When Halloween rolls around, I feel like a pumpkin hoarder. I gawk at pumpkins from taxi cab windows, I marvel at the ones with no blemishes, and I can’t help talking to the mini ones in a baby voice. Weird, I know, but it stems from my years as a stylist, when the Great Pumpkin Hunt for the most photogenic pumpkin is on!
I’m always attracted to these little dudes because, obv, they are so cute, and you can just pop a few in your purse and whip up a craft later.
When my new, awesomely creative assistant Clare (you’ll be hearing from her on the blog soon enough!) came up with Tic-Tac-Toe pumpkin idea, I knew I wanted to make it happen. So I grabbed 9 jack-be-littles, painted X’s and O’s on the top with acrylic paint, and made a board on the floor with painter’s tape! Or you can throw down some sticks in your backyard and play in the grass—a great game for a fall festival party or backyard Halloween fete.
Here’s a snappy little video I made with the help of my son, Oliver. Enjoy!
All of the DIY possibilities on Halloween can be a little intimidating, right? If you want to add a homemade touch to your child’s candy collecting experience, but don’t have time to craft the costume from head to toe, consider making one of these super-easy Halloween trick-or-treat bags!
1. (Above) Use tape on a simple canvas tote to create a pumpkin, skeleton, or bat. From Parents.com.
Pumpkin decorating very often involves sharp objects, precision, and muscle. If you have little people who are eager to help, those designs are pretty much off limits for anyone under the age of 12.
Here are three, no-carve pumpkin ideas I created for Parents magazine this year that only involve paint, pom-poms, and glue! I guarantee the first-aid kit will not be needed this year! Click over to Parents.com for the simple instructions…and for tons of other amazing Halloween fun!
I feel like the term Ikea hack is too commonly used. Therefore, I will not refer to these stools as an Ikea hack, but rather an Ikea upgrade?
I love how barebones some of their products are, like these simple Flisat stools that are perfectly sized for kids. They are just begging to be enhanced in some fabulous way! Here’s how I used our old Melissa & Doug wood blocks to create these sweet little critter chairs.
Paint 1.5” circles in two corners black. (Trace a roll of full washi tape to get a perfect circle!)
Adhere a piece of painters tape onto the angled surface of the wedge blocks, leaving about a ¾” border. Paint block and remove tape once the paint has set for about 20 minutes.
Assemble stool.
Glue ears in place as shown. Once the glue has set, about 2 hours, screw into the bottom of the stool and into the block to add further support.
Fox
Paint stool seat as shown. To create the scallop, mark the center of the stool about 2 to 3 inches up from the bottom edge, then trace an appetizer plate from that point to the outside edges.
Paint 1.5” circles in two corners black. (Trace a roll of full washi tape to get a perfect circle!)
Apply painters tape to the small triangle blocks to create the ears, leaving a ¾” border to paint orange.
Assemble stool.
Glue ears in place as shown. Once the glue has set, about 2 hours, screw into the bottom of the stool and into the block to add further support.
Living with two small kids in a small-ish Brooklyn, New York can be a challenge in so many ways. (You really don’t want to hear me count them.) There’s the toy storage dilemma, the clothing wrangling, and the sleeping arrangements of two kids under the age of six, sharing a room with very different taste in all things.
Five years ago, Parents magazine ran a story about the crafty ways in which I decorated my son Oliver’s nursery, and now, with a second kid and totally different needs, I set out to take that post-nursery hodgepodge of a room and turn it into something airy, bright and fun for both Oliver (age 6) and Sommer (age 4). And this time, FamilyFun Magazine, the sister to Parents, shared these photos on the pages of their August/September issue.
So much work went into this room and so many great companies helped me solve both form and function dilemmas. Stay tuned for more posts soon about why I chose specific products and why I made specific DIYs.
So excited to announce that my new book is now officially on sale! Project Kid: Crafts that Go! was born out of my son’s love for all things that go. For all those parents out there whose kids only want to play with planes, trains, and automobiles…this book will get them crafting. I promise!
If you tend to look down when you walk around the block, you’ve probably noticed the hipster invasion of studded sneakers like these. What you might not know is how easy as heck they are to make!
Click over to Ebay to read the full tutorial for these gold-i-licious sneakers that I made!
A simpler July 4th decoration has never existed before this one. No paint, no wet glue = no drying time! Glue dots are my savior for tons of crafts with kids and last minutes decorations for parties.
Cut a long piece of string—the length you want you final garland to be.
Stick a glue dot to one end of a popsicle stick and slip it under the string, a few inches from one end.
Stick another popsicle stick on top of that to seal the string in between the two. Then keep forming a star by using glue dots in between the ends of the sticks to create the classic five-point star. (You may need a glue dot or two in the middle of sticks where they cross for extra security.)
This project from my first book Project Kid was born out of two memories/bits of info. Curious? Read on.
Just want to make them? Scroll down for the how-to!
I used to work at a sleep-away camp, and we had a game called Hula Baloola, and the tag line was, where everyone’s a winner! So I made these decorative award ribbons with no number, no place, and no gold, silver, or bronze affiliation. They make a great gift for a mother’s day gift where you can write a name, add a heart, etc.
I had a t-shirt that had a screen print of a 2nd place ribbon in the top left shoulder area, where a name tag would go. When people asked me why it was a 2nd place ribbon and not 1st, I’d say because you took home first place. Cheesy? Sort of.
And now for what you really care about…
What you’ll need:
Drink-bottle caps
Cotton balls
Solid fabric
Hot-glue gun
Glitter glue (available at Michaels Stores)
Grosgrain ribbon
Scissors
Pin backs
Tacky glue
For each badge, glue cotton balls into the recessed part of a drink bottle cap. Glue three to four in a larger cap, and two to three in a smaller one.
Cut a circle of fabric large enough to wrap around the bottle top, lay the top in the center of the fabric, cotton-ball side down, and glue the fabric to the back (top) of the cap.
Decorate the front of the cap with glitter glue in any pattern.
Cut a 3- to 4-inch piece of ribbon, fold it in half to form an upside-down V, and glue the fold to the back of the cap. Glue a pin back just above the ribbon. Wear it proudly.
