I love Etsy and I love browsing the different sections and looking for inspiration. I recently came across Imaginative Play Toys and fell in love with her felt playhouses! So much fun!!! I especially like this one. I talked to my sisters to see if they would be interested in making a couple of these for the boys. One for my son, one for his cousin that is the same age, and a combined one for his other two cousins that are quite a bit younger. They said ‘sure’! I wasn’t sure if my son was getting too old for a playhouse, but those thoughts went out the window when I saw his excitement over a big box that I had that he could play in.
I bought the animal template .pdf file (they are so cute) from Imaginative Play Toys and started thinking about different themes. We decided on a camping theme for my son, an old west theme for his cousin the same age, and a safari/jungle theme for the younger boys.
Now came the overwhelming feelings!!! How exactly do you layout and design a panel that is 29″ x 36″???
My dad has a projector that I have used in the past for big projects and it worked great for this as well. We taped big sheets of paper to the wall and projected the individual pieces and started drawing.
These are two of the sides for my son’s.
Now the fun part, cutting each piece out and sewing them to the background!
It has been difficult for the three of us to get together at one time, so we are getting together as schedules work. One of my sisters came over yesterday and we cut all of the side panels out, all of the roofs, and she took the animals and a bunch of felt to cut out at home.
We had piles everywhere!!!
Luckily, we had plans for these little helpers! My son spent the day with his grandparents and my sister’s daughter was entertained in her walker.
However, we did not have plans for these two little helpers. Don’t they look sweet and innocent…don’t let that fool you. This was after the wrestling match on the couch that they got in trouble for 🙂
This is my sister’s new puppy. She is a 1/2 sister to Rose. Paisley had a lot of fun with her.
All in all we got a lot accomplished on the playhouses and had fun.
If you are interested in making your own felt playhouse, here are a couple of really good sites…
Homemade by Jill – she offers a complete tutorial
The Crafting Chicks – lots of pictures
I will post more pictures as ours come along.
Stories from the Farm 
Those look so cool. When Katie and Chris were young I made personalized sleeping bags for them as well as a log of stuffed animals. It would have been fun to create something like this if I had thought about it.
Robin