Hot enough for ya? Here in Florida, it’s hibernation time…we reminisce about being at the playground in the afternoon, taking long walks with our puppy, and not rushing in and out of air conditioned places because we’re afraid of melting or burning too fast. I’ve never gotten over this part of living in South Florida, and for kids with summer birthdays, it means an indoor party for sure.

Craft parties for kids are all the rage right now. Instead of paying a company to come and set everything up, hosting a craft-based birthday party is a welcome change from arcades or other loud, obnoxious venues. Art parties are fun, creative, and always get great reactions from parents and kids!

Fortunately, there are amazing resources to find ideas for birthday party crafts, for any time of year. My favorite kid’s crafty website right now is No Time for Flash Cards. Started by Allison McDonald, a former preschool teacher and now full-time mom to her two-year-old son, No Time for Flash Cards keeps kids busy and educated through thoughtful yet simple hands-on activities. The site is broken up into “Crafts,” “Book Reviews,” “Songs,” “Alphabet Activities,”and “Naptime Creations” (for older kids who don’t always get a chance to use smaller items when little ones are around).

There’s something for every kind of child here - quieter activities for more meticulous kids, and more open-ended crafts for those who like to throw around the color and stickers with reckless abandon. There are many crafts using recycled materials, which is a huge plus in my house. And, we love the book reviews - my girls often ask to go right to the library after I read Allison’s review to them!

Since the Fourth is coming up, my girls have been really into the concept of fireworks. The “Light Up the Sky” craft is a perfect way for kids to imagine their perfect fireworks display. Instead of gluing the “fireworks” onto paper, I’m going to have the girls attach them to paper towel rolls, to bring to the beach when we see them this weekend. It’s a great way to get kids into the spirit of the night!

It’s almost the big V-Day! We’re not big on presents and flowers, but cards are a different story. Now that my girls are older and can sit doing a longer craft, we got a little messier and more productive! Here’s how we made our Valentine’s Day cards this year -

*Paint a heavier stock paper with tempera paint. My older daughter made an intricate pattern of hearts, and my little one just smeared colors everywhere. Either way, they get cut up into cool cards. Make sure the paper is completely covered. Let dry overnight.

*Measure your envelope, and cut the paper into cards - either like a postcard with two sides, or a fold-over card (we did the folded card, for maximum decorating).

* Color, write, sticker, or decorate however you like!

I used envelopes from an awesome shop on Etsy called nowvember. She uses recycled band flyers from her neighborhood to make these totally original “rockvelopes” (see above photo). My kids loved picking out which envelope to use for which card. And since they don’t come with adhesive, they used even more stickers to make sure the cards arrive in one piece!

And if you’re still making cards, or need inspiration, here are more homemade ideas from around the web:

*Readymade Magazine’s Lunch-Hour Love Letters lets you justify a raid of your office supply closet! Make Valentine notes with index cards, paper clips, printer paper, rubber stamps, and more.

*Origami is a great way to get little kid’s hands moving creatively. Origami Club, our go-to site for everything paper folding, has an entire page devoted to origami hearts and baskets for small notes or gifts. They range from easy to advanced, so younger kids can feel like they’re folding like champs! Origami Club also provides animation, for those who need extra help.

*Surprise your child with a lunch note. I usually put stickers in my daughter’s lunchbox, but these printable Lunchbox Lovenotes from Parents Magazine are too adorable. Great to use with used printer paper you may have otherwise thrown out. Because, kids don’t care what’s on the other side!

My six-year old’s birthday party may have been full of paper plates and juice boxes (we’ll leave that for another post), but I felt good knowing her invitations were made from recycled paper - and totally unique from anything else I found. My big thank you for these awesome invites goes out to Kate Rosenthal, the brainchild behind eco-art supplies and stationery shop Stubby Pencil Studio. Based in Portland, OR, Stubby Pencil Studio is chock full of super fun and simply lovely artsy goods for kids, as well as personal paper and invites for your birthday needs (see pic above for the front of my daughter’s art party invite!).

Congrats to Stubby Pencil Studio for being featured in Cool Mom Picks’ Safer Toy Guide! To celebrate, Stubby Pencil Studio is offering $50 worth of goodies for one lucky winner! So many of SPS’s products are perfect for stocking stuffers and a winner for one Chanukah night. What will it be - Holiday Smencils, the fun-smelling pencil made from recycled newspapers; amazing metallic EcoPencils my daughter can’t get enough of; or my new favorite, wink ‘n curtsy’s eco-friendly personalized stationery for kids? The rules stay the same - please visit Stubby Pencil Studio to answer this very tough question: What product would your little artist love to get their hands on? Leave a comment here after your browse this wonderful shop! This contest will be open until next Friday, November 14th at midnight, PST. Good luck!

