Strollerderby : crafts

Bet You Can't Do Better Balloon Art

JeanneSager — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:34:00 GMT

People who hire clowns for their kids' birthday parties are either epically brave or epically dumb. Never want to be one?

I have found proof that even YOU can make the world's awesomest balloon animals for your kids, no clown required. Just trust me, you don't have to be the "can tie a cherry stem into a knot with my tongue" kind of person to handle this one.

See? Problem of how to entertain the kids at the birthday party solved. You can thank me - or thank Blogadilla who created this template for every parent's sanity.

Image: Blogadilla

Do You Have an Easy Bake Oven in Your Vagina?

Miriam Axel-Lute — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:00:00 GMT

Though the post is fairly long and rambly, I couldn't resist sharing this call-to-arms by Renee at Womanist Musings about lingering gender assumptions, especially by schools:

"The education system seems to think that this is still 1950 and that mothers are at home with tons of time on their hands to participate in bake sales. This request is never gender neutral, even though Daddy has two perfectly good hands himself. Why is this still the norm when most women work a double day? Even if a woman is a stay at home mother how does a vagina translate into the ability to bake? Do I have an easy bake oven stashed somewhere in my vaginal opening that I was not aware of?"

She has a larger point about the very narrow defintions of acceptable motherhood, but the comments are filled mostly with horrific stories about teachers telling single and/or working-outside-the-house and/or non-crafty moms that a purchased stocking/Valentines cards are not good enough, or that a married working mom couldn't interrupt play group for a work call while a single one (or a married dad) could, because for her a job was choice. Would like a little judgment with your assumptions? Or the other way around? Yeesh.

It's all a bit disheartening. And she's writing from Canada, too. Aren't they supposed to be more evolved than we are? (I'm kidding. Don't answer that.)

Photo by Tracy Hunter.

More by this author:

Working Parents Smackdown: SAHM vs SAHD

Cutest Lunches Ever!

SunnyChanel — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:00:00 GMT

I’m pretty proud of myself when I can manage to simply cut the crusts off my daughter’s sandwiches. Occasionally, I even go out on a limb and make Mickey Mouse pancakes on the weekend. I can, when compelled whip up things like bat shaped polenta, but that ain’t nothing compared to the magic created by Anna The Red, she takes the aesthetics of kid happy food to a whole new level.

On her blog, she diaries her amazing culinary creations as well as generously sharing some how-to-guides on creating a snowflake out of a radish to how to make the character Yoshi from the video game Super Mario Bros using potato salad and lettuce leaves.

When looking at the photos one her site I wistfully daydreamed about cooking up some of her delights to include in my daughter’s lunchbox. But the issue would be that they are just too pretty, she’d just want to stare at them, not eat them.

Do you make your kid’s lunch aesthetically pleasing or do you purely go for substance over style?

Via: Baekdal.com

Angelina and Brad are Christmas Crafters!

SunnyChanel — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:00:00 GMT

Are you wondering what Angelina, Brad or their brood will be getting for Christmas? Well get out the yarn, the popsicle sticks and the glittered pipe cleaners because, according to Hello! Magazine, the Jolie-Pitt family prefers a thoughtfully handmade gift as opposed to a extravagant present.

Pitt told the magazine, "We do exchange gifts, although we don't feel any pressure to make them big or expensive gifts… the kids don't ask for big gifts for the reason that they don't see a lot of the American cartoon television, which is packed with all those manipulative commercials for big toys that look so fantastic.”

With their gift giving, they try too not overdo it and spend a lot of money on the family presents. “The rule is that everyone's got to make something for someone else, you got to put time into it," Pitt said.

I’d love a gift made by Angelina or Brad…hello eBay! It is sweet that they are on a quest to satisfy the family thirst for presents with items of the home made variety. I know that the kids in my life, who do happen to watch ‘American cartoon television’, would be none too pleased with such gifts. I wish they would. But really, who am I kidding, I don’t even have the time to do the laundry let alone craft something meaningful and majestic enough to pass as a decent Xmas present.

