DIY: How to Sew a Quiet Book

What is a quiet book? A quiet book is a soft book typically made of fabric or felt full of interactive activities to help babies/toddlers learn and keep them preoccupied. I’m not sure whether it’s called a quiet book because the book is made of soft/quiet materials or if it makes your child stay quiet because they’re engaged… but either way, they are fun to make and to play with!

I had never heard of a quiet book until my sister tagged me in a Facebook video about one as a “subtle” hint to make for her then 1 year old daughter, my niece! So I had it in the back of my mind to make one for her and then ended up CRAM crafting the week before xmas to make it! I actually made this quiet book a whole YEAR ago, but it’s never too late to post about it! I’m really happy with how it all turned out!

This blog post will:

·        Go through my process of how I went about figuring out how to make a quiet book

·        Walk through how I created the individual pages and bound the book together, step-by-step. I’ll also include any helpful links as additional reference material!

DIY: Embroidered Cards

I know it's a little after Christmas, but I thought I'd share with you a quick tutorial on ways to sew your own cards! I embroidered some Christmas cards and one New Years card this year (inspired by Next to Nicx), but you could totally embroider cards for all occasions. I had this glorious plan to sew like 10 cards this year and I thought it was going to take no time, but the first one took me... pause... about 8 hours to complete
>.< ahh! (the one pictured above) I ended up giving it to my sister and her husband so I hope they frame it and keep it forever! So I quickly nixed that idea to make 10 cards and with such an elaborate design, figured out quicker ways to do it, and simplified it so each card afterwards ended up taking me about 30 min. each. Phew!

I don't have as many detailed photos as I usually do for my tutorials, but it's easy enough!

DIY: Makeup Brush Case

Whenever I go traveling, I always stuff my makeup brushes into a ziploc bag, which mushes the brushes and spreads my makeup onto the other brushes...but no more!

I now have a functional and cute case to store them in! Deborah Moebe's book, Stitch by Stitch, has a tutorial on how to make a picnic placemat, and I modified her instructions to make a laminated makeup brush case. I wanted to line my case with a plastic lining so that it can be cleaned easily, but I couldn't find any laminated fabric with a cute design at Jo Ann's and I was too impatient to order it online, so I used a shower curtain! It's a lot cheaper that way too, and mildew and bacteria resistant! Perfect!

The instructions below will be how I made the orange case, but I'll list out how I modified them to make the black cases. (see modification notes within the steps).

DIY: Tape Painting!

I wanted to give my best friend a housewarming gift for her new place, and was inspired by Maria Teorien's tape painting. Having never painted with acrylic paint before, I was a little nervous how it would turn out but it was surprisingly easy and really fun! and best of all, my bff loved it :)