kids – Page 46 – the long thread

November 11, 2007March 30, 2008

Crafting for Kids

Here’s an update to this post. I’m adding .pdf files of the un-personalized craft can labels. Here they are:

I’m sharing the birthday gift that we gave to a five-year-old today. My husband brought home paint cans with some kind of promotional materials in them, so they’ve been sitting on my shelf waiting for a good use. I created a personalized label and filled the can with craft supplies. The outside of the can reads “miss paddy’s craftcan” and the top says “make. create.” I filled it with felt, embroidery needle and floss, glue, beads, buttons, stamps, stickers, etc.

I also made this cute little crayon travel case with Kaffe Fassett fat quarters that I bought a few weeks ago. I came up with a pretty easy pattern that you can make from start to finish in under an hour. I will post the pattern soon. The case holds 12 or 24 crayons securely.

November 6, 2007February 22, 2011

Preserving Children’s Artwork

I’ve been thinking a lot about what to do with my children’s artwork as it is beginning to pile up and my four-year-old is creating some nice pieces. I’m getting some framed; but I’m also looking for creative ideas aside from the usual refrigerator, clothesline or wall display. I took Eva’s “Mud Monster” that she drew last spring and digitized it for my embroidery machine (above). Someone’s getting a Mud Monster pillow for Christmas! Eva really enjoyed being involved in the process and was proud of the finished product. I’m thinking of offering customized kid’s designs in my shop, but it’s a pretty time-consuming process. We’ll see.

But with all this technology readily accessible, you can have your kid’s artwork made into tees, coasters, large-scale canvases, mugs, bags, magnets, calendars, stationery, mouse pads, uhm…playing cards, and lots more. These are all great (for you and your family). Here are a few other ideas:

-Take photographs of the artwork before you pitch it. Make a collage or a DVD.

–Totally Out of Hand: They can create customized jewelry from your child’s artwork.

-Make wrapping paper. Assuming your kid approves of this use of her artwork, sounds like a good idea and also a great way to reuse something! We go through a lot of paper in our house.

-Collage it. At the end of the year, you and your child can cut up the work and choose the best images to be made into a fabulous collage. I see this turning into a possible decoupage project — literally, an art table.

-Sew it. I like the free-hand sewing that I’ve seen lately and it lends itself well to children’s designs. Check out this creation from angry chicken. Or you can quilt it — take a look at this quilt square from sewcatherine. Don’t have a sewing machine? Re-create the work of art with felt and embroidery floss.

-Shrink it. I love shrinky dinks and keep meaning to make something. The possibilities are endless with miniature plastic! Just trace the artwork or have your child draw directly on the plastic. Check out this link for making your own. Caution on that plastic in the oven thing.

–Artimus Art: Not tech-savvy or crafty? This site lets you mail them your artwork where they will upload it and create an online gallery for you, then store it in climate-controlled storage (better than the floor of the closet?). You can also order a bound book.

-Have your child illustrate his own books. We keep an extra long stapler around the house and make blank books for Eva to draw and write stories. These “books” occupy her for several days and can be stored easily or given as presents. You could also have your child dictate a story to you and print out the text.

Other thoughts, ideas, links? Please comment.

November 4, 2007February 28, 2008

Smart Little Bunny

I’ve been looking through the old books that I had as a child and I love “B is for Bear” by Dick Bruna (Dutch version pictured above). I’m lucky that my mother was such a packrat since the book is now out of print, although it is pretty worn. The illustrations are pure form and color, which I find really appealing. Best known as the creator of Miffy, Dick Bruna is still working in the Netherlands and has produced over 100 children’s books. His pictographic style was incredibly innovative and it makes sense that he was influenced by modern artists like Picasso and Matisse and De Stijl movement of the early 20th century.

You can find some of the older Dick Bruna titles like Snuffy (below, Dutch spelling), Cinderella, and Snow White at amazon, and the Miffy site has some nice graphics and games.

