Easy Peasy Lei Flower Quiet Book Page

I am always trying to think of ways to make quick and easy quiet book pages that are tons of fun and look terrific, especially when making presents.

Here is an idea I came up with last night, that I think fits all of those requirements!

Here is how to make an artificial lei flower quiet book page:

Instead of having to cut out felt flowers and sew them all together, simply layer two artificial lei flowers on top of a piece of felt (to add stability) and sew a buttonhole to fit three buttons.  Make sure they are roughly the same size so the flowers are interchangeable. Cut the buttonhole open with a seam ripper.

Then trim the felt at the back.

Next, burn the ends of two ribbons and a piece of rik rak to prevent fraying, and sew them down for the flower stems. Then sew on your buttons at the top of each stem.

Done!

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Buttonholes - practice how to button a buttonhole.
• Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skills through turning pages, and on this page, through buttoning.

Difficulty Level = Easy

This page was so easy that it came together very quickly whilst I was watching a movie with my husband last night. It requires very little sewing skills.

Having said that, I did have a lot of trouble working out my one step buttonhole function on my current sewing machine.  The manual it came with was for another model, which had a four step buttonhole function... Even after watching countless You Tube videos on how to do it, I still couldn't get it to work and had to call the company support line for help!

Here are the steps and settings I used for the one step buttonhole in case you have trouble, and also as a record for me in case I forget again next time:

1. Set your stitch length to just under '1', or a very low setting equivalent on your machine. Apparently the 'F' setting on my machine is for stretch stitches.
2. Set your stitch tension to around '4' or '5', or the normal mid-level setting equivalent on your machine.
3. Turn the dial until you have selected the buttonhole function on the stitch selections.
4. Change your normal foot to the buttonhole foot and insert your button into the measuring section at the back.
5. Pull down the buttonhole lever. Remember to push it to the back position so it clicks forward when it reaches the end of the buttonhole and begins to do the other side, as it clearly instructs you to do on the lever itself (the one vital step I forgot lol).

Use up your Leftover Lei Flowers:

How to make a Lei Flower Baby Doll Dress

Here's some more of my 8"x8" material pages:

The Easy Peasy Pocket Quiet Book Page for an 8x8 material quiet book.

Puzzle Quiet Book Page Swap.

Follow Faith and Felt Obsession on Facebook, Pinterest and You Tube

What do you think - does it look easy peasy? 

Genesis 15 - Abraham can you count the stars? Quiet Book Page

In Genesis chapter 15, God promises Abraham that his decedents will be like the stars in number - uncountable!  I tried to make the stars on this quiet book page uncountable too.

Memory verse: "He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:5,6.

Materials needed to create the Abraham can you count the stars? quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet in a dark colour. I used black.
• star die-cut felt sheet in blue - available from Spotlight stores or Arbee online.
• multi-coloured star buttons in mixed colours - as many as you can get your hands on
• sewing thread
• a star template - I used this star template from smallpersonalbiz.com

Choose a few star sizes and shapes from the template. Make sure to include the six-pointed star of David, because both David and our Messiah, Jesus, were Abraham's descendents. Cut them out of the star die-cut felt and arrange them on the page. Sew them down.

Arrange the star buttons on the page. I used pins through the holes in the buttons to anchor them where I wanted them. Sew them on. I set my sewing machine to a stitch length of zero and put it on the zig zag setting. Then I adjusted the stitch width until it was the right size to fit my buttons. I found it much quicker to sew them on like this rather than by hand, which would have taken ages. For newer sewing machines, you can buy a button foot especially for this purpose.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Easy

This page is rather easy, and although it may seem fairly non-interactive, it is! 

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 15 - This page is supposed to illustrate the difficulty in counting the stars, just as God wanted to assure Abraham that it would be that difficult to count his promised future offspring. Also, believing God is counted as righteousness!
• Counting - Younger children can count the star buttons. The die-cut stars make the page more difficult as the child grows. And because some of the die-cut stars get cut in half when cutting the felt into star shapes, it makes it really hard to count the number of stars accurately. Also, many of them are hidden behind the star buttons. 
• Star shapes - stars shapes can have different numbers of points
• Colours and star colours - make sure you use different coloured star buttons for this learning area. Stars are also classified by colour, which is related to their temperature. Find a chart and some other star classification activities for the older child here on hmxearthscience.com.
• 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 15

Devotional

The covenant ceremony described in this chapter that takes place between God and Abraham was a very common ceremony used in the middle east back then to "cut" a covenant. Both parties were supposed to walk in the blood between the animals.  However, God did not ask Abraham to walk, and instead walked twice Himself. If you can't guess, this is a foreshadow of the cross and how Jesus would pay the price in His own blood for our side of the covenant that we couldn't keep.  For an excellent and brief explanation, read my fellow bloggers post Walking the Bloodpath by Marty Solomon from Covered In His Dust.

