Minimalist T-Shirt Baby/Kid Pants
By Bernadette Noll and Kathie Sever
Future Craft Collective

Last week we made some super simple and comfy yoga pants from a castoff T-shirt. This week we're utilizing the same materials because, well, we all know the abundance of T-shirts in this world is somewhat overwhelming, and while we may not be able to wear all the ones we have, we don't necessarily just want to get rid of them.

This week's project is the minimalist baby/kid pants using an old favorite stripey tee of mine. I came up with this pattern idea when my oldest was just a wee toddler, and I have made dozens of them since. They are, without a doubt, my favorite baby pants to put on my kids for a variety of reasons. There is no front or back. They are easy to put on. They can grow with a kid: starting out as long baby pants, seguing into high-water toddler pants, and making the transition into first grader clam diggers as well. They are comfortable and styling, and can serve as play pants or jammies in any season.

To prove how simple these pants are, I have employed my now 11 year-old in the process, the very same child for whom these pants were first made so many years ago. She has whipped out more than a few of these and finds satisfaction in the style and also in the simplicity of it all. Just recently, she took an old college tee from a cousin and transformed it into baby pants for that same cousin's new baby! The possibilities are endless.

How-To: T-Shirt Yoga Pants
By Bernadette Noll and Kathie Sever
Future Craft Collective

Kathie and I are both in the same place again -- after many weeks of working from opposite sides of the country. It is amazing, even with communication being what it is -- phone calls, Facebook, email and all the like, it feels so good to be in the studio together again. The ideas get ping-ponged back and forth, one of the many beauties of collaboration, and the conversation and the projects just flow "sew seamlessly". (Sorry, I just had to put that in there!)

This week we were going to do a t-shirt skirt, bowing down to the over-abundance of t-shirts in this world. But as we pondered we realized perhaps the t-shirt skirt patterns are also out there in over-abundance as well. Or at least out there enough. And don't get me wrong, we LOVE a t-shirt skirt, just don't want to inundate you with more.

So instead, along the same theme but with a twist, we present to you the brainstorm of our yoga loving Kathie Sever, T-shirt yoga pants. These are so comfy and easy you might want in every color!

We made these in kid and adult sizes so you can get out your matchy-matchy sun hats from last week and whip up these matchy-matchy pants together! This is a simple pattern that a kid with basic sewing skills can do with a little guidance.

There's something so summery about seeing hopscotch squares and colorful chalk drawings on the sidewalk as you walk through your neighborhood, and the kids that live near me have been pretty creative. So I was delighted to see this great sidewalk chalk how-to recently. It never occurred to me that I could make my own, but custom-mixed colors sound pretty fantastic! (Via Whip Up.)

This week I'm passing along a much-beloved pattern that has been in my lexicon of favorites for years now.

It's a super easy pattern that suits kids as well as adults, and it goes together in a snap. My 8-year-old can whip one of these up on her machine solo, since there is only one pattern piece! She likes to bring them to friends for birthday gifts or just for friendship tokens.

It's a great "I made it myself" project for when your early seamster is ready to boot you out of the sewing room to try to tackle a project sans parental influence.

Here we've got your adult-sized pattern and your kid-sized pattern so you and your kiddos can hit the beach (or the pool, park, trail, or backyard) looking like the matching twinky-dinks that you are. Or not!

We're staying at Grandma's house for a few weeks this summer. Lots of swimming and card games and board games and croquet and lots of totally unstructured free time too. Grandma doesn't have a regular craft room but we do have Grandpa's shop to peruse, full of myriad cans and bottles and boxes full of hardware and things that clink and clank.

This week we put the crafting fully into the kids' hands with the only instruction being that we needed a pet-themed craft. They came up with all kinds of ideas: bird houses, firefly jars, pet bowls, and more. As we watched the toddler gathering feathers from the yard, the idea for a cat toy was born. And this week's project is designed by and for kids to make on their own (though younger kids will need help with the drilling).

Alice and Arlo, hard at work and focused on the prize!

I'm always amazed at how satisfying it is to beat your own whip cream, especially by hand, and for kids it's no exception. I can rarely get either of my boys to hunker down in the kitchen with me for a real baking session, but I can always get volunteers to help me whip up some topping for the pie or fruit crisp I baked by myself.

