Make Your Own Hobbyhorse

As promised this is my post on teaching you how to make those cute hobbyhorses I made recently. 

Here we go. 

Kids just love running around and pretending to be one thing or another. One say they are superheroes, the next cowboys and cowgirls and the next Bob the Builder of Dora or Little Einstein and the list goes on and on and on. Their life is filled with  imaginary adventures. So I thought, why not use that to my advantage and create a birthday activity out of it.

I did. And the children LOVED it.

So here’s how you, if you have pony themed or just want to give something fun to your kid to play with, make hobbyhorses just like I did for My Little Pony Birthday.

You will need:

- A wooden stick or pipe (I cut it to 3 feet according to the children’s height)

- Poly-fil

- Socks (medium or large)

- Felt or fabric paper (I used fabric paper)

- Yarn for hair (I used fabric paper as hair)

- Scissors

- Glue

- Needle (should you choose to make the hair out of yarn)

- Jute or yarn string

Here’s how: (I’ll use reference images from the internet since I didn’t take any while  I was fussing over mine)

Step 1: Fill the sock with poly-fil, put it all that you can. Stuff, stuff, stuff. 

Step 2: Now start cutting your accessories; eyes, nose, bridle, harness and hair out of felt/fabric paper. I kept the size of my bridle and harness 1” in width and measured the length according the horses head size.

Step 3: Glue the ears on the head, pinching them in first to make it look more real. You can also sew them in. 

Step 4: Glue the eyes and the nose in place. 

Step 5: wrap the bridle felt/fabric paper around the mouth and glue it in place. 

Step 6: Hair. There are different ways you can do this. If you are doing it with yarn, be ready for a tedious task. I found the easiest visual tutorial for you here. I just used 1/2" wide strips of fabric paper or felt and glued them on the top of the head, fanning them out.

Step 7: Add the harness connecting it to the bridle by merely gluing it together.

Step 8: Take the wooden dowel  or pipe (whichever your choice), make a ridge around it at about 1 foot.






































Step 9: Insert it into the sock opening, pushing it as far as the sock ankle. Now fill in the rest of the sock leaving about 2" at the end empty.



Step 10: Tie the end of the sock securely with a string of yarn exactly where the notch is.

And now giddy up!

Have fun with colours and techniques. Like this - 

or this -

or these -

Until next time. YEE HAW!

Wacky Alice in Wonderland DIY party.

Alright, let's fall down the rabbit hole and see how we can create our own little party without going overboard with our budget. Frankly, I'd prefer you go overboard, it will help my business. But in the instance that you can't here's is what I researched you can do. Think crazy. Mad. Hatter like. Thin of things you would not usually do. Put the chairs on the table! I'm kidding. Don't do that. Unless you want to.

When planning thing wonderland. Think colour. Think patterns. Think, not to think too much.

DIY Decor:

This bright and cheery tabletop would work perfectly for both small and large gatherings. It would be a great theme for any type of event from a wedding, birthday party or bridal shower. With multiple mixes of patterns and colors, the tea party can be both a casual or formal event depending on the food served. Creative details such as the stacked teacup centerpiece and monogrammed tea bags displaying each guest’s initials, provide the perfect, customized finishing touch!

Table:

Start by draping the table with a bold and bright floral table linen. For multiple tables, use the same patterned linen on each table or feel free to mix in other patterned linens to create an eclectic garden feel. Next, use colorful patterned kitchen aprons and tie them around each chair to create customized chair covers!

Centerpieces:

For the main centerpiece, take vintage teacups in any size, shape or pattern and simply glue them on top each other using a glue gun. You can make the centerpiece as tall or short as you would like, just make sure it’s sturdy, so that it does not topple over! To top off the teacup centerpiece add a ball of pretty pink garden roses and a single white butterfly.

On each side of the teacup centerpiece add small glass bud vases with seasonal garden flowers. To add an extra eclectic flair, find ceramic pots with a floral design and top them off with basic moss balls, which can be reused for future parties. Moss balls will save you time since you won’t to arrange flowers! The moss balls also serve as décor in your home after the event!

Table Settings:

Any vintage patterned dinnerware will suffice! It does not need to match the table linens or the aprons perfectly. Look at our table! We used over four different patterns but opted to keep the colors of the dinnerware and centerpieces in the same pink palette. Feel free to use anything from your grandmother’s old china, patterned melamine plates or even floral paper plates. It all depends on the time and the mood of the event.

Each guest received their own hot pink galvanized watering at their place setting, filled with ice and small bright blue bottles of champagne. This allowed guests to keep their champagne chilled on the hot summer day and also served as a party favor!

Paper Candy:

Personalized monogrammed tea bags with each guest’s initials on them were strategically placed at each setting in the teacups. This is a creative way to add a customized touch to the event while doubling as a place card. We also added a whimsical “Alice in Wonderland” flair to the table by placing playful blue and white menus to the side of each plate. Please see our paper candy section to purchase semi-custom menus and monograms similar to these

For this whimsical table we wanted to mesh the feeling of a sophisticated High Tea with a play off of the psychedelic era of Alice in Wonderland. By slyly incorporating the Cheshire Cat’s tail and blending ultra feminine and groovy fonts we married the two together to form a scrumptious blend of wonder!

For an extra special and personalized place card we made custom monogrammed tea bag tags for each of the guests! They were definitely impressed.