Origami Snail

I was first introduced to this cute snail origami tutorial on the lovely blog, Bloomize.  The actual directions to fold the snail can be found on this Japanese site.  The directions are in Japanese but with the pictures it's very easy to follow along.

This origami snail would also make a cute folded letter or note.  You know the kind. . . bubble letters written with colored pens, cute stickers for embellishments.  I spent hours making those cute little notes in my tween/teen years.  Anyone else?

Documentary: Jiro Dreams Of Sushi

Trailer: Jiro Dreams of Sushi by David Gelb

I don't usually recommend documentaries but this one is worth sharing about.  Jiro Dreams of Sushi is about a sushi master named Jiro who owns a 3 star Michelin restaurant.  The movie shares about his life, how he got to this level, and about his oldest son who's required to carry on his legacy.

I found the whole documentary fascinating.  One thing that stood out to me was Jiro's dedication to become the best at what he does.  It made me reflect on my own commitment to my craft. It had me asking questions such as, "at what cost am I willing to perfect what I do?".

Have you seen this documentary yet?  Curious to hear your thoughts. 

Free Printable: Moomin Memo Card Holder

For all you Moomin fans, Afternoon Tea has a free Memo Card Holder to download and print.  You can choose which characters to add to your stand.  There's also an assortment of memo cards to print.  To save printer ink, only print out pages 2 - 4.  Visit Afternoon Tea for the free Moomin printable.  They also have a cute Moomin card and envelope to download for fee as well.

 Extra Memo Cards and Moomin Characters

via Sweet Tidings

Make a Mini Newspaper with Little Printer

Photo Credit:  Berg Cloud

Have you heard of the Little Printer by Berg Cloud?  It's a tiny printer (pictured above) that allows you to make your own personal newspaper by subsribing to publications such as Foursquare, The Guardian and Google to name a few.  You can have to-do lists, tweets, crossword puzzles and much more printed out for you each day.   You also get to customize the face on the front which I thought was a nice touch.

As a maker, I love the idea of receiving a little printed craft or new recipe sent to me each day.  I'm not sure what's available but I did notice on the Berg Cloud Blog there were some origami instructions printed out. I think there's a lot of potential for it.  I don't know if I could justify the price tag of $259 at this time.  But, that doesn't mean I wouldn't love to get my hands on one and test it out.  I'm definitely intrigued.

Would you buy a little printer?  What would you use it for? 

Kid Craft: Mini Lightsabers

A few of you dedicated Star Wars fans might be asking why Princess Leia is holding a lightsaber.  I know she has never used one but it was the first action figure I found in the house.  Plus, it's a retro toy from my childhood so I like it better.  Okay, now that we got that out of the way, lets move on to the craft.  Today I'm making mini lightsabers out of toothpicks.  This is a simple craft that little kids or big kids can whip up in no time. 

Supplies:
Toothpick - refer to picture
Gel Pens or Markers - Silver, Red, Green and Black
Sandpaper or nail file
Craft saw or knife

How-to:

1.  Have an adult cut off the tip of the toothpick.  I used a craft saw but a knife or kitchen scissors will work too.  Sand the cut edge with sandpaper or a nail file.

2.  Color the small handle part silver.  Color the rest of the toothpick in desired color.  Let dry.  And the detailing of the lightsaber handle with a black pen.

Please remember these toys are for children 4 and older.

Fourth Street is My Muse

 Leone Candy Tins

I have a confession to make, I've been in a kind of creative rut lately. My ideas don't form as quickly as they used to.  And for the ones that do surface, I have no desire to actually make them.  That's how I've been all summer until now.  I realized the problem stemmed from a few things.  One, I worked on a large project that sucked all the creative energy out of me. Two, I've been obsessed distracted with searching for a new home.  And three, I just don't have a moment to myself to think.  By the time my children are in bed and the house is quiet my brain is basically mush.  So to change things around I decided to visit one of my favorite places, Fourth Street in Berkeley.

A lot of things inspire me but what I draw the most inspiration from are visual things, store fronts, toys, clothes, displays etc.  It's like a creative switch turns on in my brain when I see new and unique things.  So today I thought I would share a few things that inspired me on my trip to fourth street.