Having two sets of hand beaters and metal bowls makes it more fun -- either you can beat yours while a little one messes with their own bowl, or two kids can compete with each other -- whose will be whipped first? I've found vintage hand beaters at both thrift stores and garage sales for about $2, but you can also get them brand new for about $11, or on eBay for about $8 and up.

There's no real recipe that I follow (my grandmothers would be so proud!), but here's the general idea. The key to success is using metal bowls that have been chilled in the freezer for an hour or more.

Easy Hand-Whipped Whip Cream

Ingredients and Tools
Whipping cream, 1 pint
Powdered sugar to taste -- start with just a little and add more as you go
Vanilla extract, a splash, up to 1/2 teaspoon
Chilled metal bowl -- a small one with tall sides works well
Hand-held egg beater -- available on eBay from about $8

Directions

1. Make sure your bowl is very cold to the touch. You can even put your beaters in the freezer if you think of it ahead of time. I try to keep at least 1 metal bowl in my freezer at all times.
2. Pour the whipping cream into your chilled bowl and add some powdered sugar, maybe 1/4 cup to start.
3. Get to beating! Beat slowly until the cream and powdered sugar are mixed together, then beat at a fast and furious pace. A minute or so in, stop and taste test for sweetness, adding more sugar if needed.
4. Once the liquid starts getting thick, slow down the pace and watch for the stage at which you reach the consistency that whipped cream should have. If you're letting kids do the beating, you might have to watch more closely once it starts to get thick, and make the judgment call as to when the beating should stop. NOTE: If you beat too long, your whip cream gets too thick, more like butter or clotted creme. It's still yummy to eat, but might not look as nice perfectly plopped on top of a piece of pie.
5. Add a splash (or more) of vanilla and either whip or stir it into the whipped cream.
6. Plop by heaping spoonfuls onto the dessert of your choice, or use your fingers for some right-out-of-the-bowl goodness!

Sadly, we tried this one time, when our youngest was just 2 years old -- my husband and I spent 10 fabulous kid-free days (the first we'd had in almost 10 years) in Amsterdam. But back in the U.S., my mom and little Arlo got in a fight one night and both have been holding something of a grudge for 5 years, so it was a big price for all of us to pay for our bit of freedom.

So now we're off to Europe with the kids in tow. There will be two 11-hour airplane flights, two 4-hour-long train rides, one overnight train ride (also 11 hours!), and a couple of day trips involving shorter train rides, ferries, cars, and boats. It sounds a bit rough, especially with a teenager and a young 7-year-old, but we're actually getting excited about the trip. Besides seeing the sights, we're all coming up with activities to wile away our time in transit (besides the stash of electronic devices). Here are some of our favorites:

• Playing cards! You can play games while waiting in the airport, on the plane, on the train, in a park. Older kids can play solitaire or work on magic tricks when they're bored. You can use them to teach wee tots their numbers and a few shapes. "See, this is a 6 of hearts. 1,2,3,4,5,6 hearts on this card! And this is what the number 6 looks like."
• Washable markers and a notepad. We use markers a lot on the plane, and I can't wait to try out Brookelynn's fabulous Puffer Fish Barf Bag project! (Note to self: Bring small scissors.)
• Books of all kinds. We bring sports trivia books for our teenage boy, beginning reading and simple word search books for our 7-year-old, and trashy fiction books for me.
• Magazines. After you read them, you can cut them up or rip them apart to make collages or funny pictures. You can also make paper airplanes and fancy paper doll clothes out of them in a pinch.
• Forgotten toys. I always raid the toy chest in search of small toys that we've forgotten all about. They're like a new gift and a dear old friend wrapped into one! Army men and other figurines are great for adventure and make believe play, plus they can be used as game pieces or betting chips.
• Homemade games. I found a box of old Maker Faire badges in the recycling bin in the office and decided to keep a pair of each type for a DIY memory game. We tried it out here at home and it was a hit! And our new reader is now learning impressive words like "Volunteer" and "Exhibitor."
• Your imagination. At some point during the trip, your bag of tricks will be used up or no longer hold the interest of your offspring. When this happens, it helps to arm yourself with an imaginative mind. Look around, maybe something will catch your eye that can be put into use in a new, better game. Or dig down deep and come up with a funny tale -- "Did I ever tell you about the time I dropped an entire bag of groceries? I bet you can't even guess what all I broke, or how funny I looked with mustard all over my skirt." Embellish at will!
• A sense of humor. On one plane trip, my then 5-year-old spilled a bag of chips all over the waiting room, then knocked over bottle of water, and finally set his sandwich down on the chair, at which point it slowly slid off the seat and onto the floor, unwrapping itself and dribbling out all the innards in the process. Wanting to cry, or maybe yell, I instead shook my head and began to laugh. And so did my older son. And so did my youngest. A few moments later, a woman came over and told me I was the most patient, wonderful mother she'd ever seen. Amazed, I again shook my head in protest and laughed even more. What else was there to do?

