Alpha (Old Testament) Quiet Book - by Steph

This is the first in a series of two quiet book made by my friend Steph. 

I really loved her idea of using an Alpha symbol over the cross for the Old Testament and an Omega over a cross for the New Testament covers.

Although the books are not quite finished (and I think a lot of quiet books fall into this category), I am going to share the pages that are already done for now. Steph knew she would never get around to making a sewn book, so she opted for glue. This has enabled her to use both the front and the back of a piece of felt for activities, which is not only cheaper, but means she doesn't have to sew the pages back-to-back either. The books are bound using ribbon strung through some holes made with a hole punch. So simple!

Page one is for creation. Steph really wanted to highlight to her children the creation of spaces in the first three days, and the filling of those spaces in the following three days:

Creation Kingdoms	Creature Kings
Day 1 - Light (Day/Night)	Day 4 - Luminaries (Greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night)
Day 2 - Sky/Water	Day 5 - Birds/Fish
Day 3 - Land/Vegetation	Day 6 - Land animals/Man
The Creator King
Day 7 - Sabbath

This view of Genesis 1 is called the Framework Interpretation, and although many of it's proponents hold to a symbolic meaning to the days of creation, there is no reason that it cannot and does not apply to a literal view just as readily (as Steph and I do).

Page two is one of the creatures God created - a crab. It was bought from AliExpress, so was a very easy make.

Page three is an apple tree (also bought from AliExpress) for the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil story in the Garden of Eden.

Page four is a Noah's ark matching game inspired by the Betty Lukens kit I used in my Genesis 8 - In The Ark Quiet Book Page.

Page five is some corn weaving for the story of Joseph (bought from AliExpress). (Sorry Steph but I think the corn is referring to kernels of wheat rather than corn as we call it today)!

Page six is for the 10 Commandments - you can list a Commandment as the frog jumps on each lily pad. Sorry again Steph, but this is my least favourite page in this book because frogs are actually associated with unclean/evil things (think Revelation) so I'm not a fan of using them to illustrate God's Holy Law, despite how cute they might be!

Page seven is a sandal to tie and untie (bought from AliExpress) for the Children of Israel wandering in the wilderness, and we can remember how God made their sandals last the journey (Deuteronomy 29:5).

Page eight represents how God can wash us so we will be whiter than snow (Psalm 51).

On page nine you can dress up Queen Esther in various outfits, with one basic dress for before she became queen, and three more decorative ones for afterwards. Esther means "hidden" and you can hide her Jewish identity (the Star of David) like her Uncle Mordechai asked her to with her dresses. I love all the little details, so well done on this one Steph!

Page ten is David's harp (drawn free-hand - great job Steph)!

Page eleven is a mini felt Bible hidden in a heart pocket - for Psalm 119. We need to treasure God's word and learn it off by heart so we have it with us always.

This is my absolute favourite page, and it deserves it's own post, so I will be reserving photos of inside the Bible for that - sorry, not sorry hahaha.

Page twelve shows three different aspects of David's life - King, Shepheard, and how he was a man after God's own heart. You can trace the shape of the pipe cleaners from David on the left to the symbols on the right.

Page thirteen is a hand and numbers for counting. It was originally intended to be for the 10 Commandments, but two hands didn't fit on the page. Instead it could link to a few things, such as God knowing everything about us, and counting the blessings God has given us. 

A bit of trivia for you - there is no Bible verse which talks about counting your blessings. I only know because I looked when trying to match another one of my quiet book ideas to a Bible chapter... Oh well!

The hand was free cut and Steph added Velcro dots bought from office works. Most things in the book were free cut and she didn't draw at all (cause she says she is really lazy).

Page fourteen is a wooden puzzle in the shape of a precious stone. After all, wisdom is better than rubies (Proverbs 8:11). It was bought from a dollar store. Steph has written some words of wisdom on it and made a pocket out of felt in the same shape as the puzzle. 

Page fifteen is my second favourite in this book so far. Steph says the idea was "totally stolen" from an idea I had told her about for a future page. Although mine is for a different verse and will look quite different, I might just have to steal this idea right back for the verse Steph is applying it to! This page goes with Ezekiel 11:19, "I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh." (NIV). The heart is removable.

