penny carnival

About ... my new gig. And little red riding hood love

I'm pretty sure I hinted that I was up to something new behind the scenes. Did I say it sometime last week? Last month? Honestly, the days are running together and I'm quite proud of myself for remembering to wear pants today. Sometimes I even brush my teeth (but not if I go to bed after midnight, in which case I wear my pants).

Are you following me?

Anyhow, for the past two months I've been preparing for a new writing/crafting gig that just went live the other day. I'm the new "guide" to kids' birthday parties and other celebrations on About.com.

Here's my new site:

kidsparties.about.com

It's really a writing job, but I'm planning on putting all sorts of birthday- and party-related tutorials on there (hence, the crafts). I'll always alert Penny Carnival readers here when there's a new toot there, but feel free to bookmark that link, too, for your party-planning pleasure. Just some basic stories are up right now and links to existing articles from other guides, but I'll be adding content almost daily so check back often.

Can you believe someone is actually paying me to write about how to throw birthday parties?! This is right up my alley. Really, it is a TON of work, especially as I've had to learn their whole formatting, programming gobbley goop (Hello! HTML coding?! Who has to do that anymore? Why don't they just use Typepad? Oh, because then their site would look as crappy as my blog does right now. I see.)

But besides the late nights, I'm having a blast brainstorming all sorts of birthday themes and crafts and decorations. And with the holidays coming, I've been writing about how to throw Christmas parties for kids (Caroling! Polar Express in Your PJs! Gingerbread House Making!) and what to do for Hanukkah and New Year's Eve and everything. By the way, we're totally going to celebrate Kwanzaa this year. I hate to admit it, but I didn't know a thing about it until I wrote a little article for about.com. What a beautiful holiday!

Rest assured, it is not going to be a site about how to throw over-the-top Super Sweet 16s and how to beat other parents for the best party favors. Good grief! You can read more about my kids' parties philosophy of the bottom of my bio page.

By the way, I also am featuring "real" parties on the site, so please, please, please tell me about any fun ones you've thrown and send me pictures. kidsparties.guide@about.com.

So without further delay, here's one of my first tutorials for the site: How to make birthday invitations by creating a fabric collage, scanning it, and then printing it out. 

 

Step-by-step photo instructions at that link above.

I made those invites today for Magpie's 2nd birthday party (like how I'm multitasking?), which will have a Little Red Riding Hood theme.

Speaking of Little Red, a friend hired me to make matching Red Riding Hood capes for her daughter and her for Halloween. I didn't get a shot of the little one, but here's the mama version:

I'm kind of in love with Little Red Riding Hood right now (as if you can't tell).

OK. An hour until midnight. Maybe I'll make this a pajamas-and-clean-teeth kind of night. Maybe I'll even floss!!!!

G'night.

Forever in peace may she wave

I only had a chance to photograph one of my Farm Chicks treasures today, so the others will have to trickle onto the blog as the week progresses. But to start things off ...

Farm Chicks Find No. 1: A 48-star American flag for $40.

The stars and stripes are sewn on, by the way, not printed. 

Pardon the exposed hardware in the middle there. For now, I just draped the flag on nails already in the wall. And if you live in either Alaska or Hawaii, sorry. Forty-eight stars just looks so much cooler than 50.

I once saw an apartment in Elle Decor or some similar magazine that was completely bedecked in vintage American flags. It was one of the most unique and striking homes I'd ever seen featured in a magazine. The article popped into my head Saturday as I dug through a couple dozen old flags for sale by a vendor at the show.

So, sure, this is supposed to be an "art" statement, I guess. Or a decor statement, anyway. But people are often surprised to find out how patriotic I am. That's right. I usually cry during the National Anthem. 

I think most folks assume all journalists are shady, cynical creatures always on the prowl to uncover some government scandal. I would never define myself as cynical, though. Skeptical, yes. Not cynical. And most journalists I know are in the field because they're dedicated to things like honesty, keeping an accurate record of history, and exposing what's wrong in the world so that ignorance is diminished and solutions might be found. No one I know has ever shouted "gotchya!" after uncovering something damaging about another human being.

