The Tenth Day of Homemade Christmas

Gone Fishin'

     Miss D and I made this fishing game for Mr. T. We already have a Melissa and Doug puzzle that is similar but Mr. T enjoys playing with beanbags so much that I thought this would be fun too! I bought the galvanized bucket at a craft store for a mere $1.49 and used only things that I had on hand to make the pole, fish, and bucket decorations.
     All I did was draw a simple fish shape on white contact paper and cut it out. Before peeling off the backing to decorate the bucket, I used that as my template for the fish beanbags. I used random scraps (some from the sweater pillows I posted yesterday too!) and sewed them, right sides together with a loop of ribbon inside and a washer threaded through them. I left the fish open at the tails, turned them right side out, and then Miss D used a funnel to fill them with rice. I quickly finished the tails with a decorative stitch and trimmed the edges with pinking shears.
     The fishing pole is just a weird plastic dowel that I had salvaged from one of the kids cheap dog walking toys we got at a fair. The toy fell apart within hours of being home and I had it in my craft room to repair, but since no one had asked about it I decided to disassemble it completely and re-use the parts for projects. It was really just a glorified weapon, so it's just as well! Anyway, Mr. J cut the plastic dowel to length for me and then I wrapped it in scraps of batting and sewed a "pocket" out of more leftover scrap fabric, to slip it into. I attached the ribbon to the end of the pocket for the fishing line. I turned the whole thing right side out, stuffed the wrapped plastic pole inside and finished it by hand.
     Once all of the fish beanbags were completed, I grabbed a magnet off of my fridge (one that Miss E stole from my brother's fridge over a year ago no less!!!) and tied it to the end of the ribbon. I cut out a letter T from patterned contact paper, and stuck it, along with the white fish shape to the bucket. I finished the whole thing off by tying a scrap like a bow on the handle of the bucket and Miss D and I wrapped and hid it in her bedroom closet until it's time to put it under the tree.
     She is so excited to give him his new fishing game, and is so proud of herself for helping Mommy make it! Miss E is usually my crafting partner so it was a treat for me to do something like this with Miss D too! I did some of the prep-work the night before, but we were able to fill and finish the fish beanbags and fishing pole all while Mr. J and Mr. T were out running errands one morning and Miss E was at school. It always feels good to spend quality time with on on my little ones, but it's even better when we're able to check something off of Mommy's never-ending To Do List at the same time!

Merrily Yours,  Mrs. J :)