Quiet Time Books (OR Mommy-gets-some-sleep-while-driving-16hrs Books)

 (May take a while to load - is pretty photo intensive)

I cannot take credit for these awesome books.

I mean... I made them. But I didn't originate the idea or even the individual designs.

I found each page from different places all over the web and the full credit goes to those creative moms (and MY THANKS for the sleep I got while driving from Virginia to Arkansas for CHRISTmas).

You'll need:
Felt in multiple colors
Fat Quarter
Velcro
Buttons, shoelace, yarn, embroidery thread...
Hot glue gun


Cover

For the cover, I used fat quarters (on sale for $0.99 at Joann's). Fold it in half lengthwise, right sides together. Sew all the way around, leaving a small opening for turning. Trim corners, turn and slip stitch opening closed.

Slip Stitch Illustration

Image Credit

I was in a hurry when I was doing the covers (the night before our trip, as usual) so the velcro got hot glued on. I would recommend white velcro, but I had already overspent my Joann's budget so I used what I had. : ) Thank the Lord for husbands who budget. I also hot glued the cover to the binding so the girls wouldn't keep "misplacing" it.

Pages

Each page was one sheet of felt - I put a thin line of hot glue around all the edges and folded it in half to seal. 

Book for 2 yr Old

   Stick people (holder hot-glued) 

Can you tell we're Rapunzel fans?

Color Matching (yes, that's supposed to be a palette)

Notebook Coloring page

(has a strap of felt wrapped around notebook, glued to page)

Baby hand not included.

Town with Car Garage

 Barn with Animal Finger Puppets

(was all sewn with a blanket stitch and took FOREVER)

Book for 4 yr Old 

More Stick People

Picnic (velcros on) - the only one I haven't finished - still needs a fork, knife and cup

 

Funny Face Man (already missing some eyes)

velcros on

 Kitchen with Counting Cupcakes

Coloring

Numbers

Purse with Goodies 

(fastens with button, blanket-stitched)

Book for 6 yr Old

Weaving

Tying Shoelaces and Buttoning Flowers

Girl with Dress-up Clothes - just don't look at her face... or hair.

(has several more outfits... somewhere)

More Stick People

(LOVE the colors and eyes Evie did)

Heart Tic-Tac-Toe

 Coloring Page

Girl with Yarn Hair

(in hindsight, should have done full-face girl with hair that could be braided)

Binding

For the binding, I stacked all of the pages together [with all additions (notebook, crayons, car...) inside] and measured for width of binding. I cut this out from a scrap piece of felt. Then I put a line of hot glue down the inside seam of the pages and added them one-by-one to the binding, starting at the very edge. I had a bit of extra binding on one of the books but I just trimmed it off. 

This was one of the most FUN projects I've done and it just didn't get boring because I was always doing something different.

Crafting to CHRISTmas: Personalized Tote Bags

I'm doing homemade gifts for CHRISTmas this year and I'm starting with some canvas bags for my Sunday School class kids and for my own kiddos.

I admit... I took the easy road. I bought the canvas bags. I could have been an Uber-Crafter and made them but, hey, I have TONS of projects lined up. And I'm only human.

So thur she blows.

You'll need:
3-pk multi-colored canvas bags
acrylic craft paint
super cute stencils
spouncers (doesn't that sound funny to you too?)

First, I tried something I saw online somewhere... if you know where it's from, please let me know so I can give them proper credit. The idea was to take a dollar store paper doily and use it as a stencil. And that's precisely what I did.

 

I wasn't entirely happy with this so I got some cute and inexpensive stencils from Wally World.

And this is what happened...

I then did a google image search for embroidery fonts and freehanded names and initials. They're not perfect (I did say freehanded) so don't judge, you silhouette owners.

And then I was getting a little bored with the stencils and did some sort of argyle-ish pattern, made using a ruler to draw the lines and painted with painter's tape as a stencil.

Note: to give the diamonds a worn look, I pressed a strip of tape on each one when they were still wet.

And backed it with some boyish letter stencils. (also inexpensive from Wally World)

Enjoy!