Tutorial

So you’ve decided to make a busy book for your little loved one? CONGRATULATIONS! This is a labor of love and an heirloom that will bring your little one hours of enjoyment. My grandson is just over 2 ½ and he LOVES his! What is a “busy book”? A busy book aka quiet book is typically made from felt or fabric pages and feature interactive activities and games for the child to engage in. Popular quiet book page activities include zippers, buttons, snaps, color matching, shape matching, counting, and tying a bow. You may have seen our “Farm Fun Busy Books”. We have one for boys and one for girls and the set includes all of the pages for a complete book. In November 2020, we also released another set for the 5x7 hoop only and includes all of the pages for both boy and girl. This month, November 2020, after MANY months of planning and designing, we are thrilled to bring to you individual “” Now you can create your own one of a kind Busy Book! Not only that, but you can change up the book with a lot of different options! How you ask??? Well, let me tell you how. All of the new  are designed so the pages can be swapped out for other pages. This will allow for an ever-changing book to keep your child’s interest. To accomplish this, we have created blank page backs (one side with a pocket) where a Busy Book Add On Activity can be added to the backs of 2 Page Deluxe Designs. With this layout, you can change the front and back covers, or any Pages in the book without worrying about taking out an activity or page that you want to leave in. To help you get started, and figure out what you’ll need to create your busy book, I’ve written this article. Every busy book page set includes a PDF of supply and resource links. I’ve also listed links at the end of this article to supplies and resources. We’ve just released . Here is what you’ll need for a complete book. 1. CHOOSE A COVER There are FOUR cover options available. Two for boys and two for girls. This set will include your front and back cover. For your convenience, I’ve linked each photo below to the product page where it can be purchased. 2. CHOOSE 2-3 DELUXE SETS If you are using , you’ll want TWO deluxe page sets. If you are using , you can choose up to THREE deluxe page sets. We have TEN different page sets to choose from. You can make many and swap them out to keep your little interested! A “2 Page Deluxe Design” is a set of 2 pages that will go side by side in the Busy Book. They come with all the parts to the set that your child will need to use to complete each page. Each set comes with backs (blank pocket page) that are to be used for the Add On Activities. They will be attached on the underside of the hoop after the front of the page is stitched completely out. All steps and instructions will be included. For your convenience, I’ve linked each photo below to the product page where it can be purchased. A “blank pocket page” is included with every deluxe set. 3. CHOOSE 3 OR 5 “ADD ON ACTIVITIES” depending on what size book you are making. If you are using , you’ll want THREE add on activities. If you are using  you may want FIVE add on activities. A “Busy Book Add on Activity” means there is no page to go with it. These types of design sets are meant to be used on the backs of the “2 Page Deluxe Designs”. The parts can be placed for storage in the pocket on the left page, and then can be assembled on the blank right page next to it kind of like a puzzle. The tutorials include suggestions to make some parts more than once in different colors to give your child more options. There are TEN different “add on activity” sets for you to choose from! For your convenience, I’ve linked each photo below to the product page where it can be purchased. Now that you’ve chosen all of your pages, it’s time to get to work! If you desire, you can customize your own covers using software such as . We highly recommend  for maximum versatility in planning your projects. It’s super intuitive, easy to use, offers great customer support, and the most exciting part is that you can use any of our HUNDREDS of available embroidery fonts in BX format to easily type out names, words and phrases! We have several videos on  on our  as well! BUSY BOOK SUPPLIES AND RESOURCES LIST To further assist you, we’ve compiled a list of links to resources to gather your supplies for your very own busy book! **the following links are for your convenience. They are affiliate links and therefore Designs by JuJu LLC receives a small commission from items purchased with these links. FELT We use “craft felt”. This is widely available. Please check sizes. If you are doing an 8x8…you’ll want sheets that are larger than 8x12. Also check fabric.com, Hobby Lobby, Joann’s, Walmart, Michael’s etc. That said, we have found the following felts with a “1 mm” thickness to be of much higher quality than the cheaper craft felt at the craft stores. We use a lot of fabric from  sheets are 9x12 BINDER RINGS We like 2-inch or 3-inch binder rings. These are for assembling your book. TEARAWAY STABILIZER Heat n Bond Lite NOTIONS Items used in various busy book pages (optional) snaps for back of felt pieces Guage 8 marine vinyl for blank pocket pages, fishbowl etc (optional) hook and loop dots for back of felt pieces Buttons for Shape Match Deluxe Set Glitter vinyl (used for some pieces…optional) Shoelaces for lace and buckle deluxe set Hook and loop tape for back of felt pieces (optional) That’s it!! We hope you have loads of fun creating your special gift for your little ones! Please share photos of your creation with us! Have you joined our ? It is a wonderful community of over 50,000 creatives just like YOU where people gather to show off their wonderful creations. We also give away FREEBIES in the group every month!

