Oh, the talent!

So, I have this amazing sister-in-law named Becky. Not only is she funny, clever, tall and gorgeous- but that girl can craft!

So, this post is all about showing off my favorite Becky!

(I would post a cute pic of Becky and me here, but I haven't downloaded anything from the holidays yet, oops)

Here is her quiet book, totally puts mine to shame! Adorable and very sturdy

The barn doors open, and the animals are printed on fabric with velcro backing

The monkey swings from branch to branch

The frog's tongue snaps to the flies

The alligator's mouth zips open

This fish has a magnet inside him

And of course the caterpillar's circles come off

I know, right?! Love it!

Some of her inspiration came from here.

She also throws a great "under the sea" birthday party

And check out her pantry. Home-canned fruit, jam, pie-filling, salsa and applesauce. (And yes, most of the fruit/veggies came from her own yard!)

Someday I plan on living in the same city, or heck I'd settle for same STATE as Becky!

Janette's Quiet Book

Are you in to trading and bartering? I made a sweet deal with my friend Janette. She is a photographer and we needed new family pictures. She wanted a quiet book for her little boy, but didn't know how to make one. Ta da - the trade! We got family pics for free, she got a custom quiet book for free.

The adorable chocolate colored tree fabric for the cover is from Joann's. I made the actual pages on felt, and then hammered in grommets to attach the rings. This way, if she wants to make more pages she can add them in, or if both kiddos want to play with a page.


Here is the classic Noah's Ark page with a zipper pocket. Simple.



I had a lot of fun making the fish page. The end of the fishing rod (shoelace) has velcro so it can "catch" a fish. The boat opens at the top so you can put your catch of the day there. The apples button on the tree and fit in the basket.


Every boy needs a road page! The red, yellow and green light pieces have velcro and the car parks in the garage.


The barn page is so fun with opening doors and animal finger puppets. Janette got married in the Idaho Falls temple, so this page is perfect. Each of the squares and Angel Moroni detach, so you can rebuild the temple. The little buttons open the door and inside is a piece of vinyl above the felt so Janette can put in a wedding picture.

I love this peek-a-boo page, it's one of my son's favorites. If you pull back the mittens I stitched on a piece of vinyl with an opening at the top so Janette can slip in a family picture. And of course, a little pocket for paper, pens and treats.

Quiet books are so much fun to make! If you haven't seen mine yet or want detailed patterns click here.

Keree's Quiet Book

I helped my friend Keree make a cover for her quiet book and I snapped a few pictures to show you hers.

She doesn't sew or have a sewing machine, so she went the pellon route. Her pages are all pellon, and then she drew traced the patterns on with a pencil. She used fabric markers to color on the designs, clever right?

All of her patterns came from Mormonchic.

For the cover we tore apart an old pair of jeans and she used some leftover fleece for the initial. We saved one of the back pockets for a little treat pocket on the inside cover. Turned out fabulous!

Quiet Book Pages: Peek-a-boo, Barn & Mailbox

Scroll down for a free printable pattern!

Click here to view the entire quiet book page-by page

The first page in my quiet book is my little man's favorite. It's at his level, he giggles every time he pulls back the mittens. I wanted the photo behind the mittens to be interchangeable, so I zigzagged down 3 sides of a scrapbook page protector I had cut to the right size. Now, I can slide in and out new family photos as the years go by. Perfect!

I wish I would have embellished the mittens a little more with buttons, more rickrack, stripes, etc. Maybe next time right? This page is fast, go get it done!

{Click on the image to print the pattern at 8.5x11}

I was so grateful to Homemade by Jill for her adorable quiet book patterns. I used her barn pattern and mailbox pattern. Click here for her printable patterns.

I love this bright barn with finger puppets peeking behind the doors. I followed her patterns exactly for the barn and the cow, chicken and pig. I added a velcro sun in the top corner just for some oomph. Love this one!

The classic page - the mailbox! The mailbox opens for letters to go in and out, and I added a brad to the red flag to make it go up and down. I added the paper and pencil pocket right on this page. My pocket measures 5x5 inches, and I stitched down a space for the pencil. Cute right?

Quiet Book Pattern and Printable - Ice Cream

Scroll down for a free printable pattern!

Click here to view the entire quiet book page-by-page



This page is cute, easy to make and has lots of options for play. The ice cream cone is stitched down, and there are 3 velcro pieces above. I bought some cute little sequin beads to stitch on to some of the ice cream flavors to look like sprinkles, but I haven't yet.

My velcro pieces for the ice cream toppers are about 1 1/2 inch apart, but layer them so the ice cream fits and overlaps a little.

Now this you can do in a naptime!

{Click on the image for the 8.5x11 printable}

Linking up with Sugar and Spice at 733

Linking up with Sundae Scoop at Chocolate Sundaes!

Quiet Book Pattern - Temple Page

Scroll down for a free pattern printable!

