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:

• 4″ tall plastic cup
• Scissors
• Yarn (a multi-colored yarn and yellow)
• 2″ styrofoam ball
• Magenta, gold, white, red, and black felt
• 2 white buttons
• Tacky glue
• Pipe cleaners

Make It:

1. Cut about 16 vertical slits in your cup (make sure it’s an even number and that they are relatively evenly spaced). Cut all the way to the bottom of the cup.
2. Weave the multi-colored yarn in and out of the cup slats starting at the bottom of the cup. Once you’ve made it all the way around, continue weaving, going under where you went over the last time. Keep weaving until you’ve made it to the top of the cup. Cut the yarn from the skein and tack it to the inside of the cup with a dab of glue.
3. Head: Wrap your Styrofoam ball in the yellow yarn until it’s completely covered. Glue the yarn ball to the bottom of the cup (open-side down).
4. Scarf: Cut a 12 by 1-inch piece of magenta felt and fringe each end about 1 inch. Wrap and tie the scarf around the turkey’s neck. (This will hide the bottom of the plastic cup.)
5. Beak: Fold a piece of gold felt and cut a 1″ skinny triangle on the fold. Glue the crease to the middle of the turkey’s head.
6. Feet: Cut 2 pieces of felt, about 3/4 x 1-inch and cut 2 slits in each piece to make the turkey’s tallons. Glue those pieces to the bottom of the cup.
7. Waddle: Cut 2 1-inch teardrop shapes from the red felt and glue them under the beak.
8. Eyes: Cut 2 small circles of black felt, glue them into the center of the white buttons, and glue above the beak.
9. Feathers: Cut about 6 feathers from the magenta, gold, and white felt. Glue a pipe cleaner down the middle of each. Glue the feathers to the back of the cup with the pipe cleaners facing towards the back.

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:

• 14-inch round foam wreath
• Spray paint
• Small black nails
• 3 colors of yarn (including black)
• Scissors
• 4 black pipe cleaners
• 1/2-inch white pom-poms
• Tiny black pom-poms
• Tacky glue

Make it:

1. Spray paint wreath and let it dry.
2. Insert 31 nails, evenly spaced, around the circle about 1 every inch.
3. Take the darkest yarn and tie it to nail number 1 (abitrarily chosen). Now loop the yarn around nail number 24 then to nail number 2 then to nail 25 until you have made it all the way around.
4. Take your next color and tie it onto nail 1 and loop it around nail 25, then 2, then 26, then 3, again until you have made it all the way around.
5. Tie your 3rd color to nail 1 and loop it around nail number 26, and so on. You notice that each level of yarn has created a narrower band around your wreath. Tie each yarn off on nail 1, knot, and trim.
6. To make the spider, wrap thick black yarn around your hand about 50 times and cut it from the skein.
7. Cut an 8-inch piece of yarn, slip the bundle off of your hand, and tie the yarn around the bundle securely.
8. Take all four pipe cleaners and slip them under the center tie and pull until they are even on each side.
9. Snip through all of the yarn loops, then trim the pom-pom until he is nice and round.
10. Glue small black pom-poms to white ones, and glue them in place as eyes. Glue spider to the wreath to cover nail number 1 where you tied off your 3 yarns.

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!