This, my friends, is what my kids did all weekend (and last weekend and the one before). What are they doing? Making magic potions, of course!

My creative, talented, and lovely friend Helen, and her son, made this amazing Magic Potion Kit.  My son was very lucky to receive it for his birthday. It couldn't have been more perfect. Previously my son had been making odd mixtures from glue and dirt and soap and whatever else he could scrounge up. Now he had ingredients never before seen to man, replete with pipettes and giant caldron!

The magic potion kit has all the things a 6 year old could want:

• messy things
• exploding things
• yucky things
• magical things

The magic potion kit also has everything a mother could ever want:

• non-toxic things
• easily clean-up-able things
• cheap and easily replaceable things
• quiet children engaged in creative play

1. danger! live slime  2. unicorn tears  3. moth wings and bat claws  4. juicy eyeballs 5. magic potions  6. bat tongues  7. dragon skin  8. ground up vampire bones 9.a great big caldron full of magic!

I love how every bit of this gift is handmade, most of it is recycled, and all of it inspires creativity. What more could you want?

Fall is fading fast here. We had an rainy and sometimes humid autumn, but there were beautiful, cool and crisp days too. There are precious few days of fall left. Here are a few projects from the archives to soak them up:

1. make a leaf crown
2. dip fall leaves in wax and put up on the wall with washi tape
3. why not cross stitch on a pumpkin?
4. fill your house with the beautiful aroma of brown butter bars

Why do I forget how awesome freezer paper stencils are? They are so easy they feel like cheating.

I stenciled this shirt for a just-turned-four year old boy. I stole the design from this shirt, but honestly I like mine more--even if the R did get a little crazy.

1. train bag 2. yellow stripe 3. hot dog shirt 4. color wheel 

For your perusing pleasure, here are some freezer paper stencils from the archives .

I haven't been down in my studio for a good three months. Three months! You could call it creativity block or you could call it my own personal soul sucking, fear mongering, mental fog inducing, self-esteem deflating, psychosis making machine.  Not to put too fine a point on it or anything.

I try not to ask myself why I tape flowers and leaves on the wall, or make my kids' undies, or crochet cozies for our ottoman, because there is no satisfying answer. But questions do creep in: why not make something less ridiculous? why not make something that is actually profitable? why waste your time making silly things to show the internet? why do this when so many people do it better? why not use that expensive education of yours? Once the questions start, they don't stop, and they become debilitating.  Soul sucking now seems a more appropriate term than creativity block, don't you think?

But making things, be it underwear, tools, flying suits, computer programs, or whatever, is what humans do. Our survival once depended on our ability to solve problems creatively. Now that drive is part of who we are and when the urge to make things goes unfulfilled we feel less human.

So I'm trying, trying to make things again, trying to feel human again. I know I hit these creative brick walls yearly and slam into them repeatedly until I find a ladder, but this time the ladder has been hard to find. I cleaned up my studio yesterday--even slapped some paint on the wall--hoping the ladder was there somewhere. Does this happen to you (hit a wall, let the sewing machine gather dust, avoid even thinking about making)? How do you get past it?

I never seem to remember to buy sidewalk chalk, but we always have the ingredients on hand for chalk paint. Making chalk paint is super easy; drawing with chalk paint takes a bit of practice.

Our first attempt turned out mostly colorful blobs, but the second time was a success. I was doodling quilt squares [sewing nerd!] and my kids wanted to learn how to make them too. They told me their log cabins had roofs, obviously.

chalk paint

materials

• muffin tin
• corn starch
• food coloring (the cheapy kind, not the gel kind)
• water

directions

1. Put one tablespoon of corn starch in each muffin tin cup.
2. Mix in a tablespoon of water (or a smidge more) into each cup.
3. Put one drop of food coloring in each cup.
4. Mix well.
5. Grab a paint brush and go outside!

Be warned, fingers and toes will get painted.

But other cool stuff will be painted too!