Special Stuffed Animals for my Sweets double as Tooth Fairy Friends!

In my previous post, I highlighted my daughter's secret pal.  I have been working on little lovie pals for my children while on bed rest in the hospital.  They have recorded messages from me on the BAB "Say it with Sound" recorders.  When my children feel blue or miss me, they have their soft friends they can cuddle on, hear my voice, and they have little pockets so they can double as tooth fairy pillows! A multi-tasking mom creating a multi-use stuffed animal!  Each pillow friend reflects my children's personality, meet them and the tutorial that inspired them...

Here is my mini craft room in the hospital.

It all starts with a sketch... The robot is for my son, Matthew.   This robot was inspired by this tutorial.

I wanted to make a doggy for my son, Joe... when I gave him a clue to his special pal... he excitedly squealed,  "A DRAGON!" Yes, of course.  This little guy was inspired by this stuffed dragon I saw on ETSY.

This was for my little girl... Her favorite colors are pink and purple, so Jennifer Paganelli fabrics had to be the way to go!  This bunny was inspired by this tutorial...

These little pals were fun to make... there are details that are hand-stitched that I could do while in bed. The majority was sewn on my machine. They have made the time go by quickly, and now each of the kiddos have one of a kind pals.  My husband says that my 2 1/2 year old daughter played hers the car ride home from the hospital laughing!  He says my son, Matthew, slept with his and kept playing his message over and over.  Joe got his today and he hugged on him.  I love being a mommy and am grateful God has blessed me with them.  We will soon add one more blessing to the clan. I wonder what kind of pal he will have?  

A Little Lovie to Lift the Spirits: DIY Stuffed Friend

At 32.2 weeks, I was hospitalized for high blood pressure, which has since then turned into preeclampsia which means the hospital is my "home" until we deliver our sweet little blessing, Jacob Thomas.  Our goal is to get to 37 weeks and I have 2 1/2 more weeks to go.  The biggest hurdle is missing my children... my 6, 4, and 2 year old are pulling my heart strings.  I have many special people praying for me, so the majority of the time I am here, a blanket of peace has covered me which lead me to the idea of making some little loves for my kiddos with recorded messages in them.  I started to search Pinterest for some inspiration.  This link was the inspiration for my daughter's doll.

Pink and Purple are my dd's favorite colors, so Jennifer Paganelli's vibrant fabrics were the perfect fit .

My sewing nook. Thank goodness my hubby is so good to me.  A few trips to my room and I have a good selection of fun fabrics to light my sewing fire.

My Home away from Home.

This is how we personalize the lovie.  I recorded a special message for each of my children into these voice recorders.  You have 10 seconds of recording time.  My mom drove to the mall and picked them up for me... we get ours from Build a Bear (BAB) and they are the best.  $8.00 a piece, but priceless in terms of the peace of mind and smile they can bring to my sweets.  We use these for Christmas ornaments too, and putting up ornaments is a ball when listening to them.  

These are the main pieces that I have... I added a pocket to the back so that these can double as tooth fairy pillows.  Hoping those toddler teeth stay put, they are special pockets for now.

I embellished it a bit with some quilting, handout felt flowers and a scrap of lace from my Baptismal dress that I couldn't throw away, and now I am happy that I didn't.

I am happy with how she turned out.  I love the colors, and she is so soft.

She loves it! Yay!!! My husband says she listened to it in the car on the way home giggling away and that is how I want to think of her and my boys while I spend a month in the hospital awaiting their baby brother.  A few weeks here in terms of a lifetime for the baby should be a piece of cake and it is when I have peace of mind.