A Quiet Book for a Noisy Child

Since the beginning of time I have run all my errands and made all my appointments with my 4 pinks and a blue. Okay, so that was a slight exaggeration. It hasn't been since the beginning of time but it feels like I've been doing it that long sometimes. :)

People often ask how in the world I can do all those things with all these kids in tow, but those of us with big families know that it's not much different than doing things with 2 or 3 kids. You get use to what you have to handle and you find ways to make things a little easier in the process.

Take today's post for instance. Our church is beginning a Ladies Prayer Meeting on Thursdays that I really want to be a part of. It will be no problem for the 18 month old because, Lord willing, she will be taking a nap at that time. :) But the 4 year old will be a participant of the meeting...and we all know 4 year olds don't we? They cannot be trusted to be quiet for long periods of time. At least mine can't. But I love her!!!!

I had pinned some Quiet Book ideas to one of my Pinterest boards a while back and quickly thought of them when I found out about the meetings. I made it my goal this week to get a couple pages done so that the 4 year old will have something to "quietly" occupy herself while we pray.

My favorite idea is the Potato Head quiet pages. Isn't she adorable? Jocelyn of Sunshine, Lollypops and Rainbows was amazingly kind enough to offer the pattern for free!!! Go there to get it!!

Today I will share with you how I made these for our littlest Pinks.

1. Print off pattern here.

2. Decide which colors of felt you will need to buy. (I would suggest that you even write on the pattern pieces which colors of felt you want for what so you don't forget anything.

3. Decide which color/colors you want to use for the actual pages. I used a whole sheet of felt from Wally World for each page.

4. Decide how you are going to bind your pages. I simply hole punched mine since I know that the kids will be sharing the book and I think it defeats the purpose of a Quiet Book if the children are fighting over it. :) (I wasn't up to making two books either.) I placed mine in a binder for now. SEE NOTE TOWARDS END OF POST.

5. Buy your felt and also TWO erasable markers. You will want one to be white so that it will show up on the darker colors of felt.

6. Gather your other basic sewing supplies: thread, scissors, seam ripper and any little

embellishments if you would like; rick-rac, buttons, lace...you get the point.

7. Start. It took me between 3 and 4 hours to complete this project. I didn't do it in one sitting though I did start and finish the same day. Yes, I was up late...my excuse for the terrible lighting in the pictures you are about to see.

 I cut out all the patterns and then traced them onto the felt with a water soluble marker. I then cut each shape, except for the body, earrings, eye centers, flower center and the bucket "envelope" out in a double layer so that the pieces would be sturdier.

 I decided to machine sew mine but you could hand sew it as well. As a tip, if you want to embellish any of the pieces, like the lips, you have two options: 

• You can sew both layers together and embellish through both which will result in the stitches being seen on both sides.
• Or you can embellish the top layer first and then sew the top layer to the bottom layer giving you a nice clean looking back side. This is more time consuming but the perfectionists out there may be more satisfied with this option.

I simply sewed mine through both layers cause I didn't think about it before I started. Not sure I'd have opted for option two anyway though. Tells a lot about me huh?! :)

 I also opted to sew with my twin needle. Not any scientific reason why, just wanted too. Well, it was already in my machine from a previous project and I was too lazy to change it. I like how it all turned out though. Follow your machine's instructions for sewing with a twin needle.

 How that hat looks after sewing, love that contrasting cream thread!

 Carefully cut out your pieces being careful to leave enough felt on the outer edges of the stitches. And DON'T cut through your stitches!! That would just be sad.

 Repeat for each piece adding as many or as few details as you would like. Love how it's coming together!!!

Ugh, sorry about the shadow! It was late remember. This is the bucket envelope. To make sure it was laying straight I used a ruler to measure 1.5 inches from the bottom of my poorly cut felt page. :/ Pin and sew in place. 

Do the same for the bodies but make sure you leave enough room for the hat and shoes! I also only sewed the arms down under the body. They hang free so that the girls can slip things on and off of them. They do hang off the page a bit but it's not an issue for me since the book isn't bound. 

NOTE: If you were going to sew your pages together however you may want to purchase some yards of felt off the bolt so that your pages are big enough.

Give them to your little one and let them have fun!! I do have to say the the bigger 3 had lots of fun with these spuds before leaving for school this morning! Who said they were just for the younger kids huh?

Sigh. I just love when a project turns out!! I want to cut out more pieces but this is what is ready for tomorrow's meeting. Pray that it works and she plays quietly cause right now she is playing with it...and singing...loudly. Oh boy.

Linkin' it up:

Valentine's Day Sweets and Treats

I know that I've been M.I.A. lately....life with a big family leaves little time for actual blogging. I've had tons of posts floating around in my brain just haven't been able to carve out the time/energy that it takes to get them onto the blog.


I am back today though for a special treat. But first...isn't he so cute?

He's just getting so big!!! LOVE the shirt!!! (Once the girls are "presentable" I'll post one of them!!)


I've been working hard at getting some V-Day treats ready for our crew and I love them so much I just had to share with you all. I found most of them on Pinterest (love!) so I'll try to link back to all that I can in case you want to Pin 'em for next year.