October 28, 2007March 21, 2008

Beautiful (and safe) Toys

Picture of Holztiger Frog King

Like all parents, I’ve been thinking about the safety of my children’s toys a lot lately. Is that tea set that they love to drink from made with lead? I have to say, I’ve been stealthily removing some of the toys that seem questionable. But who really knows? I considered buying a lead test kit, but the last time I used one it seemed difficult to read and a new report by the Consumer Product Safety Commission says that they are pretty useless. By the way, you can sign up for the safety recall list here. I have found it pretty alarming to see how many products are recalled on a daily basis, and what about those that fall through the cracks?

So, this brings me to my point. I hate to fault an entire country for use of lead when I know that not every factory uses it, but as a mother I want my children to be safe. So I am making an extra effort this year to buy products made outside of China, preferably crafted by hand. I thought I’d share the sites that I have found:

Oompa Toys has a lovely selection of European toys (like the Holztiger frog prince above), and you can sort by toys made in Europe. They carry lots of other great brands and have a rewards program that allows you to receive discounts (though minimal). And if you sign up for their e-mails, you’ll frequently receive information about sales.

Another site that I love is The Wooden Wagon. Their toys are beautifully handcrafted and made mostly in the U.S. and Germany. Like the Rooster Rider, Stacking Bowls, and Forget-Me-Not Doll (pictured above) they have a large selection of old-fashioned handcrafted toys. They also have a large selection of Ostheimer figures, which are just beautiful.

Another great site is Willow Tree Toys. They specialize in Waldorf toys and have a good selection of these colorful and fun birthday rings (pictured above), which I think would make a fabulous present for a newborn. This is a gift that could be passed along to the grandkids. This site is also searchable by location of manufacturer.

How cool are these Cella Blue blocks? Fat Brain Toys carries a great selection of stacking and building toys, including Dado squares and cubes (made of plastic), Haba, Kapla, Roy Toy, and others. The site tells you where each of their products is made.

And of course, there’s Etsy. Handmade items that you can actually say were made by Santa’s elves without your kids saying “Does Santa shop at Target?”. These personalized recycled crayons (pictured above) are available at Story Blox, where you can also find a nice selection of beautiful song blocks and story blocks.

ITTY BITTY CUPCAKE COLLECTOR SET

You can find lots of amigurumi (small knitted or crocheted) toys and play food on Etsy for very reasonable prices — like this set of miniature cupcakes from Pukashell Creative Designs.

Some other sites:

Ten Thousand Villages: Not a wide selection on their site, but they have lovely stores around the country and practice fair trade on imported, handcrafted items.

Moolka: European toys. Lots of the same brands seen on Oompa.

Nova68: Beautiful (but expensive) modern toys and and home goods featuring some of the best European brands.

Hazelnut Kids: No plastic, no batteries! This is now a rule for toy selection in our house. The country of origin is listed for every product and there is a nice selection of toys made in the good ol’ US of A. Plus Stockmar art supplies.

Tree Hollow Toys: Wonderful selection of organic, fair trade and environmentally-friendly toys. Each product lists country of origin. Nice book selection as well.

Mahar Drygoods: Really, really cool vintage and handcrafted items. If you haven’t seen this site, you must check it out!

Quiet Hours Toys offers handcrafted toys from around the world and has a beautiful selection of plush and hand embroidered toys, like this adorable hedgehog:

Cool Mom Picks Safer Toy Guide 2007 also has a comprehensive list of safe toys and don’t miss the discounts at the bottom of the page! I’ll be adding to my list in the next few weeks and would love to hear about your finds for natural toys.

October 24, 2007February 28, 2008

Baby Blocks

I made these sweet baby blocks for our goddaughter’s birthday last week. They spell out her name on one side and have numbers on the opposite side. My inspiration was the blocks I saw over at Craftsbury Kids. So they would also be great with felt applique, but since I had the embroidery machine…well. Each one is filled with polyfill (though foam would have been a great alternative) and I put a plastic easter egg filled with various noisemakers in each one (duct taped for safety!).