Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book Page

Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book PageThis is a fun quiet book page that would be a great addition to a holiday, seasonal or month activity book. The free pattern comes with 4 mix and match costumes, and you can easily make you own. There is a jack-o-lantern pocket for storage and two ghost friends that snap off.

Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book Page

Children can sort the costumes into their matching sets or have fun making silly combinations. This page would work great with my Halloween Jack-o-lantern page!

patternWhat I Used:

Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book Page
Are you ready to sew a fun Halloween costume match page?

Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book Page
Background

I started by cutting a 12″ x 4″ strip of denim blue felt into a sloping hill, then I sewed it down to the background. (When adding details to your page, be mindful of the way you bind your books. My way requires 2″ of width on the binding edge.) I then sewed down the moon and two clouds. Sew two snaps down where you want the ghosts to be. Pin the body and undies in place and sew them down. If you’d like to add snaps or Velcro to the backs of your costume pieces, sew them to the head, torso and groin of the body. (If you use Velcro, I recommend the snag-free kind for use with felt.)

Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book PageGhosts
For each ghost: Sew the other half of the snap onto the back of the ghost. On the front, make two French knot eyes and sew down the mouth. Sew the front and back together with a blanket stitch.

Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book PagePumpkin
To make the pumpkin pocket, I cut a scrap of yellow felt large enough to go behind the cut-outs of the pumpkin face. I tacked it behind the face with a bit of felt glue, then sewed it on around the eye and mouth holes. I then layered another pumpkin piece behind the yellow to hide it, and sewed both layers together across the curved top with a blanket stitch. I positioned the pumpkin onto the page and sewed through both it and the background the rest of the way around. This makes a pocket that is open at the top.

Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book PageCostumes
To finish each costume piece: cut out a piece of backing felt to match the shape of your final piece, then sew it on with a blanket stitch, matching your thread colors to the felt. (If you are adding Velcro or snaps, do it before the blanket stitch.) I used the same “wild blueberry” dark blue felt as my costume backings.

Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book Page
Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book PagePrincess:
I started by stitching on her face. I made aqua French knots for her eyes with tiny stitches beside them as shown. I made two peach stitches together for the nose. I used red-brown for her eyebrows and made a long, loose stitch and tacked it down into a curve with a tiny vertical stitch. Using pink I made two small stitches together for the bottom lip, one longer one for the upper lip. On the upper lip, I made a small “v” of stitches in the center as shown. Using a light layer of felt glue, I tacked down her hair and crown. I stitched the hair down around her face. I took a small piece of gold trim and stitched it down to the crown with the ends tucked under. Then it was ready to attach the backing.

For her blouse, I made a series of French knot pearls, then attached the backing. On the skirt, I stitched the skirt puffs on, then stitched more gold trim along the hem. I glued the feet to the back of the skirt after confirming their positions by laying it on the body pattern. I tacked down the shoes with glue then stitched them on. I then attached the backing.

Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book Page
Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book PageWitch
: I started by stitching on her face. I made purple French knots for her eyes with tiny stitches beside them as shown. I made two peach stitches together for the nose. I used lavender for her eyebrows and made a long, loose stitch and tacked it down into a curve with a tiny vertical stitch. Using pink I made two small stitches together for the bottom lip, two longer one for the upper lip. Using a light layer of felt glue, I tacked down her hair, hat and hat band. I stitched the hair down around her face and stitched down the hat band and where her hat meets her hair. Then it was ready to attach the backing.

On her blouse and skirt, I glued and sewed down the two patches using large, uneven stitches. I continued on with the skirt by positioning her stockings using the body pattern and gluing them and her shoes into place. On her stockings, I made long horizontal stitches to add stripes before attaching the backing.

Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book Page
Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book PageCowboy
: I started by stitching on his face. I made brown French knots for her eyes with tiny stitches beside them as shown. I made two peach stitches together for the nose. Using the same dark peach, I made teenie stitches for freckles. Using pink I made two small stitches together for the mouth. Using a light layer of felt glue, I tacked down his hair, hat and hat band, then stitched all the inner edges. Then it was ready to attach the backing.

On his shirt, I tacked down the vest and then the scarf. I sewed down all the inner edges, then attached the backing. On his pants, I layered the jeans and shoes behind the chaps, using the body pattern for positioning, and tacked them with glue. I tacked down the belt buckle, sewed all the inner edges, then attached the backing.

Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book Page
Skeleton
: For all parts of the skeleton, I tacked the bones down into place with a light layer of felt glue and them stitched them down. I added the red heart on top of the ribs because it was easier to see. I then attached all the backings.

Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book Page
And there is something that makes it even more fun… Flocked pumpkin felt on the back of the page! The jack-o-lanterns are fuzzy and a little glittery. Super cute!

Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book Page
I hope you enjoy this free pattern! The commercial license for selling completed products from this pattern will be available in my Etsy shop.

Halloween Costume Match Quiet Book Page

Do you have a special pattern request? Stop by my Facebook Page or my Instagram (@iolstephanie) and let me know! Happy Halloween!

DIY Montessori 3-Part Cards

I get a lot of questions asking how I make my 3-part cards. I’m a graphic designer, so I use Adobe InDesign to do mine. It works well for me, but I’ve had a lot of requests for something more universal for those of you who have your own ideas for 3-part cards.

