penny carnival

Kids Craft Weekly giveaway!

Good news, guys! Amber from Kids Craft Weekly saw my blog post yesterday about her Christmas card swap and Christmas craft PDFs and wants to give away one of her PDFs to a Penny Carnival reader. 

Leave a comment below that's somehow related to Christmas crafts. You could briefly describe one of your favorite Christmas crafts, tell me about an ornament you made as a kid, link to a project you've done as an adult or link to a project you'd like to make one day (or have someone else make for you). Whatever.

Leave your comment by this Friday at noon, Pacific time, and a randomly selected commentator (commenter? person? bumble bee?) will win the 20-page Kids Craft Weekly Christmas Cards PDF.

Thanks, Amber!

Update: I didn't mean to exclude folks who celebrate other holidays. By all means, leave comments about Hanukkah crafts, winter solstice ... everything. Even though Amber's e-booklet is about making Christmas cards, there are ideas in there that you could apply to any holiday. 

Boredom busters and kid-made Christmas cards

I have this dream of one day running my family like a well-organized, stimulating boarding school. Each night after the kids go to bed, I'll lay out the fun and educational activities for the next day, prepare healthy meals and then have time for five miles on the treadmill, a bubble bath and an Ogilvie Home Perm. 

Or something like that.

I usually snap back to reality when the microwave beeper goes off letting me know the frozen burritos are ready to eat.

When I don't have time to put my long-lost degree in elementary education to use, these are a few of the no-brainer activities I fall back on when we need something to do:

-Freeze dancing. Play some '80s music, dance like mad, hit pause, freeze, rinse and repeat. It never gets old.

-Crafts. Of course. I always have the painting easel set up, a giant jar of Crayons on the kids' table in the kitchen, and plenty of blank paper on hand. Kid-friendly scissors go over big here, too. Lately Magpie will come up to me and ask, "Can I cut?"

-Play dough. This recipe for homemade play dough is way better than the stuff you buy in the store. 

-Baking cookies. This can be dangerous, but sometimes it's worth the extra calories when the girls are begging for something fun to do. When my willpower is strong, we bring the cookies to our neighbors.

-Cleaning. The girls love being put to work. They'll gladly spray and wipe down windows, put clothes away in drawers and wash walls. The house isn't always cleaner when they're done, but they have looks on their faces like they've just cured cancer or something. 

-Go to the library. They get so excited for this, you'd think they were going to Disneyland. Note: They've never been to Disneyland so maybe that's why it works? Keep the bar low when it comes to expectations for fun? Hmm ... Anyhow, I always make sure I have a diaper on library outings because there's something about that place that makes Magpie poop.

-Don't feel like getting in the car? Push the couches together in the living room to make one giant couch and call it the library. Pile up a stack of books and read them one by one. My sister and I did this for years when we were kids.

-Go for a walk.

-Clean out a closet.

-Watch home videos on the TV. Nothing thrills the girls more than seeing how they talked and looked six months ago.

-Have a picnic on the kitchen floor.

-Exercise. Pick out the cheesiest workout video from On Demand and press play. Avoid "strip tease." I made that mistake once.

-Give the girls a bath. It's like a playpen. The fewer toys in there the better. Just give them a couple of measuring cups and a washcloth and you've got a half hour of fun. Sometimes I dangle my feet in the tub and let them give me a foot massage. Brilliant, eh?

-Get fancy like Nancy. My mom (Nancy) used to be a makeup lady so I have a ton of old free cosmetics samples from her. This is a mess, of course, so you have to be in the right mood.

-Play school. Bo loves to "read" to her little sister. And boss her around.

OK, none of that was rocket science, but it helps us make the days fun. Care to add to the list? Let's get some ideas rolling.

For the record, we do watch TV here, especially during the cold months. We have one TV. It's in the basement, so have to make a bit of an effort to watch it. I wish I could say we're TV free. I think a child's imagination can be stymied when they're constantly fed images instead of being forced to come up with those pictures themselves after reading a book or listening to a parent tell a story. But TV--especially movies--can be fun. And it can buy me three of those five miles on the treadmill.

