Monday, June 22, 2009

Felt Mail Tutorial

If your kiddos love the mail as much as mine, they will have hours of fun pretending to be a mail man or woman and playing with their very own set of felt mail!

Super cute and super easy to make!


Supplies:
Piece of 8 ½” by 11” paper or cardstock
Felt
Scissors
Velcro
Hot glue
Sewing machine or needle and thread
Ric rac or ribbon for embellishment

Step 1:

Measure and cut out your pattern pieces (you should be able to get them all on one piece of paper).
Envelope: 11” x 5” piece
Postcard: 4 ½” x 3 ½” piece
Letter: 4 ¼” x 3 ½” piece

Step 2: Envelope
Pin the envelope pattern to your felt and cut out.

Take the bottom of your felt envelope strip, fold up 4 inches and pin to make the envelope pocket.

Fold the two top corners together to form a triangle and pin (this will make the envelope flap).

(If you are trying to sew the least amount as possible you can just cut the triangle for the envelope flap instead of folding and sewing it, however I think the sewed version holds up better)

Sew along the perimeter of the envelope as well as the bottom of the folded triangle on the flap to secure.

Hot glue Velcro to the envelope flap as well as the back of the envelope, lining them up so they meet.

Hot glue one side of Velcro to the front of the envelope where the address, return address and stamp will go.

Step 3: Postcard
Pin the postcard pattern to a piece of felt and cut out (make sure you cut out 2 pieces, one for the front and one for the back). Add ric rac or ribbon to represent the address on your postcard and a stamp, pin and sew in place to one felt postcard piece. Pin your remaining felt postcard piece to the back of the embellished front and sew around the perimeter.


Step 4: Letter
Pin the letter pattern to a piece of felt and cut out (make sure you cut out 2 pieces, one for the front and one for the back).

Cut out ric rac or ribbon to represent the writing on the letter, pin and sew in place. Pin the backside of the letter behind the front and sew around the perimeter to secure.

*I also thought it would be fun for kids to make their own letters to put inside the envelope so I cut the letter pattern out with decorative scissors and let Mackenzie color on it. Older kids could actually write their own letters.

Step 5:
Have fun making some cute labels and stamps for your envelope! Glue the opposite side of the Velcro (than you glued on the front of the envelope) to the back of your stamps and labels.

Yeah your done! Present the felt mail to your little ones and become the coolest mom in town!



Mackenzie has a plastic mailbox (by Little Tikes I think) that she loves to put her play mail in, but it would be fun to make a mailbox with the kids out of an old shoe box as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. I would love to see your versions of this project as there are SO many different ways you can personalize it :)

Have fun creating!

And if your not the crafty type, but know your kids would love to some felt mail of their own, you can buy a set from my shop :)

21 comments:

  1. I LOVE this idea! My middle child loves to play with mail; I think she'd really enjoy these.

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  2. I think you should sell all your crafty stuff. Although I love your ideas I could NEVER make them! Let me know if you ever make things to sell.

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  3. so stinkin adorable!! I love this, Kristin! You are the coolest mom ever.

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  4. Here's our set that I made last christmas. We have a package and mailbox out of felt too. They were easy to make and would be a good addition to your set. I blogged about it here: http://mamabeefromthehive.blogspot.com/2009/05/mails-here.html

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  5. I've been meaning to make up something very similar to go in the felt mailbox I made for my daughter. Very cute!

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  6. What a super idea! I love them.

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  7. This is the cutest idea ever!!
    I am a mommycrafter too who likes to create and sew. This is fun going through your archives.
    B.jane
    bjanebrewing.blogspot.com

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  8. Hello!
    I really like your how to. I was wondering if I could translate it in French and add it to all the how tos as explained in my french article (http://www.petitcitron.com/index.php/form_howto.html)
    Of course, your website would be quoted and there would be a link!
    Thank you,
    Perrine

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  9. Thanks! I made some for my son for Christmas!
    http://cantgeteneff.blogspot.com/2009/12/handmade-christmas.html

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  10. OMG. These are amazing! Can I use this tutorial for my website please?

    www.craftersattack.com

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