crafting at the children’s museum

20130219-170643.jpg

It seems kind of silly when your child spends most of her time at the children’s museum craft table. Can’t she do that at home? With all the cool exhibits to jump and play on, she picks paper and markers?

She is an artist at heart. Plus, she didn’t have a Tooth Box and the whole crafting section is about dental health this month. The Tooth Fairy will be pleased.

this moment: easy

20130213-141608.jpg

A pocket note from this week. I laughed out loud when I realized my daughter had edited the difficulty level. She brought one home to finish yesterday, and watching her was amazing. I don’t even do crosswords that fast! It’s going to be a challenge keeping up with this girl.

This moment is a Friday ritual inspired by Amanda Soule.

valentine’s day gift for me

20130214-112808.jpg

I’ve been looking at this book for a long time. It was originally published in Japan. You may have seen it around the Internet with this cover.

I’ve been trying to cut back on impulse craft book purchases, especially those from Japan (expensive! long delivery times!). When I saw it on amazon in an English version, well it didn’t take long for me to click purchase!

I don’t know what it is about Japanese craft books. Even if I never make a thing from them, I love looking at the beautiful pictures for inspiration. I hope Kazuko Ryokai is planning to translate the second book in this series.

Seriously, this was a better treat than chocolate for Valentine’s Day!

valentine’s cookie for a friend

20130213-125706.jpg

Last night when I picked my daughter up from Girl Scouts she had a huge iced heart cookie with her. My initial thoughts were: More icing? Not before bedtime! Combined with Valentine’s candy and cupcake decorating club…

“Mom! Look what I made for Mallory! Can we drop it off tonight? I made her a card, too!”

I love how excited she was to make this for her friend. I love how Girl Scouts encourages her to do kind things for others without a thought of getting anything in return.

Most of all, with five cupcakes coming home each week from club, I’m glad this cookie was a gift for someone else!

homemade valentine box

20130213-125752.jpg

Sometimes the simplest projects are the best.

My daughter had to decorate a shoebox for collecting valentines in school. The most important detail: it had to have a trap door for removing the cards. My husband worked out the placement with her and did the cutting. I spray painted over the logos on the lid and provided some stickers for her name.

That’s all it took to make our girl happy. Of course, she had to add a butterfly and more Valentine’s stickers. You can never have enough stickers!

I have a feeling this box will be around for many years to come.

more decluttering finds: vintage seed sack

20130213-141104.jpg

Here’s some more fabric I found squirreled away in my craft closet. I remember buying this vintage seed bag at a garage sale hoping that big stain on the front would come out in the wash. It only cost $1, I think. Not that big of an investment.

I still like the typography, but I’m not sure what to do with it now. I found two small bank bags from Nebraska, as well. What I was planning to do with those I’m not sure. They’re too small to be sock knitting bags, which I was doing a lot of back then.

Keep or toss? Embrace the imperfections? Deconstruct and cut up? Such dilemmas.

decluttering finds: vintage doll quilt

20130213-133723.jpg

I’ve been going through my crafty stash and the latest supplies subject to decluttering have been fabric and sewing notions. I found quite a few things I had squirreled away for future projects that never happened, one of which was this doll quilt.

I bought this at an antique show years ago with the thought of turning it into a tote bag. It’s definitely seen better days, but there’s something about the fabrics that I really love.

I’m not the only one who loves them. When my daughter saw this she immediately began to campaign why it would be the perfect quilt for her doll Bitty. As you can see, she was quite persuasive. Even Pinkalicious likes it.