DIY 3-Part Cards

I recently sat down and worked out a layout in Microsoft Word that is very similar to mine. The main difference is there is no spot for an image credit. Being a graphic designer, I am very big on not using photos without permission. For my free printables, I first look to my own personal photo library, then search on Wikipedia Commons. I always put the required attribution tag under photo I use publicly.

What You Need:

DIY 3-Part Cards

Start by selecting the box you’d like to add a photo to.

DIY 3-Part Cards

Right-click and choose “Change Picture…” I am on a Mac, so your view may be a bit different.

DIY 3-Part Cards

Choose your photo and insert it. If it wasn’t a nice square photo, no worries! We can crop it! I like to make mine square when I can, but sometimes I have to leave them as-is to avoid cropping something important.

DIY 3-Part Cards

Drag a corner of the picture to make it larger. Don’t worry about it getting too big. You want the main area to be a good size for you final square. (In this case, it is the sea turtle.)

DIY 3-Part Cards     DIY 3-Part Cards

DIY 3-Part CardsNext you’ll want to open the “Format Picture” window. You can get to it from the menu bar (“Formatting” menu), right-clicking or via the “Formatting Palette” that appears when an image is selected. You will want to go to “Crop” and use the arrows to gradually crop the photo down to a square that you are happy with. Pop over to the “Size” tab to make sure the width and height are the same. If you are going for the size of square I always use, you can set the width to 1.97″ once you have it cropped to a square.

After that, you are ready to change the text. You can also change the font. Do this for each card.

This file is for the cards you cut into two pieces each: pictures only and labels only. In most cases you’ll also want the full labeled card. I recommend you set up your whole sheet as instructed above and then either copy/paste it to a second page or save it as a second file. With that second page or file, you’ll take out the dividing line.

DIY 3-Part Cards     DIY 3-Part Cards

Select the two rows that make up a card’s table. In the Formatting Palette, choose borders. You’ll want to turn off the box with the middle horizontal line (highlighted green here). The line will still be there on your file after you turn it off, but it will be lighter. The light gray line is just to show you where the table is. Remove the line for each card to have a set of full cards.

Once you have your cards printed and cut, use a dab of glue to attach them to card stock. Trim the card stock to have about a 3mm border. I like to match the color of the card stock to the theme of the cards. For my continent cards, I used the color that represents the continent in Montessori. Then I’d make cards for each continent’s animals and use that same continent color for the card stock. Sometimes my choice is arbitrary. I chose gray for music. Whenever I make a new set of cards for music studies, I mount them on gray card stock.

This next step is really what makes the 3-part cards look beautiful and last for ages. Lamination! This is my favorite laminator. I bought it is June of 2013 and it is still going strong. I bought these laminating pouches. I have about a quarter left int he pack after all that time.

My hint for laminating: when laying your cards out on the laminator sheet/pouch, put a dab of glue stick on the back of them. That way, they won’t slide around when you are feeding it through the machine.

DIY 3-Part Cards

Once they are out of the machine, trim them down (I leave about 2mm of clear plastic border). All done!

Here are some links to some of my previous free 3-part cards:

DIY 3-Part Cards

Solar System 3-Part Cards

Find more Montessori-inspired ideas at Living Montessori Now’s Montessori Monday!

Montessori Monday

Recycling Quiet Book Set & Free Printables

Recycling Quiet Book Set & Free Printables
I’m always looking for ways to teach Jax about what we can do to help our planet. I knew a “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” theme would make a wonderful quiet book theme. Trash and recycle trucks are so much fun for kids to watch, so I had to add one in to expand the project into a fun recycling set.

Recycling Quiet Book Set & Free Printables
This is a pay pattern available in my Etsy shop. Purchasing my pay patterns will let me move towards making a living at crafting and give me more time to devote to both pay and free projects.

Recycling Quiet Book Set & Free Printables
The 6″ square quiet book features 3  double pages: Reduce teaches turning off lights and faucets to save resources. Reuse promotes using reusable cups and bags whenever possible. Recycle introduces sorting recyclables (and compost items!) into their bins. The cover has a recycle symbol and an earth with a heart.

Recycling Quiet Book Set & Free Printables
All of the sorting items can be used with the recycle truck that features a working back hatch. Pull the loop to open the hatch, then pull the ribbon to close it up again. There is also a recycle bin and a felt doll that is compatible with my other dress up felt dolls (fire station and dollhouse.)

I hope you’ll find the pattern files to be beautiful and helpful. A lot of time went into them! The pattern includes a stitch guide and full tutorial with photos and illustrations. You will also receive a coupon for $5 off at American Felt and Craft to help you get started on your felt stash.

Recycling Quiet Book Set & Free Printables
You can purchase this pattern for $8 in my Etsy shop, Imagine Our Life. If you would like to sell the finished product, you can purchase commercial licensed version for $20. This is a one time fee, and you’d be able to sell as many recycle quiet books as you’d like after purchasing it.

Recycling Quiet Book Set & Free Printables
As a free add-on to this felt set, I am providing my matching 3-part cards and recycle sorting game free for educational use! Click here to download the pdf.

Recycling Quiet Book Set & Free PrintablesThe cards and game include the same sorting categories as the felt set, giving you an additional way to teach the new vocabulary. (I include both the North American spelling on “aluminum” and the world spelling of “aluminium”.) The game features illustrations that were hand drawn by me.

Recycling Quiet Book Set & Free Printables

Montessori MondayTo assemble, print out the cards and cut them out. Glue them to card stock backs, then laminate and trim. I use this laminator. To make laminating a bit easier, you can try adding a dab of glue stick to the cards when you position then in the lamination sleeves. It keeps them from wiggling and overlapping.