I believe that journalism is one of the most patriotic professions one can enter, actually. Without the "fourth estate"--the watchdog that sometimes has to play an unpopular role to expose truths that might make us squirm--there can't be democracy.

Maybe Thomas Jefferson said it best:

"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

Ironically, that quote is carved into a wall at the Seattle Post Intelligencer offices--a newspaper that ceased its print publication a few months ago due to financial problems. Journalism jobs are fading and morphing at an alarming rate. In fact, it's probably more accurate to call myself a writer these days than a reporter since most of my work isn't for the editorial pages of the paper lately.

But I love journalism and I love this country, and I don't for a second think that is a contradiction. 

OK. Pardon me as I step off my soapbox. 

In more crafty news ... I'm still on an apron kick, sewing some up for friends and preschool teachers as time allows. I also have an idea for a new apron design brewing after being inspired by something I saw at the Farm Chicks show. Stay tuned.

Otherwise, please enjoy the brilliance that abounds elsewhere on the Web:

-Amy Karol's greeting cards made from the funny things her kids say. We keep a running list of the goofy observations our girls make, too, so I can't wait to put the hilarity to use like Amy has. For example, Bo said this one day:

"When I was a little girl, my heart got broken. But it got better when sissy hugged me and we got married."

Bo, 3 1/2

-Have I mentioned this little shop yet? I think so, but it's worth repeating for your baking pleasure. Every person must have a stash of red-and-white baker's twine and some brown boxes on hand for packing up treats for friends and neighbors, don't you think?

 

-The illustrations and captions in the vintage health book that Denise Sharp bought for $1 recently. I want to embroider every page! 

-All the great kid-crafty ideas on this Web site I stumbled upon recently, including making ginormous pencils. A lot of the activities will have to wait until they get older, but the girls would get a kick out of making mondo pencils. We did something similar in art class when I was in middle school, but you could pick the object you enlarged. I chose a record album. The Queen is Dead by The Smiths. I was sooo tragic.

-The Parents Journal podcast by Bobbi Conner. You have to get past the cheesy theme music, but the messages are usually very interesting and practical. One topic she likes to address is the benefits of no or very little TV. It's always good to play her program when I'm tempted to drag out the Dora DVDs.

-Photojojo's links to photos you can use for free, as well as ideas on what to do with them.

This image reminds me of my original idea for a theme for Bo's nursery before she was born: "vintage swim."

I'd still love to do that one day, but I doubt the girls would be on board with it yet. And soon enough they'll have their own ideas, anyway. How cool would it be to paint the walls aqua, frame some vintage swimsuits in shadow boxes, and display funky old swim caps, though?

-The Crafty Crow's roundup of ideas for making seed markers with kids, found via Kids Craft Weekly. Monkey Lobster's project is my favorite:

 

-And this poster about how to build community, brought to my attention by my friend Nis.

As I said on my other blog:

I’m pretty good at a lot of those tips, but there are many ideas there that I should be using as guide to life. Some of my favorite suggestions from the list are “fix it even if you didn’t break it,” “bake extra and share,” “sit on your stoop” (my family has been doing this a lot more lately), “know your neighbors,” and “start a tradition.” “Turn off your TV” is easy for me, but if I buy the poster I might have to scratch out the word “TV” and replace it with “Internet” just to really challenge myself.

You can learn where to buy your own copy of the poster here.

Last-minute handmade Valentines

Need some quick ideas for handmade Valentines ... like I do?

I just wrote a roundup of links to some adorable ideas on my other blog. Most of them came from the Crafty Crow, so you could head there, too.

This one from Full Circle is my favorite--a bouquet of poppies, each one containing a Dum Dum sucker inside. Our preschool doesn't allow candy, so I'm trying to think of something else I could use in place of the sucker. A pipe cleaner? A pencil?

Anyone know of other good links to Valentine's fun?

Let the Christmas crafting begin!

OK, I should have written this post three months ago (maybe I did?), but I'm ready now to start knocking off my Christmas to-do list. More than ready. I have that poundy-in-my-heart desire to spend the next five weeks banging out the crafts. My friend Nissa suggested coffee, candy and illegal substances to power me through, and I told her as long as hot glue guns count as illegal substances I'm all set.

