Since her birthday in September, Laurel has had her heart set on acquiring a Doinkit Dartboard, and she was fortunate to receive one for Christmas from one of her aunties. And the dartboard has been a big hit, not just for Laurel, but, well, for the grownups too. The lightweight board's magnetic darts make dart tossing safe and kid-friendly, and the magnetic attraction is wonderfully forgiving for those with less than stellar aim.Since her birthday in September, Laurel has had her heart set on acquiring a Doinkit Dartboard, and she was fortunate to receive one for Christmas from one of her aunties. And the dartboard has been a big hit, not just for Laurel, but, well, for the grownups too. The lightweight board's magnetic darts make dart tossing safe and kid-friendly, and the magnetic attraction is wonderfully forgiving for those with less than stellar aim.
One thing that I quickly learned with Laurel is that her level of content is completely different depending on whether I'm doing something not-so-present such as, say, checking my e-mail vs. crafting alongside her. Of course, her favorite kind of time is when we're working on the same project (e.g., we're finishing a really crazy quilt right now -- Laurel has become impressively facile with my sewing machine!), but when she's working on something like latch hook or pot holders, I'm kind of left hanging. So I've been thinking of -- and getting excited about -- revisiting knitting.
Laurel recently has become obsessed with jumping rope, which has proven to be fantastic entertainment and exercise both on the playground at school and at home (often times indoors even, which I am OK with right now since it helps Laurel burn off energy). I bought her a lovely, eco-friendly Green Toys jump rope this past summer while we were in Maine and admittedly was a little disgruntled when she instead wanted a sparkly, pink, plastic jump rope that her friend had, even though the natural coils in the plastic made it harder to jump with.
Last week on Life.Style, as I discussed inspiration points for easy and inexpensive gift wrap, I shared a link with photos of lovely recycled paper garlands. I decided to craft these garlands the other night and it was so easy (3 steps!) and they came out beautifully; I love that you don't have to be too precise with the measurements and they still look so geometric and festive. My friend Christie asked for the how-to since a tutorial isn't available at the original inspiration link. Here's how to make them:
Given that my parents used to subject their household visitors to impromptu recitals by me and my six siblings (at a point where none of us were exactly musically proficient), I tend to cringe a little when I think of family recitals. However, recently I was overwhelmed by the awesome that was Laurel's assembly of a family recital, thanks to these fantastic Kidsplay handbells that my mother-in-law had on hand.
If you didn't have a chance to watch episode 5 of Life.Style live on Thursday, I highly recommend you check it out! It was a fantastic eco and budget friendly episode, in which Marie LeBaron of Make and Takes shared ideas for turning trash into craft treasure as well as nature inspired projects, and Allison Czarnecki of Petit Elefant offered awesome how-to's on home beauty remedies using five ingredients or less. I also shared some terrific video submissions showcasing clever ideas for inexpensive gift wrapping, as well as a few of my own inspiration points. Check out the segment to see additional images, video, and inspiration, but as promised, for easy reference below I link up leads shared by me and my guests. Enjoy!
Hands down, my best investment this year has been my DSLR and 50mm lens; having a great camera has inspired me to learn a new craft and take more photos of my loved ones. (Also, my camera/lens is known amongst my friends as the "hot camera" since everyone looks utterly fantastic photographed through it.) And so it's no wonder that I've been keen on protecting my investment. I adore the beautiful women's DSLR handbags currently on the market, but they do feel a bit permanent for someone who likes to switch bags as frequently as I do. So I recently decided to create a little bag (a camera cozy as it were) to tote my DSLR in bag du jour, and I'm honored that my DSLR camera cozy tutorial is now featured on the lovely Craft website. Enjoy!
Thanks to Kate's recommendation, it looks like life list item #6 ("learn to sew a piece of clothing, i.e., something that doesn't only involve right angles") is within my grasp:
I never really got on the Martha Stewart bandwagon so I didn't suffer disappointment about the whole tax-evasion/time-in-prison thing. When I decided to take up sewing last year, however, a favorite blog led me to an announcement about Martha's new compendium on fabric arts, so I decided to give her a try. And wow, was I ever impressed.
