Flannel Friday - How To Make Flannel Sheep!

It's a Sheep Sharing!
How to Make Flannel Sheep

The season is changing.  Fall is knocking on the door.  I should be thinking new purse, warm scarf.. but all this gal wants this season is fancy flannel sheep for story time.  They are the perfect accessory for everyone's library.  You heard it here first!

If you would like to be "on trend",  stay right here!  We'll show you how to make your own set of fancy flannel cheeky sheep.  You'll be the talk of the town!  Seriously!  I kid you not.  Just take a look at the baby in my sheep set!

Yes, he has boots on because that's what little boys need in the mud!

Today's post is a "how to" and I will try my best to not get wordy.  Hopefully the pictures will do the talking.  If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I will respond.

Three templates:

$3.18 worth of felt, on sale at Michaels!

Cut out the template and tape to the black felt.  Use tons of tape! (makes it easier to cut)

Be sure to cut outside the line

Great!   The sheep's backing is done.  (I'm being followed by a sheep shadow, sheep shadow sheep shadow) (I can't stop myself...and kudos to those who "get it")

Now cut the template, TEMPLATE ONLY..cut off the head, and the legs.  (you know I wanted to write CARVE off)

Tape his big furry body to the blue felt and cut inside the line.

Do the same with the head, I used light blue.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes!

Or ...I know that song ...Put your little foot, put your little foot, put your little foot right here!

Back to directions: I do not return to the template for things like legs. I place tape on the back of the felt and just cut straight pieces.  And I free cut the curlicues...also making sure there is tape on the back for cutting-ease, then remove the tape and open up the curl a little.  The tape makes cutting easier.  Believe me here.  I use tacky glue generously to build my pieces.  

Now, I did make a template for the fancy fun additions for the sheep.  These sheep will have a simple story before we sing their song! So, here's their fancy parts!  I will add one earring to mom, just need to find a gem. (she's a one earring, dancing sheep, aging hippie, with a late-in-life baby...you know how it goes!)

Mom's next, of course!

And then Dad - he's deciding if he wants a retro-John Lennon or a youthful Harry Potter "look!" It's difficult keeping up with Mom!

I will use the same process with mom and dad.  I'll post a family portrait asap.  So, I'm thinking you'll want to stop back here again.  Soon!  I know you are dying to see the pink leopard felt on the mom!  Well, I am too!  Time to wrap this baby up and get to work on mom and dad.  

These are the NEW 2013 Fall Colors.  Again, you heard it here first!

Before we send you off all fashion forward, feeling your inner Fancy Nancy we just want to mention our blog post for the International Dot Day - it was a great day!  Our dot flannel pieces are incredibly easy to make.  Go take a look.  Piper and I are big Peter H Reynolds fans!  

Questions?  Comments!  We love hearing from you.  Thanks ~ Piper and Jane

WE are FAMILY!  
click to that ^ link - for songs and fun!

 

P.S. (Piper Script) If you'd like to visit our very traditional sheep made long ago...just click here

International Dot Day!

Someday, somewhere, someone will ask you..."Where were you on International Dot Day?"  Were you in the library?  Well Piper was and boy oh boy did we have fun!  Check out our flannel dots!  Pretty cool, huh?

Now look at what our friend made with the dots.  I know, who knew?

A flying butterfly bear!  It's the best!

The power of the "dot".  Who doesn't love dots?

And who doesn't love Peter H Reynolds?  He's the author of the amazing and inspiring 

children's picture book, The Dot.  He's an award winning illustrator, author and founder of FableVision. (you have to click Fable Vision, truly click-worthy) Oh, and he owns a book store too, the Blue Bunny in Dedhan, MA.   I found the following sentence on his dot page:

 International Dot Day, a global celebration of creativity, courage and collaboration, began when teacher Terry Shay introduced his classroom to Peter H. Reynolds’ book The Dot on September 15, 2009.

