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

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 luck!Continue Reading

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...Continue Reading

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...Continue Reading

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, Daddy?”...Continue Reading

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be doing a book signing for my new book, Made to Play, at the kid-friendly downtown Powell’s Books here in Portland on Saturday, October 15 at 2pm. If any of you are in the area, I’d love to meet you in person. It’s going to be pretty fun!Continue Reading

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 minutes total. I...Continue Reading

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...Continue Reading

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...Continue Reading

I just created this coloring sheet for a wonder project, Community & Parents for Public Schools, a national organization with a portland chapter. They’ve been working to make schools better for over 10 years. Every year they hold an annual Parent Leadership & Engagement Conference ( Oct. 22nd, 2011) . This coloring sheet will be...Continue Reading

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....Continue Reading

Disney FamilyFun Magazine asked me to create a design for their Badges of Fun summer activity game. I did the road trip badge, which just came out in their August issue. Below is a printout for the interactive version of the badge. You can also add it to the rest of Paper City Road Trip...Continue Reading

I came up with some simple modern dollhouse designs for my book, Made to Play. This is one design that didn’t make it in the book, so I thought I’d share it here. It’s very fast and easy to make. All you need is a board, (any length is fine) and two small strips of wood...Continue Reading

By Wendi Gratz Embroidery is a really terrific craft. The tools are inexpensive and readily available, the projects are portable, and you can embroider ANY drawing. Today I want to introduce you to the basic tools, teach you how to transfer an embroidery pattern, and give you specific details on how I stitched up one...Continue Reading

I’ve made a couple of match games in the past, but now that my kids are getting a little older, I’m having to come up with slightly more difficult versions. Here is a doctor’s office theme, where you have to draw a line to connect the medical tools on the top row to their related...Continue Reading

Here is a simple poetry river craft that I made for the newest Issue of LMNOP Magazine, which is all about books. We’ve been enjoying the book, A River of Words, which is a brilliant introduction to the poet William Carlos Williams. This book contains many of his wonderful poems and talks about beautiful things...Continue Reading

I made a fireworks coloring sheet last night, in case you want to get in the mood for 4th of July! I haven’t had a chance to color it in yet, but it looks like it could be a tricky one. Click on the image below, then print.Continue Reading

Many people have been asking me about crafts and activities for the beach, so I thought I’d do a little beach roundup post. Below are three crafts, as well as a couple of beach inspired coloring sheets. And we would love to hear about your favorite beach activities too, so feel free to share them...Continue Reading