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, November 15, 2013

Ouiet Book Page 8---Braid Her Hair

I debated a long time over including a braiding page in the quiet book.  One of the main reasons for the debate --- I am not good at creating faces---especially eyes! It finally came to me that I am the one who cares about details, not the little kids who are going to be playing with it.

Before I show you what I did, I want to tell you why I did it and how it can be done differently.

1.  My face parts are simply basic (and somewhat rough) shapes from a single layer of felt.  They "stick" well enough to the face, without any extra stick-um stuff.  Yours could be as elaborate as you feel like, and have the ability, to make them.

2. My hair is yellow because I was lucky enough to          
find pre-cut fleece strips in a bag at a thrift shop.
There were three packages in the bag for $1.99 ---
quite a bargain.  Unfortunately they only had yellow.
You could use yarn, ribbon, or even clean mop strings!
When our granddaughter Siera saw this page she told me
that her mom taught her to braid using three different colors.
I think that's a great idea!

3. Since the fleece is very soft and pliable I was able to make bangs that"fold down" over the forehead.  I left the top of the head open so it could be used as a holder (of something)

4. Again, when I was in the doubting stage of this page, I was uncertain as to what to put on the page along with the face and hair. There were many possibilities.

I decided a simple piece of clothing. It could have been made of fabric or felt or any number of things but since I am making
12 of them I wanted something that would come together quickly ---- plus, as I have said before, I like to add texture when I can.  Is smooth a texture?

I cut a rectangular piece of printed scrapbook paper as a simple dress shape, cut a collar from a contrasting piece, and an under-collar from white with edges cut with scalloped paper scissors. I fastened them together with bits of 2-sided tape and slipped it into a "pocket" cut from a page protector sheet, using the sealed edge of the page as the top. I zig-zag stitched around the page leaving the top of the "dress" open to make a second pocket.

I am pretty sure I have mentioned page protectors before. I am using them in several ways on various pages.




Oh and, just because (and because I had them), I threaded an narrow piece of ribbon through a button, and taped the ends of the ribbon under the collar before I put it in the plastic sleeve.


The pockets  hold the  face pieces and, according to the age of the recipient and your caution level, ribbons, barrettes, etc.

The two flowers at the bottom of the page are felt die-cuts with a small piece of Velcro on the back so they will fasten in her hair.

I decided there needed to be more face parts to play with so I made another mouth, another pair of eyes,
two noses and  a pair of glasses.  I considered making ears but Dave pointed out that since the braids would cover them so they weren't necessary.  Before you see the next picture I have to warn you that as I turned the face over to scan it some parts got kinda catawampus (showing my age, that's an old term for askew or awry) but it is easier to acknowledge the catawampus-ness than it is to re-scan it.


Again, they can be very, very simple, they can be moderate, or you can get "carried away."  I am Simply, Gail, but sometimes I get carried away.  I can promise you the ones I made for our kids when they were young fell in the very simple category.