On a related note, one project they did today was to make Christmas cards for 10 kids around the world. We're going to take part in Kids Craft Weekly's annual card swap, where you send a handmade card to 10 children and receive 10 cards from 10 different kids from all over the globe. 

I figured we'd better make the cards before signing up since I'm kind of famous for not sending cards to people I actually know. It's always my New Year's resolution to be better about that. Maybe 2010 will be the year I set out a stack of stamped envelopes on the kitchen counter and make it a habit. 

Here are a few of the girls' creations:

That's a reindeer on the right and a pissy post-op snowman in the middle. 

Speaking of Kids Craft Weekly, I bought Amber's Christmas Crafts and Christmas Cards e-booklets last week. I love everything she does. Her projects are based in reality. I love that my kids can look at her examples and not feel like total failures because their crafts don't turn out like something you'd see in a Martha Stewart magazine, as is clearly demonstrated by the photo above.

The Little Red Riding Hood birthday party

Hooray for another birthday party! Last night was Magpie's Little Red Riding Hood-themed 2nd birthday. These are getting more fun all the time--so many kids running around the house, so much excitement beforehand, so much more time for the grownups to catch up with each other now that the little ones are more self sufficient. 

Something always goes a little wrong, but that's part of the fun, right? Right?! 

Besides, the look on this face makes the mad scramble at the end worth it:

 

You can see more pictures/details on my About.com Kids' Parties site.

You might notice that she's clutching a couple of her birthday gifts there--a stuffed pig and a plastic giraffe. Almost every picture I took last night shows her with those two toys in her hands. I guess she took a liking to them right away.

She's also wearing another gift--this apron I sewed her (modeled by Lulu the lamb the other day so I didn't ruin the surprise):

 

I wish I'd had more time to make her some other handmade gifts. On my to-do list were a Mimi Kirchner doll (dressed as Little Red Riding Hood), a felt cake and a camping blanket, but time ran out. Oh, well. There's always Christmas.

Anyhoo, she was happy to get the apron, especially after having to borrow her big sister's for the last year or so. Magpie is an avid cook--I can't make anything without her "helping" these days--so I'm glad I got that project done for her.

Moving on ... to Christmas. 

I really don't see the point in decorating the house for Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving, but we're not going to be here for it, and why put the effort into decorating for Christmas if it's only up for a few weeks?

So we pulled out the crates labeled "Christmas" today and put a few things out. 

 

The big hit was the nativity set (the one I let them play with). You wouldn't believe the adventures Mary, Joseph and Jesus had today. My goodness. Did you know Mary is a princess? Yep. 

The best part, though, was that every time Bo would say something about "the baby Jesus," Magpie would look up and ask me for a "cheese stick." 

Tutorial: Coloring Book Birthday Party Favor

Have I mentioned here that I used to be a teacher? Eighth grade. Language arts and U.S. history. Three years in the late 1990s. I won't go into the why-I'm-no-longer-a-teacher thing tonight (the kids were great; it's just not what I wanted to do forever), but I will share two things I learned from the experience:

No. 1: Drinking a shandy is a great way to end the week. I'm having one now. Coors Light with about an inch of Sprite at the top. Delicious. I picked that up from an Australian exchange teacher we had with us one year. That may or may not have been the same night that the middle-aged science teacher flashed her boobies in the bar where our staff gathered on Friday nights. It was a small town. I'm not sure what she was thinking. But it was hilarious.

No. 2: Students try harder on writing projects if you tell them you're going to bind their work into a hardback book when they're done. 

The old book-binding trick came to mind the other night when I was trying to think of what favors to give at Magpie's Little Red Riding Hood birthday party this Saturday.

The original plan was to make red hats shaped like hoods (similar to last year's elf hats for the woodland party) and wolf ears for everyone, but time is not on my side this year.

So, instead, I made hardback coloring books that tell the story of Little Red in pictures. The kids will get them along with a small pack of Crayons for their colorin' pleasure. 

 

The faux bois fabric is from Jo-Ann's. 

Wish I could say I had the skillz and the time to do the drawings myself, but I just used some pictures from one of those freebie coloring page sites.

For the photo-illustrated how-to, visit my About.com Kids' Parties site. 

