Quiet Book Week - I Love to See the Temple

 ** Update 9/18/2013 ** Many of you have asked for this pattern and I am more than happy to announce that it has been uploaded to my Etsy site. (click on link below banner at the top of the page.) As always I'd like to thank you for your darling comments and support. I would love to see your finished products! If you have any questions please e-mail me at stephanie[dot]lauren[at]live[dot]com.

 I love the Salt Lake Temple. I just think it looks like a castle and I was very excited to be sealed to Jakob for all eternity there 3 years ago. As a little girl one of my favorite things to do was play "wedding" so I decided to make a wedding page. 

 While I got the inspiration for this page here, this is another original design.  I printed off this clip art image and cut out the windows and angel Moroni. I did all of the detail stitching before I sewed it on to make a pocket for the Bride and Groom to go inside.  While I tried to make it as big as possible but it is still a tight fit for the Mr. & Mrs. to fit inside. I closed the pocket with a zipper. 

 In the LDS church we are sealed (married) in the temple for all of eternity. We wear all white as a symbol of purity which is why the Bride and Groom are all white. 

 The Mrs. Looking at her now I think I made her torso too long but that's just me being picky. I made her veil out of tool.

Her bouquet is just a ribbon flower from Joanns. I'm sure you could make one if you wanted but I thought this was the easiest and prettiest route for me. 

 The Groom. I have received a lot of comments asking why I made his hair red when Jakob is clearly not a red head. The answer is I didn't have a red head and I thought making him brunette made them look to similar. I just love this little guy with his lapel and tie. I couldn't find a flower small enough to fit on his lapel so I left it blank and now looking at him, I like it that way. 

 I really like my temple and I think the Bride and Groom are just precious.

** For those who have purchased this pattern but need instructions PLEASE SEND ME YOUR E-MAIL so that I can get those to you! as of 10/29/2013 I have attached the wise men instructions which are the same. I'm sorry for the inconvenience! **

7 Months

• Height: 27 inches (90th percentile)
• Weight: 16.4 lbs (50th percentile)
• Head Circumference:  43 cm (25th percentile)
• Nicknames: Peanut, Ethers, E, Buggy Boo

• For a while there Ethnie was waking up 2 -3 times a night. I'm not sure if it was a growth spurt but I'm glad it's over. She is a girl after her fathers heart and loves her routine. Dinner at 7:30, bath at 8:00, scriptures at 8:15, 7 - 8 oz rice bottle and bed by 8:30. She now sleeps till around 6:00 a.m. when I get up to nurse her and then she's up for the morning around 7:00 a.m.
• This girl is vocal. She loves screaming till she's red in the face and then she just laughs and laughs. It's not so much screaming either as it is grunting/ dinosaur noses.

• No more Boppy for this girl! She is super independent and we can leave her play alone for 20 minutes at a time which is great for cleaning/ blogging/ eating. She really enjoys her alone time and by alone I mean we're in the same room while she plays.
• She is starting to watch other babies at church crawl around and I think things are starting to click. Perhpas that is just wishful thinking. She'll get up on her hands and then.... nothing. She doesn't dread tummy time any more probably because I've stopped trying to make her crawl. She'll go when she's ready.
• Ethnie is LOVING solid foods. This month she's had: avocado, squash, sweet potatoes, Puffs, Cheerios, banana, amongst other things. She loves her fresh food feeder and will happily suck on that while Daddy and I eat dinner. She is really into strawberry and banana mush. She can eat up to 2 jars (8oz) of that stuff without even blinking. I have to hold her back so avoid tummy aches. :). She isn't too keen on veggies but will eat them as long as I don't offer her fruit first. So far sweet potatoes have been her favorite.

• Peanut really enjoys being in her doorway jumper. She loves to stand and being able to do it all on her own is wonderful. This really helps at Mom Toblers when we're working on a project.
• Bug doesn't like having her bum changed one bit! If she's not go go going she's crying. I have started to ensure there is something to play with to avoid having her roll over and getting poop everywhere! 
• Her belly is super ticklish. If you blow on her tummy she's burst out laughing. Even if you act like your coming towards her she'll start to cringe and giggle. I makes my heart happy.

• She really wants to pull herself up and she's done it a couple of times in her crib and in the tub. It just amazes me how one day she's sitting watching and the next she's doing.
• Still in love with electronics, music, and the blinds in our room. She loves to destroy book and papers and she's taken an interest in stuffed animals and toys.

• She loves playing Peek-a-Boo! You say "Peek!" and she is all smiles!
• She just loved being with her cousins and Vi and Lucy were SOOO good with her! It makes me want to live near family even more now!

• She loves music and will squawk along like she's singing in the background it makes me smile.
• If you ask fro a kiss you're more than likely to get more than you bargained for. Nice warm, wet and slimy.
• More often than not she picks things up with her left hand, or if she does pick it up with her right she'll transfer it to her left to put it in her mouth. From everything I've read it's still too soon to tell which hand she'll use but my money is she's a lefty!

 

• She's strated to booty scoot. I'm not sure if she realizes that's what she's doing since she doesn't "go after things" she just very casually scoots over to something.

I really don't see Ethnie as a baby anymore but more like our little girl. She is growing up so fast and I am trying to soak up every second. She has such a sweet spirit and she constantly has me striving to be the best that I can be. I am so grateful to be her Mama!

Quiet Book Week - Future Missionary

 This page is another original, though I'm sure I got the idea from somewhere I couldn't find anything online. On this page you simply switch out the different ties which are attached with Velcro.

