elsie marley

The other day we wrapped some tin foil in noodles. I thought they made for a pretty stylish necklace.

The project came from Todd Oldham’s awesome book Kid Made Modern. His first book, Handmade Made Modern, was decent, but this one is super fantstic. I think it’s aimed at kids around the ages 7-12, but there are some projects little ones can do and I would have loved it as a teenager–really even if you don’t have kids there are some super styish ideas you can steal.

In the book, Oldham takes mid century designers–Isamu Noguchi, Marimekko, Alexander Calder, Paul Rand, Charles and Rae Eames and so many more–tells you a little about them and their art and then presents a couple projects inspired by their work. The projects are organized by material–many of them recycled–or technique.   The printing, cardboard, tape and dye sections are some of my favorites, but I was taken by most of the projects.

I  didn’t mean for this to become a full on book review (I was just going to tell you about the noodles) but I think this is a fantastic craft book that is well put together and well thought out. And definitely not only for kids. If you feel like wrapping noodles in tin foil–you really don’t need the book for this project– but I would dab a little bit of glue on the noodle before you roll it up. We didn’t and I kept finding bits of tin foil around the house for the rest of the week.

Oh and look there is a kid made modern website with some extra projects and little videos, check it out!

I was so taken with this mud pie kitchen that I found on the crafty crow, that we went right outside and made one of our own.  I moved some little tables around and the kids wondered around the yard gathering decorations, then we dug up some dirt from the garden and went to work. The kids insisted on wearing aprons and washing their hands before they started.

There go the cupcake into the oven. They were very serious about the whole affair–my son even made me set the timer.

When they were done with their cakes they went on to other things, but I might do a little rearranging in the new kitchen and keep it up for the rest of the summer.

The baker showing off her wares.

I’m really not one for the whole princess thing. And I thought we had avoided it, until on her fourth birthday my daughter wished that “all princesses would be sparkly.” There has been a health dose of princessness since then, even though I rarely ever buy princess paraphernalia–and wow you can buy just about anything save for major appliances with a princess slapped on it.

It’s not so much the prince saving the princess that annoys me, it’s the total lack of substance on the part of the princess. Well, that and the rampant consumerism of it all (see above).  For the most part the princess just lies around looking pretty all day long. Because of that I rejected them outright until I found myself looking at a fashion magazine in the check out line and realized it was just grown up princess crap. So I guess if I can indulge in pretty girly things, I can indulge my daughter a little too.

And so the princess dress. It’s not sparkly or even very flooffy, but it’s pink and princessy and she loves it. The pattern is from Carefree Clothes for Girls and with it’s quilted bodice (that’s for you nan) and raw edges it’s more Cinderella before the ball than at the ball. The pattern was easy and a lot like the other dress I made from the book. The only part I couldn’t figure out were the button loops. There was a diagram on how to make them, cut I couldn’t decipher it out, so I just crocheted some chains with quilting thread and sewed them in. And it worked out well, washes up nicely, and gets dirty often. For me it’s a dress with a silly amount of baggage, but to her it’s just a pretty dress to pick flowers in.

A while back when it was raining nonstop we made these very sweet rain paintings, but now that it’s extra hot I was thinking I’d turn on the sprinkler and make sprinkler paintings instead. I found the project at the crafty crow– where you can find every kid’s art project ever thought up–and you can find the original post about it here.  To make rain paintings  you crush up watercolor paints (we put them in plastic bags and banged on them with a rolling pin), sprinkle them on some paper and put it out in the rain.

It’s such a simple and quick project, but every part of it was exciting for the kids (and me): whacking the paints with the rolling pin, using the paints we “made” and standing out in the rain waiting to see what would happen.

After you decide the picture is done and pick it up, all the paint will run (and your sidewalk will turn bright blue). I was kind of disappointed when this happened, but my kids squealed with joy.  We hung them up in the window to dry and they were so beautiful with the sun shining through them. The whole porch was bright and glowing even though it was still raining outside.

The pictures do fade when they dry, but then you can take a pen and turn your rain painting into a beautiful rain garden.

I had grand plans to do project after project with my kids this summer, but there has been more lazing around than anything else. This project, though, is right up my alley: simple, quick, bright, and all about the process. Anyone got any good preschool age art projects to recommend that have been a success? I’m thinking marble painting is next.

Sorry. I didn’t mean to be gone for an entire month!  Honestly, it’s a little hard to get back on the horse. But better just to jump right back into it (or onto it, if we are still in the horse metaphor), so here goes.

These linen pants were inspired by a fantastic pair little boy pants that popped up on flickr during kids clothes week (see below). I was working on a couple patterns from Carefree Clothes for Girls during kids clothes week and I thought those pants translated that aesthetic–rough around the edges, but still chic; old timey, but modern at the same time–perfectly.  They are made by little bird designs, who also makes some super cute things and sells them on etsy.

