crayon & pad folder

Last weekend, Logan said to me those words I have been longing to hear for 4.6 years:

"Mom, I wanna make something."

This is the time when you realize that your passions have made an impression on your little ones. 
He is actually interested in the things that interest you.
He wants to be part of that part of your life.
He has the urge to create!  What a wonderful thing to pass along to a child.

Anyway, when I questioned what he wanted to make, he replied that he didn't know but that he wanted to make it with fabric (to be specific, he said he wanted to make something with "fagric" but I got the point).  So the wheels started turning and we came up with a crayon and paper pad folder.

Last Christmas, my mom let me go through her fabric stash and take whatever I wanted.  She had this Crayola crayon fabric for probably 10 years and she used it once with plenty left over.  So I took it figuring I would find some use for it.

I have always wanted to make a crayon roll-up for the kids, but I never found the time.  I like the idea of all-in-ones, so I chose to make it a folder condusive to storing a pad of paper, too.  I was too lazy to go to the store and get a real pad of paper, so I trimmed up some paper from my ridiculously huge paper stash and stapled a stack to a piece of cardstock for stability.

I gave the folder more substance with a piece of quilt batting.  I might also stablize the main pieces with interfacing next time to make the folder even more substansial.  I topped off the folder with a strap and snap, but I forgot how little hands can't handle snaps very well.  Velcro would have been a better choice.

This little project got rave reviews from the recipients.  We even made a second one for the little brother.  Logan is so proud!  He asked if he could bring his to preschool to show all his teachers.