Take time to craft Tuesday!

busy book
I made a busy book for Channing when I was pregnant with Sullivan. I actually didn't give it to him until I was in the hospital and Channing came to meet his little brother for the first time. I thought it would keep him entertained. I got my inspiration for this project from here.

You can't really "do" anything on this traffic light page.....if I were to make it again, I would definitely make the words movable so the kids can stick them in the correct spot. This was my first time using a machine to sew, so it was really a trial and error kind of thing!

The vase page. This is great for practicing buttoning! All the flowers come off and fit insdie the vase.

This page has little wooden pictures attached that are supposed to fit in the correct beginning sound pocket. This page is a complete disaster because the strings keep winding around each other and getting in a huge jumble! I would not make this page again!

The buckle page! A favorite with Channing :-)

Count the bubbles and find the correct number under the peek a boo flaps.

Colored "grass" with hidden things inside and a bead path for simply moving colorful beads across.

The briefcase page (the first picture was the outside). Inside I put a calculator, a little flashlight, a book, a little magna-doodle, some flash cards, a comb and mirror, money and there is a little car counting game. This is definitely one of Channing's favorite pages!The chicken has four eggs (and a pocket behind her wing). Channing has to get the eggs out and put them in order.
I have 2 pages side by side with the numbers 1-10. Under each number flap are cute little buttons. The flaps open up different ways too.

A tree with sight words under the leaves. I chose to do words that I know Channing can already read, but you could do letters or numbers instead.

What busy book does not have a shoelace page? Mike actually made this page :-) He was sitting with me while I was sewing and wanted to try it himself, so he did! He's such a clever guy!

The snaps and buckles page (another favorite).

The magnet page is the ultimate favorite page! I decided to put this spoon in the book for Channing to maneuver the magnets around the maze with. It works pretty well. The magnets are super strong!

Butterfly shape matching page. All the shapes come off and can be stored in a pocket on the butterfly wing. There is a matching shape attached to the wing so Channing can match the shapes. Keys and locks page.

Last but not least, the lion page. Channing has to take the little clips off and finish the mane. While my sewing is not the best, I really enjoyed making this and could have done heaps more pages. The only reason I stopped there is that the book is so big, it barely shuts! If I made one again, I would definitely go smaller. I made mine way too big and we really can't take it anywhere with us (which defeats the purpose really). Channing does love getting it out though and it occupies him for quite a while. It won't be long until Sully can use it too!