shhhhhhh.....

I have been working on making Khloe a "quiet book" for Christmas. The idea originated as a birthday gift for her....but her birthday came and went. At the rate I'm going I'm lucky I finished it before Christmas. It turned out to be more of an "interactive book" than a "quiet book" simply because I ended up using velcro on almost everything...which doesn't make it very quiet.

This was definitely a project that was thrown together. As I was coming to the end of it I kept thinking I should have done this, I should have done that. So I made some notes in a notebook that I keep for gift ideas and I will tackle a bigger and better book next year if she likes it this year. I would like to include some snaps, zippers, more writing, etc. But being the non-sewer that I am I didn't think these were things I should try to tackle at the last minute.

My goal during this next year is to learn how to somewhat sew. I did do some sewing back in junior high for 4-H. You know how that goes...mom stands behind you and puts her hands on top of yours on the fabric and moves them for you. While all you can think about is how much more fun you would be having at the swimming pool with your friends. That of course was not my experience....just what I have heard from others. Needless to say when I was in junior high my top priority was not learning how to sew. Now, however, I wish I had paid a little bit more attention to it.

So everything in the book is attached by velcro so that Khloe can pull it out and move it around. The clock has movable arms for her to learn how to tell time. Can't all 2 year olds tell time? Ok...so maybe I was getting ahead of myself a little bit with the clock, but I thought it was a neat idea. I'm sure she will have fun just sitting swinging the hands around until they break off.

She is loving animals, buttons, and shapes right now so those were a no brainer to include. I made a little lift the flap that says "Count the buttons" under it.

I did go a little bit out of my box and hand cut and hand stitch some little clothes to hang on a clothesline. For no other reason then I thought it was a cute idea. The clothes also have velcro on them so she is able to take them off and lose them in the bottom of her toy box. This also marks one of the first times I have used stickers on a "scrapbooking" project in about 2 years. Khloe loves cats so I thought I would put a couple down in the grass playing under the clothes....just like at Grandma's house!

So this is my finished product. I would like to get a couple bigger rings to bind it with. These were just a little tight. But that can be done after Christmas.