a "been-there" mom of six offers encouragement
to wives, young mothers, and those not so young,
and simple common-sense approaches to
the "ings" of life:
child-rearing (hints and helps), homemaking (all areas),
cooking (simple, cheap, and do-it-yourself)
making (toys and gifts), preparing (for the unexpected),
maintaining (sanity and peace in this increasingly crazy world) and more---
all aspects of making the most of making do on little---
and having fun in the process.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Still More Quiet Book Pages --- when I thought I was finished!

I am really pleased with how the wild animal weaving page turned out. Plus----it was simple and quick!!!


Wild animal patterned felt.  What a fun find!
Un-weave the strips and find who they belong to . . . 

I think kids will have fun matching  the
weaving strips to the animals. 
I couldn't pass up these puzzle cards I found at Dollar Tree ---- three different decks in a $1.00 package! 
Each card is double-sided  with different puzzle on each side. 
This is my build-a-word quiet book page using these cards. The puzzle card page is the same only with three sections in each pocket, all cut from --- you guessed it ---- page protectors!
If you look closely you can see I stitched down the middle of the clear pockets, making two sections.
 You can also see
I didn't do a good job inserting the cards, but it gives you the idea.

Again, the cards are double-sided so there are six objects to match.
This one with a pocket to hold the cards. I am going to change
the tie part because it tangles easily.
The third deck of cards is numbers. 

These cute jigsaw puzzles are also from The Dollar Tree.

There are four different 4-inch square puzzles in each $1.00 package (animals, sea critters or fruits)
Each set contains a puzzle with a different number of pieces - three, four, five and six - making them 
great for different ages and ability levels.

I haven't figured out a way to use them in the quiet books but I will keep thinking. 

  I knew I needed a lacing page to complete the book --- especially when I found these bright 45" laces at Hobby Lobby.
12 laces in a package --- ideal for my 12 quiet books!
I checked out several Internet quiet book shoe-lacing pages before starting out.  

The soccer shoe on the following site is great but it didn't lend itself to 1) my bunch of bright shoe laces and 2) the time it would take to make 12 of them

http://allthequietthings.blogspot.com/2013/03/quiet-book-boys.html

I also love her tool box!

My shoe is a combination of ideas. My main goal was to make a shoe whose lacing holes would stay firm and intact without going to the trouble (or expense) of making "official" shoe lace holes.



In my attempts to accomplish that, I tried using a simple paper punch to make holes in a variety of non-woven materials. Not only did the material need to be sturdy --- it had to be fairly easy to punch. I found just what I needed in an unlikely place.
I originally bought this flexible plastic 1" binder  (I loved the bright colors and the price 
of $1.00) to see how it would work as an "auxiliary" holder for just a few quiet book pages, thinking that having just a few pages to entertain at a time would not only increase the interest but allow for different pages of different levels of activity so the quiet book could be suited to, and could "grow" along with, the user. Now I will have to go buy 12 more!

You can see where I have begun to cut out the shoe tops!  I will be able to get all 24 lacing sections
from this one binder---with a lot left over. 

Since most of you won't need that much material, here are a few other things I tried that I think would work: Heavy Pellon interfacing, vinyl, and  non-woven re-usable shopping bags. 

Next week I will show you . . .

how I am finishing the "binding" edges of the pages and
how I am going to fasten the pages in the book. 

Have a terrific week!










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