Well, since I'm an obvious *FAN GIRL * we joined International Dot Day with  

Prime Time - Pajama Story Time with Mrs Breen and Piper!

Our books included The Dot, Lots of Dots by Craig Fraizer

and Herve Tullet's Press Here.  Following the stories 

and the singing game/placing all the dots on the flannel board - we made our mark.  

Yes we did, Peter H Reynolds! (Oh how I hope you're reading this!)  

With colorful paper and glue sticks and stickers - we went to town.

Hold on, here's another one!

I'm sure you know that you can't leave Pajama Story Time without some of 

Piper's Magic Fairy Dust and a goodbye to sweet ladybug.

Sweet Dreams my friends!  We love your comments.  Just leave us a dot!

And where were you on International Dot Day?  hmmm?  just askin'

P.S. (Piper Script) Peter H Reynolds  has a blog - get to know him and his books.  And yes, I have an orange ball in my mouth!  

Autumn leaves are falling down

Holy Pumpkins!
What happened here in New England?  Did Halloween really come and go?  And is Thanksgiving around the corner?  Yikes!
I don't know if anyone still has leaves on the trees but here is a belated seasonal post. Quick and easy!  I pass out leaves to all of the children in story time and ask them to please keep them safe while I tell them about the great big beautiful pumpkin that Piper and found in the pumpkin patch.  We brought our pumpkin home and we carved it... and now it is called a ... that's right, a jack-o-lantern!  Piper loves jack-o-lanterns!  And she loves running around in the leaves that fall in Autumn.  Autumn is a very exciting time when you are a little black dog.

(Then we sing a song - one of Piper's favorite songs, to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down,

while we make our fingers trickle down like rain)

Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down

Autumn leaves are falling down

Yellow, Green and Brown

Now it's time for the children to bring their leaves up ..we sing again...and slowly wait for each color...

YELLOW

GREEN

AND BROWN

I'm always surprised by how much fun this is for the group.  So we usually do it again and this time we sort.

The pumpkin along with the labelled leaves were made with foam.  I actually backed the orange pumpkin with red foam and he stands out quite nicely on the felt board.  The leaves the children bring up are all felt.  I think I made about 40 of them.  You never know with a drop in Pajama Story Time.  

Okay - there is another part to my post today...

I recently added this item to my wardrobe...it's temporary

and it is a pain in the neck, for sure.  I decided last night that it needed to be flannelized. So, my dear sweet Flannel Friday Friends...here's the flannelization of the neck brace!    

I think it is a lot more friendly with the flannel flowers!  

I sincerely hope that our Flannel families are safe and sound.  I have missed you all for the past two weeks.  I didn't even have felt til yesterday.  Talk about withdrawal symptoms!  I did a lot of sketching for new ideas though.  That was fun!  Piper is staying close to me.  She has a couple of buddies to keep us cozy.  

Do you do the Autumn leaves are falling down song as well?  So simple and so successful.  Leave us a note, we'd love to hear from you ~ jane and Piper

Black Cat, Black Cat

What do you see?

Welcome to Piper Loves the Library as we approach Halloween.  Today's post started with the creation of a craft.... that was inspired by a Flannel Friday comment two weeks ago.  I am so sorry that I do not remember who mentioned that for Halloween stories they do" Black Cat, Black Cat, what do you see?"  You're brilliant!  You turned the light on to hundreds of possibilities for me...Butterfly, Butterfly what do you see?  Unicorn, Unicorn, what do you see?!!  Honestly - brilliant!!  Thank you.   

So I made  a black cat puppet. It is a paper cat on-a-paint-stirrer-puppet!  It does indeed resemble Pete the Cat.  Pete's popularity continues to grow ...just about everywhere!  Piper and I love Pete and we will be reading one of Eric Litwin's Pete the Cat books this coming Monday night for pajama story time.  And we'll make this craft. 

