I found the other day over at Artsy Fartsy Mama - Halloween BINGO.
A quick print, a stop at the store to laminate all of the cards and pieces, and now we have a really fun (and cute) game. The boys love it!
A quick print, a stop at the store to laminate all of the cards and pieces, and now we have a really fun (and cute) game. The boys love it!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Tic Tac Toe Roll-Up
This is an idea that has been percolating in my head for awhile now. I have a son who LoVeS Tic Tac Toe. Yes, we can use a pencil and paper, but why not craft up a portable Tic Tac Toe board? I love the crayon roll-ups I've made and so a Tic Tac Toe Roll-Up seemed both easy and logical - my son is very, very happy! 
Want to make one too? Here's how it works:
Want to make one too? Here's how it works: Tic Tac Toe Roll-Up
Materials:
One 9 1/2" x 14" piece of fabric for the back
One 9 1/2" x 14" piece of fabric for the inside
One 5 1/2" x 6 1/2" piece of fabric for the inside pocket
One 2 3/4" x 6 1/2 " piece of iron-on interfacing
One square of black felt
Scraps of felt (two colors)
Heat and bond (a small piece will do - I prefer the heavy weight)
Button
Hair elastic
Instructions: 1. Cut your fabric pieces and interfacing as stated above . 
2. From your square of black felt, cut four 1/2" strips the width of the square. On the paper side of your heat and bond, draw five "O"'s and five "X"'s. I cheated and used a large font I like and traced them. Iron all of the O's on one color of felt and the X's on the other color of felt. Cut the letters out on the lines. 
3. Peel the paper off from the letters and now iron them on to the black felt. Cut them out leaving a 1/8" black edge on each letter. Set the letters aside for later.
4. Iron your interfacing to the wrong side of half of your pocket piece. This is just to give it a little extra stability for all those little hands taking the pieces in and out of the pocket. 
5. With right sides together, fold the pocket in half along the long sides (like a hot dog - teachers, you know what I mean :-)). Using a 1/4" seam, sew down one short side of the pocket and part way along the bottom. Backstitch and then with your needle up, move the pocket about 2" down and pick up sewing again along the rest of the bottom and up the remaining short side. Basically we're using the fold for the top of the pocket and sewing up the other three sides, leaving a small opening in the bottom for turning. Clip the two bottom corners and turn right side out. Press flat, being sure that the unsewn seam of your opening lines up evenly.
6. Top stitch along the top edge of the pocket.
7. Now sew the pocket on to the inside fabric along the shorts sides and bottom. Be careful to sew the opening down so that it catches the seam, in effect sewing that opening closed. I centered the pocket about 1 1/2" up from the bottom of the fabric.
8. Now place your black felt strips up on the top part of the inside fabric. Find the center and then move the strips around until you have the spacing you like. I centered my strips 1 1/4" in from each edge and left about a 1 1/4" space from the top of the pocket. Trim the felt strips as needed. Using black thread, sew the strips down along each of the four sides. Hint - pin your felt well and remove the pins as you sew so that the felt doesn't move or stretch or you sew.
9. This is what you should have now.
10. Pin your hair elastic at the center of the top - be sure that the big part of the loop lies toward the center of the fabric. With right sides together put the inside and outer fabrics together. Sew using 1/2" seam allowances along all outer edges leaving a 3" opening at the center bottom. Be sure to backstitch over the elastic (quite a few times).
11. Clip the corners off and turn right side out. Use chopsticks or another device to get your corners sharp. Iron flat and be sure your opening gets pinned closed so that the edges are even.
12. Top stitch all the way around, being sure to catch the opening and sew it closed. Just for good measure, I backstitched another couple of times over the elastic.
13. Roll up the game board and figure out where your button should be. Sew it on as you marked.
14. Add your "X"'s and "O"'s and off you go. 
2. From your square of black felt, cut four 1/2" strips the width of the square. On the paper side of your heat and bond, draw five "O"'s and five "X"'s. I cheated and used a large font I like and traced them. Iron all of the O's on one color of felt and the X's on the other color of felt. Cut the letters out on the lines. 3. Peel the paper off from the letters and now iron them on to the black felt. Cut them out leaving a 1/8" black edge on each letter. Set the letters aside for later.4. Iron your interfacing to the wrong side of half of your pocket piece. This is just to give it a little extra stability for all those little hands taking the pieces in and out of the pocket. 5. With right sides together, fold the pocket in half along the long sides (like a hot dog - teachers, you know what I mean :-)). Using a 1/4" seam, sew down one short side of the pocket and part way along the bottom. Backstitch and then with your needle up, move the pocket about 2" down and pick up sewing again along the rest of the bottom and up the remaining short side. Basically we're using the fold for the top of the pocket and sewing up the other three sides, leaving a small opening in the bottom for turning. Clip the two bottom corners and turn right side out. Press flat, being sure that the unsewn seam of your opening lines up evenly. 
6. Top stitch along the top edge of the pocket. 
7. Now sew the pocket on to the inside fabric along the shorts sides and bottom. Be careful to sew the opening down so that it catches the seam, in effect sewing that opening closed. I centered the pocket about 1 1/2" up from the bottom of the fabric. 