Do you give your kids handmade gifts? And do they like them?

Source

Photo: W Magazine

Presents for Cheap—If You Can Sew

Miriam Axel-Lute — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 20:37:00 GMT

Ah, the holiday presents frenzy in the midst of economic hard times. A lot of us are feeling the squeeze—what are we to do? The good folks over at You Can Make This are here to help—kind of.

Specifically, the DIY site has launched a Thrifty 50 challenge, where you can follow along the escapades of 50 cheapskate over-acheiving black-belts in crafts who each appear to have devoted an entire room of their house to a "stash" of fabric, ribbon, and assorted other craft materials, making it deceptively easy for them to whip out clothes, bookmarks, centerpieces, and "door hangers" for practically no cost. (Am I the only one who's never heard of "door hangers"? They appear to be little pillows hung from ribbons on your doorknob for some reason. I don't get it. See picture.)

To be fair, some of the simpler, more useful ideas they're churning out do seem within the reach of a mere mortal like me, and some even seemed fun, but I still have to admit to being skeptical of the "super-cheap yet Martha Stewart" ethos. First of all, where in the world do they find the time for this? And secondly, the gift lists many of the 50 are trying to fill seem to contain not only multiple kids, but extended lists of in-laws and even kids' teachers (really!).

In recognition of these, um, ambitious, obligations, apparently participants don't actually have to come in under $50 total, as long as "some portion" of their gifts are under $50. Which means . . . what, exactly? That you're at least spending under $50 per gift? With all that time put in, I sure hope so. Otherwise it's a bit like New York magazine's idea of cheap. To be fair, reported actual costs per project so far seem to mostly come in well under $5, not counting depleted "stash," so even if the rules are lenient, these folks do knw how to stretch a dollar.

As for me, I'm torn: I like the idea of handmade gifts, repurposing things you already have, and not feeling guilty over not buying expensive crap. And I love the feeling of having just the right thing for someone. I do expect to be cobbling together a few pieces of decidedly unfancy dollhouse furniture for my kid this year, and I might pick up a few other ideas from these sewing ninjas.

On the other hand, I'm not sure that hanging on to the idea that we need to have the perfect, special, professional-quality thing for everyone we know plus the mailman, even when we're broke, is less stressful or less distracting from enjoying the holiday season than the mall-warrior approach. To me, I think "thrifty" is going to mean downplaying the presents mandate to its proper, small, part of the festivities.

More by this author:

The Pooping Log - A How-To Guide To a Christmas Tradition

SunnyChanel — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Are you looking for a new family tradition to start this holiday season? Perhaps I can entice you with a popular Spanish Christmas custom. The Catalan magic of the Tió de Nadal, or what it is popularly refered to as the "Caga tió". Translation? The Pooping Log.
Now you’re probably wondering how you, yes you, can participate in such a glorious family event.

• Get your self a hollow log about 30 centimeters in length, stand it up with two or four sticks, paint a smiling face on the end, stick on a three-dimensional nose and then finish him off with a red sock hat (a barretina as it is known in Catalan).

• On December 8th, the beginning of the Feast of Immaculate Conception, start to give your little tió a little something to “eat” each evening.

•    Before you go to sleep cover him with a blankie so he doesn’t get cold at night.

•    On Christmas day (or Christmas eve if that’s when you party it up), put the tió part way into the fire place and order him to “poop!” (you don’t need to use the fireplace if you don’t have one).

•    To make him “poop” “one beats him with sticks, while singing various songs of Tió de Nadel (lyrics below).

•    Tió’s poop is generally small items such as candies, nuts, torrons and the occasional dry fig. And that’s not it, “When nothing is left to "poop", it drops a salt herring, a head of garlic, an onion or ‘urinates’.”

•    Share all the poop and pee with your family and friends, they are “communal” gifts.

