GIVEAWAY: Make Stuff Together: 24 Simple Projects to Create as a Family
Make Stuff Together: 24 Simple Projects to Create as a Family
Co-Author Kathie Sever says: Make Stuff Together
The projects are divided into six units: dinner time, library time, into the woods, fun and games, happy birthday to you!, and commemorate and celebrate. The projects in each unit are parceled into easy-to-manage segments that help you share quality time with your family without finding yourself overwhelmed.
Sounds perfect! Of course we have a copy to give away to a Prudent Baby reader... Leave a comment here between now and Monday, July 4th. Tell us your favorite co-crafting memory. Maybe it's with your mom, grandmother or Uncle Bart. Maybe it was with your niece. Coming from a crafty family, I have a bunch but my favorite memory has to be decorating Pysanky with my mom and grandmother. Leave a new comment every day. Share the giveaway on Facebook, twitter, or stumble-upon and leave a new comment for each.
About the Authors: Bernadette Noll and Kathie Sever have been teaching classes and building projects together as Future Craft Collective for several years and are excited to see their book finally make it’s way into the world. Bernadette can also be found at Slow Family LIving and Kathie at her company, Ramonster. You can also find them on Facebook.
Labels: Giveaways
posted by Jacinda @ 1:00 AM
106 Comments:
My favourite crafty memory is a slightly strange one, but it's of *not* crafting with my mother. I realise now that my Mum is really not at all crafty, being more scientific. But she was not at all perplexed by having an artsy thoughtful little girl, and provided me with tonnes of arts and crafts opportunities. She must have gone really outside her comfort zone, buying me materials and kits and encouraging me, giving me time and space to make things, admiring my creations, without ever once trying to persuade me my interests lay elsewhere. Bless her.
Rachel
My grandmother was crippled by polio for most of her adult life and was the most accomplished "fancy" sewist I've ever met. She used to let me help pick the designs she put on my smocked clothes. I think about her whenever I sew for my girls.
I dont have a specific memory, but I always loved crafting with my grandma!
My mom always had crafts to make with the kids. We would do collages or cross-stitch. What a fun giveaway!
-Elizabeth
My favorite crafting memories always happened with my father. He was so creative and I thank him every day for passing that on to me. We spent a lot of time as kids with my dad making our Halloween costumes. Dad was definitely not a believer in buying costumes. The most fond memory I have of this was a large stuffed bunny find at a thrift store. We cut it up and sewed the pieces into a suit and top hat. The bunny was big enough that it's head fit over my head. We cut the face out and painted the bunny features on my face. Sadly, I entered a contest and did not win. I definitely should have but they thought we bought the costume. Yes, it looked that good. It was awesome. I love my dad and I love all the endless crafting memories I have with him!
I love this so much! Recently I had a great time crafting with my own kids. We painted a canvas together and then put their handprints on it and gave it to my husband for Father's Day. He has it hanging in his office now!
Jess
my favorite crafty memory is making macrame with my mum. i wish i receive this book. thank you!
while my mom wasn't the craftiest..she did make my sisters and i dresses..once. my favorite memory was when she let me use the glue gun to glue on extra flowers onto a matching headband...loved it
Just recently my three year old niece, on seeing the quilt I was working on, asked if she could do a craft. So I pulled out the paper, colored pencils, scissors and glue sticks and we had a wonderful time making a giant mess together!
I love craft because of my grandma. She was a really re-fashioner, do not throw away anything..
My mother was always sewing something in the basement and one afternoon she and my sister were creating something or other together. Not wanting to be left out I decided to make a skirt with her plaid scraps - I was 14 and into punk rock and plaid was the only colour I wore :) So I sat down at her sewing machine and stayed there until a skirt emerged. Luckily it actually looking like a skirt didn't really matter since I was, afterall, into punk rock! My mother was very supportive throughout the project and even urged me to wear it the next day to school, which I did. Don't think I ever wore it again but I think my mom got a good laugh out of it!
My favorite memory would have to be my grandmother helping me sew a drawstring bag for my sister while teaching me how to sew on a sewing machine (I was 9).
