MAKER MOM: JEANETTE NYBERG

You are in for a treat today because this cool mom is someone you’ll want to get to know beyond diving into the usual arts and crafts for kids. Jeanette Nyberg is the witty and humorous mom behind Tiny Rotten Peanuts, a blog full of art, creative writing and cool design finds. You might know Jeanette from her first creative blog, Artchoo, filled with awesome art inspired projects for kids. Recently, Jeanette moved everything over to her more personal blog, Tiny Rotten Peanuts. This is where you’ll find archives of tons of creative projects for kids with lots of new stuff coming down the pipeline. While you’re poking around, you’ll want to take a break from the kids’ stuff, grab a glass of wine (tea or coffee) and peruse Jeanette’s hilarious posts on life and everything in between.

Thanks for stopping by Jeanette, and sharing your non-stop creative wisdom with us, both for the kids and parents’ sake!

Please tell us a bit about yourself and your blog.

I live in the Chicago area with my husband, 2 kids, 2 step kids and millions of art supplies, but I still consider myself an East-coaster even after having lived here for 21 years. (Eep!)

My blog is sort of a big jumble. I aim for it to be an extension of my personality, where I use humor and transparency to communicate with, and connect with, people. But I am equally interested in sharing super-cool crafts, art projects, design, products I’ve discovered.

I’m in love with easy art projects for kids because I know I’m not the only parent who is pressed for time but wants to give their kids lots of opportunities to be creative.

What are your tips on getting creative with kids?

My number one tip is to leave art supplies out. ALWAYS. Even if it’s just a stack of paper and some markers. You just watch how quickly those kids glom onto any sort of art material and start playing. It’s awesome. They just start experimenting and playing, and you can join them. Put all notions of making something gorgeous aside and just play with them.

Where do you draw your creative inspiration?

Oh, man. I can’t keep my brain from finding inspiration everywhere. Seriously, it’s exhausting sometimes, because I’m constantly writing down ideas for later, and I know I’ll never get to everything.

I’ll see things in shops I want to DIY, I’ll see what my kids are drawing and want to design a project around it, I’ll see what my husband is making and demand that he tells me everything he’s done, step-by-step, so I can post about it.

What are a few favorite activities you’ve done with the kids?

Zentangle! It’s fun, it’s easy, it’s calming. Plus you get a surprisingly cool finished product. I’ve never met a person who wasn’t in love with this project.

Crayon Transfer. This was pretty cool because you use everyday, ordinary crayons in a really unusual way and get great results.

Foam sticker printmaking is a great way to introduce printmaking to younger kids and use up some of those foam shapes. It’s as much fun to plan out the prints as it is to make them.

If you were stuck on a desert island with the kids, what crafting materials would you absolutely need to have?

White card stock, scissors, glue sticks, markers. Just the basics would serve us quite well. And since we were on a desert island, I would draw a picture of a delicious Mojito, and slurp it down.

And because we love books and are always looking for good recommendations, what are some of your favorite children’s books?

Every night for the past year or so, my 5 year old has wanted to read only 1 book right before bed: Goodnight Gorilla. This happens to be one of my all-time favorites. I’m sure everybody knows this book already, maybe not. But to not really answer your question, I love how kids want to read the same books over and over. If they’re good books, and illustrated well, you tend to find new things almost each time you read them.

Last, who are some of your favorite bloggers that inspire you?

Let’s see. There are so many. I’m sorta loving Design for MiniKind for her wonderful combination of heartfelt writing and talent for finding really great kid stuff.

I’m a fan of Meet the Dubiens for all of her kid lunchtime inspiration.

And of course my fellow Rockin’ Art Moms always keep me inspired (and maybe a little jealous because they’re so creative).

Thanks so much for sharing your creative tips Jeanette! I love your approach to making art with kids that adults can also appreciate. The Zentangle project is exquisite and I know my kids would love to dive right into making some cool foam prints and vibrant crayon transfer. As anyone who reads your blog will know though, they’ll stop by for the unique art projects, but will stay for the wit and humor 🙂

Visit all of Jeanette’s creative projects over at Tiny Rotten Peanuts and follow her over on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates!


P.S. If you’d like to be featured as a Maker Mom, please drop us a note here! We’d love to hear from you.