How to insert a Music Pull String Box into a Toy

Here are a few pictures from the project I worked on - inserting a musical pull string box into a soft toy.

Inserting the box sounded much more difficult in theory than it ended up being in practise, but I did have to do some 'unpicking' and 'resewing' as my initial thoughts of the involved steps had to be reviewed.... :)

If I get a chance I'll put up more pictures and a more thorough description.. In the meantime if you need help putting one of these boxes into your softie project, please feel free to contact me through the 'contact us' link in our online store (www.tomnidesign.com.au)..

These are the supplies I started off with: front and back pieces of my owl (plus the wings), musical pull string box (available from our online store), yellow teether flower for the handle (from our online store), brown fabric (for the cord) and grosgrain ribbon (for the tie)..

You could apply the same technique to any other softie toy, as long as there's enough room inside it to accommodate for the music box.

After sewing the cord and turning it inside out I sewed it between the front and back pieces, into the bottom edge of the toy, leaving a tiny gap in the middle of the cord for threading the pull string. I also sewed in the tie on top while sewing the toy front and back pieces together.

And here is the end result! A softie owl with a tie on top and a music box inside. The music box is activated when the yellow flower handle is pulled. My son totally loved the owl and so we kept on hearing Brahm's lullaby over and over and over.. and over again!

Help us choose new products..

We are looking at extending our product range - but would like some feedback as to which products you think we should bring in...

Here's the suggestions:

 

Let us know which products you would like to see in our shop.. :)

Teether Corner Pieces - how to tutorial..

The corner pieces have finally arrived and have been added to the online store here

Here's an example of how they can be used - as a corner on a blanket...

Here's a short tutorial on how to add these to your blanket...

1. Make your blanket - cut out two squares / rectangles and placing the right sides together, sew around it, leaving a small gap (approx 10cm) so you can turn it out.

2. Turn your blanket right sides out. Decide which corner you will be attaching the corner piece to. Turn this corner inside the blanket - make sure your edge that you turn in is the same length as the inside of the plastic corner. If using a corner without a hole, you do not need to do this step, as the corner will go over the fabric corner.

3. Sew across the corner. Sew around the rest of the blanket (if you would like to have extra stitching along the edge of the blanket).

4. Line up the plastic corner on top of the blanket corner.

 5. Pre-stitch the holes in the plastic corner. You can do this using your sewing machine (by turning the wheel manually, as otherwise you may break the needle), or you can make the holes using a strong, sharp needle. You may find it useful to use a zipper foot on your machine so you can punch the holes further away from the corner edge.

 6. Sew on the corner using a sharp, strong needle using thicker cotton. It can be a bit tricky sewing through all the layers at once, so try breaking it up. To start, make a knot and sew it to the fabric. Push needle through the first hole in the corner piece, back down through the next hole and through the fabric, and push the needle out the side of the plastic corner piece (picture shows the needle going from bottom up)...

 then keep pushing the needle up through the second plastic lip. Continue until you have stitched all along the corner piece. Finish off by sewing the thread end under the plastic corner lip..

Please be careful when sewing these corners in by hand as sewing though the layers can require some extra force at times..

Feel free to send in your pictures of how you've used these corners in your projects so we can share them with other crafters :)

Freebies

The weather here in Melbourne has been a bit miserable lately, so we have decided it's time to  cheer  things up with some freebies and special deals!

For the next little while we will be giving away some toy making supply freebies (rattle inserts, squeakers, rings etc) and will have some special offer deals as well!..

These offers will be advertised via our tomnidesign facebook page so make sure you are our follower!

First freebie is already up - but the offer expires on the 27th of June 2012!

New Rattle Ball Inserts

We have added two more products to our toy making supplies range..

Clear rattle balls  

 

and bigger white rattle balls.. 

To find our more or to purchase them via our online store (www.tomnidesign.com.au/store) please click on the above links...

Here's also a video showing the sound that these 35mm toy rattle inserts make..

Bird Tweet Column Inserts

We have now added to our range of products the Bird Tweet Column Inserts..

Here's a short video showing the sound they make:

The Bird Tweet Column Inserts come in white and pink and can be purchased from our online craft store: www.tomnidesign.com.au/store

Toy making products - in use!

I just had to share the project one of our customers made using our toy making products..

It's an adorable sock monkey blankie toy Jingles!

Samantha managed to incorporate five of our toy making products into the toy - squeaker, jingle column, teether, rattle ring and triangle shape..

