Finger Puppet Pals

Here is a little set of finger puppets that I made for the Bean. The design is from this book here and it's a wonderful example of the super-sweet and simple projects you'll find in it. It took me a while to get started on this project, because I was having trouble biting the bullet and spending a small fortune on felt. I am big on fabric texture, so I generally gravitate towards the 100% wool (read: expensive) stuff and have lots of disparaging things to say about the plastic stuff. So I had all but written off this project when I found myself in Joann's and decided to see what they were trying to pass of as felt these days. I actually found some fabric that was 30% wool, 70% rayon which I must say was quite nice. It was thick, there were good colors, and I came really close to buying it. But my eye was caught by a sale sign for this felt. Or, I should say "felt". 100% plastic! You don't think I even considered buying that, do you? Or maybe I bought 4 or 5 yards worth....Here's what sold me: it is made out of 100% recycled plastic bottles. Hello?! Recycled plastic bottles! I will admit that the fabric has a bit of a plasticky feel to it, but not anywhere near as bad as those craft felt sheets you get at the craft store. Honestly! In addition, the colors were nice and varied and some even had a heathered tone, which I think makes it look all the more like the real deal. For children's items which will see some wear and tear and may not make it to family heirloom status, I think this material rocks. And so does this little guy:For now, these are going to be toys that mama uses to entertain Stella (I'm kind of psycho about keeping plastic out of her mouth), and she's way too young to manipulate finger puppets anyway, so that was always the intention. We've been playing Really Rosie a lot around here lately, so I might try to make sets of characters from those stories so that I can act it out for her while listening to the CD.