An easy craft that’s fun for kids is reusing paper bags by drawing on them and using them as gift bags. If your kids are really little, draw some fun characters on them, tape them down on a firm surface, and let them colour away. You can write a message on one side of the bag and skip buying a card altogether. Aside from being a lovely personalized giftbag, it also saves you from buying gift bags, and is also good for the environment if you reuse paper bags. It’s a great craft for toddlers, Hera loved colouring in these bags for her cousins, especially drawing pictures of them on the dinosaurs!

At a garage sale recently I spent a whopping $2 for this vintage children’s paint tin and watercolouring book. I know this illustration style is old (makes me think of drinking tomato juice at my grandma’s house), but I really like it. Love it how in the book they have the finished painting on one page, and the dimmed back one to colour in with paints on the other.

I asked my cousin, Elly, if I could share her tranquil shadow box illustrations here on my blog… I just love how her fine arts background comes out in her illustrations. Her sensitivity to lighting, coupled with a nostalgic style brings a refined beauty to her illustrations. You can get in touch with Elly and see more of her beautiful work up on her website.