Page sixteen is a season tree. Whilst there is no activity, it is a rather tactile page. This page is for Ecclesiastes 3 - there is a season for everything. 

Psalms 1 also talks about a tree planted by the waters which brings forth fruit in due season.

Page seventeen is Jonah and the whale.

There are an odd number of pages because this project is still growing.

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Which page did you enjoy most in the Alpha (Old Testament) Quiet Book? That is a bit of a cheeky question, since I didn't share my favourite page here properly!

Leviticus 25 - Jubilee Calendar Quiet Book Page

In Leviticus chapter 25, God explains the Jubilee cycle.

Memory Verse: "‘And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family." Leviticus 25:8-10 (NKJV).

 

Materials needed to create the Jubilee Calendar quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet - I used hot pink
• my free Leviticus 25 - Jubilee Calendar Bible Quiet Book Page Template Pattern
• 16 silver grommets with a 3mm diameter
• hole punch / grommet tool
• 1mm black elastic
• 42 wood coloured beads, 7 blue beads, and 1 yellow/gold bead - I bought these (not an affiliate link)
• small flat button

Punch holes and insert grommets in your background sheet using the template as a guide (where the x's are marked) - see the video tutorial in the difficulty level section below. 

Thread the black elastic through the holes in rows, adding beads as you go. The beads should be in seven rows of seven beads (six wooden and one blue for the six working years and the seventh year of rest) followed by a single yellow/gold bead to represent the Jubilee year. Since I wanted to save elastic, I threaded the elastic through the nearest hole rather than going to the start of the next row. That meant I had to add every second row of beads in the reverse order.

Ensure the elastic is pulled so it is not too loose on the front and cut it to the appropriate length to allow you to tie it off nicely. Thread the elastic ends through the button and tie them together in a tight knot to prevent the knot from moving to the front of the page.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Easy, plus No Sewing involved.

A very easy quiet book page!

You can watch the below video by Irina Sorokina from My Craft / Quiet books to see how to install grommets.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Leviticus 25 - the Jubilee year represents Eternity and what God is going to do for us - set us free, restore us to our families and give us our land back
• Counting - count seven lots of seven years until the 50th year - the Jubilee
• 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

Leviticus 25

Devotional

The Jubilee is such good news! I believe it represents eternity on the New Earth, when we will all be released from slavery, returned to our families and given land to inherit. The Jubilee year follows seven lots of seven year "weeks", where the land was given a rest every seventh year. It was not to be sewn and grape vines were not to be pruned, etc. This would rejuvenate the land, and God promised that if they would keep the Sabbath rest for the land every seventh year, that He would bless the harvest in the sixth year so there would be enough to feed everyone for three years (which would of course last until the harvest came in in the first year of a new Jubilee cycle, with a Jubilee resulting in two Sabbath years rest for the land in a row). This was reported to have occurred during the reign of Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:29).

Although the first day of the seventh month (on the religious calendar) is New Year's day on the civil calendar, the Jubilee is not announced until Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), which is ten days later. I'm not quite sure why that is yet, but I'm sure there is a reason. Nevertheless, I can certainly see the contrast the God is intending announcing a Jubilee celebration on a day of traditional fasting. And He does state that the four major fast days will be turned into joyous occasions (Zechariah 8:19) - and what more joy could you have than when set free from slavery, returned to your family, and given an inheritance?

Ron Kenoly - Jubilee (Official Live Video)

I have previously explained my reasons for believing that the Jubilee is the 50th year (and not the same as the 49th year as some people propose) in my Time to Celebrate: Jubilee Bead Cycle tutorial (plus bracelet craft) for the High Holidays post. 

