Thursday, 23 September 2021

Revelation 14 - The Three Angel's Messages Quiet Book Page

The Three Angel's Messages of Revelation 14 are a reminder that God is our creator who alone deserves our worship, and that judgement is coming for those who don't.



Memory Verse: “Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— ” Revelation 14:6 NKJV.

 

Materials needed to create the The Three Angel's Messages quiet book page:

  • A4 felt background sheet - I used purple
  • this image to use as a template/pattern
  • felt in dark blue and white
  • white 9mm ribbon
  • gold 9mm ribbon
  • three gilded pearl shank buttons - I bought this (not an affiliate link)
  • black iron-on Velcro material (or use with double-sided interfacing)
  • The hook side of some Velcro or diaper hook and loop tape material (like Velcro but doesn't wreck felt so much and is wider and can be cut to the size needed) - I bought this (not an affiliate link)
  • Hot glue gun and glue
  • sewing threads to best match the page
  • marker and scissors!
Firstly, cut out an angel (you can sharpen the shape between the back of the head and the first wing a little) and the sections of the Earth to use as a template or pattern. 

Also cut out the entire Earth on the outside line. Use this to cut a circle out of your black iron-on velcro material. 

Cut about three 25-30cm lengths from the gold ribbon and melt the edges to prevent fraying - see my post on How to Stop Ribbons Fraying. Sew a buttonhole at one end of each (do a few practice ones first - you may find it easier to make the buttonhole and then cut the ribbon shorter). Alternatively, you could make ribbon loops at the end instead of a buttonhole. I make a larger buttonhole than I would for clothes to make sure it is easy to do and undo. I also marked where I wanted the buttonhole to start with a pen so I could line it up easily.




Place the opposite ends of the ribbon underneath the Velcro earth in the bottom left area with the backing paper removed. Make sure the buttonhole ends of the ribbon line up with where you want to place the buttons at the top right of the earth. 




Ensure the earth is in the centre of your page before ironing it down. Use the lowest iron setting that you can to iron it on to your background page. Mine melted slightly in one spot, but it still works and you can't notice it under the puzzle. Use a tight zig zag stitch to finish around the edge. 




Sew your buttons to the top right of the earth - you can use pins to position them correctly.

Trace three angel shapes onto your felt and cut them out. Sew some white ribbon onto the right side just below their wings along the sides of the angel (not through their middles) to form a slot to thread them onto the gold ribbon later. Place the angels onto white felt wrong side down, tucking the ribbon ends between the two layers of felt and sew them down. Cut them out and thread each of them onto a length of gold ribbon so that the angels can be lined up across the Earth.




Cut out the Earth sections from your dark blue felt. Place the wrong sides onto some more dark blue felt, sew them down and cut them out. Cut some diaper hook fabric in sections slightly smaller than these and hot glue them to the back sides. I actually sewed them on first and then had trouble sewing the blue sections to each other, so I don't recommend that. Arrange them like puzzle pieces onto the black Velcro material.

Finished! 

Difficulty Level = Intermediate

The hardest part of this page is cutting out the little holes in the angels - use some sharp cuticle scissors to help with these sections.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

  • Revelation 14 - It is wise to listen to the Three Angel's Messages:
    1. everlasting gospel preached to the whole world, for the hour of God's judgement has come
    2. Babylon the great has fallen because she caused all nations to drink the wrath of her fornication
    3. If anyone worships the beast, and receives it's mark, they will drink the cup of the wrath of God
  • Imaginative play - slide the angels up and down the ribbon as they fly around the Earth giving their messages
  • Puzzle - sort out the arrangement of the Earth sections
  • 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

Revelation 14

Devotional

The three angel's messages remind me a lot of Noah's preaching. Or at least how I imagine the years leading up to The Flood. Noah had an urgent message to share. If everyone would only listen and believe. It was also a message from the God who made the Heavens and the Earth. And at least the animals took notice. I find it difficult to believe that anyone could have been an atheist or agnostic at that stage in Earth's history. But I think what they didn't believe was that God was going to actually punish them. Rather, they felt like "everything was going to continue" as it had since the beginning. 

In the same way, the three angels make reference to God's creative power. Creative power is much more complex than destructive power. Is it easier to paint a masterpiece or burn it? Is it easier to build a house, or blow it up? It takes far greater skill to fashion something, so why would you question God's ability to destroy it? 

Maybe they thought God was too soft, but let me assure you, Jesus had a tradie's beard, not a Soy Boy one. 


Rev 14:6-12 in song - 3 Angels Messages


Today, people believe that everything will continue until either we destroy ourselves, or we evolve enough or develop better technology to survive under harsher conditions. Not many are expecting the soon return of Jesus. But, in the same way that the World was destroyed the first time, the end of the second is decreed. Better to listen to the Good News of the three angels - for indeed it is good news if you are saved from the destruction due Babylon (who has already fallen). We know the outcome, Jesus already scored the winning goal and demonstrated His ability to raise from the dead. If you know which is the winning side, why not join it?!!




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What do you like about this page or what might you do differently? Comment below!

