Standard Attendance Cards

If anyone has any unused standard attendance cards and seals (stickers), please contact me! Scanned and printed onto felt, they would make awesome quiet books and would be reusable, unlike the paper version.

I have tried unsuccessfully to contact the owner of the files, and it seems they no longer exist. Standard Publishing have told me that they did not buy the files from the company now called Christian Standard Media from whom they bought a lot of their products. After contacting them, they told me almost the same thing, except that the company they bought from, RCL Benziger, no longer exists, and that the attendance cards essentially died two years ago.

If anyone still does own the files, I would love to buy them off you!!

This card was given to my Mum in her Bible class as a child. They are copyrighted to the sixties, so they have been around a long time. I remember them myself in my own Bible class and would love to be able to share them with Tahlia.

On the back is information about sixteen cards in the lot Jacob's Dream belongs to. I am not sure if there are any more or not, but here's to hoping! It seems to skip numbers in spots, so perhaps some were deleted along the way.

1801 - Jesus, Our Shepherd - to be used with 1801-S - Lambs seals
1804 - Fishing in Galilee - to be used with 1804-S - Fish seals
1809 - Bird Bath - to be used with 1809-S - Birds seals
1810 - Entering Church - to be used with 1810-S - Bibles seals
1812 - Match the Animals - to be used with 1812-S - Animals seals
1814 - The Harbor - to be used with 1814-S - Ships seals
1815 - Noah and Rainbow - to be used with 1815-S - Rainbow seals
1816 - David and Goliath - to be used with 1816-S - Soldiers seals
1831 - Jacob's Dream - to be used with 1831-S - Angel seals
1832 - Jesus and Bible Children - to be used with 1832-S - Sheep with Lamb seals
1833 - Daniel in the Lion's Den - to be used with 1833-S - Lions seals
1834 - Announcement to Shepherds - to be used with 1834-S - Silver Stars seals
1835 - Driving to Church - to be used with 1835-S - Automobile seals
1836 - Jesus and Children of the World - to be used with 1836-S - Children's Faces seals
1837 - Juniors Study the Bible - to be used with 1837-S - Open Bibles seals
1838 - Church in Community - to be used with 1838-S - Frame House seals

Even if the seals can't be sourced, the backgrounds would still be useful as a lot of the seals could be replaced with clip art or something similar.

Anyone else have fond memories of these?


Click on the image below to read my post on the Genesis 28 - Jacob's Ladder Quiet Book Page I made.

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

Do you remember these attendance cards from your childhood?

Genesis 30 - Jacob Increases Quiet Book Page

In Genesis chapter 30, Jacob goes on to have all the rest of his children bar Benjamin. Interestingly, because Dinah is included in this list, the number still adds up to twelve, together with the four sons mentioned in the previous chapter. God also blesses Jacob with wealth through flocks of sheep and goats.

Memory Verse: Jacob said to him, “You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?” Genesis 30:29.

Materials needed to create the Jacob Increases quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet. I used black.
• felt scraps in two tones of purple and two tones of green, and some white, dark, spotted and striped felt for the sheep and goats
• sewing thread to match each colour of felt
• press studs
• ribbons
• a font template - I printed out the alphabet in capitals in a Word document using Cooper Black, size 120
• a sheep and goat template like this image from Shutterstock
• a lamb template from American Felt and Craft

Cut out your font templates, and cut them out of felt. Sew them down on the page, and write the rest of their names with a sewing machine (my sister's machine has a font setting) or embroidery machine, or hand embroider it. You could also print them onto iron on transfer paper and do it that way, but remember to flip the image first.

I also asked my sister to write out each of the children's names on her machine, and cut them out in 2cm strips. Lay them on top of the same colour of felt and sew them down. Sew one side of a press stud on the back of each, making sure not to go through to the top layer of felt. Sew the bottom halves of the press studs onto the page near the corresponding mother's name.

Melt the ends of some ribbons and sew them down for grass. I used a green ribbon with white spots, and a plain white ribbon with green ric rak over the top for a streaked effect to emphasize the spotted, speckled and streaked sheep and goats which were Jacob's wages during the six years he stayed on with Laban (following the fourteen years he worked for his wives).

Adjust the animal templates to the size needed for the page and in relation to each other. Cut out the templates as whole pieces. Cut them out of felt and sew them down onto the page as you would like them arranged. Cut out the sheep from pure white felt, but layer another spotted and striped felt on top which has had the legs and face cut out of it. Again, I used spotted and striped felt to accentuate the spotted, speckled, and streaked sheep and goats, and used a dark blue for the dark coloured lamb as stipulated for Jacob's wages.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Intermediate

The press studs are the slightly harder elements of this page. You could simplify it by using sticky dot velcro instead and hot gluing it on to make sure they don't come off easily. The sheep and goats are a bit fiddly due to the small size I made them. As this page should be used together with Genesis 29, it kind of doubles the work needed too...

