Crazy Cool Creative Toys

Just because I'm a mean mom and don't buy my girls anything new doesn't mean that I don't totally covet really cool kids' toys. I like the girls to have non-media-oriented, non-electronic toys that are ethically produced, made with renewable resources and without harmful chemicals, and are sturdy and inspire creativity and a variety of appropriate uses at a variety of developmental levels. That's not much to ask, right? No wonder I make a lot of the girls' stuff out of cardboard and felted wool, but if I could, I'd buy...Look at this awesome baby. It's apparently called Totem, from Hip from Holland. It's a building toy made from laminated recycled cardboard printed with these cool graphic design-y images, and you put them together with the slots in the sides to make stuff.

I think these dyed wooden arches are another interesting take on the construction toy. It's cool to add dimension to the typical stack-a-block form of construction play.

How minimalist is this scooter?
Name an art supply, and I'm pretty much its biggest fan, but these beeswax crayons sound especially awesome:

They're supposed to have a lot of pigment for their consistency, which means extra-brilliant colors. The girls love to experiment with drawing on colored construction paper--you know, light blue on blue or whatever, so it would be nice to not often have to squint to admire their work.

The girls haven't really done dollhouses yet--they used to have a medieval castle they'd play with sometimes, although they didn't have any teeny people to populate it (how did I not notice that and therefore put the craft wagon into gear?), and they have an old-school garage sale Fisher Price garage that they often use with my childhood Hot Wheels collection, rescued from the family attic one winter--and I'll probably end up making them one out of a cardboard box and some dolls out of felt, but wouldn't this upscale treehouse residence be cool?

I like how it doesn't have rooms, per se, but you can manipulate all the materials to make it however you want.

These metal letters are part of some crazy complicated children's early literacy program (I'm suspicious in that the children's T-shirts this program also sells are touted as an "important reinforcement in the program," but whatever), but don't they totally look fun, too? Willow's way into stringing letters together and having me "read" them, and Sydney's a stacker and sorter and arranger, so they'd both think these were pretty cool.

Know more cool toys? Share!

Well, At Least It's Over Now

At least I can say that I've done it now: I've sold at a craft show in the rain. A deluge, really. I mentioned before, right, that I don't have a tent? My usual practice in case of rain is to buy one of the crap E-Z Up lite tents from Sam's the night before the big event and then return it afterwards on account of it sucks, but it's never actually come out and rained before when I've gone to all that trouble, so I won't tell you whose husband talked her out of doing the same thing yesterday even though there was a 40% chance of rain today, but I will tell you that that husband sucked, because it totally rained. A lot.

I thought I had it made, anyway, because I got the show organizer to let me set up next to my usual spot, in a spot always left empty because it contains a big tree. So I set up under the big tree, and thought that if I kept everything inside the drip line, I'd be so happy and dry. Inside the drip line, people. That sounds like a good plan, right? And at first, when it was just sprinkling, it totally worked. And then, when it was raining a little harder, it kind of worked. But then, when it was pouring and thundering and lightening right over my head and I'm soaked to the skin and the stand holding the pillowcase dresses falls over and the plate holding the cut-out buttons is full of water to the brim, it really didn't work all that well at all.

Really, not much of my stuff got wet because it rained mostly during set-up, but my infrastructure got soaked, which made everything damp anyway, and I got soaked, which made me grumpy, and I couldn't make my set-up look anything like it wasn't all bedraggled and sad after a thunderstorm, and then hardly anybody even came out to the farmer's market, anyway, on account of it was still all gross and humid and probably going to rain again. But now I can say that I've sold at a craft fair in the rain. That makes up for not actually breaking even, right?

Pretty Pretty Pictures Running in the Rain

So we're all bustling around here at 8:00 pm, because Matt wants to go to, of all places, the drive-in on the night before I have to get up at 6:00 am for the farmer's market craft fair. And I'm bustling and bustling, and then suddenly I realize, "Hey, all my craft fair stuff is ready to go. I'm going to sit down while Matt cleans out the car and puts laundry on the line and whatever." So here I am. You're pretty happy for me, aren't you?

I've been working on a photo album to have out at craft fairs, recycling an old 8x10 portfolio book from Matt's job-hunting days, but unfortunately it will not be on debut at the craft fair tomorrow because the printer crapped out on me this morning and I spent over five hours fiddling with it off and on, reinstalling the software, reinstalling the print driver, uninstalling the last Microsoft updates (Vista sucks, you should know) before I called Matt at work and he's all, "Oh, the printer did that to me the other night. Unplug it and plug it back in." Good as new.

Here's what I got to, anyway:

I think they're turning out pretty sweet.

