Showing posts with label buttoning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buttoning. Show all posts

Thursday 27 February 2020

Psalm 29 - Enthroned Above The Flood Quiet Book Page

Psalm 29 reassures us the God is both powerful and in control. He sits enthroned above the flood.



Memory Verse: “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever." Psalm 29:10 NIV


Materials needed to create the Enthroned Above The Flood quiet book page:

  • A4 felt background sheet - I used blue
  • a Noah's ark and animals image - I used this printable from the article Sharing Time: The Prophet Will Tell Us in the LDS kids magazine Friend
  • felt in white, green, red and as close as you can get to gold
  • Kam snaps
  • ric rak
  • 30cm of 2mm round elastic
  • wooden cloud buttons - I bought these from AliExpress (not an affiliate link)
  • dotted mesh material
  • 40mm wide rainbow ribbon - I bought this from AliExpress (not an affiliate link)
  • gold pleather
  • clear craft glue if using pleather to make sewing easier - I used polyacetic acid & ethylene resin based glue
  • decorative beads
  • a throne template - I modified this Colouring page Saint Nicholas' throne from edupics.com
  • hot glue gun and glue

Firstly, get the Noah's Ark and animals transferred onto white felt by the sublimation printing and heat press method - see my post on Sublimation Printing on Felt - Test. Cut out the ark and animals and sew the ark onto the background page along three sides leaving the top open to form a pocket for the animals.

Prepare two wooden cloud buttons by threading 15cm of the elastic onto each and tying a knot to create a loop of elastic. Slide the knot to the back of the button and hot glue in place. Cut the ends short.




Cut your mesh material to size to fit inside your page with extra length (and width if you want to finish the edges first - I didn't but I wish I had). Fold the top over itself a couple of times and pin and sew along the top edge as shown above, placing the elastic of the buttons underneath at either end. Make sure the end is poking out the bottom so you can pull it up and over the buttons to hold the rolled up mesh in place later.




Measure your ground and make a few layers of grass for the animals to sit in. I used ric rak to edge the top of the grass as there would be too many layers of felt along the bottom if I doubled the felt as I usually do. Use kam snaps to attach the grass to the page. At the back, use small squares of spare felt to strengthen them and prevent them ripping a hole when being pulled.




Cut a length of rainbow ribbon to fit your page and melt the edges - see my post on How to Stop Ribbons Fraying. I rounded the edges, but you don't have to. Mark where the button holes should be on the ribbon, then sew and cut.




Use the a colouring page as a throne template to make your throne. Simplify the lines by joining some together and rounding off the top.




Before sewing the pleather, I used the glue to attach the pleather to a sheet of felt. My pleather was stretchy which makes it very difficult to sew. Allow the glue to dry before sewing in place. Then sew the red felt on top and cut out the front section of the throne. Decorate with beads at the top.




Make a slot for threading the throne onto the rainbow ribbon by doubling a piece of felt and sewing onto the other half of your sheet of felt. Make sure it is slightly wider than your rainbow ribbon to allow it to pass through easily. Hot glue the throne to the sheet of felt with the slot facing out and centered at the back. Cut out the throne once again.

Thread the throne onto the ribbon and button it on, or store in the ark pocket.

Complete!


Difficulty Level = Intermediate.

Pleather can be difficult to work with.


Key Learning Areas and Skills

  • Psalm 29 - God is in control even when it might seem like He is not
  • Rolling - roll up the rain, and roll it down again
  • Buttoning - secure the rain when it is rolled up with the elastic and cloud buttons, button on the rainbow ribbon
  • Threading - thread the throne onto the rainbow ribbon
  • Colours - learn the colours of the rainbow
  • Tucking - tuck the animals into the ark
  • Using snaps - snap on and off the ground to make it appear to flood
  • Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
  • Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination




Read the Chapter

Psalm 29.


Devotional

Maybe you feel like everything is out of control, but God assures us that He's got it. Sometimes trouble is what we need to wake us up and turn our course. When trial comes are we willing to listen to instructions and build an ark? Or do we insist on our own way?

This Psalm speaks about God twisting the oaks and breaking the cedars. Trees are often used as a symbol of men and strength. So the strength of men is nothing to God. Therefore, why worry about what man can do to you? Rather worry about pleasing God.

Not only does God rule over the kaos of The Flood, but He caused it.


Psalm 29 - HeartSong



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Have you made a Noah's Ark quiet book page? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Tuesday 5 February 2019

Isaiah 53 - Messiah ben Joseph Quiet Book Page

Isaiah 53 is a Messianic passage which describes the sacrificial death of the suffering servant (Messiah ben Joseph).



