The holidays are creeping up and if you are a fan of making your own gifts, this felt board is a great option for the little ones in your life. It can be as intricate or as simple as you have time for and provides hours of imaginative fun! These are my tips to help you along the way!
If you have been following along, you know how much of an IKEA fan I am.
TIP: Fiskbo frames are perfect for kids in that they are lightweight and there is no glass involved, just a sheet of protective plastic.
This sheet of plastic was perfect to hot glue the felt backing on. Trim around the edges to take off the excess felt, put it back into the framing and secure down.
You’re left with a clean, flat and secured felt board! 
My nephew LOVES firetrucks and I made this for his 3rd birthday! In this scene he can fight the fire in the building by knocking them out of the windows!
TIP: One of the best parts of a felt board is how interactive it can be. Make sure to give the props purpose to keep imaginations and attention spans running!
Not only does the ladder come off the firetruck, but I included a moveable water hose to assist with those blazing flames!
TIP: The ladder is attached with small velcro dots. Although felt does stick to each other, it can be hard to play if they don’t stick well enough. These velcro dots give a little bit more reinforcement which is probably needed when kids are playing anyways!
I had to include my nephew in a firefighter costume. And because I know that children change interests all the time, the velcro dots will come in handy making new outfits and new scenes for more fun in the future!
TIP: My last tip is to make sure all of the pieces have a place to be stored and protected. It is as easy as hot gluing some stiff felt pockets for the large and small pieces. Plastic bags don’t hurt too!
Although the pieces in this scene were rather intricate, they do not have to be! A simple house with doors that open and close or a couple roads with rectangular cars are just a couple of examples of scenes that are interactive and fun!
Glue all of your pieces onto your base and you will start to see your character take shape! Decide what details you would like to add and embroider those on. I used the outline stitch with only one (black) or two (other colors) pieces of thread.
Once you decide which setting your character should be in, use the stiff felt for that base. I wanted Pegasus to be on a cloud under a rainbow, of course!
To make the rainbow, I was not sure how big it would end up being so I started with the inside and worked my way out with rainbow sequins and clear seed beads. I also added some clear, iridescent sequins to the outline of the cloud.
Turn your character around and hang your ribbons from the bottom with a little bit of glue. Make a loop for hanging and glue onto the top. Cut out another piece of felt to cover the entire back portion and glue on.
Done! This is definitely more intricate but as long as you have some stiff felt, ribbons and glue, you can make the same thing in whatever shape or style you wish. Cut out a pink heart, add a loop and some ribbons on bottom and you’re done! Get those pre-cut felt shapes and designs and glue those on, add a loop and some ribbon and you’re done!
This can be a great gift and a way to keep all of the bows and clips in one place with something cute to hang up on the wall or towel rack. Now they are all out in front of her. Hopefully we have cut the “pretty thing” searching down a couple minutes. Lol!
