I had the great pleasure of doing a fun interview with Yolanda Edwards at momfilter, a unique and well done blog by the founding editors of Cookie magazine. Momfilter features great ideas under headings such as food, gifts we love, at home, travel and style. Click here to read the interview.Continue Reading
The other day, I decided to try making some car seat and stroller toys for our new baby girl to look at. I used high contrast scraps of felt, so they’re soft to touch, and fun for babies eyes to focus on. They were very fast and easy to make, and so far she loves...Continue Reading
We’re having a wonderful display of kid’s art over at the Made by Joel Facebook Page. I thought is was so much fun, I didn’t want anyone to miss out. If you like children’s art as much as I do, then come on over and join in on the fun. And feel free to upload...Continue Reading
Here are the Duck and Goat coloring sheets that go along with the chicken! Also, many of you have have been turning Made by Joel coloring sheets into wonderful embroidery stitchings. I’d love to do a post to display them. So if you’d like to contribute, send me a photo of your stitching to joel...Continue Reading
I have to give the credit to my son for this craft. The other day, we were out in the yard and the kids were picking flowers off the azalea bush. My son, who loves building things, took the flowers and poked them all onto a short stick. When he showed it to me, I...Continue Reading
We’ve been enjoying our first week of summer break, and spending a lot of time playing in the backyard. Planting sticks, I mean trees, playing in the playhouse I made two years ago, and drawing a lot of chalk art. A couple of weeks ago on the Made by Joel Facebook Page, I asked for...Continue Reading
I’m making some coloring sheets for a new urban homesteading store here in Portland. They wanted a chicken, duck, and a goat. I’m still working on the duck and goat, but here’s the chicken. Happy coloring! Click here or on the image below to print.Continue Reading
We’ve had a great week of family time with our new baby. I’ll be posting some more crafts and coloring sheets very soon! Until then, some of you requested to see the DIY baby socks in action. So here you go!Continue Reading
Disney asked me to make a road trip illustration for a project of theirs. (More on that in a few weeks.) So I thought I’d turn some of the illustrations into a Paper City “Road Trip Pack.” I made road pieces, like train tracks, so you can build your own road. My son was very...Continue Reading
In preparation for Father’s Day this month, here are some crafts that fathers can easily make with their kids, for some good family bonding fun. Click on the links or the photos below, and have a great Father’s Day! Toddler Stilts – Easy to make stilts for toddlers. Great outdoor fun! Tin Can Telephones –...Continue Reading
Underwater life has been a very popular theme in our house lately. So yesterday morning, while we were all drawing, I made this coloring sheet. I haven’t yet colored it in, so if you want to upload your colored versions to the Made by Joel Facebook Page, please do! I’d love to see them. Later...Continue Reading
My kids have been practicing throwing and catching a lot lately, but the rubber balls we have are a little difficult for them to catch. So last night when I cleaning out my closet, I found some old jeans, and thought I’d make a ball with some of the fabric. It was really easy to...Continue Reading
The votes are in ~ Paper City Paris won! If any of you have ideas about what you’d love to see in the design, please let me know! Feel free to leave comments and even upload your favorite photos of Paris (to the Made by Joel Facebook Page) that capture what you love about this...Continue Reading
Thank you Naif Magazine for the Made by Joel feature! I just received the spring/summer issue in the mail, and the entire magazine beautiful – filled with amazing ideas, and designs for kids. You can read the Made by Joel article below, if you’d like. Gracias revista Naif por vuestro artículo sobre Made by Joel! Acaba...Continue Reading
With the beautiful weather we’ve been having, I thought it might be fun to do an “outdoor” roundup of some popular previous posts. So here they are! Click on the links or photos below! Driftwood Fish – At the beach? Create some fun toys with driftwood and a paint pen. Flower Baskets – Weave a...Continue Reading
Here is another fantastic album that I got to design the cover for. Becky Billock is a classical pianist who has recorded Muses Nine, where she performs a wonderful selection of classical pieces by female composers. The cd is available on Becky’s site, or you can get it here on iTunes. If you enjoy classical music, definitely...Continue Reading
I was struggling to decide which city to select as our next Paper City and thought, “Why not put it to a vote?” As soon as I did, I was amazed at how quickly the votes started coming in. In fact, over the past several days, we received nearly 300 votes on over 35 cities...Continue Reading
Here’s another sock project. I got the idea from the very cool book, Sock and Glove. I love sock projects because there is so little sewing involved, which makes them super fast! This fish took only 10 minutes to make. Also, sock crafts are a great way to repurpose my stripy socks so I don’t...Continue Reading
