My nieces turned 3 and 1 over the summer, and my sister-in-law asked if I could make a den for them to play in. It didn't turn out quite as I envisioned, but seems to have gone down well - always a good seal of approval if the girls like it! Ishbel loves mermaids (we used to make her into a fish with a blue blanket when she was wee) so I used this as a theme for the den.
I bought a blue flat sheet to be the background, chopped it up to make it the right size and painted it with bleach and sparkly paint to make waves. Next I added some shells and seaweed shapes with fabric paint that turns 3D when ironed. I cut out lots of felt shapes (fish, shells, starfish, seahorses) and decorated them with glittery fabric paint, and spent hours hand stitching them onto the sheet! I found the remnant bin in my local fabric shop (20 pieces for £5 - total bargain!) and set about cutting them up with my pinking shears to make more seaweed. I used my sewing machine to attach these, in order to save time, then added bright orange pompoms, buttons and beads. Add in a jelly fish and sea horse each to play with, and it was finished! It fitted perfectly onto their drying rack, with the ties that I'd added onto it, and is easy to fold away when the girls are finished playing.
And even better, it's the sort of present I can keep adding to... more fish to play with, a mermaid doll, a treasure chest... I better get working on it now!
I think that smile says it all - what a cutie!
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