Book Review: Show me a Story

Show me a Story by Emily K. Neuburger

Today I'm participating in the book tour for Show me a Story by Emily Neuburger.  For those not familiar with Emily, she also is the author of the lovely blog Red Bird Crafts.  I'm not sure when I first started reading her blog but my guess would be a few years ago.  You can always find inspirational crafts on her site along with gorgeous photos of her life.  To find out more about Emily, please visit her site.

I found myself asking how I would describe Show me a Story because it is truly unique to any children's craft book I've seen.  Maybe that's because it's not just a craft book.  The book is composed of 40 craft projects with the purpose to foster creative story telling/writing.  For example, one of the projects has you create a neighborhood with stamps.   Once the scene is set you have the child tell a story about who lives there.  So really there are two parts to the project, the craft and the story.  Plus most of the projects come with teaching tips and other uses for the projects.  Instead of trying to explain the content of this book, perhaps I should just show you.

I asked my daughter to pick a project from Show me a Story and she zeroed in on this Adventure Kit right away.  Specifically, she wanted to make the paper-roll spy binoculars.  

Here's the kit my daughter made, paper-roll binoculars along with an Adventure Book to write in.  We also added a few extra things, such as a compass and a small bag to collect treasures (rocks, twigs, etc.). 

We decided to make our map at our destination so it would be more accurate.  My son's not in the picture but he was really into this too.  He also wanted to help make a map. Once the map was finished, we set out on our adventure.

My daughter surveyed the scene for ideas to fill her adventure book with.  She even claimed she could see better with the paper binoculars.  

After a good walk and lots of sightseeing, she sat down to document what she saw.  When it was time to go she told me, "writing's my thing now, that's what I like to do".  

What stood out to me about this project from Show me a Story is that the craft takes the pressure off writing.   Instead it allows the process to be very easy and organic.  Sometimes it can be intimidating  for a child (or adult) to think of a story.  I realized the craft projects replace the traditional brainstorming methods, making the writing/story telling process easier for children.

Above is one of the projects from the book my son created.  First he had to think of a memory that stood out to him.  Then he made pictures to represent the story.  Last he used the pictures to tell a story about his birthday party.  

There's so much more I could say about Show me a Story but instead I'm going to refer you to some other great posts.  Stop by these blogs to see what others are saying about the book.

9/24 Catherine Newman of Ben & Birdy

9/25 Maya Donenfeld of Maya Made

9/26 Cassi Griffin of The Crafty Crow

9/27 Rachel Hobson of Average Jane Crafter

9/28 Ruby Bansal of Zaaberry

10/2 Ashley English of Small Measure

10/3 Jessica Wilson of Scrumdillydo

10/4 Nicole Blum of One Golden Apple

10/5 Roselee Conklin of Jane of All Trades

10/6 Kathreen Ricketson of Whipup

10/7 Molly Balint of Mommycoddle

10/8 Blair Stocker of Wise Craft

Glow In The Dark Lucky Stars

Look what I found at Kinokuniya,  glow-in-the-dark lucky star paper!  Have you heard of such a thing?  I've seen a lot of glow-in-the-dark products but never paper or lucky star paper for that matter.    Well, for $2.50 I had to test it out.

Like a child with a new toy I closed myself into the closet to see the paper glow but nothing happened.  So I figured they just needed to charge up with some light.  After a few good hours of sunlight, I tested the paper out again.  Still nothing happened.  I was starting to think I got a dud but I refused to give up.  Finally, I decided to take the paper out of the package.  And low and behold that's all I needed to do.

*This paper is shorter than most lucky star paper.  It's only about six inches long.  It's barely enough to fold the stars.

And here they are, all in their glorious glow-in-the dark state.  

These little stars might come in handy for Halloween as part of a costume or decorations.  One could dress up in all black and glue these on to make star constellations.  Or you could make them into  bracelets for children when they go trick-or-treating.  Curious, what would you use them for?

If you've never seen lucky stars before, check out this tutorial on how to make them.