Here's a photo of the back of the paper puppet,  taped with painters tape, (have I mentioned that I have a Sherwin Williams Paint Store next door to the library?)

I knew right away that this cool cat needed to be made again, and this time with felt!  So here is the flannel board version:

I just love him!!

Now, I have absolutely no idea why I decided that everything the black cat would see should begin with the letter S but something sparked this in my brain!!  Why S?  Not a clue!  I only know that I didn't want to make this black cat Halloween exclusive. (yet I guess I was thinking seasonal stuff!!)

Black Cat, Black Cat what did you see? 

I saw a snake looking at me!

a squirrel

and...a spider!  

I am looking forward to the craft...we make our share of paint-stirrer-stick puppets in Pajama Story Time but this one feels extra special to me.  I think this black cat's personality is a combination of Pete the Cat and The Pigeon.  Really!  Take a look!

Hey!  How about we read a book?

Or maybe bake?  Look, a lemon bar recipe.  I like lemon bars.

and we could sit on the couch and read about Daisy while they bake.  

Wait!  Are you drinking chai?  

Are you taking a break without me?

Do you have a lemon bar in your mouth???

Help your children build their story telling, narrative skills.  Get out your smart phone, take some photos and have some fun!  They can review the pics and tell the story over and over!  (to daddy, to grammy, to auntie Dorothy) 

Please do not let Piper know that this happened at home today.  She will be sad.  

I am not afraid of anything!

The little old lady...

     ...should have brought her flashlight along with her!  

We use flashlights in story time with this book.  You know the part, when the little old lady starts to head home and there is only a sliver of moon - we turn off the lights.....it's scary!  It's fun!  It's scary fun!!  We all have our flashlights, thank goodness!

This is another one of the old flannel board stories that I've pulled out for Fall.  The little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything written by Linda Williams is an absolutely fail proof story.  

These flannel board  pieces were created while my daughter swam laps at swim team practice.  I knew I needed a story for the next day's program...I had a manilla folder with me and some colored pencils.  I drew on the folder, colored with pencils, cut and then I placed sand paper on the back side when we got home.  This was new to me - using sand paper instead of felt.  (this was also 18 years ago!)  

I love this story and I still love these pieces.  

Two shoes that went: CLOMP, CLOMP, CLOMP

One pair of pants that went: WIGGLE, WIGGLE, WIGGLE

One Shirt that went:  SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE

Two white gloves that went: CLAP, CLAP, CLAP

And one tall black hat the went: NOD, NOD, NOD

AND......

one very huge, very scary, very orange pumpkin head that went:

BOO!

And when we get to the end of the story...this is how our pieces look:

Click here for the story read by Shelly Lovett at childcareland.com

For those of you who follow Piperlovesthelibrary.... let me ask - who knew that my flannel board stories would serve as markers in my life, markers full of memories?  Who knew this?  I didn't!  Last week when I posted my This Old Man pieces I had a flash of the Ref Desk at the Farmington Library and my colleague Trish.  And when I snapped the photos for this post...all I could think of was the Westbrook YMCA, my daughter and her friend Caroline swimming.  I find it both funny and heartwarming that my flannel board pieces made on the road, on a desk, in a car, on a plane...on the beach...hold more than the story from the book.  They hold my place in time, with my family and friends, houses and dogs and cats.  This is a good thing, (Martha Stewart)!  

Now, as I continue to craft flannel  into stories I may be more aware that I am logging memories, (or not).  I still travel with flannel and scissors in my book bag most days.  And I laugh to see that I must have 4 manilla file folders in my bag as well!  Tomorrow I will be in NYC for KidLit at the New York Public Library.  I suppose if anyone needs a quick flannel board story - I can draw it out for them on the folder and provide flannel for the backing.  I have proof that the pieces will last at least 18 years.  

p.s. (piper script) I am saying Good Night for Piper.  But we are wondering - Do you love this book as much as we do?  How do you tell the story of The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything?