Sunday, December 14, 2008

The Quiet Encyclopedia

For Christmas, Allison is getting a quiet book. I made a couple a few years ago for neices and nephews and figured it was about time for Allison to have one. She's SO busy and hopefully this will allow Brian and I to actually pay attention to part of our Sunday meetings.

Little did I know when I started that Allison would be receiving not a just a quiet book, and The HUGE Encyclopedia Britannica of quiet books. The thing is 3 inches thick! I think I got a little carried away. There were just so many good ideas that I wanted to include.

At least this way I can split the book in two in another year or so and add a page or two (since I didn't use up all of my ideas) and I'll have two quiet books to keep two kids quiet at the same time. Bright side, right? =) Here are the photos!
Front Cover. Notice how its curved? That would be becuase its so HUGE!

Alphabet page. We have all the letter in the pocket on the front cover. They velcro on & off.

Getting dressed page & closet. It's got a zipper to play with and the doll clothes velcro on & off.

Lacing and tying shoes & counting/number recognition gumball machine. The gumballs velcro on & off.

The house is "Lift the flaps". Weaving page... some of these pages she'll grow into.

The balloons are color matching. They velcro on and off. I made a buckles page becuase Allison LOVES to play with buckles on her puppy leash, her car seat, the grocery cart...

Winter and spring themed pages. Build a snowman (velcro part) and button on the flowers.

Summer and fall themed pages. The apples snap on and off and the leaves velcro on and off.

Shape matching and hanging clothes on a clothesline.

Counting with beads and a peek-a-book page. When she's older she can braid the yarn hair too.

"Whats in mommy's purse" and a notepad for drawing. Some keys, dead credit cards and play make-up will probably go in the purse.

If you want to try your hand at making your own (its a great project, but its not really any cheaper than buying one, except when you make your own you get a lot more pages for your $30), here are some resources that I found and used to make Allison's.

If you want to know more about how I made mine or what I used comment here or email me. =)

PS - this was my 100th post, and I just passed my 1 year blog-o-versary! Stay tuned for some blog candy... (aka: a give-away) =)

18 comments:

Rachel Doyle said...

Hey Rosie -- I am glad you found my blog - because this quiet book is so dang cute -- I don't think I have ever seen one so cute before. Anyhow you need to go to Provo Towne Center to see Santa -- he is there every year and is the real deal. Also they let you take your own photos for free.

Thad and Julie said...

Wow! What a diligent woman you are! It looks great ~ Congrats on a job well done!

Amiee said...

What a cute project! I've always wanted to make a quiet book for Kyla but I've never known quite how to start. Thanks for sharing and for the ideas! You're awesome!

Unknown said...

Rosie, you are my hero. You are so good at this kind of stuff!!

Ashleigh said...

I saw one of these for the first time a couple of months ago. I know, I have 2 kids and it was the first time??? Anyway, I almost bought it because I thought it was a BRILLIANT idea, but I couldn't force myself so much $ on such a little book. Now after seeing yours and everything that you put in it, I'm thinking it might not be such a bad idea. I LOVE the book and seriously want to make one. I don't sew and I'm not crafty, but maybe I can pull something out.

Rosie said...

Seriously, sewing skills not required! You can glue the darn peices togehter. Ash, for sure check out the "How to make an LDS quiet book" site... its got super-low sewing directions for how to make a queit book and you can use their methods to do any kind of pages you want to. =)

Emily said...

All I can say is . . . AMAZING job!

Fowler family said...

Your book is so amazing! I am so impressed with your talent. I found your blog via your link to my quiet book blog. Can I link your post here? I just think people would love to see your book when searching for ideas. Let me know if that's okay (you can leave a comment on my blog) and I'll add your blog to the links on the side bar.

And I love that leaves/tree one, and the gumball machine. So creative!!! And I know what you mean about it turning into an encylopedia. Mine is totally bulky too. I just was on a roll when I was making the pages and didn't want to leave any ideas out!

Way to go on making a beautiful homemade quiet book!

Fowler family said...

I meant to say "can I link to your post here" from my sidebar. I think I left out a word or two when I typed it above. It's late and I should go to bed!

Hawkins Family said...

I found your blog through the How to Make A Quiet Book blog. Your book is totally cute!! I am interested in what fabric you used. What fabric did you use for the pages and cover and how did you sew it all together? I want to make some for my kids and am trying to get all the help I can!

Thanks,
Joanna

Tara @ Feels Like Home said...

I love your quiet book! I'm just starting one for my daughter's second birthday (next month!). I'd love to see bigger pictures of your pages if you have them available.

I'm compiling a big post of Quiet Book ideas, too, so I'd love to include your book. :)

Unknown said...

I love your Quiet Book! I am on page 6 of mine, and i want to attempt the lace up shoes, but am having a hard time envisioning how to make them... any tips? Thanks for all your help! ~Beth

Crystal said...

How did you make the shoes, with the laces, etc?

crystalboom at hotmail dot com

Rosie said...

Beth... I'd love to email you directions... I just sent some to crystal. If you're still intersted you can reach me at rosiethornock at yahoo dot com. =)

Unknown said...

Hi, I teach students with disabilities and have just begun to learn about quiet books. I was wondering if you would help me. This is absolutely fantastic and i have a couple of student I know would be able to do this without help. I am always looking for things for them to be more independent.

Robin R. said...

Do you happen to have a template for cutting out the super cute little clothes or the child that they can use them on? I love that idea, and whenever I try to cut them out they look really hokey! Any help would be appreciated.

Rosie said...

Robin R. I do not have my patterns. They got lent out to a friend at one point (I don't even remember who) and never retrieved, then we moved. 3 times. Pretty sure they're gone forever. ;) BUT, but google for some simple paper dolls and clothes to trace the basic shapes of. I'm pretty sure that's all I did. Happy crafting!

~Rosie

Unknown said...

What size eyelets (grommets) did you use? The rings I bought were too thick to go through the ones I had.