Royal play: Child flower crown activity.

We have discovered the world of play dates. We LOVE it. (Well except the constant having to clean part, boo). The little lady is in pre-school and making lots and lots of lovely friends and we try to have them over, (individually... I am so not that brave) at least once a week.  I am quite enjoying coming up with new ways to entertain them, and thought I would feature here some of the activities we have done together. So last week little N came to play and we indulged ourselves in a spot of flower crown DIY action. An activity which ticked the flower, fairy, princess, crown and sticking boxes nicely, go me.

Felty flowery goodness:

So this took about ten minutes to get together, whilst the girls played barbie houses. I roughly measured their heads and cut two felt crown shape lengths to the approximate size. Then I took to a bag of felt offcuts and cut flower shapes out of various colours, circle flower centres from yellow felt and leaves from various green felt pieces. Some of the flowers and the semi circle bush type things, I had from the Easter jars that never were, (RIP), but the remaining flowers I cut free-stylee, whilst the girls played. 

Serving suggestion:

Place all ingredients upon a serving platter, accompanied by a side dish of fine gloopy PVA glue, and two paint brushes. Then serve.

Sticky Fingers:

The little friend has been cropped out, a shame as she is the cutest little girl, but probably best not to show her here. This activity kept them occupied for at least a whole fifteen minutes and they were very happy indeed. A further ten minutes were enjoyed picking the glue off of their fingers. Take note of the costume choices, Cinderella and Princess Holly. Costumes appear to be the first rule of play dates.

Stitch it:

The crowns were left to dry over night and once so, I quickly stitched them into a circle and there we are, two little flower crowns for two little flower fairy princesses. Dreams.

Details:

Pretty aren't they? I believe the girls were very proud of their efforts. The bottom one was my little ladies, the top her friends.

Casually hanging around:

Model pose:

Action shot. Exactly 23 photos were taken to get this one shot. Extremely worthwhile as how cool is my girl?

Disco dancer:

And on a side note, the little lady attended her first school disco last week. This was her disco outfit of choice. My dad asked if it was fancy dress. Charming, it was not. The little chap went too, looking very dapper in braces but not allowing me to take a photo. She is definitely getting better at this posing for photos business, and this is her current pose of choice, the growl. Fierce.

So does anyone have any play date activity recommendations? Come on, hit me with them, I am looking for lots!!

DIY: Girls Alice in Wonderland costume.

The little lady was invited to an Alice in wonderland themed birthday party last weekend, now I presumed that everyone would be in Alice inspired costumes... Silly me, the majority were showcasing their finest of princess dresses. I am getting the gist of the 4 year old party circuit now, whatever the theme, girls arrive in a princess dress and boys in Spider man. Well a week ago I was oblivious to those rules and I set about making up the little lady her very own Alice costume. I showed her the cast on the iPad but as she has been insisting I call her Alice for months now, it was pretty much a no brainer as to whom she would chose.

On your marks:

First off I purchased a little blue school dress, I was going to fashion the dress out of a blue small ladies t-shirt, no doubt courtesy of Primarni, but I happened to be in a charity shop and spotted this, so that is how I rolled. £1.50, pretty much new. Bargain.

Apron:

Now I must admit I do not have any step by step photos. It was night time and I may have been partaking in a wine, but hopefully the following photos and my amazing commentary will show you the details you may wish you know. So first things first, I Whipped up an apron. I checked where the little ladies waist went then drew and cut the main central piece, sizing it according to the dress. The sleeve pieces were cut separately and sewn on, the scalloped edges were cut in three individual pieces and sewn on, as was the pocket. As always I used felt and embroidery thread. I still have my fabric stash so I used what I had and did not buy anything further than the dress. The ribbon was sewn using white embroidery thread, and the ribbon was free as it came tied around a pair of pyjamas I purchased. 

Pocket:

The apron was finished by embroidering the name Alice onto the pocket, this was partly done as I felt it needed something else but mostly as it is the little ladies favourite name. 

Details:

Here you can see how basic my sewing is, remarkably straight I feel as wine was involved. I used a running stitch throughout. After the apron I attached the lace frill to the edges. I actually already owned this as I had been planning to make these beauties (wow). I have been planning on doing this for over a year, it is never going to happen and definitely no time soon as I no longer have any lace. I sewed the lace using white cotton thread, and attached it to the bottom and around the sleeves.

Headband:

Any proper Alice needs accessories and these came in the form of one headband, previously owned with the leftover ribbon tied into a bow.

The white rabbit:

The most important accessory had to be the white rabbit, which I must admit was in fact King Kwak's idea. First off I found one white rabbit, a little sad and naked and in need of a makeover. This rabbit was a gift when she was born and I believe was from Gap. After a quick Google of the Alice rabbit, I made this little outfit for him from felt and fabric glue. I was quite proud of my attention to detail, check out the watch and glasses, love him.

Pocketed:

Once he was complete, he was popped into the apron pocket, and fastened with a couple squares of Velcro which were attached to him and the apron. 

Complete:

And that was that. Here is the whole costume together, I am very happy with the outcome, and most importantly my little girl was really very, very happy with her new costume, and attended her friends birthday party as one very proud Alice. Plus she has worn it most days since. The only thing I would do differently, if anyone was to make one, would be that I have since unattached the apron from the dress and it is now fastened with Velcro, sewn to both apron and dress, as this allows for it to be washed separately by hand.

Hello:

And here is one last shot of my lovely little lady, check out how happy she is, what a cutie.

Cost: Dress £1.50 Charity shop. Everything else previously owned.

Supplies: Dress, felt, lace trim, ribbon, white rabbit, plastic headband, embroidery thread, white cotton thread, fabric glue, needle and scissors.

Time taken: 3 hours max. 

So do you like this little Alice costume and have you ever whipped one up yourself? And did you notice she is getting a bit better at the photo posing? Good girl.