*Open to US residents only. One winner will be picked at random.

This contest is now closed! Thanks to everyone for entering!

Yesterday, we were getting some semi-annoying squall-like rain bands, which we think came from Gustav passing by Florida. Since our options we so limited outside, I finally decided to get the girls involved in a little project - recycling old crayons!

We go through crayons like crazy, and with a family who knows the girls love arts and crafts, they get new boxes of them a lot. While I try to hold off using new crayons, you know how little ones are - as soon as they’re damaged in any way, whether broken or the paper needs to be ripped off - they’re not as “fun” anymore.

Recycling crayons is a fun and very simple project that kids can help out with almost 100%. It’s also a great lesson in color mixing and dexerity (especially if you put your kids to work pulling the paper off!). Of course, parents should always do the cutting up part!

1.   Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

2.   Peel the paper wrapper off the crayons.

3.   Cut the crayons into small pieces, about a half-inch long.

4.   Place the pieces in a muffin tin. You can line the tin with muffin cups, or just use the tin (but keep in mind you’ll be sacrificing the tin for art’s sake). We used a mini-muffin pan, but you can use any size.

5.   Sort the crayons by color family, or just mix them up! This was one of the most fun parts for the kids. They were so excited to make their own creations!

6.   Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the crayons are melted.

7.   Let the pan cool completely. The wax will be liquid when you remove it from the oven, but will harden as the pan cools.

See above for our finished product! And thanks to Layne for asking how to make these!

Happy almost Spring! I know everyone is anxiously awaiting the arrival of warmer weather and more time outside, especially with Easter this Sunday. While the weather is still chilly, why not reenergize your kids with new, eco-friendly cards and coloring fun! I’ve written about Stubby Pencil Studio for Valentine’s Day, and I asked Kate Rosenthal, Stubby Pencil’s creator, to make party invitations for my daughter’s third birthday party. What a hit! I am so loving this paper company, I thought it was time to share with all of you. Stubby Pencil Studio’s “Green to the Letter” Stationery basket includes:

• 4 packs of Color ‘n Kids cards (winner’s choice of styles) - click the categories under “multi-pack sets” to see the styles
• Set of 10 Smencil pencils
• NEW! Set of 10 Colored Smencil pencils
• Box of 24 Soy Crayons
• One ’spring top’ pencil sharpener (winner’s choice of style)

This is an artsy kid’s dream! My girls love these cards, and it’s a great feeling to have them handy and not have to run to a card store for every holiday or occasion. The cards also have letter tracing and fun, unique, kid-centric designs.

You know the rules - leave a comment here with an answer to the following: what’s your favorite Color ‘n Kids pack? You have until Thursday, March 27th at midnight PST to enter. Good luck!

This contest is closed!  Congrats to Donna! 

Nothing says love like cards from kids - my grandmother used to frame her favorite cards from her grandchildren, and I’m already following in her footsteps. My girls love to make pictures and give them out as birthday cards, thank yous, or just to say ‘I love you’. How thrilled was I when I found Stubby Pencil Studio’s eco-friendly stationery and art supplies for kids! Check out these adorable Valentine’s Day ‘color ‘n kids’ 12 pack of cards - perfect for sending to family and BFFs!

Stubby Pencil Studio’s cards and envelopes are both made from 100% post-consumer recycled card stock, and right now are the only eco-stationery line exclusively for kids. Pair them with a set of soy crayons or other eco-friendly supplies and you have yourself a true green Valentine’s that you can keep forever. No need for recycling - a card from the heart is a true gift!

Ever break a plate and wonder what to do with the pieces? Kids knocked over your favorite vase and can’t bear to throw it away? New mom and crafter extraordinaire Juliet has taken reincarnating dinnerware it to a new, super-crafty level. An all-around crafter (she was the brains behind the Junk Mail Love project), Juliet and her alter ego, fittingly called The Broken Plate, takes everything from vintage and antique finds to trendy Anthropologie plates and breaks them to make beautiful pendants, rings, and brooches. After a bit of smoothing and soldering magic, Juliet’s pendants are transformed into a work of broken-art. She’ll even take broken wedding plates or other custom work (family china, anyone?) and give them new life as jewelry!