I purchased two 3-packs of blue drawer organizers from Dollar Tree to use as my sorting bins.

If you liked this free homeschool printable and want more homeschool ideas, visit Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now.

I hope you enjoy this pattern! I can’t tell how much your support means to me. Big thank yous to all of you who are a part of our Facebook page. You have given me so much inspiration! Please feel free to comment here or on Facebook if you have suggestions for new projects. I am sketching patterns and ordering felt for all my fall projects this week. I’ll post some sneak peeks on Instagram. Come follow along!

Recycling Quiet Book Pattern

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review

When Marie-Claire of SO Awesome reached out to us about trying out a few of her wallet card sets, Jax was so excited! He’s been enjoying their free iOS wallet app for some time, and immediately recognized their colorful, modern style.

My love of all things Montessori is well known, but what you may not know is that I am a graphic designer and have a BA in studio art. Combine beautiful art with Montessori-inspired educational materials and I’m in heaven! SO Awesome teams up with talented illustrators to create their card sets, so each one is a treasure.

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & GiveawayMy Wallet Card Set

If you come over to our house for a playdate, one of the first things Jax will ask you to play is “store”. We have a beautiful wooden store set, and Jax is finally old enough to have play money. This wallet play set is a perfect addition to our role playing and pretend play.

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway

The wallet comes with play money, membership and bank cards – even a license! (To see what is included, click here.) At the moment, we are playing with this at home, but how great would it be to toss in your bag to bring along for a toddler to take apart – instead of YOUR wallet?

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway     Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway

The cards all have reverse sides to explore and realistic details. If I could add anything, it would be a personalized license with Jax’s name and photo. But perhaps that would be a fun DIY project for us to do together.

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & GiveawayAlphabet Card Set

Jax was really drawn to the colorful set of alphabet cards. One side features gorgeous illustrations, the other has a large lowercase letter, the word that was illustrated and pictures of other words that begin with the letter.

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway     Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway

These cards would be great on a stroller or card seat for younger toddlers. The removable ring is an easy way to store the cards together and bring them on the go without losing any. (But if you do, they offer single replacement cards!)

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway
We have been pairing the cards with out Montessori movable alphabet to make a fun matching game. I put one of every letter in a bowl and Jax matches them up with the correct card.

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway     Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway     Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway

I asked Jax which card was his favorite. He said he liked them all, but P for Playground was his favorite!

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & GiveawayNumber Card Set

The numbers card set features whimsical illustrations depicting quantity on one side and the number and corresponding Montessori beads on the other. The title card has a picture of the Montessori bead stair. Another card features the different base ten quantities in the golden bead materials.

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway      Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway     Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway

I’ve been working on DIY Montessori bead materials as a long-term project, so these cards fit in so well with our works! Click here to learn how I made my bead set and grab my free printables.

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & GiveawayJax has always enjoys how colorful the bead stair is, so he was drawn to the small tray I set up with the number cards 0 – 9.

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway      Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway

I made another small tray with the 1, 10, 100 and 1,000 cards to reinforce the golden bead materials he’s begun using. It is a quick activity, but it is always good to match physical objects to pictures and writing.

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & GiveawaySO Awesome provides a handful of free printable resources and suggested activities as companions to their card sets. You can check them out here.

For free shipping on your next order from SO Awesome’s online store, use code imagineourlife.

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway

Giveaway

SO Awesome has generously offered a $45 store credit to the winner of this random giveaway. To enter, visit SO Awesome, then leave a comment here letting us know what your favorite product is. Then use the Rafflecopter widget below to let us know you’ve commented (email address or Facebook required). There are bonus entries available to anyone who enters. The lucky winner will be randomly chosen on Wednesday, September 10th.

Congrats to the winner, Andrea, L.!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


About SO Awesome

soawesome_logojpgSO Awesome offers gorgeous, educational, non-toxic, extremely durable card sets designed for how kids play and work. Montessori-inspired. Made in the USA. Their cards are perfect to engage children in carseats, strollers, shopping carts, and long airplane rides.

Graphic Designer and mother Marie-Claire Camp created the durable, non-toxic card sets for her twin boys. Using the crowdsource-funding site Kickstarter, Marie-Claire produced five sets of cards and an companion iOS app.

Visit SO Awesome on: So Awesome WebsiteFacebookTwitterPinterestInstagram

num  abc  color  go  mywallet1


Thanks for entering, and good luck!

Montessori-Inspired Wallet Cards Review & Giveaway

We received these products in exchange for our honest review.
All opinions are our own, I promise! Have something for use to review? Contact me!

Sock Penguin Tutorial

Sock Penguin TutorialWhen I found an old pair of rainbow striped socks, I knew I wanted to make a sock animal. I asked Jax what he would like, and wasn’t surprised to hear him request a penguin. They are his favorite animal! I wasn’t sure how a rainbow striped penguin would turn out, but he’s really cute! This works up very quick and easy. It took me about 2 hours of hand sewing to finish.

Sock Penguin TutorialYou could use any size sock, but would need to scale the pattern pieces to match. One knee-high sock is perfect (mine were thigh-high and I had 7″ leftover before the cuff. (See my sock measurements on the pattern as a guide.) I can use two socks if yours are shorter.

Other materials needed are: the pattern, poly fill, felt (white, orange, black and an eye color) and needle/threads.

