Some Colorful and Happy Spring Projects

This group of projects are so lovely to me. Like, my hearts hurts a little just looking at them because I want to be able to make them all RIGHT NOW. All that color. All the wonder and inspiration contained in this group of projects. And so many good ideas. I am so printing some of Karma Cards and giving them out. And the story buttons are a definite at some point this summer. And am dying to make that bird mobile, as well as the rainbow pussy willow branches.

You can find links for all of the projects above under the Projects Found Elsewhere You Should See button in my sidebar. Please enjoy these, but also don't forget to thank their creators because gratitude is free and easy to give back.

(A note to my more impatient readers: the kiddo sewing kit tutorial is being worked on as I write this--well, not exactly as I write this because I am actually writing this and not the tutorial at this exact moment, but you know what I mean--it is coming...)

No Fuss Advent

Seriously, how can you not just love Meg for doing this? Really. She is posting a coloring page of her own lovely design for each day of advent. Which is perfect for me because I just did not get it together AGAIN this year to have anything lined up for Beeper for advent and I kept seeing all the adorable advent calendars and I was having "bad mom guilt" and feeling like I should have done something, for cripe's sake--but then it was Meg to the rescue. Now, not only do I have something for Beeper to do for each day of advent, but I also am no longer a bad mom--in fact, I am feeling really good overall about this advent approach since it does not involve a lot of extra STUFF that will only wind up broken, lost or stepped on (with the addition of cussing) at our house--and instead is an activity Beeper can engage in and enjoy each evening before dinner. Find it for yourself right here. Love you, Meg. Seriously.

LMNOP

Do you download your own personal copy of LMNOP quarterly? If not, you should. Not that I am advocating anything here--but I guess I am. I love it. And I am not so attached to magazines about STUFF--but I just find the STUFF in LMNOP to be really inspiring and it makes me want to design more of my own STUFF.This quarter's maagazine is dedicated to the alphabet. How rad is that? The alphabet? Is there anything cooler? Really. I love the alphabet.

So, you should go download your own copy of LMNOP if you have not done so already. And yes, it is yours for NOTHING. Yep, free. Not many things in this world look as great as this PDF magazine and are free...at least not anything you can go to RIGHT NOW and download RIGHT NOW for absolutely free. So check it out--you can get the latest issue right here.

All photos and images in this post copyright of LMNOP.

The Hero Factory

Here's a little something you can do with the kiddies (or just for you--no need to be embarrassed)... design your own breed of superhero. It is a website called the The Hero Factory--and for the superhero obsessed (i.e. Beeper), it is a fine way to waste an hour or so, while enlisting at least a portion of your right brain. Strangely addictive--and Beeper LOVED it.

Coraline's Vintage Buttons

Vintage buttons rank right up there with vintage little people and red licorice in my world. While I had my own little stash of vintage buttons, I recently expanded it after deciding I need to make more of the button barrettes I made for gifts over Christmas (read about that here)--only this time, in keeping with my re-use philosophy, employing vintage buttons. (To be sold in little sets of three in my Etsy shop--at some point in the near future.)What with all those new vintage buttons, I had to find someplace to store and organize them. And that's when this gift from my father-in-law found its life purpose--it is a wooden jewelry box he gave to me over Christmas--beautifully crafted by him, of course. I just knew I would not use it for jewelry--but to use it for buttons? Well, vintage buttons are more like jewels to me than actual jewelry.
It has a sectioned tray on top, and a hidden level of storage tucked beneath the tray--that lower level now houses my carded vintage buttons (because I cannot bear to uncard them until they are assigned to a new home and put to use)......and my little container of vintage buttons made of bone--yes, bone. Creepy, I know--but also, so cool (and I have never used them, by the way, but I do have big plans for them when the day comes ).And speaking of creepy things that are also rocking my world--have you been to the Coraline website? The official one for the movie? It completely sucked me AND Beeper into immobility in front of the computer for about an hour and a half last night...full of haunting music and interactive graphics that allow you to take a tour through Coraline's world. And then there are activities like the one above--where you can use your webcam to take a photo (or upload a photo from your computer, if you prefer) and then frame it in a gothic frame of choice and choose from a variety of vintage buttons for your eyes. I went with the standard black like the family in the movie--but you can pick much more ornate vintage varieties--and then download your image to your computer.And also, you can visit Coraline's garden, and create your own button flower. Beeper engineered the Super Flower above (name by him, of course), and then downloaded a pack of the seeds to our computer afterward. That's my own Beeper Bebe variety below.
Go see Coraline's world for yourself. There is a buttload more to do and explore--little movies to see, background about the making of the film, boxes to open, rooms to explore, evil button-eyed mothers to avoid...and yes, we will be at the movie this weekend.