Easy Peasy Tea Party Printed Quiet Book Page

This easy peasy quiet book page comes with a little disclaimer. I used a regular printer and fed some Korean hard felt through it rather than paper. I printed around ten pages worth, and they all printed fine. Not long after doing this however, my printer would no longer print correctly, and I had to get another one. 

It is certainly better if you can use the sublimation printing method to print on felt instead! See my post Sublimation Printing on Felt - Test. The colours would turn out much better too, no doubt. Although I think it is okay anyway, especially for a page like this. My Mum says it makes it look antique.

What little girl doesn't enjoy a tea party? I certainly enjoyed many on a cot blanket (think pretend picnic blanket) with my sister and all our dolls and teddies. This little girl has a puppy and kitty to spoil, and they are all totally adorable.

I found this ‘Little Miss Alice & Her Dolly – a commercial Paper doll book’ vintage paper doll set on Pinterest - and there you can find many others as well. I have saved quite a few that might work well for quiet books to my board Felt Sublimation and Printables, which needs a bit of re-organising. The link to the Marges8's Blog posts where you can find the image is here.

Tahlia demonstrates how to mess up a quiet book for a gift

I simply cut slits where indicated for the puppy and kitten to sit at the table and sewed around the outside edge of the felt section depicting the table, leaving the top open to form a pocket to store the dolly, puppy and kitten.

Finished!

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Have you made something similar yourself? Let me know how it went. And which background do you like best for the vintage dolly tea-party?

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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Hearing from you gives me great encouragement!

Ephesians 5 - Marriage Quiet Book Page

Ephesians 5 contains some good marriage advice and makes an analogy with marriage and Christ's relationship with His Church - the bride.

Memory Verse: " “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.” Ephesians 5:31-33.

Materials needed to create the Marriage quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet - I used yellow.
• ivory satin scraps - mine came from my Mum's wedding dress to my Dad
• wadding scraps
• ivory lace edging
• 5mm ivory ribbon scraps
• Plastic wedding rings - I got mine from some Christmas bon-bons - bought from Supabarn if you live in Australia!
• My free template

Using the template, cut out two pieces of satin and four pieces of wadding to size. Arrange the pieces in two piles on your page with two pieces of wadding stacked underneath each piece of satin. Pin each corner and side to the background felt. It may look bunched at this stage, but mine had no bunches when finished. I sewed around the edges twice using stitch no 13 on my sewing machine.

Melt the ends of your lace and ribbon to prevent fraying. Sew the lace to the edge to cover the stitching and turn the edge under at the end to get a nice finish. Don't forget the sew the lace on in the opposite direction on your second pillow in order to get a symmetrical look happening with the lace.

Sew your ribbons to the center of each pillow using a zig zag stitch with stitch length set to 0. Tie on your rings with a bow (then untie them and try them on)!

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Easy.

Just be sure to use plenty of pins to help prevent bunching of the pillows around the edges.

Wadding

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Ephesians 5 - marriage is an analogy to the relationship we the church have with Jesus!
• Imaginative Play - a little girl's dream page
• Threading - thread the rings onto the ribbons
• Tie a knot/bow - use a knot and bow to keep the rings secured to the ring pillows
• 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

Ephesians 5

Devotional

I find it so validating that Paul in the Bible wrote about the differing love needs of men and women before modern research discovered them. It is well documented that generally men and women feel loved in different ways. A man needs to get respect to feel loved, a woman needs love.

Apart from "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" by John Gray which I found was great, one of the best books I have read on the topic of men is "Wild At Heart" by John Eldredge. He also has one about the girls which he wrote with his wife called "Captivating" - although I have not read this one.

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What colour background would go with your toy rings? Love to read in your comments below.

Makeup Palette Felt Board Play Set

Hanging Tahlia's felt board on her bedroom wall was a big achievement! After we set it up with a calendar ready for starting school, she decided to use the free space to pretend to do her makeup for school in the morning - just like Mummy does for work.


Which inspired me to make her this...

... her very own makeup palette!

You can make your own with our free template available here.