I also made up some new and sturdy craft fair signs this week--you might remember that craft fair signs are usually the bane of my existence, mostly because I don't make them sturdy enough and they get trashed during (literal) tear-down. So this time I printed them on overhead transparencies, backed them with thick natural-color matte board, and covered both sides with contact paper. They show well in natural light, although not indoors, and they won't be ruined if it rains tomorrow, which there is a 40% chance of at noon. The craft fair is over at 1:00 pm. I do not own a tent because they are expensive. Will luck be on my side? Only time will tell...

Tree Monkeys

After a morning spent making glycerine soap with the girls and reading back issues of My Big Backyard to them and folding laundry while finishing up watching the first season of Big Love from the library and calling Matt to come home early for lunch because the girls wanted him to grill them hamburgers, it finally stopped raining this afternoon and we could quell our antsies over at the park. I was supposed to be taking photos of this

and thesebut it was a weird afternoon for taking photos of shiny stuff, and I'm not in love with any of them.

So instead, I burned through my entire CF card taking photos of this:

Yep, it's the infamous climbing tree. Today is a special day on the climbing tree, because today, instead of staring up at her sister climbing like a monkey and whining, ground-bound (I'm mean in that I don't give boosts--my playground philosophy is that if you're not able to do it independently, then it's not safe for you to do. If you are able to do it independently--go crazy, kid!), Sydney figured out how to climb into the tree: She's pretty proud of herself, right?

So why would I want to keep taking stupid photos of my stupid one-dollar buttons with this going on just over my head?

Awesome kids.

In other news, I phoned Matt this afternoon in the middle of a big Southern fit because I'd just received YET ANOTHER letter from the library stating that we owed them five dollars because the DVD box set of Aqua Teen Hunger Force had a damaged case. I don't know how often the freakin' library charges us for crap stuff that we totally did not do! We got charged five dollars for a back-issue of Bust with water damage, five dollars for a missing case to a Bright Eyes CD, and fifteen dollars for a board book with the cover torn off. Okay, to be honest, we did do all those things, but we did not damage Aqua Teen Hunger Force! So I call Matt, throw a big Southern fit, and you know what he says? "Let's talk about it when I get home."

Let's talk about it when I get home? I see. So I say, "What did you do to Aqua Teen Hunger Force?" Turns out that Matt, biking to work, thought that he might as well return some DVDs to the library on his way. He's holding them in his hand, hits a bump, drops Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and manages to run over it on his bike. We're lucky we're just having to pay for the case, frak him. Anyway, does anybody know a good pattern for sewing some bicycle saddlebags?

A New Freezer and...A Really Big BOX!

Ah, the joy of the really big box. Last night we trekked over to Menard's to buy a chest freezer, and it was probably less than twelve hours between Matt nearly herniating himself hauling the boxed freezer down to the basement and this:

  

Hello, ratty basement playhouse in the playroom I painted pink because I didn't remember how it would crazy up colors when I photographed in it!

The kids and I are fond of projects we can immerse ourselves in for days (I mentioned that I'm obsessive, right?), so I expect the playhouse decoration and interior design to only get better, but while Syd napped her afternoon nap Will and I were able to get a lot of work done on one side wall--

--and the front door--

I donated the scrapbook paper that I bought as part of a set but that is way too cheezy for me to actually use (surfing? the American flag?)--

--and Will and I worked some collaborative finger-painting, as well:

 

And then after Syd woke up, both kids had a good long play down in the basement with the playhouse while I went about my own productive business. Of course, the playroom floor now looks like this--

--but whatever, it's not like it looked that much better before.

The chest freezer is 7.2 cubic feet, and we got a pretty good sale on it. The idea is to freeze stuff, duh, but dinners mostly--this coming fall semester I'm teaching the same hours that I worked last fall semester, Monday through Wednesday, 5:45 pm to 8:30 pm. And last fall semester, Matt would come pick me up after teaching, kids in the car past their bedtimes, and likely as not, as soon as I got in the car he'd ask, "What do you want for dinner?" If he didn't ask that question, you can bet there would be a hot pizza in a cardboard box waiting on the passenger seat. 

And mind you, I'm not going to fill our new chest freezer full of gourmet home-cooked dinners--when left to my own devices every day, I feed the girls Quorn nuggets/grilled cheese sandwich/peanut butter sandwich/Boca dog/leftovers from last night's dinner with the additional possibilities of cheese cubes, whole wheat crackers, or soy yogurt, and no less than two different raw fruit/vegetable combinations--but I can fill it with lots of bulk frozen dinner options from Sam's Club. Matt and the kids are both inordinately fond of plain cheese tortellini, no sauce--barf.

