Create a stamp from your kid’s art
My sweetheart’s goddaughter Avery turned four this weekend and we were lucky enough to score an invite to her birthday party at the zoo. I’ve been trying to include some small homemade element in gifts I give to make them more personal, but I wasn’t sure what to make for Avery… then I had an idea. Stamps! Kids love stamps, I love stamps — it was perfect.
Getting crafty with a toddler: flower press fun
I’m trying to come up with creative things my two-year-old and I can do together at home. I feel like I’ve been a little too focused on go-go-going all the time (mostly because he developed a habit of asking “Go in yellow car now?” each morning) and not really making sure that he’s cool with just… kicking it at the homestead. I wanted something we could do no matter what the weather was like, and then it hit me — a flower press!
A Sweeney Todd photo shoot — starring kids
I’ve always wanted to do a Sweeney Todd photo shoot, but starring myself — it’s never occurred to me that KIDS would be even more awesome! Check out these photos…
Simple ways to make your own art supplies
The idea of making your own chalk had me scratching my head and wondering: if you can make chalk, what other kind of art supplies can you make? I love the idea of creating the means of another creation — that is, constructing the materials you and your kiddos will then use to create art. Here are a few of my favorite arty recipes, starting with the chalk.
Fashioning your own ABC book is easier than you might think
Have you seen most ABC books? Yawn. I wanted to create a book for my daughter Olive that would be tactile and interactive… and awesome. I wanted to show her things that mean something to her father and I. You know, important things like trademarked characters and ice cream. So I raided my stash of felt and set to work with scissors and a hot glue gun… and a gob of fake hair. (See page H.)
Ditch old-fashioned photo albums and make a Blurb book instead
I’ve always been obsessed with photo albums — whether they were thrifted, vintage, or something I picked up from a craft store. I’ve spent many an hour filling dozens of them with photos. This was cool with me, until I discovered Blurb books
Cute ways to keep up with your family tree
I’ve been going through a bit of an embroidery kick lately, and started Googling different types of potential patterns. Since I’ve only been doing this for a few weeks I know next to nothing about embroidery, but I do know enough to recognize that this custom family tree embroidery pattern from the Etsy shop cozyblue is nothing less than cute, cute, OMG, SO CUTE.
A DIY alternative to a chalkboard wall
I’ve been wanting some sort of chalkboard in my son Jackson’s playroom for some time now — I just wasn’t sure what would work. The room was built to be a living room and has outlets everywhere. We have the baby-proofed, but the placement of the outlets blocked me from being able to just paint a chalkboard onto the walls.
When I discovered chalkboard spray paint exists, I knew just what I wanted to do…