Quiet Book How To Series: Picture and Number Page #Tutorial


This is the second part of the Quiet Book How To Series. You can check out my post on the Title Page to get instructions on how to make it.

From now on we will be making two pages, a front and back. For the front of the page I wanted a "This Book Belongs To.." Page with my daughters picture. For the back page I wanted a numbers page where she can pull off the numbers and match them to the page.

Picture Page

  1. Print out the "This Book Belongs to.." printable onto iron on transfer paper. 
  2. Iron onto pink felt sheet on the top part of the page. I went about 3 inches down from the top. 
  3. Print out frame template. 
  4. Cut out the template and pin to the purple felt. Cut out frame.
  5. Use the back frame pattern to cut rectangle from the ziplock bag.
  6. Place Top Frame on top of clear sheet and sew around inner rectangle. 
  7. Place Back Frame, clear sheet, then top frame underneath where you ironed on the words in step 2. 
  8. Pin in place and sew the sides and bottom of the frame to the sheet. You want to leave the top open to slip in the picture. 
Numbers Page
  • 7 sheets of 9" x 12" felt in pink, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow, red
  • Numbers Page Template*
  • Sticky Back Velcro
  • Fusible Web
  • Sewing Machine
  • 4 sheets of card stock
  • 2 grommets
  1. Print out Numbers Page Template.
  2. Cut a piece of fusible web large enough to cover the page. Place printed paper under fusible web. You should be able to see the printed paper through the fusible web. Trace the letters and numbers. Trace an extra "5". Cut the word "numbers" and each number apart (you should have 2 sets of numbers 1-5).
  3. Place the "numbers" word on top of the purple page and iron on. Let cool slightly then cut the letters out. Place each number on top of a different color of the pages (except for the pink). You want each number to be a different color (make sure you use the same color for each number. Like all the 1's should be red, etc). Iron on, cool slightly then peel paper. 
  4. Iron on the word "numbers" to the top of the pink page, going down one inch from the top. Make sure your iron is not too hot because it can melt the felt. (I use a mini hand held iron.)
  5. Going down another 1 1/2 inch from the "numbers" word iron on the 1, 2 and 3. Going down about 2 inches iron on the 4 and 5. 
  6. Using a sewing machine, sew around each number with a straight stitch. 
  7. Cut Velcro into about 1/2" squares and peel off paper from one side. Press on to the middle of each number. 
  8. Take each remaining number and iron on to a piece of felt the same color. Cut around the number so that now you have a number with two layers. 
  9. Sew around each sandwiched number using a straight stitch.
  10. Peel off remaining paper from each piece of Velcro and press it's loose matching number on top. 
  11. Now when you peel off the loose number it should have the other piece of Velcro attached to it.
Finishing
  1. Take the two completed pages and sandwich them together. The picture page should be on top and the numbers page behind. Stitch a 1/4" seam around 3 sides of the two pieces of felt. 
  2. Slip all of the card stock sheets into the opening of the felt squares you just sewed. Sew the opening shut.
  3. Place grommets 3 inches down from top and bottom. 
  4. Attach to the title page using the rings.
* To print templates and printables: Click on the link, Download, then Direct Download. Save onto your computer where you can easily find it. Then Open the file, press File.. Print and pick the Actual size option.

** Stay tuned for my next tutorial where I will be making a page for numbers 6-10 and a shapes page. 

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Healthy and Yummy Chicken Gyros #Recipe


One of my favorite things to eat when I am dieting and out to eat is Chicken Gyros or Chicken Souvlaki. I love the grilled meat, puffy pita and best of all the creamy Tzatziki sauce. You can usually always find it on the menu in a Diner. I didn't always want to eat it when I am out so I came up with my own recipe to make at home.

