Jolie's Quiet Book

My niece just turned 1 this past August, so this summer I took on the project of making her a quiet book. I have seen so many cute patterns online, and my sister-in-law mentioned that she wanted one for her kids, so that's what I did! I had lots of fun picking out templates and making it, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. It took me so long to make though! I used my sewing machine for most of the pieces, but I had to change the thread every time I needed a new colour, which took a while. I also had to cut out the pattern pieces, two pieces of felt, and one piece of interfacing for each removable piece, which was also time-consuming. Jolie loves it though, so it's all worth it!

If you don't know what a quiet book is, it is an activity book made out of felt for young children. They are often used to keep kids occupied during church or in the car. There are pages just to look at, play with, and many of them have educational components such as colours, matching, numbers, and practice fine motor skills (buttons, snaps, zippers).

I decided to make 10 page spreads, so I printed the templates and did all the cutting at once, then all the sewing at once. When I finished and began to put everything together, the pile of pages was quite big, so I decided to split it into two books. The books have binder rings that hold the pages together which open, so the pages can be removed or placed all into one book. All of my pages were made of felt, which also contributed to the bulk of the book.

Below I have a picture of each page, links to the templates, and a few comments. I hope you enjoy my work! For more inspiration, see my quiet book Pinterest board. Most of my templates are from Imagine Our Life, which I highly recommend!

Cover

For the cover, I used a light corduroy material from Hobby Lobby, with white broadcloth on the inside. There are handles, and a velcro strap to keep it closed. As mentioned above, there are binder rings that hold the pieces together and also allow you to remove the pages (see the next picture too). I loosely followed this tutorial, but basically I sewed a big rectangle for the cover, two handles, a velcro strap, and two small straps inside to hold the binder rings (see next picture). 

Name Page

This is the only page in the book that I did not use a template for. I cut out the letters for Jolie's name, and attached snaps to the pieces and to the page. I hand embroidered "my name is" with embroidery floss, and sewed three sides for a pocket to hold the letters. I think using velcro rather than snaps would have made it easier to attach.

Ice Cream Sundae Page

I got this template from this link. For this page, you just play with the different ice cream scoops and toppings. One of my favourites because it is so cute!

Bathroom Page

I chose to make this page because Jolie has a book with a mirror at the end that she loves. I got lucky and found some shiny bristol board at Michael's that I used for the mirror. The brush, toothbrush, and toothpaste can go in the mug. The template I used (here) is for one page, but I spread it onto two.

Cookie Page

This page (tutorial here) involves matching the shapes and colours of the cookies. You also practice buttoning the pieces to the page. Super cute!

Mail Page

This page (from this link) is super cute! The envelopes all velcro open and have a letter inside. I sewed ribbon with writing on it on the outside of the envelopes and the inside letter pages. The letters go in the mailbox, and the red handle can go up.

Cupcake Page

This page has wrapper pockets that I hand-embroidered the numbers onto. Each of the cupcakes has the same number of sprinkles (beads) sewn on, so it can be a matching activity. I used the cupcake template here to cut out the shapes, but modeled it after this page.

Farm Page
This page has animal finger puppets that go in the barn, which has doors that open. The template for this page (link) had apples that snap onto the tree, but I thought those pieces were too small, so I made an owl that is under the tree leaves instead. I also sewed taggie-style ribbons under the sun.

Sock Page

In this page (template here) the socks each have a snap on the back and they match onto the right hand page. You can put them in the dryer as well (hilarious!). For the dryer door, I got a clear folder from the dollar store that I cut for the dryer door.

Dress Up Page 

For this page, there is a plain figure on the right hand page, with velcro as her underwear and bra. I sewed yarn on for her hair, and hand-embroidered her face. The suitcase has a zipper on it to store the clothes, which all have velcro on them to stick to the doll. I didn't follow a specific template, but you can find another example here.

Flower Page

This page (template here) just has flowers that you can practice buttoning on and off of the stems.

Taggie Blankie Sewing Tutorial

My mom and I have finally decided to get a table at a craft show. Actually it is a mom to mom sale as a fundraiser for Great Lakes Christian High School in Beamsville, ON where I attended and my father works. I visited some friends and their baby a few weeks ago and saw that she had one of these taggie blankies, and of course my first thought was "I could totally make that". I found a tutorial on Pinterest to get me started, but here is mine anyways. I was going to make one over my reading week and thought I might as well make a few, and ended up making 14! It is pretty easy, but can be time consuming cutting and pinning all the ribbons. Hopefully it will be a big seller at the sale! These are more sensory toys than actual blankets. Babies like the different colors and textures of the ribbons to fell, look at, and suck on. I gave one to my 7 month old niece and she loves it!