Here is a song of the "caga tió":
caga tió,
caga torró,
avellanes i mató,
si no cagues bé
et daré un cop de bastó.
caga tió!"

Translation:

poop log,
poop turrón,
hazelnuts and cottage cheese,
if you don't poop well,
I'll hit you with a stick,
poop log!

Source

Thanks to Jenna for turning us on to this lovely cultural tradition!

Crafty: Make a Green Owl With "Oh My GAWD" Janice from Friends

JeanneSager — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:32:00 GMT

The time, the late nineties. The setting, a coffee shop with couches that were mysteriously always free at just the right time. The characters, "OHHH MY Gawwwwd, Chandler. My Bing-a-ling." Yes, that was the first reaction when I caught the first episode of a new kids crafting show starring one-time Friends star Maggie Wheeler. Fortunately, she has a way with a unicorn-shaped tube of glue.

My second thought? It's the playhouse, but where's PeeWee? Turns out the show, Magpie Time, is the brainchild of a group of creative Hollywood types that includes Ric Heitzman, three-time Emmy Award-winning production designer on PeeWee's Playhouse. OK, that 'splains it. But Janice? Turns out Maggie Wheeler (who has done her fair share of highly respectable gigs in Tinsel Town, even though that shriek still sends chills down my spine) is a mom of two and long-time crafter.

The clip, made available by Boing-Boing, shows she's got the stuff to spin turntables from cereal boxes and maybe make ratings gold from recycled garbage?

First up, a green take on making an owl:

Take one fast food restaurant or coffee shop cup tray, three paper coffee cup sleeves, cup stirrers and two cup lids.
Cut the bottom off two of the cup-wells in the tray (make sure they are two that are side by side). The cut-out pieces will be used later, so be careful to save at least one well.
Cut a slit up the side of each cup sleeve so it can be stretched out into a straight sheet of paper.
Spread two across the cut-out space in the cup tray and glue in place. If there is significant hangover, feel free to trim.
Cut a triangular shape from one of the cut-out cup wells and glue on top of the upper sleeve, positioned between the two remaining cup wells, to serve as a nose.
Cut two wing shapes from the remaining cup sleeve, and glue one to either side of the tray.
Glue a cup lid to each of the wells to serve as eyes.
At the opposite end of the tray, along the edge, you will need to find space for two clumps of stirrers sticks that will serve as the owl's feet. Three sticks, fanned out, are sufficient for one foot. The same can be done for the second.
Feel free to gussy her up with glitter, paint or whatever strikes your fancy. Whooooo are we to judge?

Need some more help? Watch ~~Janice~~ Magpie making fast work of night-time bird crafts. Because this is just a teaser for the show, beware she skips ahead, so be prepared to hit pause (and sometimes rewind the clip).

The Official Magpie Time sizzle reel from Magpie Time on Vimeo.

Image: Magpie

When the Characters are INSIDE the Kids' Lunchboxes

They Say: Kids Escaping Advertising Blitz On the Net

Have You Brought Your Toys Out of the Closet for Your Kids?

Stuff Parents Dream About: Life Without Play-Doh

Just in Time for Halloween: How to Make Your Own Slime!

The Candy That Time Forgot

Brett Singer — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:45:00 GMT

I stumbled onto a list of candies that we are unlikely to encounter in our children's treat bags tonight. One of them (Bit O'Honey) was on my Babble List, but the rest weren't. Let's look at a few entries from the Island of Discarded Sweets:

Bubble Gum Cigarettes

To my recollection, these tasted really gross, but they blew sugary "smoke" and were therefore "cool" – or should that be "Kool"? I can't imagine seeing them today.

Candy Buttons

Nothing wrong with these, I guess – that is, they're not a candy that mimics a horrible unhealthy habit. But they do encourage the eating of paper, since it's impossible to get the stupid buttons off the backing without ingesting a little mashed up dead tree substance.

