sweaters became texting gloves, hats, and even little sweaters for little people

Today kids from Sabina’s Daycare of Westchester came to the workshop and I think it’s fair to say that they all surprised themselves by creating such beautiful game boxes. From cereal boxes, buttons, wall paper samples and an upcycled cigar box, they created a game of checkers contained in a chalkboard box. The challenge was [...]

The second pillow project this week was upcycling pillowcases into beach dresses, complete with 3 pockets in the front for treasures…seashells, beach glass, stones, etc… These were eight-year-olds and we definitely pushed their skill sets over the edge. But I like giving kids something to reach for. I always test my daughter on projects before [...]

This week was all about pillow shams and pillow cases. Above is Miika and buddy Sami fusing plastic bags together to form the backing for picnic blankets. The fused plastic is like thick plastic fabric. So we cut it to the size of the shams, sewed it together and the girls drew pictures on the [...]

I’m always dropping my phone or leaving my keys somewhere. And I can’t stand having them in my pocket…sometimes I don’t have pockets. So, it dawned on me that an apron was the perfect solution. This one is my second one because Miika told me she was tired of seeing my green one. In it’s [...]

This weekend was the epitome of what I have imagined and dreamed of for the workshop. On Saturday we hosted our 21 Club—families with a child who has Down syndrome. It’s hard to express the full-circle-dream-come-true feeling of having them there. Here are a few photos: Making family handbooks… Nathan is taking in in one [...]

There are no shortage of birthday party invitations that make their way home in Miika’s backpack…at least one a month. Let’s see, a decent gift is about $15 + a $3 gift bag + a $2 card X approximately 10/year. $200! So, I’m trying to practice what I preach by making and helping Miika to [...]

During spring break, I offered morning workshops. Here are 2 of our visitors who went home with beautiful Easter baskets made from T-shirts and cereal boxes. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of seeing kids create challenging projects and then to see how proud they are of themselves. This basket is not easy…definitely pushes all [...]

35 down and 65 to go. I’m working on a visual menu of project offerings. I feel like Julie in the movie about Julia Childs, trying to cook through 365 recipies. No deadline though…that’s too much presssure. Yesterday Paul was out of town and my mom was watching the kids….so I escaped to the workshop [...]

Most people are too practical to implement dreams. It’s much easier to simply make time to think about a dream, look at the pictures, write some notes, research on line, then tuck it away. It’s very fool hardy to actually make steps toward an idea that’s been brewing. After all, reality jumps in like a [...]