I’ve just restocked my shop with new, one-of-a kind recycled bugs and other animals, as well as animal posters. If you’re looking for a unique gift, everything is on sale *THIS WEEK* (December 2-December 9th at 12AM)!!
Use checkout codes BUGS20 for 20% off all framed handmade bugs and animals, or POSTER10 for 10% off our printed posters.
I have been a fan of Brittany Jepsen and her website/brand, The House That Lars Built, for....EVER so I am so thrilled to be included in her wonderful Becoming interview series which she started back in 2019 to hear from women in different walks of life and how they approach creativity, career goals, and more.
Here I am in my messy studio keeping it real (I’m lying...I cleaned up for this photo...and it still looks messy!) plus a few outtakes, below.
When I was a young, as an anxious and shy kid, back-to-school time was hard for me. But one thing that I found soothing was organizing my school supplies and decorating my brand-new notebooks.
I made these animal pencil cups for this week's The Week Junior magazine. Think of them as your child’s comfort animal... in pencil cup form! If your kid is feeling anxious about school, making these together and creating an organized, fun space for homework might help.
Hi friends! My co-author, Margaret McCartney and I are so excited to share our new trailer for Mousetown, the book! Please take a peek! Margaret and I have been friends since college, and bringing Mousetown to life has been a longtime dream for us! We had so much fun collaborating again to make this trailer- Margaret animated Mouse and friends and I created the stop-motion crafty parts. Hope you love it as much as we do!
Making candy flowers for for The Week Junior (in the current issue, out now!) took me back many years to a very fun time working on my first book, Candy Aisle Crafts, with Amy Gropp Forbes ...playing for days with marshmallows and finding infinite uses for them (birds, ghosts, polar bears, snowmen, etc!). Snip them from different angles, and you can create many shapes and, in this case, many petals.
It is somehow May! And that means Mother’s day will be here soon. I made these water-less snow globes for The Week Junior magazine and forgot to post them….but I think they would make a sweet Mother’s Day gift too! (And they’re a great way to use up the recycled bottles I collect!)
This past fall we renovated our bathroom and were so lucky to work with Danny Seo and Rue magazine who covered it in their Spring issue, out now!
I am thrilled to share that my friend, Margaret McCartney, and I have made a book Mousetown: 30+ Kids Crafts Made from Recycled and Everyday Materials, published by Union Square & Co. In this craft + story book combined, kids follow Mouse through their day, and learn how to make all the tiny things Mouse uses in Mousetown!
I’m very excited to share this fun gift guide put together by my friend, Tempestt Alyce, including some brands that we both adore (and a few extras I stuck on at the bottom of the post)! We both love putting items together to create a custom gift basket-ish “kit”, especially if it’s tailored to a child’s interest!
These mini house ornaments are a fun holiday craft to try with your kids, using items you most likely have around the house, like toilet paper tubes, cupcake papers, and straws (for the tiny chimney)! They’re from my book, Toilet Tube Treasury!
I was thrilled to be asked by Netflix Family to create crafts inspired by several of their sweet and fun shows. For most of these projects, recycled materials are the stars!
The New York Times for Kids insect-themed May issue featured my bottle-cap beetles!
One of the best things about bugs is that they help get rid of trash. Whether they’re breaking down rotting stuff on the forest floor, helping turn food scraps into compost or showing scientists new ways to recycle plastic, they’re super helpful to humans and the environment. (Read all about this in this in the issue!)
Want to return the favor? Recycle and reuse big stuff, like glass jars and plastic bottles. Then turn the leftover bits — like lids, caps and scraps — into bugs.
I like to give something useful as Valentines, whether they are to my kids’ classmates (when we used to do that…sob!), friends, or family. “Useful” can sometimes be candy but, as there is already a lot of sugar at this time of year, we try to give out candy alternatives. I made these Valentine rock paperweights for The Week Junior, a super easy craft and a sweet keepsake that will remind your loved ones of you all year long!
When I was a kid I had a handmade greeting card company. My parents were the only customers but I didn't care. I loved the idea of making mini art to share. And the 10 cents I made selling a card!
I made these cards for The Week Junior and the technique is totally addictive! You know how you can carve white erasers into stamps? This is an easier version of that. Here I was just using super simple shapes to create animals, flowers, balloons, popsicles, and more. Then I added small details (like eyes and bubbles) by stamping with other items like pencil erasers, and cotton swabs.
I meant to share this paper cherry blossom craft that I made for The Week Junior us as a possible Lunar New Year decoration and forgot...but there are still a few more days to celebrate...so I hope you'll give it a try I've made a lot of paper flowers and these are, by far, the easiest...made from tissue paper circles, glue, and branches from my yard!
*THIS* Sunday's NY Times (tomorrow!) includes their amazing NY Times for Kids section, featuring the result of one of my more dangerous jobs...styling this chocolate lava volcano cake. Not dangerous as in hot lava🔥, but as in being in a kitchen testing multiple warm chocolate cakes while the kids were at school and the husband is "not eating cake" and the cakes are too handled to give to neighbors and maybe not appropriate for composting (right?) so....what is this food crafter to do but eat too many of them?
If you’re here, you probably know that I love to make stuff out of materials found in the recycle bin…and, of those, my absolute favorites are toilet tubes! In fact, I have a whole book of toilet tube crafts called Toilet Tube Treasury! Surprise your Valentine and decorate their room with this toilet tube heart garland from the book! (Or a tube heart necklace, see below!)
For The New York Times for Kids apecial HUGE issue, I baked a colossal cupcake, large enough to feed a big crowd of party guests!