Most people would have only experienced one Jubilee in their lifetime, at least only one that they remember. It is the countdown to restoration. Ultimately, the land belongs to God, and He divided the land between the tribes of Israel. Because the land belongs to God, it was not allowed to be sold permanently. At the Jubilee, if you had sold your land sometime during the 49 years, you would get it back. The price of the sale was to reflect the amount of time remaining until the Jubilee (if there were many years, the sale price would be more than if there were only a few years left). The family that the land had been given to always had the right to buy their land back (called redeeming it), with the price again reflecting how many years were left until the Jubilee. An example of this might be the story of Naomi and Ruth, where Naomi's husband sold his land because of a drought, and when Naomi and Ruth returned, Boaz became their Redeemer. Not only did he have to marry Ruth, but I imagine he would have paid the price due on their land. 

It seems that Sabbath rests for the land were not often kept, since the children of Israel were required to go into captivity for 70 years to allow the land to have it's rest (2 Chron. 36:21)! 

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What does the Jubilee mean to you? Comment below!

Vintage Counting Book

I spied this book from a few pews back in a little church I visited while on holidays a couple of years ago. After the service finished I went and spoke to the lady who owned it, who graciously allowed me to photograph it to share with you all. As you can see, I took the photos right there on the pew.

I was informed that this busy book was around 30 years old. I find it fascinating how quiet books have developed through time, and love to see the classic pages show up so often in the past, and then see the myriad of pages around today.

The page for number 1 is a bird in a birdhouse which is attached to a string to stop it from being lost.

I took a close-up of the inside cover. It looks like the book may have been made from a kit of some kind, titled "Counting Book" by WV Designs. I looked them up but didn't find anything relevant. If know any information, please let me know if the comments.

For a little history on quiet books and the classic pages, you can read my post The Evolution of Quiet Books.

Page 2 is a clown face with what I think is two ears to button on, as well as a bell and ribbon to tie.

Page 3 is ice-cream scoops, although one has been lost over the years.

Page 4 is a turtle with a zipper back for baby turtles to be stored. It looks like a few of them are missing too.

Page 5 is an elephant holding five balloons.

Page 6 has six button-up flowers.

Page 7 is a Noah's ark with seven animals inside.

Page 8 is a fishing net with eight fish inside.

Page 9 has nine shapes to match.

I imagine Page 10 originally had ten kids praying. I have been wondering what the heck the other page was, but I actually think I worked it out...

I think it is a bed and a mat that the kids can kneel on so they can say their prayers before bed.

Finally, I thought I would show you how the book has been bound. It has a strip of ribbon sewn down the spine with gaps to allow split rings to rest in place to house the back-to-back sewn pages with inserted grommets.

Tahlia - Telling It on The Mountain

I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane.

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Which is your favourite page in this vintage counting book? Comment below!

Easy Peasy Jellyfish Counting Quiet Book Page

It's been a while since I did an Easy Peasy page - but who doesn't like it when a quiet book page comes together quickly?

Don't get confused with an octopus quiet book page where there should only be eight tentacles - jellyfish can have lots! I must have a little obsessive compulsive disorder because it really grates on me when a counting page only goes up to eight. Admittedly I did make one that only goes up to eight, but in my defense that wasn't the primary purpose of the page - see Genesis 28 - Jacob's Ladder Quiet Book Page.

My jellyfish is a simple semi-circle. I used one of the rows from my Malachi 4 - Sun of Righteousness Quiet Book Page template and lined it up along a straight edge of felt and only cut around the outside edge.

Then I cut lengths from a 3mm white ribbon and threaded beads on (1-10). I made a card to stick the lengths of ribbon to so they would be evenly spaced when I went to sew them.

Then I pinned and sewed down the ends of the ribbons using zig zag stitch and angling in the two at either end so they would fit under the head of the jellyfish.

Finally, I sewed down the head of the jellyfish covering the ribbon ends and trimmed it with double gathered lace. This adds a touch and feel element to the page.

I am not sure I am a fan of the look with the looped tentacles... what do you all think? Although I don't think the ribbon would be thick enough when knotted to keep the beads on if they weren't.

