Tutorial

If you're looking to add a sprinkle of festive cheer to your kitchen, you've come to the right place. In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of creating your very own In-the-Hoop (ITH) Gingerbread Baker Pot Holder.

Are you ready to enhance your home decor with a touch of seasonal flair? An interchangeable seasonal pillow is the perfect way to bring a cozy and festive vibe to your living space all year 'round! In this step-by-step guide, we’ll walk you through creating your very own ITH (In-The-Hoop) interchangeable pillow, making it easy to switch up your style with the changing seasons.

The holiday season is the perfect time to add a personal touch to your home decor, and what better way to do that than with a charming gingerbread tree skirt? This delightful project will not only enhance the festive spirit of your Christmas tree but also showcase your creativity.

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!

Heat transfers aren't just for fabric! You can print and press all sorts of things - like this wooden mason jar Halloween decoration. This tutorial will show go through the steps of how I made this one (but you can make one for any season, holiday, or occasion)! Things you'll need: • PNG design (like the !) • inkjet printer and heat press • opaque heat transfer paper (I like ) • • • styrofoam • small wooden dowel • paint, , string, pot filler, brushes, scissors - - this stuff is all up to you and how you'd like to design your decor First you need to prepare the jar. You can leave it as naked wood or paint it to your liking. For this Halloween jar I painted it off-white and went around the edges with a light khaki paint. Then I used a silver chalk marker for the lid. While that was drying, I painted the pot and dowel black, then threw a little accent paint on the top and bottom of the pot for fun. I wasn't very careful with my paint because I wanted it to look more

