Autumn Felt Play Food Pumpkin Pie

 I have been re-designing the old, tired version of my felt play food pumpkin pie into this sleek new version. I love how they sit nicely next to each other and are all handstitched for a nice, flat look. Enjoy!

New Felt Play Food Empanada Treats

I have some new felt play food goodies to unveil in my Etsy shop today, and am really excited about this one - as it is an original item never before seen on Etsy - Empanadas!

My husband has a special love for empanadas, as he lived in Chile for 2 years, and would seriously eat these daily. So, hopefully this felt food version will ease his cravings a bit - though please don't eat these ones, Austin. They are for the kids.

Make your own Play Kitchen!

We have a lot of play food around here. A. lot. And, crime of crimes - no play kitchen. (gasp!) I have been wanting to make/buy a play kitchen for E and little A ever since she was born - especially now that her play food collection (my first designs are always hers) has grown to overflowing her little tote. She needs a kitchen. 

I absolutely detest the plastic crap that is sold in toy stores, and have long wanted a beautiful, handmade play kitchen made from natural wood. I have scoured Etsy.com and other beautiful models from other online sellers, but sadly cannot justify the $300-$500 pricetags on the ones that I would put in my home. 

My husband is really skilled with wood working, but sadly full-time school, work, church callings and family life in general haven't permitted him the time to make a play kitchen from scratch. SO, while reading some excellent blogs, I found some amazing DIY projects! This pink & white one is made from a simple Ikea shelf, instructions here on ikea hacker.




Here is a great one made from an old nightstand from oh write! This is her version, and I am SO excited to use some of her amazing ideas to make our own play kitchen for the kids for Christmas this year! 

Last Christmas we decided to make Maren a little kitchen of her own. I had seen a few ideas here and there (I'm sure you have, too!), so I can't take complete credit for what we came up with.

We found this little footed nightstand on Craigslist for $15. Here's the best before picture I have. We had already sanded the top, but you can see how the piece looked in it's original form.

And, the completed kitchen:
We used wood craft circles and a square dowel for the burners. We painted wood nobs found in the craft store for the black nobs. The sink is a square cake pan and the faucet came from a salvage yard. Brett cut shelves to fit where the drawers had been, and cut and routered the back splash from a piece of shelving we had on hand. Hinges and handle for the oven came from Lowe's.


The inside of the oven is spray-painted shiny silver, and we have since added chains to both sides of the oven door to make it more sturdy. I made the little curtain rod with leftover fabric from M's nursery, and it's hanging on a small tension rod.

We estimate having spent close to $60 total, but definitely could have done the project for cheaper. Since this was a gift for our only child, we did splurge on a few things. (Namely the faucet...it cost $20, but we loved the size and the 'realness' it brought to the project! We also splurged on the handle for the oven door, and again, just loved the size and look of the one we chose.)

I found some great pics of other DIY play kitchens, and am so excited to get going on E and A's!! 

Waffling Around

I. Love. Waffles. 

 Though I don't top my waffles with the traditional butter & syrup (applesauce, berries or banana slices is more my cup of tea), I could eat waffles every day.

My Etsy shop has desperately been needing these little play food beauties to brighten things up a bit.

Enjoy!

Felt Food Bakers Rejoice!

My childhood baking memories are bubbling up through my creativity, and manifesting themselves through felt. I have long needed a felt play food Baking Ingredients set to add to my shop. This set was inspired by my daughter, who loves to help me in the kitchen, and who insists on having her own "ingredients" to add to her felt food baking bowls.

This set was a real challenge as I waffled back and forth, trying to decide whether to allow the sacks to be opened or sewn shut. I wasn't sure how to create "flour" and "sugar" that would be functionable and something that wouldn't be scattered throughout the house, aggravating unsuspecting Mothers. In the end, my genius husband suggested 100% cotton balls - perfect!

The egg, which is my very favorite felt food item, is inspired by one of my favorite wool food artisans called Wool Food.  I make it my habit to never copy another designer's work, but as I struggled to design a sewn, "crack-able" egg that didn't have at least 4 tacky seams, I gave in, learned to "wet felt" and thankfully pushed on.

I hope this set inspires Grandmothers, Mothers and Daughters to spend time gathered around the counter (or play kitchen) sharing teaching moments together.

Kitchen Tools

Little chins resting on the counter, short legs tip-toeing on chairs, eyes curiously watching, and eager little hands helping is one of my favorite moments of the day as we sift, mix and measure random powders, flours and goopy syrups when making cookies.

I hope to share some of my favorite moments with my new set of kitchen utensils in my Etsy shop.

My favorite is the pancake turner, mostly because it is my daughter's favorite. She spent an afternoon flipping felt play food pancakes, eggs and pies at me as I worked. She also made great use of the measuring cup by filling it with spools of my thread and bobbins. Thread cookies anyone? Huge grins and giggles from each of us that day.

Special Order Surprises

I love getting custom orders!  It can be easy to get stuck in a bit of a play food rut when making multiples of one item over and over again. The creative juice just dries up. Then along comes a lovely custom request that shakes things up, gets my problem-solving left-brain clunking into gear, thinking of new ways to approach a play food item and its design logistics.

I have some really fun items "cooking" lately and wanted to share a few. The Burrito Chips and Salsa set makes me drool for my favorite local Lone Star Taqueria, if only the felt version could taste as good!  I also love the yogurt cups that were a custom design requested from a large wholesale order. My kids love taking the lids off, grabbing their spoons and playing snack time with them. Now I just have to hide a few for my customers!

Candy Dreams

I just can't stay away from chocolate - I will admit it openly... "Hello, my name is Rebecca & I am a choc-o-holic." Even my play food business cant escape my chocolate addiction. So here is the newest item cooked up in the Bug Bites sweet shop: Chocolate Candy Bars! Just please don't lick it, the fuzz doesn't melt in your mouth...

This life-sized bar fits into its felt wrapper perfectly & is held inside by a velcro tab - so much fun for Little Chef's, my daughter loves to carry her bar around, wrapping & unwrapping it. A future Willy Wonka someday?

Now, if you want to try the real thing - I highly recommend Green & Blacks Organic Ginger, Organic Mint & any of their Organic Dark Bars. For a real twist, & for the adventurous chocoholic like myself, try Chuao Spicy Maya Chocolate - spicy, tingly & ooooh so delicious! Now, off to my chocolate stash to indulge!