a batch of teacher notepads

I've been meaning to add a picture of finished notepads to the images section of the notepad product page, but I never seem to remember in my rush to get them wrapped and in the post. Packaging counts when it's a gift, so I took a snapshot this morning of a bunch of notepads ready to head out:

Packaged in tidy cello envelopes. Nice + Simple. Click here to jump to the product page at the shop. Three more weeks of school!

crafts for a sunny day

Though the reason why now escapes me, I bought a set of fabric paint markers last year. They've sat in the cupboard for months, biding their time - as craft supplies tend to do in my house - but were finally called into action yesterday. Stella had a pair of white canvas sneakers, worn briefly the night before, and I gave Henry a long sleeve school uniform t-shirt that had a stain on the tummy. We cut the sleeves off (which were decorated separately and worn, jauntily, as arm warmers) so he could have a summer t-shirt of his own making.

I plopped a magazine inside the body of the t-shirt so the paint wouldn't bleed through to the back, and that was the end of my instructions. They were engrossed in their work for two full hours (while I weeded and read the paper).

boys in bow ties

Warning: gratuitous kid picture.

I couldn't resist. We looked for a week for a kid's bow tie before finding it by accident at Sporting Life, of all places, two hours before the event. I am hunting down this company right now. Must have in shop for Christmas!

*Cara emailed me about the vest. It's from Toronto-based Patouche. I picked it up last spring at a craft show, and I'm not sure it's still available.