Make Life Lovely: Disney's Monsters University "Eye-Spy" Bag

I am super excited to share with you my latest project!! Have you seen an I-Spy bag before? I created my own version of an I-Spy bag using Mike Wazowski from the new Disney movie, Monsters University, as my "bag," and his eye as the clear vinyl hole to search through... an "eye-spy" bag!

Mike Wazowski's body was the perfect shape for the bag! I love how you can look right through his eye to search through the poly pellets to find the Monsters University characters inside the bag. My kids are already addicted, and I'm thinking this bag is going to be a hot commodity during church when I pull it out to keep the kids busy and quiet ;)

If you're unsure about what an I-Spy bag is, it's basically it's usually a square bag made from two pieces of fabric, with a clear piece square of vinyl cut out of the middle. It is usually filled with rice or poly pellets and a bunch of small objects (like a penny, a safety pin, a jack, etc.). The goal is for the child playing with the bag to move the bag around and find all of the objects inside.

Would you like to know how I made it? Would you like to try making one of your own? It's really pretty simple!

Supplies:

Light green fleece (how much you use depends on how big your bag will be- my bag is huge, and I used less than 1/3 yard!)
Black felt (small amount- you could use scraps, or buy 1/8 yard)
White felt (small amount- you could use scraps, or buy 1/8 yard)
Blue felt (small amount- you could use scraps, or buy 1/8 yard)
Cream or ivory felt (small amount- you could use scraps, or buy 1/8 yard)
Clear vinyl (I bought at Jo-Ann- need only a small amount for the clear eye)
Green thread (that matches the green fleece)
Fabric scissors
Sewing machine
Glue gun
Poly pellets (I bought mine from Jo-Ann for about $3.50 with my 50% off coupon) or rice
Funnel
Small Monsters University toys or other small objects (I FINALLY found sets of tiny Monsters toys that were exclusive to Wal-Mart- they came in a 4 pack, and were $5 per pack- I bought all 3 varieties of packs)

Instructions:

1. Decide how big you would like your Mike to be, and draw him out onto paper. Cut out the paper, and use as your template to trace and cut your Mike out of the green fleece. Be sure to cut two identical bodies, one for the front, and one for the back.

2. Use a round object to trace a large circle onto the top middle of the green body- this will be Mike's large eye. Cut out the circle. Use a smaller round object to trace and cut out a blue circle for the blue part of his eye, and use an even smaller circular object to trace and cut out a black circle for Mike's pupil. Hot glue the black pupil onto the middle of the blue eye, and set aside.

3. Cut out a black smile from the black felt. Trace the smile onto white felt and cut out. You will use this smile to cut out an upper and a lower set of teeth. I just looked at pictures of Mike Wazowski online and used that as a guide as to how to cut his teeth. Once the teeth are cut, hot glue them onto the black smile, and set aside.

4. Draw and cut out two arms and two legs. I just "eyeballed" it (sorry, couldn't resist!) and cut through two pieces of fleece at the same time very carefully so that I wouldn't have to cut twice and so they would be identical. You can also draw and cut out paper arms and legs, pin it to the fleece, and use that as a template to make his arms and legs. You can choose what position you want his legs and arms to be in. I bent his legs slightly, and bent his arms as well.

5. Place a small amount of glue at the top of his arms, and glue them onto the back of the front piece of his body. Place a small amount of glue onto the top of his legs, and glue them onto the back of the front piece of his body where you would like his legs. Cut out long, small fingernails and toenails from the cream-colored felt, and glue them onto the fingers and hands. Cut out small horns from the ivory felt, and glue them onto the back of the front piece of his body.

6. Cut out a circle of vinyl that is slightly bigger than the eye hole in Mike's body. Pin the piece of vinyl right under the eye hole, and sew the vinyl onto the fleece to make the clear eye. Use fabric glue or any other liquid glue to glue the eyeball onto the middle of the clear vinyl. Do NOT use the glue gun for this part, or it will melt the vinyl. Hot glue Mike's mouth onto his face.

At this point I glued Mike's hands to his legs, but you could do his legs any way that you like. It would be really cool to sandwich wire in between two fleece arms and legs to make them bend! I thought of this after he was finished, of course ;)

7. Time to sew the body up! The cool thing about fleece is that it won't fray, so I just put the two body pieces and sewed straight around the edge- no turning inside out! Sew ALMOST around the whole body, but leave a small open hole so that you can add the poly pellets (or rice) and the toys (or objects) to his body. Make sure to reverse on your machine at the beginning and end of sewing up the body, so that it is nice and secure (but still, be sure to leave a small hole).

7. Place the toys or objects into the bag. Using a funnel, add enough poly pellets (or rice) to the bag so that it looks full, but is loose enough so that there is enough space for all of the objects to move around freely- you don't want it TOO packed. Pin the small hole up, and sew the bag closed, again, being sure to reverse stitch at the beginning and end- we don't want any spills :)

Ta-da!! You now have your very own Mike Wazowski eye-spy bag! Now hurry and play with it before the kids come take it :)

Can you find all 12 of the characters?

And just for reference, here's how big I made my Mike I-Spy bag... told you he was huge! This is my almost 5 year old holding him up! You could make this any size you wanted, too.

Oh, and later this week I'll be announcing an amazing and talented new contributor to my blog- I can't wait to share her with you! Her talent literally blows me away!

And lastly, I have 3 awesome giveaways coming up in the next few weeks that I am thrilled about!