Memory Verse: “But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5.


Materials needed to create the Messiah ben Joseph quiet book page:

  • A4 felt background sheet - I used mid blue
  • four small nail looking shank buttons
  • felt scraps in skin colour, hair colour, wood colour and parchment colour
  • matching thread colours, and red thread (for the blood)
  • air erasable marker (or pen)
  • letter beads - or ink pads and small alphabet stamps or a permanent marker etc
  • hot glue and glue gun
  • my free Messiah ben Joseph template download
Cut out your template and most pieces from the felt scraps in appropriate colours. I find for intricate shapes (such as the section that needs to be cut from the inside of the legs) it is sometimes best to use a pen to draw the shape onto the felt and cut it out that way - of course you need to flip the pattern over and draw on the inside so it will be hidden when sewn together. I only cut the front of Jesus' body out and waited until I attached the front to the back to cut out the whole body.

The draw and cut method was certainly useful when trying to keep within the lines whilst sewing on Jesus' whip stripes. And of course you need to sew on the wound details in red thread before sewing the front body to the back. Jesus most likely received 39 stripes. Jewish law forbade any more than 40 (Deuteronomy 25:3) and in an effort not to cross this line, 39 were delivered just in case someone miscounted. Since the Roman whip had three tails on it, they would have delivered 13 strokes to make a total of 39 lashes.


39 stripes


Sew the front of Jesus' body to the back and cut it out. Then sew on the face - don't worry that you can see the stitching on the back as the hair will cover it. Use red thread to make small buttonholes to fit your buttons on the feet/ankle and wrist/hand areas.

For the hair, cut two fronts and sew them together, two backs and sew them together and then join the doubled front to the doubled back along the top of the hairline to a spot at about just above the nape of the head. Leaving the ends open will allow the hair to fit over the head and split over the shoulder. You will also be able to lift the hair at the back to see all of the stripes. Position the hair and secure in place using red thread on a zig-zag and/or decorative stitch to sew across the head to make a bloodied crown of thorns.

To make the sign for the top of the cross, sew the two white pieces of felt together and make a buttonhole the same size as the others using matching thread this time. It should be positioned down a ways from the top to allow room to roll the ends up. Use hot glue to keep the ends rolled in place. Hand sew on some beads to make a list of names on one side and to say "Messiah ben Joseph" on the other.

I did also try using stamps and ink for the lettering, but I don't think my ink was very good quality. You can see that it ran/separated a little, especially at the 'M' - it looks worse in real life. I have seen felt stamped before that turned out well. If you have good quality ink it might work better.




Sew down the cross onto your page and lay Jesus' body on top. Push sewing pins through the buttonholes to mark the position needed for the shank button nails. Add the sign and do the same. Hand sew the buttons on.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Intermediate.

It's not really hard, just a bit fiddly in some sections.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

  • Isaiah 53 - Taking our place and dying on the cross was not an easy task. This prophecy in Isaiah was fulfilled in such detail. Sin causes devastating consequences.
  • Imaginative Play - Jesus died on the cross so we don't have to. Turn the sign at the top of the cross to reveal either your name/s or Messiah ben Joseph. You get to choose who pays the price for your sin.
  • Buttoning - He died to pay for our sin so it is appropriate that our hands put the nails through.
  • Counting - see if you can count the 39 stripes on Jesus' back.
  • Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
  • Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination


I love you this much...


Read the Chapter

Isaiah 53


Devotional

I did question whether or not making this page was a good idea. The topic is not really a fun one and I didn't want to encourage disrespectful play. However, it is also the central topic of Christianity and it is rather difficult to create a Bible full of quiet book pages without featuring the cross.

The page was inspired by the buttons which looked to me like nails. I prayed about if I should go ahead with the idea and then decided to count how many buttons I had... if there were not enough then in a way it would be decided for me. I found exactly four and felt assured of approval.

Part of the message I wanted to portray with this page was that it is MY personal sin that Jesus died to pay for. Therefore it is appropriate that my own hand does the buttoning.




In times past Christians have blamed Jews and labelled them Christ-killers and given rise to massive antisemitism. Jews were driven from their homes and massacred during the crusades and the First and Second World Wars. I want to sincerely and profusely apologise for that. Anyone who wants to shift the blame in that way does not understand the gravity of their own sin, a point which the death of God's Son should certainly drive home.




The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Effectively, that cross had my name on it until I decided to ask Jesus to take my place. That is what the scroll meant to demonstrate... it has 'many' (unfortunately I could only fit four) names on one side, and the other is labelled with 'Messiah ben Joseph' our suffering servant.







