Make: Kimmel Kids

I think all of you will love this...  Los Angeles based Installation artist Karen Kimmel has a line of educational tools and kits called Kimmel Kids  that offer fresh, fun exploration for a kid's imagination.  I love her stencil kit with its organic cut-out shapes!
 

Make: Loving Lowes

by Designing Mom Tori of Tori Higa

Last Saturday my three old and I met up with some friends at Lowe's for their Build and Grow Clinic. We had such a great time that I just had to share the information so that other designing moms out there can have fun encouraging their designing kids to build and create. Each clinic offers a different wood project that the kids can build themselves. The kids also get to wear an apron and goggles, use a real hammer (my son talked about that for days), and earn a badge when they complete their project. The best part of the whole thing (including all of the materials) is that it's FREE! Each Lowe's is different, but our local store offers their free clinics one to two times a month. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a fun (and free) Saturday morning activity.

Make: Halloween Wreath

Elizabeth over at To Be Charmed has a great DIY wreath for Halloween.  LOVE the black!
Click here to view the full tutorial.

Best of our Blogs: Lori's Floors

Designing Mom Lori (of Fin + Roe) has the best wood floor redo I've seen.  Talk about sunshine chic...I bet any guest can't help but smile when they walk into that room!  Another big perk is it's an affordable project as well.  Click here to to go to Lori's blog and read about the full redo.

Make: Bubble Wrap Prints

by Designing Mom Sara of Creative Jewish Mom


The Jewish New Year is just around the corner, so we're busy making and sending New Year's greetings to our friends and family around the globe. Recently we tried bubble wrap printing with white paint on colored paper, and the results were so fantastic we just had to use the paper for some of our cards.



Bubble wrap printing is very simple with great results, and really quick to boot! I highly recommend it as an activity on it's own, or as the first step in an art project using patterned paper. For complete instructions please visit the original post here. Wishing you all a very happy and healthy New Year with good health and an abundance of creativity!

Best of our Blogs: Monster Surfboard

This ultra creative post is a favorite of Designing Mom Aya.  She along with other designers were asked to customize skate decks that were auctioned off for an AIGA fundraiser.  I am not surprised at all to see how "Where the Wild Things Are" and her boy Hayden ended up inspiring the design (after all, take a look at the cute Halloween costume she was crafting).
Read on to see how she designed the board and to view the full post click here. 

 

 I “heart” brown. – Aya Akazawa (me!)
“I was very charmed by the simple and natural feel of the plain deck, and immediately drawn to the idea of creating something that will retain these qualities. Then I thought of production methods that might work with this material. I couldn’t start working on this until Halloween was over, because Halloween IS a serious business here at Chronicle (but that is a story for another day.) So I had about two days to produce and wanted to do it by my hands, which narrowed down my options quite a bit. I am a big fan of Rex Ray and I thought that was my primary inspiration for this particular piece, but as my friend pointed out, the Carol costume that I was making for my little Hayden must have been subliminally driving my path of thinking to a crafty direction.”

Make: Coffee Chocolate Cupcakes

Hope everyone is having fun stretching out their long weekend today...
I might try a little baking and have my "Cupcake #24" recipe (Bailey's frosting!) by Ming Makes Cupcakes in the queue.
We'll be back to regular posting tomorrow--Happy Monday!

Make: Knit Yoga Mat

Ok all of you knitters out there...  Have any of you made a knit yoga mat (below)?  I'm in love! 
You can purchase the tutorial and also the yarn (like recycled silk sari yarn) from Darn Good Yarn.   

Make: Chalkboard Clips

I'm really into chalkboard anything lately...  Elizabeth at To Be Charmed sent over these adorable little chalkboard clips.  To see the full tutorial, click here!

Rainbow Delights...

We always try and have "Cupcake Fridays" at our studio and these technicolor versions by Coco Cake would probably make us all weak in the knees.  What a great treat for a little one's birthday celebration!
Have a happy (cupcake) Friday and weekend everyone!

Make: Recycled File box and Gift Tags

Itching to reuse your scraps and tattered road maps from a summer's worth of travel?  Reader Carolyn sent over these great little "makes" from her blog Homework . 
To go see the tutorial for the gift tags click here.  And here for her file box. 

Make: Origami Crafts

by Designing Mom Aya of Chronicle Books

I occasionally contribute to Chronicle Books' blog. This one was my very first. I am not a big crafter but enjoy making a little something here and there. These are some of my instant craft projects, using origami papers that I designed.

Click here to read the full post!

