DIY travel checkers

So here's a little project that I tackled for Christmas this year, and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. I made a few versions for different folks that with vintage napkins, and gathered closures, but this is by far my favorite outcome. I made it for my son for Christmas. It's a travel checker set for long car rides:

I started it out by creating a stencil for the squares. Then I used painters tape to tape it down to the felt. I used a foam roller to apply the paint.........f.y.i. that was so much easier/ faster than the stipple brush I used to use.

Then I made the checkers. All I did was use Stitch Witchery to glue the orange and yellow fabric to the blue felt. Then I made a grid of squares, cut them out, and rounded them to circles with sharp scissors. 

Here they are displayed atop a mirror I keep around. 

Then I attached the tie to it. All you have to do to close it all up is to put all the checkers in the middle, fold the top and bottom to the middle, then  fold the sides to the middle...then tie it up. Voila...pocket checker game.

You can see that I added a Tic-Tac-Toe grid on the back. 

 And this is just some bragging rights :)

I made a really fun wreath for my in-laws out of an old poetry book!

Ta Da! If you have any great crafts that you did for gifts, or just for fun let me know...I'd love to feature some in the ol' blog!