Arts & Crafts Archives - Page 10 of 15

Build a fort as big as your imagination with Fort Magic

You may remember how much I adore Fort Magic fort building kits that make it easy to create amazing forts for the kiddos without an engineering degree, but now that the kids are older, I love it even more. Since our last post we’ve made huge forts in our living room, our family room, and even took the Fort Magic kit with us while on vacation so the kids could build an outdoor hideout for cousins only, complete with added satellite dish.

Haven’t heard of Fort Magic before? The Fort Magic fort building kit contains everything you need to create your own fort as big as your imagination. The 382 piece kit contains all different shapes and sizes of rods, connectors and accessories that allow you to build a fort – anywhere, anytime.

Galt Toys offers educational and developmental toys and gifts for kids of all ages

I’m guessing most of you out there are very familiar with Galt Toys, even if you wouldn’t recognize the name. With a history spanning over 175 years and with toys for ages 0-12, Galt Toys has been celebrating the importance of childhood play in Europe and is now moving into North America just in time for the holidays.

From their iconic Ambi Toys collection that I remember vividly from my own childhood to the Galt learning books that are used in schools and homes alike, Galt Toys have been a staple in many homes for generations. Do these look familiar to you?

DIY snowflake window cling craft for kids {inspired by the movie Frozen}

My kids are fully obsessed with the new Frozen movie from Disney. You may remember my post about the press pre screening we were invited to, but what you don't know is that we loved it so much that we actually went back to the theater that same week and watched it again. That's a lot of love.

Both of them are dying for the movie to come out and are broken hearted about the fact that it's going to be months until we can watch it whenever we want at home, so we've decided to bring some Frozen fun home while we wait. First up on the list was doing a craft I've been wanting to do for a while: snowflake window clings.

To make DIY Snowflake Window Clings you will need:

Tulip Glitter or Puffy Paint
Wax Paper
Snowflake pattern from the Disney Frozen site

Make yourself a home with Lundby {SMÅLAND Swedish dollhouse review}

I feel like I should win some sort of award for the fact that I still haven’t shown my daughter her new Lundby house she’s going to be opening on Christmas. It’s been an exercise in self-control to keep it hidden away in my office {which actually isn’t all that “hidden”, but that’s a whole other issue} even though I pass it numerous times a day.

Everyone is posting things on social media stressing about how there’s only 43 days until Christmas and all I can think is how on Earth am I going to be able to wait that long?

And, then when a new shipment of miniatures arrived the other day with a Lundby family and two packages to complete her Lundby kitchen and dining room, I realized this was going to be an even bigger task than I imagined.

Design your own jewelry with Pictures on Gold

Holiday Gift Guide – Day 1

I’m a sucker for personalized anything. Maybe it’s something deep rooted in my past from having a somewhat unusual name in the 80s, or maybe it’s just that personalized gifts these days are just so cool. Whatever the reason, I spend most of my holiday budget on personalized items like those from Pictures on Gold.

Pictures on Gold is just what it sounds like: jewelry that can be engraved with whatever pictures you desire. From clip art to special pictures to personalized messages, Pictures on Gold can custom create anything you dream up. The interactive “Build Your Own Locket” application on the PicturesOnGold.com website lets you do just that and allows you to control every single detail.

But, not only that, they also show you each step of the way what your item will look like. Drop in some clip art from the Pictures on Gold files and you can rotate it, enlarge it, and move it around your jewelry.

How to host your own upcycling party {Singer VIVO Repair & Create machine}

You know those times when everything in your closet just seems so boring? Whether you haven’t been shopping since you were in high school or your body has changed and you’re still wearing your old clothing, chances are you have a stack of clothes in your closet taking up space that you really don’t want to be wearing anymore.

I know I did, as did my friends, so we decided to get together to make a negative into a very big positive. Instead of going shopping together and blowing a few hundred dollars between us while we updated our wardrobes, we did something a whole lot more fun and cost effective – we upcycled our clothing.

For those not familiar with the term “upcycle”, the basic idea is that you use what you already have and are not using to create something new and fabulous that you would have otherwise had to buy. Think of it as the greener way to recycle.

So, to start my party off, I had all of the guests create two bags full of stuff beforehand – stuff they like but want to make amazing in one bag and stuff they really don’t want any more but can still be used for parts in the second.