Here's the link to  more pictures and Samantha's blog :)

New Jingle Column Design

We have recently received a new shipment of Jingle Column rattle inserts..

Due to requests, here's a video which will give you an idea of the sound that these jingle coloumns make.. the sound slightly differs depending on how the jingle column is shaken...

These have the same diameter (25mm) but are a little shorter than the previous ones. They are white in colour and make a sound just like the original ones! The original cream coloured jingle coloumns will be available while stocks last...

The jingle coloumn rattle inserts can be purchased directly from our store here

FREE Cat Rattle Pattern

For a long time I've wanted to put up a tutorial featuring our toy making supplies.. I finally got round to making a pattern for the Cat Rattle which features the rattle ring..  I hand drew the pattern, so when you cut out your pieces you may just like to make sure that the straight lines are straight :) I've put up the pattern as a pdf file in our online shop right here, so feel free to download it - it's free!

I'll put up a detailed tutorial when I get some free time .. the making of the rattle is quite simple, so for those with more advanced sewing skills you may be able to work out how to make it by just looking at the picture :)

Here's a preview of the pattern...

If you have any probs with downloading it from our shop, please send us an email and I'll email it to you as an attachment...

Plastic rings and shapes for toys

We've been flat out the this week with making our handmade items for the market, so it's taking me longer than predicted to add the new toy making supplies to the online store.. but here's a few more things we've added since out last post:

Big green plastic rings 

Plastic key ring buckle clips in two different sizes.. 60mm and 53mm

For the complete list of these new product additions, please visit the previous blog post HERE 

New Toy Making Supplies!

We have brought in some new toy making supplies from a manufacturer that produces products for some well known toy making companies...

We are very excited to be adding these products to the toy making product range we already sell...

Below is a list of the new products, with links to the online store... (we'll be adding the rest of products over upcoming days so please check this page soon for more updates):

Rattle rings - one of my favourites! These rattle rings are available in five different colour options and can be purchased by following THIS link 

Linkable shapes - great for adding to toys so they can be attached to prams etc.. These will be available in the shown star shape, as well as square, circle and triangle..

Teething rings that can be added to baby toys.. Available in five colours.. they are listed HERE 

These rings make a crispy ringing sound when they hit against each other.. so they are great for adding on the arms/legs/necks of toys to make a jingling sound... they can also be sewn on and used as a handle... You can find our range of rings HERE 

Big green rings - these are about 70mm in diameter, so they can be used as handles for baby rattles...

They can be found in the plastic rings / shapes category of our online store

Key ring clips / buckes: These are available in two sizes - 53mm and 60mm

 These can be use in a variety of ways, including attaching them to toys, so the toys can then be clipped to the pram, cot etc..

        

There's lots more... so come back soon for more updates... of follow us on facebook so you receive notices about when these are available for purchase!

Button Hairclips

I've just finished making and packing a new batch of button hairclips for this Sunday's market...
Here's a few pics of the available designs.. I especially love the designs with the new 'white dot' hairclips!

If you'd like to purchase any of our fabric covered button hairclips, please contact us via blog, facebook or 'contact us' link in either of our online shops.. or in you're in the area, pop in and say 'Hi' to us at the St Kilda market..

Pre Christmas Sale in Craft Store

We have some exciting plans for our craft shop, so we're having a sale to make some room...

Up for grabs are lots of bargains... so make sure you have a good look through all the categories...
Some of the specials include:

- 10% off Spellbinders products

- 15% off Carolee's Creations papers

- Dress it up buttons - down to $3.00 per pack

- 15% off Core'dinations Whitewash cardstock

- 10% off BIG squeaker inserts (5pc pack) 

- 10 to 15% off words  and quotes

- up to 20% off chipboard and laser cuts 

- 10% off black squeaker inserts

There's also other products on sale that have been reduced earlier on, so make sure you check out the different categories for all the hidden bargains! Sale for a limited time only, so get your bargains while stock lasts...

Penguin hatched..

Sidetracking from the usual craft focused posts... yet again... This morning we found out that another one of our eggs has hatched! So here's the pics of the new arrival - Penguin!

Here's some more pics of our cutesies!

 The black ball of feathers is the Midnight 2 - her head is somewhere in those feathers...

Fluffy keeping her chicks warm... can just see Penguin there too..

And here's all 3 of Fluffy's chicks.. they're still a little camera shy..