Babble

Somebody better alert Britney that there's a way she can keep her pop-guzzling toddlers bright-smiled without getting into trouble with CPS (or the ADA). According to at least one dentist (at least, she says she's a dentist), strawberries can help you whiten your teeth without affecting your custody battle. It seems that the malic acid in ...

This is the next project I'm going to take on, right here. When I saw Kathy of Pink Chalk Studio's take on these headbands, with their unmatched but totally perfect combinations of fabric, it reminded me of nothing more than my five-year-old's patient explanation of how "see, Mama, the red shirt has a little purple on the ...

Most of us, sooner or later, are going to have to face the imminent demise of our child's favorite blanket (or whatever they've chosen to destroy with the power of their love).  Can you fix a blankie and have it still be Blankie when you're through with it? You can, and someone has. Somewhere there's a kid named Rachel with a ...

Today, popular blog Slashfood is going back to school. The Slashfoodies take it a little bit beyond what to pack for lunch. There are breakfast ideas, kid-friendly cookbooks to help turn your child into a student of the culinary arts along with the elementary ones, and thoughts on quick and tasty dinners. Good stuff. Kinda makes me hungry.

I'm a big fan of Demeter Fragrances, with their quirky scents that mimic almost uncannily what they're intended to mimic. Grass, Tomato, Laundromat—I've had several over the years, including Play Doh. Not that I've ever really dreamed of smelling like Play Doh, but it was hard to resist. And it couldn't smell more like the real ...

I'm all about Ugly Dolls and their ilk, or at least I was until they turned out to be totally ubiquitous, mass produced, and overpriced. Here's a better way to satisfy the misfit-toy urge: take a page from Toy Story and do a little bit of surgery on your stuffies. Especially well-suited for damaged or handmedown toys (the originals were ...

Here's a quick little project that you and your kids can make that will not only kill time, it might actually look great on your dining room table. From Courtney at Two Straight Lines, a little crepe paper flower tucked into a repurposed food can, covered with pretty fabric or paper (here, dictionary pages). With a few extra components from ...

Our school started last week, so I've been poring over bento blogs like Vegan Lunchbox and Lunch In A Box gathering inspiration for my kindergartener's snacks. You know, just trying to be the awesomest mom in the whole wide world. But I'm not as awesome as this Swedish bento engineer, who sublimated her disappointment that Pixar's ...

It's a smock. It's got pockets. It's a smocket! Alicia at The Mayfly whipped this up from a vintage pattern, which you can download here. You can size it up or down (I'd take the pattern to Kinko's and just let the copy machine do the work on that one). Use it to protect clothes during art projects and cooking, or use it for ...

Howtoons is like manna from heaven. Functional, fun projects that don't all revolve around gluing stuff to other stuff. Terrific, vividly illustrated instructions. Stuff that's cool enough for big kids to do by themselves, and interesting enough for little kids to get excited about helping with. Pinchy chopsticks that I don't have to ...