Crafty and modern. Frazier & Wing’s simple and elegant mobiles are composed of hand cut, reinforced magazine images in circular, oval, hexagonal and flower shaped elements stung with monofilament and suspended from clear plexi discs. They remind me of fantastic vertical clouds of color. Priced from $85. to $200.

Always on the lookout for kid friendly art, I was delighted to come across the work of French artist Wanda Kujacz. Drawing upon the stories told by her Polish grandmother, fairy tales and children’s books she layers photographs, drawings, digital imagery and collaged ephemera to create fantasy landscapes that are ethereal, whimsical and filled with hidden narrative. Prints of her work can be purchased through her Etsy shop and her entire portfolio can be viewed on Flickr.

Feel like going on safari or a barnyard adventure? Here are some great animal themed paper crafts for a range of ages and skill levels.

This wonderful Paper Bag Puppet Kit can be found at Martha Stewart Crafts. While still grieving the loss of the old Martha shop and her amazing Kids magazine I’m happy to have this resource for craft kits, beautiful paper packaging for food, tools, scrapbooking supplies and so forth. The kit retails for $19.99 and makes 6 puppets. For those of you with crafty kids this would be a great sleepover party activity, would look great as party favors and clearly would make for a fantastic puppet show.

Paper Source is one of those brilliantly curated shops that I could just move into. It’s a great concept and I like the “Do something creative every day!” motto. Their D-I-Y Animal Card Kits are so basic and simple to assemble. Perfect for party invitations, wall art and thank you notes. $14.50 for a set that makes 10 cards.

And for older kids with good scissor skills I had to include these amazing Rare Animals of the World Paper Craft Models offered on the Yamaha Motor web site (I don’t know why either). The selection of models below is just the tip of the iceberg as there are dozens of these downloadable, absolutely free projects to select from. These beasties are challenging and best tackled with the assistance of an adult.

I recall having a ‘Eureka!’ moment the first time I wandered onto the Thumbtack Press web site. Looking for a new site to obsess over? Problem solved.

Responding to the ever narrowing gap between illustration and fine art TP boss man Tony Bailey has created an express connection between you and work you need to have on your walls. Every print from Thumbtack Press is a gallery quality print on heavy bright white stock, printed with archival inks and utilizing a professional 8-color process. The final print is trimmed to size and protected in an acid-free polyurethane cover before shipment in a board-backed, water resistant envelope. They’ll even mat and frame it for you. And did I mention that most prints are under $20.?

I’m a huge proponent of introducing more sophisticated art to kids, enough of ‘dumbing down’ Junior with posters of the latest cartoon character tied to a new product endorsed by a cereal and owned by a mega corporation - make him think, give him something to spur his imagination while he’s stuck in a ‘time out’ or waiting out a cold in bed.

The image above is Eureka by Nishant Choksi and the following titles and artists correspond to the prints below, top to bottom.

Pussypus by Mark Frauenfelder

Pet Walk by Mark Frauenfelder

Expedition by Jaime Zollars

Pep-Up by Nishant Choksi

The Food Chain Series by Brandon Reese

Leaning to Share by Jeremiah Ketner

Birds at Play by Jeremiah Ketner

Umbrella Pink Eyes by Doug Boehm

Baseball Heroes series by Bob Dob

Dinner by Wilson Hsu

Silhouette artistry. This is an art form with a long history that began to flourish in late 17th Century Europe and reached prominence in the 18th and early 19th Century. Originating in a time before photographing, silhouettes were an inexpensive and quick way to preserve one’s likeness.

The term silhouette derives from a derogatory reference to Louis XV’s Minister of Finance, Etienne de Silhouette, who had crippled the French people with his tax policies. Oblivious to the plight of the people of France, Etienne was much more interested in his hobby of cutting paper profiles. He was so despised by the people that in protest, the peasants wore only black to mimic his black paper cutouts. The saying went all over France, “We are dressing a la Silhouette. We are shadows, too poor to wear color. We are Silhouettes!”

Today, vintage silhouettes are highly collectible but there is also a small but growing group of artisans working to revive the art. Paper Portraits is the site of silhouette artist Kathryn Flocken who not only offers her reasonably priced services to create a portrait of your child from a profile photograph but has also created a range of beginner to advanced kits and supplies available for purchase.

