Feelie Box

After a wonderful hubby-free weekend, I feel like I have accomplished something! I made a list Friday evening before the boys left. Fifteen tasks and crafts I have been needing to work on. By bedtime last night, I had completed all but 4! Due to a strong sense of duty to the house, however, I did not get to work on many craft projects. I DID clean the house, and finish unpacking and organize the craft room to my particulars. Pictures to come later. Now, I can work on crafts and ideas in peace. My surroundings are calm and inspiring. I love it!

I was able to make a feelie box for Tigger to play with. Supplies needed:
--an empty Kleenex box (preferably the small square size)
--fabric scraps (the more textured the better)
--hot glue gun and glue sticks

Open the box along one of the sides. I just popped open the glued seams. Measure and make a template for the inside of the sides of the box. Use the template to cut your fabric squares.















The square for the bottom of the box will probably need to be cut smaller in length. I found it was easier to start with the side directly across from the open side of my box. Of course, I feel that way because I would rather get the hardest part out of the way first. Now, take a lesson from me, because it had been so long since I used hot glue, I forgot how quickly it cools and dries. With my first fabric scrap, I applied the glue to the entire square before trying to get it to adhere to the box. Abysmal failure. As I'm sure those if you who are very familiar with hot glue know what happened next. Bumpy lines of glue added to the texture of my square, just before it let go of the box, and fell out. Silently taunting me.


At which point I remembered to glue slowly. So I began again, starting with the corner of each square, applying the corner to the box, and moving forward, inches at a time. Now, while this sounds tedious, remember I suggested using the small kleenex box. This is why. The larger your box, the larger your pieces of fabric, therefore the longer it will take you to apply the hot glue.





Once all four of the complete sides have been glued, what remains is the side you opened the box with. Using the same slow-going technique, begin gluing your fabric to one flap, making sure it is facing the correct way to fold into the box. When it comes time to glue the other half of the fabric, apply the glue to the far edge of the material, stick your hand in the dispenser opening and press the second flap down onto the material, which you have supported from underneath.





From here, it's simple to complete. Glue the remaining two flaps down as they originally came up from the box. You can leave the box decorated as a kleenex box, or cover the box with colored contact paper. I made sure to reinforce the seams of the box because Tigger is a curious child who tries to stick his fingers into any opening and pull. So, I try to discourage the destruction of a project I have made.
The good news? I took the box to work today, put it on the floor, and he immediately went for it. And stuck his whole hand in the opening as designed. Then rewarded me with the most beautiful smile as he felt what was inside. I turned the box around on his hand, and let him feel each texture. We talked about the smooth, silky, rough, bumpy textures in the box. And then he dropped the box and crawled away, content for the moment and having discovered a "new" toy on the other side of the room he hasn't seen since Friday! Later, I saw him playing with the box by himself, hands inside.....corner of box in his mouth. Oh, well. Such is the play of infants!