The girls and I also made a pretend forest in our foyer the other day because what Little Red Riding Hood party is complete without some trees made from empty carpet tubes?

 

 

 

That tutorial will be coming soon.

Now we just need some food, a cake, some gifts and a wolf. Stay tuned.

Halloween costumes 2009

Just a quick note to show the Halloween costumes I made for the girls.

Magpie was a pirate and Bo was Glenda the Good Witch ... for about three hours. Then she decided her costume was too scratchy so she put on the Cinderella dress I made for her birthday. Ay caramba. I did the same thing to my mom every year from about 1980 until 1985. Payback's a beeyatch! I would have gladly skipped the Thursday night wrestling match with three yards of tulle if she hadn't begged for it in the fabric store. Who's in charge here? Oh. These two are:

 

 

 

About to be blown away to Oz:

J and I dressed up, too, but he won't let me post the photo. (Every party has a pooper and he's the pooper of the party. I tell him that sometimes. Somehow it doesn't inspire him to be less of a party pooper. Did I tell you I am an awesome wife?!). Our costumes were very last minute. I bought us both Superman T-shirts and we wore them under white dress shirts with the buttons halfway undone. We also wore black-rimmed eye glasses. You get the picture. Clark Kent about to become Superman. I'll try harder next year.

The craft room has seen some serious action in the past week. Last night I frantically stitched up a pair of Montessori slippers for Magpie's first day at her big sister's school. Very exciting. I'd show you a picture, but the slippers hardly had time to be in existence before they were whisked away and put to use in the actual school this morning. 

And this week is all about preparing for Magpie's Little Red Riding Hood birthday party this weekend. Oh, and working. Not sure how it's all going to get done, but it always does. Details coming soon ... 

P.S. The pirate costume was Simplicity 3680 ... with some serious shortcuts. The Glenda dress was Simplicity 4139 ... with some serious tulle.

'The rain is like a baptism'

One of my favorite movies in high school (and this might make some of you youngins realize how old I am. 35) was "Say Anything." I was so in love with Lloyd Dobler. Still am, really.

The movie is set in Seattle, which of course is thrilling when you're 16 and you sort of think Seattle belongs to you even though you live in a suburb 86 miles away. That was before Nirvana and Pearl Jam made it big, and then we really thought we had something to brag about--even us sheltered kids from the 'burbs who probably couldn't relate to half of the angst those guys sang about.

My friend Simon, who lives in Seattle, has this for his status update on Facebook this morning: "The drive to work in the rain through tree-lined streets that were shedding their leaves, listening to Classic King FM ... I heart the PNW!" (Translation: Pacific Northwest.)

I'm four hours away, on the "dry" side of the state, and it's pouring down rain here today, too. The rain is like a baptism (a Lloyd Dobler line) on my back patio. (I don't have any profound rebirth to report. That line from the movie has just always stuck in my head.) 

The rain sounds more torrential than it is because we need to clean the pine needles out of the gutter, but I almost want to keep them there because the sound of the water crashing down onto the concrete reminds me so much of home. 

Rain was a constant growing up in northwest Washington. It didn't keep you indoors during recess--you just wore your slicker or played kickball under the "covered area" at Roosevelt Elementary School. It didn't stop you from riding your bike through Whatcom Falls Park. On especially wet days at home, you stayed inside eating grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup and doing arts and crafts at the card table with your big sister. When you got older, there were first kisses in the rain and nights out with your girlfriends when the roads always seemed to be wet.

I've got the icks (again!), so I don't much feel like being out there today. But it's a perfect day for hunkering down, getting some work done, and then hopefully finally sewing up the girls' Halloween costumes later tonight.

If it's rainy where you are and you're looking for an arts and crafts project to do with your kids, check out these 3-D pumpkins I wrote a tutorial for for the new About.com site. You can use them as Halloween decorations or save them for Thanksgiving dinner and set them out as place cards.

One other crafty thing to report--the last book sling I'll be making for a while:

 

(Note to self: if someone ever asks me to applique the letter "S" again, just say no! Damn those curves.)

I put my little Etsy shop on vacation for a bit. Just too much other stuff going on. It's not like I had that many orders, but it takes a lot of time and care and I really admire the people who make a living out of doing that. I'll open it back up soon, but I need to get some Christmas and birthday gifts made for my own family first.

