Gentle Suggestion: Put Down Your Phone and Make Something with Your Kids
Erica Domesek’s new book, ‘P.S. - We Made This,’ lowers the bar — and ups the fun! — on arts and crafts.
Welcome to So Many Thoughts, a semi-weekly newsletter about royal style and the other parts of life I want to think through with you. You can subscribe here and follow me on Instagram at @EHolmes. Thank you!
Hello! My dear friend, Erica Domesek, wrote a delightful new book called, P.S. - We Made This, and I’m thrilled to share it with you today. Her easy-to-make projects are low on stress and big on fun, reigniting my own desire to create something with my three kiddos. More below, plus five links for you. Take care, friends. 💗
Put Down Your Phone and Craft with Your Kids
The craft queen herself! Erica Domesek with her new book, P.S. - We Made This.
My love of making things comes from my mom. She could do it all — knit, crochet, quilt, cross-stitch, calligraphy, bake, the list goes on. And she passed that passion onto me and my sisters. Emily is the world’s best gift wrapper, Carolyn makes the most gorgeous quilts. I’ve dabbled in everything from cake decorating to needlepointing, but my favorite craft zone has been with paper. I scrapbooked the hell out of my college study abroad trips (had to remember all those British pubs! 😅). In my 20s, I hosted a holiday card-making party at my New York apartment each December. I loved getting my girlfriends together, my dining table littered with glasses of wine and glue sticks.
All of this is to say, I thought for sure I would be a Super Crafty Mom once I had kids. The idea of a closet full of finger paint and construction paper thrilled me. But the reality of wrangling three kids brought me down to earth. I found myself getting stressed about the mess, preemptively even (as in: Ugh, where will we get paint this time?). Or overwhelmed by their varying ages, struggling to find a project my 3-year-old daughter could do that my 7-year-old son would also enjoy. And while I’ve come a long way in terms of embracing creativity — see Oliver’s colorful bat — often I was focused too much on the outcome of the project. So instead, I have redirected our playtime to other outlets, like Legos or play dough, or opted out entirely, curling up with some books instead.
But if there is one person who can get me to dip my toe back into the crafty waters, it’s my good friend Erica Domesek of P.S. - I Made This. Trust me when I say Erica is an entire vibe. I wrote a story on her DIY style for the Wall Street Journal back in 2011 and we have been friends ever since.
Her new book, P.S. - We Made This, is a compilation of dozens of crafts, from footprint animals to puffy slime to a cardboard laptop. And although Erica herself is an expert-level crafter — we’re talking THE BEST — with this book she delightfully lowers the bar for the rest of us. Close Pinterest and look at your recycling pile instead. So many of the projects in the book use cardboard boxes as a starting point.
“Cause who doesn’t have a cardboard box in 2022?” Erica laughs. But truly! Have aluminum foil and a paper towel roll? “Great!” she adds. “You can make a karaoke machine with your kid and you guys can sing songs.” Want to make dinosaur fossil cookies? No need to make the sugar cookies — “buy dough, slice it and bake them,” Erica says.
One of dozens of crafts in P.S. - We Made This. that you can make by upcycling what you already have on hand.
Not that you need a reason to craft with your kids, but Erica offers that up, too. PS: We Made This includes insights from Dr. Laurel Felt, a childhood play and learning expert who shares cognitive, physical, and social-emotional “takeaways” from each craft. “We went through the projects and we talked about all the ways kids thrive,” Erica told me. “We totally nerded out on the fact of how art and STEM projects and even cooking can really help kids in different ways.” A plinko board made of cardboard and straws, for example, is a chance to talk about science, math, and spatial awareness.
Also, think of this as screen-free time for everybody — not just for your kids but for you. Raise your hand if you need this! Because I do, and so does Erica. “The whole reason why this book was created was to help families put the screens down,” Erica says. “I’m not the person who’s like: Oh, let me show you how I do it. No, I’m the person who needs to put their phone down.”
Erica with her delightful son, Wylie, and the cardboard laptop project from her book.
That’s why Erica wanted these projects to be a book and not, say, a series of Instagram posts. “I told my mom I was writing a book and she goes, ‘Why? Everything’s on the internet,’” Erica laughs. “And I said, ‘Thank you. That’s my point.’ Because my mom isn’t raising kids in 2022 when we actually need to put the screens down.” Compiling all the projects, with super fun illustrations by Steph Stilwell, makes for something you and your kids can hold. Erica hopes having something tangible will mean families will flip through P.S. - We Made This together, planning weekend projects and gathering supplies in anticipation.
One last note before you dive in: Give some thought to what you — and your kid — will most enjoy. Erica shared that her son, Wylie, doesn’t have the attention span for some of the more complicated or involved projects. “I know I have a short window with him,” she told me. “And I know what he is going to love — using those big gross motor skills and imaginary play. So I might do the bulk of making it, but we’ll play with it together.”
But mostly: Enjoy the process. I’m saying this for me as much as for any of you! In talking to Erica, I had a realization: My kids do not know what an Instagram-perfect craft project is. That’s me bringing my own baggage to it. Gah! So set the need for any sort of expected result aside and enjoy the journey. I know for a fact that anything I make with my kids will make them feel proud. And isn’t that the point?
You can find P.S. - We Made This on Bookshop, Amazon, or your local bookstore. It would make a great gift for any parent or kiddo, especially as we head into fall and winter (all that time indoors!).
Celebrating Erica at the CAMP store in Los Angeles over the weekend. PS: She made all these amazing props, obviously.
(All photos courtesy of Erica Domesek)
Five Things to Check Out This Week
READ / A terrifying story of how three New Yorkers, who ordered cocaine from the same text-based delivery service, all died because it had been laced with fentanyl. (Wall Street Journal)
LISTEN / In a fantastic episode of the Daily, my friend Conor Dougherty thinks through the origins, meaning, and future of the coveted single-family home. (New York Times)
READ / Reflections on being a “cool mom.” (The Cut)
ADMIRE / This series of gorgeous fall images FTW. (The Atlantic)
SHOP / Absolutely obsessed with this sweater, have worn it three times in the last two weeks. Beware: It’s a major gateway, I’m eyeing more knits from this brand! (Alex Mill)
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Quick programming note: There will not be another newsletter this week. I will see you back in your inboxes next week. Have a good one!
ICYMI: My parenting conversation with Dr. Becky Kennedy part 1 and part 2.
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