Magda's Christmas Quiet Book

Okay, before getting to today's post (which is an AWESOME Christmas quiet book), I want to remind you guys to enter this week's giveaway! You might win Amy Pincock's "Quiet Book Patterns: 25 Easy-to-Make Activities for Your Children."

Just click on this picture!

All right, now today's quiet book comes to us from Magda, a stay-at-home mom from Poland who's currently living in China. She made an adorable Christmas/winter-themed quiet book (two of them, actually) as a Christmas present. I love so much about this quiet book, but some of my favorite things are the Christmas tree branch (on the first page), the Christmas tree with different shape ornaments on it, and Santa and his reindeer. I love how well done everything is and how interactive the pages are - the Snowman dress-up is a great idea, and I love how the penguin's igloo is also a puzzle. I know it's March and Christmas is a long ways away, but it's never to early to start planning quiet books! Enjoy!

Interview

What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence. 
My name is Magda. I'm Polish but currently living in China. I'm a stay-at-home mum of 2 kids.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they? 
I made two books. They were Christmas gifts for a boy who is 2.5 and a girl who is 1.5 years old.

What's your level of sewing experience?
I'm a beginner.

How long did it take you?
About 2 weeks. I sew mostly for about 2-3 hours in the evenings.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
I used part of the "Penguin & Igloo" template from Imagineourlife.com for the igloo page. Christmas tree - the idea taken from iSLCOLLECTIVE: Shapes and Colors worksheet.

How did you bind your quiet book? 
I sewed the pages together with embroidery floss.

What material are the pages made out of? 
Felt.

What other materials did you use? 
Snaps, Velcro, ribbons, buttons and beads.

How much did all the supplies cost you? 
Not sure. I had all the supplies at home.

What's your favorite page? Why? 
I love a gift page and a Santa page. They were real fun to make and I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful quiet book with us, Magda!

Have you made a quiet book that you'd like to share? Click here for instructions on how to submit your own quiet book!

"Quiet Book Patterns" Book Review & GIVEAWAY!

*Disclosure: I was given a copy of Quiet Book Patterns: 25 Easy-to-Make Activities for Your Children for the purposes of this review. The opinions that I express are definitely my own. :)

Hey everyone! Today is a very exciting day because it is the day of the Quiet Book Blog's first giveaway!

A little while ago I was contacted by Amy Pincock from the popular craft blog Serving Pink Lemonade. She has recently published a book of quiet book patterns and instructions: Quiet Book Patterns: 25 Easy-to-Make Activities for Your Children.

Not only is this book stinkin' cute, it's full of instructions of how to make a quiet book, has lots of pictures, instructions, and templates for twenty-five different pages, and comes with a CD with printable quiet book templates. (You can also access the templates online once you've purchased the book.)

To try out the book I made two of the different pages: the "sock match" page and the "season tree" page. They were both pages that I've been wanting to make for a long time, but both seemed too complex for me to try making them. This book really simplified the process and made making them easy!

Here's my sock match page:

I really like how it turned out. I personalized it a little bit - did a tan hamper instead of gray, added a heart to the red sock - but for the huge majority of it just followed the template and instructions exactly. I used velcro to attach the socks with their partners, and instead of sewing the velcro on I just hot-glued it. Just as effective, and easier and faster. I was all about easy when making these pages.

And here's my season tree page! I looove this page. Ever since I first saw it on Amy's blog, waaay back when I was gathering ideas for my first quiet book, I've wanted to make one. I just think it's such a fun page. But, like the sock page, I was intimidated by how hard it looked to make. Especially the tree trunk and branches - I pictured sewing that on and it was like, no way.

Again, the book made this page so much easier. It still took a while to make - I had to cut out all the pieces and attach them together - but with the instructions on interfacing and the templates I could just print, it was a lot better than I was expecting.

Here's the pocket for all the extra leaves:

I used velcro again because it's easier for my daughter to use than snaps. I sewed the velcro on to the flowers and autumn leaves before it occurred to me I could just hot glue it on (I made this page before the sock one), so that's what I did for the rest of the leaves. Hot gluing from the start would have saved me a lot of time.

I really like the way it turned out!

I really like Amy's pattern book. It's both really cute and very useful. It would be a great starting point for someone who's never made a quiet book before; it starts on square one and tells you where to begin. It's also great for people who have made quiet books before (as I can testify); it helped me tackle some pages I've been wanting to make but thought would be too difficult. And I think it would be a great gift; I can think of a couple people I know who might be getting one from me in the future. To top it all off, it's super cheap.

To find Amy's quiet book pattern book on Amazon, click here: Quiet Book Patterns: 25 Easy-to-Make Activities for Your Children (CD Included).

So here's the super fun part for you: Amy is giving away a copy of her book to one Quiet Book Blog reader!

The giveaway is open from today, March 10, and will close at midnight (Pacific Standard Time) on Monday, March 17. Be sure to enter every way you can, and you might win this book!

Good luck! :D

Quiet Book Patterns Book Giveaway

Sami's ABC Quiet Book

Today is the third and final quiet book from Sami of Diary of an Overworked Mum's Kid Spot. This one is an ABC book. It's not the whole thing, more of a "sneak peak." I think she'll eventually post the whole thing on her blog. I really like everything she's done on these pages - the alien finger puppet on the A page, the velcro number blocks, the super cute ladybug with zipper, the mitten with polka-dot ribbon, and the peekaboo alien. Take a look!