What tricks for traveling with kids do you readers have? Tell us about them in the Comments. Happy Summer!

Future Craft Collective is still on the road this week - with Kathie and I visiting the coasts of our youth. She west and me, east. We're kind of enjoying this current process of project making - photos sent and project written. It's fun but I am definitely missing our together studio time. Making and scheming and writing and having a good old time in the same space. But, in the meantime, we are appreciating the modern inventions that make this kind of working together possible.

This week we're going to help you create your very own meditation space - for kids and grown ups alike.

In this CRAFT Video, learn to make and use a pinhole camera from materials you probably already have around the house. This is a great project to do with your kids over the summer, or just to learn something new on your own. When you make one, post up your photos and cameras in the CRAFT Flickr pool!

Subscribe to CRAFT in iTunes or download the m4v video.

Supplies and tools:

• container for camera (oatmeal, tea tin, etc.)
• black electrical tape
• black spray paint
• small piece of aluminum foil, brass shim stock, or aluminum can
• fine sewing needle
• utility knife, scissors, or drill
• RC photo paper (I used Ilford 5x7)
• Kodak Dektol paper developer
• fixer
• stop bath
• plastic photo chemical jugs
• developer trays (3 or 4)
• darkroom safelight
• funnel (not for food use after)
• food thermometer
• water
• photo tongs (optional)
• vinyl apron (optional)
• paper towels

To make your camera, cut a small hole in your container, about one inch square after spray painting the interior black. Using a piece of aluminum foil, brass shim stock, or aluminum can that's slightly bigger than the hole on your container, poke a very small hole in the center with a needle. Only the point of the needle should pass through the material, not the upper (widest) part of the shaft. If you're using brass shim or a tin can, sand the hole on both sides with some fine sandpaper to get rid of the material pushed in by the needle (but you can't sand aluminum foil). Hold the piece up to the light to see that it's a nice round circular hole. Tape the piece over the hole in your container so that the pinhole is in the center. Use black electrical tape to prevent light leaks.

Read on for more info on loading your camera, exposing your paper, and developing your photo!

Super Smooth Scooter Bag
By Bernadette Noll and Kathie Sever
Future Craft Collective

As I type this I can see the Atlantic Ocean out one window, the Empire State Building from another, and the full moon too. Visiting family in the motherland has got me feeling all sentimental for all of it — the places and the people too.

We at Future Craft Collective are on opposite coasts these next few weeks with Kathie out West and I in the East. Of course we'll take in the sights at each shore, but it's family and friends that serve as the main impetus — both immediate and extended. We're kind of sentimental that way.

Our project this week is a bit sentimental, too, in its summer simplicity. And with its nod back to another time, it goes along perfectly with our returns to our childhood sights, sounds, and people. How lucky for us that these simple modes of transport have been modernized in their design but hearken back to days of old as well.

The scooter bag! Simple form and function that will hold your drink and your book in smooth style. Perfect for a ride on your favorite sidewalk — wherever that may be!

Finger Knittin' Good
By Vickie Howell

In the past, I've had little luck getting my sons interested in learning to knit. Even when presented with jazz hands, in their eyes, my needles make much better swords than crafty tools. Alas. When summer vacation hits, however, a mom has to get creative in order to keep the kids busy. It's time to approach the situation from a different angle: keep the knitting, but ditch the needles!

Finger knitting is a great way to keep little hands busy, while creating long cords in a flash! Kids dig it because it's faster and less cumbersome than traditional knitting. Once knitted, the cords can be made into things like googly-eyed snakes, purse handles, gift ribbons, or my son Tanner's favorite project du jour, the Twisty Scarf, which we'll show you how to knit. Hey, don't just sit there, let your fingers do the knitting!

