Creative Outlet: Fasteners Box

This is a project that I'm finally getting started on after thinking about forever. Actually, I was inspired by a "quiet" book that a friend of mine had. It is a handmade cloth book, and on each page is some kind of fastener, that when unfastened, reveals something. Long before seeing that book, I'd been thinking about covering some of these small boxes with felt and hiding photos or other small toys in them. But after seeing this book and watching Thora's growing interest in all sorts of fasteners, I decided to create a box with many different fasteners in and on it, some of which need to be unfastened in order to open the box. I'm in the early stages so it looks a little rough. But I'm pretty tickled that it's finally coming to fruition that I wanted to show it off.

Here is the top of the box. There are two large ladybug buttons and below them, a large hook-and-eye fastener. These are hot-glue-gunned to the top of the box, which is wrapped in felt. (The edges look pretty rough, but I'm hoping to edge them in a length of felt.)

And once the box is opened, there are suspenders, with "overall" fasteners.

I have more big buttons and fasteners that I plan to work into the inside and outside of the box. Stay tuned for the completed project!

Play Kitchen: A Centerpiece to Thora's Play World

Two weeks after it was built, Thora's play kitchen is still holding center stage in her playtime, and also, still holding up! And if you're thinking of making one of these yourself, please glance at the designer's blog here. In addition to other interesting and beautiful posts, she's posted photos of some of the people who've followed her design and built their own kitchens. (Mine is there, too!) Some people have made some very creative and interesting adaptations. They have me very inspired.

While I've yet to put the very final finishing touches on it, I added a couple reinforcements--very discreet strips of extra cardboard glued for support. Thora was using the kitchen to pull herself up, and so the horizontal shelves and countertops were sagging a bit. This was normal wear and tear by a toddler. But also, she's been known to do exactly what I'm asking her not to do, since it gets such a wonderfully intense and immediate reaction out of me. Like, "Oooh, please don't climb the kitchen. No, don't climb it. It'll break. No, DON'T climb it!" Ahhh... year two. The joys!

But seriously, I'm terribly proud of my work; extremely happy with the design and instruction from anna at forty-two roads; and I'm quite satisfied that such a well-used and stylish toy was made from recycled material.