You can find a simple tutorial over at Shiso Mama, a blogger who set out to create a silhouette family portrait for her husband’s birthday. Her approach involves tracing photographs of the subjects which yields really great results.

Another contemporary silhouette artist is Karl Johnson who has recently taken on several high profile projects with considerable press coverage. Karl not only embraces traditional silhouette portraiture he also experiments with a broader scope of subject matter. Below are examples of commissions he’s taken on and there’s more to be seen on his website Cut Arts.

And finally, for those of you in the Minneapolis area, the Walker Art Center is currently exhibiting the first career retrospective of artist Kara Walker. Kara has used this popular colonial art as medium through which to explore issues of race, racism and slavery in the US. It’s tough subject matter that not all parents would want their young children to see, but I’ve included some installation photos to give you an idea of their scale and the lyrical narrative it creates. Cut from black construction paper, Kara installs her work by waxing it to the wall. Learn more about the art of Kara Walker by visiting the site created by the Walker as a companion to their exhibit.

Popular party favors in the 1950’s, ’surprise balls’ are created from hundreds of feet of crepe paper wrapped around a series of toys and trinkets which are revealed as each layer is peeled away. They’re credited to inventor Charles Gregor of New Orleans who named his invention ‘The Toy You Destroy to Enjoy.’ They’re great for kids’ parties and can keep the young’uns busy for a surprisingly long time. Difficult to find for many years, surprise balls have begun to reappear in a handful of retail venues.

Tops Malibu creates a version they’ve dubbed ‘Bami Balls” which comes in a variety of shapes from Easter eggs to square gift packages. They also offer sets of plain suprise balls which give you the opportunity to decorate your own.

Plum Party is a good on-line resource to know about for all manner of unusual party supplies. They offer surprise balls decorated as a cast of generic cartoon characters.

If you’re feeling up to the challenge you certainly could make your own, coordinating colors and prizes to your specific event. You can find a tutorial over at Not Martha. And for inspiration I want to introduce to the work of the Bay Area artist Anandamayi Arnold whose hand crafted surprise balls are nothing short of breath-taking.

Yes, those gorgeous bulbs, the little round cacti, even the bird are all surprise balls. It’s no wonder people fortunate enough to get their hands on Anandamayi’s work are faced with the dilemma of whether or not to tear into them for the treats or exhibit enormous restraint and set them out for display.

Photos of Anandamayi’s were taken from articles appearing in the San Francisco Chronicle and Mary Engelbreit Home Companion magazine.

All right, break out the scissors and glue stick! Collage art can be a great activity, suited to almost any age kid with the added benefit of not requiring the use of drop cloths, smocks or a power hose to clean up afterwards (most of the time). And what better supplies to stock up on than those compiled by a working collage artist. I adore Katey Nicosia, her work and her web shop One Good Bumblebee. With an eye for quirky vintage ephemera she’s compiled fantastic little collections of collage materials perfect for an afternoon around the kitchen table.

The foundation for any great collage can be found in the Pretty Paper Notepad, a bound assortment of approximately 60 sheets of various papers to be torn out and incorporated into your work or used as is to create a collage notebook.

While you might think that the last thing you want in your home is another pile of paper, think again. OGB’s Piles of Paper are smartly curated collections of vintage greeting cards, antique photographs, postage stamps, illustrations, matchbooks, postcards, medical papers, labels, ledgers, diagrams, paper dolls, maps and more. The heart of your collage.

And the icing on the cake can be found in a Jar of Whimsies, a 30 ounce plastic jar packed with more than 100 quirky items including vintage cotton spun mushrooms, ribbon, gold foil leaves, glass vials, millinery supplies, vintage beads, vintage costume jewelry, vintage lace, clothespins, typewriter keys, jingle bells, vintage marbles, wooden spools, sugared fruits, antique skeleton keys, vintage game pieces, watch parts, foil dresdens, miniature toys, vintage swizzle sticks, charms. Great three dimensional elements that could propel your collage project into a shadow box format. Honestly, these look so great I want a couple just to sit on my shelf

Looking for a little inspiration to get you started? Like all art forms, collage and assemblage art has it’s luminaries. Spend a few minutes checking out the work of greats like Joseph Cornell, Hannah Hoch and Kurt Schwitters to get your gears turning.