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<< Previous   of   Next >> Jonetta Rose Coffin  (click to enlarge) Fuse beading kits are great for rainy-day fun. Jonetta Rose Coffin  (click to enlarge) Scratch art books are educational and give children a chance for artistic expression.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, April 20, 2008 Web sites offer ideas for children's projects By Jonetta Rose Coffin Special to The Herald As predicted in last week's column, we needed a few more days to finish our sample wire projects. While picking up some additional wire and findings at Michael's in Marysville, we ran head-on into the inspiration for this week's column. The craft chain has launched a new online program called "The Knack," featuring a monthly e-newsletter and printable project sheets for a variety of arts and crafts for kids. When we got home, we went online to check it out. To sign up (it's free), parents or teachers can access the Michael's Web site at www.michaels.com, click on the "The Knack," then follow the instructions. Once you've filled in your name and the other required fields, you'll get a page of marketing stuff, but you have the option of skipping over all that if you choose, which we did. Once you access "The Knack," you can view a wide selection of projects organized by event and subject, and even though the program is fairly new, there's a lot to choose from. We wondered what else might be available online in the way of kids' project ideas, so we did a little surfing around and came up with the following: Ben Franklin Crafts: Access the Web site for the popular Monroe craft store at www.bfranklincrafts.com, click on "projects," then on "kids." The site has a nice selection of projects -- such as pipe cleaner finger critters, woven friendship bracelets and clay pins -- and is well-illustrated. Crafty Noodle: An online craft source with a huge selection of projects, available at www.craftynoodle.com. The spring collection includes simple doily butterflies and roses, a bird's nest, fabric scrap ball and button bow tie. Enchanted Learning: Another online source with projects for all ages and tastes. You have to subscribe for some services, but there's plenty to keep you busy for free. Categories include African crafts, dioramas, egg shell plant pots and pine cone bird feeders. Access the site at www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts. Squigly's Playhouse: An interesting selection of projects and craft ideas -- including homemade marbles, a jump rope, an alphabet book, a kazoo and travel and nature bingo cards -- available at www.squiglysplayhouse.com (click on crafts icon). And don't be surprised if variations on some of the projects from these sites turn up in future Craft Corner columns. We found a good many of them to be quite intriguing. Reality check… In case you're wondering what on earth our photos have to do with the focus of this column, it's no wonder you wonder. We had planned to use something from one of the Web sites as illustration, but that didn't work out, so we decided to throw in a couple of kid's projects from Michael's. First, we found some scratch-art books that are educational as well as artsy. We selected the "Rain Forest," "Wild Safari" and "Under the Sea" editions. Other options included "Pirates" and some doll choices. The books are $12.95 each. The idea is to copy the printed pictures -- or get creative if you like -- by scratching the black coating off the blank pages with the wooden stylus. Some of the pages are sparkly under the black; some are multicolored. FYI: You can also purchase packs of scratch-art paper and create original pictures using the same technique. And by the way, please be kind when you see our poor lion -- while we manage to muddle our way through most craft projects, an artist we're not. Our second photo shows some fuse beading kits that make great party favors or quick rainy-day projects. The kits shown here cost $1 each, and include beads, a reusable peg board, fusing paper and instructions. Bags of beads and larger, more expensive, fuse-bead kits are also available at most craft stores. Don't forget… Unless the craft gods throw us a curve, look for our completed wire projects and instructions in next week's Craft Corner. Contact Jonetta Coffin at jonnirose@netzero.net or C/O Herald Features, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206.

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