Hi everyone! It’s Tara here with Secretbees Studio When I was a little girl, my mom made me the most wonderful busy book! I loved that book and played with it for hours on end! My book was made from fabric and had the most fun activities inside of it. I still have the book and will definitely be passing it down to my grand baby who is due very soon!
Since I am a paper crafter, I wanted to make one of these from paper and the 'Dream Big' paper collection from Simple Stories is a magical collection perfect for a girly busy book! Its full of whimsical unicorns, cats and fairies in bright and pretty colors that will delight girls of all ages.
The covers and spine of the book were cut from chipboard and covered in the beautiful patterned paper. The book is chunky to hold three pages that are extra deep for the activities. The first section of the book has an embellished pocket to hold stickers and a cute drawing/writing pad along with a pencil holder made from the patterned paper. I added in chipboard and combo stickers for extra cuteness!
Memory matching games are super fun and I included one in this book! I simply cut out these adorable 2x2 elements and layered them over more sweet patterned paper before applying sticky velcro to the backs as well as to the page so no pieces will be lost. There is also a magnetic board cut from a vent cover and adhered to the page. I cut strips of magnet and foam and glued those to the backs of the whimsical Bits & Pieces images for hours of endless fun!
Puzzles are a great activity and these are perfect sized for a little girl! I double layered two of the 4x4 journal cards for thickness and then using a puzzle die, cut them into puzzle pieces. One page has pockets with twine closures to hold the puzzles and I gave each pocket a clear acetate front so the inside contents can easily be seen! The other page has a chipboard frame covered in patterned paper to hold the completed puzzle in place!
No busy book would be complete without coloring so I made a pocket on one page to hold coloring book sheets and on the opposite page I doubled up a strip of the patterned paper and scored it in sections just large enough to hold a set of colored pencils! There is also a small ledge made from chipboard and patterned paper to hold the pencils in place.
A 4x6 journaling card is layered with a pretty doily and more of the colorful paper along with chipboard stickers on the cover of the book for lots of girly details! To keep everything in place I added in a piece of pink tulle that can be tied in a big, pretty bow! To see this book in all of its wonderful detail, be sure and check out my YouTube channel for a walk-through video.