Leone Candy Tins (pictured above) - I discovered these candies in a past trip to fourth street and have been purchasing them ever since.  I like to save the containers for small gift boxes and travel candles.

One of my favorite stores for inspiration is Castle in The Air.  It's a stationery store filled with pretty paper, glass glitter and other treasures from around the world.  I was instantly charmed by these vintage dime store watches.  I purchased one for my daughter and one for me.  I'm already brainstorming Valentine card ideas inspired by the toy timepiece.

Saving the best for last, I stopped at Anthropologie.  They could be selling me rusty cat food cans and I'd want to buy them because the merchandising is that good. Of course they didn't disappoint, upon my arrival there were giant paper flowers that looked like they were growing out of the store's floor.  But what captured my eye was the tiniest of details, a shirt label.   It's like a little piece of art hidden in the inside of a garment. I love that it looks like a little air mail stamp.  I love that it's embossed. It makes me want to cut it off and use it in a collage.

How do you conjure up inspiration when you're suffering a creative block?  Go to the museum?  Spend time with nature?  Learn something new? 

Create with Kiwi Crate

Have you seen these Kiwi Crates before?  Curious what's inside of one?  Today I'm going to share what all the buzz is about for these green boxes.  I recently was sent one by Kiwi Crate to test out.

When it arrived at our doorstep, it was addressed to my children.   I thought this was a nice touch since most children love receiving mail.  Right away we opened it up to discover what was in the mysterious package.  Neatly packed in the box were craft supplies to make the projects printed on the inside of the box (pictured above).

The first thing we made was this princess hat.  The kit came with a white silk and a kool-aid packet to dye the silk.  This was by far my daughter's favorite part.  She couldn't stop talking the whole time we were making it.  I know this is going to sound canned but this is what she said, "I've never dyed anything before.  This is so awesome!  You're the best mom."  That last part made me chuckle.  I can't promise you'll get the same reaction, but I can say the project was right on target for her age, 6.

What I found interesting about the hat was that it could also be made into a knights mask instead of a princess hat.  The opposite side was silver with dotted lines where to cut (sorry no picture).  And instead of using the silk for the hat, it could also be used as a ribbon wand.  My son has been using it as a blindfold and a pirate head scarf.

The next project we made was a catapult.  You'll notice a little booklet in the photo, each project came with a cute illustrated booklet on how to make the craft.  I should also point out the quality of the supplies.  I was impressed with the components to make the catapult, wood box, wood spoon, and extra strong rubber band.  This is always important to me when I purchase a craft kit because for me it has to have supplies I might not be able to find on my own.  I don't want a kit that's popsicle sticks and glitter. Does that make sense? 

Here's the catapult in action.  The kit came with a ping pong ball and pom poms to launch.   There are a couple things that I really liked about this project.  First, my children spent about an hour decorating the boxes.  Second, if they get board of the catapult, they have a cute trinket box (box has a lid to store items).  There's little waste.  Sometimes you make a project, display it for a week or two then throw it away.  All the things we made have been put to use for the past couple months.

So what makes the Kiwi Crate different from other craft kits?

1.  It's mailed to you every month with a new set of projects ready to go.  You can order just one or get a subscription for 3, 6 or 9 months.

2. Kiwi Crate is founded and ran by a mom, Sandra Oh Lin. 

Printable: School Lunch Notes

Here's another set of printables to get you ready for back to school.  If you have any printer ink to spare, you might want to check out these lunch notes by Paper Coterie. You can get the free download on their blog.  First click the download button on their site which will bring you to Free Cloud Storage.  Then click the green download button in the top right corner.  Happy printing!

Printable: 2013 Calendar

During the summer I like to get organized for the new school year.  I always have grand plans of creating new lunch menus, purchasing all the school supplies for the year, etc.  So far I've put together my daughters fall wardrobe.  I guess it's a start.  If you want to get a head start on the new year, this write in calendar by Creative Mamma is perfect.  You can get the free download on her site.  She also has other cute printables you might want to check out (lots of kokeshi dolls).