8. Now place your black felt strips up on the top part of the inside fabric. Find the center and then move the strips around until you have the spacing you like. I centered my strips 1 1/4" in from each edge and left about a 1 1/4" space from the top of the pocket. Trim the felt strips as needed. Using black thread, sew the strips down along each of the four sides. Hint - pin your felt well and remove the pins as you sew so that the felt doesn't move or stretch or you sew. 
9. This is what you should have now. 
10. Pin your hair elastic at the center of the top - be sure that the big part of the loop lies toward the center of the fabric. With right sides together put the inside and outer fabrics together. Sew using 1/2" seam allowances along all outer edges leaving a 3" opening at the center bottom. Be sure to backstitch over the elastic (quite a few times). 
11. Clip the corners off and turn right side out. Use chopsticks or another device to get your corners sharp. Iron flat and be sure your opening gets pinned closed so that the edges are even. 
12. Top stitch all the way around, being sure to catch the opening and sew it closed. Just for good measure, I backstitched another couple of times over the elastic. 
13. Roll up the game board and figure out where your button should be. Sew it on as you marked. 14. Add your "X"'s and "O"'s and off you go. Monday, February 21, 2011
New Game Finds
I come from a game-loving family. We played lots of board games growing up. Even when my boys were really little, we played whatever games we could. Now as they are growing up (too quickly I might add), we are adding lots of new games to our game closet. I wanted to highlight our two newest additions. They were hard to find! I had to win a tight bidding war on eBay for this first one.
May I present - Looping Louie. This is a game from 1992. I vaguely remember seeing commercials for it on TV way back then (YouTube has lots of videos including old commercials . . . too many people with too much time on their hands). Anyway, my brother-in-law and his wife have had this game since it was first out. My boys love to play it. It's just their speed. Basically, Looping Louie in his little airplane flies around in a circle trying to steal your chickens. You have a paddle to swat him away and if you're good, you can swat him right on to your opponents chickens. There are four paddles. The last one with a chicken still in their hen house wins. 
It is still available in Germany and the only one that was reasonably priced that I could find on eBay was straight from Germany. I got to put all the sticker decals on myself so it was new right out of the box. Definitely worth the eBay battle! On an additional note - just for fun sometime, google Looping Louie and check out all the National Tournaments for adults for this game. It really has quite the cult following! Makes me laugh.
While I was searching all over for Looping Louie, I found this game that is just like it - Bobbin' Bumblebee. The bumblebee (named Robin according to the directions) flies around trying to steal your honey discs. The last player with honey wins. I didn't get a close up picture of it, but the paddles on this game are little honey dippers - very cute! 
The bee is a little harder to flip around than Louie, but still it's a lot of fun. I wasn't going to buy it after I won the Looping Louie bid, but the boys begged for it. Now I'm glad I have both. This one came from eBay as well from a game store in England. It took nearly six weeks to get through customs - thank you terrorists who want to send packages to the US through the mail :-).
It is still available in Germany and the only one that was reasonably priced that I could find on eBay was straight from Germany. I got to put all the sticker decals on myself so it was new right out of the box. Definitely worth the eBay battle! On an additional note - just for fun sometime, google Looping Louie and check out all the National Tournaments for adults for this game. It really has quite the cult following! Makes me laugh.While I was searching all over for Looping Louie, I found this game that is just like it - Bobbin' Bumblebee. The bumblebee (named Robin according to the directions) flies around trying to steal your honey discs. The last player with honey wins. I didn't get a close up picture of it, but the paddles on this game are little honey dippers - very cute! The bee is a little harder to flip around than Louie, but still it's a lot of fun. I wasn't going to buy it after I won the Looping Louie bid, but the boys begged for it. Now I'm glad I have both. This one came from eBay as well from a game store in England. It took nearly six weeks to get through customs - thank you terrorists who want to send packages to the US through the mail :-).Sunday, October 10, 2010
Halloween Garland & Memory Game
A few years back I made some garlands for every season. This is my Halloween garland. 
Very easy and relatively quick . . . a few strands of jute/twine (is there a difference?), a couple of raffia bows on the ends, strips of properly colored fabric and then just hang some fun seasonal things from it. A handmade witch (of course) . . .
. . . and some pumpkins and bats. And there you have a Halloween garland.
Very easy and relatively quick . . . a few strands of jute/twine (is there a difference?), a couple of raffia bows on the ends, strips of properly colored fabric and then just hang some fun seasonal things from it. A handmade witch (of course) . . .. . . and some pumpkins and bats. And there you have a Halloween garland.A few days ago I came across this great Halloween Memory Game over at Oopsey Daisy - on a guest post by Lil Mop Top. She has these free printables which I promptly downloaded and immediately then sent off to Costco's photo center. A few hours later I picked up my 5x7 pictures (remind me NEVER to go to Costco on a Saturday evening right at closing time . . . and why in the world does Costco close early on Saturdays? I'll never understand that one!) Anyway . . . some black card stock and a few minutes with my paper cutter and my boys have the cutest little Halloween Memory Game. They loved playing it today - and I love people who are willing to share their great ideas!
By the way . . . I whipped out another 5 (yes, five) Feelin Witchy Dish Towels this weekend. L O V E them!
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