Have you wanted to try using watercolor designs but you don't want to invest in sublimation equipment? You can make these Halloween towels with just a few simple and cheap products in just a few minutes! What you'll need: • The digital watercolor files and a computer (try our !) • An Inkjet printer (JuJu likes ) • Heat transfer paper, I suggest  or • Scissors • A ruler • A heat press (I have a and it works great) • and/or • Kitchen towels (here's but this will work with almost ANY white or light colored towel) The first thing you need to do is measure the area of the towel that will contain the design. Make sure to keep in mind that you'll probably be folding the towel in half to hang it so you won't want your design to extend beyond that fold. Then open the digital watercolor design of your choice on your computer. There are lots of programs that can help you size the design to match what will fit on the towel. I personally use Photoshop, but any image editing program will work. Even Microsoft Word can size images. Or you can always choose a size percentage to print the design (100% is the original size around 12x12"). This is what my screen looked like before I printed. I opened an 8x10" document and sized the design within that space. Once you have it sized, you'll need to check a couple of things. First, make sure you have your transfer paper in your printer all ready to go - and make sure it's going to feed in correctly and then come out printed on the correct side. Then change your printer settings so it knows the paper is a little thicker than regular paper. And since we're putting these designs on a white (or a light colored) towel, you will absolutely have to MIRROR the design. Usually this option will be somewhere in your print settings. Once you're confident with the size and settings, go ahead and print onto the transfer paper. This is a good point to start warming up your heat press. Every press (even ones that are made by the same company) will need a little tweaking, but it should be around 350 degrees. Take the time to set the timer to somewhere between 15-20 seconds as well. Different combinations of printers, presses, and materials will all do better with small changes in the temperature and time - it's something you can't really figure out without experience. Most heat transfer paper will have suggestions and included instructions. And as you get more experienced you'll get used to the little changes your equipment likes. It's actually really easy to become a pro at this once you've completed a few projects! While the press heats up take some time to trim around your designs. The white part of the paper won't show on a white or light colored towel, but you will be able to feel it a little bit. So getting rid of it is always a good idea. You can trim as close to the design as you want. I've found that the texture of the transfer lessens with each washing, so I'm not as careful as some people. Just make sure you don't cut INTO the design, which sometimes, if you're not being mindful enough, you'll do.....said the person who has done just that......more than once. This is what my designs looked like after I trimmed them. Hopefully now your heat press is hot (if not you'll have a few more minutes for a snack break or something). Before you do anything with the designs you'll need to prepress your towels. This gets rid of any moisture and just gives you a nice flat surface to work on. You can also use a lint roller on it, if you're worried about excess fuzzies getting trapped under your design. To prepress the design, just throw it into the press and clamp it shut for about 10 seconds. This is also a good time to test the pressure of your clamp. You want it right at that point where it's a bit hard to press down all the way, but not quite to the "oh my gosh, is it breaking the machine....or my arm?!!" amount of pressure. Most heat presses have a manual knob to adjust the pressure, so check for that if you want to adjust it. Now comes the fun part! Adjust it so your towel is lined up straight in the press, and then lay your design on. Make sure it's centered, not upside down, and that the backside of the paper is facing up. You have to do this a little quickly, and very carefully, because there's that really hot surface right there which can make the paper start to curl (or burn you if you touch it). Once you're happy with where it is, clamp the press shut and wait for the timer. Like I said, times will vary, but somewhere between 15-20 should be a good starting point if this is your first project. I very recently got a new printer and I'm still kind of tweaking things. So don't be nervous, just because there's always room for improvement doesn't mean that you can't be amazing at this! When your timer goes off, lift the press and pull your towel out. Some papers like to be peeled cold and some hot. I generally peel the Red Grid hot. But I've also done it cold too, because it's actually REALLY hot when it gets out of there. If your towels have zero stretch to them you can skip this next step. But if they give at all, I wouldn't. The ink will set better and last longer if you throw your towel back under the heat to warm it up and then give it a good stretch. But now that the backing of the transfer paper is off you'll need to use some parchment paper or a teflon sheet to protect your press from the ink. I am an overkill weirdo and use both. So I throw the towel back in the press and put on the parchment paper. This is just standard baking parchment paper. I've had this sheet for a bit, so you can see it's a bit yellow from the heat. Once it gets noticeable like this I just chuck it and then walk into my kitchen and rip off another section to use. It's a cheap and easy way to keep your press safe from sticky designs, and it peels away a lot cleaner than other things. But sometimes I still kind of worry about it so I throw my teflon sheet over it too. It looks like this. Then it just needs a quick 10 second press to warm up the towel. I always just watch my timer and open it early when I'm prepressing or warming things - that way I'm not constantly having to change it. Once you pull it from the hot press you want to IMMEDIATELY stretch it in multiple ways. Give it a nice stretch horizontally, vertically, and diagonally. Then put the towel back in the press one more time. Don't forget your parchment and/or teflon. I always press it another full amount just to make sure that design is going to be happy there for a long long time. If you're afraid your towel is going to burn, a few seconds for this press is ok too. Then just let the towel cool on a flat dry surface and you're done! I know this seemed like a really long tutorial, but it actually only takes a few minutes to throw one of these together. That's what I love about inkjet transfers - it's SO FAST AND EASY. With inkjet transfers, you can purchase a design online and download it immediately, then just print and press it onto lots of different fabrics and surfaces. Sublimation requires special printers and inks, and then you have to be careful with the types of fabric you're using. I just like to make things for my friends and family, so I like that the only special item I really need is inkjet transfer paper. And I've seen my kids be really rough on the things I've made, and then they go through a bunch of washes, and they still look amazing! I hope this in-depth tutorial has helped inspire you to try out inkjet heat transfers and watercolor designs. :) Disclosure: This article contains my Amazon Associates links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small amount from qualifying purchases.

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.

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!

How To: Quilted and Embroidered Tic Tac Toe Cupcake Pillow By Red and aqua with a dash of lime swirl together to make this sweet pillow a delightful project to welcome spring. Love and creativity blossom as you adorn your pillow with machine appliquéd cupcakes, embroidery embellishment and yo-yo’s disguised as “puff cakes”. Julie and I are excited to show you how to make a Love  pillow, which I call Tic Tac Toe … so here we go! Please be sure and read through all the instructions prior to commencing. It will make the project much easier for you.