Category: Crafts (Page 1 of 9)

Mika, my 8-year-old, got the Project Runway Fashion Design Projector Kit from her step-grandmother for Xmas. She played with it when she just got it, then put away for several months, and got it out again this morning. I have to admit that it was quite fun.
The kit comes with a projector and a slides with sample shirts/pants/skirts/shoes/bags/etc. You place the projected images on top of pieces of papers with lightly drawn body figures (these come with the kit), trace over the images and then decorate the clothing as you’d like. There are a few more things on the kit to make it more fun – as well as a “challange” game, in which each player spins a wheel to find out what piece to design, in what style and in how much time – while competing against other players. Of course, the competition aspect is not great when you have sore losers in your family, but it would be fun for more mature players.
This kit is perfect for an 8-year-old girl or older (I even enjoyed it), but I think it wouldn’t work so well for a younger girl.
It’s not cheap, but if your girl is into fashion design, this is probably a great way for her to pass her time.

Today Mike was late on taking Camila to daycare, which gave us some extra time for mommy-Camila time. We used it working on the Orb Factory Sticky Mosaics Jewelry Box, which I got Camila for Christmas. All in all, it’s been one of the best toys I’ve gotten her. For some reason, she loves sticking the mosaics (they are self-adhesive) on the little numbered squares on the box, and seeing the bright images appear. This is a task that she takes on (with mommy along) for a while, then she puts away, only to take it on again a few weeks later. Thus, it’s four months after Christmas and she still hasn’t finished it. But that’s cool, as it means she still has more to do when it fancies her.
The results are quite nice. We only have one side to go (and probably not enough tiles, as they’ve gotten lost all over the house in the last months), but the sides that are ready are quite pretty. I think Camila is looking forward to using it as a jewelry box in the future (for all the jewelry mommy makes her and she never wears).
I’m thinking that I’ll probably get her the fairy mosaic box, from the same company, next Christmas.

The kids and I just spent a while scrapbooking and organizing our supplies – and I’ve realized how much I’ve come to appreciate printing our own pictures. We’re not the kind of people who get pictures printed in the first place, so we don’t usually have many around to scrapbook with. Indeed, most of the printed pictures of the kids I have are the ones my mother has sent us.
But I do want us to have more recent pictures to use, and now we can print them affordably using the photo paper available at the Dollar Tree. The paper comes in two sizes: 8 8.5 x 11 sheets (which you can use to print 1 8×10, 2 5×7 or 4×6, 4 3.5×5 or 9 wallet size pictures) or 20 4 x 6 sheets. I personally prefer the 3.5 x 5 size for scrapbooking (if for no other reason than the frames I have are those sizes), so the larger sheets are more convenient for me – or they would be, if I was able to cut straight! Well, the frames hide the imperfections. I calculate that combining the cost of the paper and printing, I’m probably spending 4 to 5 cents per 3.5×5″ print and 7 cents per 4×6 print. That’s really not bad at all. Of course, my calculations might be off 🙂
What really surprises me is the quality of the prints. The paper is glossy and the prints look great – specially considering our low end printer. Of course, I don’t know how they’ll hold long term.