Maker Faire 2013 (Part 1)

Hi everyone!  How was your weekend?

This weekend we visited the Maker Faire held at the New York Hall of Science.  It's a yearly two-day festival where tons of "makers" (crafters, hobbyists, tech lovers, engineers, etc..) showcase what they've made.

The faire is advertised as the "greatest show and tell on earth."  Oh boy, it definitely lived up to that title.  We visited the faire for about four hours... and only saw about about half of the exhibits.  Crazy, right?  Not going to lie...it was difficult maneuvering through all the exhibits with a super active two year old... but I really am thankful that we were able to attend.  It was truly awesome to see so many people passionate about making things with their hands.   I left feeling quite inspired (and exhausted...oof). 

Here are some photos from the day:

Tiny race cars!

This bus brings green space to urban dwellers.

Some toy makers sold their toys there

These robots moved and spoke

Music created by people's text messages

P9218754.AVI from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.

Super cute mini toy that you could create with your kids

Allergic to dogs?  Ever consider a robot dog?  (Chuck loved following this guy around)

Cardboard Spaceship Climbing Toy

Currently Chuck and I have been reading books about the moon and space travel.  He loves the Berenstein Bears "On the Moon" book and Eric Carle's "Papa, please get the moon for me." 

So with that in mind, I made him a little cardboard spaceship climbing toy.  I found some lovely examples online and one of the mommies in our toddler group made a very simple version out of paper.  So, I based my design off of these.        

To operate the toy, you simply attach the moon to the wall or a doorknob.  Then, you pull the two brown tabs apart and your spaceship shoots straight to the moon.

Materials:

• Cardboard box
• Scissors
• String
• Paint and paint brushes
• Mod Podge and brush (to protect your paint job)
• Packing tape
• Straw 

Directions:
This was a really quick and simple toy to make.
1.  Cut out your spaceship, moon, and two small rectangular stopper pieces out of cardboard.
2.  Paint your spaceship and moon.
3.  Once the paint dries, protect your paint job with Mod Podge.
4.  Cut your straw in half.  Tape it to the back of your spaceship.
5.  Fold your long piece of string in half.  Tape the middle of the string to the back of your moon.  Then, string your two strands through the two straws.  Tape the ends of  string to your cardboard rectangles so that the spaceship doesn't fall off.

Here's a shot of the mechanics: 

And that's it.  Simple to make, and simple to use.  You don't even have to make a spaceship and a rocket.  What about an alien spaceship and earth?  Or a basketball player and a basket?  The possibilities are endless.

We went this route, and Chuck got a kick out of sending his cardboard rocket to the moon.


Cardboard Rocket Ship sent to the moon from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.


And then, since I was working with cardboard already.... I figured I'd make Chuck some cardboard food as well.  All that flying sure gives an astronaut a hearty appetite. 

Have a wonderful weekend!  See you back on Monday.


Psst-  If you've got a ton of cardboard lying around... check out these fun kids' crafts that use cardboard:

• Cardboard and Styrofoam Picture Frame
• Cardboard Camera
• Cardboard taxi bank
• Cardboard rattle-drum 
• Cardboard guitar 
• Cereal Box elephant
• Cereal Box giraffe

Jimmy Choo inspired glitter sunglasses

Sometimes I find myself staring at really expensive things... and then wondering if I could somehow get the same look for less.  For example, I saw these pairs of Jimmy Choo sunglasses and loved their fun, glittery vibe. 

But then I saw their price tags and almost had a heart attack.  Oy vey!  A couple hundred for a pair of sunglasses?

Too rich for my blood.

With a little bit of elbow grease, glittery nail polish, and painters tape, I turned a pair of free job fair sunglasses (hooray for job fair freebies!) into this...

Not bad, right?  Ideally I should have used a pair of all black sunglasses, but I had these on hand and made them work. 

I covered the lenses in painters tape to protect them.  Then, I went to town painting the frames with some leftover glittery nail polish.  Once the nail polish dried, I removed the tape and voila!  Glittery Jimmy Choo-esque sunglasses.

Here's what my sunglasses looked like before:

 

And once again, here's what they look like bling-a-fied:

So.... whaddya think?  Would you glitter-afy your sunglasses?