Baby Shower Gift – How to Make Infant Flash Cards

Here’s an easy idea for a quick baby shower gift. These cards are made with black images in order to stimulate an infant’s imagination and peak their interest.

Supplies needed: Card-stock, pencil/eraser, ruler, black paint, contact paper.

Step one: Draw your images. Shapes and animal outlines work well.

Last step: Paint your image, let it dry, cover the cards with contact paper.  Voila!

Fill your Friday with color

See these gals in our shop: Buy them here. A new addition to our Fair Trade doll collection!

Prospect Park Craft Fair this Saturday and Preview of a new product

We’ll be at the Prospect Park Craft Fair this weekend – If you are in Brooklyn,NY – Please stop by to see us! The fair is located at the Bartel-Pritchard Square Park Entrance next to the Prospect Park/15th St. F/G Train Station. We’ll be showcasing many new products, including these awesome book ends. Hope to see you there!

Some recent Wedding Cake Toppers

Wedding season is upon us!  Here are a few recent toppers we have been working on.  To have your wedding cake toppers made by us, please fill out your custom form here.  Email us for more info!

How to dye wooden eggs

Dying wooden eggs is just as easy (and fun) as dying fresh hard-boiled eggs. What you need:

                                            1. Boiling Water

                                            2. Some White Vinegar

                                            3. Many drops of food coloring

                                            4. Wooden eggs.

Put the first three ingredients in a bowl, add the egg, and scoop it out with a spoon.  Leave it on a tray to dry. Voila!

Kids Craft: How to Make a Noise Maker

We have some friends who are having a baby, so we recently worked on this project in preparation for some baby toy-making. This is a very simple project that can be made as easy or as difficult as you’d like it! Supplies: A Wooden Canister, Wood Glue, Lentils or Beans, Wooden Hearts, Paint and Brush.

First, have your little ones pour the beans into the vessel.

Second, have them glue the lid to the vessel. It is helpful to pour some glue into a little pot and use a popsicle stick to put the glue on. Put the lid on the vessel and leave it to dry.

Now, glue the hearts to the noise maker.

Lastly, paint the noise maker.

Folk Art Inspired Kids Craft Project – Art Lesson

After a recent visit to the Folk Art Museum here in NYC, (it is a small museum, but a definite recommendation for NYC museums, and is free) we were inspired to this little craft project. Our child loved looking at these bottle cap sculptures that I thought I’d let her work on her own bottle cap creation.

Supplies needed: Wooden Picture Frame, Glue, Bottle Caps, Pom Poms, a Photograph or Paint and Paper for making something to go inside the frame, string for hanging the frame.

Step 1: Have the child squeeze a large amount of glue onto the frame and then attach the bottle caps.  A variation of this would be to make a thick paste using flour and water, and have them insert the bottle caps as though making a mosaic. They can also use pom poms to fill up the space on the frame.

Step 2: Have the child paint a little picture for the frame.  Once the frame is dry, turn it over to tape their painting to the frame, as well as a little string for hanging the frame to the wall.

Lesson to teach: Folk Art is defined by the fact that the artist is self-taught.  Also, folk art sculpture and paintings are often made with found objects.  Making art out of bottle caps is one way of recycling and re-using materials instead of throwing them away.

Kids Spring Craft Project – Cloud Mobile – and Book Review

As it is spring time and nearing the rainy season, I checked out this book from the library last week. It was exciting to be reading this book to our two year old, and realizing that this was the first time she is learning that rain comes from clouds. This book is fantastic, and offers many opportunities for little lessons. We have been reading and re-reading this lovely book so much, I had to do a little cloud craft with her. This cloud project can be altered as needed according to the supplies you have on hand.  Here is what we used:

String, Cereal Boxes cut as Clouds, Wooden Beads, Paint and Brushes, Glue (not pictured), Tape, Cotton Balls.

First, have your little ones paint the beads (these will be the rain drops).

Second, cut three small pieces of string, and tie a knot at the bottom.  Have your little one string the bead, and then tape it to the back of the smallest cloud. Now, tape a small piece of string to all of the clouds, connecting them together.  They should look like this:

Lastly, spread a layer of glue onto the clouds and have your little one attach cotton balls, as many as they like.

Wedding Table Centerpiece – Goose Grease Deluxe Dolls

We love these dolls!  And are happy to be now offering these extra-large dolls which can be used as a table centerpiece, or sitting next to a guest book, or even on top of a cake.  Their size commands presence- they are about 7″ tall- and are now available to be fully customized. Find them in our shop here.

Checker Set on Sale, Dress ‘Em Ups in Stock

We have a painter, Lady, who works for us from Colombia.  She does fantastic work, and we are so happy to be working with her. She works from her home in Subachoque, Colombia while going to school.  We just received a large batch of painted dolls from her and would like to get them moving! Please help us to continue giving her work by purchasing a dress ‘em up set here.  These dolls are hand-painted on the dolls that are also made in Colombia. All this happens through a Fair Trade agreement. We’ve also put the checker set on sale (after this set goes, it will go back to full price).