Don't forget that you can make your own book sling. Tutorial here.

And speaking of book slings, one that I had the pleasure of making recently is hanging in a home that many of you are probably familiar with, if you're a fan like me. Meg from Sew Liberated did a trade with me--a book sling in exchange for some of her patterns. I was quite honored that a talented person like herself would want something from my humble craft room. You can see it hanging for little Finn here.

About ... my new gig. And little red riding hood love

I'm pretty sure I hinted that I was up to something new behind the scenes. Did I say it sometime last week? Last month? Honestly, the days are running together and I'm quite proud of myself for remembering to wear pants today. Sometimes I even brush my teeth (but not if I go to bed after midnight, in which case I wear my pants).

Are you following me?

Anyhow, for the past two months I've been preparing for a new writing/crafting gig that just went live the other day. I'm the new "guide" to kids' birthday parties and other celebrations on About.com.

Here's my new site:

kidsparties.about.com

It's really a writing job, but I'm planning on putting all sorts of birthday- and party-related tutorials on there (hence, the crafts). I'll always alert Penny Carnival readers here when there's a new toot there, but feel free to bookmark that link, too, for your party-planning pleasure. Just some basic stories are up right now and links to existing articles from other guides, but I'll be adding content almost daily so check back often.

Can you believe someone is actually paying me to write about how to throw birthday parties?! This is right up my alley. Really, it is a TON of work, especially as I've had to learn their whole formatting, programming gobbley goop (Hello! HTML coding?! Who has to do that anymore? Why don't they just use Typepad? Oh, because then their site would look as crappy as my blog does right now. I see.)

But besides the late nights, I'm having a blast brainstorming all sorts of birthday themes and crafts and decorations. And with the holidays coming, I've been writing about how to throw Christmas parties for kids (Caroling! Polar Express in Your PJs! Gingerbread House Making!) and what to do for Hanukkah and New Year's Eve and everything. By the way, we're totally going to celebrate Kwanzaa this year. I hate to admit it, but I didn't know a thing about it until I wrote a little article for about.com. What a beautiful holiday!

Rest assured, it is not going to be a site about how to throw over-the-top Super Sweet 16s and how to beat other parents for the best party favors. Good grief! You can read more about my kids' parties philosophy of the bottom of my bio page.

By the way, I also am featuring "real" parties on the site, so please, please, please tell me about any fun ones you've thrown and send me pictures. kidsparties.guide@about.com.

So without further delay, here's one of my first tutorials for the site: How to make birthday invitations by creating a fabric collage, scanning it, and then printing it out. 

 

Step-by-step photo instructions at that link above.

I made those invites today for Magpie's 2nd birthday party (like how I'm multitasking?), which will have a Little Red Riding Hood theme.

Speaking of Little Red, a friend hired me to make matching Red Riding Hood capes for her daughter and her for Halloween. I didn't get a shot of the little one, but here's the mama version:

I'm kind of in love with Little Red Riding Hood right now (as if you can't tell).

OK. An hour until midnight. Maybe I'll make this a pajamas-and-clean-teeth kind of night. Maybe I'll even floss!!!!

G'night.

Tutorial: a covered cork board

I finally got around to writing a tutorial from the Trash-to-Treasure demo I did a few weeks ago for the newspaper's big indoor garage sale. The first "trash" I repurposed into "treasure" was the quilt top I made into an Emmeline apron. No tutorial needed there. Just buy the pattern.

Another project I demo'd that day was to give new life to an empty picture frame that I bought for $8, seen here:

 

Here is what came of it:

 

A burlap-covered cork board!

You can read the tutorial on my other blog.

The burlap and number stencils were inspired by the Barn House boys and Junebug Furniture & Design. I love their aesthetic, but I think I'll recover it with something more cheerful when I get a chance.

Great frame, though, huh? $8. Gotta love that.

Birthday party planning and other tidbits

I'm knee deep in a work project right now. Did I say knee? I meant neck. It's time consuming but fun, and I'll tell y'all about in a few days.

