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 PDF. Continue Reading
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. Happy wrapping! Click on the image below, then print.Continue Reading
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...Continue Reading
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 reading!Continue Reading
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....Continue Reading
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 made this morning. Thanks again for playing!...Continue Reading
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 it.Continue Reading
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...Continue Reading
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 porch...Continue Reading
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 Etsy!Continue Reading
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 trick-or-treat lines....Continue Reading
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 Boston. Here...Continue Reading
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 29.Continue Reading
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 practice, the second...Continue Reading
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....Continue Reading
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 album at her site, or on iTunes. “We are excited to...Continue Reading
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...Continue Reading
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 Cats!” My son especially loves putting on...Continue Reading
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 like to check it out!...Continue Reading
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 her in my interview with Bloesem Kids last...Continue Reading