My kids and I make art together all the time--I have a whole blog about it. ;) So it's hard to pick just one. Last summer we all made glue batik shirts, and that was pretty awesome. This summer we'll be making shirts again using a different process, and I see this becoming a summer tradition.
My favorite memory is stacking material while my mum sewed, drawing doll outfit designs and then my mum helping me make them happen. Now I sew while my daughter beams up at me and at 18 months old already has a passion for fabrics.
Every Valentine's Day, we make our own valentines. It's becoming quite the project as I now have five children, but it's so much fun and great bonding time. (This book looks fantastic, by the way.)
My favorite craft was making holiday pjs for my nieces and nephews every year. I would write a saying over and over on them. Or I'd do patches to jazz them up. Now we buy them because I have so many children in my family. But it was such fun to personalize pjs for the holiday and for the kid! Making them was half the fun, seeing them open their gifts and wear them was really sweet as well!
For me, more than crafting with my mother it was creating with my father. He taught me how to draft perfectly straight lines on poster board, and turn a battery powered rc car into a solar powered car. For Halloween one year he helped my brother construct a giant Bible costume out of a huge cardboard box.
My grandmother is completely responsible for my crafting bug. I still love our trips to JoAnn's. She would always indulge whatever craft bug bit at that given moment. She would also sit down and do ANY craft with me if I asked. She still inspires me with her awesome cooking and lightning fast ability to crochet.
I love these kinds of books! Ever year we have two special days where the whole family gets together and does crafts! Weekend after thanksgiving we bake and make holiday crafts to get in the spirt, and then at our girls weekend we have fun with a family craft to take back home. I think one of best projects was this last christams I made each relative a family cookbook. It was a collection of recipies that everyone had sent me and ones that I found that were of my great grandmothers/aunts. They were scrapbooked and bound. I am so proud of them. But I forgot to make my own! ha.
I've just been introduced to your blog. What wonderful information for those of us just really starting out! Thanks so much. My mom always had a hard time crafting because she couldn't ever see the end result that she was striving for in her head. She did a great job anyhow. And there were many around to pick up her slack. My grandma painstakingly taught me to knit and also cross-stitch. And my neighbors always had a project or two going. There was always enough fun to be had. And, I must say, even though my mom wasn't super crafty, we can garden like no one's business!
My favorite crafting memory is of sewing doll clothes with my mom as a young girl. I know it would have gone much faster if she had just done it herself but I am so grateful that she took the time to let me help and learn from her.
My mom taught me how to sew on a sewing machine when I was 7 by having me sit on her lap at the the dining room table. She worked the pedal and I "steered". We made a tank top and short set. The fabric was BRIGHT red with white on it - probably big flowers? It's been a while ;). I wore it ALL summer, including to church on my birthday. From then on, if I wanted something specific, I'd make it myself... be it an Halloween costume, or a chiffon "trench coat" to cover my shoulders in high school. Now, I make my own curtains, maternity clothes, presents for friends - you name it... and I'm not afraid to try something new, because after all... I sewed my first outfit at 7!
we always did crafts growing up, my mom was our Girl Scout leader after all! I love crafting with my little girl as well. Although she is only 2 we have done fun handprint crafts, colored mugs, and painted bird houses!
I'm dying to craft with my 9 month old daughter when she is older! I never had those special craft moments growing up. Not until I started reading PRUDENTBABY did I realize the AMAZINGNESS of diy sewing and crafting! :) Love being a PRUDENT MAMA!
My favorite crafting memory is making a marionette with my mother. We taped the form together using newspaper and then papermache'd over it.
my 2yo and i starting to craft together and we love it. And many more!!
My favorite crafting memory is using a drop spindle to make yarn with my 4 year old son helping spin. <3
What a wonderful book! My mom was a school teacher - mostly pre-school, kindergarten and 1st grade. I remember helping her make endless batches of homemade playdough for her students and of course for my brother and I! I can close my eyes and feel that warm, heavy cooking pot in my hands and smell the salt and flour. My mom believes in hands-on learning and all those tactile experiences of childhood have really made me into the crafter I am today!