We spent last week at the pool, trying out our super fun pool toss game. And since it's been hovering in the low 100s for about a week straight now, you can pretty much rest assured that anytime we are outside, we will pretty much be near water, be it pool, cold springs, or in the river. And when so much time is spent lugging stuff to and from the water's edge, you definitely need a way to keep your dry stuff dry and separated from the wet stuff.

This week while I packed up a family of six for a summer vacation, Kathie worked her magic in the studio. After a trip to the thrift store and a couple of hours in the studio, she emerged with this sweet bag, the perfect combination of form and function — upcycled and super styling too.

Making play dough is almost as fun as playing and sculpting with play dough! This simple cooked play dough recipe is a great way to encourage kids to have fun in the kitchen. The resulting dough is smooth, not grainy, and you can make it using inexpensive ingredients found in your cupboard. And this recipe cooks up fast! My lovely friend and model Sofia and I made the dough in about 15 minutes, start to finish. She had so much fun, and I did too!

Themed snack and story-time activities are great ways to entertain kids during the summer months. What often starts out as glee — hurray summer, no more school! — can quickly turn to boredom if you don't have a lot of activities on your schedule.

Rainbow Jell-O is a fun snack that kids can help make. Due to the extra gelatin added, it doesn't take as long as traditional Jell-O to become solid.

If you joined us last week, you know we headed out of the sewing room and into the pool! It's hot here in Austin, and when it's hot here in June, you know you've got three months more to go of the forecast being nothing but hazy, hot, and humid. So what can you do but hang out at the pool? And if you're hanging at the pool for hours on end, you're going to need something to do. Last week we made the pool diving toy. And this week we'll be making a Pool Ring Toss Game in two parts.

School is out in most places and warmer weather has arrived. The sounds of the street are filled with children's laughter and the catchy jingle of the ice cream man. Stop there parents — you won't need to shell out for overpriced and unhealthy treats anymore. Instead, try this cheaper make-at-home cold summer treat, a great way to get healthy fruit into our kids with a little something special.

This is a fun project for kids to help with. They will enjoy coming up with interesting ways of decorating their own "popsicle." Who doesn't love an ice cold treat when it's hot outside?

How-To: Make a Diving Ring
By Bernadette Noll and Kathie Sever
Future Craft Collective

If you're in Austin, Texas, you know that swim season has officially begun. Though parks and recreation is keeping some of the pools closed until next week, we've already begun our quest of a swim-a-day. We've hit up the cold springs a few times, where the delightful water is a mere and constant 68°. And we've frequented several different pools including a nearby and nameless hotel pool that we love. But mums the word on that one.

So, as our bodies hit the water, our crafty thoughts turn to pool toys. Could we? Should we? Can you really craft up water toys? You bet your sweet Speedo we can.

This week we'll make a diving ring, the first in our series of summer pool toys. And, as is true Future Craft Collective style, all the materials are found and/or thrift store scrounged.

Homemade Stationery
By Bernadette Noll and Kathie Sever
Future Craft Collective

Welcome back! We hope your week has been sweetly satisfying as you wrap up your school work and prepare for full-on summer. Here in our neighborhood in Austin, Texas, school is officially out for summer and the kids are already chomping at the bit for some activities. Our project this week is all about activity and it's completely kid driven. No supervision even needed, although adults will probably want to jump in too. This project feels a lot like camp with lots of cutting, gluing, assembling, and compiling images, words, and materials to make a whole summer's worth of postcards and stationery to mail to friends and family far and near.

Last week we made a Family Letter Writing Center. This week we actually have 3 mini projects: postcards, cards, and a rubber stamp — all related and all in the name of building connection, which, if you know us at all, you know that's a recurring theme of ours. We love connection and we love finding ways to create more of it, so let's get started!

As we all know, gelatin has a unique property of being at once delightful to some and repulsive to others. I land somewhere in the middle, I like to play with it but please don't make me eat it. Years and years ago I took a multimedia class and one of our guest speakers did a presentation on printing from a gelatin plate. I tucked it away in the back of my mind and thought it would be a cool thing to try both for myself and with children. Professional artists use all the fancy tricks of the trade. Here's a way to do it in your own home using what you may have on hand.

