We're winding down to when this new little baby is going to join our family. I have also completed most of the projects that I frantically wanted to finish before he got here. Now its just time to enjoy one-on-one time with Asher and wait for labor to start :) I finished almost all of the projects I wanted to, but I only wanted to take pictures and share my most time consuming project- 3 quiet books. Actually, I only have pictures from the two quiet books that are for our boys because the third is a Christmas present. Get ready for lots of pictures, even if they aren't very good and some of them are sideways (I really can't figure out how blogger decides which direction to put them)
I got most of my ideas from quiet books I saw on other blogs, I just changed them to be more how I liked them. Some of the pages are my original idea- both covers are original (of course with lots of input from Austin). Also, I'm quite proud of the fact that I only used patterns for a couple of the pages and the majority of the felt was cut free-hand. I've gotten pretty good at cutting shapes from felt over the years and doing it free-hand saves lots of time. I used wool felt for this project because I'm hoping it won't pill as much with all the use these books will get. I used Pellon for the actual pages (that's why they are all white) because I read that it tends to hold together better than felt.
Quiet Book #1: Geared toward older skills.
This is the front cover
The classic barn page
The doors open with barn animal finger puppets inside
A page to learn shapes and colors
all the shapes are velcroed on
Asher has been really into tools lately, so hopefully he will like this in coming years too
A little set of tools to fix things at church or around the house
The clock hands are moveable so kids can change the time
I was just going to do the analog clock, but thought having a digital version with lots of numbers to change to match the analog clock would be fun and educational
A veggie garden- complete with beets in honor of Austin's grandparents :)
You can pick the veggies and put them in a basket
Every boy needs a truck in their quiet book
The wheels are removable to practice buttoning skills
Classic Noah's ark page with a zipper to practice that skills
More animal finger puppets inside
A paint pallet with a brush so kids can pretend to paint the rest of the book
The colors are all attached with velcro so they can be moved around
A cute little forest scene
The strawberries and apples are attached with snaps and the tree has a flap that opens to reveal an owl
Tic-Tac-Toe
I really hope none of these little playing pieces get lost because they were time consuming!
A laundry line and washer to dress a little boy
I hope both of our boys end up with blond hair :)
Cupcakes with velcro tops to match the number with the number of "sprinkles" on the cupcake
This page doesn't do anything special- the kids can just trace the letters and maybe we can play a game of find things in the quiet book or in the room that start with each letter
This is the back cover and my signature page- I thought it was quite fitting with my favorite color and favorite animal. All three of the books have this as the back cover.
Quiet Book #2: Geared toward younger kids
Austin insisted that I make the cover of one of the books with a viking ship. I kept saying no because I thought it would be too hard, but it ended up being my favorite page of all.
A horse just to feel the texture of his mane- made from yarn.
A monkey
The banana velcroes and peels down
A sweet little owl.
Both of her wings lift up with a baby owl hiding under one.
A frog
His tongue has snaps so he can "catch the flies
An alligator with a zipper for a mouth
He has fishes numbered 1-10 in his mouth
The giraffe doesn't do anything except have buttons to feel the texture
The fish snaps on and off- he doesn't move, but the kids can practice snapping.
The lion has all kinds of textures in his mane for feeling.
Even though I'm very proud of my quiet books, it feels kind of strange to have them done after working on them for so long.
These are awesome just like you!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWow! I finally looked at these and they are amazing! You are one talented woman. So my question is...did you use patterns or did you do this all freehand? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteIts all freehand. But like I said on FB, I am working on making a pattern for the one geared toward younger kids. The actual pattern is done, I just need to write out the instructions. If you want, I'll send the pattern to you and you can just email me with any questions that you can't figure out yourself (they are pretty self-explanitory)
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