I used craft glue to attach the felt to the background, and hot glue to attach the plastic pocket. You don't have to attach them at all if you don't want to - aside from the plastic pocket of course. 

Tahlia really enjoyed adding the glitter glue to the top of the oval eye shadows. I won't pretend I didn't enjoy it either. It really makes the item, really topped it off.

This activity provides a great opportunity to learn shapes and colours. And I suppose if you don't attach the items, you could use it to learn spatial awareness too.

I refuse to spell colour the American way... the English way is correct in Australia, and so much more rich and colourful - pun intended!

It does fall off the felt board easily when played with, which is disappointing. It is just too heavy. It will stay up for days when not being played with though. If you have one of those A-frame or slanted felt boards, it would work wonderfully I'm sure. Here is our tutorial on How to Make a Felt Board.

I will probably convert the makeup palette into a quiet book page once it gets neglected like most toys do eventually. Hopefully that will spark another bout of imaginative play, and I'll get twice the value out of my efforts.

See also:

Menorah felt board play set for Hanukkah

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Which colours would you need to include if you made a make-up palette?

Psalm 58 - Snail Quiet Book Page

In Psalm 58, David asks God to make the wicked like snails that melt away as they go along!

Memory Verse: "May they [the wicked] be like snails that dissolve into slime" Psalm 58:8a

Materials needed to create the Snail quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet. I used sky blue.
• felt scraps
• rik rak
• sheer printed organza or other colourful sheer material
• embroidered flower motifs or other hide-able object
• glass stone or marble, button, bead etc
• sewing threads to match 
• this snail colouring page from Coloring Pages for Kids (and a printer)

On your background sheet, arrange some green felt in the foreground to make grass and sew down.

Cut out a double layer of the same green felt in the shape of a bush. Sew the two bush pieces back to back. Then sew them down along the right top edge of the grass, ensuring you leave enough room to fit the snail along the rest of the grass.

Fold back the bush and sew/iron on your motif underneath.

Print and cut out your snail colouring page and use as a template. If you need a more detailed explanation, you could read how I used a colouring page as a template in my post on Jacob's Ladder.

Cut out the snail body and sew down, then add the eye pieces on top.

Measure how much rik rak you need by laying it over the snail outline. Cut a little extra to tuck underneath at each end. Melt the ends with a match so they don't fray.

Lay your organza or sheer fabric over the area where the snail shell will be. Pin your rik rak down in a spiral pattern over the top and slip in a glass stone or other item underneath the organza. Make sure there is enough room to move the stone around while it is still pinned. That way you can adjust it before sewing if needed. I started from the outside edge and went in towards the middle, then turned around a stitched all the way back out again. That will help to make it tough and be able to withstand being played with. Then trim the organza back.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Intermediate

The tricky part is lining up the rik rak. Also, make sure you cut out the snail shape after sewing it down and not before - I had to re-do it as I missed catching a section and there was a hole that the glass stone kept slipping out of.

This is Tahlia with her three pages of sewing on paper that we did after finishing the snail. She often sits on my lap while I sew and has been dying to test out the fancy stitches on the machine that I never use. So I let her.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Psalm 58 - This page tells about how ultimately the wicked will be like the snail - they will melt away and dissolve into slime!
• Imaginative Play - Garden play perhaps, imagine how big everything is when you are as small as a snail
• Button/stone/marble maze - push the stone around the track
• Shapes - learn all about spirals
• Peek-a-boo - lift the flap to reveal the (half) hidden flowers
• 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 58

Devotional

All too often, those in authority use their power to take advantage of others. Sometimes they are scary and they scare people into obedience. Sometimes they seem too difficult to stand up to. I guess David knew how that felt. The king of Israel was supposed to be looking after God's sheep, but instead he was hunting one of them down to try to kill him. David.

In a way this verse reminds me of the story of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz story.  She seems formidable until a simple bucket of water causes her great concern and she cries "I'm melting!" as she dissolves into nothing.

I guess my point is that the bucket of water is like a tiny bit of good or a tiny bit of faith. God and goodness are infinitely stronger than evil. In fact, wickedness is self-destructive. It cannot prevail against goodness.