Wax Bottles

I have to be honest here. I've never tasted one of these. Whenever I encountered one, I avoided it like booger-flavored jellybeans. I guess it's some sort of sugary liquid encased in wax – is that right? Anyone want to enlighten me?

Sixlets

These were a rare treat. So good. Like M&M's but somehow fancier.

Toffifay

These always offended me a little bit. I can't remember if “It’s Too Good For Kids!” was the actual slogan but that was definitely the attitude. This and Toberlone – if these somehow ended up in my trick or treat bag, some dopey grown-up would liberate them from my possession. NO CANDY IS TOO GOOD FOR ME!

Pop Rocks

Man, do I not miss these things. They did not, I believe, actually kill Mikey. But they're so gross it's believable.

There's more, read the rest of the list here. Any old-time candy that you miss, or don't miss?

Source: MightyJunior

More Bad Halloween Costumes for Kids

Do You Dress Up for Halloween?

Why Are The Grown Up Costumes For Women So Slutty?

What are your kids wearing this Halloween?

Santa Claus says: Smoke More

Defamer's Top 10 Halloween Specials

A Halloween Playlist for Your Kids' Party

7 Awesome Halloween Costumes for Pregnant Chicks

The Return of the Halloween Baby Slut Costumes

Related on Babble:

The Babble List: The Best Candy Ever

Babble Best: Toddler Halloween Costumes

Babble Best: Newborn Halloween Costumes

How To Carve a Pumpkin (Video)

Brett Singer — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:00:00 GMT

If anyone hasn't gotten around to slicing and dicing their yearly Jack O'Lantern (me), or just wants a few tips on how to do it better (me), here is Chris Gould (not me) to show you how. Apparently it's all about etching rather than carving. In the spirit of the holiday, we'll forgive the Red Sox t-shirt.

Source: how2heroes.com

More Bad Halloween Costumes for Kids

Do You Dress Up for Halloween?

Why Are The Grown Up Costumes For Women So Slutty?

What are your kids wearing this Halloween?

Santa Claus says: Smoke More

Defamer's Top 10 Halloween Specials

A Halloween Playlist for Your Kids' Party

7 Awesome Halloween Costumes for Pregnant Chicks

The Return of the Halloween Baby Slut Costumes

Related on Babble:

The Babble List: The Best Candy Ever

Babble Best: Toddler Halloween Costumes

Babble Best: Newborn Halloween Costumes

Strollerderby Playdate: Sew Dreamy

Amy Kuras — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:31:00 GMT

In my ongoing quest to find my inner Martha, I acquired as a Christmas gift this year a nice entry-level sewing machine.
Here's the problem. The only person I know who sews? My mother. I love her, but her teaching me things tends to reduce me to a bratty teen. I still don't like to think about what went down when she tried to teach me to drive a stick shift. Un-pret-TAY.

I took a sewing class a few years back, and have a couple nice, remedial-but-hip kind of books that don’t assume you’ve been doing this stuff since home ec (which I did not take). But being a blog addict, I needed more.

Too many sewing sites are either, um, a little retro, or they are done by high-end sewers who seems to have no idea this doesn't come super easy to a lot of us, nor do we novices want to spend $45/yard on fabric we're likely to screw up.

But I've found a few that are inspiring, cleverly written, or beautifully designed, and often all three.

Stitch Lounge is the online outlet for a sewing lounge in San Fransisco —a place where people can come, work on projects together, and use the kind of tool they might not want to carve out a space for in their small city apartments. This is a brilliant idea and I wish there was such a thing in my city. Add cocktails and/or coffee and childcare and I might move in.

Also proffering tutorials is Sew, Mama, Sew, on things like fitting patterns, and how to assess your learning style to make patterns easier to figure out.

Finally, A Dress A Day. I am such a sucker for dresses, and while most of Erin's dresses are way beyond my skill level, a girl can dream.

Now to find time to finish that dishtowel project….

