fab

Lucy likes to do things together. Whatever she's doing, she wants me to be right there doing it with her. And whatever I'm doing, she has to be doing. Lately, if I have the camera out and want to take some pictures, she wants a turn too. So I put the strap around her neck and let her shoot whatever she wants. So you end up with unusual camera angles and unique perspectives and, even more rare, pictures of me! I took this one of Emmie, but its too cute not to post.

Confession: I have only made one thing for my little Emmie. But at least its a good one. . . a receiving blanket. We use it all the time. It's light, but warm. It's a swaddler and a carseat blanket. It soaks up spit up and washes well. And it looks good. This one I did for a friend. They're so fun to make and, um, extremely easy too. Materials: You just need 1 yard solid color flannel (I almost always just use white or off-white, flannel colors tend to be too saturated for my taste), 1 yard of a beautiful print (both of these happen to be Amy Butler designs , you can't go wrong with her stuff), and 1 1/4 yard contrasting or harmonizing fabric for bias binding. . . oh, and I like to add on a little fabric tag (the bears and hearts are both some that I've designed and printed at Spoonflower but you can cut a little piece out of whatever fabric you like, like I did here .) Instructions: Pre-wash all fabrics, and then iron them flat. Place flannel and print right-

Although I totally covet the little play kitchen from Ikea, we just don't have space for it. I made this little stovetop to go with all the cute cooking and food toys we've assembled. We pull it out to play and then stick it back in the toy box when we're done. I used permanent markers, a sheet of craft foam and some buttons. C'est tout.

If you were a bug on the wall at our house today, here is a little conversation you would have heard at the lunch counter: LUCY (looking at my Diet Coke with Lime) why can't kids drink that all gone with their mouths? ME (pointing to my Diet Coke can) This? It's just for grown ups because there is caffeine in it which makes kids wild. LUCY (after a pause) Does that say "Wild Kids" or not? (pointing to the large Diet Coke logo on the can)

Here's a design principle. . . repetition adds significance to images. Another design tip. . . odd numbers are pleasing to the eye, so arrange things in 3 or 5, etc.