Every year for our church Christmas party the children dress up and act out the nativity. To streamline the process, we decided to do a puppet show. Using some finger puppets as inspiration, I came up with patterns for hand puppets. I got together with the rest of the Primary Presidency and we spent the better half of the day creating these super cute little puppets. Below the pictures is a list of materials and a link for the patterns.

Materials:
* Patterns (the donkey's mane and the cow's spots are not included)
* Felt
* Googily Eyes
* Various Buttons and Ribbon
* Pink Ink Pad and Q-tip (for rosy cheeks)
* Markers
* Glue Gun
* Sewing Machine/Clear Thread (Optional)

We sewed the glove part of the puppets together because we figured that would be easier than gluing it, but you could glue it. Also, the pattern does not allow for a seam allowance for the glove part because we did not turn them inside out after sewing. Everything else is glued onto the glove. Oh, and we are starting our Nativity with Samuel the Lamanite prophesying of Christ's coming.

In looking for ideas to incorporate colors into the quiet book, I came across a little baking page by Imagine Our Life. The outcome of this inspiration is a little time consuming, but very cute.

For this page, you will need the usual suspects, felt, steam a seam, reinforcement material (for page stability and to reinforce snaps), various fabrics/ribbon for different items/embellishments, matching thread and the pattern. Make sure to UNCHECK THE FIT TO PAGE BOX when printing the pattern, also, pre-wash all fabrics before cutting. You will also need snaps

Here is the process:
* Cut a cupcake liner from each color of felt and steam a seam
* Layout on the page using the template, then iron onto page
* Place embellishments (I used ribbon for all of mine) and sew embellishments to page
* Using a satin stitch, attach the cups to the page
* Cut bowl and sew along the fold to secure it
* Attach bowl to page using satin stitch

Now its onto the cupcake tops. Here is where the time consuming part comes in.

* Cut each top/embellishment from their respective fabric as well as from steam a seam
* Attach each embellishment to each top and do any embroidery work
* Iron top to a strip of felt of the same color and attach to felt using a satin stitch
* Sew female side of each snap to the page above the cupcake liners (make sure to go through the reinforcement on the back of the page)
* Cut a piece of the reinforcement just bigger than the snap
* Sew male side of the snaps to felt going through the reinforcement, don't cut the thread
* Place the top where you would like it to be on the page
* Put your thumb over the top where the snaps would meet
* Position the male side of the snap beneath your thumb and sew the top to the snap
* Cut out the top leaving a tiny halo of felt around the top
* Continue in this manner for all of the cupcake tops
* Sew on a 1 1/2" binding and you are done!

The inspiration for this page is a collaboration of two pages. The face and hair came from Craftalicious, but the waving hand came from a pirate page at Orange Crafts. I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.

For this page, beyond the basics, you will need:
* The template to lay out the page
* Pattern for this page (remember, when printing patterns UNCHECK THE FIT TO PAGE BOX)
* Ribbon for the shirt and for the hair
* Embroidery thread
* Two buttons, one matching the flesh colored felt and another to anchor it from behind
* Eyelet
* Yarn

So to start with, cut the head out of flesh colored felt. If it is see through, cut out a second one. Then embroider the face onto the felt. Here is a tutorial for how to embroider onto felt. I used a back stitch to create the face and filled the eyes with a chain stitch in a spiral.

The next thing is to decorate the shirt. If I had to do it over, I might have made a pocket on the shirt for hairties, but I'm not sure that is necessary. Anyway, I created the tuxedo shirt by first doing a basting stitch down the center of the ribbon, then pulling one of the strings to ruffle the ribbon. Then, I pinned and sewed each ribbon, one at a time.

The next step is to sew the face, shirt, and arm to the page. I added the binding strip (a 3"x9" piece of fabric ironed in half) at this time so I would remember which side it was on.
Next you will attach the hair.
* Measure how long you want the hair (over shoot it).
* Then just make it as thick as you like.
* To sew it on, I twisted it a couple times then placed it where I wanted the hair to lie, then sewed it on.
* Then give the girl a trim and add some barrettes (mine are just ribbons sewn on with a button)

Now to the hand.
* Cut one hand from felt and one from the reinforcement material
* Sew the cut hands to another piece of felt
* Install an eyelet in the lower middle of the palm
* Attach the hand to the page by sewing the two buttons together through the eyelet

Over the summer, my friend Stephanie and I decided to make quiet books for our kids. If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have noticed my Quiet Book board, which displays fellow bloggers we looked to for inspiration. The most amazing array of quiet books we came across were done by a woman named Katarinka with a blog named Orange Crafts. The entire website is in Russian but you don't need to be able to read the site to appreciate her crafting genius.

The general plan of attack:
* The size of each page: 9"x9"
* For the inside of the pages and reinforcement of moveable pieces, we used a polyester blend that is basically a dense plastic, I found at Hancock Fabrics.
* For the edges, a 1/2" blanket binding
* Obtain super cute fabric from Material Girls in Sandy, UT. You can use fat quarters or ask them to cut an 1/8 of a yard for smaller elements.
* Obtain felt. I suggest buyingsheets of felt as you need them rather than getting a bunch by the yard.
* Use Steam a Seam instead of pins for ease and comfort.
* For the binding side, use a 1 1/2" border on that side
* Make template out of cardstock or a manila folder to layout pages. Bear in mind that to create a complete page, you need one with the binding on the right side and another with the binding on the left.
* Most of the pieces are sewn together or to the page using a satin stitch on a sewing machine to prevent fraying and to give a finished look.
* Remember to prewash all fabric before cutting
* When printing patterns, UNCHECK THE FIT TO PAGE box in the printer window.

Now onto the actual page. We gained inspiration for a name page from Homemade by Jill, but of course I had to add my own flare, so this page includes a zippered pocket. You can download my pattern for the pocket, you have the option of a scalloped top, or a zig-zag top. For the name, you can create a pattern in Word, I used Janda Manatee Bubble as the font. For this page, beyond the general materials, you will need velcro and a 7" zipper.

1. Start by cutting your letters. You will need 2 felt letters, 1 fabric letter and 2 Steam a Seam letters. 
2. Using the template, place your letters on the page, then iron onto page and satin stitch. 
3. Cut a small portion of the velcro to fit on each letter and sew the soft side to the letter on the page.
4. Iron the fabric letter to the remaining felt letter and satin stitch any holes on the inside of the letters.
5. Sew the rough part of the velcro to some felt then satin stitch the fabric/felt letter to the felt positioned on the opposite side of the velcro.

Next, make the zippered pocket.
1. You will be attaching the zipper to the fold side of each piece. (FYI, I fudged this, because I do not have a zipper foot.)
2. Using the template, place the pocket on the page and position the zipper so that the opening is about 1/2" from the border and pin to pocket top.
3. Sew as close to the edge of the fold as possible.
4. Do steps 2 and 3 for the bottom of the pocket.

To finish off the page, cut a rectangle (3"x9") of fabric for the binding side, fold in half and iron, then position on the page and sew along the folded edge to page.