These days I’m so busy with work, I don’t have much time for my much loved little creative projects (sewing, baking, drawing). But I love looking at craft and cooking blogs instead! Joel Henriques is a Portland-based artist who has two little kids and does the most amazing craft projects with them. Just have a look at his blog — these yo-yo balls are so sweet, and this design-tree-toy is to die for! Or this doll house…
If you have a printer at home you can print these cool designs for your kids to colour (just click on the picture to go to the original post for the download). I really love them!
Check out this YouTube video featuring Julie from Famille Summerbelle cutting out, by hand, her New York map. I saw it on the Famille Summerbelle website and could not resist writing about it. The whole thing took 20 hours to make, but don’t worry, the video only lasts 2 minutes. It is seriously insane to watch — I personally would have sliced off the tip of my finger in the first minute….
I really like watching someone work with pen, paper and scaple instead of a computer, just like in the good old days.
I also have to say that I have a real soft spot for Julie’s work, especially her cut-out maps. They are lovely and full of little details which are acute observations of the cities on the maps.
If you have a sewing machine, this Valentines decoration is easily made, and my kids really liked the project!
Just potato-stamp hearts on paper; I used recycled paper but you can use any sort really, even newspaper. No need to be perfect here, my 2-year-old had quite some production going. Let the paint dry and cut the hearts out. Again, slightly outside the outline of the stamp is fine, my 4-year-old girl was perfectly capable of doing it all herself! How typical for this age…
My machine had black thread in it and I didn’t bother changing it. I think it actually looks quite nice like this. Make sure to leave some thread at the ends for attaching!
My daughter’s bed looked lovely instantaneously! (The wallpaper bird is from Inke, more about that later.)
xxx Esther
P.S. Inspiration for this project came from Maya*Made
I can’t believe my daughter has just turned one — time has flown. Now I know a one-year-old might not appreciate a proper birthday party, but I can’t resist one. And in the spirit of being ‘girly’ there was nothing for it but a fairy tea-party, to be more specific The Toadstool Tea (for those of you unfamiliar with fairy-lore, The Toadstool Tea is a secret party for all the fairies, elves and imps to celebrate the Fairy Queen’s birthday. It takes place under the thicket deep in the middle of the forest (according to Mo)).
Toadstools, it turns out, are not only a really great theme for a party but also rather fashionable. In my month or so of preparation I saw them everywhere (I couldn’t resist adding a cute Toadstool money box from Cath Kidston (stores only) and this adorable Shinzi Katoh print to her presents). Toadstools also make for a fun theme because they are easy to draw and craft. Here are some other toadstool ideas…
I made felt toadstools for the invitations (super easy) and Fimo toadstools for decoration (super, super easy and fun — haven’t Fimo’d for years!)
The fairies ate Toadstool Cupcakes (vanilla cupcakes with bright red vanilla icing from the very brilliant Primrose Bakery Cupcake Cookbook decorated with white chocolate drops) and each got a Toadstool cookie in their goody-bag, made using this recipe and this Toadstool cutter. I did also make Toadstools using quail’s eggs and half a tomato perched on top, dotted with mayo but Mums and Dads seemed to go for these rather than kids.
We had a lovely day and who wouldn’t with their house all a flutter with 1 – 3 year-old girls and boys all dressed up as fairies and elves?
Thankfully my 6-year-old niece and God-daughter, Helene, is into all things crafty. Therefore she is my outlet for all the exciting ‘make & do’ gifts I find and fall in love with, as my own children are a bit too young for most of them. As she is German (and my Deutsche is not too great) I really enjoy sitting down with her to draw, paint or make something. Last week she showed me how to make these colourful Christmas stars — she had made loads in different sizes and colours and they looked fantastic on the window in their kitchen.
They are really easy to make and actually look really stylish cluttered together on a window. To make them you need two (or more) sheets of coloured transparent paper, cut into the same sized squares. And here’s how to make them…
Firstly you need to create various folds on the squares — fold the sides to meet both horizontal and vertical then create diagonal folds by folding corner to corner. Then you need to fold each side into the centre fold. Eight folds in all — I have drawn out a guide to help you (excuse my handwriting!). Then you need to make four cuts one from the edge of each centre fold to the point when the other fold crosses it. Now at each corner fold the edge of the paper to meet the fold in the centre of the corner to create four points. (Are you following me or have I said the word ‘fold’ too many times?)
