Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The Wonder Of Sloths

In case I haven't mentioned it before, I teach kids how to do crafty things. That's the general gist of my day job, and it is pretty awesome. Right now a group of 6 year olds that I am teaching are learning about the rain forest. So to help in their quest for knowledge I made them a pair of sloths! Please meet Sadie and Baby Wondersloth! Aren't they adorable?

Did you know that in the rain forest, sloths move so slow that they actually have some types of plants and algae growing off of them, so they look like big green and brown mossy mammal plant masses? I specifically chose fabrics that I felt looked like perfect camouflage for two sloths in the rain forest. Their sweet faces are made of felt and hand embroidered. The rest of them is entirely machine sewn and they are currently loving their new home.


I purchased the pattern for them from Bit Of Whimsy Dolls. I was able to purchase the pattern on their website and then download it directly onto my computer to print out. It was my first time using a downloaded pattern like that, and it was so easy and fool proof that I think I need to do it more often! I have always been a little wary of download and print patterns, which seems crazy now in hindsight, but I am sure I will more than make up for lost time now that I have opened my eyes to their awesomeness.


In case you are wondering where the name of Wondersloth came from, it actually was given to her by the kids I made her for. There is a game that they normally play with a ball, that has a song that goes with it about passing around a "wonderball". Well, the kids took it upon themselves to change the words of the song to be about the sloths, so now Sadie and Baby are Wondersloths, and although they have no magical powers, they do only have three toes on each limb and they currently hold the title of "Best Sloths Ever". I guess we will see if they get any sort of competition for that title, but I kind of doubt it. ;)

Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July my fellow American readers! I hope that regardless of what country you are from you have had a restful weekend and are ready to tackle the rest of the week. I am currently recovering from my three day weekend which was filled with lots of craftiness and adventures. I promise to have more interesting things for you as the week goes on, but for now I will leave you with this reminder that you are never too old to play with sparklers!