Also in this chapter, God predicts that Abraham's decedents would be so-journers and slaves for four hundred years in a foreign county (Egypt) after which time, they would be given the land God promised to Abraham. Genesis 15 helps set the scene for the next book in the Bible, Exodus.

Follow Faith and Felt Obsession on Facebook, Pinterest and You Tube

Which star represents you?

Genesis Teaser

Here is a teaser of the title page for the Genesis quiet book...

It was my aim to get the whole book done this last year.  Having to move house has ensured this goal has failed, but, I did put the time my sewing machine was not set up to good use, and started this blog.  So I guess it was to your advantage, as you might not get to see any of it otherwise!!

Ironically, Genesis is a good place to start!

Read more about my Bible Quiet Book Project here.

Follow Faith and Felt Obsession on Facebook, Pinterest and You Tube

How long do you think it will take me to finish Genesis?

Blue Hair Theory

Yes, this angel ornament from our upcoming wall Christmas tree has blue hair. And not because it is a fanciful creature with fanciful features.

I have a blue hair theory, and here is how it goes:

Natural selection seems counter-productive to the process of macro-evolution. How could the narrowing of an existing gene pool lead to an increase in species? Natural selection seems much more fitting to subsequent micro-evolution of a dying world that was originally designed with a large number of perfect creatures, who then struggle in a less than perfect environment.

So, before The Flood wiped out a huge amount of the existing gene pool, it is certainly possible that features that previously existed are no longer present.  Why not blue hair? Or purple or green hair?

I told my husband my theory a number of years ago, and a few weeks later he came home from work telling me he heard on the radio that small numbers of blue pigments had been discovered in the overall black appearing hair of some Asian people. Surely before the flood, these pigments could have been more concentrated in some, and thus express as naturally occurring blue hair.

I couldn't find a reference to the study, but if anyone can, please comment below with a link.  I did find a technical manual for a hair dye brand that said (at the bottom of page four) that all hair is made up of red, yellow and blue pigments. However, most things I read said blue is not a naturally occurring pigment in human hair. Which makes me wonder about animal hair...

Follow Faith and Felt Obsession on Facebook, Pinterest and You Tube

What crazy characteristics can you think of that perhaps mankind has lost and were not carried on by Noah's family after The Flood? Please comment below, I'd love to hear about them!

Menorah felt board play set for Hanukkah

Since it is Hanukkah right now, I decided to make a felt board play set and share with my readers how to do it. So here it is: how to make a menorah felt board play set for Hanukkah!

Menorah Felt Board Play Set

Felt sticks to itself, so you can make movable pictures for kids to play with and rearrange repeatedly. Normally I double my felt to make it strong, but not for this project as I didn't want it to be too heavy and fall off the felt board.

Hanukkah celebrates a miracle which occurred during the time in between the writing of the old and new testaments.

Basically, the temple had been defiled by the Greeks who were ruling over the Jews at the time. They were being massacred and reading the scriptures was outlawed. The Jews ran a successful revolt, and rededicated the temple to God even though they only had enough undefiled olive oil to last one day in the temple seven-branched candlestick. It was never supposed to go out, and one day's supply of oil miraculously lasted eight days - enough time to secure an ongoing supply. To read a more detailed story click here.

So, why are there nine candles on the Hanukkah menorah when the oil only lasted eight days? I believe the taller candle called the Shamash, or servant, represents Jesus, see Isaiah 53:11 and John 8:12.  It is used to light all the others. Of course this is not the meaning attributed to it by Judaism. Click here for their explanation.

John records that Jesus went to the temple at the time of Hanukkah, John 10:22-23. Since it celebrates being set free from earthly oppressors, the Pharisees used it as another opportunity to chide Jesus about whether He was really the Messiah... and He responded that they didn't recognise Him because they didn't know His voice. As this is the only place where the Good Shepherd is mentioned, I cannot leave that out and will not be focusing on Hanukkah in that chapter of the Bible quiet book project.  I think :)

The candles are lit from right to left in the same way that Hebrew is read from right to left. Ascension Ministries have a heap of good ideas on how to celebrate Hanukkah in a New Testament way!

Find a free template of the Hanukkah menorah felt board play set I made here!

Check out my post on How to Make a Felt Board.

Follow Faith and Felt Obsession on Facebook, Pinterest and You Tube

Does this look fun to you?