Anyway, today I'm going to share one gift I made that DID turn out. One of the kids that I watch everyday is 2 1/2 and is always wanting to button his own pants and do his belt. And anytime I wear a sweater with buttons both him and his 1.5 yr old sister are drawn to them like magnets--trying to button them. So, I decided to make a basic quiet book that would have some of those things in it that he could practice with.
This is it:
I used mostly just a pack of felt that I bought at the Dollar Tree. It had 12 or so 5.5" by 8.5"sheets. I cut them to 5.5" x 6.75". The yellow pages I made from leftover felt I had to add more color, but they're "looser" felt (the others seemed pressed somehow) and I didn't like them as much.
a stray button...
A buckle off a discarded shoe...
From a 10 pack of shoelaces at the Dollar Tree:
As you can see, I ended up handstitching most of it -- mostly because I was living at someone else's house for a week and didn't have a sewing machine. I did have felt and thread though, so I did that in my free time and it was rather relaxing... Then later with the machine I just stiched the edges of the pages, sewing the two back-to-back pages together.I also found a cheap eyelet tool at Harbor Freight so I decided to add those where the rings are and that added a little coolness. Oh, and where I cut holes, like for the buckle, I used a leather punch b/c that's what I had, but probably a single paper punch would be sufficient, and easier. Then I took a toothpick and some mod podge and applied it around the holes to make them a little stiff and easier to stick stuff through.
All in all it turned out as I pictured it. Next time I would like to make the pieces sturdier somehow because I always get nervous when they touch it - afraid they're going to rip them off. I admit, sometimes I hide it when I'm at their house, just so it'll have a little more time to be pretty... Is that bad?
There's a really cool regular-type quiet book here that's worth checking out also.
Quiet Book @ Homemade by Jill (templates here)
Well, that's it for today. Have a crafty weekend, and try out a magnet board of your own!
So cute Ritz. It looks really good and fun. I think you could put interfacing in between the pages or just another layer of fabric or something to make it stiffer. It looks really cool though. I am sure the little boy loved it.
ReplyDeleteThat is very cute Ruthie. I made a quiet book from a pattern at keepsakequilting.com because it was cute, and yes it is cute, but it is dumb. Yours is cute and good because it has things for the kids to do. Good job! I should make another.
ReplyDeleteI am super impressed. Somewhere in my stuff is the quiet book I started making for....Jeremy? Rachel? It's been so long I can't even remember who it was for first. How embarrassing.
ReplyDelete