Laurel recently has gotten into headbands (which is great because her fine hair is prone to flyaways that get stuck in food and art projects), and we've struck out on a couple of attempts to find a flower headband she likes. I was about to jump down the Etsy rabbit hole (or hit the craft store and warm up my glue gun) when we stumbled upon this fashion headbands kit. We originally bought the kit for a friend's birthday, and then Laurel decided to use a birthday gift card for her own kit, and it has been a huge hit.
As I mentioned last week week, Laurel wanted a unicorn party for her sixth birthday. It suits me perfectly that she prefers small gatherings at home; we hosted a super fun unicorn party that was pretty low maintenance while still being utterly unicorn-tastic. Below is the how-to for pulling the party together. And thematically, you could swap elements to tailor the party to your child's interests (e.g., horses, dinosaurs, fairies, etc.). Enjoy!
As a designer, it feels like a huge gift to have a daughter who digs crafts; we're always working on something, be it in my studio (when the sitter bailed yesterday, I taught Laurel to screen print!) or the kitchen (Laurel wants to be the next Ace of Cakes). This summer I thought it would be fun to have a creative project to chip away at once school was out. Check out my how to quilt with kids guest tutorial at Craft, which includes photos of what Laurel and I have come up with so far.
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from Lela via e-mail:
Dear Christine, I am a first time mom and my son is now just about 9 months old. It's a great time because he's learning to be more observant and responsive. We love tickle time and baby talk but I think we are ready for the next step, developmentally. I would like to start engaging him in other ways that are still fun for both of us. Any ideas?
Today, Kate recommends a cool craft supply that little artists no doubt will go crazy over:
My daughter loves nothing more than to make art in all of its various forms. Give her pipe cleaners, tape, a few markers, and a ball of yarn and she'll make something full of imagination and all her own. She is voracious with art supplies and, though we've got loads of markers and crayons, I'm always looking for something new to spark her creativity.
Next month will mark the second year of living in our not so new, new house, and we are just getting around to hanging things on the wall. Seriously. Part of the delay is attributable to uncertainty (and repeated testing) about where furniture should finally land, and part because some wall hangings required crafting. A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to assembling inspiration boards for my office and my workspace is now approaching a cosmic level of awesome. Read on for the how-to; these boards would be great in other areas of the home as well.
I've long been a proponent of gardening with kids, but that wasn't the only reason I adored the hands on, tchochke-free garden(ing) party my friend Nicola (of teddy bear tea party fame) assembled for her daughter's sixth birthday party. You will totally want to copy this awesome idea.
Today, Kate shares a couple of leads for kids who go bonkers for balloons:
We've never been one for big birthday celebrations in my family, and we've kept my daughter's parties similarly low key. For her most recent birthday (her 4th), I wanted to do something special that would neither break the bank nor cause too much fuss, and settled on the idea of hiring a balloon twister. I love balloon animals, and find the people who make them to be artists with nerves of steel, always moments away from having a creation pop in their hands (and in front of their young audiences).
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from Perri via Facebook:
Hello Boston Mamas, I'm (relatively) new to Boston and am looking for a great photographer to take some photos of my one year old. I'm looking for color and black & white, maybe some shots at Boston Common, and yes, at least one with the [Make Way for] Ducklings statues. Any suggestions?
I'm not sure what it is with kids and face paint, but when I mentioned to Laurel that there would be a face painter at Down:2:Earth, she immediately was on board about coming with me. Face painting was, in fact, our first stop at the expo and I was impressed with Jill Reed of Baja Face Painting. Friendly yet gentle in approach towards my initially shy girl, Jill queried Laurel on favorite colors then went to work on creating a fantastic full-face monarch butterfly with sparkling accents (to complement the costume Laurel put on in anticipation of said face painting).