Quiet Book - Buckle Puppy's Collar

This is a pretty simple page to put together - I cut everything out without a pattern (which is unusual for me).  I found faux fur at Hobby Lobby near the felt and loved it for the puppy ears.

For this project you'll need:

light brown felt

dark brown felt

oatmeal felt

faux fur

black felt (small amount)

white felt (small amount)

white felt for background (my pages are cut to 9x9 inches)

buckle

ribbon

scissors

sewing machine

hot glue gun

Sew around the big pieces and hot glue the smaller pieces.  I just sewed the tops of the ears, so they can flop around and lift up.

Thinking about making a Quiet Book? Buy an assortment of felt to get you started!

Quiet Book - Solar System

To figure out colors and design for each planet, I used different pictures I found online, this is one of them.

For this project you'll need:

felt in various colors

scissors

needle

thread

sewing machine (optional)

brown, rock-like beads

18 magnets - I got mine from Hobby Lobby and got the strongest magnets available, because they have to "stick" through two layers of felt.

The solar system pages are fairly simple overall - 

Step 1: 

Cut out three circles for each planet.

Step 2: 

Sew two of those circles together, making sure to put a magnet in the middle.

Step 3: 

Decorate each planet with felt pieces and hot glue.

 Step 4: 

Cut out a sliver of sun for the edge of the page.

Step 5: 

Sew the sun and the 9 orbit lines to the black felt pages - I used my sewing machine for this.  In hindsight, I probably should have practiced more to make sure they all ended up in a more uniform curved line - I got better the last few planets!

Step 6: 

Sew the third circle for each planet to their respective orbit lines, making sure to put a magnet in between the circle and the background page.

Step 7: 

Sew on beads to make up the asteroid belt.

Although it's not 100 % to scale and scientifically accurate, I like that there are a lot of things to learn from these pages.  The order of the planets, their sizes, relative to each other, what an orbit is, what an asteroid belt is.  If a parent is around, they can help learn the names of the planets and can help the child speculate about why earth looks blue and green and why some planets have rings.

Are you planning to make a Quiet Book? Get started with an assortment of felt:

Yarn-Wrapped Rope Rainbow

I saw these on one of my favorite blogs a week ago and I was OBSESSED with them and with trying to make one.

If you remember my post about Guest Room Planning, I thought it would go great in my guest room, which is black and white, with fun pops of color, drawn from this sign I bought on from the Etsy Shop Just Add Sunshine..

Step 1 was finding the rope...which was a challenge.  I thought all home improvement stores would have it, but I searched online and they didn't.  It was available from online retailers, but I wanted to see it before buying because it's hard to picture rope diameter.  I ended up buying mine at Joann Fabric - in the crafting supply aisle, but it looks like it's no longer available online in their stores.  Here is some white rope I found on Amazon that looks like it would work well - I think I'd try the 5/8 inch and 50 feet.  

For this project you'll need:

white rope

yarn, in different colors and textures

scissors

hot glue gun/glue

needle and thread

blue tape (optional)

Step 2 - Lay out your rope to determine what length to cut each piece.  This took quite a while for me to readjust.  I think because of the limited selection in the store, I ended up with 16 feet, when I had been planning mentally, I was thinking I should get 24-30 feet.  Mine turned out a fine size, so I would say anywhere between 16 and 30 feet would work.  My rope measurements are: Red: 30 in., pink: 29.5 in., orange: 28 in., yellow: 26 in., green: 23 in., turquoise 1: 22.5  ____  

Step 3 - Cut the rope.  Once I had my rope laid out, with 8 rainbow arcs, I cut the ends, while it was in place like this.

Step 5 - start wrapping.  Part of the look is leaving some of the white rope hanging at the end of each arc, so I measured two inches on each end and taped them with blue tape and then that's where I started and ended my yarn.  It takes a while to wrap, but you'll get into a rhythm that works for you.  I found that rolling the rope towards me and keeping the yarn taut by holding it in between my arm and my body worked for me.  

I think I wrapped the orange too tightly, so it ended up longer than expected.  I have no idea what happened with turquoise 1 - why is it so long?! 

I LOVE seeing the progress - every step of the way I'm so crazy about this project!  Since the wrapping makes your rope end up different lengths, I just taped or tucked in the ends of the yarn at this point, and waited to hot glue until the end.  

Step 6 - I readjusted once everything was wrapped and removed some yarn and cut some extra length of rope and then I hot glued the beginning and end of each yarn piece.

Step 7 - on the back of your rainbow, use a needle and thread to stitch together each arc at spaced intervals.

Step 8 - Sew on a piece of yarn for hanging.

I love it SO MUCH!

To give you a perspective about how big it is:

I LOVE the colors and textures this wall art offers.

😍