Kids Haus

Personlized Appliqued Pillow

Hey there! I hope you all had a great Easter. As spring in Seattle would have it, it rained from the moment we woke up to the time we went to bed. The early morning egg hunt left us all wet and soggy, especially my husband and I as we tried to follow the girls around our sloping front yard, trying to keep up as they searched for their hidden eggs, which is when I unfortunately discovered that my favorite rain boots had a hole in them. This was the first year that both girls' understood the Easter egg hunt concept -- C was a little too young last year, so we had the fortune of experiencing the magic through their eyes. So fun!

I haven't posted anything about my friend Jana in while -- she always tends to have a craft project or two up her sleeve . Remember her chore chart and concentration game? Well, she's done it again with an appliqued pillow case that she made as a birthday gift for her daughter's friend, Avery. I think giving anything with the birthday girl's name on it will add that extra special, birthday touch and I'm sure Avery already covets her personalized pillow case...really, who wouldn't? It's such a simple idea and one that will be remembered and used for years.

Easter Eggs

This year, we repeated our Easter egg dying process from last year simply because we loved the marbled finish. Now, I must admit that last years eggs looked a little fancier somehow. The marbling was more fantastic. The only reason I can hypothesize for the difference is that it was because we used food coloring this year vs. the color tablets from last year OR the temperature of the water wasn't warm enough. Either way, the girls' didn't know the difference and they turned out pretty, nevertheless (those are our eggs pictured below). We got the idea from Martha, of course...

Maria Lunate Downloads

Here in Seattle, we've had a LOT of snow for this little corner of the Northwest and when it snows, as a city, we  become paralyzed and unprepared. The streets are not well sanded nor plowed, so many of us don't leave our homes. It's kind of funny in some ways but the humor starts to wear off after you've been trapped inside for several days. I pulled the girls a couple miles up the road in our sled yesterday and it was so beautiful to be in the snow -- very peaceful. My husband got the car out today and is coming back to pluck us out of the house in a bit -- I know it sounds kind of silly, doesn't it?

So, if you're still looking for some fun little gifts, there is always a downloadable option! Maria Lunate has some adorable and inexpensive downloadable gift tags, calendars and a fantastic pop-up Little Red Riding Hood house ($3). Red's house would be the perfect way to spend some creative time if you're stuck indoors. It would also make a cute little surprise under the tree...

 

Custom Stamp

Realizing that we only have 12 days left until we celebrate Christmas and being that it was freeeezing cold in Seattle today (we've got a few flakes right now), we stayed inside and Bean and I decided to make our own gift tags while C took her nap. Bean drew one of her cute owls (upon my request) and I carved it into a rubber stamp. We stamped them on some standard packaging tags that I bought from an office supply store.

I used a rubber block that I bought from an art supply store, my trusty Lino cutting tool, an X-acto knife and stamping ink (we used silver and black).  Here's a nice how-to guide on making your own rubber stamps.

Amended 12/17: To answer Esther's question about how I transferred the owl image onto the rubber: I had Bean draw her owl on a piece of paper with a pencil. Then I took the paper, owl side down, onto the rubber and rubbed the back of it with my fingers. The carbon from the pencil transfers the image nicely onto the rubber block. Voila!

 

Paper Ball Ornament (in progress...)

Seems like we're really good at starting craft projects around here but it takes us several attempts to finish them. Case in point is this Paper Ball Ornament that I spied on Design*Sponge last week. It seemed like an easy and fun way to entertain a certain 6 year old I know. As you can see, ours looks vastly different than the one on Design*Sponge but you can't rush an artist. I put my own little spin on our paper ornament by having Bean write and draw personal thoughts and sketches inside the folds. The idea is that we'll store this ornament away when Christmas is over but we'll be able to pull it out of the ornament box next year when she's a year older; hopefully it will be intact for the next 20 years. She loved this concept and is slowly filling the pages up. Here are detailed instructions for the Paper Ball Ornament.

That's right, the top left image says, "I love Christmas. I love Santa."

Craft: Pipecleaner Snowflakes

Is anyone a bit shocked that the holiday season is in full swing already? Why do I get caught off guard like this? I saw Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer holiday special on TV last night and nearly panicked. It's funny to think that the "holiday season" is a 3 week stint this year -- there's seems to always be so much to do and so little time. I'd like to squash any bits of holiday stress right now and enjoy the next couple of weeks. I will continue to feature wonderful products, but you're eyeballs have probably seen so much that you're most likely feeling a tad overwhelmed ( I know I'm reaching that point). For the next couple of weeks, I'm going to introduce anecdotes and fun projects and ideas to enjoy the holiday season -- that's what it's all about anyhow! So, let's do it together and have fun with all of it. If anyone has any useful anecdotes, projects or crafts, send them along.