My Mom is the craftiest lady I know! Everything from scratch, everything by hand. She is disappointed in me any time I spend money on something "you could make yourself"! One of my most distinct memories of crafting with her was when she was into grapevine wreaths...we lived in the country and went into the woods to gather vines. She thought she was being funny and started to swing from a vine making tarzan noises, just to take a bad fall! She couldn't walk so I ran back home and brought a sled to pull her back home on! She ended up having to have knee surgery because of the fall! It was scary at the time but we laugh about it now. We did eventually get those wreaths made :)
My favorite memory is making the mobile for my nursery with my sister. We had so much fun getting that room ready. :)
I still am constantly co-crafting with my mother who owns a fabric and quilting store! She always makes me feel so proud of myself when I finish a project... now that I have my own daughter it will be three generations of girls crafting together!!
I had to make a mobile for class in elementary school. I can't remember if it was a book report or what. But everyone else came in with a hanger with some things hanging off of it by yarn.
My mom and I had gone to the craft store and gotten the right weight wire and transparent thread; it had different tiers and was all balanced. It was like modern art. There's got to be a picture somewhere.
I remember being really little and my Grandma took me into her spare room, where she kept all her yarn, and told me she was going to crochet a blanket for me and I got to pick the colors I wanted. I picked an assortment of colors since I couldn't narrow it down and I got to sit and visit with her while she went to work on it. It was great!
I have very fond memories of decorating cakes with my mom.
My mom sewed special occasion dresses for me a couple of times when I was growing up. What I remember most about them though was arguing with her about what I wanted! We liked different styles and different colors. When we'd finally (reluctantly) agree on something, it inevitably would need some tweeking once it was finished - the sleeves would be too short or something, leading to another round of sparing :) My mom taught me how to sew, and I'm sure I'll experience deja vu when my little girl is old enough to voice her own opinions in what I make for her also!
Many of my favorite crafting moments are of my mom and I crafting for my wedding. We made EVERYTHING. Invites, favor boxes, a quilt for guests to sign, programs...you name it. It made it so special because my mom and I bonded throughout the whole process and now whenever I see images from my wedding they not only make me think of my husband but of my mom and our crafting time as well.
my fav co-crafting memories just include getting together with other crafty friends and spending late nights creating together!
If I don't win this copy I am totally buying one. This is perfect for ideas to do with my stepson. He is feeling a bit left out lately due to his new little brother, and this could be the inspiration I need to have projects to do together with his dad and I. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful book with us. I don't know what I would be doing without your blog, I would be pretty boring because you inspire and teach me every day. Thanks for the opportunity.
My mom and I made an alphabet book together when I was 5, I think. She made construction paper pages tied together with yarn, wrote the letters on each page, and then we pored over old magazines looking for things that started with each letter to cut and paste. I think that memory stands out because, though my mom was very talented and crafty when I was growing up, we didn't do much together. I think I would get too upset when things didn't turn out perfectly. I'm so glad that as an adult I have learned to find joy in the process, and not worry so much about having a perfect finished product.
When I was a little girl my grandmother would help me make christmas presents for all my family members. It was so special each year, just me and her, in her sewing room, making super secret presents. The one I remember the best was decorating Ivory soap bars with sequins and straight pins. Later in life I wondered if people got pricked in the shower?
After seeing some handmade dolls on a crafty blog my daughter(5)decided we needed to make one. She had no interest in the lovely tute that the blogger had put together and wanted to design said doll all by herself. So, together we worked it out. She might not be the most proportionally correct doll ever created but my DD loves her and is so proud of what she created.
