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!