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 30 - This page tells the story of the rest of Jacob's children's birth's (except Benjamin). It should be used in conjunction with the Genesis 29 - Jacob's Wives quiet book page because Jacob's first four children are born in this chapter. It also tells the story of Jacob's wages post the fourteen years he worked to acquire his wives - the speckled, spotted, and streaked sheep and goats, and the dark coloured lambs, and how God blessed him with such things.
• Colour matching - match the children with their mother
• Ordering - the older child can learn Jacob's children's birth order from memory
• Press Studs - learn to line them up, push them on and pull them off
• 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 30

Devotional

The similarity of Bilhah and Zilpah's names had me guessing that they were also sisters. Turns out that they most likely were, and may even have been the half-sisters of Leah and Rachel (through Laban's concubine). You can check out the Jewish folklore stories on the Jewish Women's Archive encyclopedia entry on Zilpah. As if there wasn't enough intrigue going on in this story already!

All the intrigue and goings on in the Bible really points out the fact to me that God can handle all of my problems. He has had plenty of experience.

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

What do you learn from this Bible chapter?

Post Binding Quiet Book Closure

Normally you would put a closure on a book before you finish binding and doing your cover... But I couldn't decide whether/how I was going to do it and kept going anyway. They say necessity is the mother of invention, so here is my solution:

As I was pondering how I was going to make a closure for my finished book without making it look terrible with stitching showing all over it, I came across these display cuff-links.

They inspired this closure idea for when you have already bound your quiet book, but find that you really do need to be able to close it and don't want to waste your energy re-sewing the cover.

Materials Needed to create a Post Binding Quiet Book Closure:

• Two large buttons
• short piece of ribbon or elastic
• thread
• sewing machine with buttonhole function
• one tiny button if using a one step buttonhole function

If using a one step buttonhole function, first do a practice buttonhole for both your small and large buttons. That way you can work out the length and center your buttonholes along the edge you want to put the closure on. Make large buttonholes along every page edge except the last, where you will make a very small buttonhole. This will ensure that the buttons and ribbon cannot fall out and get lost. 

Remember to change buttons in the measurement end of your one step buttonhole foot at the appropriate times! Also, I found that the button would often pop out of the foot when I removed each page because they were fairly thick. Watch out for that, or your buttonholes will get progressively smaller.

Instructions for how to use a one step buttonhole function can be found towards the end of my Easy Peasy Lei Flower Quiet Book Page.

Use a seam-ripper to open up the buttonholes. I sewed the buttonhole on this counting page twice since I would be cutting through a ribbon on the page.

Thread the ribbon through the button that you want showing on the top.

Then thread both ends of the ribbon through all of the buttonholes. Turn the book over and thread on the second button.

Tie a knot in the ribbon, then do a double-knotted bow so it can't come undone.

Done!

Here is Tahlia keeping herself busy barricading the kitchen while I was book binding.

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

Has this solved your problem of how to add a closure after you have already bound your quiet book? Comment below!

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.

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

Does joining a page swap tempt you? Comment below!

Easy Peasy Pocket Page 8"x8" Material Quiet Book

This page is so simple anyone can do it!

Materials needed to create the Easy Peasy Pocket Page for an 8"x8" material quiet book:

• an old shirt with a chest pocket, preferably one that has a closure
• a piece of paper to make an 8"x8" template

Make an 8"x8" template by marking 8" from the same edge at the top and bottom of a piece of paper. Line up your ruler and tear along it. Turn your paper onto the next edge to the left or right and do it again.

Place your template over a shirt pocket, lining it up so the pocket is in the center. Pin and cut it our. Don't worry if your piece has a small section of sleeve in one corner as this will get covered by binding when you sew the quiet book together. This is why your quiet book size can't be bigger than 8"x8", otherwise it might be difficult for you to find a shirt big enough. Although I guess you could add a border around the edge to make it wide enough to fit a bigger page size.

That's it!

I found a heap of old shirts at my local dump, where they give away clothes. It's also a great way to get interesting buttons and beads for free.

You can probably find a variety of pockets all with different closures, and make an entire book out of pockets recycled from old clothing.

Now, to fill them with fun activities....

• tetris shapes made from stiffened felt
• a prism to catch the sunlight like this idea by Anne from Left Brain Craft Brain
• a bead and fabric scrap dolly from the $2 shop
• toy cars
• a mirror
• toy skateboard
• coloured cellophane lolly wrappers to use as light filters to look through - don't get them wet though, or the colour will run and ruin your book
• Simple puzzles using iron on transfers by Amy from Serving pink lemonade, or just print and laminate them
• Printable lacing cards by Beck Clarke from busy Little Bugs
• dominoes
• a weaving rainbow by Mihaela from Best Toys for Toddlers
• foam finger puppets from a $2 shop
• a small slinky
• a button snake by Jackie from happy hooligans
• velcro cord ties from the harware section of a $2 shop to make a link chain with

The pocket on the left with pink edging came from one of my husband's old shirts that he wore a lot when we first met. It was my favourite, and I fixed it when it got a massive rip in the back and my husband kept wearing it! When he put it in the chuck out pile recently, I quickly saved it for this project.

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

The Easy Peasy Lei Flower Quiet Book Page.

Puzzle Quiet Book Page Swap.

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

Does this page look easy enough for you? Comment below!