This point was taken to heart by Desmond Tutu in his opposition to apartheid in South Africa. He knew he was on the winning side, because goodness always prevails in the end. Although living in a very volatile situation, he led his country to a war-less end to systematic racial discrimination and segregation, and advocated reconciliation through forgiveness. The country underwent a transition to democracy, and apartheid rule that had lasted over forty years was broken. It melted away because of goodness.

David had experience with that too. Everyone else could only see a giant problem when they looked at Goliath. But David knew that a little stone in the hands of faith could melt that problem. He trusted God to deal with his problems. Our problems might look insurmountable to us, but when you know how good and powerful God is, suddenly you have a way to dissolve them. Just ask Him.

“Good is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate; light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death. Victory is ours, through him who loves us.” Desmond Tutu.

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What would you like dissolved? Take it to the LORD in prayer and don't give up until He answers.

Psalm 4 - Peaceful Sleep Quiet Book Page

In Psalms chapter 4, David acknowledges that it is God who keeps us safe.

Memory Verse: "In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord,
make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8 NIV

Materials needed to create the Peaceful Sleep quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet; I used mauve
• felt/material scraps, velour is good for the blanket
• embroidery floss (optional)
• small rope dolls (I bought mine from a dollar shop)
• sewing thread to best match the page
• a bed template - I used the Five Little Monkeys pattern by Stephanie of Imagine Our life

Sew a large scrap of felt to fill the bottom third of your felt background sheet.  I cut off the excess mauve so I could use it for something else. You could simply sew a strip over the bottom third of your sheet.

Cut out the bedhead and sew it down, followed by the pillows. Be sure to line it up properly so that the bed base does not allow wall coloured felt to show through, and that the pillows are visible above the blanket.

I used velour material for the blanket. It was from a baby suit given to Tahlia. The velour makes a lovely soft blanket for the dollies and adds a touch and feel aspect to the page.  Cut out two blanket sections so they can be sewn right sides facing out. Use the embroidery floss to add an authentic touch to the top edge of the blanket. Sew the blanket in place to the bed base.

Sew the bed base down to the floor/wall on the bottom and sides.

Put the dollies into bed.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Easy.

Blanket stitch is easy, don't be off-put. If in doubt, You Tube it!

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Psalm 4 - This page tells that God keeps us safe, and we can sleep in peace
• Imaginative Play - The dollies can play at all sorts of things. These three dollies are meant to be Tahlia and her cousin, and her friend enjoying a sleepover.
• Touch and Feel - The velour blanket is lovely soft texture, and it runs in a grain - you can rub it with and against the grain and feel a big difference in texture
• 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 4

Devotional

Financial stresses seem to be the focus of this Psalm. They can certainly keep you awake at night. The basic message is that if you resolve to do the right thing, and you decide to put your trust in God, His listening ear and attentiveness is worth more than financial security.

The Easy-to-Read Version is more of a paraphrase, but it puts this Psalm so beautifully, and brings out such meaning that it is WELL worth the read.

Despite my worried nights, He has always seen us through. I pray you have a peaceful sleep tonight.

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Does this quiet book make you feel safe enough to sleep resting in the arms of the Almighty?

Tahlia's Quiet Book - Pony Page

This pony quiet book page is super cute and interactive. It promotes imaginative play through the feed bowl, bridle and lead, and the removable blanket.

The pony quiet book page was made by my friend at her baby shower, and she kindly made extras for her sister and myself too. I knew she was horse-mad so I had made her a horse template by doing a rubbing of my Mum's coffee table, which has embossed horses and chariots running around the edge of it. She took one look at it and said "No" and announced she would draw her own pony. It's something I have watched her do a thousand times, so I'm not sure what I was thinking doing that either! By the look on her face I could see her completely re-designing the page in that instant.

To make the mane, she wound wool around a ruler, carefully slid it off, and pinned it under the pony. My Mum sewed down the pony for her because I asked her to man the sewing machine during the party. Once it was sewed down, my friend cut the mane where it had been folded over the ruler.

