My crowning Christmas Present glory.

Well, it’s about dang time I stopped with the Christmas presents already, huh?  Trouble is, since I crafted my brains out over Christmas I needed just a small few week break so I haven’t been doing a TON recently.  Therefore, if I share anything, it has to be Christmas presents, and really this next one is cute enough to make "just because."  Well, I think so, anyway.  I am planning on doing one for bug and mini.

I thought long and hard about what to give my adorable niece out in UT.  She’s about 18 months, and I decided that was the time to start cookin’.  The kiddos around here LOVED play food from about that point on.  And it hasn’t gotten old, which is hard to say for a lot of toys.  I figured if I made her some play food, it would be something she’d play with for years to come.  And that’s the best kind of gift.

(Plus I really wanted to try out felt food.  I’ve never made any before this.)

As I was plotting it all out in my mind, I realized that she probably didn’t have anything to cook her food on.  Apartment living means space is at a premium, and I wasn’t entirely certain if a play kitchen had made its way into her home yet - or even if it would be a welcome addition.  And then I had a light bulb moment.

And right here I would like to add a little note of explanation or disclaimer or sidenote or footnote or something:

After I made this for her and sent it off, all wrapped up and cute, I saw something just like this on a linky party!  (but I don't remember which blog...)  Soooo, if you made this as well, recently, I promise I am not trying to rip you off.  I totally thought I’d done something kind of original.  It just proves there’s nothing new under the sun, right?

Ahem, on with the show.

First, the food:

mr and I decided to give her breakfast.

I made eggs and bacon:

(Yes, I realize I cut that lighter brown strip a little too small in the top piece of bacon there...)

Both were of my own design, and I was kind of proud of them.  Especially after trying them out on my other niece, who opened them and said, “That’s AWESOME!” (Did I mention she’s only three?)

And because mr likes sausage better, I made sausage too.  The super easy way.  (Also of my own design.)

And then, because no breakfast would be complete without it, I made cinnamon rolls. 

I used Smashed Peas and Carrots for inspiration on this one, but I constructed mine with hot glue and actually cut a long thin strip of felt for the frosting instead of using puffy paint.  Find her tutorial here.

bug decided he’d like to give her lunch.  So I made a sandwich.  Complete with bologna, cheese, lettuce and tomato:

I admit the bread is pretty sad.  The tutorials I found for felt bread scared the crap out of me.  So I just sewed two pieces of felt together and lightly stuffed them.  The brown zigzag stitch is supposed to represent the crust.  I hang my head in shame before the felt bread makers of wonder.

That lettuce made me want to scrap the whole thing.  Stupid lettuce.  It’s just two wavy green pieces with a stripy green knit piece in the middle to make it dimensional.  Easy.  Except I didn’t line the leaves up right and it turned into SUCH a fiasco.

But those tomatoes?  I am proud of those.  I love them.  I used this tutorial here.  And I think it’s the best one out there.  She even uses embroidery stitching for her seeds!  I just drew mine on with a sharpie.  But still cute right?

And mini gave her some dinner.  A taco - with meat cheese and lettuce:

I cut the cheese and lettuce into long strips and sewed them together at intervals down the strips.  Then I cut them apart so they were shorter and stacked them so they were skewed and sewed across the who bunch. 

This way it looks shredded but won’t get all over the place and hopefully she won’t be able to pull it apart and actually eat it. And, not that this should surprise me, but I just saw a tutorial for something almost EXACTLY like this, here.

Stuff the taco full, and the snap holds it shut!

mini likes this one best.  That's why it's from her...

At the last minute, I decided to do some fruit too.  Kinda wish I hadn’t, it’s pretty sad, but I learned a thing or two.  Like don’t try to gather felt the conventional way.  An apple, a pear, a slice of watermelon that looks like a pizza and grapes:

I saw the cutest grapes on MADE.  But I didn’t want A to eat them, so I just cut out little bunches of grapes, sewed them together, then sewed the bunch to the base of grapes.  This way the grapes were dimensional, but she couldn’t pull them off and choke on them.  But you should totally check out Dana’s velcro grapes.  The BOMB.

And in case you were wondering, the rest are of my own design, which is why they are so sad.  That pear?  It’s mostly constructed out of hot glue with a little felt thrown in for good measure.  And really, I just wanted to chuck it in the garbage and cry for a while.  But I refrained.

To top it all off, I made her some seasonings.  Because life needs a little spice.

These were easy shmeezy to make and I have to say, they are pretty cute, too.  mini discovered that they were great for stacking.  And pushing over.

Again - the main reason I don't have decent photo ops.

I also included a pan, some cups, plates and utensils and a whisk - that I did NOT make.

Now, for a compact, apartment friendly, ALL-In-One kitchen:

When she’s done cooking her food, 

she can wash her dishes in the sink,

and pack up the leftovers in the fridge.

Voila!

And then her parents can slide that whole darn kitchen on a shelf, out of the way!

Tutorials requested?  I’m willing to give it a go if you’d like.

Be sure to check out all the fun parties shown below! I’m linked up!