Repeat this with a second sheet of the same sized paper (this looks nice if in a contrasting color or the same colour) then dab a bit of glue, in the centre, on the back of the first paper and stick down the second one at an angle so you have an 8-point star. Remember to have both the smooth sides facing out together. You can obviously do this with more sheets of paper to create a 12-point or even 16-point star. Sellotape them to a window in a cluster.
If you’re looking for an original AND environmentally friendly way to wrap your Christmas presents, and you’re moderately handy on a sewing machine, maybe these home sewn gift-bags are something for you! I made them for my Godson and his big brother for Hanukkah, filled them with their presents and sent them off to London. They’re really quite simple to make, and I like the fact that they can be re-used as pyjama-bags, toy-bags, sports-bags or the like. I made mine approximately 25 x 35 cm finished (about 10″x14″), and used Bondaweb to iron the letters (remember to cut out mirrored letters!).
My kids and I are with my family in Seattle for the holidays and we’re busy preparing everything for Christmas (my boys insisted that my parents wait for them to decorate the Christmas tree)! While going through all the old ornaments, we discovered these darling clothespin reindeer ornaments that my siblings and I made when we were little. I think they’re so cute — both on the tree (you just clip them onto a tree branch), and also as a present-topper to add a little bit of festive cheer to gifts.
We decided to make a new ‘generation’ of clothespin reindeer, and it turned out to be a pretty easy project once we got all the necessary craft pieces. (Can I just say that American craft stores are so impressive. I was like a kid in a candy shop in our local Michaels!)
Here’s what you need to make your own reindeer:
-Non-roll clothespins (2 for each reindeer)
-Paint (brown and white)
-Paintbrush
-super glue
-googly eyes (small)
-red pom-poms (small)
-thin green ribbon
-little bells (optional)
Paint the bottom clothespin brown (for the body) and paint the top clothespin half brown for the face and half white for the antlers (see photo). Glue the clothespins together as shown in photo above. Glue the googly eyes and red pom-pom onto the reindeer’s face.
Loop a green ribbon into a little bell and tie a bow. Glue the bow to the clothespin, just below the reindeer’s chin.
It’s such a great thing to do art projects with kids. They really enjoy it, and it’s so fantastic to see them explore their creative skills. My 4-year-old is especially fond of craft projects, and she’s getting really good at them too!
Sometimes, though, I admit that my life is a bit too hectic to plan around complex art projects. I always have the best intentions, but I just end up without the right materials, without a great idea, or simply without the time to plan the whole thing. And this is exactly why Eye Can Art is SUCH a great idea!
Every Eye Can Art kit is completely developed by professional art teachers and provides everything you need for a fantastic and original art project (including scissors!). There are currently four art projects in the range, and there’s enough material in every box to repeat the project multiple times.
My daughter invited her neighbour the other day to road test one of the kits, and within an hour they finished the two self portraits pictured (and two more prints), and, with my guidance, were able to do all the steps needed by themselves! The instruction booklet was very easy to understand, and also gives very useful background information to the children, in our case what print-making exactly means, and examples by professional artists who use the same techniques in their work.
I’m seriously impressed by these kits and am planning to never be without one again — they’re just so great to have around. And, I also think they make fantastic gifts for birthdays… or for under the Christmas tree!
In the US, Eye Can Art kits are available through the website; for the rest of the world, you can use the Etsy site.
I know I haven’t known you long but I’m so sure you will empathise with the fear and dread I have of lugging my 2-year-old boy and 11-month-old girl around the shops to do Christmas shopping.
So this year I’m doing as much as possible online and one of my favourite places to do this is Cox & Cox.
They have just launched their new toy box section which is bursting with great ideas for kid’s presents — I’ve ordered Nellie for my daughter (her trunk goes up and she trumpets!), and presents for almost all our various nieces and nephews (ages 1 to 12).
They also have lovely gifts for adults and a creative diva section for fabulous wrappings, ribbons and stamps.
Enjoy 10% off your order from now until Christmas Eve when you enter BABY12 at check-out!