Sock Penguin TutorialThe tutorial is included in the pattern file, as well as a stitch guide. (The stitch guide is a new feature in my pay patterns. Let me know what you think of this sample!)

If you sew a sock penguin from my tutorial, Jax and I would love to see yours! Show us a picture via our Facebook page, Twitter or Instagram.

Sock Penguin Tutorial

Felt and Sequin Dangle Earrings

Felt and Sequin Dangle Earrings

I keep my sequins in a vintage canning jar beside my sewing area, and all the pretty, sparkly colors have been calling to me recently. I wanted to make a quick project with them, so I combined my love of felt and fun, dangle earrings!

Felt and Sequin Dangle EarringsNo patterns needed for this one – just have fun!

Felt and Sequin Dangle Earrings

What I Used:

Felt and Sequin Dangle Earrings

I started by cutting out shapes in my felt and laying them out with sequins to create a design I enjoyed. I then cut out a second set. Make sure you cut a backing piece for each earring body. Decorate the earring fronts by sewing down the felt shapes and adding sequins and French knots as embellishment.

Felt and Sequin Dangle Earrings

Here is how I made mine:

I cut my base out in a rounded teal diamond shape. I had a honeydew green circle the size of a nickel and a blue-gray square, slightly bigger than a sequin. I laid the pieces out and started by sewing down the center square. With the same thread, I sewed on the center sequin. I then switched thread colors and sewed on 4 contrasting sequins around the circle.

With the same thread color, I added a French knot to the center sequin. Switching thread colors to match the circle, I stitched it down. I then started alternating adding matching sequins and stitching French knots.

Felt and Sequin Dangle Earrings

Repeat everything for the front of the second earring.

I then created a tassel. I cut a length of three colors of floss, cut those in half and then tied then together at the midpoint. I then folded them in half and used one of the thread colors to tie knot loops around the bundle. After my last knot, I ran my needle up through the top of the tassel and let the tail stick out with the others at the top. I trimmed the bottom, then made a second one to match.

With thread matching my background, I stitched the tassels to the backsides of the earrings. I made stitches that were hidden by the sequin on the front. I then began sewing the front and back together for each earring. I paused at the top and sewed on a jump ring. Make sure the rings face the way they need to in order hang the right way from your earring wires.

Finish the earrings by attaching the earring wires. I had fun with the colors and made a bright pink and purple set that is slightly smaller.

Felt and Sequin Dangle Earrings

I really enjoyed making these and may design some more to give as gifts or sell in my Etsy shop. Let me know if you make some! Stop by our Facebook page or share a photo with me on Instagram or Twitter (username @iolstephanie). Be sure to share the project with a friend who sews!

Felt and Sequin Dangle Earrings

Pirate Island Tic-Tac-Toe Quiet Book Page

Pirate Island Tic-Tac-Toe Quiet Book Page

Tic Tac Yo-Ho-ho!

Jax has recently taken an interest in learning how to play tic-tac-toe (Noughts and crosses, Xs and Os, etc…) so I thought it would be a fun and quick page to sew up. This project would also work great as a stand-alone 9″ square felt tic-tac-toe set. We’ll be going to the beach in September, so I thought up a pirate island theme!

This page can be made as a stand-alone game by sewing it to a 9″ square background.

Pair this page with: The Treasure Quiet Book Page

Pirate Island Tic-Tac-Toe Quiet Book Page

What I used:

Pirate Island Tic-Tac-Toe Quiet Book Page

Sewing the Island

Following the template, sewing the tic-tac-toe grid onto the island piece.

Pirate Island Tic-Tac-Toe Quiet Book Page

Pin down the island with a bit of stuffing or batting underneath for dimension. Sewing it down, then embellish it with French knots and tiny stitches to show the sand texture.

Pirate Island Tic-Tac-Toe Quiet Book Page

Decorate the water’s edge with blue crystal sequins. Decorate the sand with some pirate’s treasure: gold sequins and pearl buttons.

Pirate Island Tic-Tac-Toe Quiet Book Page

Treasure Chest

Stitch two gold bands onto each side of the treasure chest. I used thick 100% wool felt, so I didn’t line the chest. If you are using regular felt, place a blank chest piece behind each side of the chest and sew them together along the long top side.

Pirate Island Tic-Tac-Toe Quiet Book Page

Place the two finished sides together and sew the right sides and bottom together, then place it on the page as shown and sew the left side together through the page. This will make a pocket that is hinged to the page. You can flip it out of the way when it is time to play. Add a snap to the back of the chest on the loose side, then sew the matching half to the page. This holds the pocket still while you flip through your quiet book.

Pirate Island Tic-Tac-Toe Quiet Book Page

Cross Bones

Using a light layer of felt glue, tack down two of the bones into a cross shape onto black felt. Once it is dry, cut it out and sew it all around the outside. Repeat so you have 5 X’s.

Pirate Island Tic-Tac-Toe Quiet Book Page

Ruby Rings

With on strand of pink thread, sew the gem lines onto each felt ruby. Start with a long horizontal line, then make two V’s above it and one large V below it. Use the template as a guide.

Using a light layer of felt glue, tack down a gold ring onto brown felt.  Glue a ruby on top as shown. once it is dry, cut it out and sew it all around the edges. Repeat so you have 5 O’s.

Arrrrh! Have Fun!