Some variation ideas include:

• Touch and feel tentacles made from various ribbons and trims - these can be curled using a hair iron or wet and let to dry around a pencil etc
• Beads inside mesh tubing - If you look closely at this pinterest pin, Elena Rihsi has threaded the beads onto a thin cord before inserting them through the mesh cord. That way if the mesh breaks, the beads don't go anywhere! Genius.
• Inserting a squeaker under the jellyfish head
• Making a button/bead maze in the jellyfish head
• Jellyfish swimming in reversible sequin fabric - comes with a beautiful free template from teenytinymom

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

Malachi 4 - Sun of Righteousness Quiet Book Page

Malachi 4 is the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament and it looks forward to the dawning of the Sun of Righteousness - Jesus.

Memory Verse: “But for you who fear my name, 

the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings." Malachi 4:2a

Materials needed to create the Sun of Righteousness quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet - I used royal blue
• felt scraps in sun colours, I used yellow, orange, red and maroon
• lots of ribbon scraps in gold, yellow, orange, red, maroon, brown, pink or whatever colours go with your chosen felt colours
• a pair of white shoelaces with blue flecks - I bought mine here in white blue (not an affiliate link)
• my free Sun of Righteousness template download

Use the template to cut out four pieces of felt in coordinating sun colours. If your page size is smaller than mine, you can cut the template in half and make a quarter sun or use the smaller four layers and leave out the largest one. To make this page for the sun of righteousness, you need four layers only. If you are making a sun page in general, feel free to use all five layers.

If you are making the Bible version, you need all four ends of the shoelaces but one long length will suffice for a general sun page.

Cut up enough coordinating ribbons to fill the top edges of each layer, leaving room for a shoelace at one end of each. Melt the edges of your ribbons to prevent fraying.

Pin the ribbons leaving room for the shoelace under the yellow layer first. Before sewing them down, thread the shoelace through the ribbons to ensure you cut it at the correct length. Melt the end of the shoelace to prevent fraying.  Sew down the shoelace end underneath the layer before sewing down the felt on top of the ribbons which will secure them at the same time. Go backwards and forwards a couple of times in places where you are using thin ribbons to ensure they get caught in the stitching. Repeat this process for each layer, finishing with the smallest - alternate ends that the shoelace is located. Some ribbons thread easier from one direction than the other so ensure they are facing the right side for the shoelace location on that layer.

The first half explains how to sew this page and

the second half explains the spiritual significance.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Easy.

Cutting the semi-circles straight across the bottom edge will enable you to line them up easier, however, it may add too much bulk to the lower edge of the sun where they are all piled up.

You may be able to use the sections cut out of the centers of the semi-circles if you want to swap the order of colours around and make a second page at the same time.

Using a lunch box with dividers can help you get organised for a TV pinning session on the couch.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Malachi 4 - Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings, the tassels remind us of the commandments
• Threading - thread the shoelaces through the sun's rays
• Counting - count the number of rays on each layer
• 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

Malachi 4

Devotional

In Numbers 15, God told Israel to make fringes on their garments and to put tassels on the four corners. The tassels had to have a blue thread running through them - so the shoelaces are meant to represent the tassels and the sun's ribbon rays are indicative of the fringes. The blue thread was to remind them to keep the commandments - something which seems a little odd don't you think? How does a blue thread remind you of the commandments??

The rounded shape depicting the tablets of the 10 commandments was probably introduced in about the middle ages by Christian artists.

Aron de Chaves \ de Chavez. Painter at Amsterdam in 1700.

However, both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds (Jewish commentaries on scripture) report that the shape was square. It was half as thick as it was wide and high so when both tablets were placed together they formed a cube. They were made from sapphire stone, which is why a blue thread is supposed to remind you of the blue stone of the commandments.

Image Source: A Layman Looks at the Word

Jesus would have worn a prayer shawl similar to the one below. The word for the tassels in Hebrew is the same word used in Malachi for "wings". The woman who had an issue of blood in Matthew, Mark, and Luke must have known this prophecy and believed Jesus to be the Sun of Righteousness therein. So she figured if she could just touch His tassels she would be healed. She was!

A tallit, or prayer shawl with fringes and
tassels - like Jesus would have worn

There were many people in the crowd no doubt jostling Jesus, but her touch drew power. Faith made the difference. It wasn't fancy - I doubt she even told anyone her plans. Her faith was silent until she had a story to tell.

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Have you heard about the "wings" on a prayer shawl before?