Craft: Mizuhiki Bracelets

Hope all of you had a nice weekend.  I spent mine doing a little crafting, one of my favorite things.  It all started with some leisurely reading of CardMaker Magazine. While I was looking through the magazine I came across a card made with mizuhiki (Japanese paper cord).  That inspired me to get out my mizuhiki stash and play around with it.  Some how I went from cards to bracelets.  Inspiration is a funny thing.

These mizuhiki bracelets are easy and quick to make, perfect for a craft party.  Make them in assorted colors and stack them on your wrists.

Supplies:
Mizuhiki Cord - You can find the cord online.  You can also find it at Daiso.
Needle nose pliers
Cutting pliers
Scissors
Gold Closures - I found these at Michaels.  You could also use extra large crimp beads.

1.  Cut three 9 inch strands of mizuhiki cord.   With all three strands, tie one knot in the middle of your cords.  It's just a basic knot, nothing fancy. 

2.  Trim edges of cord so your piece measures 8 inches.  Make sure both sides of edges match up.  You might want to make your cord shorter or longer depending on your wrist size. 

3.  Cut off loop on jewelry closure (pictured above).  If you can find a closure without the loop, skip this step.

4.  Place one side of cord inside the closure.  Then place the other side in closure (refer to picture).

5.  With needle nose pliers, crimp closure together.  Refer to arrows in picture. 

*This was the hardest part of the project.  It took me a little while to figure out the best way to hold it in place and crimp it closed at the same time.  You might want to have someone help you but it can be done by one person.  Once I got going, it took me about 30 seconds per bracelet.

You can also make these bracelets without the knots but I think they look a little more interesting with them.  If you do decide to make them without the knots, start out with 8 inch cord.

One of the pluses of using mizuhiki is that it's light and it doesn't make any noise when the bracelets brush up against each other.  I like wearing stacked bangles but I don't care for sounding like a wind chime every time I so much as breathe.

Wefreebies: Free Printables

Photo Via Zu

Start your print engines and refuel your ink cartridges because I have a site for you.  Wefreebies catalogs all the best free printables from around the web.  The  printables are categorized by styles, activities, and holidays to help you find just what you're looking for.  I liked that I found a lot of unique printables I've never seen before. Pictured above and below are a couple paper projects that stood out to me. 

Photo via Mr. Printables

Christmas Mug Rugs

I realize it's a little strange talking about Christmas when I just posted a Halloween post two days ago. But if you're making your Christmas gifts this year, you know the importance of starting early.  I bet some of you even started working on gifts in July.  So today I'm going to share a little bit about what I'm sewing for Christmas with some fabric I was sent to review by Modes4u.com.

I've worked with Modes4u before and one of the things I like about their store is their fabric selection.  Specifically, they have an amazing selection of Japanese fabric.  My only problem with the fabric is trying to decide what I'm going to make with it.  I don't want to squander it on any old project.
  

So, I finally settled on a project that's worthy of my designer fabric, mug rugs.  Mug rugs are like a glorified coaster.  They're a little bigger.  Sometimes they have pockets for snacks or a circle for your cup.  They come in all shapes and sizes.  They're also the perfect project for fabrics sold in .5meter units.

For this mug rug I used the tutorial from the blog Fashioned by Meg.

For the roof I chose to use "Large Pretty Petals" by Michael Miller.  The shape of the flowers worked out perfect for the roof.  One flower cut in half was the perfect size for the roof template.  And I love how the fabric looks like an ornate roof top.

For the doors I used a coordinating fabric by Michael Miller called "Nordic Holiday".  I chose this print so it would match the roof and made a nice focal point for the doors.  I also liked having the variety of trees and reindeer.

 

Why should the front get all the cute fabrics, right?  I always like the surprise of turning something over to find it looks just as pretty as the front. That said, I went with a fabric called Snowflakes by Timeless Treasures for the back of the mug rug.

Have you started creating gifts for Christmas yet?  What are you making?