Quiet Book – Caterpillar Page (Single Page)

I found this page at Apron Girls. It is a fun page that helps to develop motor skills, with each circle of the caterpillar’s body able to attach and detach from the page. The body pieces are attached to the page with snaps.

To make this page, I drew an outline on the page in chalk and painted the leaves and branches. 

To make the caterpillar, I used a large circle punch to punch out the pieces for the body and head. I then painted the circles green, except for the head, which I painted blue and put a face on for contrast. 

Once each piece was dry, I attached a snap onto the back with a hot glue gun and let it cool. You could also sew on the snaps.

I then laid out the caterpillar on the page, and marked where I wanted the other half of the snap to be placed. I attached the other half to the page with hot glue, but you could also sew the pieces on. 

To store the body pieces when not in use, I made a small pouch out of felt that resembled a cocoon and sewed in onto the page, hanging under the branch.

I also decided last minute to include a small butterfly which can emerge from the cocoon and fly away.

Quiet Book – Tic-Tac-Toe Page (Single Page)

I saw the tic-tac-toe page at A Pretty Cool Life and knew that I had to include one.

Quiet Book – Crayon and Paper Pad Page (Double Page)

 

One of the pages that I saw and loved was the crayon and paper pad page from The Long Thread. I liked this idea because it would encourage the child’s imagination to create something.

Quiet Book – Preparing the Pellon

My friend’s son’s birthday is coming up in a month and I have been trying to find something really good to make for him. After many hours spent trolling the images of Pinterest, I have decided to make him a quiet book.

When reading the tutorial at Serving Pink Lemonade, She mentioned her mother painting on pellon. I though this was a great idea, as it would be way easier to paint it details than appliqueing them. I searched the web for something that would give me an idea of how to go about painting pellon.

Absolutely nothing that was helpful.

So I tested some acrylic paints that I had, Folk Art (I use them normally for One Stroke Painting), on some left over pellon that I had. I tested different colours to see how they turned out and tried to make a shape, to see how easy it would be to paint in detailed designs.

It actually turned out quite well. It took a large amount of paint to cover an area, as the pellon is sponge like in design and the paint was absorbed into the tunnels between the fibers. It wasn’t super easy to paint in details, but neither was it impossible. Once dry, the paint didn’t scratch off.

Adding a second coat, green and brown to the part painted white, only worked out so-so. Once the paint dried, I tried scrapping it off and the second coat did come off somewhat.

So I will only use one coat of paint and make sure to paint in details such as the pupil of the eyes get painting in before I paint in the white of the eye.

I purchased a large amount of pellon, about 5 yards (it’s approximate because I took the remaining amount on the bolt, which was a bit under 5 yards). I also purchased a large amount of felt that was on sale, as there are some things I want to put in where I will not be able to paint in or use pellon for, and a ¼” hole punch and a large number of ¼” metal eyelets and an eyelet tool.

I cut the pellon into 12” x 9 ¾” pages.

I took one page and marked a vertical line 1” in from the edge on a long side of the page, then marked 3 horizontal lines, one at 1 ½” from the top, 6” from the top and 1 ½” from the bottom. I punched three holes, one where each of the horizontal lines intersected the vertical line. Then, using the eyelets and tool, inserted an eyelet into each of the punch holes. This page is now my template for where to make the holes on all my pages.

Using a thin marking tool, I placed my template on to one of my cut pages, made a mark through the eyelets and then punched out the holes in the page. I repeated for all the other pages.

Custom Built Purse - Finishing Touches

At this point, I have almost completed my bag. All that is left to do is to join the inside of the bag to the outside. The technique I have decided to use is to join the top edges, and cover the unfinished edges with bias tape for a neat and tidy look.