Arts and crafts are fun!!  Most people, however, convince themselves otherwise by saying silly things such as “But, I can’t draw!”  That’s ridunculous!  Drawing and sketching is only one medium out of hundreds.  There are plenty of creative outlets available even if you don’t like drawing.  Papercraft is one of them!!

Creative Park is crafts idea page by the printing supply company, Canon (if there is an inkjet printer next to your computer, or a stack of printer paper, it is likely that one or both of those are distributed by Canon!).

Follow the links on the site for whatever project sounds fun to you.  There are scrapbooking projects, 3D papercraft, origami, and everything in between.  The BEST PART about all of this is that not only does the site supply project ideas, but also all the supplies you will need to create the projects!  It all starts by printing out the colorful patterned paper and then following the directions!  Once you’ve learned the basics that the site has to offer, maybe you’ll be creating paper-based art work of your own, without any guides!

Here are some of my favorite projects on the site.  (Remember, I’m very girly!!  There are more gender-friendly projects available, just look around!)

Lacy pink box!!

Pretty dainty flowers & ribbon!

Bunnies!! (If you couldn’t tell by my username, I love bunnies!)

Awesome patterned paper!! (I use stuff like this in many of my art projects!)

Bread ‘n Butter - Baking with a smile!

What an adorable game!!  The food-based characters would totally fit into the Sanrio world, don’t you think?

After registering with Bread ‘n Butter, you are given a quaint little bakery, which you can name and call your very own.  Then, it’s time to stock your bakery with delicious bread and sweets!  To do this, you play fast-paced (but very cute!) mini-games to stock up on ingredients (such as chocolate or flour), then play another mini-game to actually bake the product.  In other words, there’s a lot of work to do, but it all happens in a sweet, colorful, and fun environment!

These are the characters who are here
to help you run your business!
Don’t they look… sweet??

Unfortunately, the free version of this game does not offer very much variety. There are only a handful of different baked goods you can prepare, and you cannot customize the bakery at all. If you pay for your subscription, tons more options become available for you! I haven’t dedicated myself enough to this game to push me to pay for it, but there are many paying members who wholeheartedly enjoy the experiences and opportunities that the full version of the game have given to them. I feel like it is worth trying out for free, and see what you think of it before paying.

Even by only playing the free version, it’s easy to fall in love with the cast of characters and lighthearted feel of the magical bakery environment!

I don’t know about you guys, but I love dress-up games!

Dressupgames.com
This is probably the biggest database for finding games in whatever category you like~ It’s the first site that I turn to for updates and top-rated games.

Cartoon Doll Emporium
Register with CDE and you’ll be able to save any of your doll creations, building up a gallery for you and others to browse through at your leisure!

PixelBee.net
Huge database of pixel-based “dollz” that you can save and use as avatars. I personally don’t think that these are as cute as some of the Flash-based games, but to each their own.

The Balloon Adventure is the name of a 16-part comic by the talented artist Emmy C. (or “b1nd1″ as she is known on DeviantArt).  It is a beautiful and heartwarming story!!  I implore everyone to give it a read!

Just recently, a dedicated fan made an animation out of the story! 
~Watch it here~
  The animation is every bit as beautiful as the original comic, with the added bonus of emotion-stirring background music.  It is truly uplifiting!  Really!  Have you clicked the link yet?

If you find yourself in love with the comic (which, if you have read it, you undoubtably are), you can purchase for yourself (or a friend!) a hard copy to keep with you forever.  Here is the page detailing the book.

My last entry covered those handheld virtual pets, Tamagotchi!  But if you don’t hav $20 to spend on a toy, try out this Flash game, Interpets!

 

Pick the cutest-looking pet (you can change its appearance later) and the game begins!  Feed it, play with it, clean it up after it makes messes.

 

It’s easy to make money - play the stone-skipping game a few times.  Then, travel to the City and shop for some clothes and toys for your new friend!

The most interesting thing about Interpets is that your little friend grows older in real time!  When you first start out, your pet will be a tiny baby.  But, every day you play, it will be a little bit older!

Tamagotchi.com is a totally cute Web site dedicated to those widely-known virtual pets.  They’re not as popular now as they were years ago, but there are many fans who are just as dedicated as ever.  And who can blame them - these little things are CUTE!

While surfing the site, you have got to download the adorable Desktop Buddy! (Click on “Downloads.”)

The Desktop Buddy in action! So cute~

I picked up a v5 Tamagotchi toy earlier this year, and it was loads of fun watching the little guys grow up and become happy families! It served well in keeping me occupied during the free time I had between classes at college. My friends may have thought I was silly for having something like this, but THEY WERE JUST JEALOUS.

Another place to check out is Tama Town.  With codes you get by playing with your Tamagotchi toy, you can explore the virtual equivalent world and play oh-so-cute games, and even win toys for your pet to play with once it’s back in its plastic egg-shaped home.

Other places for Tama fans/collectors to check out:
TamaTalk - an excellent resource for finding information and help when raising your new pets. The site is mainly forums, but you don’t have to register in order to search for and read the helpful information.
Familitchi.blogspot.com - a very thorough blog that records just about every bit of Tama knowledge out there! A great source for help, secret codes, and information in general.

Silent Kimbly is a Webcomic of sorts, and I think that it is just adorable.   The comics all feature some kind of word pun, and illustrates the humor with cute, bright and colorful artwork.  It’s a very calm way to spend some downtime while surfing around.