cut-up: anthropologie catalog

I bet there are thousands of things you can make with an anthropoligie catalog.

here are two: a paper chain & paper beads. simple things for little fingers in your favorite vintage hues.

construction paper construction

It is always interesting to see what happens when I cut up colorful shapes.



glue is for drawing.

and tracing. let it go.

elke cut up her own and made some friends.



and a self-portrait

homemade worksheets

elke is wild for worksheets & activity books. here we customized her very own.
I drew seven empty circles & asked her to fill in the faces. I drew a suitcase and asked,

what would you pack? thirdly, what do you think is inside the toybox?

then she made one for me... & another with the best word scrambles I have seen.

(answer: I love you, happy= indeed)

playdough and bits

I have always wanted to go to an art spa. I imagine spending days simply creating with all of the supplies at the ready: walking up to an easel with paint poured or sitting down to a bowl of leaves & glue.

Sounds heavenly & meditative & almost exactly like preschool or this place.

I love open ended projects for kids with no destination or models and this is one of my favorite projects of all time.
Playdough with bits of anything: pasta, beans, sugar cubes, popsicle sticks... etc.
p.s I love how their glitter is cut with sand. its much less apt to fly around.

happy flags

we made our own flags, inspired by independence day. brett gave elke a small history lesson explaining our countries' independance from britain. trying to put monarchies (esp. princesses) in perspective, he explained democracy. we all voted on our favorite color. pink won this year. our favorite shape is hearts. a sad day for star & purple lovers.


elke drew her flag while tate used a stamp I cut from a sponge.

white crayon and water color

white crayons can write secret messages on paper or simply provide a little relief

tracing paper

we have been having fun with tracing paper. so fun to see elke capture charles schultz's snoopy nose and seuss' bartholomew hat in all its beauty and sentiment.

making paper dolls

I had fun drawing a girl in her bikini on bristol paper then tracing fashions on light text weight stock
We were inspired by paper dolls we got at the mingei museum by textile designer zandra rhodes


elke put her doll on a pony she drew


tate colored in the lines


eventually, we had too much fun!