What I Waste My Time With When I Waste My Time

So I have a craft fair this weekend to prepare for, a new syllabus to prepare that takes into account the administration's assignment of a different grammar text for freshman comp classes (grr!), an upcoming California vacation to think of fun things to do during, and four people's library queues to sort through and find where all the overdue books are buried, not to mention the general household upkeeping of getting rid of the gnats from the kitchen and the pee smell from the bathroom, so what did the girls and I spend the whole day making? This!!!

No, sweetie, I'm not going to make you guess. It's a bunting for the girls' big summer birthday party! I looked at a few tutorials, but in the end I didn't do anything that they suggested and instead just winged it, and I think it looks highly festive for it. The flags are all hung on a long piece of hemp twine and I attempted to sew them to it, but I didn't get too fussy if the thread didn't catch. The flags themselves, all from scrap, are all different sizes, only they are all isosceles triangles, because I like the symmetrical look.

Willow helped me pick out the fabric from my stash. Can you tell?

I also didn't turn the fabric to hem it or anything--I'm just going to let the sucker fray.

The girls helped by constantly trying to leapfrog over my cutting mat on the floor while I worked, and they made their own "banners" from the scraps, and I actually have those banners in my pocket right now because I confiscated them before dance class. To be a kid--doesn't it just make you sick how awesome their lives are?

Speaking of, the big summer birthday plans just keep on happening. We've got a date, which is July 26, a Saturday that doesn't conflict with Matt's softball team party and during which Willow's best little friend will be in town. We have ordered--wait for it--a freakin' jump house!!! At least I think we have--when I asked Matt if he'd called and ordered it today, his exact words were "Don't worry about it." That means he ordered it, right, and not just that he's dicking around about it but doesn't want to be nagged? The price was nothing to sneeze at, but also not totally outrageous when you consider that not only is the party the girls' actual birthday present from us, but that also, since we have a jump house, we can forgo additional games and prizes and other hoopla. And our adult friends who just hang out on the couch and grit their teeth and grin throughout the weirdo kids' activities will absolutely be on board with a jump house. And, and Matt insists that this is the only reason why we got one, I totally want a jump house!!!

So now my current conundrum consists of the fact that Willow wants a cake shaped like a dinosaur. Hmmm. Have a mentioned that I don't know how to cook? Or bake, or whatever? We do have awesome food coloring, however, and Matt claims that if we get a big enough cake pan and throw enough boxes of cake mix into it, he can cut out the silhouette of a dinosaur into that cake. Should we get cake mix that bakes up red inside, so it looks like the dinosaur is bleeding as you cut it? Oooh, maybe with red pudding? Do they make red pudding? No, I can make red pudding! And put candy bones in it! And little cavepeople! Okay, I'm going to bed now.

The Pillowcase Dress Obsession Revealed!

I mentioned in a previous post my latest obsession for making pillowcase dresses. To illustrate the madness, my partner and I took the girls to the park this afternoon for a candy-bribed photo shoot. I have made a freakin' lot of pillowcase dresses, y'all.

One thing I really like about the pillowcase dresses is their versatility. It's partly the fact that for the armholes, I made a casing for a drawstring ribbon so that you can adjust the fit for length and width, but it's also, I think, the fact that the style is so classic that it works as a dress or a top. This dress that Sydney's wearing, for instance, would be a long dress on a one-year-old, probably, and would just get gradually shorter until it's a swingy little top on a five-year-old. On Sydney it's just the right length to show off her chubby little Sydney knees:I also like a lot how you can adjust the fit with the ribbon ties. On these matching dresses I made for the girls, I made them a little big on them on purpose, so I scrunch the underarm material down and tie the shoulder ribbons for a pretty high neckline: On this dress, though, I tied the shoulder ribbons really loose for a much wider neckline: And yes, because I'm totally nuts I made matching drawstring bags out of leftover pillowcase material for almost all the dresses:
I finally decided that I liked this narrow ribbon best for the shoulder ties. You can tie it in a really tight knot, if you want, so that your kiddo can't pick it out or so you can leave it the exact same size through several washes, or you can tie it in just a bow and be able to undo it quickly and easily:
This one, of course, is Willow's most absolute favorite. Is she too far away, or can you see the dinosaurs? Oh, and see her brand-new tricycle? Donated by a neighbor, after he bought his daughter a big-girl bike and then heard me holding court at the pool about our recent theft. I tell ya, people can be nice.
Do you see the cross-stitch on this pillowcase? It kills me!

So, yeah, that's a lot of pillowcase dresses for two little girls. We'll be keeping some of them, the matching dresses and the dino dress for sure, but I'm going to have to list most of these on etsy. I know there are lots more vintage pillowcases in the world, and I have to make room!