My brother and i would make little scenes out of shoeboxes and knick knacks. So fun. I still have a few! The Duran Duran house was my fave :)
I don't remember crafting with my parents -- my mom was more likely to hide in her bedroom and emerge with awesome sewn presents for us. I understand though, since her sewing machine liked to smash fingers that got too close to the bolt on the side of the foot. >_<
I used to really love dying easter eggs with the whole family. Nothing fancy, just crayons and those little dye pills dropped in vinegar. But fun nonetheless
my mom was never very crafty :) but she did bake cookies with us as a special "girl time" activity and I LOVED it! I try and carry on the tradition with my daughter now
My favorite memory of crafting doesn't really involve me doing the crafting. I can remember sitting under my parent's dining room table while my mom was sewing (probably curtains or Halloween costumes for my sister and I) playing with the fabric while my mom sewed. I can always remember my Mom telling me that she would teach me how to sew when I was big enough to reach the peddle on the sewing machine. And sure enough, when I was big enough to reach, I started to learn now to sew! To this day, I love walking through fabric shops and just feeling the fabric because it reminds me of all the times I would sit below that table while my Mom went to work creating her works of love for my family. Now that my mom is loosing her eyesight and can't thread needles or sew, I find the projects she would love to make and send them to her after I have added my love that she showed us all those years ago.
I come from the uncraftiest family in the world, but I'm trying to change that with my daughters! My girls love to paint and do beadwork. I can't wait to do more complex projects with them, but they are only 2 and 4!
My favorite crafting moment was when my then 1 1/2 year old daughter stood up on the chair at the table where I was working with my sewing machine and began sticking pins in her cotton-stuffed doll and babbling at it as if they were having a genuine acupuncture session. We have had many moments together since then and I hope to have many more as she gets older.
My favorite crafting memory is of me being a teenager and babysitting my little cousins (3& 5) and we would take nature walks and collect leaves they thought were pretty, interesting sticks and stones, etc. and when we got home I would cut up a cereal box so they each would have a wreath and they would glue their nature treasures on it and we would hang them up for when their mom got home!
I think I've always crafted with my mother. When I was young she taught me about needlepoint and cross stitch and tried teaching me to sew. These days we share a passion for crocheting and knitting. I can't wait for the crafting gene to pass on to my daughter!
One of my favorite memories is when my mother let me help her color and put together my little sister's phonics cards.
My mom wasn't (and still isn't) artistic, and instead had a science background, but she knew that we loved to do crafts and Valentine's day was the best because we would go all out. Totally awesome. And she didn't even bat an eye when I said (at 4) that I was one day going to be an artist! Instead she supported me and that's what I ended up being! Well, kinda.. graphic designer ;)
My mom let us do crafts at a little "crafthouse" in the town I grew up with my sister and myself and it was a blast. My favorite thing from that was painting and making t-shirts for us to wear and match. I still have a few of them and would love to do these things with my own kids!
My aunt taught us how to make hollowed out sugar easter eggs with little animals inside. So intricate and a great lesson that you can make even things that seem impossible!
My memories are making Christmas presents with my daughter. It's been a while since we did this, but she always loved it!
ruthaw_1974@yahoo.com
Very cool!! I have fond memories of crocheting with my mom.
My grandmother would bake sugar cookies and set them out for my sister and me to decorate. We would go all out... frosting, sprinkles, fresh fruit, chocolate fudge, you name it, it was on there. We made our poor grandpa eat all of them and if he said that he couldn't eat anymore we would fake cry and say that he didn't like our cookies. He would then of course feel bad and eat the rest. I have warned my dad that when my little girl is old enough, he will have to carry on the tradition and eat a bunch of cookies.
My mom is a huge crafter, so I have so many crafting memories, it's hard to pinpoint just one. A few of my faces were painting wooden clothespins to look like Santa's elves, splatterpainting poster-sized pieces of paper, or helping mom paint a mural of intricate flowers on a stool as a gift for my grandmother. She always encouraged us every step of the way to express our artistic inner selves. :)
i feel like my most crafty days have been now that i'm older... and, sadly, i'm 3000 miles away from my family. so, i have to say, that my fondest "co-crafting" memories have come from the long conversations i've had on the phone with my sister... she tends to be the idea maker, and i'm the crafter. it's produced a bunch of fun and meaningful projects for both or our growing families!
I love the memory i of my mom and I making fabric chains of fabric to hang on the Christmas tree when I was about 8 ! thanks for the lovely giveaway.
