Quiet Book

I've always enjoyed crafts and artsy type things.

I have seen moms make quiet books for their kids and I always thought they looked so cool!

But...

I've never been the kind of person that FINISHES big craft projects.

Believe me, there were way too many cross stitch pictures gone undone in my youth.

Sorry Mom.

So I started planning out this quiet book for Grace and I was really excited!

And possibly a little hesitant, cause I didn't know how great of a craft finisher I was...

I got all the supplies, had it all ready, and went to work! Starting with a full day of work at my mom's house so she could watch Grace, I quickly realized that this quiet book business is TEDIOUS!

Oh my goodness, did it really take that long to cut out phelt!!?!?

Yes, yes it did.

It definitely did!

I worked and worked and cut quietly during SO many naptimes and post-bedtimes. Towards the end it felt like every spare minute I was running to the glue gun.

I wanted to be done for Christmas though, and I did it!

I finished!

My last stitch was around midnight on Christmas Eve.

Ha ha ha ha...cutting it close, but whatever.

I DID IT!

When I started I had found so many cute pages that I thought I would end up with about 17-20 pages!

HA!

Yeah, the final product is 9 pages.

And that's plenty, actually.

The book is bursting! And it's enough activities for sure.

I had to add a little latch,  otherwise it never would have stayed closed,  haha.

I hand stitched all around the edges,  the latch,  and the spine of the book.

 First page! Grace's favorite,  haha. She's the biggest animal lover! I ended up making the finger puppets a little bigger and more than actually fit in the barn, so it's a little crowded!

The cows tongue is my favorite,  hahahaha. These are all hand stitched as well.

 

 The next page is pretty simple. I wanted to do a lot of basic things,  since my baby is still little.  She doesn't know shapes,  colors, etc. So I did lots of things at that level.

 

Counting apples!  I love this one!  I think it's really cute. You count and put the velcro apples into the basket. Soooooooo much velcro in this project!

 This one is kinda funny,  haha. When I was done with it Jeff was like: "uh....what do you do with it?" Hahaha. It's just a texture page,  but pretty developmentally appropriate for my baby.

 Cute color matching balloons! Ribbon and hot glue aren't friends....

Actually I don't think hot glue is friends with anyone or anything.

Oh my goodness,  this page!  The total terror of my quiet book experience.

I guess I'm just crazy,  cause I hot  glued the zipper shut TWICE!

Hahahahahahahahaha.

Who does that?! Seriously?

Don't ask me what my thought process was,  because I don't know,  haha.

So much screaming (and maybe swearing). Dang you, alligator.

Oh well,  it worked out in the end, barely.

 Counting/numbers jelly fish! I loved making this one!

Dress up girl!  It'll be interesting to see how quick Grace will be able to do this one on her own. I think she'll love the shoe part!

Mr.  Potato Head!  This one by far took the longest to cut out and make. So many little pieces.  Grace loves talking about faces though, (eyes,  ears,  mouth,  nose) so she'll think this one is fun.  I tried to do a variety of characters so they all look pretty different. It'll be funny to see what combinations Grace comes up with!

All in all I think this whole book took me well over a dozen hours to make. I would maybe guess closer to 2 dozen. I really didn't count, cause it was just a half hour here and there for 3 months.

I am definitely proud of myself that I actually finished it! Grace loved it when she opened it on Christmas morning too, which I was so relieved!

 

I think it's safe to say I'll be taking a long break from Pinterest momming! It was fun (sometimes) while it lasted though!