I'm not confident that it's going to be a 100 percent handmade Christmas this year, though, as originally planned. The clock is ticking and my freelance gigs are piling up. Plus, there's at least one cookbook on my wish list and I know J isn't about to write out all 1,080 recipes by hand.

So, drum roll please, here's Christmas Craft No. 1 ...

Felt dot garland!

This was inspired by a Martha Stewart project several years ago where she (or I should say, "her people") made garland out of string and those round stickers you use for garage sales.

This felt version is super easy. Just cut circles of whatever colors you want, then run them through the sewing machine one by one, overlapping just a bit as you feed them through.

I'm actually multitasking here because this is going to be part of a how-to article I'm writing for the newspaper about Christmas tree ornaments.

This concept doesn't have to be limited to Christmastime. Wouldn't it be cute to cut a bunch of red and pink hearts, sew them in a line and hang them from doorways on Valentine's Day? But that's another to-do list for another day ...

Poor penny

My poor neglected blog. I realize it's been several, several days since I've written. Even my brother-in-law asked me tonight what was going on with Penny Carnival. He doesn't exactly sew.

Ironically, I've been busy crafting! Well, last week the election had me totally distracted. (On the subject of current events, did anyone notice First Lady-elect Michelle Obama's orangey-red dress today? Gorgeous! I don't care if it's sexist of me to be concerned about her dress. She looked great.) As a journalist, I can't share my political opinions willy nilly on the Internet, but I will say it was an emotional, powerful week and I still well up with tears when I think of it all.

So, I've also been busy with some deadlines for three craft-related stories going in the paper soon. One dealt with Christmas crafts (done. almost). The next relates to Thanksgiving tabletop projects (due Wednesday). And the last one is about giving new life to secondhand clothes (haven't even started).

Some stories fall together effortlessly. The Christmas craft story has been a comedy of errors. My original idea for it fell through. Twice. Then I got stranded across the state with a car that somehow attracted mice (maybe just one mouse. hopefully) who ate through the wires in my engine, making it impossible to get home to my craft room. Finally, the amazingly talented Arlene McComas of Heart Rocks Home saved the day with some of her Christmas crafts from years' past.

Take a look at just a few of the photos she sent me of her work, keeping in mind that everything here was made from recycled, unwanted materials (the gist (jist?) of the story).

(made from secondhand wool skirts. she made a basketful for each of her grandchildren after remembering how her own kids liked playing with "multiples" of anything when they were young)

(made from wood scraps and a quilting pattern. again, another gift for her grandkids. for each child, she placed entire nativity sets--including blocks you don't see here--in bags she sewed from old flour sacks)

(made from paper grocery sacks. she ties them onto gifts)

(made from junk mail and paint chips)

Thank you, Arlene. You saved the day.

In other blog news, Penny Carnival is about to become a big sister. No, I'm not pregnant (nor do I normally refer to my blog as a child). I'm going to be starting a new blog very soon. It'll be mostly geared for people who live in the Spokane area and will be a combination of home, garden, craft and green topics. And, get this, someone's actually going to pay me to do it. How's that for a novel concept? I'll post more about it here as we get closer.

Thanks for sticking around, folks. More crafts coming soon.

Pumpkin carving tutorial

After seven+ years as a journalist, having my byline in the newspaper doesn't faze me. My first clip--a story about couples who met through their dogs--was published in The Boston Globe back in 2001, and that was quite a thrill. But I quickly realized that my byline is there for only one reason--so people know who to call when they're grumpy.

There's something different, though, when my photos appear in the paper, especially when they're shots of one of my craft projects. It's more personal, I guess, and I always get a little red in the face when I open the paper in the morning and see my amateur photography, hoping the real photojournalists at the paper aren't rolling their eyes at my latest attempt. 

Bo could care less about any of it. When I showed her the pumpkins we carved in today's edition of the Spokesman-Review, she was like, "Yeah? So what, Mommy?" At least she isn't embarrassed by her mother yet. That'll come later, I'm sure.

In case you're looking for a unique way to carve a pumpkin this weekend, here's an excerpt from today's story and a photo tutorial. Just don't call me if yours doesn't turn out right.

