Road Trip: Magnetic Games

 One of my biggest secret weapons for this week long, 30 hour car ride, trip, is a magnet board. I have been feverishly working on games to play using this board and have come up with 6 adorable tins. As you can see, most are from repurposed altoid tins, spray painted gold, then modge podged with adorable paper and the title of the contents.

Here's a rundown (from top left, going clockwise): Caterpillar game (six colors of dots, roll dice and try to make a caterpillar with all six colors first), story dice (5 - 3/4" wooden blocks with various clip art pictures modge podged on), camping game pieces, magnetic pattern blocks (along with several pattern block sheets), make a face (various face parts from magazines laminated then glued onto magnet sheet and cut out), and pieces for bug hunt game and dots to play both a monster memory game and a "color" the rose game along with two-color dice for rose game. 

I printed a few other games from Education.com as well, without magnetic pieces. I found some plastic spinners at the local teacher store, so created a variety of spinning and dice games for us to play. My mom was kind enough to send me dozens of old calendar magnets which have been perfect for all of these magnetic projects. I am also addicted to spray adhesive which worked perfectly for spraying on the magnets, then placing the paper (like the game pieces and face pieces) on top of before cutting out. Hopefully all this work will actually pay off and my child will enjoy most of these games.

Road Trip: Doll Picnic Table

In order for the dolls to eat in style on the camping trip, they need their own picnic table of course! After searching for a great pattern or tutorial, I came up empty handed. I wanted something light and easy to make that didn't involve wood but was sturdy enough for the three year old to use. I ended up drawing my own template, and used mat board and a sharp X-Acto knife to cut out the 5 pieces. The only modification not shown on the template is that I made small notches on the top of each connecting piece (on the H leg piece) to ease it into the corresponding slot on the table top and bench. I found some wood grained looking paper and decided to modge podge it onto the board and then used modge podge to hold it all together (although it could easily be the kind of table that is collapsable instead). It was plenty stable before the modge podge, and even more stable now. I found some little plates with interchangeable food pieces at the Dollar Tree. I think they are supposed to be erasers, but they make great semi-healthy food for the dolls to take camping!

Here is the template for the table. Enjoy your feast little dolls!

(I should mention that the Road Trip: Camping doll series is designed for 1" scale dolls, such as Ryan's Room and Plan Toys dolls).

Road Trip: Doll Mummy Sleeping Bag Pattern

We are less than two months away from another epic road trip! In the first installment of the Road Trip series this spring, I have decided that the dolls are camping with us this year. I am working on some other doll camping concepts, mostly heavily influenced by this concept. I love this idea, but hate the dolls and soda involved. Instead, I decided to sew some mummy style sleeping bags for two of our dolls from Sora's dollhouse (from Plan Toys and Ryan's Room).  

Don't they look snug as a bug?

Road Trip: Car Organizer

Spending 8 weeks living out of our car will be a little chaotic to say the least! I have a decent organizational plan for most of the items in the car, but we were in desperate need of some extra organization. After a lot of ideas and searching, I ended up inspired by this tutorial from Mayfly. 

I added some ribbon loops to hook drawstring bags to, as many of Sora's toys aren't flat enough for the pockets. I love repurposing fabric, because it reminds me of other times. This fabric was purchased for a sling for Sora which was only used for a short time. I had enough for two slings, so I have enough for two organizers! I'm hoping I have time to make one more for our stuff before we take off!

Road Trip: iPod Touch Holder Tutorial

The entertainment of last resort for our toddler is our iPod touch. I have downloaded a few videos specifically for Sora's enjoyment on our trip. The main problem is that I don't really want her to TOUCH the iPod touch. Tricky. It's very small, so it needs to be close enough to her that she can see and hear the video without actually being able to do much to it. Enter the iPod touch holder.

First, cut the pieces you will need. I made a long piece of bias tape to secure the pouch to a strap on the headrest. Also, it's hard to see, but I cut a small window out of clear vinyl**.

Hem one of the long edges of the smaller piece. Fold 1/4", then 1/4" again and edge stitch.

 Create the bias tape by folding the ends of the long piece to the middle, then folding in half. To do this effectively, I iron the piece in half first to know where the edges should be meeting.

 Edge stitch. Beautiful.

 You should have something that looks like this. I liked the looks of a rounded flap, so I just folded the larger piece in half and eyeballed the curve I wanted and cut. Cut the bias tape into two short strips approx. 4.75" long.

 Sandwich it all together, right sides together with the straps inside, and sew. I cheated and used the serger to create an easy line to fold the flap on, but would recommend sewing all the way around if just using a sewing machine using 1/4" seam allowance. Then, hem the flap, using the 1/4" stitching as a guide to fold on.

 With your pouch inside out, measure and mark the window and cut out the 1" x 3.25" piece, including a notch at each corner.

 With the pouch still inside out, iron the edges of the newly formed square to the 1/2" mark you made earlier. Carefully sew the vinyl in place.**

Insert iPod and mark where the snap or button placement.

 Add button or snap and you're all set to go!

 **Disclaimer: I had to totally ditch the vinyl idea when I realized I only had a ballpoint sewing needle that was not cooperating with this project. I ended up using a lot of packing tape instead, but still lament that decision. I would completely recommend the vinyl, but the packing tape has worked in a pinch.

Road Trip: Lap Tray Remix

I am preparing in a big way for our weeklong road trip with our rambunctious toddler. This is the first part of my road trip series.

I found a beat up lap tray at a garage sale for $.50. It was covered in stickers and Disney princesses, so I rummaged through my scrapbook supplies for something that would work. I didn't have one piece large enough, so I took two smaller pieces and cut them into 2" square pieces. That, plus a lot of modge podge, both below and above the paper, and the lap tray is as good as new.