BlueBird Hill

Color-It Footstool

This color-it-yourself footstool from Sabrina Arini (and available at the MOMA store) can support 65 pounds of weight without screws or glue. $28.

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Crayon Rings

I love these. If you speak French, learn more here.

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DIY Bunny Garland

How cute. Full instructions and template available here.

Print Like Lotta

I'm a big fan of Lotta Jansdotter anything. Here is an instruction video on Etsy of Lotta in her Brooklyn studio explaining tips and tricks (yams!) for making her signature prints. She also has a great book called Lotta Prints. Have it. Love it. Can't wait to try it out...

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Freebie Graphics

The generous people at LollyChops are offering up very fun templates for all things foodie and paper...recipe cards, papers, packaging labels, place cards, gift tags, and tons more.

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DIY Hanging Book Display

My munchkin has her books all over the place. On the bed, under the bed, next to the bed. This crafty DIY project from Ohdeehoh is such a good idea. Complete instructions here.

Living Centerpiece

A very easy, beautiful DIY project from Notebook Magazine.

Re-Frame Your Kid's Art Area

Ohdeedoh has a very easy, $35, DIY project for kids. Very cute.

$10 Paper Collage

Do you like this (Tord Boontje anything)?

Then skedaddle over to ReadyMade's project center and get the super easy instructions for making this beauty - a combination window covering/art piece.

Paper Crane Mobile

Very nice DIY paper cranes from the Selby. Very pretty.

Mad Lib Valentines

I wish we hadn't just finished our valentine's cards, because these would have been super cool. I'll keep it for next year...Design Mom has instructions on how to make these easy, but fun classroom valentine cards using mad libs, paper and string. All the instructions and templates are here. Very creative. Love it.

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Trash Type

This is a cool graphics class project...collect a week's worth of trash and turn it into type. Read more about it here on ABE/Anna Garforth's Design & Illustraton site.

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A Tinkerer's Creatures

Rhode Island artist Ann Smith tinkers with piles of broken electronics and machine parts and creates robot-looking little figurines. Ann's site (see her portfolio). To buy her creations, shop at BurrowBurrow.

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Glowy Rocks

This is a great idea from Danny Seo...simply paint some river rocks along your path with glow-in-the-dark paint (available from any craft store). During the day, the rocks charge up, and at night they create an illuminated pathway from the stored sunlight.

Pretty Graffiti

The most inoffensive type of public de-facing. A new and unusual type of graffiti is showing up in some areas compliments of knitters from all over. Here is a collection of some of them. See more and hear about who does it here.

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DIY Flower Garland

Zakka Life has a cute tutorial for making your own beautiful floating flowers from recycled magazine pages.

Soy Crayon Rocks

These unusual crayons are made from mineral powders and soy wax, so they go on paper like pastels or paint. The shape is ideal for little hands and encourages the proper tripod grip for future writing. They come in lots of gorgeous colors.

Paper Circus

These adorable, $15 pop-up circuses are made by hand from 100% recycled paper and can be personalized. Created by Under the Stair Studios.

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The Doodle Box Project

Great idea for a rainy day...If you feel your doodle box is extraordinary, then submit it to David Hoffman and it might be displayed on the site! The rules are simple: rearrange a box to make any kind of figure or object and make the most of least.

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Merry Brussel Sprouts

Talk about a unique take on the classic holiday wreath. The blog Blomsterverkstad shows you how to create this green, edible masterpiece. This is truly the only way a brussel sprout would find its way into my home.

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DIY Holiday Decor

Why buy wreaths and decorations when you can make them yourself? Now, I'm not sayin' they will look exactly like Martha's, but you get the satisfaction of knowing you did it yourself and saved a little money. Below are the glitter wreath kit, poinsettia wreath kit, and glitter snowflakes from MSLiving. You can't go wrong with glitter.

Junk Mail Art

I don't know about you, but the holiday catalogs are about to crush me! It's epic this year, even after I signed up for the 'please no junk mail' site. Anyhoo...the people at re-nest came up with a fun crafty idea for all the junk...an collage. Might be fun to try on a rainy day...

My Little (Funky) Pony

My Little Pony (we have a fan in our house) is celebrating their 25th anniversary with the My Little Pony Project. Check it out here.

"In honor of this remarkable milestone, Hasbro is sponsoring the “MY LITTLE PONY PROJECT: 25 Ponies for 25 Years” program. The “MY LITTLE PONY PROJECT: 25 Ponies for 25 Years” program is an international collection of 18” MY LITTLE PONY figures designed by popular culture’s influential people and organizations.  The program was created not only to be a celebration of the whimsical nature of the brand, but also as a way to support Give Kids The World Village, a non-profit that strives to provide magical memories for children with life-threatening illnesses."

Celebrities such as Courtney Cox, Amy Grant, John Stamos, and many more are designing one-of-a-kind ponies for the charity.

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Make Your Own Fabric

Spoonflower custom fabric printing is a really cool idea. I have GOT to learn how to sew so I can do something with this. This beta site (you need to join the community - kinda like Etsy) allows you to upload your own fabric design and they'll make it for you. You can get a $5 sample before you commit to a lot of yardage. It's $18 per yard, printed on 100% cotton, and no minimum orders. Here's a grab from their website:

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DIY Branches

Sometimes Do It Yourself projects can be hard! But these two, a DIY branch curtain rod and pendant lamp look like they might not require 4 months and a nervous breakdown to finish. And they look pretty good!

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Paper Pumpkins

These are super easy, craft little pumpkin ornaments for Halloween from Three Wheels Turning. Click here for the simple instructions.

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DIY Cuckoo Clock Kit

Make your very own cuckoo clock for $20! From Cut + Paste...

MoMA Arts + Crafts for Kids

It's hard to go wrong with MoMA, but they have some especially cute artsy fartsy things for kids in their online store. Shown are stacking crayons for little fingers ($15), 3D drawing pad ($7), and Exhibit Your Art pad (giant blue-framed sticky notes to quickly display your work - $12)

Crafty Butterfly Project

This collage was created by Nathalie Goldberg of capture.create using a Martha Stewart butterfly punch and a variety of different scraps of paper: junk mail, scrapbook paper, pages from old books, etc. Her white sheet of background cardstock was cut to 10x8 to fit into the mat of the black frame. She used tiny foam dots as adhesive. Very nice.

Make Yourself Some PomPons

My sisters and I used to make tons of Pompons at my grandmother's house. I have no idea what became of them and I couldn't make a pompon now if my life depended on it. Luckily, there are kits!They are super easy to make. What you do with them afterwards is up to you...although Decor 8 had a nice photo of a pompon bedspread.

D.I.Y. Kids

The people at D.I.Y. have come up with a children's version of their book, called D.I.Y. Kids by Ellen and Julia Lupton (Princeton Architectural Press - October 2007).

A summary:

D.I.Y. Kids engages young people in making stuff, from binding their own books to sewing their own clothes. It’s packed with fun ideas for making stickers, logos, clothespin dolls, box buildings, graffiti furniture, ribbon accessories, and other cool projects. Each is explained with step-by-step instructions and colorful photographs of great designs and the kids who made them. The activities—rated by difficulty, time, mess, and cost—are intended for ages 7–12, but can easily be modified to suit all ages.

Here are just a few samples of the fun projects inside the book.