A Busy Book Swap for your Little Ones and for Starship

... a collaboration between Mousehouse and Focussed Lenz

Are you keen to make your own busy book like Megan's for your little ones? Would you like to participate in a swap to make a busy book with other crafty people? Well, here's a way to keep it simple and get a book made without having to make all of the different pages yourself!

Who can participate?

Any NZ residents who would like to join in.  If you live beyond our kiwi shores and are very keen to participate drop me an email and we can see what we can do.

How it works

You choose a page theme (like buttons, clips, zips, threading or anything else your crafty imagination comes up with!) and you make five of the same page.  Then I'll send you the names and contact details of four participants with whom you will swap pages. 

So you keep one of your pages for your own book, send the other four to your swap group, and you'll get four in the mail back from your swap group. And don't worry, I'll make sure you are in a group with people making different page themes so you don't end up with four zip pages!  

Your book will have five pages, one page that you've made and four from other kiwi crafters! (And you'll have to make your own cover of course)

Dimensions and Specifications

Your page needs to be made using two pieces of fabric, one for the the front and one for the back. The overall dimensions will be 28cm across by 24cm down, this includes a seam allowance of 1cm for the edge of the pages and a 2cm allowance for the spine.  This should allow enough room for the busy book to be collated in the method we individually choose.

Create your page on the front piece of fabric, then put right sides together, sew around the page edges leaving the spine edge open for turning, turn right side out and top stitch around the whole page to close the gap and make the page nice and flat.

Registrations close May 28, 2011 and then you'll have until the end of August to post your pages to your swap group.

How to join in

Complete the registration form at the end of this post.  Make sure you scroll to the bottom of the form and click on 'submit' to finish. 

Follow this blog for future updates.  Share our Busy Book Block Swap button on your blog and with other passionate crafters.

I will email you once I have received your registration.  If you don’t hear from me, please leave a comment below x

Busy Books for our Starship Littlies

And here's an idea- would you also like to participate in creating some busy books for the children in Starship hospital? 

To participate in this, all you have to do is make one more page (so make 6 pages instead of 5) and your page will be put into a book with other crafters’ and sent to Starship. We'll also need people to help assemble the Starship books and make covers for them once the pages are all in.

If you are keen to do this, let me know in the registration form.

My mind is whirring with many ideas so I am looking forward to swapping busy book blocks with you !!!

Thanks heaps to Megan @ Mousehouse for supporting this idea and inspiring us with her creativity!