Don’t we all (me included) dream of making an amazing quiet book? Here’s a run-down from a friend, Kendra, who tackled one. She did it as a craft exchange and it looks great! She’s been kind enough to share some Quiet Book Ideas and info with us.
Why NOT to make a Quiet Book
I had often seen the so – called “Quiet Books” being used to entertain kids during church meetings… and I always admired them from afar. I secretly wanted to have one for my children however, I KNEW that there was NO WAY that I could ever make one of them. Because…
a. I am NOT a seamstress.
b. I am not “crafty” or “creative”
c. I am a perfectionist and never satisfied with the end product anyway
d. I am notoriously NOT a craft “finisher”. I get excited about projects… get started and then… get overwhelmed… lose momentum… and never finish.
Anyway, to make a long story short – this last semester I decided to prove myself wrong – and COMPLETE a Quiet Book.
Quiet Book Exchange
-A friend and I organized a “Quiet Book Exchange” and we looked through LOTS of Quiet Book page ideas and templates; we chose our favorite 18 pages.
-Next, we rounded up a group of 9 women – who committed to make 2 Quiet Book pages nine times each.
-Finally, we set a deadline – the date for the page swap, so that we could all exchange our finished pages and end up with a complete set of the 18 pages.
We decided to do the “Quiet Book Exchange” to try to simplify the project (if you do a page once then it is easier to do it the next 8 times), save some money by “mass producing”, and also encourage us to get it done on time since other people are counting on us. The whole concept worked out wonderfully.
Quiet Book Covers
Quiet Book Ideas
The two pages that I contributed to the Quiet Book Exchange.
The shoe page.
I got to learn how to put eyelets in. Fun stuff.
Lift five flaps to reveal family pictures placed inside of plastic pockets.
The flowers come on and off the buttons.
This page uses snaps to match the shapes to their outline.
Four different hidden pockets are all great hiding places for the dog’s bone.
6 different ice cream flavors can be hooked on and off of the ice cream cone to make delicious combinations.
The gumballs come off and velcro back on to a matching circle of the same color.
Two different puzzles are stored in the pocket and put together on the puzzle board.
The mailbox opens and there is a felt envelope inside that you can really open and put a note inside.
The baseball velcros into place on the mitt – and the kids can put their hands in the glove to “catch” it.
The barn doors open to reveal these 5 homemade finger puppets.
Quiet Book Instructions
My Quiet Book Thoughts:
Whew – my goal when I started the Quiet Book process was to give a FINISHED product to Isaac for Christmas. And guess what?? I did it!!!! I may have sewn the Quiet Book cover on Christmas Eve morning… but it is done! I set a goal, faced the overwhelming, worked consistently on it, didn’t give up, and I achieved it. Looks like I might just be a “finisher” after all. 🙂
–Kendra
Just reading her post inspires me to want to make one – she makes it seem so doable. How about you??
UPDATE: Here are some other great sites where lots of ideas come from:
https://craftychiclyric.blogspot.com/2009/07/girls-quiet-book.html
*Naptime had a really cute cover
That one girl says
Wow, looks adorable and looks like a TON of work! Nice job!
Michelle says
Wow that is great! What a wonderful thing to have on hand!
Cecily says
Pretty awesome… maybe a Christmas project for me… 🙂
polwig says
Holy Moly… this is beautiful. I am retweeting, facebooking, stumbling etc. I can only imagine how long it took. I wonder if you can make it a school year long project and tie it into weekly theme. Like read Rapunzel and making the braided girl etc.
RenaeF says
This is AMAZING! If you ever decide to make and sell them let me know I would so buy it! Great work!
Liz says
WOW! This is pretty cool! Thanks for the great idea!
I hope you’ll come participate in my link party today! It runs all week so come back and add more BOY projects! All About The Boy @ The Nifty Nest!
Liz
Meg says
What a great idea to make them as a group!
Emily@JanDee Crafts says
I love this idea! I featured you on my blog..go check it out here if you’d like! I love your blog and I am a new follower!
https://jandeecrafts.blogspot.com/2010/08/quiet-book-exchange-idea-from-sugar-bee.html
Denise says
I hopped over from jandee crafts feature on you!
What a CUTE idea. I’m a new follower:)
Happy Wednesday
Angie says
i sort of just want to buy this… and I am a seamtress (ish)
Haupi says
That was so precious and I love your little eyelets on the sneakers. Now this is really a different craft idea – or at least it is to me. Thanks for the tutorial too!
Haupi
Lu says
Oh my goodness, I love it! I will definitely be organizing an exchange. So much easier!
Anneliese says
Thanks for the resources. Very darling book! I would love to make one for my girls.
Miss Sews-it-all says
This is fabulous, I love all of these great ideas!
You can also click over to http://www.WeAllSew.com to find more great projects and tutorials!
Nikki says
Oh wow! this is awesome. So much detail.
Alison says
Nice!! I am almost done with my quiet book, and I have a lot of similar pages. This inspires me to finish mine!!!
Meg says
Whaaaat?!? This looks amazing! I want to play with this quiet book! 🙂
Thank you for linking up to my Friday link party! Hope to see you back next week!
Mormishmom says
This is fantastic! Thank yous so much for sharing!
https://funkypolkadotgiraffe.blogspot.com
Laurel @ Ducks in a Row says
They are a lot of work, but they will be used for years! I made one and it is still being used 8 years later! Great job!
Gwen @ Gwenny Penny says
These are fantastic. The pages look amazing. I especially like the sneaker page, the bead counting page, and the paper doll page. It looks like a ton of work, but it was worth it… they’re beautiful!
Amy says
I have been wanting to make a quiet book for my little girl and my niece. I have heard they are extremely time consuming…thus I have been putting it off. Maybe I can find some friends and we can do an exchange. This is a great idea! This would be a fun blog exchange. Everybody make two identical pages…and then we could swap with another blogger. Hum, something to think about! Thanks for sharing!
Corrie says
I made one 14 ago & it’s lasted through all 4 kids. They are so worth it. Looking forward to making them for grandkids someday way down the road. Thanks for sharing your quiet book!
Ann @ makethebestofthings says
So cute and clever and FINISHED! Win win! I made these books for my kids and they still remember them. Yours looks great.
Jessamy says
AMAZING! My friends and I just started a craft group that will meet a few nights a month. Our first project: A Quiet Book! Any chance you have a template for the people and clothes?
Ashley says
such cute ideas!!! LOVE THEM:) i am making my son a quiet book right now and was searching for clothes ideas!!
m@rta says
I’m impressed 🙂 I’ve seen many quiet books, but your is really very precisely prepared 🙂 it’ nice to see that U take care about so many details 🙂 m@rta ( my book U can see on https://marta-mojepasje.blogspot.com/2011/08/quiet-book.html)
Erin says
I love this! The car track is a great idea 🙂 Also love the people with clothes!
the groaties says
I would LOVE to set up an exchange and make one of these, but I’m having a hard time hunting down the tutorials for all these. Digging through the links provided is pretty difficult and the templates look different than the one your friend used. I want to make one that looks just like this! Any help would be amazing!
Mandy @ Sugar Bee Crafts says
I’m hoping to put together some tutorials soon – – on my to-do list!
Mary says
Imagine our life blog has some awesome quiet book pages. She even tells what she used & a bit about how she sewed the pages. I will say her pages seemed quite detailed & will probably take a good bit of time commitment to make them but if they turn out as well as hers they are sure to please.