Posted by Nicole Carney on May 1, 2015 in Fun with Felt, Gift Ideas, Spring Crafts and Activities | 0 comments

Life has been pretty busy since the arrival of our third baby (Miss A), which is one of the reasons why I’ve really dropped the ball in regard to updating my blog. I’m looking forward to summer when our lives won’t revolve around pick-ups, drop-offs, piano lessons, soccer, and homework. As busy as we may feel, my bugs and I have embraced the arrival of spring and all of the beauty that comes with it: trees and flowers budding and beginning to bloom; plump robins hopping around the yard; sweater weather; bike riding; puddle jumping; and the fresh, earthy scent after a thunder shower.

A few weeks ago I was watching some finches flitting from branch to branch, when I suddenly had the desire to create something with my bugs. When I mentioned the idea of making bird pillows to M, he had an even better plan: Angry Birds pillows!

Angry Birds Pillows

Materials:

Fabric (we used felt for the body of our Angry Birds, and some patterned fabric scraps for the belly and other details. You could also cut up an old T-shirt or P.J’s and incorporate that into your Angry Birds pillows as well).
Glue Gun (I used a hot glue gun because that’s what I own, but I recommend using a low-temp glue gun if you have one. You could also use a sewing machine or fabric glue.)
Scissors
Pillow Stuffing
Poster board or thin cardboard to create your templates
Sharpie

Creating Angry Birds Pillows

The first thing we did was Google images of Angry Birds so we could focus on their basic components, such as: the egg-like shape of the body, three different sizes of circles for the eyes, the furrowed eyebrows, a belly and a beak. Then I drew a large egg shape, for the body, onto the poster paper and cut it out to use as a template.

Next, I had my bugs pick out the colour of felt they wanted their angry bird to be and used the template to trace and cut out the body. I doubled the felt by folding it in half so I could cut out two identical body shapes at the same time.

Once they each had two body shapes, my bugs picked out a contrasting fabric for the belly while I cut out a belly shape from the body template.

I traced and cut out the bellies from the template, using their chosen fabric, and then did the same for the eyes. I used three glasses/mugs to get three different sized circles. My bugs chose the colours they wanted to use (I convinced them to keep the scleras white).

Next, I cut out some pointy eyebrows and a beak. B wanted the classic Angry Birds beak, while M wanted to use a simple triangle. Once the basic components of the Angry Birds were cut out and ready, I had my boys arrange and assemble the pieces.

M decided he wanted his Angry Bird to have a shield symbol like Superman, and I added a bow and eyelashes to the girl Angry Bird I made for Miss A. Once they were happy with how they looked, I glued all of the pieces in place using the hot glue gun.

With all of the features fixed in place, it was time to make our Angry Birds into pillows. I took the twin body piece, I had cut out at the beginning, and positioned it directly over top of the face of the Angry Bird.

Then I proceeded to glue the edges of the two felt bodies together, making sure to leave an opening at the bottom so the pillows could be flipped right side out and then stuffed.

My bugs had a great time tearing, stuffing, and plumping up their pillows!

The final step was to glue the bottom of the pillows shut. I did this by folding over the edges and pinching them together (this is where a low-temp glue gun would have come in handy– ouch!)