felt face

One of my girls' favorite take-along toys (for long church meetings, car trips, and waits in doctor's offices) for years has been "felt face." (Really, we're a creative bunch, but our naming seldom is. The girls' stuffed animals bear the sobriquets of "koala", "pink lady," and, even, for Marian's beloved--and painstakingly handmade--Waldorf doll: "Dolly"). Our original has been around for 5 years now and still gets added to the bag again and again.

I used a clamshell cardboard box (originally, felt face lived in a box I got in the mail, with a Dove deodorant sample, but has been upgraded to one of the boxes her feeding tube extensions come in. I can't throw those babies away!), and covered the flap and base of the box in felt. Although it has a lot of tiny pieces, few have been lost because they stick nicely to each other and the felt in the box. I then cut 2 1/2" circles out of several colors of skin tone felt. Using these as size guides, I snipped matching half-moon ears and lumpy potato noses, then circle eyes and a variety of mouths. I initially worried a lot about planning the hairstyles, but have found that lots of shapes work. I just lay a face circle on the felt and cut around it, snipping the outside margins of the hairstyle first, then removing the face and cutting an inner edge. If you start with a simple bob or "boy hair", then that hair template can be used repeatedly to keep more fanciful 'dos within the right size family. Hair bows are a necessity in my family, and I added hats & glasses, too.

A special little pair of boys turns 3 soon, and I thought they would be ready for a felt face of their own. Theirs is pretty fancy, because I've upgraded to wool felt since I snipped ours. And lined their box in velvet :) (though it's still just cardboard!). Marian decorated the outside for me: Sunday she bustled about, gathering an armload of school supplies. "Mom, do you know what I'm doing? It's something special for you!" She then proceeded to measure and cut and glue (I peeled the medical labels off the box, but the subsequent sticky needed to be covered) and decorate. Very thoughtful of my little craft artist!

The features they have to choose from:
(Are you an unadventurous snipper, though longing for a felt face of your own? Enlarge this photo & use it as a pattern!)