Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Mr. Potato Head - Quiet book pages 10 & 11

Thanks for hanging in there with the quiet book pages! We're getting close to the end, I promise. As I mentioned, I love having this quiet book for church. Today I have for you the Potato Head page.


On the left is a simple potato head body which can be dressed with all the different accessories stored in the pocket on the right. Some of the quiet book potato heads I've seen have velcro on the body and on each accessory, but I decided to go a simpler route. Since the page is felt and all the accessories are made of felt, they stick together. Unless you pick the page up and shake it around. Which hopefully no one will be doing. Although, with kids, I can't rule that out.

Here's some of the ways Mr. (or Mrs.!) Potato Head can be dressed up:


And here's all the different accessories:


There's three sets of eyes (black, green, and blue), two sets of ears (one with earrings, one without), three hats (black bowler cap, yellow baseball cap, and a bonnet), two sets of shoes (blue and pink), two mustaches, two mouths (smiling teeth and big red lips), two noses (a big orange one and a smaller pink one), and a purse. They all store away in the clothes bucket, which closes with a snap so nothing falls out (thanks to my friend Jill for that idea!).

This is one of the few pages I did actually use a template I found online; the original template can be found here. I used the body, the arms, and some of the accessories. It helped a lot. I made some of my own accessories, and made a new template for them.

I really like this page; I think it'll be a fun one to play with. :)


To download the free Mr. Potato Head quiet book template, click here or on one of the pictures:



To download the entire Quiet Book template, click here or on the picture:



Here are links to the other quiet book pages:









Monday, November 28, 2011

The Ladybug and the Flowers - Quiet Book pages 8 & 9

(I quite like today's post title. It sounds kind of epic. Like you're about to hear a cool story.)


Today is, as the title epically states, about the ladybug page and the flower page!


Both of these are classic quiet book pages. We had them in my mom's quiet book when we were kids, and I definitely wanted them in the quiet book for our kids.


The ladybug unzips down the middle, and its spots snap on and off. So, you can store the spots inside.


Ta-da!

On the flower page, all the flowers are double layered and attached with buttons. So, you can button on and off all the different colors, and change them around how you want.


The flower pot also doubles as a pocket, in case you wanted to store the flower petals inside. 

 And that's the story of the ladybug and the flowers! :)


To download the free Ladybug Page quiet book template, click here or on one of the pictures:



To download the free Flower Page quiet book template, click here or on the picture:



To download the entire Quiet Book template, click here or on the picture:

Friday, November 25, 2011

Car Page - Quiet Book pages 6 & 7

I've started a new blog, The Quiet Book Blog, at Quietbookblog.blogspot.com. If you'd like to see more pictures of quiet books and instructions on how to make one, check it out!

 

Okay guys, this is one of my favorite quiet book pages. It's simple, really, but was complicated to make at the same time. It's simple because its function is simple - you take the car out of the pocket where it's stored and you play with it on the road.

It was complicated to make because each of the little things - the bushes, tree trunks, tree tops, house bits, school, windows - needed to be hand-sewed on. And the yellow house, the little flower patch, and the flag are completely thread - no felt at all. It took a long time. And by long I mean like two whole days. But even though (and probably because) it took so long, I really like the way it turned out.

The little felt car I made :)





Random fyi: the yellow bits in the middle of the road are from a thin yellow-patterned ribbon that I cut up and sewed on with the machine. And the car storage pocket is not felt; it's some blue linen-type fabric I happened to have. In case you wanted to know. :)

I hope our kids have fun playing with it!


Here are links to the other quiet book pages:

The Lion (Texture) Page






 I've started a new blog, The Quiet Book Blog, at Quietbookblog.blogspot.com. If you'd like to see more pictures of quiet books and instructions on how to make one, check it out!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The Apple Tree and the Dinosaur - Quiet Book Pages 4 & 5

To download the free Apple Tree quiet book template, click HERE.

Hi guys! Thanks for tuning in for day three of the quiet book pages. Today I'm excited to show you the apple tree and (more especially!) the dinosaur.


The apple tree is a quiet book classic. We had it in our quiet book that my mom made us when we were little.  The apples are on little snaps, and you can snap them off the tree and put them in the bucket.



The dinosaur, I'm excited to say, is entirely my own creation. I haven't seen anything out there like it. I just really wanted a dinosaur page, and this is exactly what came to mind when I imagined it.


He's so happy! So, the yellow spots and purple spines are velcroed on, which means you can take them off and rearrange them or stow them in the stealthy ground pocket.




Most everything in the book I did with a sewing machine, but I hand-sewed the dinosaur on for a couple reasons. First of all, his little hands and feet with their fingers and toes would have been nearly impossible to do satisfactorily on a sewing machine. Secondly, I made half the ground a pocket, but the other half isn't, and it would have been more complicated to machine sew him on with the pocket. So, I hand stitched him. I like the way it looks, too. :)

I really love the dinosaur. I think it might be my favorite page in the book, just because it is all my own idea and design. And I love dinosaurs. So, I guess that makes sense that I would love this guy.

So, yeah! That's the apple tree and the dinosaur.

To download the free Apple Tree quiet book page Template, click HERE.


Here are links to the other quiet book pages:

The Lion (Texture) Page







Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Farming! - Quiet Book pages 2 & 3

Hi folks! Thanks for tuning in for the second day of quiet book pages. Yesterday was the lion, and today is the farm page!


I, like everyone else on the internet, got this idea from Homemade by Jill. There's a couple different versions I've found and pinned on my pinterest quiet book board, and took my favorite things from each of them and combined them.



 When you open up the barn doors, you find...


farm animal finger puppets! And you can take them out and play with them on the next page.


I used part of Jill's template to make the barn, and partly I just winged it. The grassy farm page next to the barn was my idea; I wanted children to have room to play with the finger puppets. I also just made my own finger puppet templates, going off of the finger puppets found on Jill's website, and here, and here. Again, I made my own little changes to make them just how I wanted them. I was a bit worried the barn doors wouldn't stay closed when the finger puppets were stowed in their pocket, but Jason had the genius idea of putting a little latch on the front of the doors that buttons closed. So they're all safe and secure.

And that's the farm! Tune in tomorrow for more quiet book pages. :)


To download the free Farm Page quiet book template, complete with Farm Animal Finger puppets, click here or on one of the pictures:



To download just the free Farm Animal Finger Puppets template, click here or on the picture:



To download the entire Quiet Book template, click here or on the picture:



Here are links to the other quiet book pages:

The Lion (Texture) Page