Here is a pipecleaner snowflake garland that the girls's and I started last weekend. We've got several more snowflakes to go but they petered out and were ready to move onto something else. We found sparkly pipecleaners at a local craft store but white ones would do just as well, then purchased a spool of clear string. I cut the pipecleaners into various lengths and criss-crossed them to make the asterisks symbol (like below), aka: the snowflake! Then I took a very small bit of pipecleaner and wrapped it around the middle of the snowflake to bind them all together.  Voila! The plan was to make several garlands and hang them along the window to mimic snowflakes falling. We'll see how far we get :).

Craft Season!

With the weather much colder than it was a month ago, we're spending a lot more time indoors and are much quicker to get restless. I have recently gone into full-force craft mode -- purchasing a plastic case with compartments and filling it with buttons, glitter glue, pipe cleaners, beads, hole puncher, etc. It's like a secret weapon, creating peace and harmony each time it is brought to the table. I drop an oil cloth down, open the craft box and we're in business! C doesn't quite know when to stop mounding the glitter glue on her projects but I really don't have any rules as long as it stays on the oil cloth.

On that note, I found these fantastic blank board books that allow kids to write and illustrate their own stories and the mushroom stamp is just too fun not to mention...merci!

Solstic Calendar

If this is not the most brilliant and beautifully executed solstice calendar! Michelle at the Green Kitchen has been organically creating her woodland scene, playing with different ideas as she moves along (the leaves are movable). I don't think you even need serious sewing machine skills to make one of your own. via The Crafty Crow

Cicada Studio

With over 12 years experience in the studios of the New York‘s men’s garment industry, Michelle from Cicada Studios has created her own line of textiles and has carried some motifs into stationery and wall calendars and is planning on expanding into other items in the near future (can't wait to see what she comes up with!). There's no question she's on the right path as a textile artist -- as you can see by her wonderful prints. I love the mushrooms and foxes particularly. Michelle has even pulled together a well-illustrated and easy-to-follow bib tutorial if you'd like to try your hand at crafting your own bib!

Shinzi Katoh Printed Tape

There's something that strikes a happy chord whenever I see one of Shinzi Katoh's illustrations. He's one of Japan's most famous artists and his illustrations are printed on so many products that I couldn't even begin to list them. With the holidays on the horizon, these marvelous rolls of tape printed with Shinzi Katoh's illustrations would be a fun surprise to decorate packages with. I typically use plain brown paper (post office style) and embellish with my own art or fluorishes and this tape would be ideal to perk things up.

 

A Few of My Favorite Things

Whenever the holidays are upon us, like clockwork, the song "These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things" pops into my head and is nearly impossible to shake (I'm not kidding!). So, instead of muffling that catchy tune, I've decided to embrace it and select a handful of my favorite things that I've found on my searches. These "things" will be unique and special and will hopefully help you in your quest for holiday gift giving. Enjoy...

1. Felted Woolen Booties
2. Wooden Rabbit Puzzle
3. Gustave, a pocket fairy tale. Book no.
4. Creature Mask - Little Fox
5. The Wooden Spool Doll Kit

The Mayberry Sparrow

I'm just about to put a couple of orders in for custom bookplate stamps as a birthday present for two of Ms. Bean's friends. Seems to me that 7 year old's start to appreciate personalization and seeing their name on things. A lovely stamp with my very own name and a bird beside it would have definitely been my favorites as a kid -- though every piece of furniture and wall might have been personalized. The Maybeery Sparrow has the sweetest selection of hand-carved stamps -- there are so many I love!

 

Back to School Fun...

We're in the thick of preparing for the return of the school year. It's bittersweet as summer fades into autumn and I won't see Ms. Bean as much as I've gotten used to. To transition with a little fun, here are a few back-to-school related things to get in the groove:

• The Homemade Study Center by the (always) classic Martha Stewart. I love this idea...it would be a fun afternoon craft project. The ideas are endless.
• The Sigg Aluminum Lunchbox is so utilitarian, it makes me want one. I'm all about scrapping plastic containers and replacing with aluminum or glass ones these days; lunchboxes are no exception.
• Pet & Zoo Rubberbands are genius! What a fun, new spin on plain rubberbands.