Healthy Chicken Gyros

Chicken
  • 5 boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • 1/4 cup of greek vinagrette
  • 1/2 tblsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tblsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tblsp crushed dried oregano
  • 1/2 fresh lemon
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Tzatziki Sauce
  • 6 oz container of fat free plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 fresh lemon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1/2 medium cucumber. 
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

 Garnishes

  1. If you are making your own pita I would make it first.
  2. Mix the chicken thighs with the vinaigrette, spices and juice from the lemon half. Marinate for at least 2 hours. 
  3. While the chicken is marinating start on your tzatziki sauce. Peel cucumber and slice in half the long way. Take a spoon and scoop out all of the seeds. Using a cheese grater, shred the cucumber. Place the shredded cucumber in a thick paper towel, clean kitchen towel or cheesecloth and squeeze out all of the liquid.
  4. Place cucumber, juice from the 1/2 lemon and the rest of the ingredients listed under the Tzatziki sauce in a small bowl and mix well. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. 
  5. I used a George Foreman grill to cook my chicken thighs. They take about 8 minutes, check them after 4 minutes and turn if the top side is getting too charred. You can also bake in the oven for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Check your chicken to make sure it is fully cooked.
  6. Cut onion into 1/4" thick slices, place on grill and cook for about 8 minutes.  (If you don't have a grill you can cook in a pan with a little bit of olive oil until they are caramelized.)
  7. When chicken has cooled a bit slice into strips. Separate cooked onion into rings and set aside.
  8. Heat up your pita in a dry pan until it is warm and pliable. Cut in half
  9. Stuff chicken into the pita and serve with onions and Tzatziki sauce. 
*I decided to make my own pita because I could never find a good pita that was lower in calories. Either the pita tasted good but had tons of calories or tasted horrible and had lower calories. With the recipe I linked above I used half white flour and half whole wheat flour. They come out to about 150-170 calories per pita and taste really good.



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Have Fun Exercising For Free!


I just started incorporating extra activity and exercise into my daily routine. I don't want to commit to a gym yet because I want to make sure I don't have an excuses to not go, and waste my money. I want to slowly prepare my body before I jump on those treadmills and weight machines.

This is how I have fun exercising and do it for free:

YOUTUBE: You can search for any type of exercise class you want to do and they will probably have it. Some of them are actual gym classes like Zumba that you can do at home without having to step outside or pay for a gym. Most of the videos are about 3-5 minutes long so I just make a playlist of about 30 minutes long with a warm up and cool down.


You can also find longer full exercise DVDs like Lisa Sansone's 3 Mile Walk.


MAGAZINES: I follow a lot of freebie and deal blogs and sites so I have a whole bunch of magazines subscriptions for free. Fitness magazine has some awesome workouts with great pictures you can just rip out, save and follow. If you don't have a magazine subscription you can just go on their site and find some of their workouts for free like the The Metabolism-Boosting Superset Workout. The workouts are shown in great slide shows with clear pictures on how to do the moves and sometimes are accompanied by videos.

TV ON DEMAND: I am not sure about other cable tv suscriptions but with ours we get free On Demand. We have a channel called MagRack which will let you watch On Demand videos whenever you want and let you rewind, fast-forward and pause like a regular DVD. They have fun exercise videos like dancing, strength training and yoga that they cycle every few weeks so you never get bored.

MUSIC: I don't know about you, but every time I hear one of my favorite songs I have to get up and dance or just move around. I use Pandora on my iPhone and play it with my favorite 90s music every time I clean. It really makes me clean longer and not even think about what I am doing. Every now and then my daughter will join me and dance. I'll just pick her up and dance the whole song with her. Adding an extra 25 pounds to your dancing will make you burn more calories! Of course taking a nice long walk with some great music works too.

TIMER: To make sure I don't sit for too long and watch TV or Blog I set a timer to go off every hour. When I hear that timer go off I set another timer for 30 minutes and stay standing doing something like organizing or cleaning. There is always something you can clean or organize especially with a toddler around. I will do this all day until around 8 PM.

What are some ways that you have fun exercising for free?

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