I remember making these angels when I was little; they’re so simple and so lovely. You can use them as table decoration (place settings?), or make a little perforation in the back, pull some thread through the hole and hang them in your tree. You can of course also make loads of them to give as gifts. My little girl loves making them — as long as we use tons of glitter!
Here’s the free download of the pattern. When you’re finished decorating, just cut along all the black lines, and tuck the left side of the arc into the right side.
Have fun!
I just popped into Muji this week, and I have to say just how great all their Christmas items are! I was so impressed with all the cute little wooden toys, holiday decorations, gift-wrapping items, cards, stamps, etc.
I filled an entire cart full of little gifts (including the items pictured), and I bought one of their wooden christmas tree decoration pieces too!
As it goes with Muji, everything is pretty reasonably priced… perfect for little stocking stuffers or nice gifts for your kids’ friends. I definitely recommend paying a visit.
I just love these decorative tapes by Famille Summerbelle. I can see myself using them in so many ways… like wrapping up a basic gift box or package, creating cards or signs, or decorating a wall to make it more festive. I always like to keep stuff like this in my craft cupboard because with all the kiddie birthday parties we have these days, it seems I’m wrapping presents left and right. These tapes offer an easy and quick fix!
Famille Summerbelle also makes beautiful paper banners, good for party decoration, and of course loads of beautiful prints.
Aren’t those pink octopuses just so stinken’ cute?
Often we’re asked where one can find tasteful, cute party supplies. Here in the Netherlands we are lucky to have Hema, which has a really good selection, but since it seems to be the only tasteful choice locally available, we seriously see the same decorations on nearly every birthday party we attend!
Then there’s Martha Stewart, who comes up with wonderful suggestions for homemade party decorations, but most of them involve complex and time-consuming craft projects which may eventually result in a well decorated house, but chances are that you’ll suffer a nervous breakdown simultaneously.
Now look at this: Homemade Happiness. Great downloadable deco kits for every birthday, holiday or other special occasion.
These super-cute digital DIY designs are downloadable in return for a small fee, and you may print them as often as you wish on card-stock paper. Next cut, fold and glue (even the most non-creative soul with two left hands and 5 children running around can do this!) and presto – you have an extremely original and cute selection of cake toppers, gift tags, gift boxes, party hats and buntings. Seriously everything you need for the cutest and most original birthday party you can think of. Every Homemade Happiness download comes with clear instructions and paper suggestions, and they even thought of including recipes, suggestions for games, sweet to-do-lists, etc. etc. Have a browse, I’m pretty sure you’ll love everything!
Now, the only disadvantage is that the original website is still in Dutch, but the two lovely work-at-home mums behind Homemade Happiness, Caroline and Diana, are working hard to translate their designs and the English versions of most of them can be found in their Etsy shop.
My friend Katja has the good fortune of being married to a Danish guy. Not only does this mean that her kids are going to be very, very tall, it also means that she gets to spend her summers in the lovely Danish countryside in a little thatched cottage on the beach.
The only problem is that even though the summers in Denmark can be beautiful, there is also a lot of rain to be dealt with… so coming up with great craft projects to keep energetic kids distracted is something Katja has become very good at.
This summer she cut up an old sheet into squares and got the whole family – from the 2-year-old to the grandparents – to draw on the squares with fabric markers. They then hung up the panels along a string as bunting. She showed me the results and I loved it! Her mother-in-law is now going to make a quilt out of the panels. A great memento of a great family summer holiday, don’t you think?
Halloween is definitely not an Italian tradition, but in recent years around this time of the year we do see more pumpkins and orange stuff in the grocery stores. Funnily enough the only costumes accepted are spooky ones, which I’m not too sure are very appropriate for children. Nonetheless it’s another occasion to have some fun, so I’ll jump into it too!
Pumpkin carving is still beyond my abilities, but I did make Courtney’s cupcakes, and I’ve decorated the table with these mini clementine Jack-o-Lanterns. I got the idea on Zakka Life, and they are so cute and easy. I must admit I went the easy way and used a permanent black marker, but apparently you can use less “dangerous” ones so that children can easily participate in the activity!
Happy Halloween!
Thankfully my boys let me off the hook this year. The older one has decided he wants to be a ghost for Halloween (how easy is that?!) and the other one is happy to use his brother’s costume from last year. We’re set.