Interview
(The answers in this interview also refer to Sami's other two quiet books, one of which posted on Monday and one of which posted on Wednesday.)

What is your name? Describe yourself in one sentence. 
My name is Sami. I am currently a stay at home in Brisbane, Australia.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they? 
I made them for my three children who are 6, 4 and 2.

What is your level of sewing experience? 
Beginner. My "On The Farm" quiet book was my first ever sewing project.

How long did it take you? 
I honestly could not say exactly, maybe about a week or two for each book with about 2-6 hours a day. With them being my first sewing projects and having no one to teach me anything it was made up of a lot of trial and error.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found? 
I used no templates; however, I did use some ideas that I found online.

How did you bind your quiet books? 
I just kind of poked a hole in the pages and stuck binder rings through them.

What material are the pages made out of? 
Felt.

What other materials did you use? 
Just felt and ribbon.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
I don't know exactly but it was definitely in the hundreds.

What's your favorite page? Why? 
I think the ladybug is my favorite. Probably because it was my first zipper and press studs and I felt like they turned up really well.

To view Sami's "Things That Go" quiet book on her own blog, with more detail about each page, click here: Things That Go Quietbook. To see her "On the Farm" quiet book, click here: On the Farm Quietbook.

Again, thank you for sharing all of your quiet books with us, Sami!

Have you made a quiet book that you'd like to share? Click here for instructions on how to submit your own quiet book!

Sami's "Things That Go" Quiet Book

Today is the second quiet book from Sami of Diary of an Overworked Mum's Kid Spot! This book is as cute and creative as her first. The theme Sami chose for this quiet book was "Things That Go," and she made pages of a hot air balloon, a boat, a crane, a car and traffic light, a rocketship, an airplane, a tractor, and a train. What a fun book!

Interview
(The answers in this interview also refer to Sami's other two quiet books, one of which posted on Monday and one of which will post on Friday.)

What is your name? Describe yourself in one sentence. 
My name is Sami. I am currently a stay at home in Brisbane, Australia.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they? 
I made them for my three children who are 6, 4 and 2.

What is your level of sewing experience? 
Beginner. My "On The Farm" quiet book was my first ever sewing project.

How long did it take you? 
I honestly could not say exactly, maybe about a week or two for each book with about 2-6 hours a day. With them being my first sewing projects and having no one to teach me anything it was made up of a lot of trial and error.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found? 
I used no templates; however, I did use some ideas that I found online.

How did you bind your quiet books? 
I just kind of poked a hole in the pages and stuck binder rings through them.

What material are the pages made out of? 
Felt.

What other materials did you use? 
Just felt and ribbon.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
I don't know exactly but it was definitely in the hundreds.

What's your favorite page? Why? 
I think the ladybug is my favorite. Probably because it was my first zipper and press studs and I felt like they turned up really well.

To view Sami's "Things That Go" quiet book on her own blog, with more detail about each page, click here: Things That Go Quietbook. To see her "On the Farm" quiet book, click here: On the Farm Quietbook. Thank you for sharing this with us Sami!

Check back on Friday for Sami's third quiet book!

Have you made a quiet book that you'd like to share? Click here for instructions on how to submit your own quiet book!

Sami's "On the Farm" Quiet Book

Good morning everyone! I am SO excited by the quiet books I get to share with you this week. There are three of them (one today, one Wednesday, and one Friday) all made by Australian stay-at-home mom Sami. You can find her blog at Diary of an Overworked Mum's Kid Spot. Sami's quiet books are FANTASTIC. They are seriously so cute and when I read that today's "On The Farm" quiet book was her first sewing project ever, I could hardly believe it.

Okay, so things I love about this quiet book: the purple border on all of the pages. It ties everything together so nicely. And the apple tree - look at those leaves! And the trunk! And the hand-stitching! And the barn, and the finger puppets, and the campfire and the butterflies and the teepee and pretty much every single thing in the whole book. I realized I'm listing every single detail so I'll just close my trap and let you enjoy this awesome book!

Interview
(The answers in this interview also refer to Sami's other two quiet books, which will post this Wednesday and this Friday.)

What is your name? Describe yourself in one sentence. 
My name is Sami. I am currently a stay at home in Brisbane, Australia.

Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they? 
I made them for my three children who are 6, 4 and 2.

What is your level of sewing experience? 
Beginner. My "On The Farm" quiet book was my first ever sewing project.

How long did it take you? 
I honestly could not say exactly, maybe about a week or two for each book with about 2-6 hours a day. With them being my first sewing projects and having no one to teach me anything it was made up of a lot of trial and error.

Did you use any templates? Where can they be found? 
I used no templates; however, I did use some ideas that I found online.

How did you bind your quiet books? 
I just kind of poked a hole in the pages and stuck binder rings through them.

What material are the pages made out of? 
Felt.

What other materials did you use? 
Just felt and ribbon.

How much did all the supplies cost you?
I don't know exactly but it was definitely in the hundreds.

What's your favorite page? Why? 
I think the ladybug is my favorite. Probably because it was my first zipper and press studs and I felt like they turned up really well.

To view Sami's "On the Farm" quiet book on her own blog, with more detail about each page, click here: On The Farm Quietbook. Thank you for sharing this adorable quiet book (and your two others) with us Sami!

I can't wait to show you all her other two quiet books!

Have you made a quiet book that you'd like to share? Click here for instructions on how to submit your own quiet book!