You will need:
-Two pieces of fabric 16" x 16" (I used flannelette and fleece, but minky fabric and cotton would work too. If you have smaller pieces you can use that too I have seen some that are 8" x 8")
-16 pieces of ribbon 5" long, various colors, textures, widths
-Sewing machine
-Thread
-Pins
-Iron and ironing board

Directions:
1. Cut two pieces of fabric that are 16" x 16" (approx) squares.

2. Cut 16 pieces of ribbon that are 5" long. Iron them if they have creases.

3. Pin the two pieces of fabric together with just one pin in the middle, wrong side facing each other (on the inside). Pin the ribbons by folding it in half (right side facing out), and tucking it between the two pieces of fabric (edges touching). Pin 4 on each side, evenly spaced.

4. Sew along the edges using a straight stitch, leaving a gap between two of the ribbons (I place another pin between two ribbons to remind me not to sew it completely shut.) When you get to a ribbon, use your reverse button and go back over the ribbon twice to hold it in place (4 times total- 2 forward and 2 backward).

5. Take out the pins, and flip it right side out through your hole, and poke the corners out using a pencil. Iron it flat and make the edges flat.

6. Zig zag stitch around the whole edge, paying special attention to where the hole is (make sure those edges are tucked in good!

 

All done! The only thing left to do is give it to a baby!

Charger Wall Pocket

As you may know, I recently bought my very own sewing machine, and have been sewing up a storm! I have gotten most of my patterns on Pinterest (best website ever btw), which are usually really good and include links to tutorials. Every once and a while there will be something that I am dying to make that is just pictures and no instructions, so I have to figure it out using my crafty ways. This is one of those projects! The instructions were in Swedish, so I just made up my own way to do it. This is my first sewing tutorial, so bear with me! I am a beginner sewer by every definition, so if you think of a better way to do this, then feel free. Here is the original link, in case anybody out there reads Swedish :)

I love my charger wall pocket, and use it to store my cell phone charger when I'm not using it. You could easily change the measurements to make it bigger/smaller to fit your electronics.

What You Need:
- 2 pieces of fabric approximately 5 1/2" x 11"
- 1 piece of cotton batting approximately 5 1/2" x 11"
- sewing machine/needles and thread
- pins

Instructions:
1) Cut out the fabric and batting to measure 5 1/2" x 11"

2) Cut out a square in the top of the fabric and batting pieces approximately 2" x 2 1/2" about 1" from the edges at the top.

3) Pin the 3 pieces together with right sides of fabric facing each other, and cotton batting on the bottom.

4) Sew along the 4 outside edges using a 1/4" seam allowance.

5) Flip the whole thing right side out through the rectangle hole.

6) Turn in the fabric along the edges of the rectangle hole, pin together and sew using a 1/4" seam allowance. You may find it easier to make a diagonal cut into the fabric at each corner so it lays flatter.

7) Fold up the bottom of the rectangle to make the pocket, pin into place, and sew along the two side edges.

To use, hold the pocket against the outlet, plug your charger into the wall through the pocket, and put your phone, ipod, etc. and the cord in the pocket.

Pinterest vs Reality: Charger Wall Pocket

Baby Shower Bonanza!

This past weekend was a baby shower for my future-sister-in-law Laura, who will be having a baby just before our wedding! I am so excited for them, and I was almost as excited to do my fair share of DIY projects for the shower and my future neice-y or nephew-y!

I will not be making tutorials for any of these projects, so I will post links to the ones that I used if you want to make any of these things yourself!

1. Baby Bunting Banner

This one was easy peasy. I just cut triangles out of different papers, cut out the letters "b a b y" with my cricut and glued them on, then used double-sided tape to attach the triangles to a ribbon.

2. Cake Pops

You can see my previous post on how to make cake pops if you want to make them. This time I did them a little differently because I used the cake pop maker that Jordan got me for Christmas. It is like a waffle iron and allows you to bake the cake into the ball shapes instead of mixing them with icing, which is much faster. These are a big hit with the kids!

3. Diaper Cake

My future-sister-in-law Lindsay asked me to make a diaper cake for the shower, and I couldn't have been more delighted. I have seen a bunch of these on Pinterest, and was dying to make one! It wasn't that hard either. I followed this tutorial, but instead of using cardboard to make the form, I used white foam board that I got from dollarama.

Pinterest vs Reality: Diaper Cake

4. Knitted Carseat Blanket

This one I got the pattern out of a knitting magazine so unfortunately I can't share the pattern. This is a carseat blanket, the hole is for the buckle on the carseat. The pattern is fairly simple, and it didn't even take a full ball of yarn!

