felt-a-palooza.

at some point in my life pre-jack, i apparently became convinced that in the future, there would be a felt shortage. and though i can't remember this attack of way-too-prepared-ness, i apparently took it upon myself to purchase multiple 8.5 x 11 inch sheets of every color of felt in the rainbow. these sheets comprise a large portion of one of my rubbermaid craft tubs, and everytime i need some felt, i am overjoyed to discover the extensive and colorful collection. i have not the slightest recollection of having made this purchase, and what's more interesting is that each time i return to the tub, it seems to have gotten larger, with more colors, just in the shade i need. are they multiplying in there? i can't be sure.

anyway, this all ties in to this post, i promise. i was feeling a little down after putting away all the christmas decorations. something about taking the tree and garland and christmas burlap away just tugs at the heartstrings. so i decided to channel my efforts into some crafts to ward off impending doom. i descended upon the felt collection and decided to make some of my "pins" a reality.

one of the things i've had pinned to my DIY board was this adorable number.

(From here)

apparently this little back-of-the-chair valentine's day card holder was originally from pottery barn.

upon some further research, i discovered that it was being sold for $19. which was about $18 too much for this cheapskate. especially when you have an entire collection of felt multiplying in a craft box.

voila! this is my version:

it's as easy as making a felt envelope. because it is a felt envelope. when i excitedly shared this new creation with john, his response was less than enthusiastic. "that will be very handy for all the valentines he's going to get," john began. (i didn't even detect, nor suspect the veiled sarcasm.) "I KNOW!" i exclaimed. "that's exactly what i was thinking!" "yeah, except i bet he'll get ONE. from you." he finished. i promptly texted my mom and asked if she was going to send jack a valentine. to which she replied, "of course." so see, john? this project WAS totally necessary to hold jack's 2+ valentines. and even if he doesn't get ANY valentines (oh, the horror!) i still think this is a cute use of 4 sheets of felt.

the thing about felt is... when you get started with it, the fun just multiplies. and speaking of multiplication, let me issue this disclaimer. i can't do math good. hahaha. no, really. i don't want to share with you the exact timeframe on this, but i was sort of convinced for awhile that there were 5 quarters in a dollar. and my checkbook is perpetually off. i just forget to carry the 1 or something, i don't know. usually this results in us having more money than i think we do, and lots of unnecessary stress for my husband, who, each week, seems just as surprised with my math ineptitude as he was the week before. which is rather surprising to me, considering i've never taken a math class in the 8-ish years we've been together. come on, john, face facts. you married a felt crafting wizard, not a mathematician. but just because i'm not good at addition (well, if we're being honest, it's mostly subtraction) doesn't mean that jack has to suffer a similar fate. in fact, my hope for my dear son is that he doesn't inherit my sub-par division skills and that he has a gusto for calculus some day.

and so, to that end (and as a precursor to the magnetic felt alphabet i hope to one day accomplish), i used up a few more of the felt scraps to make him a little set of numbers.

inspiration from here.

i stuffed all the numbers into the little felt bag and set it on the couch, fully intending to give it to jack at some point in the future. after he woke up from his afternoon nap, however, he discovered the bag and pulled all the pieces out. i lined them up on the floor and counted each number (flawlessly, to my husband's surprise!) and he then mimicked me by grabbing each number and jabbering with different voice inflections which suggested he was trying to count like me. he has now taken to carrying the bag around the house, dumping all the numbers out, "counting" them, and then stuffing them all back in. he is partial to the purple equal sign. i am, to be perfectly honest, surprised that he cares at all about these things, but maybe it will be motivation for me to get started on the alphabet. i'm HOPING to convince my husband to paint one of the small walls in jack's room with magnetic primer. so far, my idea has hit a wall of laziness ("but we already have a refrigerator he can use."), but i'm not giving up just yet. stay tuned for the showdown!