Pirate Island Tic-Tac-Toe Quiet Book Page

 

Learn and Play with the Learning Laptop

Learn and Play with the Learning Laptop

Quick Links: Purchase this pattern for personal use or commercial use!

A colorful, handmade invitation to learn & play…
The Learning Laptop!

Introducing the newest pattern in the Imagine Our Life Etsy pattern shop.

The Learning Laptop project makes a laptop-style quietbook with multiple activity sheets that pull out of a storage pocket and attach to the screen. The “keyboard” is made of letters attached by hook and loop tape. Activities include: the alphabet, numbers (quantity, addition & subtraction), colors (matching & mixing) and tangrams (two difficulty levels). The keyboard lifts up to reveal storage pockets for all the loose parts and activity pages. This book is perfect for a broad range of ages, but I recommend children under three have adult supervision due to small parts.

Learn and Play with the Learning Laptop   Learn and Play with the Learning Laptop

All the wool blend felt and vinyl in this project was provided by American Felt & Craft. The colors are all so beautiful, and I have a lot of leftovers to create more projects from. You do use quite a bit of hook & loop tape in this project. So much that I ended up not putting it on any of the loose parts beyond the alphabet. I used white Snag-Free Velcro for the screen and keyboard, then gray and black for the case. The only other special supply that is used is an assortment of colorful mini buttons. Mine were 7mm Favorite Findings Basic Mini Buttons in Ocean, Fun, Primary and Clean. I collected mine in craft stores, but I generally can find them online too. I have plenty leftover for other projects.

Learn and Play with the Learning LaptopAlphabet

The first thing you see when you open the Learning Laptop is the alphabet. It isn’t in qwerty, as it is meant to teach alphabetical order. (You would need to scale your letters down a bit to convert it to qwerty, as you’d need 10 instead of 9 on the top row.) The letters can all be pulled off and put back in the correct order, or used to make works on the screen. The basic pattern calls for one of each letter, but you can make extras and store them inside. I’d recommend extras if there are double letters in your child’s name.

Learn and Play with the Learning Laptop

I chose two shades of aqua for my letters, separating the vowels with a darker shade. You can change them to all the same, or perhaps the classic Montessori red and blue combination. I added a little heart to fill in our extra space.

Learn and Play with the Learning LaptopNumbers

There are two sets of number tiles that range 0 through 9. One set has buttons to show the quantity, the other has written numerals. I chose not to match the felt colors between the two sets so that a matching game will be harder for my 4-year-old. A younger child who is just learning number quantities might benefit from having the felt colors correspond.

Learn and Play with the Learning Laptop

Learn and Play with the Learning Laptop
A math page is included in the storage pocket to introduce addition and subtraction. It includes one line for each, with space to have up to two tiles as the answer (for example when using the 1 and 0 to make a 10.)

Learn and Play with the Learning Laptop

Colors

The Learning Laptop has three simple color puzzles. You could create additional pieces and add more button combinations if you wanted to. Included is a page that lets the child either sort the three primary colors into three puzzles, or they can follow the mixing equations to make the complimentary colors.

Learn and Play with the Learning Laptop

The outer pieces are the same primary color on each side. The inner pieces are primary colors (red, yellow and blue) on one side and complementary colors (orange, green and purple) on the other.

Learn and Play with the Learning Laptop

Tangrams

The tangram puzzle are Jax’s favorite! The pattern includes two sheets of full-size puzzles that have guide lines and two pages with smaller color examples of additional puzzles. This gives the child two difficulty levels to work through.

Learn and Play with the Learning Laptop

The tangrams are colorful and fun. Jax started out struggling with the easier puzzles, but after working out how to rotate and flip the pieces, he soon was able to move on to the harder puzzles. Now he is showing interest in creating his own!

Learn and Play with the Learning LaptopEverything tucks away into the storage section to keep it safe, though I help Jax clean up so we know nothing is missing.

Learn and Play with the Learning Laptop

Jax in his Montessori homeschool room. Learn more here.

Jax really adores this laptop quiet book and was so anxious for me to finish it! In honor of the tangrams being his favorite, I created a free pdf file with 12 additional puzzles in matching colors. Download it here.

Learn and Play with the Learning Laptop    Learn and Play with the Learning Laptop

I worked hard to really make the pattern and instructions look beautiful. I’ve included a full tutorial and a brand new stitch guide! As an added bonus, there is a $5 American Felt & Craft coupon to help you purchase beautiful felt!

The Learning Laptop pattern can be purchased for personal use for only $8.00 here. Your purchase helps me towards my goal of making this site my full-time job so I can share so many more projects with you. And, don’t worry! I will be mixing in plenty of free patterns!

Plan to sell the finished product? Purchase a commercial license for $25 and sell as many as you like! You will also be listed on my Authorized Sellers page.

Our Montessori Classroom

I’ve been doing a lot of DIY and redecorating lately. Jax has begun sleeping in his big boy room at last and has earned a new mural. At the same time, I’d starting thinking a lot about our homeschool space. It was bright and beautiful, but as Jax (and our school supply collection) has grown, it has begun to feel cramped. We were also running into problems with the school room being upstairs off the master bedroom (his old nursery.) I needed to be downstairs to do my freelance work, and Jax has wanted increasingly more time for school work.

Our Montessori Classroom

The best solution? Moving the schoolroom down to half of the playroom! The playroom is the front room of our main living area. I suppose it is intended to be a formal living room. We have no need for two living rooms – the “den” area off the kitchen is plenty! By moving just a few things out of the playroom and adding storage, I knew the school room would work great there.

