holiday

  • giving: a canvas wall caddy.

    In today’s handmade gift guide, a few favorite ideas for making canvas wall caddies and offering them as a handmade gift during the holidays, or anytime… A little kit for making: If you’re not up to the…

    November 18, 2021 5 Comments
  • giving: simple cloth coasters.

    In today’s handmade gift guide, a few favorite ideas for making simple cloth coasters and offering them as a handmade gift during the holidays, or anytime… A little kit for making: If you’re not…

    November 17, 2021 3 Comments
  • giving: cardboard gifts for kids.

    Say it with me: This year, we’re giving the gift of cardboard to kids and they’re going to love it. Rose and I have taken inspiration from some of our favorite kids’ toys and…

    November 15, 2021 17 Comments
  • make your own: block stamps.

    I have a mostly hate/hate relationship with the amount of craft foam that comes into my house via kids crafting these days, so it took me some convincing to run this craft. But once…

    November 8, 2021 18 Comments
  • giving: supplies for making.

    Everyone’s talking about supply chains and gearing up early for the holiday season this year, and no doubt with good reason. I ordered tiny lobster claw clasps sometime mid-September and they’ve yet to arrive.…

    November 4, 2021 11 Comments
  • make your own: simple cheesecloth ghosts.

    My children love gory halloween decorations. Give them a tree of decapitated heads, as one neighbor has, and they’ll be squealing in delight. Give them an animatronic ghoul rising from the trash can as…

    October 12, 2021 7 Comments
  • archive dig: springtime projects.

    It’s spring break here in New York. Childcare is in short supply, the need for low-stakes projects to keep kids occupied is high, the springtime impulse to clean out and start fresh and pay…

    March 30, 2021 2 Comments
  • make your own: fire starters.

    Years ago I wrote a post about making fire starters in an old egg carton, and carefully filling each nest with wax and cedar shavings and other combustible and fragrant wintry bits. This is…

    December 22, 2020 8 Comments
  • beeswax tapers FAQ.

    As it is with all things sourdough, our humble homemade beeswax taper operation is entirely James’s domain. I’ve long been the wax scrap hoarder and re-melter and tea light pourer and I’ve rolled more…

    December 16, 2020 38 Comments