The Small Object

The Small Object has got a few new clothespin people that are absolutely darling -- and I don't often use that word. There's something about the Cherry Dress that struck a chord. It reminded me of summers as a child when my mom would hang a pair of cherries over my ears pretending they were earrings...which reminds me that I haven't shared this tradition to my daughters' yet!

While on the subject...I was quite honored to read that Sarah Neuberger from The Small Object took my post about Ms. Bean's toothpick & marshmallow sculpture and revised it into a more permanent sculpture. Yes, I'm sorry to report that Ms. Bean's sculpture had slowly...slowly collapsed until I secretly disposed of it. Sarah used highly toxic epoxy (not recommended for children) instead of marshmallows but readers had suggested using blue poster putty that would be a kid-friendly solution and should be more durable than marshmallows. I think we're going to give it a try. By the way, if you've never read The Small Object's Steno Pad -- it's become one of my new favorite reads. Loads of inspiration and amusement.

Concentration Game

Remember the craft swap I signed up for (see the flag banners)? I wanted to share Jana's craft idea since I'm compelled to make it a summer project for Ms. Bean. Jana's son loves to steal her camera and photograph everything, including posed stuffed animals -- remember doing that as a kid? So she put those photos to good use and made a concentration game out of them. Jana glued Karsten's photos onto a thin cardboard stock and voila...a fantastic, homemade game that would add a sense of pride. To finish it off, she also made that pretty little bag to stash all of the pieces in.

DIY: Flag Banners

I got an email from Jana about an organized craft swap for kids last month. So, without hesitation, I signed Ms. Bean up -- knowing that I would need to motivate and keep her on task (no problem!). We were assigned 2 girls ages 9 & 11...and that's when I froze. What does a 9 & 11 year old like? In then end, I recalled being that age and loving the freedom to decorate my own room. With such inspirations as Miko Design, I decided to make flag banners and Ms. Bean instantly agreed; however, it was hard to convince her that we had to send it to another little girl. So, I gathered whatever scraps of paper I could find around the house, found a ball of twine and started cutting and gluing triangles of paper onto our string. It was a fun project that we managed to throw together while Clara took her afternoon nap. Ms. Bean and I had an hour to ourselves where we got to be creative together.

Crea Baby Shoes DIY Kit

Crea Shoes DIY Kit is a concept that allows you the creative outlet to create a pair of baby shoes (0-3 months) without the learning curve. The kit is made in Italy and comes with pre-cut shapes, stitching and embroidery tutorials and suggestions on how to personalize your own baby shoes. These would be a fun baby gift to put together yourself and you can take (most of) the credit. I'm particularly fond of those little pom poms!

Chalk fun...

I didn't even know that chalkboard fabric existed (did you?) but Jessica Levin has taken this unique material and crafted some of the cutest dolls and mats to scribble with chalk. A fantastic idea for travel! Jessica's 6 year old daughter, Ayva Sunshine, even illustrated the rocket and fire-breathing dragon -- a little artist in the making.

DIY: Little Book

I was at the bookstore this weekend and found this nicely done craft magazine "101 Hip, Handmade Gifts" from the editors of Creating Keepsakes. The first several pages of the magazine were geared toward fun crafts that you could make for or with kids. This mini board book will be the perfect project to do with Ms. Bean during winter break (she is unstoppable when it comes to drawing and making her own books of paper and staples). You can purchase blank, pre-made mini board books from Creative Imaginations. All you have to do is come up with the artwork. Step 1. Create your own cover and inside images. Step 2. Cut to size. Paint boardbook edges with acrylic paint to match your cover. Step 3. Use adhesive to secure the cover and the pages to the book. (Easy!)

The Pull String Person

With the holidays underway, this adorable Pull String Person from The Small Object is perfect for storing twine or string to wrap those packages. This could also make a great gift for Ms. Bean to add to her arsenal of art supplies.

Maki Squarepatch

You could easily spend hours perusing Maki Squarepatch's site with all of their quirky, hand-made items. They've got everything from stuffed toys, purses, small pouches, clothing, holiday ornaments and so on. All of their goodies are about recycling discarded, unwanted items and breathing new life into them so that they become treasures for someone else to love. You can't help but feel happy when looking at everything that they've created.

Holiday Gift Idea

I would selfishly love Ms. Bean to  love this Brio's Weaving Loom but I just don't know if she's ready for it yet. She's five and gets distracted easily and may not have the patience required BUT she's capable of surprising me and proving me wrong. I may end up getting it anyhow and if she doesn't like it then I'll just weave some napkins or make doll blankets (right?).