We have also been busy dealing with medial issues. Poor Jax had the bad luck of contracting Lyme Disease from his very first tick bite. We caught it super early and will have a near 100% chance of a full recovery with his month of antibiotics. It has been a rough time, with Jax having a bad reaction to Amoxicillin and having to switch to a new (more disgusting) medicine. We are in the home stretch, and so grateful for all your kind words and suggestions!

Would you like a little tour of our new learning space?

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have often seen pictures of the old room. I really love that room, but it was so small that half of the floor would end up covered by supplies. We can finally stretch out and breathe!

Our Montessori Classroom

I started by moving Jax’s hand-me-down playgym outside so the room felt more open. I also took his old plastic table out of the room. The thrifted Ikea coffee table we’d been doing schoolwork on was working really well, with one exception – it was getting too short! After a trip to the hardware store for some square wooden medallions, I quickly made it taller. We had a little chair from the thrift shop that had a lot of water damage and was close to falling apart. I tightened it up, glued some broken bits and gave it a paint job.

Our Montessori Classroom

From Walmart, we purchased two $17.99 white shelves. They are certainly not the best quality, but they are surprisingly nice for $18 each. One had a warped side board, but some tweaking and shim under one edge has them sitting flush together.

On the side wall, we already had two Ikea picture shelves that were were using to hold books. I placed the DIY shelves (painted boards on wood crates) from the old school room underneath. Then I painted a narrower scrap board and used it to widen the bottom book rack into a thin shelf. This makes a perfect shelf for smaller baskets and activities. I put the extra books in a basket.

Our Montessori Classroom

I needed to move our DIY chalkboard to have room for the new shelves, so that went between the windows on the side wall. I’m not in love with that area yet, but it is bright and functional.

On Our Homeschool Shelves

I don’t have any big study units going on right now, but let me show you around what is on our shelves.

Our Montessori Classroom

Starting with the left side of the shelves, we have Jax’s small movable alphabet, montessori globe, wooden shape lacing (Target Dollar Spot), and some glass bead spacers (Dollar Tree). Below that, we have our handbells and felt notes and a wooden tray (craft store) filled with sand. One the middle shelf, we have all the body organs and labels for Jax’s human body chart, his sorting fruit pie and a basket of magnets (a placeholder for now). On the bottom shelf, we have our letter construction set, spread out for now.

Our Montessori Classroom

One the right shelf, I have a thrifted wooden clock board, a thrifted Ikea abacus and our small wooden number cards. Below that, I have all our DIY math beads (still in progress). On the middle shelf, I have Jax’s math block set, geometric shapes and some felt sheets to use as work mats. On the back of the bottom shelf I have our letter sounds tubs. In front, there are our lowercase and uppercase sandpaper letters.

Our Montessori Classroom

To the side, I have our hanging picture line,. I also hung a thrifted peg hanger with chalkboard tin buckets full of art supplies (Target Dollar Spot). On the floor, I have a thrifted paper holder (Container Store brand) with construction paper (also thrifted!)

Our Montessori Classroom

On the side wall, I have books on the top shelf. Below that, I have our weather materials, a wooden rainbow, some CVC matching cards, our word spinners and our DIY color tablets. On the top large shelf, I have our solar system works (to coordinate with out Air & Space museum trip), some of our continent animals, two starting sounds matching trays (using sandpaper letters and starting sound objects) and a basket of CVC objects. On the bottom shelf, I have some colored craft sticks with shapes (thrifted) to make and label, as well as our piggy bank activity.

Our Montessori Classroom

To the left of those shelves, I have Jax’s chalkboard, some musical instruments and classroom plants. I don’t have a chalk holder figured out yet, but no rush!

What do you think of our new classroom? Do you have any suggestions for us? Jax adores it, and loves having access to all the item’s I’d had stored in the closet. It is so nice to spread out!

Our Montessori Classroom

For more homeschool ideas, visit Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now.

Montessori Monday

Felt Sandwich Set

Have you caught the felt food bug yet? Felt food is super adorable and quite easy to make. I’ve been dying to design some for Jax, but needed to wait until he was old enough to keep them picked up. We have a golden retriever who would find felt food equally as fun!

featured2

I had so much fun designing and sewing a felt sandwich set for Jax, that I wanted to share the free pattern with you all. This set includes all sorts of goodies for your sandwich shop: breads, proteins, cheeses, veggies and spreads. And don’t forget chips and a cookie!

Felt Sandwich Set

I’ve also been sewing a lot of sliced fruits to go along with the sandwiches. Follow my Play Kitchens & Food Pinterest board for many of the tutorials I followed. I did create some of the fruits on my own. I can share those later if there is interest.

Felt Fruit

What I Used

I used a hodge-podge of felts for this project – whatever I had on hand! Some is wool blend felt from American Felt and Craft, some is cheap craft felt by the yard from Joann’s Fabric and the chip bag is thick 100% wool from the craft store. Here is the pattern I made.

Felt Sandwich Set - Breads

Breads

For the pita pocket, I placed two layers together and sewed them together along the straight edge with a blanket stitch. I repeated this with the last two pieces to have the two sides of the pocket. I placed them together and sewed through all the layers along the curve.

