Thursday, March 28, 2013

"Real" Dress-Up Time for Kids!!

As I mentioned in my last blogpost, one of my requirements for my various creative projects I've been pursuing is that I HAVE to finish every project!  Now, I've got a project I've been playing with for a few months, and for a while there I thought it was going to end up in the trash.  I just couldn't motivate myself to finish, and I just kept filling myself with doubts that anyone would find it valuable.

Ever done that before?  STOP IT!!!!

Luckily, my new goals required me to complete it at the very least, even if it's a complete failure.  Here's the project:

The idea sparked from an afternoon when my daughter came running in to the living room with a pad of paper and a pen and said, "Mommy, what would you like for lunch?  Do you want a sandwich or milk?".  She was playing "waitress", imitating what she's seen at various Denny's, Outback Steakhouses, etc. that we've been to.  And it occurred to me: why are we inundated with princess, superhero, and cartoon character dress-up products when what our kids really want is to be like other "real" adults?  Or maybe we should be encouraging them more often to imitate real adults rather than pretend ones?  Allow me to add that I don't have any problem with princesses and superheros - I think they're important to kids' imagination development and giving them a certain sense of "What's possible" outside of reality - but why don't we find more fun ways for them to imitate the "real" things in life?  What little boy doesn't want to put on a suit and tie and go to work like Daddy?  What little girl doesn't want to sit down and sign paperwork like Mommy does at the end of a long day at work? (my daughter imitates this one all the time too!).

And so was born "Kidz Career Kitz" or "Kidz Dress-up Kitz" (I'm testing both names).  I recently participated in one of these fun consignment shows where a huge event is held at a local hotel or venue and you can bring your gently used kids clothes, toys, etc and sell them.  Quite a few people also sold handmade hair clips and other items, so I decided this would be a good place to test my idea.

Of course, I don't really have any manufacturing capital, so I got creative and hit up the local thrift stores and made use of my computer design programs!  I would prefer to have some more colorful pieces, but I think this was a good start.  I made 2-3 kits (a boy one and a girl one) for 4 different careers (10 kits total) that I thought would be fun to replicate, and would likely catch kids' attention:

Lawyer (boy shown):

It's hard to see in the picture, but this one has a "briefcase" (basically a vintage game case - perfect size for kids!!), a tie or purse, a Daytimer, a name badge (on one of the pull clippies that kids love to play with), a folder with a laminated Client Checklist and dry erase marker (reusable!), a small notepad folio, a "Deposition", a pair of reading glasses (frames only), a few pens and a USB port.



Businessperson (boy shown):

This one has a full-size leather folio, a tie or purse, a name badge (on one of the pull belt clippies that kids love to play with), a folder with laminated Sales & Marketing charts and graphs and dry erase marker (reusable!), a small notepad, a Sales & Marketing Proposal, a pair of reading glasses (frames only), a checkbook with a pretend business credit card, a few pens and a USB port.


Real Estate Agent (girl shown):

This one has a clipboard with a laminated House Inspection Checklist and dry erase marker (reuseable!), a tie or purse, a name badge, a folder with various housing documents to "fill out", a Phone & Address Book, a set of Open House invitations, a pair of sunglasses (for showing houses in Colorado!), a set of keys (for their next showing!), an Available Housing Catalogue, a few pens and a USB port.


Waitress:

This one is a little different.  It has a serving tray, apron, 4 laminated menus, a Sales Order book, pretend dollars and coins, a name badge, a couple of Gift Certificates (to give to customers), a credit card, a pen, and a purse (for the girl one)



Ideally, these kits would come with a short DVD video that shows a cartoon of someone going to work to do each job and using each item so the kids know exactly what each item is for - but I'm not that talented yet!!

So what do you think?  Would you buy one of these for your kids?  I'm putting them in the next JBF Broomfield/Brighton sale so we'll see how it goes!  If I sell one of them, I will be happy. :)  If not, I will be content to have tried and failed.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Well, another day in Denver, another snowstorm.  Another opportunity to blog!  Today I wanted to share a fun craft I did recently: my first custom book!!  This was a lot of fun.  I ripped the pages out of an old book, redecorated the cover, cut, pasted, punched, painted, and decorated in the inside pages and then bound it all together with scraps from an old t-shirt!!  And I used only materials that I already had on hand (from old scrapbooking projects of yore) and stuff I got from the local thrift store.  It was a fun artistic and practical challenge.  I made this for my niece who will be turning 7 (I think?) in a couple of weeks.  I'll explain what the different pages are as I post the pictures.

Since I am now working part-time in marketing, waiting for a baby to pop out, and trying to focus more of my energies at home, I've decided to just let myself pursue whatever crazy, whimsical crafts I've dreamed up over the past year or so.  Now that I have the time and energy to devote to them (and not much time and energy to devote to anything physical!)!  So my next few posts will likely be random, strange, completely unrelated crafts or projects I decided to take on in my spare time to feed my creative appetite.  I've decided on two rules for these projects:

1) I must finish every project before moving on to the next one.
2) I can only have 3 projects going at a time.

And I will probably break them both.

I will still be singing with Pure Jukyn (gig next week!) and working on pursuing a long-term project working with songwriting and teens (see my New Years post), but those will most-likely be on hold until after the baby comes and life gets somewhat predictable.  So for now: Creative Jane Rears Her Ugly Head!!

 The Cover.  "E" for Emily!  I found a fantastic post about gluing paper towels to the cover of the book and then painting it to give it some nice texture.  It worked out great!


The first page, and several other pages in here, are just for making notes about things that have happened, thoughts, she has, or anything she wants to write.


The "nicesies" on the inside cover are little notes that say nice things like "Thank you" or "I'm sorry" that she can give to family members or friends when she feels the need.  Sometimes it's easier than saying it!


There are several "Secrets" pages throughout the book.  These are places where she can take some special paper (included in the back of the book) and write down any private thoughts, feelings or "secrets" that she wants to keep special for herself and put them in this pretty envelope.  They are always there for her to look at - for her eyes only!

I added a small "About Me" section where she can write a few small details about herself.




This is just another spot for writing notes - I tried to make the spaces fairly small - big enough to write it, but not big enough that she feels like she has to write a novel.  This is one of my favorites because I found some old wedding invitations at the thrift store that make a cute "book opening" look to this page!


Another Secrets page on the left, and on the right is a decorated plastic baggie where she can keep an "Stuff" she wants to - artwork, movie tickets, notes from friends, whatever!


Another notes page with a more vertical writing space (might be actually too small for her to write in, but oh well).


Another Secrets page, and a small card on the left with a fun mini burlap bag for storing stuff she likes.


More writing space!

 Secrets page and another baggie that says "I'm Bored" with 20-30 activity ideas - many craft and creativity focused - for when she is looking for something to do!


The right page is a place for her to keep photos (I know, no one develops film anymore, but it seemed like there needed to be a place for pictures!).


More writing space on the left, and then a stack of colorful scrapbook paper on the right for writing, pasting, drawing, whatever she wants to do.


On the right is the pretty paper for her Secrets envelopes - you can't tell, but it's purple and shiny.


The back of the book.


And the binding!

Fun!