pencil Archives - the portuguese american mom

My son is starting to really love super heroes! I think his new blooming love is super cute. So when it was time to find him a pencil case to put in his new Superman backpack, I was a bit disappointed I couldn’t find one I liked. Naturally I decided to make him one myself. After thinking about it a bit, I decided to keep it very simple.

In less than a half hour’s time my son and my godson both had Batman Pencil Cases to carry not only their pencils, but crayons, markers, erasers and much more! I must add, we are using this case as a pencil case, but it can totally be used as a snack bag or a lego travel case, a superhero party gift bag, a matchbox car carrier or a little girl’s pocketbook if you add a ribbon! Some felt sheets, some glue, a zipper, a sewing machine and scissors made for a super cute super hero pencil case.

Check out how I did it!

I pulled up an image of the batman symbol on google images and traced right on my computer being sure the symbol was about 7″ long. Then I pinned the paper right to the yellow felt and cut out the outter oval first.

Fold the pinned fabric and paper.

Start cutting the middle to allow for cutting out the traced design from the inside.

Once the Batman symbol is cut out of the yellow felt, set aside and work on the case itself.

Use a 9″ zipper.

Pin the zipper down to the edge. Be sure to face the zipper in like so.

Sew midway in to the zipper edge. You will want to use a good heavy duty thread, like a quilting thread.

Once one side is sewn, pin to the next piece of felt.

Open the zipper and sew along the middle again.

Once both sides are sewn on, turn the zipper and sew the zipper horizontally to secure.

Once the zipper is properly sewn on, turn the fabric right side out and sew the remaining three sides. You will want to keep about 1″ from the edge all the way around. You want to start and end from start of zipper and end of zipper.

You will have excess fabric.

Cut off excess fabric around the three sewn sides.

You will have just a small trim all the way around.

Use a good fabric glue.

Because felt is the fabric here, be sure to put plenty of glue on the back of the Batman piece.

Secure the Batman symbol onto the fabric and press firmly.

Materials needed:

2 black felt sheets
1 yellow felt sheet
9″ black zipper
fabric glue
quilting thread
scissors
sewing machine

My 3-year-old son is heading to preschool today! Maybe if I say that a few more dozen times it will sink in… but, probably not! I can’t believe my baby is going to school. Sure the call it PRE school, but I am putting a back pack full of pencils and crayons on his back and dropping him off at the same school where I spent 6 years of my life being educated. It’s school. Wow, yep, it’s not going to sink in.

On Tuesday, we went in with him to his orientation. We sat in tiny little chairs and listened as the teachers told us about the rules, the do’s and don’t’s, the schedule and some of what our child will be learning on a day-to-day basis. Lucas will be a new student and his teacher was just hired and will be new to the school as well! So, we thought we ought to bring her a little welcome gift to brighten up her new classroom a bit. Nothing too crazy, just a pretty bunch of sunflowers tied up in some tissue paper and ribbon and as a special little accent, we made her a Pencil Bow Clip to finish it off… She can obviously use it as a hair bow should she choose, but it can also be used for a number of other teachery things too!

I thought it came out so cute that I decided to make a couple for my daughter as well… Let me show you how I did it!

Here are my materials: yellow sparkly ribbon, tan ribbon and black ribbon, a clip, some frey check, a glue gun and some scissors.

Start by measuring your clip and how much ribbon you will need for your clip to cover it fully… My clip is just about 2″ long… so I need 7 1/2″ of ribbon to cover the clip inside and out.

Then, before you cut your next piece of ribbon, tie a bow with it and figure just how much you will need allowing for cutting off the ends with the additional ribbon added on later.

Turns out, I needed 12″ of ribbon for mine.

to make the bow, you will want to tie it ‘bunny ears’ style like so.

To make your pencil tip, you will want your tan ribbon and your black ribbon fused together using glue. Be sure to make the edges are a bit jagged… this will help with the effect of the pencil being sharpened.

Glue the black and tan pieces onto the yellow tip of one side of your ribbon like so.

Now cut the tip into the point of a pencil.

Here is what you are left with… the edges will still tend to fray if you don’t use some Fray Check, even with the glue.

Apply Fray Check to the edges or any cut ribbon.

On the other end, you will want to create an eraser. To do that you will want a small piece of black ribbon glued onto the end of the yellow ribbon, then a slightly smaller tan ribbon on top of that. Trim the two corners and then apply Fray Check.

Here are the materials needed to package up the bouquet: two pieces of colorful tissue paper, a plastic baggie to contain the moisture of the flower stems, a ribbon to secure the flowers and our Pencil Hair Bow.