Felt Sandwich Set - BreadsFor the sliced breads, I cut two strips of crust for each slice. Using a blanket stitch, one strip got sewn around the top curve of one bread piece and the other around the square bottom. The strips were trimmed and sewn together at the base of the curves on each side. I then blanket stitched the other side of the bread on, pausing halfway to lightly stuff it with poly-fil.

Felt Sandwich Set - BreadsI used artists’ pastels to add shading to the brown toasted bread. I colored lightly around the edges of each side, then “set” it by getting the colored felt wet and drying it overnight. We haven’t had any rub off yet, but Jax is gentle. I do not recommend doing this if any felt food will be in someone’s mouth! And do be sure your pastels are non-toxic.

The cookie is very simple! I cut little chocolate chips and glued them down with a dab of felt glue. I sewed mine down as well. I then sewed the two sides together with a blanket stitch, pausing halfway to lightly stuff the cookie. (All of the items in my breads section were done with cheap craft felt.)

Felt Sandwich Set - Breads

Spreads

For each of the spreads, I sewed the front and back pieces together. On the guacamole, I also glued then sewed down little scraps of red and green felt before sewing the whole piece.

cheese

Cheeses

I made three kinds of cheese, but you could easily add your favorites. For each of them, I sewed the front and back pieces together. On the pepper jack, I also glued then sewed down little scraps of red and green felt before sewing the whole piece.

Felt Sandwich Set - Veggies

Produce

Being a vegetarian, I wanted lots of tasty, colorful fruits and veggies for Jax’s sandwich set. They take a bit more work but add so much!

For the lettuce, I cut mine out with pinking shears for a zigzag edge. I sewed the two sides together with a running stitch (a dashed line stitch that looks the same on both sides.) I pinched the base together into a tiny dart and stitched it to make the stem. I used a running stitch to add veins.

To make the spinach, I stitched three leaves to one of the base pieces using a back stitch up the center vein of each. I then blanket stitched the front and back together.

Felt Sandwich Set - Veggies

When sewing the avocado, I started by sewing the two sides of the avocado flesh together along the straight edge with the pit hole. I then blanket stitched the back piece on to make a wedge, pausing to fill it with stuffing.

The tomato takes a bit of embroidery time. I laid each side of the tomato down onto one of the inner pieces, then sewed down the holes. Using gold thread, I stitched the seeds with a lazy daisy stitch (Bring your needle up and down at the same spot, but before you pull the loop tight, make a tiny perpendicular stitch at the top to tack it in place.) Once all the seeds were done, I stitched the two sides together with a blanket stitch.

Felt Sandwich Set

For the red onion, I made two rows of dashed running stitch to each white ring. I then sandwiched the purple skin piece between the white rings and blanket stitched it together. The purple will show a bit as though you sliced the onion thinly.

The cucumbers started with seeds that were tacked down with glue, then stitched on. I sewed 3 to each side. I then layered the skin piece between two flesh pieces and blanket stitched it all together, the same as with the onion.

Felt Sandwich Set - Proteins

Proteins

I know olive loaf is pretty yucky in real life, but it sure looks adorable made of felt! Jax like olives, so I thought he would find it fun. I cut whole and partial olives, red square pimentos and random pink scraps. I glued and sewed them down to both pieces of a really lovely pale peachy pink felt, then stitched the two sides together with a blanket stitch. I did the salami the same way as the olive loaf, using pink and white random scraps for the little bits in it.

For the two sandwich meats, I simply sewed the two sides together with a blanket stitch. On the turkey, I used the same pastel technique as the toast to add some shading.

Felt Sandwich Set - Proteins

The fried egg is simple. I stitched the yolk down to one side, pausing to add some stuffing. I then sewed both sides together with a blanket stitch.

To make the bacon, I cut two wiggly pink strips for each side. I glued and sewed them down, then sewed the two sides together.

Felt Sandwich Set - Chips

Chips

I used a very thick 100% wool for my chip bag, so it did not require a double layer of felt. You can double up the same way as with the pita pocket if needed. I also cut my bag on the fold so I didn’t need to sew the bottom. I used back stitch and a french knot to make my chip label. After stitching the lettering onto the label, I stitched the label onto the bag front with a blanket stitch. I then stitched the side of the bag closed into a pocket.

The chips were made by simply blanket stitching two layers of felt together.

There are so many fun combinations you can make with this felt food set – especially if you add some pieces of fruit! Which piece is your favorite?

Felt Sandwich Set

Felt Weather Station Pattern & Free 3-Part Cards

Felt Weather StationLearning about the weather is always fun for kids. It is easy to relate what you learn to what is going on outside the window.

I knew I wanted to create something for Jax to let him explore and learn about different weather conditions. I decided to go with a felt set that can both be used to learn new weather words and to post the daily weather.

bg-left bg-right

This pattern is my very first pay pattern. I hope you find the pricing reasonable! I am really hoping to turn my crafting into a career that lets me both be creative and have time to be the best mama I can be. I will still be offering free patterns. At this point, I expect 50% will be free. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

You can purchase this pattern for $6 in my Etsy shop, Imagine Our Life. If you would like to sell the finished product, you can purchase commercial licensed version for $20. This is a one time fee, and you’d be able to sell as many weather charts as you’d like after purchasing it.

Felt Weather Station Pattern

This pattern included instruction to sew both a felt weather wall chart and a quietbook version. The wall chart is perfect for classrooms, while the quietbook is a fun way to make learning portable. There are 12 adorable weather condition pieces, along with matching labels printed on photo fabric. (You can also print the labels on card stock and laminate them.) There is a slider that can be set to the current temperature. A special pocket allows children to post the current weather conditions.