Out of necessity, I've come up with a few ideas to keep the kids occupied while you drink that all-too-important first cup of coffee. So if your summer plans include a trip, or just a couple of Saturday brunches, consider letting your kids play with their food. These few activities have worked well for us when there were no crayons on the table, no pizza dough balls handed out, and no toys in mom's purse.

• Make designs out of the cutlery. Depending on the age of your kid(s), the designs can be simple, or more complex. This is also a great way to sneak in a little shape-recognition work for toddlers. "Can you make a triangle? Look, your brother made a star."
• Sugar packets are great for all sorts of things, including sorting. Arlo loved to separate out all the yellow packets from the blue packets from the white packets. Then we'd discuss colors — "Show me the blue pile" — followed by counting games. This could be as simple as counting up to 3 packets, or as complex as figuring out which color there are more of. As he got older, he'd lay out the packets in intricate patterns — pyramids, highways, even house and airplane shapes.
• Stacking things is fun! And letting them fall is way fun for kids, and a little less fun for Mom. Jelly containers, sugar packets, and creamer containers are all fair game. I think the record in our family was 9 creamers in an unstable tower; thankfully none of them burst open when the tower crumpled. And I'm even more thankful my husband wasn't there to see my parenting, which he would have surely deemed "slacker."
• Older kids want bigger challenges and bigger messes. My husband and I are huge fans of Penn and Teller from way back, and their masterpiece, How to Play with Your Food, has some great ideas for the older kids you may be dining with. The Parsley Game is fun once the food has arrived, but our all-time favorite is the Fork in the Eye trick, which incorporates a creamer, a fork, and an unsuspecting victim.

I do try to carry little boxes of crayons and a few plastic ninjas in my purse at all times, along with hand wipes and one of those notepads from the hotel nightstand, as added reinforcements. What other tricks do you readers have for keeping the kids occupied when in a restaurant or, heaven forbid, lasting through a more formal meal? Tell us about it in the Comments!

How-To: Bagalopes
By Stephanie Scheetz

The bagalope, a simple gift bag made from an envelope, is a project I've shared with countless people over many years. I'm still tickled by their reaction when they learn how it's created. "That bag started as an envelope? No way." Never has the term "pushing the envelope" been truer than with this practical paper project.

All you will need is an envelope, glue stick, liquid glue, scissors, ruler, scoring tool, pencil, rubber stamps, and ink pads (along with any other embellishments you want to add).

Download the project as a PDF.

About the Author:

Stephanie Scheetz (coolcrafting.com) has been a designer and instructor in the craft industry for nearly 15 years. Her hobbies include thrift store shopping, eBaying, and collecting mail art, prison art, and bad art.

Family Connection Letter Writing Center
By Bernadette Noll and Kathie Sever
Future Craft Collective

In addition to being all about sustainable crafting, Future Craft Collective is also about building sustainable connection. When we spend our days with small children, so much of life has to be focused on the here and now that we sometimes forget we're actually building long-term relationships. We forget, or just don't even think about, the fact that our children will one day be grownups with whom we will have lifelong, grownup relationships. And we will have those grownup relationships for a whole lot longer than we have small children in the house!

As our own children grow and mature, we realize how crucial it is to think ahead and to think outside of what we are doing at the moment. We have to shake ourselves into thinking of the relationship we are building, not just the snacks we are getting, the mess we are cleaning, or the bedtime we are facilitating. But how do you teach the idea of long-term connection to your children? Like so many other things we want to teach, we model it now, build activities around the modeling, and hope the messages will stick.

One of the tools we're big fans of for building lifelong connection is maintaining ties via the written word. Letters and postcards sent to family and friends far and wide make us feel attached for now and for the long haul. And who doesn't love to get a handwritten letter in the mailbox, amidst all of the bills and bulk mail?

We try to encourage this love of letter writing in our own children. We use old drawings for stationary. We make postcards out of cereal and pasta boxes. We even save the many surplus reply envelopes that come in the mail with other mailings. We found, however, that to save them was one thing and to have them all accessible and in a sort of clearinghouse was quite another indeed. Our letter-writing center led to the creation of more stationary and the writing and sending of more letters, thereby creating more connections with all the people we love.