Decorate: Alice in Wonderland Party

Talented Designing Mom Erika of Delphine and her work was recently featured on Wedding Chicks.  
Her beautiful stationery was designed for an Alice in Wonderland themed wedding put on by Couture Events.  From tick tock rehearsal invites to Welcome to Wonderland menus... I could easily see this theme being used for an all out whimsical baby shower or children's tea party! 

photos by Joie Lala

Decorate: Chic Pink Baby Shower

Designing Mom Carina of Nonchalant Mom had all the rumblings of pink in its color scheme, but I love how sophisticated it turned out.  From rustic pies to deep plums...this was such a wonderful grown-up "pink" fete to celebrate the mom-to-be!  Click here for the full post. 

Make: Swing

by Designing Mom Ryan of Tin Parade

When I was a kid so many people had a nice wooden swing in their yards. Maybe it’s because I live in Los Angeles, but I don’t see those anymore. I love the way they make you feel like life is so simple. My Tin Parade partner Kristen made this swing with the help of a skilled friend. Our kids loved it.

They cut the wood and drilled holes (and sanded and stained it). Then a nice rope was tied though one side’s hole and the rope thrown over the tree and then tied in the other side’s drilled hole. Voila!

Make: Cheap Thrills Railroad Tracks

by Designing Mom Jackie of Avocado and Papaya

On Tuesday, I was welcoming summer with open arms. I was singing the praises of said warm season, dusting off my flip flops and prepping our leftover watermelon for homemade popsicles.

Today I wore a wool sweater, scarf and my faux-uggs around the house, trying to think of fun indoor activities to avoid a chilly afternoon outing to the playground. The blue painter's tape came out and a wonky train track was born.

 
Simple, fun and cheap.

Graham's eyes lit up when he watched an ordinary tape roll turn into an impromptu train track on our kitchen floor. We even made a little shed to hold their animals (not pictured). Unfortunately, I ran out of tape about a third of the way through finishing the railway ties. G was disappointed, but we compromised with some string, which he used to link the trains together. Simon was digging it too, along with his snack of cherry tomatoes which have officially been added to his A-list, just like his big bro.

Now, Mr. Sun, this does not mean you are off the hook. When are you coming back to these parts? 

Make: Set Your Table with Giant Paper Roses

by Designing Mom Sara at Creative Jewish Mom

Looking for a unique and inexpensive (very) table decor idea? This might be it! Giant paper roses combined with smaller ones too, are elegant and artsy, and look modern and vintage all at the same time, so they'll suit just about any style. The key is the right paper! I used some old dress making pattern paper that the art supply store actually gave me for free rather than tossing it in the garbage. It had yellowed with age — perfect! You'll need very large sheets or a roll of heavy weight tissue paper, preferably creme, though drafting vellum might work nicely as well. Experiment and create your own lovely versions!

For more info, click here.

Make: Popcorn Hat

by Designing Mom April of Shibumi Gallery


My boy doesn't like baby blue. So being a discerning mom myself I decided to give them all away to someone who does. As the pile of clothes sat in my office I had this thought that I could dye some of the ones that I liked the cotton material of. So I did. I used good old Rit dye. I am sure there are more natural dyes but being a working mom with my three month old son. I opted for what I knew I could get quickly. My first batch was a blue that I like to call Indigo....and I dyed everything that I imagined would look good.

The hat and some of his onesies got special treatment. I used popping corn and small hair rubber bands to make small irregular circles.

Instructions:

1- Put popcorn under fabric and stretch tightly rubber band around each kernel

2- Make a pattern or just use a random pattern.

3- Bucket add hot boiling water to fill

4- Rit dye~ color of choice, Stir in dye

5- Let sit for a couple hours if dye is older might want to leave in overnight

6- Do a general rinsing by hose or sink

7- Wash in washing machine on hot, wash only the same color of clothing you just dyed

8- Remove rubber bands and corn

9- Dry in dryer

Below hat, t-shirt and overalls all dyed in the same bath. Then I sewed a patch over the overall logo!

Next is my chocolate brown batch......!

Make: Rock Critters

by Designing Mom Liberty

This summer I've got the kids at home... So we've taken to calling ourselves "Camp Mommakiddo" ... One of our crafts this week was a nature walk where we collected rocks and used our crafty bin extras to make these funny little friends.

**Note from Cat: I want to see all of the fun projects that you are doing with your kids this summer! Please send us photos of your favorites...

ReMake: Office Chair

Don't know if you can relate, but whenever I see one of these chairs I get the cubicle-creepy-crawler feeling which doesn't bode well for production. Is your office in need of a revamp? Elizabeth from You Be Charmed sent in this great "remake" of her office chair!