(A) pumpkin-carving alternative involves scraping an image into a pumpkin rather than fully slicing and removing pieces of its flesh. This enables you to create a more detailed picture on your pumpkin than you might otherwise achieve.

The first step is to find a simple drawing of an image and either print it out or photocopy it. Consider nature-inspired drawings of leaves or animals, such as squirrels or owls.

Clip art programs and coloring books are good sources of images because their drawings usually have simple lines. There are several free coloring books online, including at familycrafts.about.com.

For this project, purchase a pumpkin that’s big enough to accommodate your drawing and that doesn’t have deep grooves. Wash and dry your pumpkin before beginning.

Next, cut a circle out of the bottom of your pumpkin or on top around the stem and scrape the pumpkin’s inside clean. Pay special attention to where you plan to scrape your image. Because you will be removing a shallow layer of the pumpkin instead of carving all the way through the pulp, you’ll want a fairly thin wall for the best illumination.

Now pin your paper image to the outside of the pumpkin using a few pushpins. 

Using another pushpin, puncture through the paper along the drawing’s lines. You will be transferring the picture from the paper to the pumpkin by poking hundreds of small holes very close together. Resist the urge to peek behind the paper as you go, which could shift your template and distort your image.

Once you’ve traced the entire drawing, remove the paper and discard it. Using a small scraping tool, such as the puncture tool on a wine key or can opener, carefully scrape away the pumpkin’s skin along the dotted lines. If you don’t already have a suitable tool in your kitchen, retailers sell pumpkin carving sets.

Once all the lines are scraped, rub petroleum jelly on your pumpkin to make your carving last longer.

Finally, carve a hole, about 1 inch by 1 inch, on the back of the pumpkin to allow oxygen to reach the candles. Light two candles then fit the pumpkin over the top of them or place the candles inside the pumpkin if you cut a hole around the pumpkin’s stem instead of its bottom.

If your carving doesn’t illuminate enough, add more candles or a bright battery-operated light or scrape away more of the pulp behind your image.

Squash galore, zebra prints and a bird mobile tutorial

I had a story in the newspaper's food section yesterday, which can only mean one thing:

Phone calls from readers with cooking questions.

I'm sure it would drive me crazy if I had to field those calls all the time, but I actually think it's pretty cute when it happens. They see my name and number at the end of the story and figure I know something about food, even if their question is not at all related to the story topic.

Such was the case today when Walter called wanting to know whether he could shred zucchini and freeze it, so that he could later make zucchini fruit cake (which he swears is better than normal fruit cake. I didn't have the heart to tell him that wouldn't be a difficult feat).

His call reminded me that I hadn't really spent time in the garden in a few days, so tonight the girls and I walked over there with my straw harvesting basket. Word of advice for other novice gardeners like me: don't ignore your garden, even for a few days, in late August. Holy squash explosion. Several patty pans had grown larger than they should. A couple of zucchinis were on the brink of being too big. And low and behold, there was a cucumber. I let Bo pick a few carrots, even though they're still pretty small. She's been dying to since reading (and then reading again and again) the book "The Carrot Seed" by Ruth Kraus.

Here was tonight's bounty--two zucchini, some tomatoes, a bit of basil, several patty pan squashes and some pretty pitiful looking carrots:

 

Just the red ones, sweetie:

"Daddy home!!"--the two sweetest words ever.

Attack of the giant patty pan squash:

We've been in a really great groove lately here. I've been writing less, which means I can plan my days with the girls better. Behavior (Bo's and mine!) seems to improve when I'm better organized. We're not tackling anything fancy, just keeping life simple.

This was today: breakfast, boob tube, play, clean house, lunch, naps, arts and crafts galore, long walk to the playground, dinner, garden, bedtime. Perfect.

One of the artsy fartsy things we did today was Kid Craft Weekly's zebra paintings. Bo preferred water coloring them than making stripes, though (it's the dipping-the-brush-in-the-water thing).

One thing I made while Bo was painting was this bird mobile. I'd intended for her to help me, but she was more interested in painting.