I'll start with the cards. They turned out so cute! I had hubby print out the cards from the Plum Perfect blog. I had a number of ideas but Brother liked these the best. They were so easy and didn't cost us a dime since we had the paper and ink already!! :) (Well, we did spend $2 on the suckers but that's it!!)

I made the mustache puppet out of black felt and just glued it onto popsicle sticks for the kids. I think they're cute and hope that Brother's classmates find them Fan(tache)tic!! Here is another version from Craft Monkey.


We also made a treat for his party from Family Fun. I didn't take a picture of them but they turned out exactly like the picture from the website. So cute and healthy!!! Watermelon, oranges and bamboo sticks...so easy!!

For our V-Day breakfast we are having heart shaped cinnamon rolls (idea from Poppies at Play)...not typical to have such a sugar laden breakfast around here but trying to "let loose"...the kids (and Dad) loved them! Sorry, not the greatest picture!

The girls will have a fun little drink for their lunches...hopefully they'll drink it cause they're not big on juice! I just removed the label from a mini-water bottle, cut out another one from pretty scrapbook paper and made a topper for the lid. I covered it all with a couple layers of Modge Podge just cause I love that stuff!!

For the hubs I made a couple of things. I inadvertently kind of, sort of, broke our color printer trying to do this...I did get one done though...

...so his first gift ended up with my own writing instead of a cute label printed off like I had planned when I first saw the idea from Mommy by day. He liked them anyway though. I bought a box of Hot Tamales and Whoppers and wrote the following messages on them: "You're my Hot Tamale" and "Have a Whopping Good Day". I think they turned out kinda fun.

Then I made a message board for him. You can find more details from this post. Love it!!!!! Oh, and those Vis-a-vis markers are awesome. So much better than regular dry erase markers.

That's about it for right now. Today the girls and I are going to work on our Valentine Menu:


Lasagna, salad, garlic bread, V-Day cupcakes and homemade Peppermint Patties. Yum, yum.


So, that's what I've been doing between all the normal every day fun stuff that happens around here!! 


What do you have planned for today?

Lovin' Learnin'

Busy crafting lately...

...so my house is not so tidy to say the least. But I love what I've been doing!! Making flowers again! Found the tutoral for a new felt flower while browsing Pinterst (addicting!!!)
The idea for this felt Camelia flower came from Joy at How Joyful. You can find the tutoral and FREE printable pattern (love that) at her blog.

I made one in grey for our newest girl and liked it so much that I made one in pink for Littlest...no pictures of hers though. I think it turned out great and it was oh so easy!!

(Sorry, we don't have the greatet camera.)

I also came across the greatest idea on Pinterest for a message board for couples. Check it out:

Isn't it beautiful?!! Let's say he washes dishes for you one night...the next day or whenever you could write that on the board. Or you could write about how he always brings you coffee in the a.m. Anything.

I made this one for a friend but am totally making one for me and the hubs!!!!

This idea came from Lianne over at A Content Housewife. Go here for her tutorial on how to recreate your own! It's so easy, so inexpensive and so beautiful!!

I came up with a poem to go with this message board since I was giving it to a friend. This is what I  wrote:

Use the marker to tell him why

You love him and are glad he’s your guy..

Take the time to let him know

And watch the love between you grow.

Feel free to use it if you are giving yours as a gift.

Anyway, that's what I've been crafting. What have you been up to lately?


Lovin' Learnin'

Frugal Fall Wreath

Since our family is so big we are always looking for ways to do things frugally. When we go out to eat we are always looking for the least expensive way to feed our group, when we shop we do it frugally by going to thrift shops-you can find some GREAT things at those places! Decorating is no different. I'd been searching blogland for just about anything DIY on the frugal side and came across an adorable Fall Wreath that cost only $3.00! I was instantly interested, read the post and about a week later found myself creating my own Frugal Fall Wreath. You can find the original post at Thrifty Decorating. She's got tons of other great things to read about as well.

Here's how to pull it off:

Gather your items:
Two packs of fall leaves from the Dollar Tree. (Mine came in a combo of red and green and orange and green.)

Large foam core board (also from Dollar Tree), scissors, glue gun and a ruler.

Sorry I had already cut my board out before I thought to take a picture but you all know what a foam core board looks like I'm sure. :)

So as you can see I cut a big ol' square out of the middle of my board. I didn't have any real plan to that, just kind eyeballed it. I did find the middle of the board, marked it and then made sure that my square was even on both halves so that my cut wouldn't be too lopsided one way or the other. You can make your board as big or small as you'd like  just make sure that your square cut-out is even all the way around. If you have questions about this feel free to ask and I'll go back and measure my board for ya.

Then start glueing down your leaves with your glue gun. I glued my layer of green down first since I had so many of that color. If I were to do it again however I would completely cover all white areas with the green leaves and save the brighter orange and red for the top layers. I say this because I had to go back at the end and fill in the white spots with the leftover green since I had only 25 each of the red and orange.

