Kid's Cushions - ala Living With Punks

I have a 2 year old and a 1 year old.

Sometimes they're best friends. 

Most of the time, they fight over everything. 

 My little Monster likes to tease his big sister and knows all the right buttons to push!  He really likes to play with "her" rocking chair and "her" bean bag chair.  (They're only "hers" because he's been too young to care about them before; we pretty much have a rule that you have to share everything except your special blankie.  As you can imagine, this rule is not going so well for my little Munchkin.)

Recently I came across this tutorial from the blog Living With Punks. And I thought, if I make one for each kid, and give it to them at the same time, they can each have their own little cushion and stop fighting.  (HA!)

I did a few things different from the tutorial.  First off, I didnt use Home Decor fabric.  Why?  Because I'm cheap.  There was no cute Home Dec fabric on clearance, and on sale the cheapest was almost $7 a yard.  Plus, I found the CUTEST boy fabric in the clearance section, $3 a yard, and I just had to have it but I have a rule that I only buy fabric if I have a specific project for it.  So I figured I might as well!

(In hindsight, I think Home Decor fabric is definitely the best choice.  Its heavier so it helps the cushion keep its shape better I imagine.  But I still love the cushions I made, even if they are a little lumpy!)

I also only used piping on the second one I made, because the cost for piping was more than I paid for the fabric so I wanted to try it without the piping and see how I liked it.  So the brown with flowers doesnt have piping, and its okay; but the turtles is WAY better!

Luckily for us, our clothes basket has almost exactly 17 in diameter (which is the size given for the tutorial), so I didnt have to hunt down a compass thing and draw my own circle!  (My little Munchkin thought it was great that I put the basket on the table, and couldnt understand why I took it off.  Every time I turned away she put it back up there!)

It took a little over one naptime to make each of the cushions, and I thought they turned out pretty good.  The real test, though, is what the kids think of them.

And the verdict is....

Yup!  I think we have a winner!

My little Munchkin LOVED her cushion, she kept scooting all around the kitchen and mudroom on it (it slid really well on the tile floors.)  And she didnt try to steal her brother's at all, which was GREAT!

I showed her the handle, and the first thing she did was pick it up (like you see in the picture) and then hit her brother with it.  Niiiiiiiice.

My little Monster really didn't care too much about it either way.  He tried to use it as a step-stool, which didnt get him very far.  But if I forced him to sit on it, he would laugh and clap his hands and stay there...for a few seconds.

Here's the brown with flowers.  As you can see, no piping and its not lumpy because the kids havent touched it yet.

And here's the turtle one, with the piping.  I dont know why I couldnt manage to center the pic, or move the toys out of the background...sorry, I'm tired so thats all you're getting!

One last pic, using a lil' of my (non-existent) Photoshop skills.  I just love how cute and innocent she looks...I'm glad I could capture that brief second, because seriously it only lasts a second or two these days!!!