Made by Joel (a cool and creative dad)

Did you miss the first fantastic find I posted about from Made by Joel-- Printable Paper City??  This guy's creativity and simplistic approach to playing amazes me!  His kids are lucky to have such a cool and fun dad!  I basically browsed every post on Made by Joel and found many great things to add to my kid list.  It's so nice of him to take the time to share these creative ideas with us!!  You need to check out the site for yourself but here's some posts I really like:

► Match Game (you could make it a toddler memory game)

► Zip Line Toy (soooo creative)

► Toddler Stilts (definitely a safer option over Classic Can Stilts)

► Cereal Box Marble Run (my kind of fun-- reuse and then recycle)

► Wall Hanging Box Aquarium (seriously, we're making one or two so the kids will stop asking for a real pet)

► Tin Can Telephones (hooray for old fashioned communication)

Love and Lollipops is More Than Sweet

At first it was the 'sweet' little blog name (and a nice comment) that intrigued me to visit Love and Lollipops.  After I took a little time to look around I knew it was more than sweet!  The blog author, Georgia, lives in South Africa...her header says,"growing children's hearts and minds to be of the lovely kind"...she's a "Mom, Psychologist, and Photographer"...she has happy, fun, and creative posts...she's new to blogging (but doing fantastic)!   I've had a few e-mail interactions with Georgia and she's a friendly (and genuine) blogger!!  I like what she said in a recent e-mail reply, "I'm all about "bright and happy" if I can achieve it.  That's what I love about the blog space...it feels like it's my own little magazine!"  She's a natural at 'happy' in my opinion.  I enjoy Georgia's blog a lot and hope you will too!

It's winter in Cape Town so Georgia and her boys are creating inside...

Shapes Pictures

3D City Skyline

Georgia is busy creating too...

Matchbox Fridge Magnets

Sweetie Art

Some more Love and Lollipop posts that I like...
•Love Connections-- "Do you ever stop and suddenly realize that you haven't connected with your child for a few days?"
•Memetales-- kids' digital books
•No-Sew Caterpillar and Butterfly-- craft that goes along with a Memetales book
•Fun with Felt-- I love that Georgia was inspired by a little puzzle that makes her happy. ☺


*All photos from Love and Lollipops (used with written permission).

Friendly Blogger: Vanessa from Silly Eagle Books

Vanessa is the 'author' of the blog Silly Eagle Books.  She's also mom to a 3 year old girl and an avid children's vintage book collector!  Through reading her blog I know that she is a dedicated mom who spends quality time with her daughter.  She lets her former English teacher/writer/editor background shine through in her blog writing.  Some of my favorites about Silly Eagle Books are the photos Vanessa shares out of books, the book posts that have a suggested activity (easy preschool time ☺), and the simplicity of the blog.  There's a sweet story behind the naming of the blog and you can read about that on her FAQ page!

I wanted to get to know Vanessa a little more so I asked her some questions:

Head on over to Silly Eagle Books for good book reading suggestions and easy crafts too!