In Jewish eschatology there is a belief that there are to be four Messianic figures: Elijah, Messiah ben Joseph, Messiah ben David and the Righteous Priest termed collectively the Four Craftsmen. There are correlations with the Christian belief in the two comings of the Messiah. At His first coming, Jesus fulfilled the role of Messiah ben Joseph, which Christians term 'the suffering servant', and at His second coming, we believe that He will fulfill the role of Messiah ben David or what we term 'King Messiah'. We also believe Jesus is a Priest in the order of Melchizedek. In Malachi 4, Elijah was prophesied to return and in the New Testament people asked John the Baptist 'Are you Elijah'? Although he denied being Elijah or the prophet - Moses (John 1:21), perhaps an effort to deflect attention away from him and towards Christ, Jesus did imply he played the role of Elijah (Matthew 17:12). But of course the real Elijah and Moses did return prior to the cross at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9, 2 Peter 1).

Interestingly enough here are some of the traits attributed to Messiah ben Joseph and how I can see them relating to Jesus' first coming:

  • He is the leader of the lost ten tribes and/or all Israel - Christians believe we represent spiritually the lost ten tribes who were scattered among all nations. It is said that in the future He will bring back the exiles and rebuild the land of Israel. Christians believe that this will be fulfilled by Jesus at his second coming.
  • 'Ben' means 'son (of)' in Hebrew, and Jesus was known as the son of Joseph (his legal father).
  • Joseph is also meant to refer to the tribe of Joseph (Ephraim) which was in the north and is linked to both the lost ten tribes and the physical northern area of Israel (i.e. Nazareth/Galilee area where Jesus was from). 
  • A stone tablet called Gabriel's Revelation refers to a Messianic figure from Ephraim who will break evil in three days - Jesus breaks the power of evil by dying on the cross and rising to life again in three days. Messiah ben Joseph is also associated with the rebuilding of the temple (hence why he is a craftsmen) - something Jesus claims he will do in three days referring to his bodily resurrection. 
  • Messiah ben Joseph is willing if necessary to die battling evil forces and the enemies of God and would receive an inadequate burial - which indeed happened to Jesus. Perhaps not in the way the Jews envisioned a battle would take place but it was the greatest battle ever fought and won. 
  • Later God would resurrect the dead and a peaceful Messianic era would follow with Messiah ben David ruling (sounds like Heaven to me). 

Your thoughts are welcome...






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Hearing from you gives me great encouragement!

Friday 14 December 2018

Genesis 39 - The Temptation of Joseph Quiet Book Page

Genesis 39 demonstrates Joseph's integrity.

Memory Verse: "No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” Genesis 39:9

Materials needed to create The Temptation of Joseph quiet book page:

  • A4 felt background sheet - I used black
  • sublimation printed Ancient Egypt dress-up dolls by Gabi's Paper Dolls (I only printed some of the female costumes and the dolls) - you can read how I had it done on my Sublimation Printing on Felt - Test post
  • Veltex material (also called loop fabric or industrial webbing) in skin colour
  • Velcro dot
  • hot glue gun and glue
  • Double sided iron-on interfacing scrap
  • gold coloured material that won't fray - I used pleather but it was difficult to sew due to it's stretchiness (made easier by gluing first)
  • clear craft glue if using pleather to make sewing easier - I used polyacetic acid & ethylene resin based glue
  • decorative material
  • two decorative buttons
  • jump ring tassel
  • gold ribbon
  • gold elastic
  • felt in gold/straw colour
  • sewing thread to match
  • my free template (Egyptian wardrobe only)
First cut out your paper dolls, clothes and wigs, cutting off the tabs as you go. Then use your male paper doll to cut out a section of Veltex and double sided iron-on interfacing to the same shape as his torso/legs.


This one is Tahlia's favourite dress


Arrange your pieces onto the background and iron on the Veltex to the background in the correct position using the interfacing. Sew around the edge to hold in place.


Potiphar's wife acting like a 'cougar'... - this one is my Grandma's fav dress


Hot glue the feet of the male doll to the background in place over the Veltex. Cut out his undergarment and finish gluing down his legs. Hot glue the Velcro dot to the back of his undergarment and place in position. Then line up the head and glue the remainder of his body down. Hot glue the woman into position.




To make the wardrobe, trace the pieces using the template onto the back of your pleather using pen - this will avoid puncturing the pleather unnecessarily. Cut them out. For the decorative panel, cut the size to the back piece and then trim down slightly so it doesn't show on the edge of the wardrobe when layered. Using the clear craft glue, glue the decorative panel to the gold/straw felt and allow it to dry. Then glue the gold edging on top and allow to dry. Sew the inner section around the decorative panel.




