shrinky dink valentines

16 February 2010   //     2 comments   //   design, diy, kids

When you’ve got that creative, um, inclination and you’ve got Elementary School aged kids, Valentines day can be a bit of a double-edged sword. Oh the possibilities! But oh, the work to get them all made for every kid in each of your kids’ classes.

This year we went Shrinky Dinks. 54 of them. Zoe and Lucy decided we would make hearts for the girls and stars for the boys.

We punched holes in them all. Then added some beaded chain.

Lucy and Zoe love hanging things on their book bags, and they had that in mind as we created these. So we made paper hang tags with “hang” messages on them: “Wanna hang out?” and “I like hanging around with you!” and “Hang in there!”

A little goofy, but perfect for 7 yr olds. And they looked great all together on our coffee table!

regretsy

09 February 2010   //     1 comment   //   clever, diy, funny ha ha

I’m sure I’m the last one on this bandwagon, but I just stumbled upon Regretsy, a satirical Etsy. An archive of crafts gone wrong. Clever and funny stuff.

etsy + coolmompicks valentines

02 February 2010   //     0 comments   //   design, diy

Cool Mom Picks Etsy Valentines

So CoolMomPicks and Etsy had a baby! Actually, it was a Valentine design contest. Did you participate? I hope you won!

The winners are now available for purchase — in plenty of time for VDay (or Friendship Day as we call it at my kids’ Montessori school). 12 black-and-white line art designs in PDF form that you can download, print and color with your kids.

They’re adorable. And I love the different styles that arise from crowdsourced art. Go get them here.

Meanwhile, we’re cooking up a project of our own in UpsideUp land. I’ll share with you soon.

What are you doing for Valentine’s Day?

diy lens cap saver

18 January 2010   //     0 comments   //   clever, design, diy, form + function, photography

DIY Lenscap saver

Got an empty shampoo bottle and some free time? Why not make yourself this fantastic lens cap holder for your camera! New-to-me inventor Benvelo has provided templates and step-by-step instructions for you to DIY. It’s a little on the complicated side, but with super cool results.

Heck. You can even make it cute.

Find the complete project here.

(Thanks Wired Gadgets, via DIYPhotography.net)