By Julie McGuffee
When travelling with young children, it’s always fun to have a simple game for them to play, and when you need something quick’n easy, it’s felt and your Cricut® Maker to the rescue!
Skill Level for this project: Beginner
Time to complete: 2 hours
You will need:
- Kunin® Classic Felt 9” x 12” – Red, Yellow & Orange
- Kunin® Premium Felt* 12” x 18” – 3 Complementary colors – your choice
- Cricut® Maker™ with Rotary blade
- ¼” Ric Rac – 2 yds White
- 1/8” Double stick tape
- Craft knife & metal ruler, or scissors
- Felt glue, or stapler
Instructions:
1. Using the “shapes” feature in Cricut Design Space, select and place a star on the canvas.
2. Size the star to 2.4” wide. Place ½” from the left edge and ½” from the top. Copy and paste a second star and place ½” from the 9” line on the canvas and ½” from the top. Place a 3rd star ½” from the top between the stars on the left and right sides. Create a 2nd row of stars ½” from the 9” line at the bottom of the canvas, then a 3rd row between the top and bottom rows. Attach all the stars.
3. Continue to the next screen and move the design ½” from the top and left edge again.
4. Continue to material and select “Browse all materials”.
5. Enter “felt” in the search field, then select “felt acrylic fabric”.
6. Select “more” under the “pressure” menu.
7. Place one piece of classic felt horizontally on the mat then cut.
8. Carefully lift the felt from the mat and remove the stars. Using either a craft knife and metal ruler, or scissors trim the width of the felt to 9”. Cut and trim two additional colors of felt. Note: By using the same pattern to cut different color stars, you will also have created two additional game boards. You can, of course, simply cut 5 stars in each of 2 different colors of felt without creating a pattern.
9. Position the top corner of the cut felt about ½” from the top and left side of a complementary color of premium felt, then trim the premium felt to 10” in length.
10. Glue or staple the pieces together. NOTE: Make sure the back of each staple is securely pushed into the felt.
11. You will need 5 stars of 2 different colors to play the game. For the yellow board I used orange and red stars.
Children will have fun playing the game with the board as shown, but adding a complimentary color of ric-rac (or trim) between the stars is also quick’n easy with double-stick tape. TIP: To make it easy to remove the protective paper from the top of the tape after placing it firmly on the felt, extend one end over the edge of the felt and stick it a scrap piece of paper.
Remove the protective paper from the tape, then trim the edge even with the felt.
You can now find an expanded color line of Kunin® Classicfelt; Kunin® Premiumfelt and Corduroy non-wovens fabrics in cut by the yard at your local Walmart; please inquire as to what is available in your area.