May Day Crowns
It’s May Day! If these were “normal” times, and we weren’t all sheltering in place, I’d say GO OUT and get some raffia from your local craft store! Venture outdoors and gather some fresh spring blooms! Braid the raffia, slip the flowers in, and get together with 40 of your closest friends to frolick around a maypole! And it would look like this: But given that things are a little different this year, and…
Make a Chicky-Egg
If you made the felted spring bunny, and you’re up for the next wool craft challenge, here’s another spring project that’s just stinkin’ cute. This is a fuzzy colored egg that nestles a baby chick inside. It’s like an adorable Marshmallow Peep you can’t eat. (Wait, that doesn’t sound like a good thing…) You basically wrap felt around a ball or a spherical rock, and then massage it with warm soapy water, shrinking the…
Make a Spring Bunny
Spring is very much here, and although so much about this one feels different from springs past, the magnolias outside are dutifully in full bloom and first tulips are appearing like a dependable friend who always shows up on time. These sweet little bunnies are a celebration of spring. Soft, fuzzy, and made out of 100% wool, they’re a cute addition to nature tables, baskets, puppet shows, or just for having around as a…
Meet Chompy
There are days when you just need a quick-fix project — something you can just slap together and let entertainment happen on its own. (I’m looking at YOU, quarantined-parents-working-from-home.) For little ones, here’s a project that takes little time to make, and skews high on the work-to-amusement ratio. With no further adieu, I introduce you to Chompy. He’s cardboard, he’s hungry, and he’ll eat all day long. When we made him 6 years ago,…
Fave Item: The Wavy Chopper
Forget the pea protein and the mocktail trends predicted for 2020. Quarantine Cuisine is having its moment now, and if you’re like most during this dark and surreal moment in history, you’re probably getting creative with handfuls of elbow macaroni, canned salmon, frozen artichokes, and an errant tube of tomato paste right about now. While one downside to all this quarantining-with-kids is the time spent in the kitchen (the dishes, OMG THE DISHES), the…
Magic Wands
The world could all use a little magic right now, and so I bring you these: magic wands. I can’t guarantee they’ll stop pandemics or keep world markets from the brink of collapse, but I CAN tell you that creating these with your kids can make the crazy squirrels disappear from your head for the time being. AND you don’t need to know Latin. The reason why I like this project is because it…
Twiddles
We have baskets overflowing with these things at home, and they’re called “twiddles.” At least that’s what they call them in our kids’ kindergarten classes where the teachers seem to spin gold out of oatmeal flakes, and maintain a miraculous yoga-studio-level of peace within a class of 4, 5, and 6 year olds. Those teachers work fairy magic as far I’m concerned, and I can’t do anything NEAR what they do, but I CAN…
A Little Light
Hello Quarantined friends. Raise your hand if you’re wondering how many days of cheese quesadillas you’ve got in your fridge. Better yet, how many cheese quesadillas you can serve before everyone starts to get sick of them….or each other. Like you, I’m bracing myself for the weeks/months ahead, and hoping that our efforts to flatten the curve aren’t too late. And all I can believe is that — unlike that giant bag of dried…
