Pomegranate Placecards

A simple line drawing in Sharpie, filled in with watercolor, and then scanned, forms the heart of a nice place card.

Painting by Hannah, age 9.

More character design

Make cool characters using body parts as bodies. These "kissy-lips" creatures (plus one nose) were designed by Eliot, age 6. Those are robot kissy lips on the bottom row. We think they'd make slightly icky Valentine's cards.

Decoupage binder

Want your binder to stand out? Use decoupage glue ("Modpodge" works well) to add scraps of colored paper and clip art drawings. Cover again with another layer of glue to help everything lie flat and last longer.

Cat binder designed by Hannah, age 9.

Map shirts

To make these shirts, we took a map of Asia and tore it into a funky shape (kind of like another map). We scanned it into Photoshop, added the words "one world," and then printed it onto iron-transfer paper. Don't forget to "flip" the image, since you have to iron it on in reverse.

Design by Orr, age 10, and Hannah, age 9.

Skinny scarf

Skinny scarves are made out of a single crocheted chain. The fun comes in tying contrasting cross pieces at regular (or irregular!) intervals, and wearing more than one scarf at once. Works best with thick, lump-bumpy yarns with lots of texture, knobs, and fuzz. Great for new crocheters -- and also for the warm California climate!

Designed by Hannah, age 9.

Hilary Lang's Wee Things

Visit artist Hilary Lang, who has beautiful toys for kids, and free patterns for making her adorable yet modern play things. She's planning a "make-a-long" book, a storybook that will include directions at the end for making the creatures and objects featured in the book. What an amazing idea!

Back to School Notebooks

Black and white composition notebooks are 3-for-a-dollar at the local office warehouse. Keep some in stock for fast and easy craft and writing projects. Use stickers, special papers, coins and buttons to collage your cover. You can even cut a fancy border around the edges.

Book design: Hannah, age 9.

Simple Tube Skirt

This basic skirt design is easy to make—you don’t even need a pattern. The design possibilities are endless as you put together strips, stripes, and layers of fabric. Start with a sketch while looking at fabrics and trims you have on hand. This skirt can be made with relatively small scraps. Put together the layers into one bigger piece of fabric, then sew it together to make a tube. Create a pocket at the top for a piece of elastic, and you're ready to step out in an awesome new skirt. Project designed by Joy Hayes. Skirts by Ruby and Isabella, ages 7 and 8.

Download more detailed instructions (pdf).