Little Halloween Silicone Teether Toy

 

This year will be the first Halloween for my smallest pumpkin and my littlest nephew.  They're too little for trick or treating and both have teeth coming in, so I decided to make them something they could still "taste" for the occasion: a  

Silicone Halloween Teether Toy.

Who wouldn't want a colorful bat, spooky ghost,

 

or a jolly pumpkin to nibble on when those itchy gums are getting them down?

 

 

It goes right onto all our favorite things like the stroller belly bar, playmat bar, activity tray...

 

 

..and car seat handle.  It's been great for keeping the smalls busy on the go and adding a little Halloween festivity to the everyday.

 

I fell in love with making silicone teethers and pacifier clips when my 2yr old was a baby and I've gotten into it again this go round.  I shared some of the other cute ones I made & tips I've learned here. 

I find it a really enjoyable craft, pretty inexpensive and super practical.  They're fun for little hands to grab, comforting for those drooly, need-to-chew gums, incredibly easy to clean and very hard wearing.  The ones from my 2 yr old are still like brand new.  And because food grade silicone is so durable, once they outgrow the teether phase, the beads can be reused to make jewelry, key chains or DIY hairbands like the ones I've made below.  

Extra long life for crafted holiday items = win to me!

 

 

There are a lot of variations in materials and techniques for silicone teether toys out there.  Some is good, some a bit questionable.  I'm sharing the key bits I've learned that help get consistent and safer results.

Quick Disclaimer: I make mine for personal use and am not affiliated with any suppliers mentioned.  Obviously small objects and beads can present a choking hazard to young children, so this type of toy is intended for supervised use only.  I only use them attached to the car seat, stroller, high chair or activity center while someone is watching baby.   

Materials:
- Silicone pendant teether
- (5) 15mm round silicone beads

- (2) silicone focal beads
- 1 yd 1.5mm wide satin cord
- Breakaway safety clasp

Tools: Lighter, Scissors, ruler, silicone mat, 

large upholstery/crafting needle, silicone thimble

 

I buy my supplies from a number of sources, but since I'm using them to make things for little ones, I always make sure they have safety certification, silicone items are graded food safe and everything is CPSIA compliant.  I bought the cute pumpkin pendant, bat & ghost focal beads from My Pretty Posh Princess and my cord, breakaway clasp & round beads from Cara & Co.  

 

Also keep in mind that selling handmade teething items for babies requires further safety testing of the final item (which differs from country to country).  It is NOT as simple as just buying a bunch of beads, stringing them cutely and listing them as baby items on Etsy, despite countless people doing just that.  It's always a good idea to check when buying items like this from small time sellers.   

 

 

I folded my cord in half and slipped it through the hole in my pendant toy using a lark's head knot (as shown) and then did an overhand knot (which will end up inside the first bead):

 

I used (5) 15mm round and (2) focal beads for my toy strand.  Laying them out in advance to make sure the order looks good before stringing is always a smart move.  If choosing different sized beads it's also good to make sure the full length of the finished teether will be 22cm (8.6inches) or less, not including the clasp bit, to avoid being a strangulation hazard.

 

I heated up the ends of my satin cord with a lighter and then pressed them flat with my silicone mat & thimble so it would be easier to thread both ends on my upholstery needle. 

The bead hole can be very snug when it comes to threading two cords through, so using this kind of needle really helps.  I pulled the bead down firmly to make sure it covered my overhand knot.

 

 

Then I did an overhand with an extra pass through just above the bead & pulled the cords tight.  A square knot or surgeon's knot would also be good options:

 

I repeated this between all the beads, and with a knot inside each bead, to keep things strong & secure.

 

 

After the last knot above the top bead, I threaded the ends of my breakaway clasp on the two cords.  Then made overhand knots on each, 2 inches from the bead strand's last knot, so it would easily fit on the various belly bars and handles of our stroller, car seat, etc.  I cut the excess cord and heated up the little stub of the raw end with the lighter and pressed it into the knot to fuse it and slipped the clasp ends over them.

  

Then I thoroughly washed the teethers before being used and then we were ready for some Halloween teething fun.  Now everyone in our house gets a little seasonal treat this year! 

Sew Can Do waives all responsibility and liability from the use of teethers made following the information in this post.   Readers are responsible for making sure that teethers meet the appropriate safety requirements for their country/region and understand that by using suggestions from the above post, that they assumes any and all responsibility & liability for the use of the toys made.

Craftastic Monday Link Party

Hello Crafters!  Another Craftastic Link Party is waiting for you.  Time to latest & greatest Halloween, fall, Thanksgiving makes. And all other crafts, costumes, DIYs, decorations and treats, fall fashions, recipes and gift ideas too.

 

 

 

Last week I shared my free file and tutorial for this 

Quick & Easy Little Pumpkin Baby and Toddler Shirt:

 

 

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Here are this week's Craftastic Picks:

Living On Cloud 9 put together these fabulous fall themed decorative tiered trays:

 

 

My French Twist created this pretty felt acorn garland:

 

 

 

Bird's Party made these sweet felt Halloween throw pillows:

 

 

 

Eyelove Knots created this cute free crochet monster hat pattern:

 

 

Cindy's Online Recipe Box shared this festive pumpkin pudding recipe:

 

If you're one of this week's features, be sure to grab my Featured On button over on my Buttons Page to share the good news. 

 Want a Chance to 

Be Featured Next Week?  

Link back to the party somewhere on your blog.

