I actually got to enjoy an afternoon alone this week. I decided to go look at art books and magazines. One of the shops had some empty cedar cigar boxes for a couple of dollars, so I got one to try out as a small dollhouse. I love the smell of the cedar, and it ended up looking pretty cool...

It seems like we’re always in the need of more kids activities for restaurants and travel. Shortly after I made Paper City Paris, I wondered what a miniature version would look like. Finally, this week I had the time to try it out. It was really fun redesigning and simplifying the folds...

Today it was decided that we needed more people for the dollhouse, so I got out some scrap wood and had the kids draw figures on the pieces. Then I took my woodburner and traced over their drawings and made some “doll blocks”. It was so fast and fun that I had to try making a...

Baby E got ahold of my son’s old giraffe toy that I made when the twins were little, and she is having a pretty good time with it. I just used some natural canvas fabric and drew on it with non-toxic fabric pens. It’s held up really well over the last two years. I might have to...

The little Christmas Cat from the Holiday gift tags got the job of posing for my sister Lori’s little piano holiday album, “Playing for Christmas.” You can listen to it here on iTunes, if you’d like. Happy...

Last night I got out my paper scraps and glue to make a collage gift card for my friend’s birthday party. (He loves Datsun 510 wagons.) And once my kids saw what I was doing, they wanted to join in, too. So I gave them a piece of paper and let them dig through my box of scraps. They were...

My son and I are big Lego fans, and he just got a new knight that has a moveable arm. It looked like a lot of fun, so I thought I’d try and make a wooden version so we could have a friendly dual. We had a great time making a little video too. (Spoiler alert: Lego wins :) We’re...

By Wendi Gratz (Giveaway info below to win these bags!) Hello again everyone! Way back in July I posted here about some basic info you need to start embroidering – and I shared some of the details about how I stitched up one of Joel’s Paper City designs. As soon as I saw...

If anyone wants to see how the Martha Stewart show went, here’s a video. It was a blast making dollhouses together! Here are the dollhouses I brought to New York for the...

The Dressy Cats are here to celebrate the winter holidays with you! The kids and I had a great time making these sets. We did Christmas, Hanukkah, and two new kitty cousins that came over for the festivities. Templates are below, if you want to print them out and play. Happy...

This Guest Post is by my sister, Lori Henriques Caroling is Catching! As a music teacher, I often find myself inviting people over to perform or participate in some kind of music. One of my best memories is a Richard Rodgers Centennial celebration back in 2002 in which guests were instructed...

My son is really enjoying dinosaurs these days, so in case you have any dino-fans around, I thought I’d share some of the activities we’ve been doing – paper clip cutout toys, building dino skeletons in the yard, a pretty awesome interactive dinosaur book on the iPad, and...

My favorite home-town magazine, Portland Monthly, was very kind to do a review of Made to Play in their November issue. You can read a pdf of the article below if you’d like. Thanks Portland Monthly!     Click on the image below to read the article in...

My kids love wrapping and decorating presents. So in preparation for the winter holidays, I thought it would be fun to make some gift tags that they could cut out or color. I also teamed up with Lisa Mundorff, who is a children’s book illustrator and very clever holiday card creator over...

My wife took the kids to see the Pinkalicious musical today here in Portland. My daughter had a pink dress all picked out, but my son realized he had nothing pink to wear. So we quickly made this paper necktie together with an old cover of an Art Forum Magazine. It was very fast to make. We...

Hi Made By Joel readers! I can’t tell you how excited I am to be here. My name is Phoebe and I’m a printmaking artist over at elSage Designs. Like Joel my boys and I like to create things. It’s pretty rad when the things we create can become useful beyond the project itself,...

Come join a pretty great discussion, here on the Facebook Page, for some wonderful methods and ideas on teaching your kids to read. There are some really great comments coming in, and we’d love to hear any of your ideas, too. Happy...

Our baby girl is starting to play with toys! At almost 5 months old, she’s still having a little difficulty holding on to things, and getting the right parts of certain toys into her mouth. So I decided to make her an easy to hold, sun shaped toy, with lots of rays to suck on. I also...

And the winners, according to the random generator are Denise, and Kirsty! Thanks so much everyone for the enthusiastic response! I’ll definitely try to do another giveaway before the winter holidays. Also, so everyone can get a little something, below is a new coloring sheet that I just...

This morning I was on the news show, “More Good Day Oregon” here in Portland. It was pretty fun! Here is a video stream if you want to watch...

Now that my book is out, I thought it would be fun to do a little giveaway. I signed two copies, so I’ll randomly pick two winners. If you want to be entered to win, then simply leave a comment on this post. On Friday morning (October 28) I will randomly pick the winner from all those...

While outside today, the kids were finding some nice old branches inside our laurel hedge, and we got the idea to make some broomsticks for Halloween. We used some old hose clamps, which made them very easy to make. It might be a fun addition for witch or Harry Potter costumes, or even just...

Check out this Etsy blog post if you’d like to see a tutorial for the Modular Leg Bands from my book. Julie, from Etsy, has cleverly thought to turn the project into “robot legs” for Halloween. Cool! Thanks...

I’ve been so busy for the last two weeks, I haven’t had time to make many new crafts, so we printed out the Paper City style trick-or-treat scene from last year. The fall leaves were so nice in our yard today, the kids took the paper people outside to practice up on their...