Image: A Dress A Day

Greenhouse: Recycling-Bin Crafts

Amy Kuras — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:31:00 GMT

Crafts are fun, for some of us super awesome parents. Then there's people like me, who are either spending a small fortune on new stuff or finding ourselves stuck with five blue markers and all the pink ones dried beyond salvaging, crusty glue and goopy paint.

But the green mantra of "reduce, reuse, recycle" is especially apt for kids crafts. Raiding the recycling bin can yield project starters like yogurt cups, paper towel rolls and egg cartons that can be turned into all kinds of things (my level of creativity is mostly "Look! A flower pot! A telescope! A home for, um, egg people!" but YMMV).

Luckily, there are some really creative parents out there coming up with some cool stuff to do with odds and ends around the house and sharing with the less inspired among us. One of those is Donna Erickson, a TV host and blogger with the St Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota. If you've got an old CD and a mustard bottle headed for the recyling bin, you can make and decorate a spinning top. Or, (and this is awesome) balloon hovercraft, anyone?

Strollerderby Playdate: Spring and Playclothes and Yogurt, oh my

Adrienne Martini — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:00:00 GMT

There are playdates you have because your kids love their kids. There are those you have because you love the parents and can tolerate the kids. And there are those you have because the parents make the simplest things look fabulous. This is that sort of playdate.

Disdressed's Liesl -- yes, she does know her blog name is misspelled -- is a woman whose skill with a pair of scissors or a bowl of porridge is a thing of beauty. Not only is she a mom to a cutie-pie little girl, she also is a sewing dynamo who crafts kid patterns and sells them as Oliver + S.

Even if you aren't into the crafty thing, you can't help but fall for her New York neighborhood. Maybe "fall" isn't the right word. Perhaps it should be "live vicariously through while you briefly curse your luck that your home isn't quite as well curated."

Still, I like playdating with Ms L. -- even if I do it in hopes that her way with things will rub off on me.

Crafty: Paper Snowflakes

Karen Murphy — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 13:27:00 GMT

I love paper snowflakes. Making them, I mean. There's something soothing about cutting paper into little bits and creating temporary art. Though I can only remember to make one kind of snowflake, the square kind that doesn't even look like a proper snowflake. But isn't it fun, cutting tiny triangles out of a folded piece of paper? And then picking hundreds of eensy triangles of paper out of the carpet afterward?

Say, you want to know an easy way to make a not-very-hard but very cool variation on the usual 3rd-grade snowflake? Need a step-by-step how-to video? Well you're in luck because I have just the thing:

Like that? Here's another awesome 3-D snowflake...all you need is paper and a stapler!

Crafty: Quickie Table Decorations

Patti — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 13:26:00 GMT

Here's a quick little project that you and your kids can make that will not only kill time, it might actually look great on your dining room table. From Courtney at Two Straight Lines, a little crepe paper flower tucked into a repurposed food can, covered with pretty fabric or paper (here, dictionary pages). With a few extra components from the craft store, you're ready to make something that might even qualify as "sophisticated".

I'm imagining a whole row of identical flowers spaced down a long table or mantle, or a grouping of "vases" of various sizes. Time to start saving empty cans.

Avoid Lead By Making (or Buying) Homemade Toys

Karen Murphy — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 16:32:00 GMT

We gave you a pretty long list the other day of great toys you can buy that don't contain lead and aren't made in China, but what about making your own? Or, failing that, buying toys someone else made? I have some ideas about both.

First, if I can learn to knit so can you. And what if your first projects were 1.) easy, 2.) pretty quick to make, and 3.) resulted in actual toys your actual kids would actually like to play with? A winner, huh? Then get this book. Don't be put off by the title; so what if it's a kid's book? That's the beauty of it! I learned to knit from this book and so can you, plus with it you can make a horse or a pig or a lion.

Next, what about other toys? Do you sew? Then you need Sewing Tiny Toys. With it you can sew little cats, giraffes, monkeys, parrots, penguins, almost any animal imaginable (armadillo? why, yes!).