Once you are done with the green layer (imagine all white areas covered by green leaves here) glue down your orange and red leaves anyway you would like. Make sure to cover the board complelety and to hang the outer leaves off the edge of the board a little so that the sides are hidden.

Once you are doing glueing you are ready to hang that beauty up. And what is nice is that this wreath is so light you don't need a large hanger for it. I actually used a teeny tiny suction cup with a small hook because I forgot to purchase a hanger while shopping for supplies. The teeny tiny suction cup is doing fabulous by the way!

I hope that if you try it yours turns out great! And isn't that out of the ordinary square shape just lovely?!!!! 

Lovin' Learnin'

Adorable Apple Magnet Craft

Ever have one of those ideas that comes to you and you think, "Oh, I've got to remember to do that with the kids." I've had those plenty of times (please tell me I'm not the only one...)

Well this time it actually wasn't like that at all. I had a craft idea, made a note of it and filed it in the appropriate week's folder so I wouldn't forget, purchased the necessary items and filed those too. All was ready to go...but it didn't happen...not at the planned time anyway.

This is an apple craft that I was going to do with the kids the week of Johnny Appleseed Day back in Mid-September. Well, needless to say here it is the 4th of October and I didn't get it done. I, however, decided to go ahead and do it anyway-it's not too late to still go pick some apples and if anyone decides to do just that this little craft will tie in nicely.

Here is the finished product. Cute huh?!

Okay, here is what you will need:

1. 
   
   1 square felt of each of the following colors: red, green and brown. (You could actually use scraps for the green and brown if you have them but I didn't).
2. 
   
   Metal frozen juice lids. 1 per apple magnet. (This was a great way to use my stash! Come on, you know you have them too!!!)
3. 
   
   Glue. I used Aleene's although hot glue might be fine as well but the kiddos won't be able to use that as safely.
4. 
   
   a magnet to fit across the width of your lid. (My lid measured 2.5 inches)
5. 
   
   Sharpie marker
6. 
   
   Contact paper *optional
7. 
   
   a picture of your cutie "apple" pies (heh, heh!)-approximately 2 1/4 inches by 2 1/4 inches
8. 
   
   Sharp cutting scissors for the felt and kids scissors if they are helping you.

Now that you have all of your items collected here is step 1:

With a felt tip marker, trace around each juice lid on the red felt.

Cut out circle with sharp scissors.

Step two is to cut out a stem and leaf for each lid you just traced. I just eyeballed these. No measuring needed here.

Now, grab your glue of choice...

...and saturate the back (which is really the outer part of the lid when it is attached to the juice container, it has the lip) of the lid with glue. Don't be stingy here, we want this stuff to stick.

Center your red circle on the juice lid and press down to make sure that the felt gets covered in glue.

Now take your little stem and leaf, dot some glue on the back tip of each and place them just below the lip of the lid. Add another dot or two to the front tips and press the red circle down on the stem and leaf to adhere.

Yes, Littlest, that's right, now they will need a picture of their cutie apple pies!

Since I have long sinced drained my precious computer of colored ink, I was forced to print these out in black and white. Not my first choice but they turned out better than I thought.

Here is what I did. I found the picture that each child wanted for their magnet, created a copy of the original, changed it to black and white and then cropped it. I then opened up a new Windows document, clicked on the Insert tab then the Picture tab. I found my picture and inserted it. Once back at the Windows doc. I click on Picture Tools then Picture Shape. I looked for a circle shape and clicked that. That created an already perfect circle that I then needed to size down to 2 1/4 inches long and wide. I did this for each of my pictures and this is the sheet I ended up with.

Now, as if that wasn't hard enough, let's continue.

You will need to carefully cut out your picture. You can have your children do this if you don't mind it not coming out perfect and if they won't mind if they cut some off by accident. Amazingly enough I was able to handle letting the girls do this part. Okay, go cut it out.

Now I opted to cover my pictures to ensure that if they get ripped from their apple beds they will most likely survive with little harm but you don't have to cover yours. If you decide to cover yours, um, now would be the time to do it. Sorry, no pictures of that. Do you know how hard it is to get clear paper to come out nicely in pictures?!!

And once again you'll get out your glue and pour it on the back of the picture and then...

...make sure that you center the picture to the stem and push down on the picture just as you did with the red felt circle way back when you started this project. Didn't realize this post would be so long! The execution isn't this long, I promise!!

Now you will need to take your magnet and, making sure that the apple stem is centered, glue that down across the back of the lid.

And now you will have to accomplish the hardest part of this craft. Leaving these little apples alone to sit and dry. Don't touch 'em! Refuuuse the temptation to put them on your fridge too soon! No one likes unripe apples and you won't like these until they're nice and ripe, um...dry! And if you make it this is what your little orchard will look like...

Now there, wasn't that so worth the wait?! Such cutie pies huh?!! I LOVE these. Finally, something cute and homemade that isn't wrapped up and sent to someone else!! *Sigh* hope you enjoy 'em!!

I also found this way cute apple craft over at 4 Crazy Kings, cute huh?!

And another is found here at I Can Teach My Child, this is gonna be a Bible lesson real quick!!!

 Lovin' Learnin'