Got back late last night from the whirlwind trip to NYC. In case you’re as curious as I was about what it would be like at the Martha Stewart Show, here are a few photos from yesterday. My Editor for Made to Play, Jennifer Urban-Brown, and my publicist, Jennifer Campaniolo, came in from...

Just got done filming the Martha Stewart TV Show! Here’s a photo that my mom took on her phone of the monitor. I’ll post better photos later. I’m in the airport right now getting ready to fly home. It sure was a fantastic trip! Oh, and the show is schedules to air on November...

I’m really excited (and a little nervous) to say that I’m flying to New York on Monday to be a guest on the Martha Stewart TV show! I’m going to be making dollhouses and dollhouse furniture with Martha. I’ll be in the studio for two days. The first to set up and...

I just finished this embroidered shirt, now that it’s getting to be long-sleeve weather here. The design is actually some flower pots from an old sketch I did for one of these coloring sheets. While I was making it, my son got a piece of paper and said he wanted to draw the design too....

Wow, I’m so excited for my sister Lori. Today her album, “Outside My Door – Songs For Children Of all Ages” got a Parents’ Choice Gold Award! Nice work Lori! See the Parents’ Choice review of Lori’s album here if you’d like! Listen or get Lori’s...

The kids have been really excited to see beautiful yellow leaves starting to fall in the yard, and they wanted to collect some for the dollhouse. My son also found a small nut shell and some seeds, and made this really cool miniature bowl that we put on one of the tables. Always great to use...

This is Marcie McGoldrick, the editorial director of crafts at Martha Stewart Living.  I am excited to share a project here on Made by Joel from our new Handmade Holiday Crafts book, which just went on sale today.   It is never too early to start thinking about Halloween. One of my favorite...

This is my 200th post on Made by Joel! To make it easier to explore all of those posts, we’ve been working on a new design for the site. We’ll be adding a few more features, but you can start trying things out now. One fun thing to try, is when you click on a post, you’ll see...

Greetings readers of Made By Joel. I hope everything is tickety-boo with you. I am over the moon to be writing this guest post for this most wonderful blog. My name is Harry (I’m a girl). I work for the London based children’s publishing company, Made in Me. We are the creators of The...

Lately, my daughter is enjoying dressing up and wearing accessories, like purses and headbands. Having never made a dress-up toy before, I thought it would be fun to make a nice family of cats that could be dressed up like paper dolls. We’ve been calling them, “The Dressy...

I’m excited and grateful to post that Martha Stewart Living Magazine did a small piece on Made to Play in their October issue. I just got my copy yesterday, and they’re starting to hit the newsstands already. I also did a guest post on the Martha Stewart website, if you’d...

I just had the most wonderful experience… Artist/author/teacher Ann Sayre Wiseman came to my house on Monday with her son Kiko Denzer, also an artist. Her phenomenal book, Making Things: The Handbook for Creative Discovery, is one of my all time favorites. You might recall I mentioned...

By Claudia Porta “We love our kids so much, we want to give them everything. We work hard to give them as many opportunities as possible. Sometimes we are so busy doing this, we don’t even have time to sit down and relax together. We know this is just as important as the piano...

My advance copy of Made to Play arrived in the mail today! It’s pretty exciting to see it in person. I’m looking forward to October 11, when it will be in stores. Wish me...

My son loves stripy pants as much as I like stripy socks. You can see in this old post that he’s been sporting these trousers for almost a year and a half. After finally wearing a hole in them, we tried to talk him into cut-off shorts, but he didn’t like the idea of his favorite...

Our new baby girl loves looking at the Modern Paper Mobile for Babies that I made awhile back, but her favorite place to relax is in her bouncy seat. So I made this simple stand with some scrap wood and wire. It’s very lightweight and sturdy, so I can carry it around the house along with...

Voilà, Paper City Paris! I’ve been working on this for a very long time now and had so much fun creating it. My kids have been watching me draw and sketch for two months, and they’re now huge fans of the city. They kept asking me, “When are the buildings going to stand up,...

My wife’s birthday was this week, and we made her some necklaces. The kids made bead necklaces, and I wanted try something with wire. It worked pretty well. I just bent sterling silver wire with pliers, and then gently pounded it flat, using a slightly rounded hammer. I took less than 15...

A lot of people ask me what toys and craft projects end up being favorites in our house. One of the hits has been these vintage fabric dolls that I made a year and a half ago. My daughter really latched onto hers, and has slept with it every night since, taking it on vacations and all around...

There is a new preview for a peek at a few pages inside my book. Click here if you’d like to check it out! Only a few more weeks to go. It will be in stores on October 11. You can pre-order it here if you’d like. (Or here for more pre-order options.) I hope you’ll enjoy...

By Jo Pollitt and Lilly Blue of BIG Kids Magazine The BIG collaborative ocean project The ocean is both wide enough for us to frolic at the edges and vast enough to get lost in. A meeting point of world continents and cultures, such seas invite the possibility of adventure, travel and...

Here’s an easy little fish toy that I made today for the baby. I used fabric scraps, including part of an old neck tie. So far she likes to watch me wiggle the fish tail in front of her. It’s pretty cute. If you want to try making one, there are photos and directions below. Happy...

By Claire Ward-Dutton My name is Claire Ward-Dutton, and I am a British web designer and mum of two young children. I am also the founder of Little Parachutes, a new website which aims to help young children with situations and issues they may encounter as they grow up. The idea for Little...