Glue two sections of gold ribbon on the back to form hinges for the front door of the wardrobe. Then glue some pleather to the back of your felt and allow to dry. Sew around the outside edge of your wardrobe door and then cut it out, making sure not to cut off the hinges.




I found I had to shorten the bottom of the wardrobe base by around 5 mm and overlap the door over the lower section of the wardrobe front slightly to fit it on my page. I didn't change the pattern as you may be using a different size page to me.

Glue the pleather wardrobe base to the background page and insert the hinges from the door underneath on one side and insert a short loop of gold elastic with a jump ring tassel threaded onto it on the other side where you want the latch to be. Allow to dry and sew in place, reinforcing the stitching over the hinges and elastic loop.




Glue the remaining pleather pieces to the gold/straw felt and sew along the top edge of the draw and lower section of wardrobe front. Cut the draw out and sew the lower edge in place over the lower section of the wardrobe front. Then sew the lower section of the wardrobe front down over the base on the bottom and sides to form a pocket. To complete the wardrobe, hand sew your buttons on.

Finished!


Difficulty Level = Hard

It will be easier if you use something other than pleather that stretches! If you use pleather, be sure to use the glue.


"Hey Joseph, want to see my secret garden?"


Key Learning Areas and Skills

  • Genesis 38 - This page teaches about how we need to be prepared to suffer even when we do the right thing.
  • Buttoning - Open and close the wardrobe
  • Tucking - Tuck the wigs into the wardrobe draw
  • Imaginative Play - dress up Potiphar's wife in all her outfits
  • Velcro - rip off Joseph's undergarment (and re-position them)
  • Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
  • Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination




Read the Chapter

Genesis 39


Devotional

I admire the way that Jacob brought up Joseph. He was only around 17 when he was sold as a salve and yet His devotion to God is to be greatly admired. It must have been difficult to follow God in the situation he found himself in, and it would have been easy to go along with new cultures and customs and tell himself that God had forgotten him, so he may as well do likewise.


"Hey Joseph, do you want some 'trifle'..."


There are a few boundaries Joseph put in place to reduce the chances of finding himself in less than ideal circumstances. You can read about Joseph's 5 Steps to Avoid Temptation: Genesis 39:6-23 on the God Running blog. He had resolved to keep himself from "strange" women (those who did not follow God) as told in the story of Joseph and Asenath, translated by H. F. D. Sparks. He must have envisaged a celibate life, exiled in the land of Egypt. And not only exiled, but imprisoned. Nevertheless, as stated at the end of the blog post mentioned above, God preserved his life in that the punishment due Joseph was death. I noticed that Joseph was sold to Potiphar the Captain of the Guard (Genesis 37:36) - and the same titled person is in charge of the prison. It looks like Potiphar realises that Joseph is innocent because instead of putting Joseph to death, he saves face by putting him in his prison, but eventually puts him in charge of it just as he had done with his household (Genesis 40:3-4). Despite his circumstances, Joseph sticks to his values and God rewards him with freedom, power, and a beautiful convert, Asenath.

There are so many parallels between the story of Joseph and Jesus in the Bible, and I can only see more told through the love story of Joseph and Asenath.


Dreamcoat Part 8 - Potipher




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Monday 24 September 2018

Genesis 50 - Joseph's Bones Quiet Book Page

Genesis 50 contains Joseph's dying words where he expresses his faith that God will make good on His promise to bring Israel out of Egypt. Joseph  asks his descendants to bring his bones with them when they leave.




Memory Verse: "So Joseph made the Israelites swear, saying, “When God comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here.” Genesis 50:25.

Materials needed to create the Joseph's Bones quiet book page:

  • A4 felt background sheet - I used aqua
  • gold coloured material that won't fray - I used pleather but it was difficult to sew due to it's stretchiness (made easier by gluing first)
  • clear craft glue if using pleather to make sewing easier - I used polyacetic acid & ethylene resin based glue
  • gold trim
  • gold ribbon - melt the ends to prevent fraying
  • sewing thread to best match the colours
  • two buttons - I found some ivory ones with black etchings that somewhat resembled hieroglyphics
  • felt in gold/straw (or near enough), black, skin colour, and white/glow-in-the-dark
  • glow-in-the-dark paint if using white felt
  • decorative material or ribbons etc for the coffins
  • white ribbon for wrapping Joseph's mummy
  • my free template
Trace the sarcophagus, coffin head and death mask pieces using the template onto the back of your pleather using pen - this will avoid puncturing the pleather unnecessarily. Cut them out. Glue the front and lid of the sarcophagus to your gold/straw felt, inserting small strips of ribbon to form hinges along the top edge of the lid and loops for your buttons along the bottom edge. Make sure you make big enough loops to fit the buttons through easily. You can use pins to keep the ribbons in place if you need to but make sure it is where you will be sewing so you don't have holes where they will be visible. Leave to dry overnight.




