Q is for Quiet

 

Oh dear, it’s been forever since I posted. I found knitting to be difficult after my concussion, so jumped back into sewing. Quiet Books are my newest passion. I’d been lusting after a Cricut Explore Air for a few months, and my wonderful husband told me I deserved one and to order it. Done!

After making three boy-themed, name-personalized, quiet books I HAD to make a girl’s book. Of course, girls need purses. I’ve raised the bar in the last few books I’ve made. Each page now has a soft animal which matches the letter of the page, and a small laminated book which gives fun facts about each of the animals used in the book. Julia book was made as a surprise for my daughter Emily to give to a child of one of the women in her mother’s group. As you can see, the girl was totally enthralled with the book. A special touch is that I used some of my alpaca wool on both sides of the alpaca.

Julia Cover:

J is for Jellyfish:

U is for Urchin:

L is for Leopard:

I is for Iguana:

A is for Alpaca:

Gift Tag Page:

Julia back cover with mini-book:

When doing research for alphabet animals to use in the mini-books, I found Alphabetimals and fell totally in love with them. So CLEVER!!! I use them to represent the animals in the mini-books.

Hope all of you have been having a wonderful crafty time!

 

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Quiet Book For Boone

Boone is enthralled with his book

A special family friend just turned one. Of course, I had to make an extra wonderful book for him. I’ve been on a Quiet Book kick lately, as show by the mega pins I’ve done on Pinterest.  As a retired science/computer teacher I could not resist making this a rainbow-themed book using ROY G BIV colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. I did throw in some white and black. I’ve purposely blocked out Boone’s face since this is on the Internet.

Front Cover

Pocket page

B is for Bear

O is for Octopus

O is for Owl

N is for Newt

E is for Elephant

Rainbow back page

The book is 9 x 9 inches. Each individual page is backed with an interfacing. The individual pages were sandwiched together with a light cotton batting filling. Every item was sewn down, except the one I forgot. I used heavy duty grommets since I knew a one-year old would give this book plenty of loving. I wanted each page to either do something or have a texture, some pages have both.

Photo page – Boone’s picture was printed out at 4 x 6 inch size. I used a self-laminating pouch for it. A hole was punched into the pic and a heavy duty “springy cord with hooks” was used to attach it to the book. I included the rest of the laminating pouches so they could pick out other favorite pictures to include. The pocket pattern was free.

B is for Bear – I put stars on the shirt for texture.

O is for Octopus – Vinyl was sewn on the head and stuffed with puff balls and under the tentacles I used the grip fabric used on the bottom feet of kid’s pjs.

O is for Owl – The owl slides back and forth on the cord. A textured felt was used for the main part of the body.

N is for Newt – Fish were included to indicate that this was an animal that lives in and around water. If you lift up the left foot, you’ll find a fish under it. Bumpy green “thingies” were used for texture.

E is for Elephant – The ears are flappy and the trunk is fabric with elastic inside for baby to pull.

Rainbow back – ROY G BIV! The template for the rainbow came from Rainbow template

I found clipart and other animal examples from Google searches. I used Photoshop to design the layout; letter sizes, animal sizes, etc. The Felt Alphabet was free from Purl Soho. The idea for an alphabet, name book came from here, as did the Newt pattern.

This was a blast to make, as well as its frustrations. My first ever felt book so there was a big learning curve.

Have a crafty, wonderful day!

Counting With a Jellyfish

Jellyfish Counting Game

First quiet book page done: Counting Jellyfish. I free-handed the shape of the jellyfish. I stitched around it twice since there will be plenty of tugging on the “tentacles” and beads. I purchased the “ribbon” at Michael’s close-out last year. The pony beads were from the Dollar Store. Every jellyfish needs fish so I ironed a fusible web onto the Riley Blake fish fabric and then onto the felt. For texture, I glued small bead/glitter to the top of the jelly. The page size is 9″ x 9″.

Have a fun crafty day!

DIY Angry Birds Button Game

Knock Knock

Knock, Knock! Can we come out to play with the little ones?

Angry Birds

One of my favorite blogs, Me & My Veritas Sewing an Crafting Projects With and For Kids by Jana, featured a DIY Button Up Game, a game to help toddlers with their fine motor skills. A few weeks ago, I had my three year old grandson stay the night. After seeing the game on Jana’s site, I had to make one for him.  Check her site for detailed instructions. I did make some modifications, he loves Angry Birds so I found a site with an Angry Birds coloring book, making sure his King Pig favorite was on the page, and printed it out. Each figure was cut out from felt, and I used a light box to trace the face using a Sharpie. A slit was cut into each piece of felt large enough for the button to fit through.

I sewed a button to one end of a piece of 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon the other was threaded through round piece of felt and tied into a knot. You can see the ribbon and button in the above picture.  The round piece of felt acts as a stop for the other felt pieces.

Bye Bye

All done? Put the game away in it’s nice little “home”.

Q

Have I been conspicuous in my absence? A bit over two weeks ago, I got Salmonella food poisoning from a fast foot joint! After gastrointestinal problems for 4 hours, my Vagus nerve cause my blood pressure to drop causing me to pass out. On my fall to the floor, I hit a few items with my face! One was a wooden step we keep in the bathroom for the grandkids. I came to with blood running everywhere. Long story short, a slight concussion, severe dehydration, and mega-headaches, I’m slowly on the mend. I finally have been able to knit again. My eyes looked like raccoon eyes, black and blue all around. Anyway….. the doctor said it will take a few months for all of the bumps, swelling and bruises to heal.