Habitat Kid

CREATE: Secret Garden Coloring Book

This past weekend we took off for Portland so that Scott could run his first marathon - woohoo! All of those early morning runs he's been doing seemed to have paid off and he got a great time: 3:01! I was so proud of him. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time staying right downtown. As soon as we got there I took off straight for a few of my favorite shops that I discovered last time and ended up falling in love with this sweet coloring book at Alder & Co. Each page is a work of art in and of itself, with detailed illustrations done by Johanna Basford, known for her extremely detailed pen-and-ink work. Johanna's designs are heavily rooted in the flora and fauna that surrounded her while growing up on her parent's fish farm in rural Scotland. I am so in love with this little coloring book, I almost don't want to give it to London for her birthday on Wednesday and just selfishly color it myself!

CREATE: 5 DIY Wooden Projects

I've experienced a sudden flood of DIY projects for kids on Pinterest lately and they are too awesome not to share on here. If you've got some basic tools and woodworking know-how, these should be a cinch. (Insert husband here). 

1. Wooden Market  2. Pull Cart  3. Dollhouse  4. Camera  5. Playhouse

CREATE: Teddy Bear Picnic Party

It was major party time in our house this weekend - lots of sweet little girls (and 1 sweet little boy) came to celebrate London's 4th birthday. The theme was "Teddy Bear Picnic" since London is still super attached to her favorite stuffed animal, Mr. Bear. Oh my, that furry thing is like having a second child – he comes everywhere with us. Luckily, he is super low maintenance. :)

I really wanted to try a black and white party and it turned out to be super easy to find things to make it all come together. I've included a list of my supply sources (and lots of free printable files for download!) at the end in case you ever want to have your own black and white teddy bear party!

I created a low table using some tabletops from IKEA and some overturned white metal trash cans so the kids could kneel and I didn't have to round up a bunch of small chairs. We had a simple agenda of a healthy lunch for the children, followed by a story time where we read some bear stories by Karma Wilson (I love her books! We read this one and this one). Then it was craft time where we decorated small fleece scarves for everyone's favorite stuffed animal (they had each brought one along) and it was a huge hit. While the glue dried afterward, we had a cake walk and then cupcakes with ice cream. After that it was free play time and the children put on an elaborate game of hide-and-seek. I never realized how many good hiding spots we have in our new house! We all had a great time and I was so grateful that London had so many sweet and kind children to help her celebrate a special day.

LIST OF SUPPLIES + SOURCES:

Paper Lanterns, plates, cups, napkins: Party City

Tablecloth fabric, fleece for scarves: JoAnn's Fabrics

Decorations for scarves, "Bear Bubbles" (located in the wedding section) : Michael's

Picnic Pencils, Gummy Bears and Lindt Chocolate Bears: Cost Plus World Market

Black string-and-button envelopes, white invitation cards, black and white twine: Paper Source (note: the envelopes have to be hand processed by the post office, so they will cost about .20 extra per envelope to send).

Black and white candles: BirthdayDirect.com

FREE PRINTABLE DOWNLOADS (FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY PLEASE):

Plus Sign Hat Pattern (I printed all hats on thick watercolor paper, cut down to 8.5 x 11 size and then traced each hat using this free template from Oh Happy Day).

Striped Hat Pattern

Raindrop Hat Pattern

Polka Dot Hat Pattern

Bear Bubbles (I printed them using these file folder labels from Paper Source)

Picnic Pencils and Beary Yummy

CREATE: Plywood Room Decor

I know neon is still raging hot right now, but the plywood cutouts in these room photos seem like they have a little more staying power. And with all of those cute shelves and boxes attached for storage? So great! And easily portable which would be nice. What's your relationship with neon these days? Are you still loving it or readying for a new change of trendy colors to come along? Furniture designed by Vitwonen Kinderen.

CREATE: Cardboard Guitar

I've been really inspired recently by the blog Play and Grow, written by a Russian architect who makes fun cardboard toys for his daughter. In a fit of creativity, I decided that I should start doing instead of just pinning everything to Pinterest, and this crude little guitar was born. I traced my own (much underused) guitar onto a big piece of cardboard I had laying around and used some markers to draw the features. A few holes poked at each end with some yarn laced through, and voila! We're ready for a jam session. London has been wandering around the apartment strumming and singing ever since and is very proud of her new toy.

CREATE: DIY Treehouse

Oh man. Just looking at this cool treehouse makes me giddy, but what makes me even more giddy is seeing that I can buy the plans to build it for just $39.95! What??? Now, to find me a backyard...

via Southern Living

CREATE: Cardboard Furniture from Foldschool

I'm dying to try out these DIY cardboard furniture designs for kids and have started an admirable stash of cardboard that I've rescued from our building's trash room. Templates are free PDF downloads, complete with estimated time to complete each piece and how much cardboard you will need. Choose from a rocker, a stool or a chair. Love them all!

Images courtesy of curiousabout

CREATE: Found Object Playhouse

As a parent, I'm starting to realize that some of the best toys are the ones that aren't permanent...sometimes a homemade structure or a cardboard box that's only good for a few days (sometimes even a few hours!) is just what my daughter will want to play with the most. These kinds of mini playhouses (created by Ann Wood) are made from bits of popsicle sticks, wood, cardboard and foil and are just the type of thing that would attract all the kids in the neighborhood to come and explore each nook and cranny for as long as possible. Such clever creations!

CREATE: Triangle Mural

Here we go with some more of my favorite shape: the triangle. This simple mosaic wall decal from ZNAK (designed by Martins Ratniks) presents infinite arrangement possibilities in some very pretty colors. What I've really got my eye on though is that clear stool (!) Find it here in a variety of shades.

via Miluccia

CREATE: Ice Sculptures

I'm really inspired by these ice sculptures done by preschoolers. Aren't they just beautiful?! I bet they had so much fun deciding what to put in each one and waited with anticipation for them to freeze, probably overnight. I will definitely be trying this sometime this winter!

via ensuite // photos © queenvanna creations on flickr