I wasn’t sure exactly how to title this post without being uncouth. Ma Cacabane is the ultimate item ever for the more private youngster in our lives: an entertaining, well-designed porta-potty. Well, it’s just the four walls, but it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen!

Found via Minor Details.

Planning a backyard Halloween party? Check out these fun games and adorable (if I do say so myself) decorations that I designed for this month’s Parents magazine.

I made homemade stencils and spraypainted the letters to the broom bristles. Seriously, my favorite Halloween decoration ever!

Have a bone hunt: paint a bunch of dog bones white and one orange and send the kids on a mission to find them. The one that finds the orange one wins a special prize.

Wrap a bunch of boxes in black paper and make windows, doors, and shingles using yellow post-it notes. Have a contest with the kids to see who can build the tallest haunted house.

Make a spooky street sign with scrap wood and black paint.

Give your pumpkins some personality by dressing them up for the occasion!

This old fashioned game never goes out of style! Put grapes, noodles, and baggies of pudding in glass bowls, blindfold the kids and have them guess what they are touching!

I’m totally amazed at the cool effect this produces…Recyclart featured these basic jars striped with vintage zippers (I’ve been wondering what I could do with all of mine :). The repetitive texture makes for a unique surface; it almost looks like a gorgeous woven textile for a split second. To be honest, I’ve never explored the creative applications of zippers…now I’m intrigued…

Found via Katie Brown‘s Twitter feed.

I think the only way to get back is just to jump in feet first. I can’t believe that five weeks have passed since I last blogged but these 35 days days have seemed like one long day, broken up into three hour increments when my son wakes from his naps.

But I am vowing to rejoin the blogging world…I miss my daily perusals and posts! So here’s my soft re-entry.

I’m so in love with these urban quilts—Soft Maps by Haptic Lab. They are cities and neighborhoods, stitched in quilt form. They are no chump change…the throws are $2,400 a piece, but they are so intricate with their accuracy that I get it. The one above is Manhattan (must have wooden pieces), and below are Park Slope, Brooklyn (my neighborhood—holla!) and Washington, DC.

Spotted via Say Yes to Hoboken.

I seriously can’t believe that 2 weeks have gone by since I last blogeed. I do have a good excuse—our sweet baby boy decided to make an early appearance in this world. Oliver Fisher Cohen was born on August 29th at 9:19am. He was almost 6 weeks early, so the contractions took us by surprise, but he’s here, happy, and healthy!

Here is a pic of Oliver laying on a blanket that my talented mother knitted for him.

Back to regularly scheduled blogging next week!