I’m Kate, the person behind this blog

A person who never really grew up and still likes to muck around with glitter, paper, toilet rolls and paint. When I was young I’d spend a large portion of my time at my desk making things. My mother was very frugal and not artistically inclined, so our creative materials included only the very basics – pencils, textas, paper and glue. I learned to make things with what I had and what I could find and repurpose. A scrap of cardboard from a piece of packaging was like gold to me and I remember on one occasion cutting one such piece into the shape of a doll and designing a whole wardrobe of paper clothes for her to wear. In reality it was probably not that amazing to look at but in my mind it was awesome, and it was the love I had for making things like that which fuels my desire to design simple DIY toys and kids’ crafts today.

Eventually I became a graphic designer which is a pretty cool job because you get to be creative all day, every day and get paid for the privilege. Still, I missed the nitty-gritty hands-on art and craft that I loved so much as a child. Creating something just for fun (and not for profit) seemed like something from a lifetime ago, something that was no longer ‘cool’ and something that busy people had no time for.

How wrong I was! Having two girls was the biggest excuse ever to immerse myself into the world of kids’ crafts once again, and being a mother of young kids is one of the busiest jobs around. 

I’ve learned that being cool is not important, and that crafting makes me happy. Being happy is good for the soul.

What can you expect from The Craft Train?

Inspiration to create – make our projects, or use them as a source of inspiration to come up with ideas of your own. There are no rules for our crafts, just a rendition of how we have made something. If you don’t have all the materials at home, substitute them for something else. If you’d like to make it a different way go right ahead. If your kids are given the materials to make a particular project and decide to make something completely left of field (kids do that) all the better. Many times I have made something while my girls sat beside me making something completely different. The real point is that they are using their creativity, honing their skills and having fun. 

Craft and Play the Day Away

I love the concept of “craft and play”, so you’ll find lots of DIY toys on our site. I’m basically obsessed with toilet roll crafts, so we have tons of those and I’ve always been inspired by nature, so you can find natural sources of inspiration and nature crafts here too. My girls are developing into inventive young crafters, so many of our posts are either kid-made or kid-inspired (as in I take their ideas and make my own version of it – they don’t mind, I always ask first). Occasionally we like to get creative in the kitchen, and even have a few recipes to share.