One of our favorite series of designs is our Peeker sets.  They are SO cute and SO perfect for customizing hooded towels for the little ones in your life! We have designs available including everything from Princess Peekers, to Animal Peekers, to Monster Peekers & more. ! If you haven't made a hooded towel before, no need to worry!  We have step-by-step resources for you.  Follow along with JuJu as she makes a hooded towel in this video tutorial: Or, if you prefer written instructions, we have those too in the . We hope you find these resources helpful. Please share your projects in the  or anywhere on social media using the hashtag . We’d love to see what you create! 

Hi everyone! JuJu here :) Need some help customizing our new ?? This video will show you how to use Embrilliance Essentials editing software to add text, names or monograms to our popular Birth Announcement Templates. Make sure you turn your sound on for step-by-step directions!

Hi everyone! JuJu here :) We've been getting SO many questions since releasing our newest batch of , so I hope this video helps out with some of them.

  We’re SO excited about how well our  is going! This is a group created for the purpose of giving back to our communities by bringing more joy & beauty into the world through our machine embroidery projects. Our mission is to connect embroiderers with others across the country & the globe by sharing with each other the beautiful projects that we make for the various missions and charities that we hold near and dear to our hearts.  We recently premiered this Reading Pillow tutorial in our Facebook group hosted by Jenni G and we are overjoyed by its great response! We are excited to show it to you all now, plus share a little secret about the designs Jenni used...

We’ve had a fantastic response to our and questions are flooding in! Join us in this blog post as we explain how to use these fun blocks in your projects. 

Blog Post by Welcome everyone. Designs by JuJu has just introduced some wonderful embroidery designs that work oh-so-well when crafting a Reading Pocket Pillow for that special little someone in your life. Word Art embroidery and Story Time applique work hand-in-hand in creating some sweet and special designs. I’ve made this particular pillow for my granddaughter, Harlow. I will give it to her for Christmas, filled with books tailored to meet her grade two reading abilities. Her name is embroidered on this pillow, but that is optional. There’s still plenty of time to make a Reading Pocket Pillow before Christmas arrives. So gather together several of your favourite fat quarters, turn on your embroidery machine and let’s get creative!

Blog Post by Welcome everyone. As Halloween approaches, I’m so happy to bring you a quick and easy project to make for Halloween, using Designs by JuJu’s whimsical Halloween filled designs. This little mug rug, which is basically a mini-quilt, can easily be made in a day or two. You can whip one up as a teacher’s gift, or use it to decorate a Halloween table. How about making one just for yourself….to have with your morning coffee? So cute, so simple and so very easy. Let’s get started.

Blog post by Welcome everyone. I’m pleased as punch to be back here again with all of you! This time, we are making a summery, sweet and super-easy child’s gardening apron, embroidered with Designs by JuJu’s . They are just perfect for this project! This apron is made using laminate for a clean and easy “wipe down” after use, and can be made over the weekend. Why not get started? Your five-year old will love it!

Blog post by Welcome everyone. Ever since Julie released her super sweet , I’ve been longing to use them for a project. Now, finally, I have! Here is a quick and easy pillow project you can easily make over a weekend. There are ten different Mehndi Heart designs available; your challenge is to choose just three. Begin by gathering together a few fabrics, some colourful rickrack and your favourite embroidery threads and let’s get started.