This Valentine’s day, two winners can accessorize with their own Broken Plate Pendant necklace! Juliet has graciously created a classic Valentine’s day red and pink leaf pattern plate pendant, as well as a vibrant turquoise Japanese plate pendant. Please leave a comment here with an answer to the following question - which is your favorite Broken Plate Pendant? It’s a tough call, but take your time - it’s worth a look (and planning which necklace will go with which outfit!) You have until Valentine’s Day, Thursday February 14th at midnight PST. Good luck!

This contest is now closed.  Thanks SO MUCH to everyone for entering!  Congrats to Vida and Laura S for winning! 

Stuck at home? The weather has been horrible in many parts of the country this week, so I’ve been searching for good crafting sites for some old fashioned, arts and crafts fun with the kids. Here are a couple of the most inventive, user-friendly places out there…

If you want to take a trip down crafty memory lane, head over to scrumdilly-do! Kid-craft maven Jessica Wilson has simple yet totally fun projects kids of any age can accomplish - no altering the project for little ones. I remember making these black scratchboards when I was in sleepaway camp - they’re gooey, colorful, and like magic for kids! A great project for using the nubs of crayons, or utilizing funky, recycled ones you can make at home as well…

Speaking of recycled crayons, the diy network has a great post on recycling crayons using muffin tins or molds. We’ve only made round, flat crayons at home, but how fun would it be to make letters?

Crafting a Green World is a new crafting website from model/environmentalist/overall green maven Victoria E. The newest site in the Green Options family of websites, CAGW focuses on everything from knitting to notebooks. My favorite post so far is called Junk Mail Love - if you’re like me and have magazines laying around from, well, forever ago, try this instead of recycling the old-fashioned way. CAGW shows you how to many super cool beads (see above) from junk mail to old issues of Nick Jr. Make them as chunky or delicate as you like - great for working on fine motor skills as well as green-fashionista training!

For kids who love making figures, try Paper Critters, the online paper toy creator. Get your post-consumer recycled paper out for hours of critter creating - choose from an almost endless database of cute and creepy characters!

There’s lots more out there - send me your favorite crafting websites, and I may just make this a weekly post! Hope everyone stays warm and dry this weekend…happy crafting!

Photos courtesy of Junk Mail Gems.  Thanks so much!

I love all things Zid Zid - my dream is to completely redo my daughter’s room to resemble a kiddie-sized Moroccan souk, complete with poufs, low table, a brilliant blue ceiling, and all the lovely accessories Zid Zid has. We’ll walk around in silver slippers and drink mint tea from gilt tea glasses all day…(can you tell I’ve thought about this a lot?) Seriously, many of Zid Zid’s products feature recycled cotton and cotton fill, vintage fabrics, natural materials, and all products are made in Morocco under fair wage conditions. But it’s the handmade-ness of the pillows and products that brings me back for more…Something I’m going to stock up on for gifts this year are the Zid Zid “Color Me” cushions, animal pillows ready for kids to design to their own style. I made the mistake of showing this to my older daughter, who is in full Chanukah mode…guess what just got added to her list? These cushions can be painted on, sewed on, glued, colored. Go ahead, they can take what your kids give it - and they’ll be best friends in the end.Speaking of giving, my new friend Jennifer, owner of the simply amazing Hazel Wood Children shop, is graciously offering not one but two of these lovely Color Me cushions for this week’s giveaway. Two winners can choose either the elephant or horse cushion. Please note, the pillows come without all the glittery art supplies you see above, but we’re sure you have plenty of crafty goods ready to cover these babies…This week, because of Thanksgiving, the giveaway will be open until Wednesday night at midnight, PST. Please leave a comment with an answer to this - what is your favorite Zid Zid colored animal cushion? (Hint: click on “More Photos” under the hippo to see them all!) Thanks, and good luck!This giveaway is now closed!  Congrats to Jessica and Marcie, winners of the Zid Zid ‘Color Me’ cushions! 

If you’re in the Chicago area at all now through September, check out the “CoolGlobes - Hot Ideas For a Cooler Planet” project. CoolGlobes consists of 124 sculpted globes, five feet in diameter, designed by artists, organizations, children, and others, each with a message on how to help the planet. They’re on display along Chicago’s waterfront on Lake Michigan (here’s the map of where to find them). Take the time to read about the project - Chicago has taken many steps to help become a green city, including using hybrid buses, building green libraries and schools, and encouraging bike riding as transportation. There are even great paper mache recipes to make your own globe!

The globes are the coolest. The one you see here is globe #77, titled “Take Simple Steps,” created by a grassroots organization in Chicago called teeniegreenie.org (and no, I didn’t know about them when I named teensy! Yes, I already emailed them!) I think for me, and so many others, this motto is a great mantra. Take the time to look at all the globes - they are true works of art and are truly inspiring!