Great giveaway-the book looks awesome. I of course love your blog too! My fav crafting memory-not really crafting but fun connecting time. My aunt used to have sugar cookie decorating parties every holiday season. I just loved them! It was such a great time together with family. It makes me smile to think about it!
Vanessa
When my husband and I painted wooden letters of our son's name to hang in his nursery :) It was my idea and project and had no intention of him helping me. He sat down and asked if he could paint one of the letters. It was a special moment and we enjoyed making something together for our son!
looks like a fun book!
One of my favorite in recent memory was making Thanksgiving cards with my husband. We thought of all the thing we were thankful for that year, pulled together images for the front, wrote a little synopsis for the inside (things like a new-to-us car, a hand knit hat from my aunt, that a lost boy we had helped search for was found, etc.), and then hand wrote a message to each of the family members that we sent one to of why we were thankful for them!
Now, we're looking forward to doing things with our girls who are almost 2. And what a great book, too!
My favorite memory with my mom was sewing puppets together. So much fun during and after!
ONe of my many favorite memories with my ma, is learning to sew with her. As frustrating as it was for me to "get it," I loved just hanging out with her, her hands guiding mine through the stitching!
I stumbled the giveaway!!! But really, I hope I win!!! :)
LIke on fb too!
I'm a crafty person, my 5yr old girl is not... really she only last 5min doing crafts so she rarly finishes any of them. But lately she wants to help me sew, I'm so excited. I remember my mom teaching me to hand sew and I'm glad I get to pass that on.
Thanks for sharing :)
My mother always made our Halloween costumes. Once we were old enough, my siblings and I were involved from conception of the idea (No normal witches or ghosts here...think apples with worms coming out the side or giant ice cream cones) to the completion of the costume. These are actually some of my fondest memories.
mine was with my sister actually, she and I would design and make clothes together
Most of my family have been crafters... It was inevitable! Grandmothers on both sides, grandfathers, mother... and now my kiddos too!
I love sewing with my girls! The satisfaction I get from watching them love it is equal to the satisfaction they get when they realize "I made that!". Love it!
Thanks for the fun!
One of my favorite memories is making Christmas sweatshirts for my daughter and nieces with my Mother and Granny! Granny is gone and the girls are grown and starting their own families. I look forward to creating memories like this with my daughter this year!
We decorated christmas cookies with our gram each year. Such fun memories.
Another of my favorite memories is helping my mother make our family room rug from recycled fabrics. Such fun!
i babysat twin girls from the time they were 1 (i was 14) until they were too old to have a babysitter. they're 21 now and i'm so proud of who they've become. i crafted with them constantly when we were together. my favorite memory is when we created a board game. we designed the game, then drew it up, then made it from paper-covered cardboard, then made the little pieces out of playdough, and had years of fun playing the game. i have two girls now, an 18-month-old and a 5-month old and i can't wait until they're old enough to have crafting days with mama!!!
I was not what you would call crafty or patient as a child. My poor artistic mother, she tried so hard. I have many memories of doing projects with her, but I most vividly remember embossing stamped cards with her. We would stamp a rubber stamp with a special embossing stamp pad, sprinkle it with glitter, and hold it over the toaster to heat it up. The heat made the stamped pattern raise and created a neat effect. It also left glitter behind, which I remember finding on my bagels a lot.
Now that I'm all grown up and have embraced the crafty side of life, I'm always looking for new things to do with my son. This book would be great!
Just today I spent time teaching my seven yr old son how to sew on the machine. It brought back lots of memories of my mom teaching me. So thankful she did. My favorite project was a denim bag with rainbow ribbon strap. sweet!
i hail from a very crafty family so it's really hard to pick..but my grandfather helped my with some leather working projects that i've never forgotten. it seemed like a lost cowboyish art with all the hammers and tools. i have a headband that still i wear sometimes even though i'm 32 and we made it when i was 12! since my grandfather has passed, it is all the more special.
My fav memory is crafting with my daughters for Halloween a few years ago. We made these really cute spiders out of egg cartons and they painted them, glued legs on them and then we hung them up so we could "scare" Daddy when he came home!! It was such a hit we do it every year!!
my favorite co-craft was making play dough!
