They are felted wool balls with bells in them. I love felted wool it's so nice AND it's washable so if the kids get them dirty so what? There is just something about toys made with natural fibers and materials. Which these are, all except the bells in the middle. They are still wet in these pictures. But I think for my first attempt they are OK. I don't think I will post a tutorial, maybe but I am unsure yet.I decided this year for Christmas that I am going to do a lot of handmade gifts- some by me and others not. Mostly for the girls. I want them to learn to appreciate gifts, that are handmade, small business items. As opposed to mass produced items that are just flashed all over TV screens and such. There is so much commercialism in everyday life that I want to try to at least get them to notice other things. It's important to me also because I so easily get sucked into materialism. I need to simplify, downsize... and quit accumulating so much stuff. Emphasize quality over quantity. I was doing well until this last deployment I just got sucked into it all again. I have a tenancy to use the phrase "retail therapy" quite a bit. I don't want the girls to learn that from me.
Haha! My 4 year old came up and said "Mama, who made those balls? Are they for me?"
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, these days everything is mass produced and plastic. What happened to unique hand made gifts that were given a lot of thought besides running to the nearest toy store to pick up something? I'm trying hard to make sure my boys appreciate the thought behind gifts more then materialistic item.