You may not realize it, but your kids do—tomorrow marks the final 10-day countdown to December 25th. Need some distractions to make the time fly by? Starting tomorrow, come and visit daily for some new and spontaneous ideas!
It’s been almost 2 years in the making, but my book, Project Kid, is ALMOST here! After months of crafting, then months of copy editing, my first kids’ craft book is at the printer, on its way to being a real, 3-dimensional object. While it looks like it actually exists by the look of the photo, this is actually a digital rendition that Artisan made for the publicity materials.
To my patient blog readers who have dealt with my comings (having a baby) and goings (having another one just 18 months later) and my very erratic posts, I promise there is much to look forward to!
Please LIKE my page on Facebook, and you can go to the Artisan Books website to read more!
Ok, so I often read about new toys or products being developed, and I think, wow, that’s a smart person. I want to be that person, or at the very least, know her. I read about this great new product Toy Mail this weekend on The New York Times and not only did I read the article from beginning to end, but I actually gave money to their Kickstarter campaign.
Here’s how it works. You download an app to your iPhone and record a message. You hit send and it delivers that message to one of these cute little critters (adorably named and ironically shaped like a streetside mailbox). Your kid, at least one old enough to push a button, gets an alert and then can push the button to hear the message, and even press another button to record one back.
And then, there’s the story of the co-founders and best friends, Gauri Nanda and Audry Hill. Nanda created Clocky and then pulled in her BFF, registered nurse, and mother of 3 Audry (no background in product design) to work on this with her. Love that!
I’m always on the hunt for turkey Thanksgiving crafts that feel fresh and new. And strangely, it’s kinda hard to find really good ones. First off, they are always brown, yellow, orange, and red and they are usually made from construction paper glued to a pinecone or a hand cut-out. Now I have no issue with those colors, or those materials for that matter, but I feel that the turkey craft deserves a little more attention, don’t you?
Being that Thanksgiving is in the crisp season of fall, I always feel that a turkey craft should feel warm and cozy, so this cutie is made primarily of felt and yarn. Wanna make one? Here’s how!
What you’ll need:
Make It:
Here are a few details:
Check out a few other adorable turkey crafts on my FamilyFun blog, Everyday Fun!
I have been known to love a wreath in my day, and more than ever, I feel that Halloween is a very wreath-worthy holiday. Now that my kids are of the Halloween-appreciation age, I’m so into making Halloween crafts (Full disclosure: I used to not be the biggest fan of crafting for this day!).
Like many other pinners on Pinterest, I am obsessed with string art! And I must say, it is so beyond fun to do. It looks hard and tedious but I swear to you it’s not! Scroll down to read how to make this wreath and the super cute and friendly pom-pom spider!
What you’ll need:
Make it:
I know, I know…it’s been an eternity. I keep promising to blog regularly, but I keep getting distracted by other craft projects, magazine stories, and blogs! Speaking of blogs, I’ve started blogging on Parents.com at a blog called Everyday Fun. Check it out! It’s very, well, FUN!
Now, back to the good stuff…Halloween! I love pumpkins and I’ve done my fare share of complicated carvings and etchings. But with 2 toddlers and too much work, I have no time or patience for a big production. So here are 3 super-fun, 5-minute pumpkin decorating ideas!
1. I’m obsessed with these neon spikes that I found at M&J Trimming. Just glue them on with E6000 for a strong bond. Punk-kins? Yep, I think that’s their official name.
2. My son and I were at the farmer’s market last weekend and he picked out this pumpkin that he wanted to bring home. It sat naked on the kitchen table for a few days and I realized it needed some flair. So I looked around the room and spotted a Mr. Potato Head body part…there it is. Oliver and I picked out the features to make this guy! I thought it was a genius idea of mine until I discovered that the Mr. Potato Head people already thought of it. But for a quickie decorating job, just use what you have (and change his features daily)!
3. Spray paint a pumpkin and glue on some faux antlers! I bought these at Jamali Gardens, but I’m sure you can find them at your local Michaels.
Literally, none of these guys took more than 5 minutes (except the spray paint took about 20 to dry). And they all feel unique and playful!
Wait! Stop! You’re in the right place, I swear! Let me explain…
As most of my dear readers know, I’ve been working on a kids craft book for the last year or so, and finally, it’s done! Yay! Well, my portion is done, least of which was the selection of the title.
(drum roll…….)
Welcome to PROJECT KID! It’s the name of my book, and now my blog, and hopefully the name of many crafty endeavors in the future.
For the time being, not much is going to change here except the name. The content, aesthetic, ideas, and point of view will be the same as The Violet Hours has been for the last three years.
I’m super excited for the changes afoot…only the best is yet to come!
Ok, before diving straight into a new post about something lovely, creative, and amazing, I want to just recap the last 2 (or so) months of silence. What may seem like a “vacation” or “break” was nothing of the sort. Here’s a quick synopsis…
And now, 2 weeks later, I’m resuming my blog posts! I’m so excited to be blogging again…I have so much to catch up on!
{The photos are all from my photoshoot!}
I am so so sorry for my long absence of late, but I’m in the final days crafting for my book and even a spare hour to blog is impossible to carve out.
So…I promise I will be back in a few weeks with more great posts, and even some sneak peaks into the world of producing a 100+ project craft book!
Don’t give up on me…great things are on the horizon!
(Here is a photograph of my son Oliver “helping Mommy work.” His understanding of work is going to be very hard to clarify.)