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!

CBS46 News

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.

Here are some pics of the cute kids making flowers all over the metro Atlanta area. Many thanks to Little Shop of Stories, Seed Factory, and the Children’s Museum of Atlanta for hosting me and supporting the book!

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!

1 Creature Comforts  /  2 Oh Happy Day  /  3 Urbanic Paper-Parcel Post