I was very honored when Etsy recently asked if I’d be interested in making a new craft to post on their blog. I decided to make these fabric nesting dolls. The idea for them came after I painted a set of nesting dolls for a friend of mine. She said I should try making some nesting...Continue Reading

Recently we were going through our hats for cold weather.  I decided it was time to get rid of an old fleece hat that I’ve had for many years.  I was about to trash it, when all of a sudden a black sheep flashed into my head.  I had to try it.  My daughter has...Continue Reading

I recently scored a free box of wood scraps and in it was this fabulous old cedar block.  I decided to paint it and turn it into a “city block”.  I think it might be a good block for the Vintage Wood Figures to hang out with.Continue Reading

My first craft column appeared in the new issue of LMNOP magazine today.  Pull toys have been making a come-back in our house, so I decided to make some box pull toys that slide across the floor.  They turned out to be really fun and very easy to make.  There are full instructions in the...Continue Reading

A couple of years ago we bought some Stockmar Beeswax Crayons, and they came with a little plastic tool for doing Sgraffito.  Sgraffito comes from the Italian word sgraffiare (“to scratch”), and the technique works great with crayons.  All you do is make a light color background, then color a dark layer (black is best) over the...Continue Reading

We just got back from the beach today, and had a great time.  Before leaving, I quickly made a couple of sand combs for the kids to play with.  They added a nice and relaxing element to our sand playing.Continue Reading

We’re headed to the beach again this weekend, so I was in the mood to get out the driftwood pieces from our last trip and paint them.  I ended up using non-toxic paint pens (Painters Opaque Paint Markers by Elmer’s), which made it really fast and easy.  It’s amazing how much fun a bunch of...Continue Reading

I just discovered a fantastic vintage fabric and craft supply store here in Portland, and made these simple pillow dolls with some of the fabric I found.  I embroidered the faces with my regular sewing machine, but it worked pretty well.  The twins love to pretend they are putting the dolls to bed.Continue Reading

This post is a shout out to my sister. She recorded this classical piano album after becoming a mom. I think it’s brilliant, but of course I’m partial. I also did the artwork. It is available on iTunes Music Store, or at lorihenriques.com.Continue Reading

My kids each have a yo-yo but they’re not able to work them yet.  So I tried to think of something that could provide a more toddler friendly yo-yo experience.  I used some Paul Smith sock material scraps and some cotton canvas to sew a ball.  Then attached a length of elastic string.  So far,...Continue Reading

A few days ago I got to spend some time at the Portland Art Museum on my birthday.  I hadn’t been there in awhile and was really inspired by the Native American exhibits.  Dance wands, totem poles, jewelry. So I came home and dreamt up the idea for this toy.  A kind of interactive art...Continue Reading

The kids got some new construction paper for a Christmas gift last night, so we made finger puppets this morning. You can see on their faces the excitement and wonder they had for the tiny puppets. They had a great time acting out really funny scenes and stories. A super fast craft with fun results!Continue Reading

I’ve been tackling some larger projects, so I haven’t posted in awhile. One of them is this zoo blanket. Jack and Tess love to get out all of their animals and arrange them on the floor to “make a zoo”. I thought it would be fun to design a blanket or play mat that had...Continue Reading