I made my pants, well my son’s pants, out of this nice striped linen from Joann’s that I had been saving for another project that just never happened. There was only about a yard, so I had to cut the cuffs against the grain, which actually turned out to be a nice detail.  I did an elastic waist, but I do think that big drawstring on the other pants is more Huck Finn.

Of course right after I washed them my iron broke, which is why they are a mess in the picture–who am I kidding? they probably would be have been a mess regardless.  So are there any good iron recomendations out there? because I can barely sew without one! And I need to get a new one quick, because I’ve been eyeing that same linen fabric in brown for this pattern I picked up:

Granted I have no idea if I can sew this, but we’ll see (it’s V1175, if you feel like sewing along with me). I actually have a few things I sewed for myself I want to show you, but I haven’t figured out how to take a decent photo of myself in them.

And just like that I’m back on the horse.

You told me I had to, so I did: I made a matching tie. I used the pattern and tutorial for the little boy’s tie from the Purl Bee. It came together super quick and in one evening I was done. The tie is almost completely hand sewn. If you set up the ironing board in front of the boob tube, you too can make a tie in a night. “Little boy” is a little vague so I didn’t know if the tie would fit my son (he’s three), but it’s actually perfect.

And it was warm enough that they didn’t have to cover up their cute outfits with a winter coat. I remember there being many snowy easters when I was a kid. They even got to have an easter egg hunt outside. Yay for crazy midwestern weather!

Yesterday morning was rainy and crummy. My daughter wanted to do a project, “I’ll go in my room and when you think of a project for me say ding-a-ling-a-ling.” so I came up with this (rain on a rainy day: my creativity knows no bounds). I cut out a raindrop shape for her to trace and my son was in charge of the tape. She wanted to make a rainbow, because where there is rain there are rainbows, and my son made a sort of deconstructed rainbow (up there on the right). He also wanted to know where the umbrella was, so we made one of those too.  Now that it’s sunny, my daughter wants to know when we are going to make the sun.

This is a crazy easy project. Just iron down some freezer paper on a shirt and slap some yellow paint on it. It’s a super springy shirt that I copied straight out of this japanese craft book. I don’t own the book, but it looks like it has some awesome patterns in it. As with most japanese craft books the shapes are so simple and the fabric choices so spot on you want to make everything in it, but then dammit it’s just not as easy to follow directions in japanese as they say it is–even if there are lots of pictures. I’m working on a japanese pattern right now and it’s slow going. It’s yellow too actually. We need some yellow here in the grey midwest, but if this 50 degree weather will stay I won’t complain about the grey.

and here he is showing off his matching yellow star undies.

Your stories kept me laughing all weekend long, thank you! If you haven’t read the comments go check them out–there are some crazy boy antics in there. Now for the winners:

• allison waken Says:
  February 18th, 2010 at 2:31 pm e
  Just yesterday I caught my 5 year old ready to ride down the stairs of his brothers bunk bed on his skateboard. I think they just like to make sure I’m on all the time ;)
  Love these belts. I am definitely going to try to make one – hopefully some day soon!

• ~Heather Says:
  February 19th, 2010 at 8:10 am e
  When my sons were in utero my cat used to sleep next to my belly and when she purred my little guys would move around in response to her deep, lulling sounds!
  I think the plaid belt would be great for any season, on winter jeans or summer shorts! ~H

So Allison gets the wood grain belt and Heather gets the plaid one. I’ll email you to get your addresses.  I hope they fit your boys!

Thanks to everyone who subscribed (or followed or whatever). And while we are talking about RSS feeds, let me put a plug in for google reader. It really is a fantastic way to read all the blogs you follow. Pip had a post a while back (edit-sorry I forgot the link!)about all the cool stuff you can do with google reader and it’s very good so just go read it, so I don’t have to say it all. There is also a “share” feature there that I’m curious about:  You can share posts (from other blogs) that you find interesting with all who are on your sharing list. Does anyone use it? I have some sites I’d like to share with all of you (google reader users or not) but I’ll save that for tomorrow.

Wow! There has been such an amazing response to the boy belt tutorial! I think there must be a lot of boys out there running around with their pants falling down–no more!

To thank you for all your kind words and links I thought I’d giveaway a few of the belts I made, because as you can see they are not keeping any pants up around here. The skinny plaid one and the wider wood grain belt are up for grabs (for a better picture look here). If you’d like to enter tell me a funny story about a little boy you know–a brother, a son, the crazy little boy down the street. There is always one who tried to fly from on top of the refrigerator or covered himself in crisco or skiied down the basement stairs. If you can’t think of a story, just tell me which one you’d like. And if you’d like to be entered twice you can subscribe to my blog (and tell me in your comment) or link to the belt tutorial on your blog or tweet it. Or all three if you’d like, but I’ll only love you more–just 2 entries max per person! I will pick two winners (pick a winner!) on Monday morning, February 22 CST.  Good luck!