To see the entire quiet book page-by-page click here

This was one of my favorite pages to design and make. It was also one of the easiest:) I tried to make this look like the Idaho Falls Temple, but you could easily tweak it to fit your temple.

Each square is 2 1/2 inches square. They are all attached with simple velcro. Since I wanted the temple blocks to be white, I decided to make the background blue for a sky. I added a little strip of green across the bottom for grass. I considered flowers, trees and sunshine, but I went simple instead.

I found some cool gold shimmery fabric in my mom's stash that I used for Angel Moroni and the door panels. Angel Moroni is cut out in yellow felt, then I stitched around the gold shimmer. He comes off with velcro too.

For fun, the doors on the bottom open to reveal a wedding picture of hubby and me. I didn't have any vinyl, so I cut a square out of a scrapbooking page protector. Add your velcro on the back first, then zigzag 3 sides of your page protector to the square. After adding yellow panels to the doors, stitch down the sides onto the block. Get it? Easy, turned out adorable!

Enjoy a free printable:

{Click for a larger view and to print}

Quiet Book- Car & Road Page

Scroll down for printable pattern pages!

To see the entire quiet book page by page click here

To see details on page size and fabric click here

This page was a blast to make and perfect for my little boy. There's lots to do on this road. The traffic light has velcro pieces that let each color come off. The red garage holds two cars and there are buildings to drive to.

You will need:

Pattern pieces

Thin yellow rick rack, for the yellow line down the road

Black fabric or felt cut to 2 inches

4 buttons for car wheels

Click on pattern pages for full size, print on 8.5x11 and cut.

I found some fun shimmery fabric for the top of the car, I just stitched it on top of the felt and then added buttons. The road and houses are fabric zigzagged on. Have fun arranging and designing your road - I did! You could also add trees, pushes, more buildings, etc.

Linking in with Made by You Monday at Skip to my Lou

and Talented Tuesday at My Frugal Family

and What are Little Boys Made of at 733

and I heart naptime's Chocolate Sundae Scoop

Quiet Book Details

Here are some of the details on my quiet book, so you can get started or finally finish yours!

Each page measures 9x12. It's a good size to fit on a child's lap, but still big enough to make some fun pages. I bought a thick white canvas fabric for all of my pages, I purchased it at Walmart for around $3 per yard. I really like how thick, sturdy and durable the canvas is, only problem, every time you touch it it frays.

After my pages were finished, I arranged them back to back. I really needed to take care of the fraying problem, plus stitch them together, so I used bias tape around the edges. I love the finished look it gives, plus no more fraying. It looks much better than zigzagged pages. I used the "Extra Wide Double Fold" in white.

Now, let's talk cost. I spent about $40 on materials for my quiet book, but it easily could have cost more. Walmart occasionally has their felt on sale for 10 cents, most other craft stores have it for around 25 cents. Keep an eye out for sales! Joann's had 50% off all notions a while ago and I was able to get all my bias tape, velcro, snaps, eyelets and book rings for half off. I also raided my mom's and grandma's scrap fabric.

This book was so much fun to make and I hope it lasts for at least 10 years of sundays! Leave a comment if you have any other questions or I left anything out.

And in other news, I just have to share, today is April 6th right? April, as in springtime! I took this picture of my backyard 20 minutes ago. Winter wonderland, eek! I took it through the back window because it is just way to cold to go outside. Since the weather is so icky, I guess I'll have to stay inside and sew:)

Quiet Book Revealed

I started working on this quiet book for my son on January 1st. Finally, 4 months later, the quiet book is ready to rock n' roll. I will be posting patterns and step-by-step instructions for the individual pages, so keep checking back.

I'm so delighted with this book, I love how it turned out. I do have to confess that I have several more pages in various stages of completion, but I really wanted to get the majority in the book.

I sewed binder rings into my cover so that the pages can go in and out. The back cover has a little pocket for treats or extras.

Feel free to leave a comment with any questions, and I'll work on getting my directions and patterns posted.

For details on page size and fabric, see this post.

Inside Cover: This book belongs to our family
Peek-a-boo mittens with family picture underneath (Click here for printable pattern)


Building blocks for the Idaho Falls Temple (Click here for a free pattern printable)
Noah's Ark with animals inside


Jonah and the Big Fish
Weave King Benjamin's Tower


Red, Yellow, Green Light
Garage, Road, and 2 cars (Click here for a free pattern printable)


Picking the Apples with snaps
Make a Pumpkin Face


Barn with animal finger puppets (Click here for page instructions)
Button flowers and velcro leaves


Tic Tac Toe
Tying a shoe


Mailbox, paper and pen (Click here for page instructions)
Build an ice cream cone (Click here for a free printable pattern)


Matching velcro Shapes
Back cover with pocket


Want to see the quiet book I made for my friend Janette? Click here. To see the quiet book I helped my friend Keree with click here.