Sew the pleather to the felt on all sides for the lid, reinforcing where the ribbons are. Only sew the top edge for the front. Cut them out ensuring you do not cut off the ribbons. Next glue the sarcophagus back to the background page, inserting the other ends of the ribbon hinges from the lid. Sew down once dried overnight. Then sew the front on the bottom and sides to form a pocket. To complete the sarcophagus, hand sew your buttons on.




Cut scraps of pleather to fit underneath the face holes of the coffin heads and death masks. Glue the death mask pieces to the gold/straw felt, layering a scrap in position under the front piece with the face hole. Leave to dry overnight, then sew down around the face hole and edges. Cut out the pieces and sew together along the top curve.




Decorate your coffin bases as desired and glue and sew on the head pieces. Sew together by the sides excluding the head or from the center of the head at the top to the center of the base at the bottom to form pockets.




I sewed the black one the first way as there was no reinforcing on the base and the other way for the blue/green coffin as it had a double layer due to the material.





I also used glue under the decorative material on this one as it is very thin material and very prone to fraying. To ensure there would be no fraying I did a tight zig zag stitch around those edges too.




For the mummy I doubled the skin coloured felt twice, inserting a wide white ribbon between the under body piece before sewing the two doubled pieces on top of each other along one straight side edge.




To make the bones I drew around the template pieces onto my white felt with a black pen and painted the glow in the dark paint on.




Glow-in-the-dark felt would make this step easier - not that it was hard, but as it is unavailable in Australia and I could not find a seller online, this was my solution. To finish, simply cut out the bones and glue them in place on the inside of the body.

Done!


Difficulty Level = Intermediate.

If you are using pleather the glue is imperative. It will be a nightmare without it as you will get bunching and/or stretching out of shape. Also, DO NOT attempt to use tape instead of glue - you will end up with the dodgy sewing featured below and have to start over.




Key Learning Areas and Skills

  • Genesis 50 - Joseph showed his faith by instructing his descendants to take his bones with them when God brought them out of Egypt!
  • Imaginative Play - wrapping and burying an Egyptian mummy is pretty fun, not to mention golw-in-the-dark bones!
  • Buttoning - open and close the sarcophagus lid
  • Wrapping - wrap the ribbon around the body
  • Sequencing & Spatial Awareness - order the pockets the wrapped body goes into - death mask, small coffin, large coffin, sarcophagus
  • Science - could incorporate a lesson about UV light and glow in the dark phenomena
  • Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
  • Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination




Read the Chapter

Genesis 50




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If you know of any earlier patterns or other information, I'd love to hear from you!


Devotional

There are Jewish legends about Joseph's bones that tell stories about the Israelites forgetting to take them with them when they were about to leave Egypt. The stories were written well after the fact and there are variations in the details, but basically the story goes that the pillar of cloud/fire would not move when they were all assembled ready to leave. The great-granddaughter of Levi realised that they had forgotten Joseph's bones. She was the only person old enough to remember where his body was laid. Apparently the Egyptians had sunk his coffin into the Nile River in an attempt to bless it, so Moses had to perform a miracle to get it to float so it could be retrieved. Only then did the pillar move forward to lead them out of Egypt.

Whether the story has some truth to it I don't know, but I did find it rather interesting.


You can see the monument at Joseph's burial site in this video.


Our actions follow from what we believe to be true. Joseph gave instructions about his bones fully believing that God would bring the Israelites out of Egypt. God had told Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years (Genesis 15). He also brought them to Egypt to keep them safe throughout famine. That which brought blessing also brought suffering. And you can see in what Joseph says on his deathbed that he believed both that Israel would suffer in Egypt even though throughout his lifetime it had been a blessing and that God would come to their aid and bring them out of Egypt. Indeed they did need God to come to their aid to secure release from Egyptian slavery. The story of Exodus shows what great lengths God went to keep His promise. He will surely keep the remainder of His promises and bring us out of this world of suffering and into His eternal life of blessing. May our actions demonstrate our faith to our children and peers like Joseph's did.








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Which is your favourite coffin?