Some people find inspiration for craft projects in nature. I found mine on TV today. Sad, I know. But have you ever watched the little music video with that moose on Noggin? It plays before a show starts and there are some really cute cut-out like animals in it with button eyes. 

So I dug out some scrapbook paper I'd been given eons ago (for the baby books I never created), made templates for mama and baby birds, and created this.

I made each bird with opposing paper patterns on each side, so you have to think about that as you're tracing your template and cutting them out. I'd include a template here, but my scanner is still on the fritz. Sorry. Just draw a bird.

Once all the pieces are cut, lay one half of a bird flat, wrong side facing up. Dribble some glue around the edges. Glue down whatever type of string you're using to attach it to the mobile (I used brown bias tape cut down the middle to make it thinner), then sandwich it with another bird figure on top.

Once the glue dries, trim around the edges since your two opposing bird pieces likely aren't a perfect match. Glue down button eyes on each side. Then attach your string (or bias tape) to a stick.

These birds don't have to be used for a mobile. You could just hang them in a window or from the top of a bookcase. Whatever.

Bring on those squash recipes. Seriously. There are only so many frittatas one family can eat. 

A buffet of inspiration

Not much to report on the crafting front. I've been pecking away at a few projects, but nothing worth showing and telling yet. One thing I'm pretty excited about is an art quilt I'm working on for my aunt. I've never made one before--in fact anything with the word "art" in it is a bit intimidating to me--but I'm having fun with it so far.

I thought I'd offer a smorgasbord of links to some cool new finds. I'd love for you to post your latest sources of inspiration in the comments below.

First off, I hardly touched the surface of the beautiful new clothes from Tea Collection when I blogged about that a couple weeks ago. For some reason I'm having trouble copying photos from their site, but check out these links to loveliness:

Rasmussen Floral Knit Dress

Aurland Bubble Dress

Fjord Plaid Swing Coat

I would order them all if I could. In my size, please.

I also recently stumbled upon these beautiful coloring pages by Dutch artist Frank de Kleine. He says they're for kids, but I'm having a heyday thinking of all the ways I could play with these. I'm already embroidering/appliqueing the beach cabanas. The peacock could be projected onto a canvas, traced and painted in beautiful, vibrant colors.

And since we're gearing up for the start of preschool, a Montessori-inspired bedroom:

A hybrid flower from fabric scraps

Seems as though I'm on a flower kick these days. First the last installment of The HomeMaker column, which was a guest tutorial on how to make a paper rose by Mary Eberle. Then the other day I made a fabric peony out of a run-down T-shirt and jersey knit pants following directions in The Alabama Stitch book.

Yesterday, I made a hybrid of the two. I followed Mary's directions for the paper rose, but replaced the paper with leftover scraps from the peony project.

I'm labeling this a "crafting with kids" project because it was so easy, you could do it with little ones. But Bo was way more interested in hosting a little tea party for her sister (and then screaming at her sister to not eat the imaginary toast she made because it was TOO HOT) and Magpie just wanted to eat the fabric petals. So maybe I should call it a "crafting with your kids" project, not a "crafting with my kids" one.

T-shirt surgery of the prettiest sort

What's not to love about reusing an old T-shirt? They're soft and snuggly. They come in a variety of colors. And then there's this whole green, re-use it movement going on, if you haven't noticed.

I might not have saved the world yesterday, but an old white T-shirt and a pair of jersey knit pants that Bo practiced her scissor skills on a few months ago were given new life ... as a flower.

I roughly followed instructions in the Alabama Stitch Book, by Natalie Chanin. What a gorgeous book. Every page is on my to-do list. A couple of past mentions of it are here and here.

The flower was my way of adorning a thank you gift for our neighbors who helped us out while we were on vacation (belated, I know!).

Speaking of belated, I'm finally starting to work on thank you cards for Bo's birthday party. (Yes, I realize the party was in June. Doesn't Emily Post have some six month rule?) The original plan was to send postcards from Boston/Rhode Island, but that didn't happen. So the other day, using a Sharpie, I drew the ice cream cone below on construction paper and then Bo painted it. Once it dried I cut it out and wrote a little note around the outside saying thanks for an ice cream bowl set she received. Not too fancy, but maybe a simple way to get kids involved in saying thanks.