A Cozy for Koko

My son's first exposure to Chuggington was at the mall shortly after we moved into our house. We were there to stock up on Halloween candy and we had popped into the bookstore because I was looking for a specific issue of Paper Crafts Magazine. I didn't have any luck finding my magazine there but my son noticed Chuggington: Chug of War on the shelf and couldn't leave without it because it had magnets. He has a gazillion Thomas trains and quite of a few Thomas books including one with magnets. It was sealed so we couldn't actually read the story and we didn't know the Chuggington story so I didn't want to buy it.

"No, I want it!
Please, please, please?
Come on... (groaning voice)
Just pay for it..." (dejected voice with shoulders slouched and head hanging down)

It was hilarious because he carried it to the cash and put it on the counter! He was just too cute and my husband said that it would be nice for him to have since he was behaving. We've always rathered he have more books than toys. So then I decided to let him watch the show and now we all love it! While we were potty training, I discovered that I could bribe him with Chuggington trains and it worked so now he has quite a few of them. They fit on the Thomas wooden tracks which is a bonus.

Koko was the first Chuggington train he wanted and my best friend sent him the Over and Under Starter Set which includes Koko. Instead of letting him keep two Kokos, we decided that he would give his cousin the extra Koko. He'll realize that there should be two trains when he opens his gift at Christmas so we bought Irving (one of the other trains he wants) and put it in Koko's place in the box.

My niece loves the usual girly toys but she also has a big love for cars and trains. In fact, my sister admits her daughter chooses cars over dolls, not that there are necessarily boy or girl toys. That is just something that is learned, right? After all, I loved playing with G.I. Joe and Transformers when I was a kid! My niece was so thrilled when she received this gift today, along with the helicopter she requested, and I wish I got better photos of her carrying the little bag around. She really loved it! My son opened the catalog we gave them, since my sister doesn't know anything about Chuggingtons, and explained who all the characters were. Hilarious!

Since there was no box for Koko, I decided to make a little holiday bag for it. My niece will be able to carry her new train in it or use it for whatever she wants. I was able to pull felt from two sources and match Koko's colours. The Chartreuse felt (handles and flower) is from Felt on the Fly. The Violet Sky and Baby Pink felt is polyester made from recycled plastic bottles by The Kunin Group. I used Lil' Inker Designs' Holly Jolly dies to cut the Christmas tree from the front of the bag. Then I used Fringe Flower die to make both the handles and flower at the top of the tree.

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In honour of yesterday's Pinguini post, Felt on the Fly is offering free coordinating Mama and Baby Seahorse felt die cuts with every order! All you have to do is mention PINGUINI in the 'Notes to Seller' at Checkout. Head on over to the shop HERE!

Thank you for stopping by to enjoy this post and for your support of Felt on the Fly. :)

Sources: Felt on the Fly Chartreuse felt; The Kunin Group Violet Sky & Baby Pink felt; Lil' Inker Designs Holly Jolly & Fringe Flower dies; Gutermann thread