I constantly peruse fashion jewelry online and in stores and say “I’m not going to buy that because I can make it.” I’ve been saying it for years, but how many pieces of jewelry do you think I’ve made for myself? Yep. Zero.
Bracelets are my accessory of choice lately (mine and my 2-year-old daughter’s), so I thought I’d give my husband some hints as to what he, Oliver, and Sommer can craft for me this week in their spare time.
1 I’ve always loved the nautical rope bracelet, and Love Meagan shows us how to give it an ombre makeover.
2 Honestly WTF is the frontrunner in homemade jewelry that doesn’t actually look it. I thought these woven chain bracelets were easy enough for Michael and the kids to tackle. (I’m so subtle.)
3 The easiest of the bunch, these bracelets are made from wooden craft sticks and scrapbook paper. If you soak the sticks in water and then curve them in a glass, they can bend like rubber. Anticipation Cards shows you everything you need. (Michael, the popsicle sticks are in the top right corner of the cabinet by the door.)
4 We can’t talk about homemade jewelry and forget the ever-popular bead! Playful Learning shows you how to string the beads on colorful stretch cord. Love this because they are big enough for little hands to handle.
I’m on a mission this Mother’s Day. I want to steer all gift givers—husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends, children—to what we, as moms, really want for Mother’s Day. I’d never scoff at flowers, breakfast in bed, or a massage, but I love the idea of getting something that is specific to my family, but shakes up the traditional family photo a bit.
Check out these 4 very creative ways to commemorate your family as they are now. (For the procrastinators reading this 6 days before Mother’s Day, you’ll have to give mom an IOU if you want most of these by Sunday.)
1 Dandelyne will create a custom-embroidered family portrait of your family either in an embroidery hoop or on a pendant.
2 Last year, I commissioned Alessandra Olanow to illustrate a portrait of my family. It hangs in our foyer—one of the first things people see when they enter our apartment.
3 Get a little crafty and make your family portrait out of perler beads (you can now buy them on Michaels.com!). Found via Sweet Potatoes.
4 How cute would these little wooden people look sitting on a bookshelf or windowsill? Zime will hand-paint them to match your family.
When I really start to think about Barbie, her impossible proportions, and her obsession with beauty, I’m quite disturbed. As I’m scrolling through the selection of shows with my kids on Netflix and they see the Barbie icon, I always hear “that one, that one.” And I’m talking about a 3.5 year old boy and a 2 year old girl. The first time they asked for it, I thought it was cute so I said okay. And then I watched the thing. The entire episode was about flirting and shopping and bragging and over-consumption in general. In that moment, I actually felt I’d rather let Oliver watch Transformers (which he’s been dying to watch) over this.
And then yesterday I saw this awesome contest for the Lottie doll on Cool Mom Picks. As CMP put it, Lottie is all about girls being girls and having a positive body image. She looks like a girl, bends like a girl, is a great size for little hands, and can stand on her own two feet — a pretty useful function. No stilettos for her.
And here’s why we over at Project Kid got excited…the makers of the doll are having a contest for Lottie’s superhero outfit, and they are calling for submissions from kids 10 and under to design this costume. Check out the app on the Lottie Facebook page for instructions. How cool would it be for your child’s design to get manufactured for Lottie dolls everywhere? It’s like Project (Mini) Runway. I love the drawings at the top that I found on Facebook.
You only have until May 7th, so download the template and design away!
It was a whirlwind 3 days, but totally worth it! I travelled (with husband and 2 kids in tow) to our hometown of Atlanta, GA for 3 Project Kid craft events and book signings. Along with that came 2 local morning shows where I got to show off some crafts from the book! On Better Mornings, I made the Bottle Rocket craft from the cover of the book with Jennifer Valez, and on Atlanta & Co, Christine Pullara and I made the paper flowers that I crafted with the kids at the local venues.
When I first told the publicity team at Artisan about Seed Factory, they said their website looked like a page from my book. A bigger compliment could not have been paid. Rachel styles that store like nobody’s business, and I spent 2 of the most relaxing hours greeting, crafting, signing, and visiting with old and new friends.
After seeing the amazingly creative facility at the Children’s Museum of Atlanta, I couldn’t imagine that any kid would stop whatever awesome activity they were doing to come and craft. But we had a nice little crowd over at the red tables, making flowers on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Picture this…Friday afternoon, 75 degrees, sunny, 4:30pm at a bookstore. Sleepytown you might think? But no! Little Shop of Stories brought a packed house of young crafters to make flowers as a pre-weekend treat. The books sold like hotcakes! One of the employees of the store spent quite a bit of time making a crafty window display from the book. I was super-impressed (and glad to see that my directions were clear!).
