Spotlight: Creative - Soy Crayons!

Natural Soy Rock Crayons by Clementine Art

I was in Whole Foods this morning getting my usual coffee and croissant and came across the most wonderful creative art supply. Natural soy crayons!

Clementine Art's tag line, "non-toxic is just the beginning" is right, it is just the beginning. We're always teaching our kids that natural is the way to go for most everything and this extents to art supplies as well. I picked up the Soy Crayon Rocks on the double and brought them home to test out. My kids love them. The shape is fascinating to them. To date, they've only had crayons that looked like the standard writing utensil kind and they are so curious how little rocks can have colour.

Soy crayons by Clementine Art

Clementine Art products are sourced responsibly and made in the USA. They're all non-toxic and safe. They are definitely setting a higher standard for health and safety in kids' products.

Going on Clementine Art's site, they also have natural modeling dough, paint and markers! I spoke with Megan at Clementine Art and she tells me the paint and markers will be shipping December 15th, 2009, so we are definitely stocking up on these and the rest of their great products for stocking stuffers and gifts for all our little friends.

Natural Paint by Clementine Art

Modeling dough by Clementine Art

To read more about Clementine Art's values and see their products visit their site at clementineart.com. Their great products can be found in Whole Foods nationwide.

[photo: Clementine Art]

[tags: soy crayons, natural paint, natural modeling dough, clementine art, eco friendly crayons, wholefoods]

There's a Shark in our House

Sandro and my father spent the morning painting and drawing. Pretty neat how my father took Sandro's abstract paintings and turned it into an underwater adventure.

[Spotlight: Eco-Friendly] Gift Wrapping without Paper

I first met Jenn a few years ago at the National Stationery Show in NYC. She was our booth neighbor across the aisle. Instantly I was smitten with her illustrations. They were bold and gentle and beautiful all at the same time. It was also the first time I've seen her product launch Furochic(TM) What is this? Furochic is a modern take on the traditional Japanese wrapping cloth idea furoshiki. It's a great idea because it promotes caring for the environment and reducing waste (each year millions of tons of paper and plastic gift wrap are dumped into landfills). I'm talking about furoshiki for wrapping gifts, it can also be used to create handbags, little baby slings for your child's stuffed animal, or even used as a hankie. Check out Jenn's reuse page on her site for more ways to reuse her awesome and stylish Furochic gift wrap.

Wrapagami by Jenn Playford

Check out Wrapagami for more fun and great ways to wrap all sorts of things. For those of you who are not in Canada, the book is available in most book stores in the US. Be sure to support your local booksellers! Below are more images from Jenn's book:

Wrapping up baby bottles in this fashion and then putting it in the diaper bag is stylish and would probably keep warm formula warm for a while.

Great way to wrap up flowers for a hostess gift at your next dinner party.

This one is my favorite. Kasie, who is 4, is very much into taking care of her little stuffed animals and this is perfect for her to tote along her little 'babies'. Come September when Kasie starts Pre-K4, I'll be sending her off to class with furoshiki wrapped snacks. Maybe this will inspire her friends to do the same.

Order yourself some Furochic and check out the techniques page on the site and you can instantly learn how to wrap Furochic style.

[photos: Jenn Playford, Furochic]

Spotlight: Creative - Breakfast Jewelry

Breakfast necklace

I had some Fimo left over from a project and Kasie and I spent the afternoon making 'breakfast' beads... bacon, eggs, bagels, blueberries, strawberries and even a croissant! Got some dress shoe laces from the local pharmacy and our little girl strung them up. She was most happy making this for her aunt, my sister whom she calls yee-yee (Cantonese for sister on our mother's side).

If you're not familiar with Fimo, it's a plastic polymer clay that you mold and then once finished bake in the oven, 260 degress for 30 minutes. Not the best smelling kitchen afterward but they bake to a hard finish that can also be painted. I would suggest Fimo Soft for little kids hands. The original version is quite hard and takes a while to get pliable.

[Spotlight: Creative] Play food with Model Magic

Little ravioli made with Model Magic for the kids' play kitchen.

Model Magic is made by Crayola, a soft air dry clay that is so easy to mold with little hands and dries to a nice rubbery hard surface in about 24 hours. Once dry, it can even be coloured in with markers or paint.

We recently went to the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA. The kids had loads of fun there and we brought back Model Magic in all the colours to experiment with. Making food was our first order of business. We made ravioli, string beans and peas. Before I could even take a picture of the veggies, they were already swallowed by 'a mysterious bear who wandered in the play kitchen' - or reading between the lines - mamma, I can't remember where I hid them.

[Spotlight: Creative] Thank you card

The cutest thank you card we ever received! Made by Harlan and Hudson (with a little help from their mom), our friends from Brooklyn, NY.

[Spotlight: Creative] Keeping a Sketch Book

Animal & Friends Sketchbook from 9SpotMonk

We make these sketchbooks at the studio. They're 100% recycled and letterpress printed. I keep one in my handbag for Kasie when we go out so she can have a place to draw. She draws constantly, in the car, at restaurants, even while walking outside sometimes. We have quite a few that are filled with doodles, numbers and letters. It's a great idea for traveling too. Take one on a road trip and have your little ones fill it up. Date the sketchbook and keep them together. Later on, you'll have a great visual log of what your child sees through his/her eyes while on your trips as well as seeing at a glance the progress of their drawings.

[Spotlight: Creative] Seeing it through your own eyes

Build Your Own Kaleidoscope Kit available from Giggle

We love toys that let kids get creative. When it's something they've created on their own, it's so much more fun. There's lots of brain activity and experimentation and everyone here at Smuppy Kids loves that!

It's a great afternoon project - using found objects and seeing them in a different way. Kids can use the beads enclosed with the kit or add elements of their own to make something really special. The outer chamber can be coloured in to further personalize the kaleidoscope.

This would make a great gift for Father's Day! Mix in your little one's favorite objects and add some of Dad's too in the chambers and everytime he looks in the kaleidoscope, he'll be reminded of what a lucky Dad he is!

[photo: giggle]