I worked hard to really make the pattern and instructions look beautiful. I’ve included a full tutorial and a brand new stitch guide! As an added bonus, there is a $5 American Felt & Craft coupon to help you purchase beautiful felt!

Felt Weather Station Pattern

As a free add-on to this felt set, I am providing my matching 3-part cards free for educational use! Click here to download the pdf. The cards include many of the same weather conditions as the felt set, giving you an additional way to teach the new vocabulary.

3-Part Cards - Weather

Montessori MondayTo assemble, print out the cards and cut them out. Glue them to card stock backs, then laminate and trim. I use this laminator. To make laminating a bit easier, you can try adding a dab of glue stick to the cards when you position then in the lamination sleeves. It keeps them from wiggling and overlapping.

If you liked this free homeschool printable and want more homeschool ideas, visit Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now.

 

Felt Weather Station Pattern

I hope you enjoy this pattern! I can’t tell how much your support means to me. Big thank yous to all of you who are a part of our Facebook page. You have given me so much inspiration! Please feel free to comment here or on Facebook if you have suggestions for new projects. I’ll also be posting sneak peeks at this week’s free pattern on my Instagram. Come follow along!

Felt Weather Station Pattern

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

This is such a fun quietbook page and study unit! It page sews up quickly, but is a big hit. Sorting is always fun for preschoolers, but sorting money is even better!

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

This page features a felt piggy bank with labeled coin slots and a key at the bottom to help kids sort the coins.

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

To make this quietbook fit in with our Montessori-style homeschooling, I have created several free printable packs. You can use these with or without the quietbook page.

Downloads

The Quietbook Pattern3-Part Cards for US CurrencyMini US Coin Card MatchingUS Coin Addition Game

What I Used

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

I began the page with the embroidery on the coins. I back stitched the numbers onto each of the coins, then stitched them down to the bottom of the page.

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

I stitched the smaller numbers and coin slots along the top of the full-sized piggy bank piece. Make sure the slots line up just above the partial piggy bank pieces, as seen in the photos.

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

To take out the coins, open the flap. The hook & loop separates and allows access.

On the outer (light pink) partial piggy bank piece, I sewed down the dollar sign and a button eye. I sewed the two ear pieces together, then attached it to the pig at the base.

On the inner (dark pink) partial piggy bank piece, I sewed a strip of pink hook tape towards the bottom (this will need to line up with the loop tape you later sew immediately below the clear vinyl pocket later). I then sewed the front and back of the piggy bank flap together on the sides and bottom, but not the top. I lined the top of the clear vinyl pocket up with the top of the flap, then sewed through all three layers across the top.

The trickiest part is making the coin slots. Have one of each coin on hand for sizing. Lay the completed piggy bank flap in place, then sew it down between each coin slot line. I flipped the flap up, then sewed the sides of the clear vinyl down top the inner piggy. Just below the bottom of the vinyl, I sewed a piece of pink hook tape. (This closes the bottom of the pocket when the flap is closed, keeping the coins from falling out.)

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

At this point, the page was nearly done. Test out the coin slots, and if yours are a bit too tight for tiny hands as mine were, you may need to tweak. I made the coin slots stretch open a bit by making stitches that pulled the ends towards each other: So the right end of the 5 cent slot was stitched to the left end of the 10 cent slot, etc.

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

Downloads

The Quietbook Pattern3-Part Cards for US Currency part 1 & part 2Mini US Coin Card MatchingUS Coin Addition Game

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

Montessori US Currency Printables

Montessori-style 3-part cards are so great for introducing anything that can shown with a picture and name. They consist of three parts: a labeled picture card, the picture alone and the label alone.

IPiggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

A child begins with the labelled cards, then eventually starts matching the labels to the pictures, using the labelled cards as control cards. They can be used as reference for writing exercises later on.

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

Click here to download my free pdf files (here is part 2) to make your own. To make mine, I cut them out, glued them to green construction paper, then laminated them. I included the fronts and backs of each coin or bill.

Mini US Coin Card Matching

Coins can be tricky to learn. You have how they look, what they are named, plus two ways of writing their values! I made a set of mini cards that can be used to learn and match everything. Add in coins so they can match them to the pictures.Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

US Coin Addition Game

To help Jax learn how to add up coin values, I made a little coin addition game. It can be used at two levels – one side has the values written, and one does not.

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

Start with the labeled side, then have your child use beads or counters to add up to the totals. When they are ready, they can use the unlabelled side, then check their answers on the back.

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

To create these, I folded and laminated the strips so they were two-sided. The answers are two-sided as well: I glued the two different ways of writing the answers back-to-back.

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables

There are also two strips that add up to the same answer, to show there are multiple ways to get the same sum!

I hope you enjoy this free quiet book pattern and homeschool printables! For more homeschool ideas, visit Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now.

Montessori Monday

Have you seen my Etsy shop? At the moment, I am selling commercially licensed versions of my patterns to allow crafters to sell finished products from my patterns. I will eventually have some pay patterns to help pay for the site and the time I put into it, but any free patterns will remain free for personal use. Would you like to support my site? You can purchase one of the commercial patterns regardless of whether you plan to sell the finished item – the money will go towards keeping Imagine Our Life alive!

Piggy Bank Quietbook Pattern & Free Currency Printables