Thanks to all the many ideas that I found on the internet and various blogs, this is what I created:
The front was made up of 11 different fabrics of varying textures and colors. It took me a long time of changing letters and re-cutting different fabrics to finally come up with this combination. I laced it together with a yarn needle threaded with ribbon. Hopefully it stays together!
The first page is an apple tree and basket to put the picked apples in. The apples have snaps on the back.
The next page is a clock with moving hands. Page 3 is a treasure chest with a thick plastic dubloon that my boys donated from their toy treasure chest.
The first page is an apple tree and basket to put the picked apples in. The apples have snaps on the back.
The next page is a clock with moving hands. Page 3 is a treasure chest with a thick plastic dubloon that my boys donated from their toy treasure chest.
Page 4 is a purse with a button closure. Inside I made a little pink wallet to hold a variety of cards. The next page is a learn to braid page. If she wants, my niece can put hair thingys in the purse on the previous page. It makes a good storage spot!
My personal favorite was the drivers licence card. I'm sure that she won't need Id anytime soon - but she loved the fact that her picture was on a card.
Page 6 is a mail box that opens up with a letter inside. The next page has clear and yellow beads for counting.
Here is the letter. When you open it up - there is a few pages of pellon that I drew pictures on. It turned out really cute. The tutorial for it is here: http://skebba.blogspot.com/2009/09/little-letter-needle-book-tutorial.html
Page 8 is a butter fly that you can flap it's wings. Not much to do - but she likes butterflies and it has lots of sparkly parts to it. Then there is a flower page with button flowers that can be removed.
I got the inspiration for this page here: http://quietbook.blogspot.com/2009/06/page-14-15-oven-cupcakes.html. I love how it turned out!
Next was an ABC page. It took forever to sew on the velcro to the letters and the page.
I made a lace tying page next. I loved the shoes - and it turns out that my nephew (same family) has a pair just like them. The Noah's ark page took a long time. I hand sewed all the little finger puppets that go in the zippered pocket. I made a rabbit, snake, lion, mouse, deer, pig, panda and chick. Not the normal variety that you usually see for the ark, but I was going for what I thought was a variety of colors and the easiest ones I could make!
The next page was a winding down page of two little girls being put to bed. My niece's hair is blond and her older sister has brown hair - so she was quite excited to see "herself" and her sister on this page. The last page I made was just a pocket in case you have to gather everything that was taken out quickly. You can store things in this pocket and re-sort them out later.
Anyway - I need to thank my mom for letting me browse through her fabric supply. This whole project hardly cost anything!
I am so excited about how this turned out! It took me three months to do it start to finish, but the look on my niece's face when she opened it was definitely worth it!