But… I did have a temporary freak-out last week when I realized I wasn’t prepared at all for Halloween. So I searched the web for DIY costume ideas, and of course I found it on Etsy. You have to check out these darling ideas for turning a simple sweatsuit into a costume. The kits include simple step-by-step instructions, felt and necessary fabric, and needle & thread. So brilliant! I love the shark and the lion.
My kids tear their clothes like it is going out of fashion. I’m constantly finding scuffed-up knees on their jeans, torn tops and unexplained holes on the seats of their pants! The fact is: kids are always going to tear their clothes. And while the ripped jeans look has never been my thing, I am just not willing to throw clothes away anymore. So I have started patching their clothes, just like in the good old days.
I am not any good at making an invisible patch like my grandmother used to make, so I’ve decided not to even try and instead make a statement with my patches. I actually reckon it should be called customising not patching! Here’s what you’ll need:
-Fabric scraps
-Some Thermobind (which you can get in most haberdashery shops or departments, its like an iron on double-sided sticky tape for fabric)
-A couple of cute designs (my kids are lucky enough to have a dad who is an illustrator and sketched these little shapes in 2 minutes)
-A pen
-A pair of scissors
Print out the shapes (above) and cut out. Cut out a piece of fabric roughly the size of the patch needed and cut a piece of Thermobind a little bit smaller. Iron on the Thermobind as instructed on the pack. Put the shape on the paperside of the Thermo and trace around it (I normally pin them down so that they don’t move around while I am tracing). Cut out the shape.
The patch is now ready to be ironed over your hole. It is really quick and easy and “customising” is lot cheaper then buying new clothes all the time!
To celebrate our ‘Simple Life’ theme week I have put together a tutorial on how to make a girl’s tunic out of an old shirt.
Here is the thing: shirts fray first at the collar and at the cuffs though the rest of the shirt is still in perfect condition. The material shirts are made out of is perfect for a little girl’s tunic, so why not try and recycle the shirt and give it a new lease of life? The best part is that the buttons and button holes are already made, saving you a huge amount of work.
I got together with my friend Purvika, the owner of bebe bunting and a really talented, creative girl and away we went, making a tunic for my 18-month-old, Violette.
I have to say, I am quite pleased with our result! It is very simple, but I think it works well and is an easy pattern to start off with. If you want, you can add on appliqués, trimmings, ribbons, etc. after finishing off the tunic (I added on a little bit of smocking on the front). You can even make it longer and make it into a dress. The sky is the limit.
Here is the tutorial:
Print out the pattern part 1 and part 2, and cut it out. Start by cutting out the front, back and the sleeves. We used the same pattern for the front and back as we wanted to keep the pattern as simple as possible and it worked well.
To make the front and back panels of the tunic:
Lay out the shirt flat with the buttons facing down. Fold the shirt lengthwise in half, with the button exactly on the fold. Now place the pattern on the shirt, placing it even with the folded edge of the shirt. The pattern should be placed on the shirt so that you have a 1 cm allowance over the first button at the top of the panel. Cut out the panels. After the pieces are cut out and unfolded, they will become full size panels.
To make the sleeves:
Align the sleeve pattern with the fold on the sleeve and cut out, repeat with the other sleeve.
To make the bias for the neck:
Use some of the remaining fabric to make some bias binding. Cutting on bias simply means cutting a 3 cm wide by 20 cm long strip of fabric on a diagonal. Fold it in half widthwise and now you have a perfect strip of bias to finish the neck opening later on.
To sew the front and the back panels:
Pin together the front and the back panels right sides together and sew together on the sides and on the shoulders.
To sew the sleeves:
Fold the raw edge of the end of the sleeves twice out 0.5 cm towards the wrong side and press to make a neat hem. Top stitch the hem of the sleeves. Now pin together the sides of the sleeves right side on right side and sew.
Sew the bodice and sleeves together:
Turn the tunic top inside out with the seams facing outwards and insert the sleeves, with the right side facing out, into the sleeve openings. Make sure you align the seam on the sleeve with the seam on the bodice.
Finish off the neck:
Pin the bias around right side of the neck opening . Sew around it, leaving an extra cm allowance on each end.