Immediately upon walking into the party, they were greeted with two felt bins – one to dump their discards into for everyone to use as material, and one for the clothing they would like to upcycle. Once everyone had arrived, we went through the contents of the first bin together so everyone could see what materials they had to work with.

The saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” comes to mind as digging through the discard bin quickly turned into a clothing swap where everyone grabbed a few new-to-them items. Hey, it's green and resourceful.

But, our purpose wasn't just to swap clothing, we were here to make our clothing awesome, which is why we had this little baby by our side:

DIY: transform your wagon into an awesome fire truck

My little guy can’t wait to grow up and fight fires and drive fire trucks. On his 3rd birthday he came running in as soon as he woke up and asked if he was old enough to be a firefighter yet, clearly thinking that 3 just had to be grown up enough to fight fires.

Although I can’t do anything about the fact that he’s still got a decade and a half before we can pursue his dream of firefighting, I can encourage him to imagine himself as a firefighting hero every day of his childhood. With the Get Real Gear Jr Fire Fighter costume from Aeromax paired with what is quite possibly the coolest kid’s ride ever, we are well on our way to helping the kids play hero whenever they want.

Hello, Step2 “Fire Wagon”!

DIY home photography studio with a mini roller shade

One of the biggest surprises I had after becoming a blogger was how much photography would consume my life. Now, instead of just making meals for my family, I photograph every step up until the food goes onto our plates. Instead of just reviewing things, I also take pictures of every single angle and set up scenes in my home.

With my photography degree and the fact that I always have a camera handy, I was actually happy when I realized how blogging would force me to use the more technical information I learned back in the studio in college. I love taking pictures of my kids as much as the next person, but sometimes it's fun to play around with light a little bit to see what you come up with and studio shots give me a chance to do just that.

But, what has changed is the format I use when shooting. I used to shoot all in film, and I photographed subjects on a seamless room painted a matte white. Now, I shoot all digital and my subjects range from face creams to apple pie, usually quickly snapped before we all dig into whatever food or package I was photographing. Obviously, I didn't need a huge studio anymore, but I still needed… something.

A mini roller shade from Blinds.com is what I came up with, situated right by my biggest source of light – the sliding glass window.

Back to School with the Step2 Flip & Doodle Easel Desk {Review}

I am a Step2 Test Drive Blogger. I received a product in exchange for my review and opinion. No other compensation was provided and all opinions are 100% ours.

Someday I’m going to build really nice wrap around desks in my kids’ rooms for homework and art, but that day is not today. So these days we do our messy art projects on my dining room table, my kitchen island, or in the living room around the couch. I don’t think it will come as a surprise that I avoid doing art projects with the kids because of the inevitable mess it leaves.

But, this year to celebrate back to school, we got the perfect addition to our house to keep the peace and still allow the kids to be creative: the Step2 Flip & Doodle Easel Desk with Stool. Once the kids got a glimpse of the package contents, they banded together with cuteness until we put it together.

Luckily, it went together quickly with only a couple pieces to snap together and a few screws. In a matter of moments, the kids were loading up the easel desk and organizing their art supplies.

Step2 makes all sorts of easels and desks in different colors and variations, but we loved the Flip & Doodle design because it can be either a stand-up easel or a flat-top desk with one quick motion. The easel has a great magnetic white board surface as well as clips that can hold art paper or boards with ease and then it flips down to become a more traditional desk with a flat
writing surface for homework, iPad time and more. With so many ways to use it, I know it's going to be one of the best-loved play pieces we own.

Crayola for Back to School

Don’t shoot me, but I’m actually looking forward to Back to School shopping. I’m excited about walking the aisles and aisles of notebooks, protractors, pencil boxes and art supplies looking for the perfect supplies to send my daughter off to school with. Maybe it’s my love of office supplies talking, but I love digging through all the brand new school supplies and taking in the scent of new crayons and freshly sharpened pencils.

Yes, I know all you seasoned moms are now shaking your heads at me.

It’s not that I look forward to plunking down cash for brand new crayons when our {slighty} broken ones are just fine, it’s just that school is more fun when you have a backpack full of new school supplies. I’m looking forward to loading up my art-loving daughter with all the fun stuff for school {and for at home} that can make her entire school year exciting.

In fact, I didn't even mind that we had to store-hop a bit in order to get everything we needed, er, wanted, because it was as much about the adventure as it was about our crazy awesome Crayola haul we came home with. Seriously, just look at all this fun stuff we get to play with!