"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