Um, so what if you don't sew and you're convinced that knitting needles will somehow stab you in the eye of their own accord? So you give up and go buy some awesome handmade toys, that's what! You can't go wrong starting over at Etsy. Want more? This article had a great-sounding site to link to but I couldn't enter it; maybe you can.

Got any toy-making ideas to share? Or handmade toy-buying ideas?

Crafty: Plastic Bag Kites

Patti — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:28:00 GMT

Did you read this article in Salon the other day about how plastic bags are ruining the earth? We're pretty much committed to reusable grocery bags in our house, but somehow the plastic keeps creeping in at a pretty alarming rate. This kite project is a great way to use a few, but it's going to have to get pretty darn windy to make a dent in our plastic bag collection.

I guess if we decide we need more reusable bags, I can always make a few of these sturdy bags knitted from strips of plastic shopping bag. Now if there's a way to make school clothes from plastic bags, I'd love to hear about it.

(via Craft)

Crafty: Handmade Wands for Your Little Wizards

Patti — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:28:00 GMT

Crafting a wand, as you can imagine, is not an easy task. It takes effort to get the magic just right. Lucky for you, the fine folks at Dad Can Do have you covered with detailed instructions on how to make your little Harry and Hermione the wands of their dreams. Older kids will be able to get right in there and help with this one, younger kids will pretty much be relegated to rolling the paper that forms the wand's base. But the finished product is pretty freaking magical.

Crafty: Sweet Modern Crib From Ikea Hacks

Patti — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 12:28:00 GMT

For design-conscious parents on a budget, finding a decent looking crib is a near impossibility. Even parents with more cash to throw at the problem may balk at spending a ton of dough on something that will only be used for a short time. This Ikea Hack might be the answer to your prayers if a stylish crib eludes you. You could probably get fairly creative with cutout designs on the end panels, but keep safety in mind: little hands and feet can get stuck in the darndest places.

Crafty: Fun Flip Flop Project for Fancy Feet

Patti — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:01:00 GMT

AKA "what we're doing this afternoon", this project is perfect timing: all the flip flops are on clearance. Buttons, beads, jewels, sequins, all the usual craft suspects are going to be busted out for this one, which requires minimal supervision for my 3 and 5 year olds (your mileage may vary).

But it begs the question: What do you glue onto flip flops if you have a kid who isn't so much about the feathery shoes? Please advise, parents of boys and tomboys.

Crafty: Beach Ponchos with Eco-Flair

Patti — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:02:00 GMT

You know how at your parents' or grandparents' house, there's a stack of towels that are like, pink with orange flowers and were probably wedding gifts, and they've been there as long as you can remember and nobody ever uses them? Time to give those undersized psychedelic vintage textiles a new lease on life. Who needs to buy cheesy bathing suit coverups from Target when you can make your own totally unique ones from repurposed fabric?

The August issue of natural parenting magazine Kiwi includes a sweet and easy craft from Vickie Howell (you may know her from the DIY Network's Knitty Gritty). You don't even need to be able to sew to put together a great, functional poncho to keep the chill off your babies after they've spent all day in the pool. A quality fabric glue (I'm absolutely crazy about E6000, which is cheap and readily available at craft stores) will let you embellish your coverup and withstand whatever abuse your kids dish out.

Crafty: Beautiful Jewelry (From Trash and Scraps)

Patti — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:02:00 GMT

From reading craft blogs, I know I'm not the only one who laments the demise of the old Martha Stewart Kids magazine. Fortunately, the MS website picks up a lot of the slack and is well-stocked with cute party ideas, recipes, and activities. And on a seasonal basis, Martha's empire pumps out a digest-sized "Good Things" issue devoted to all the things that made the Kids magazine so great. It's on stands now, so grab it while you can and don't mistake it for the similarly designed Everyday Food (just get both, why don't you).

