Happy October everyone! I turned my scary cats into a coloring sheet, if anyone is in the mood for a little pre-Halloween fun. Also, click here to see all of my Halloween crafts! Click on the image below, then print.Continue Reading

Celebrating Thanksgiving with family and friend gives the perfect opportunity to reflect on the things that we love and appreciate. This Thanksgiving, I decided to create an “I’m Thankful For…” coloring sheet that doubles as a placemat for the kids table. My kids felt really good about putting their appreciations down on paper and I...Continue Reading

Hope you’re all having a great summer! Here is the other project I just finished for Pottery Barn Kids. A little camping scene in the woods. I hope it gives you a small taste of the great outdoors! (Template is below!) Template: Click on the image below, then print!Continue Reading

I recently made a new oscillating bird design for a magazine, so I thought I’d share it here too. After finding this toy idea on the brilliant Science Toy Maker site a couple of years ago, I made this woodpecker. It’s based off of an old folk toy, and is a great way to teach...Continue Reading

We’ve been enjoying a lot of indoor paper crafts lately, and a few days ago we made some little slotted animals based on a wooden set that I made awhile back. Cutting the animal shapes out and putting them together was just the right amount of challenge for the kids. They were quite focussed, and...Continue Reading

After posting my Wooden Turkey, many of you thought it would be fun to make sometime similar out of cardboard. Good idea! I tried to simplify the design as much as possible so that it would be fast and simple to make. If you want to try it out, there are directions and a printable...Continue Reading

It seems like Thanksgiving decorations are so difficult to find. Most stores just move straight from Halloween to Christmas and Hanukkah. So yesterday, I decided to make a little wooden turkey decoration for our mantel. As a child, I remember lying on my Grandparent’s living room floor and being able to pull things off the...Continue Reading

Here is another worksheet to try out with your kids. This time I decided to spice things up a bit by making it a short story. After they’re done reading and writing, maybe your child will want to decorate their story by coloring it in! Click on the image below, then print!     Click here...Continue Reading

Our twins are starting kindergarten in the fall, and have been really excited about reading and writing. Yesterday morning at the breakfast table, I drew this worksheet to give them a little practice. They were very proud to fill it out. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun practicing over the summer!...Continue Reading

I had so much fun making the Travel Sized Paper City Paris, and couldn’t wait to make more mini toys for on the go. I was getting ready to miniaturize the Dressy Cats, but decided that I was in the mood to create something a little different. So here are the Modern Mini Cats! (I’ll...Continue Reading

I’ve been getting requests for a printable Valentine’s Day project. And I thought it would be cool to make a card that was also a toy. So here are some funny little Valentine’s card creatures. There is a small flap on the back so you can write a secret Valentine’s note underneath. We’ve been having...Continue Reading

I was drawing with some non-toxic fabric pens the other day just for fun. (See my favorite tools, if you want to know what kind of paint pens.) I’m not sure what I’ll do with all the drawings yet, but I made this bird into a little pillow toy. Kind of cute, and very fast...Continue Reading

We got to spend all of last week at my mom’s house. Among the exciting fun with grandchildren, I got to spend some time with my mom too. We made this play mat for little E. I was lucky enough to somehow end up with this very cool strip of fabric from London that my...Continue Reading

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...Continue Reading

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 Holidays!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

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

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