My favourite co-crafting memory is probably my mom teaching me to embroider when I was about 8 or so. I was never very good at it, but I loved feeling so grown up and accomplished doing embroidery alongside my mom.
And great blog - my first time here, but I'll definitely be back!
When I was a young teen my great aunt came to visit and taught me to crochet.
slrdowney at hotmail dot com
I remember tying quilts from the youngest age. i was taught first how to tie a square knot and then eventually i was threading the needle and everything. i was so proud of my quilting abilities:)
My first craft project was making a pillow with my aunt (my mom always claimed she didn't have a crafty bone in her body!). I picked out the sun/moon/stars fabric and made an enormous pillow. It was unevenly stitched and lumpy but I was very proud. Considering I was 6 years old at the time- it was rather impressive. It became my dog's bed eventually and lasted until I went to college!
Loved baking muffins with dad and baking cookies with my mom and sister.
I didn't sew or anything remotely like it until I was pregnant with my little girl. My mom had just started sewing with a group of little old ladies once a week and so I started going and had so much fun! I looked forward to those days of just sitting next to my mom and sewing. Now that I've moved away, and 2 little girls later, I love to sew and craft. My daughter sat on my lap to help me make a skirt for her friend on Sunday.
My husband's family has a Ukranian background so my son and I took a class on pysanky.
slrdowney at hotmail dot com
Of course it's gotta be making my wedding dress with my mom and grandma! That was the most fun experience. But I also fondly remember making doll clothes with my mom. Hope to pass on the memories with my daughters!
i have great memories of my mom teaching me to sew. She put numbers on the sewing machine so we could remember the steps of threading the machine.
yanuzo at hotmail dot com
My son and I made all kinds of different candles for a 4H project one summer.
slrdowney at hotmail dot com
I have many co-crafting memories. My mom and I often made spritz cookies and cupcakes (I can still conjure the smell of the dough and the frosting to this day. I make both with my own daughter, but the ingredients in her electric beater had their own smell.)
My favorite co-crafting memory, though, may have been a doll made with pink yarn, a styrofoam head, glued-on fabric eyes, and multiple braided yarn legs. We named her "Ipodinia" - I have no idea why. I still have her!
I didn't see my Grandma a lot when I was young but when we visited she always helped me with my sewing. She was very patient.
My favorite co-crafting memory is sewing with my friend.
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My mother taught me how to cross stitch and crochet. I still have the first cross stitch i did with her, which we made into a Christmas ornament. I love looking at it every Holiday Season.
Recently, my eldest daughter asked if she could raid my scrap stash to make something. She worked all afternoon, and with my help, made a tiny minky-backed pillow. I was so proud!
I am a Girl Scout leader, and my girls made appliqued burpcloths from "Craft Hope" to donate. They loved learning to sew, and I loved watching them!
My favorite co-crafting memory is scrapbooking with my sister. We once spent a couple of days making a scrapbook for my grandmother's funeral. It was so nice to go through all those memories, learning about some people that I don't remember (I'm much younger than my sisters, and the youngest grandchild by about 8 years, so I don't know all of my cousins) and putting together something that has been so healing for our family. Best project ever.
My favorite memory is the last project that my grandmother and I made together, my jr prom dress. She was in a car accident later that year that broke her hands so badly that she could never create things again.
I am now teaching my 5 yr old how to sew like my grandmother taught me.
My favorite crafting memory is what I used to call "turning to crochet" when I was bored. And my mom embroidering several of my drawings. I can't wait to do that with some of my daughter's pictures!
I love when you can pass down a tradition that your great-grandmother taught your mother, and now I"m teaching my kids. It's a special treat when you keep that family thread connected. Karen
Sippy Cup Central
Crafting is an awesome activity for my 3 year old twin boys. I've learned that if you can keep their hands busy, things get very quiet. Times are hard, so maybe we can have a family crafty "STAYCATION" here at the house! At 3, I love to watch their awesome, hilarious, imaginations working.
Thanks
Superman, Batman and mommy
i have lots but for now...
i have none.
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