And so, because of our love and our need, we created the Family Connection Letter Writing Center. Hooray for the art of letter writing and postcard sending. Hooray for finding ways to use the many cereal boxes and old file folders that come through our world. And hooray for showing our children that we can maintain connection no matter how far away we may be.

The pinwheel is a classic toy that never gets old. All you need is a chopstick, a wine cork, a pushpin, and paper. Embellishments are all up to your personal style, from glitter to paper choice. Howtoons have a beautiful, graphic way of showing you how. Download the PDF.

Candy Box Purses
By Racelle Rosett

Some teenage friends of mine were suffering from the purse tyranny of their middle school when we came across these Japanese candy boxes. A glue gun and some fake fur later, we had made these clever recycled purses.

Make your own Candy Box Purse by downloading the project as a PDF.

About the Author:
Racelle Rosett is a television writer who has won the Writer's Guild Award and a national cupcake decorating contest, and whose recipe has been "February" in the Empire Kosher chicken calendar.

Hopefully you've completed, or at least seen, last week's project of the Family Intentions and Inspirations Banner. While you can certainly complete the calendar portion on its own, we really like the way the two pieces interact to make the Family Summer Fun Center complete.

Last week we talked about setting some intentions for the summer. This week we'll get ready to actually plan out those intentions on our Family Summer Fun Calendar. This calendar will stand apart from the rest of the year, giving a glimpse-at-a-glance of the entire 3-month window that is summer vacation.

Paper Bead Bangle
Roll your own beads to make an awesome safety pin bracelet.
By Stephanie Scheetz

I'm a self-proclaimed paper pack rat. Big pieces, little pieces, nothing gets thrown away. One day I sat staring at a huge stack of paper strips, all the same size. They were leftover remnants from a workshop I had prepped months earlier. "What the heck am I going to do with these?" I thought. And the challenge was made, albeit to myself. I needed to design a project that used up these last bits of paper, which others might have thrown away. What resulted was a fresh spin on a craft project familiar to many, but never seen like this.

Gluten-Free Play Clay Beads
By Jessica Wilson

Working with kids, I need to have a lot of tricks up my sleeve for those "I'm bored" moments. One of the best remedies for boredom is whipping up a batch of homemade play dough. I have oodles of recipes kicking about in my head; this one is gluten-free and easy to make. The best part is its capacity to be shaped into an awesome assortment of beads and baubles. Let's get to it!

Family Summer Center, Part One: Intentions and Inspirations Banner
By Bernadette Noll and Kathie Sever
Future Craft Collective


It's that time of year, folks, when the classroom parties hit a fever pitch, the volunteer coordinator at school has you on speed dial, and we, as parents, start to spiral into a little bit of a panic about the season that is ending and the season that is about to begin. Don't get us wrong, we love summer with its opportunities for sleeping in and its carefree nature. It's just the transition that can be a little tricky.

This is our kick-off project for summer "campless" camp and we are totally excited for a summer full of projects. With this project, it is our greatest intention to help ease you and your kids into the transition, while simultaneously helping you get intentional about the open-ended summer months ahead. Additionally, we see this project as an opportunity for you to sneak in one last solo craft project before you segue into fully welcoming the kids into your crafting lair. Of course we're all about using crafting to connect with your kids, and though it sounds like we're saying to go this one alone, it's not entirely true. We just want you to get started and then call the kids in for the completion once you've got this one ready for summer planning action.

Today we're making the first part of the two-part Family Summer Center. We created the Summer Center as a place where the family can come on a lazy or crazy formless summer day to get ideas, prompts, and inspiration towards what to do next. It's also a place to put intentions and schedule activities for the three school-less months that make up summer. The two projects included in the creation of the Family Summer Center are the re-usable Family Calendar and the Family Intentions and Inspirations Banner. We'll start with the Intentions Banner and get to the Calendar next week, closer to the end of the school year.

We came up with this project because we've found that when we start with a little brainstorming, mixed with a dose of intention, and add a bit of family planning (not THAT kind of family planning), we are amazed (and delighted!) at how seldomly we have to act as referee or cruise director for our kids. Additionally, giving the kids a visual glimpse into their schedule and options, and allowing them a bit of autonomy in planning their days and listing their desires, gives us all more cause to actually enjoy each other's company in this elongated season we have together. So let's do it!