Thursday, 9 September 2021

Quiet Book Experiments - Epic Fails

Today, I want to share some of my Epic Fails with you. Making busy books can be a bit of an experiment, and sometimes the experiment fails. Anyway, I hope it will be an encouragement to know that we all make mistakes. A blog is generally full of all the good things, and usually the mistakes don't make it here. In fact, it is easy to hide mistakes by careful photography, and I have been guilty of that as you can see below if you are a Faith and Felt Obsession fan.

Epic Fails may make a comeback in future posts, but for now, here are the first 5 that I am willing to share!

1. Hot Glue Gun Epic Fail


Whilst this page remains one of Tahlia's favourites, I still count it as a fail. I was trying to cheat and make a quick and easy page with hot glue and a few old lids from baby wipe packets. The hot glue has not worked very well and the page threatens to fall apart every time we use it. But the idea is LOVED. You have to guess which door the pig is hidden behind. One person looks away while the other person hides the pig. Loads of fun to a child. I may have to make a better version out of felt some day, but for now, this will do until it finally does FAIL completely.

2. Speckled Felt - for Speckled Eggs Epic Fail


This was my attempt to make felt with a bit more character. In Australia there are not many options when it comes to buying patterned felt. Of course there are more options if you buy online, but I still don't see the options I have seen available in the U.S.

I wanted to make speckled eggs for a hen quiet book page I was making (will link to it once published). Now my felt just smells like bleach and did not turn out speckled at all. Thanks to Murphy's Law the bleach did not work when I wanted it to, but no doubt it would work very well if I spilled bleach accidentally on a finished page.

I tried using a spray gun to apply the bleach and left it overnight. That didn't work, so I tried wetting the felt first so it would soak into the felt better instead of sitting more on top. I dabbed it on in larger spots. That also didn't work. So I ended up with no change in colour, but a definite change in smell. I wanted speckled fresh eggs and ended up with a FELT FAIL that smelled more like century eggs!

3.  Quiet Book Binding Epic Fail


I like a good finish, but I am willing to cut as many corners as I can to get there. I had seen Irina Sorokina's YouTube tutorial on how to bind a quiet book, but I was still feeling intimidated and overwhelmed. But I liked the finish so started thinking about how I could cut a few of those daunting corners off. Pun intended.

I decided that I could get a similar look by sandwiching the pages and wadding between a folded ribbon and sewing that down. You can see my efforts in my blog posts Easy Peasy Pocket Page 8"x8" Material Quiet BookPuzzle Quiet Book Page Swap, and Post Binding Quiet Book Closure.

You may notice that I didn't post many pictures of the completed book. That is because I didn't want to show off my epic fail. I didn't allow enough ribbon in the spine for the book to open properly, so when it lays flat, the pages overlap instead of laying alongside each other.

Honestly, I still find the traditional binding method daunting. And that is why I keep trying to share alternatives with you all. Why not give some of them a go:
4. Buying a Heat Press Epic Fail


As I spoke about in my Sublimation Printing on Felt - Test post, I finally got around to purchasing a heat press so I can transfer sublimation prints onto felt. Actually this was the second one I bought. The first purchase was an EPIC FAIL too. I first bought one from AliExpress, where I buy a lot of craft supplies such as buttons, beads and ribbon. Apparently the postage was too great and then there were taxes etc - the supplier kept asking for more money. After expressing my dis-satisfaction they agreed to refund the purchase and gave my money back, thankfully.

My second purchase was from e-Bay. It was not much more expensive than the Ali-Express one and was coming from a company based in Australia, so it would be easier for me to make arrangements if there were any issues. It also included delivery. I thought I was doing great this time, but when it arrived I found more problems...

I stared at the box for months. It looked complicated to put together and I didn't have the mental energy to approach it. I was scared. Then when I finally opened the box... I found it was already put together and I only had to change it if I wanted a different attachment. But, it was too heavy for me to lift!! Now I felt I would have to nag my husband to move it for me if I want to use it 😁.

After he did lift it out for me, I have discovered I can move it from one place to another, so ling as it is already at bench height. So it is now in my garage on a shelf and I can get it out onto a bench if I want and put it away. although I am still yet to order any sublimation printed paper from Digitextiles as planned and am now considering getting a sublimation printer too so that I will actually use the heat press... watch this space.

5. Sewing Pleather to Felt Epic Fail


Okay, so this one is rather embarrassing. 

I completely massacred this death mask. I guess that's a little ironic. At least it makes for a good Epic Fail post. I hope you can see all the tiny stitches from the pleather not feeding through my sewing machine properly, and all the skipped stitches which resulted in me going over the same area several times in an attempt to save it.

Stretchy pleather is a nightmare to sew. That is all.

I was able to do an acceptable job by using glue to secure the pleather to the felt prior to sewing, which helped a lot. You can see the results in my Genesis 50 - Joseph's Bones Quiet Book Page post.

I'm thinking I might buy some glitter felt for the next gold project...


Ultimately, if you don't give it a go, you won't give yourself the chance to learn and improve.
Epic Fails can teach you a lot!




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Have you had any Epic Fails? Comment Below!