I can't feature your post if you don't share the party.

  

Ready to link up your crafty creations?

 

Party rules are simple: 

• As long as it's crafty, and made by you, it's Craftastic (no links to other people's work or to businesses/shops).  
• Add the link to your specific post. Product reviews, plagiarized or sponsored posts for random items will be immediately deleted.  
• Grab my party button & put it on your post, party page or blog somewhere.  If you want the chance to be featured, this is key.  The button code can be found HERE.
• Check out some of the other fabulous links and share some crafty comment love.  We all love getting comments!!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Quick & Easy Little Pumpkin Baby and Toddler Shirt

We're in the holiday home run season folks.  3 months in 3 holidays.  Yikes!  It can be a challenge to find time to craft and not feel like the relevant time frame is over the second you've made it.  I especially feel like that about holiday themed wearables.

 

I love cute kid's Halloween outfits, but with 5 kiddies, it seems like a waste to buy stuff with a 1 month or less wear time.  Especially with my two smalls who are less than 2 years apart.  I can't justify making/buying stuff for my 2 yr old boy, then chucking it and for something similar but "girly" for my 8 month old daughter the next year.  Longevity in kid's wear is key people!

A few years back I made these spooky cat raglan shirts for my 3 big kids and they've gotten tons of wear as they've been handed down from one to the other to the other:

 

 

Yet, I realized I didn't have anything Halloween-y for my toddler (which happens when there's an 8 yr gap between two of the kids).  Baby girl is sporting his too small pumpkin face onesie this year.  Already being nearly mid-October, I wanted to use stuff I had at home rather than spend $.  I also needed to make sure it would work for my little lady to wear next year.  Mission accomplished:

 

This project was a little nod to the heat transfer DIY Pumpkin Maternity Shirt I made (and sported the past few Halloweens):

 

 

 

I used the same pumpkin file, fonts and leftover orange glitter heat transfer vinyl.  The design is cute for boys or girls so it'll be just as cute on my sweet girl next year as it is on my little guy now.   

 

I couldn't find a cheap basic black shirt in his size ('rona restrictions make shopping is such a hassle these days), so I scrounged his closet and found an olive green onesie that still fits well.  

 

Materials:
- Onesie or t-shirt
- Heat transfer material (mine is the glitter variety)
- Cutting machine or exact-o and patience.  
- Cricut EasyPress (or iron)

 

I used a pumpkin silhouette image found online and opened it in Cricut Design Space then turned it into a cut file there.  
I added the Mommy's Little Pumpkin text in free fonts (Bubblegun and Milkshake) that are nice and thick, so ideal for cut files. You can right click to save my file to cut your own.  

 

I sized it at 5 inches by 5 inches in Cricut Design Space to be the perfect size for a 24 month sized top/onesie.  It also needs to be mirrored before cutting since the material is cut face down on the mat.  

 

Since the details are pretty small, I used a weeding tool to get all the tiny bits out.  The letters need to be removed for the shirt to peek through inside the pumpkin, but you need to keep the tiny bits inside the "o", "e" and "l" in place.   

 

It ends up looking like this on the carrier sheet:

 

I've gotten a lot of use out of my Cricut Easy Press the past couple years (you can get my full, unbiased review of it here) & this was no exception.  I used the recommended settings from Cricut for my EasyPress model & the glitter material: 340 degrees for 30 seconds followed by 15 seconds on the backside and waiting until cool to peel.  I always use a thick towel underneath for best results.

 

By using green rather than traditional black as the background color, it's still Halloween-y, but also more generally fall, so wearing it in September and November won't look weird.  

 

 

Thanks to that happy accident, I figured out how to make it wearable for about 3 months rather than 3 weeks!! And it'll be perfect for the entire season on baby girl next year.

 

 

Not bad for $0.  Even my small fry guy agrees!!

 

 

Craftastic Monday Link Party

Happy Monday Crafty Friends!  Time to link up all your fun fall creations and whatever else you've been making.  Come share your seasonal and Halloween costumes, DIYs, decorations and treats, fall fashions, recipes and gift ideas.

 

 

 

Last week I shared the matching fun fall pants I made 

for my girls:

 

 

 

 

And my wonderings about What Happened To Corduroy Fabric?:

 

 

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Here are this week's Craftastic Picks:

The House on Silverado created this gorgeous DIY ribbon and burlap fall wreath:

 

 

 

Simply Beautiful By Angela did a gorgeous transformation with these dollar store sweater pumpkins:

 

 

 

 Eccentricities by JVG made these sweet polymer clay pumpkins:

 

A Big Green House shared this yummy maple cream pie recipe:

Doodle Buddies turned a glass shade from a broken chandelier into a cute DIY glass cloche:
 

 

 

If you're one of this week's features, be sure to grab my Featured On button over on my Buttons Page to share the good news. 

 Want a Chance to 

Be Featured Next Week?  

Link back to the party somewhere on your blog.

I can't feature your post if you don't share the party.

  

Ready to link up your crafty creations?

 

Party rules are simple: 

• As long as it's crafty, and made by you, it's Craftastic (no links to other people's work or to businesses/shops).  
• Add the link to your specific post. Product reviews, plagiarized or sponsored posts for random items will be immediately deleted.  
• Grab my party button & put it on your post, party page or blog somewhere.  If you want the chance to be featured, this is key.  The button code can be found HERE.
• Check out some of the other fabulous links and share some crafty comment love.  We all love getting comments!!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter