I Love You, Muppets!

Photo from http://www.papermag.com

Did you know that Jason Segel (I Love You, Man and Forgetting Sarah Marshall) is a huge fan of the Muppets (ya know, Kermit, Fozzie, Piggy and the gang)???  In fact, he and Sarah Marshall director, Nick Stoller, have recently completed the script for a new Muppet Movie and submitted it to the studio folks for consideration as a theatrical release.  While we wait for more details on the project, check out some of the old school Muppet mayhem like the original Muppet Movie, or experience the genius of Kermit in It’s Not Easy Being Green. 

And you can visit FAO Schwartz’s Muppet Whatnot Workshop to design your very own Muppet!   It’s free to play with the designs.  Have fun and let the felt fly!

Paint Online

Normally when I find you fun things to do online I try to find a few different sites. Today I felt like doodling online…doing a little drawing. art.com artPad was the second site I found and it blew all the others away. You choose between a brush, a bucket, or a text tool. To use a pencil make the brush the smallest size. You can:

• control the size and opacity of your strokes or splashes
• click clear to undo the last thing you did all the way back to blank canvas
• save and send your painting to a friend
• but the most fun of all – you can REPLAY the creation of your painting…way cool!

You gotta check out the option to view other paintings. The first painting you look at replays for you. You can adjust the replay speed or skip to the end. If you click “view another” you just see the completed painting and have to click “skip to beginning” to see it replay. Too much fun!

Have a blast getting your art on! I sure did.

Snowglobes

The cold weather the past couple of days made me think about snow. But since the weather is warming back up – we’ll be in the 60s Saturday and the 70s on Sunday – the only snow we’ll see is in a snow globe!

Check out these cool online snowglobes:

• Holiday Snowglobe – There are little people inside – snowboarding, building a snowman, and crazy Gramps walking around with a shovel. You shake it with your mouse. It’s crazy!
• ABC Family: 25 Days of Christmas: Snowglobe – You can upload a picture of yourself, your sweetie, or maybe your dog or cat to put in a snowglobe you build online. You can even choose different outfits. Fun!

If the online versions aren’t satisfying your shaking needs, try making your own snowglobe. It would make a great gift for your best bud or anyone else you love. Especially if you put something inside that means something special to the person you make it for. The sites below give step-by-step directions to make your own snowglobe.

• Kaboose – Crafts – Snowglobe
• KidsnSnow: Make Your Own Snow Globe

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Waste Some Time with Cool Online Kaleidoscopes

I have always LOVED kaleidoscopes. Holding them up to the light and turning, turning, turning for ever-changing trippy dippy designs. It’s Friday and I’m burned out on work so I went looking for something fun to post about and found these great sites with ONLINE KALEIDOSCOPES! (Don’t mind the goofy site names – they are way cool!)

• byokal
• dtoy vs byokal
• Kaleidoscope Painter
• V & A Museum of Childhood Kaleidoscope

If you really want to challenge yourself and you’re a crafty kind of person, you could check out The Kaleidoscope book : a spectrum of spectacular scopes to make from the library and make a real, hold-it-in-your-hands kaleidoscope!

Have a blast wasting some time! I sure did.

Color me AWESOME

Say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a childhood favorite! It’s the 50th birthday of the 64 count box of Crayola crayons! That’s even older than I am! According to the Crayola website, the 64 box made its debut on the tv show “Captain Kangaroo.” Since then, “more than 200 million Crayola 64 boxes” have been sold.

• Draw a picture with digital markers, crayons, and other goodies
• Take the Color Quizzer – can you name all the crayons in the box? (You’ll need the newest version of Flash to play. I did very poorly.)
• Get crafting ideas

To celebrate, Crayola has introduced the 2008 Kids’ Choice Colors:

• Bear Hug
• Happily Ever After
• Super Happy (Bright, isn’t it? BTW it says “Super Happy.”)
• Best Friends
• Fun in the Sun
• Famous
• Giving Tree

AND…my personal favorite:
AWESOME