Trim off the excess fabric on the seam, fold the bias to the inside of the tunic and iron it down flat so that it makes a neat finish. Tuck in the excess bias at the end.Topstitch all around the neck opening.
Courtney and I have had more than one discussion about ‘which bib is best’. Amongst the two of us and in the past 4 years we have tested a fair amount of different varieties and in the end we have both agreed on our all-time favourite bib. (We also talk about other things, BTW, but we seem to have a strange interest in bibs).
The advantage of our favourite bib is that it’s so big it covers a lot of your child, including the shoulders. It is made of terrycloth, which makes it ideal to use as a napkin during dinner or to wipe faces and hands with afterward. It can be washed at high temperatures, doesn’t require ironing at all and still looks great. It is super durable – it is well possible that my grandchildren will be using these bibs! And last but not least, they are easy and cheap to make yourself: you can use any old towel you have around and for the binding you can use any old piece of fabric you have left over from previous sewing projects. You’re free to make your own colour combinations — the possibilities are endless! And you can make plenty – I always have a nice, clean stack of these bibs on hand.
Now, even though I love sewing, I’m not at all an expert in this field, so forgive my clumsy way of explaining everything… But I made a bib for my son, Pim, from a kitchen towel and photographed the different steps in the process to give you an idea of how to do it…
Step 1:
Print these 2 download-able patterns: here (1) and here (2). Cut out and stick together following the directions.
Fold fabric (if there’s a print, make sure it will look good) and cut out bib. Don’t cut where the fold is! Don’t worry about seams — there are none.
Step 2:
Cut out 4 cm (1,6″) strips from any cute fabric you have laying around. Iron strips in half lengthwise, then iron edges to fold as shown in pictures. You need about 120 cm (47″) and 90 cm (35″) of binding. (You can also use store bought binding.)
Step 3:
Pin binding around bib at straight edges. Fold binding at the corners as shown in picture. Sew binding to bib. Cut off excess binding at neck part.
Step 4:
Pin binding neatly around neck part of bib. Start in the centre of the circle (with the middle of the binding) and work towards edges. Sew. (The neck part looks sort of tiny but it’s correct!)
Step 5:
Presto!
Step 6 (optional):
I made a little doll bib from the leftover terry cloth and binding, here’s the free download-able pattern. You need about 15 cm (6″) of binding for the neck part, and 82 cm (32″) for the bib part and tie strings. In this case you first start with the neck part and after sew on the bib part (including tie strings).
I hope this explanation is clear enough — the bib is really easy to make! Honestly, it took me much longer to write these instructions down than to make the bib and the doll’s bib together!
xxx Esther
P.S. For on the go: fold bib lengthwise, roll up starting from bottom, tie with tie strings.
P.P.S. These bibs are more suitable for 1+ than for babies!
This summer a few blogs published this nice movie which was posted on YouTube. Parents took (at least) one picture of their baby every day for the first year of his life, nearly always in the same position (basically lying on a white sheet). Then they made a movie out of it with a nice soundtrack. I think it’s brilliant!
You need some commitment sure, but it would be such a precious memory. It’s truly amazing to be able to see your baby’s growth in just over 2 minutes.
If you are pregnant now it may be something you could try to do. And personally I guess you could even cheat on a couple of days….
Esther in Amsterdam
March 16th, 2010
1 comment
Thankfully my 6-year-old niece and God-daughter, Helene, is into all things crafty. Therefore she is my outlet for all the exciting ‘make & do’ gifts I find and fall in love with, as my own children are a bit too young for most of them. As she is German (and my Deutsche is not too great) I really enjoy sitting down with her to draw, paint or make something. Last week she showed me how to make these colourful Christmas stars — she had made loads in different sizes and colours and they looked fantastic on the window in their kitchen.
I remember making these angels when I was little; they’re so simple and so lovely. You can use them as table decoration (place settings?), or make a little perforation in the back, pull some thread through the hole and hang them in your tree. You can of course also make loads of them to give as gifts. My little girl loves making them — as long as we use tons of glitter!
Halloween is definitely not an Italian tradition, but in recent years around this time of the year we do see more pumpkins and orange stuff in the grocery stores. Funnily enough the only costumes accepted are spooky ones, which I’m not too sure are very appropriate for children. Nonetheless it’s another occasion to have some fun, so I’ll jump into it too!