Anyway, down to crafty business: the standout craft in this special Good Things issue is going to knock the socks off any kid who counts Fancy Nancy as a role model, and if you're like me and saving cardboard paper towel tubes but never thinking of a creative purpose for them other than "Hey, telescope!", this is going to be up your alley too.

These sassy little bangles are just a slice of cardboard tube (you cut that for them, now) plastered with whatever decorations you've got. Once the glue dries, cut a slit in the bracelet so it can be slipped over the wrist, and voilà, you're accessorized.

Crafty: Martha-Worthy Cupcakes Without the Effort

Karen Murphy — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:48:00 GMT

Why do I do things the hard way? In my life, I'd get word the day before that my kid needs 24 celebratory snack items to take to school the next day. I'd set to work with my organic stone-ground whole-wheat flour and my barley-malt syrup and craft some little macrobiotic taste bite that will be reduced to a bunch of oatmeal-topping crumbs on the classroom floor the next day, completely forgotten, disdained.

Why not make it easy on yourself and create something memorable at the same time? J. Caroline Designs totally knows how to do this. Order cupcakes from the grocery store bakery? You can do that? Well, hello, NOW I know! Top them with an easy take-home-and-enjoy flower made from paper? and a straw? Yeah, this is totally my kind of craft.

Brilliant. And OMG how cute.

Crafty: Moo Gives You Stickers From Your Flickr

Patti — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 18:58:00 GMT

First they came along with Moo Cards, and I haven't ordered any yet, because I'm really just that lazy. Then they came along with Moo Notecards, and I keep meaning to get around to that.

Now Moo, a company devoted to the art of helping you do interesting things with the photos you've uploaded into your Flickr stream, has made me an offer I'm going to find it difficult to refuse: the chance to make a book of stickers from my personal photo collection. Can you imagine the possibilities here? Scrapbooking, collages, decorating letters to Grandma, embellishing wrapped presents...and of course what my kids will end up doing with the high-quality vinyl stickers, which is slapping them in the middle of their foreheads and running around with a picture of Daddy on waterskis up there instead of a Chiquita Banana label.

Now, seriously: what the f*** is my Flickr login?

Crafty: Found Object Mobiles

Patti — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:02:00 GMT

The best kind of kid crafts are the ones that use a variety of materials (see ya later, container full of random buttons), take a long time to finish, and produce something that's not just another flat piece of paper that needs wallspace to be appreciated. This mobile project from Wise Craft is all of that and more: it can also incorporate found objects from your trips to the beach, the park, the woods, Grandma's sewing room.

Get yourself a spool of monofilament fishing line, a big pile of anything stringable you've got lying around, and something pretty or interesting to use as a base—the original project uses driftwood, but I can see a lot of possibilities here. And dare I say it, but I can see making a bunch of these and wrapping them up for holiday gifts: they're actually really pretty.

Crafty: And Pipe Cleaners For All

Patti — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:57:00 GMT

My biggest score at the insane estate sale I went to the other day wasn't the hand-painted, eight-inch-high vintage wooden platform shoes in their original box (although those are pretty great). It was an open, half-used-up bag of pipe cleaners, also known as craft stems. I got them for pretty much free, but I think they're going to get way more use than the shoes will.

I don't think pipe cleaners are as high on the hierarchy of kid-craft supplies as they used to be, presumably because modern kids are dumber than we were and will use the pointy wires to maim themselves or others (they are pretty hurty if you poke yourself, I'll grant you). When I handed them over to my kids they were met with blank stares. Then, in a breakthrough moment, one of the kids accidentally bent one of them and it was like floodlights went on in their heads. Eventually I'll probably need to organize some more formal projects, but for now giving the kids any kind of direction would just be overkill (and experts in the field of pipecleanerology agree with me).

When my girls were in the baby/toddler stages, I never left the house without some Mardi Gras beads in my purse to get through the tough times at the grocery store, on the freeway, or in the DMV line because they were a guaranteed distraction. I think pipe cleaners may be the Mardi Gras beads of the preschool age.