I know, I know, it may be a bit cliche to post about flower crafts for Mother’s Day, but I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for flowers and a big-time sucker for kids’ crafts (duh, I wrote a book about ’em). While I won’t deny that I’d love a massage, a clean playroom, and breakfast in bed on May 11th (Michael, are you reading this?), I still crumble at the sight of a homemade gift.
Keep your eye out for fun gift ideas over the next few weeks! And feel free to send me your partner’s email address and I’ll be sure to keep him informed!
ps…The best present of all for Mother’s Day is a gift that keeps on giving—a mega craft book that keeps the kids happy and busy for months!
My Project Kid book tour would not have been complete without a stop in Atlanta. And not only do I get to share my book at one store, but 3 awesome venues…a bookstore, a clothing/toy and all-around amazing shop, and a kids’ museum!
I’m really excited to see friends and family…faces that I miss on a daily basis and people that I haven’t seen in years. And of course any new folks that come just for their natural love of craft.
Friday, April 25 at 4:30 pm: Little Shop of Stories
I’ve never been to Little Shop of Stories, but judging by the look of the place, I don’t think I (or my kids) will want to leave! A perfect activity to do to end the week.
Saturday, April 26 at 1:00pm: Seed Factory
Seed Factory is one of my favorite stores for kids in Atlanta…I even bought the dresses for my flower girls there! Here’s my advice…leave your kids to me so we can craft while you shop.
Sunday, April 27 at 3:00pm: Children’s Museum of Atlanta
What better place to craft than at the Children’s Museum of Atlanta? Explore the exhibits and then come make fun a lovely paper flower. Or vice versa.
Plus, on Friday morning, tune into Atlanta & Co on NBC at 11:00 am and Better Mornings Atlanta on CBS at 9 am for a craft demo from Project Kid!
Get it? Earth Day – Birthday? In celebration of the year’s most important commemorative holiday (yes, my friends, our planet needs some massive TLC), here are 3 projects that help put an end to one of the most wasteful craft exploits of our day—gift wrap.
Instead of wasting money and trees on something that is going to be ripped and tossed in 32 seconds flat, use something colorful that you have laying around in spades: magazine and catalog pages. Here are 3 stylish and totally beautiful ways to give your FamilyFun Magazine a second, albeit short, life.
I had the pleasure of filming this craft segment for People.com with the 4 young, extraordinary stars of Matilda the Musical on Broadway. They sent me to see the show (don’t miss it if you are in New York…I’m serious!) and asked me to think about Easter egg projects that relate to the production or story.
I must admit, I was a little nervous. What if I didn’t like the show? What if I was totally uninspired? What if I fell asleep? (Totally possible these days.) Well, the complete opposite happened. I scribbled notes, words, and sketches on a piece of paper and all over the Playbill in the dark and snuck a phone pic when I could. The music, the set, the voices, the children…everything was so creatively executed and beautifully designed.
Matilda’s first love in the world is books, and there’s a scene when her father rips one of her treasures. So I thought, what if we could teach Matilda to turn a bruised book into something else that’s beautiful? So we took a damaged book (and a Playbill) and decoupaged eggs with its torn pages. Then we added glue dots and glitter to make it even happier and festive.
I could really go on and on about what an amazing experience it was to work with Ava, Ripley, Gabby, and Paige, but really, you should just watch the video for yourself; I think you’ll see how much fun we had. And for the instructions on how to make the egg, visit People.com.
Just 9 days after the launch of Project Kid, I have attended 4 craft events/book signings at 2 stores in my home borough of Brooklyn, NY, 1 store in New Jersey, and 1 in Connecticut. While I thought I’d be exhausted after this junket, I’m conversely so energized and excited to see my book out in the world, making kids happy!
We’ve been making cupcake-liner carnations (obviously because this late spring has forced us to craft our own flowers) and more often than not, I hear “Can I make another one?”
Easter eggs have become a favorite blank canvas for me recently. For years, they completely intimidated me. They were so small, so fragile, and I thought everything had been done. But after doing many an Easter egg craft story this year, I fell in love with the egg.
FamilyFun Magazine asked me to do this lovely story, teaching readers how to use beets, onion skins, and cabbage to create various egg dyes.
Visit FamlyFunMag.com to learn the recipes for these natural Easter egg dyes. And once the eggs are beautifully colored, paste leaves, petals, and feathers to the eggs with Mod Podge to the shell’s surface.
Decorating eggs with bits of nature is a great way to celebrate Spring!
I constantly peruse fashion jewelry online and in stores and say “I’m not going to buy that because I can make it.” I’ve been saying it for years, but how many pieces of jewelry do you think I’ve made for myself? Yep. Zero.
Visit 
Decorating eggs with bits of nature is a great way to celebrate Spring!