5. Sewn receiving blanket, change pad, burp cloth, and bib

I am learning how to sew, and going a little overboard with it! It took just over 3 metres of fabric to make all of this, so I was very happy with how it turned out! Here are the links for the tutorials:

For the bib, I followed this tutorial, but just used solid fabric for both sides. I was careful when sewing on the velcro, so the bib is reversible as well!

Pinterest vs Reality: Baby Bib

I did a similar thing with the burp cloth, I followed this tutorial, but made my own pattern using newspaper. I also sewed the edges in instead of leaving them frayed.

Pinterest vs Reality: Burp Cloth

I also made this receiving blanket, following this tutorial. I have made a few of these by now, and I think that they turn out really cute with the different fabric combinations!

Pinterest vs Reality: Receiving Blanket

And finally, the changing pad, complete with a pocket to store some extra wipes and diapers, and it even rolls up to fit snugly in your diaper bag. I followed this tutorial, and was happy with the way it turned out.

Pinterest vs Reality: Changing Pad and Wipes Holder

And there you have it folks! It seems like I've been very busy, but I haven't been working for a few weeks so it really is my pleasure to do all these crafts! Enjoy!

Best Shower Gift Ever

I am reaching that stage of life where all of my friends (including me!) are getting married. That means lots of wedding showers to go to! This is (in my opinion) a great shower gift for a bride-to-be, and was a big hit at the two showers that I have gone to so far. With your name etched onto the casserole dish, nobody will ever steal it at potlucks! I saw this idea on Pinterest, and had to try it out! I apologize for the quality of my pictures, it is really difficult to take a good picture of glass!

Supplies:
-glass casserole dish
-glass etching cream (I got it from Michael's for about $10)
-foam brush
-adhesive vinyl
-cricut or stencils and exacto knife

Instructions:
1. Cut out the letters/design that you would like onto the adhesive vinyl using your cricut, or trace and cut with an exacto knife.

2. Stick the adhesive vinyl onto the clean glass surface where you would like your design to appear.

3. Apply a GENEROUS amount of glass etching cream to the glass surface on top of the stencil you made. Put it on nice and thick so that you can't see the glass underneath. Leave it for 10-15 minutes on a flat surface so that the cream doesn't drip. *The instructions on the cream said to leave it for 1-2 minutes, but on my practice one it didn't show up well enough, so I left it for a lot longer.*

4. Rinse off the cream using water and paper towels. Peel off the stenciled vinyl, and wipe off any excess cream. Dry it and you are finished!

A few notes:
The way that the glass etching works is that it is an acid that chips away at the surface of the glass. This means that the etching is permanent, and you can bake, microwave, and wash it and it won't come off. This also means that you have to be careful not to make any mistakes! I recommend doing a practice one on an old candle or jar before doing it on a $20 casserole dish. :)

Variations:
You can use this technique on any glass surface that you would like. I saw some on Pinterest that were decorated trifle dishes, or candle holders that are nice.

Pinterest vs. Reality: Glass Etched Casserole Dish

(mine on bottom)

Dress it up:

I knit some dishcloths and put them inside one of the gifts that I gave. I also sewed a plastic bag holder, you can find that tutorial here.

Pinterest vs. Reality: Plastic Bag Holder (mine on bottom)

  
For another, I sewed a casserole carrier to go with it. I am a beginner sewer, so I am not even going to attempt to make a tutorial, but you can find the one that I used here. Ta da!

Pinterest vs. Reality: Casserole Carrier (mine on bottom)

Make-Your-Own Flower Headband

Here's instructions for how to make a trendy flower headband for your (or a baby's) hair. This was fairly easy, and didn't take too many materials. The fabric is actually from the bottom of my curtains!

What You Need:
-1 strip of sheer material, approx 2" x 12"
-1 strip of sheer material, approx 3" x 18"
-1 piece of ribbon, approx 36" long
-1 button
-needle, thread, scissors

1. Get the needle and thread ready, and tie a knot at the end of the thread, leaving about 2".
2. Starting at the end of one of the strips about half a centimeter from the bottom edge. Sew in and out about half a centimeter apart along the edge lengthwise.

3. Scrunch the fabric as tight as you can as you go along. When you are done, scrunch it all together into a circle, and tie the thread with the other end.
4. Repeat with the other strip. Sew the smaller flower into the center of the larger one.

5. Sew on the button, and sew the finished flower onto the ribbon, off center. Trim any remaining threads.
6. Wear and prepare to be complimented. :)