Mickey Checkers

We are back from our surprise Disney World Vacation and what fun we had!!! I intended to post this last Mickey themed craft while on vacation but we were so busy having fun that, that didn't happen, so you get to see it now. It is a variation of the tic-tac-toe on the go game I posted a while back but instead of the game board being on the back of the game pouch, I had to make a separate fold-able game board because the checker board was just to big to fit onto the back of the pouch.

The game board was made by cutting out 1 inch squares of freezer paper using my favorite crafting tool the Silhouette Craft Cutter and then laying them out in the checker board pattern. I then ironed the freezer paper squares down on to a red fabric square which measured about 8 1/2 by 8 1/2 and used fabric paint to paint in the checker board. Once the paint was dry, I peeled off the freezer paper and where the freezer paper was the red fabric showed through leaving a perfect checker board. I then cut another piece of fabric the same size as the checker board and sewed them together and finished it off with a cute little fabric border.

For the game pieces I bought unfinished wood stars at Jo-ann's and painted them with acrylic paint. When they were dry, I added little Mickey and Friends stickers to one side of the stars and painted over the whole star with Modge Podge to seal.

The pouch or envelope to hold the whole thing was made by following this tutorial with one change, I didn't use the plastic on the front and back like in the tutorial, instead I used the plastic only on the front and used fabric on the back. The checker board is then folded and put inside the pouch along with the game pieces just waiting to be played with.

On the Go Tic Tac Toe

So it is "Celebrate the Boy" month over at a couple of my favorite blogs, Made and Made by Rae and I couldn't resist making a little something for my youngest boy though I am sure my oldest boy will play with it too, who can resist a quick game of Tic-Tac-Toe, especially when you are on the go. This game will come in quite handy when we are out and about and find ourselves having to wait, like in a restaurant or on a long car ride, you know what I mean, it will keep your boy or boys busy.

So I got the inspiration for this little game when I saw this "Celebrate the boy" guest post by Zaaberry on the Made by Rae blog. These little toy bags got my "em-agination" rolling and I thought, gosh those would be great to make a little on the go game for my son. I altered the bag a little bit from the tutorial by using fabric on the back instead of the clear plastic vinyl, so that I could adhere the game board to the back. (A little tip on the vinyl, a lot of times, sheets and bedding products come packaged in clear plastic vinyl bags. I always keep the bags and then cut them up and reuse them to make things like this or my I spy bags, something I will have to show you another time.) I then used my favorite crafting tool, the Silhouette Craft Cutter (again not being paid to talk about it, I just love it, it is a great machine) to cut out heat set vinyl for the tic-tac-toe board for the back and the words on the front. 

For the game pieces, I picked up a couple of bags of 1 inch wood circles and Jo-ann's and then painted them green and blue. I then cut out the X's and O'x again using the my Silhouette and some self adhesive vinyl. The fun side of these game pieces are that they are double sided, did you notice from the picture, some have a white X or O while some have a green X or O. I hate to waste my vinyl so I used both the positive and negative image created by the cut out to make these game pieces double sided, no real reason, it is just fun and I didn't want to waste the vinyl. 

So there you have it a fun little game for your boys or girls on the go, I have another variation coming up making a checkers game for my kids but for now I must sleep.

P.S. ignore my sloppy sewing, I hate bias tape, I can never seem to get it on neatly, if you have any tips to help me get that tape sewn on there neatly, I would love to hear them. For now I am sticking with the excuse that the messy sewing was intentional, it adds to the games character, yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!