 There is also an extra little Missionary tag for them to wear. I was super disappointed when I went to the church book store, they only had pin on tags. Once upon a time they were slide on like actual badges. This is potential safety hazard so I'll be keeping an eye out for the slide on ones. 

 For this page I went to D.I. (a thrift store) and bough a size 3-6 m boys dress shirt. I cut it to fit the page and I sewed it on. I made a little pocket for the badge and ta da! All finished. For the ties I purchased some at the thrift store and used the ends. a little time consuming but super simple!!

We have three different ties and a bow tie courtesy for Gramma Tobler! This is a very simple yet fun page where I can continue adding different ties!

Quiet Book Week - Ammon Defends the Sheep

 I love, love, love this page. I mean honestly it doesn't get much cooler than chopping of peoples arms! I originally found this page over on Laura's blog, and I used her pattern. I also got inspiration here.

 I made a few changes to Laura's page. First, I made both Ammon and the Sheep detachable. I thought it would be cool for Ammon to come off the page a chop off some arms.

 The arms are fastened on with snaps. I did however sew my clubs onto the robbers arms. This way they can swing them at Ammon.

 Once again, just like Goliath, Ammon was inspired by Jakob. I had completed Laura's Ammon and when I was showing Jakob the final product he said; "Love, this won't do! Everyone knows Ammon is ripped and half naked! I'm sorry I can't accept this as Ammon. You'll have to redo him." So he toted me over to the computer to prove that in most of the pictures Ammon is in fact shirtless. If you know Jakob at all you can totally imagine him doing this. Jakob drew out a pattern for me and now we have "Buff Ammon." "Weak sauce Ammon" as Jakob calls him became Nephi.

 Obviously you can't be "Buff Ammon" without a six pack and pectorals. Good golly my Husband makes me smile. 

 I also quite enjoy his skirt/ belt. While I did make him Jakob 100% supervised, right down to the color selection. 

 Back side of Ammon.

 It was a little bit tough to explain to Vi why Ammon was chopping off arms and why it was the "Right" thing to do. Perhaps this page is better suited for boys. :)

Quiet Book Week - Alma the Younger

 I got this idea here. While she didn't have a pattern to follow I pretty much copied it exactly. We did destroy one of those baby shaker toys to get the rattler out of it. This page is perfect for younger kids.

 I didn't feel that anyone had to come off of this page so that made thing a lot faster. I really like the muted tones of Alma's outfit. I discovered these towards the end of my quiet book making experience. I really like how it adds some subtle diversity.

Though I haven't mentioned it I'd like to now draw your attention to the pack ground. It is made out of cotton instead of felt. Half way through my book I realized that adding felt to my backgrounds was adding a lot of additional bulk I didn't want or need. I started making them out of 100% cotton and it made thing much better. It also adds some uniformity which I really like!

Quiet Book Week - Build Nephi's Boat

 Time to jump into the Book of Mormon. This is another one of my original pages. I went to Google and printed off a boat. I then traced it and added Velcro on the back. I then stitched on all of the lines on the machine. Once I had finished all of the lines I cut it into puzzle pieces around the Velcro.The stitching made each piece very stable which is important when they are going to be handled a lot.

 I really liked the idea of having a puzzle for the kids to do. This will be great for when the children are older as the puzzle is a little bit difficult. The sail comes off as well.

Since this is a church book it seemed necessary to add "Help Nephi Build a Boat." Otherwise it would have been rather random. :)

Quiet Book Week - Lehi's Vision

 I got inspiration from several locations for Nephi's Dream/ Lehi's Vision. I got the pattern for Nephi here. I really liked this layout. I got the tree from a picture of a few branches that I can no longer find on Google.

 I hand stitched the leaves and the wood grains onto the tree. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's all about the details.

 Nephi slides along the Iron Rod which is made out of silver ribbon. 

Please ignore the Bumblebee transformer dark and spacious building. I know it looks ridiculous :).  This is a simple but cute page which will be good for while the kiddos are little. 

Quiet Book Week - The Nativity

 **UPDATE 8/14/2013**
 I've been having some issues with allowing a link for you all to get my patterns. I am so sorry for the inconvenience. 
 I now have the pattern and some makeshift assembly instructions available for purchase in my Etsy shop. (https://www.etsy.com/listing/159679311/nativity-quietbook-pattern) or you can click the link at the top of the page below my banner. Thank you to all for your support!! I truly appreciate it!

 This is my first page that was 100% my own.  While searching the internet for page ideas I realized I couldn't do a church book without Baby Jesus and there wasn't really anything out there that I loved. I really wanted to have a nativity where the children could take off the people and act it out. It took forever to make... seriously. I drew up the pattern (approx 2 + hours) which is no easy task. Making sure everything is drawn proportionately was draining.   

 The three wise men. Each little guy took an hour to assemble. I can't even begin to honestly count how many hours these pages took. It was a labor of love and I am very pleased with the final outcome. 

 I am always telling you that they are "finished both front and back." This is what I mean by that. 

 Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. Please do not make fun of Baby Jesus, It isn't his fault he looks like a peanut. Poor guy.

 Sheep, Shepard and Angel.

 Baby Jesus can sleep inside of the manger.

 I really like how the palm tree turned out. I also really liked the cobble stone road. They have several different patterned pieces at Joann's. I added Velcro so everyone could move around.

I think one day I may make a camel, another sheep, donkey and an ox but we'll see. I am so happy with the end result!