We didn't finish the quiet book pages at the party. She finished her pages at home for me later, and I'm so glad she did. Not just because it took a lot of work off Mum and I, but because there is no way it would have turned out so good if I was in charge. The bridle, lead and blanket edging are made from a thin ribbon, and you will have to copy as best you can from the picture. The ribbon was left over from her wedding, so that's pretty special. She did a great job, don't you think!

She designed the page herself, and has allowed me to share the template with you - Thanks heaps!!

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Do you know a little friend who LOVES ponies?

Puzzle Quiet Book Page Swap

I recently went in a quiet book swap with a group on Facebook.

We each made seven copies of our own page and sent them to the host. She sent us back one of our own pages, and six different pages made by the other participants. It is a great way to build a quiet book. You only have to think about one page layout so it saves on supplies and effort.

With not a lot of time before Christmas, this was meant to be a quick and easy basic swap.  The theme was puzzles, and the size of the pages was reduced to 8"x8", which makes it an ideal book for occupying the little ones while travelling.

This is the page I contributed:

It is a themed button maze - there are a couple of mobs of sheep in a bunch of paddocks. The gates can be opened and shut, and the sheep can be fed on a lush pasture of clover or a pile of hay, and you can bark at them while you do it all - whatever your imagination can muster.

I drew out where I wanted fences on a piece of paper so I could organize the paddock layout in my head. After sewing the buttons under a piece of tulle, I laid strips of rik rak down for the fences and sewed them down, leaving it open where the gates were to go. Cut the rik rak where the gates go and melt the ends with a match to stop it unraveling.

Done!


One of the other pages contributed was an entirely hand sewn Little Bo Peep - now that is dedication! One sheep is detatchable with velcro, and you can trace over the different paths to find which one leads home.

Our swap host made a cupcake puzzle and pocket. The pocket was made by laying two pieces of fabric over each other, turning the top edge of the top one down and adding a piece of velco to each respective side, then stitching around the three edges of the top layer of fabric - I loved the idea because it was really easy!

There were three tangram pages done in this swap. They were all made with an embroidery machine. This first one is of a rabbit. The theme went great with this bunny material I had, so I made a pocket for the pieces like the one made for the cupcake. Unfortunately I forgot to get a photo of this page with the pieces laid on it before it got given to it's new owner...

The next tangram puzzle was of a cute little house.

And the last tangram puzzle was of a horse. I love the colours chosen for this page. It came with it's own pocket built into the page by sewing down three edges of the horse tangram outline which had been embroidered onto felt.

My sister, whose Fairy Tale Quiet Book you have already seen, contributed this I-Spy page:

Again, layer two squares of fabric over the top of each other, right sides facing up. She cut an 'x' shaped opening in the middle of the top square of fabric and folded back the edges on them. Folding them back on themselves several times is a good idea to avoid them getting in the way when trying to find items. Then she inserted a smaller square of clear vinyl underneath, sewing around the inside edge, and zig zaging around the outer edges. She used her machine to do the 'Find 10 Things' lettering at the top. Next, she sewed the two squares of fabric together leaving a 1" gap around the edges to allow for binding, as well as a small opening so she could fill the space between them with ten small items and bean bag beans. She was going to use rice, but since we had to post the pages to the host and back, she decided bean bag beans would be a lighter and therefore cheaper option.

The ten items in our I-Spy page are a small plastic baby, a flower button, a Lego block, a wooden leaf picture, a wooden drum picture, a small wooden painted peg, a small glitter button, a wooden cat head picture, a wooden number '2', and a large google eye. In other versions, she has included small plastic bugs and animals. Small shells, gum-nuts, beads, paper clips, and any small, non-sharp household items would also work well.

Here's another of my 8"x8" material pages - the Easy Peasy Lei Flower Quiet Book Page.

Here's another of my 8"x8" material pages - The Easy Peasy Pocket Quiet Book Page for an 8x8 material quiet book.

Before the pages were made into a book, they made awesome quilts for Elsa.

Find a tutorial link and YouTube clips of how to bind the pages and book together on my page of Quiet Book Making Tips.

How I made a closure after binding my book! Post Binding Quiet Book Closure.

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Does joining a page swap tempt you? Comment below!