Deadlines aren't what they used to be, though. When I worked full time for newspapers I used to thrive on knowing a story had to be filed by 9 p.m. After being wherever I had to be to cover the news, I'd have half the thing written in my head by the time I got back to my desk. And if I didn't, I was in trouble.

Everything changes with kids, though, especially when you work from home. Except when the girls are at preschool, there's never a guarantee that I'll have time to focus on what I'm doing and get it done by the time my editors need it. That uncertainty is more stressful than any breaking news ever was.

A phrase we seem to keep repeating around here is "It is what it is." In other words, quit complaining. Be grateful for the fascinating careers/assignments/life we have. Get it done. And move on. 

But here's a phrase I came across tonight--on Sarah Jane Studio's blog--that I like much better:

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." -Thomas S. Manson

I wish that had been in my head last night as I was frantically trying to get the dishes done before bedtime while Magpie was crying and tugging on my leg, begging for my attention. Instead of turning off the water, parking my rear on the floor and loving her up, I scrubbed those pots clean like a madwoman ... and eventually let all the noise turn me into, well, a mad woman. 

Ridiculous. I'm not advocating being at kids' beck and call at all times (they need to learn patience, right?) but two minutes of quality time probably would have calmed her down and allowed me to finish the dishes in peace.

I read something once that said even if we do something we regret with our kids--even if it happened just a second ago--we have the option of changing our direction and taking a more positive route. In the next moment. Right then and there. Turn the corner. Don't look back. 

I don't know how that looks when your kids are older, but at 2 and 4, usually that means shifting gears from frustration to total silliness. Usually that comes naturally to me. Other times, the dishes win. Grrr ... moving on. 

I really just meant to pop on here to share a few tidbits:

-I'm getting a lot of hits right now on my pumpkin carving tutorial from last year. Just thought I'd post a link to it here to make it easier for newbies to find.

-Everybody and their brother also seems to want to bake an owl cake right now (based on Google searches that find their way to Penny Carnival). You can read about my adventures with owl cakes here and here.

-At some point, I'm going to have to start planning Magpie's second birthday party. The original idea was to make it a parade-themed party, which was inspired by these invitations I ordered. 

Aren't they adorable? They're even cuter in person, with their sweet little rounded corners and all.

But the weather has become downright frigid here, so I'm not sure I want to subject a bunch of kids to a late-October prance around the neighborhood. I think I'll save the invitations for Bo's July birthday, since she's the one who's been begging for a neighborhood parade anyway. A parade party could be so much fun--tell the kids to bring their bikes/strollers/wagons, have a stash of streamers and flags they can use to decorate their rides, do the parade thing (inviting neighbors to cheer them on), then come back to the house and serve a long, skinny cake that's frosted to look like a street. 

So I'm working on a Plan B now. Little Red Riding Hood birthday party? Three Little Bears? Alice in Wonderland tea party? Vintage circus? Hedgehogs? Mary Had a Little Lamb? OK, I need to have more kids so I can fulfill all my toddler birthday fantasies.
Update: I just want to acknowledge that I realize the birthday theme should be all about what the kid wants, but Magpie is at an age where everything is awesome to her. "Do you like moldy bread?" "I like mo-wee bed." "Do you like Brussel sprouts?" "I like bussybouts." 

Other things I'm loving right now:

-This idea for thank-you cards (just in time!)

-A work-in-progress by Anna Maria Horner. I will never get tired of rainbows.

-A lovely white dress

-and Art Nest Studio's (a.k.a. Susannah, the highly talented portrait artist) fawn softie pattern. Oooh ... another birthday theme possibility. Those could be the favors!

Ponchos for everyone!

More crafty time with the girls over the weekend led to a new Etsy listing. 

I've figured out how to make the poncho (or cape, whatever you want to call it) in sizes 12 months, 18 months, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

This one is an 18 monther, so it's a bit snug around Magpie's face (and keep in mind--she has a GIANT head). She doesn't seem to mind, though, huh?

 

The poncho is fully reversible. This one is made with black 

baby-wale corduroy and pink flannel, so you probably wouldn't 

want to flip it inside out. But the possibilities for fabric are endless--fleece, wool, whatever.

Yea for ponchos!