Valentine's Day Projects For Tweens

Tweens have outgrown the drug-store Valentine card kits, and they're a crafty bunch anyways. Here are some ideas for your tween to make for her class Valentines over the weekend:

Pencil hearts make a fabulous non-candy gift for a crowd. Instructions at alphamom.com

Here's a cute idea for a message in a bottle written with lemon juice invisible ink. Instructions from mini-eco.

This craft will take some time but is sure to be a big hit in the classroom - iPod Valentines made from Conversation Heart boxes. Instructions from FamilyFun.

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It's Fashion Week: More New Tween Brands

As this is Fashion Week, we thought we'd highlight a few tween fashion brands that you may not have heard of. We told you about Charlotte Tarantola's fabulous sweaters; now here's some fun, easy dresses to pair with them from Los Angeles designer t-bags girls. (Moms may be familiar with this designer from their women's or maternity lines.)

T-bags recently launched their line for girls and uses vibrant prints and super soft fabrics to make dresses that drape remarkably well on tweens. The cuts are age-appropriate and really fun to wear.

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A Tween Valentine: Sequin Hearts on Her Toes

We saw these sequined heart shoe clips from Ban.Do and thought they'd make the sweetest Valentine's gift for a tween. We think these would be adorable on a plain ballet flat or even on a pair of white Jack Purcells.

And here are some of Valentine picks from last year.

From Ban.Do, $25

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Fun Fashion Blogs For Tweens

It's Fashion Week, and if your tween is into fashion, here are a few blogs you might enjoy reading together:

• Tween fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson has been writing about fashion for years now. Her writing is years ahead of her age, as is her very sophisticated style. She is a great role model for girls following their own hearts and speaking their minds regardless of peer pressure. Her blog is called The Style Rookie.
• Lola Lourdes, Madonna's daughter, writes on the Material Girl blog about her independent style, the bands she's listening to, and her latest vintage obsession.
• Cynthia Rowley is a well known designer with a quirky, fun style. Her blog includes photos of her latest lines but also snaps from recent trips and musings on fun art.
• Kate Spade is now a fashion icon, and her colorful and retro style extends to her blog. A section called "Behind the Curtain" includes her recommendations for museum exhibits, office supplies, and nail polish.
• Cecilia Cassini is a 10-year old designer with an Audrey-Hepburn-like sense of style and whimsy. She blogs irregularly, but her posts are fun to read, and she includes pictures of her latest work and design inspirations.

What other fashion blogs do you read? Please add to this list!

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Tweens and Fashion Week: The New Tween Style Stars

Fashion Week kicked-off in New York today, and there's a ton going on. We couldn't help but notice that a slew of tween movie stars are now being dressed by MAJOR designers, and this is going to seriously expand the exposure tweens have to big-name fashion (more so than even Project Runway).

Here's a Who's Who of who's wearing who among tween celebs:

• Chloe Moretz, age 13, has recently worn Stella McCartney, Proenza Schouler, Christian Dior, and Chanel (!)
• 9-year old Willow Smith has accompanied her parents to European fashion shows for years now. She was interviewed this week by Teen Vogue about her style (we call it fierce!) and cites Dolce and Gabbana as a favorite.
• Elle Fanning is only 12 and already wearing Marchesa and Rodarte.
• Hailee Steinfeld is now 14 but already Oscar-nominated for Best Supporting Actress for "True Grit" (did you know that she's in EVERY frame of that film?). She's been dressed by Prabal Gurung and Prada.
• Kiernan Shipka of "Mad Men" fame is 11 years old and favors the young silhouettes of Papo d'Anjo.
• First Tween Malia Obama wore New York designer Chris Benz to the Chinese State Dinner earlier this month.

The above list is for red carpet occasions only as tweens generally keep it cool, casual and comfortable - but it IS interesting to note how much more attention is being paid to tween fashion of late.

Which other tween stars have great fashion sense?

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It's Fashion Week: We're Bringing You Some Cool Tween Fashion Brands

In the spirit of New York Fashion Week, we're bringing you some cool tween fashion brands you and your tween may not yet have discovered.

First up: sweet knits from Charlotte Tarantola Girls. We discovered the line this past holiday season, and our tweens love her sweaters.

Ms. Tarantola is one of the few designers we've seen in a long time who makes sweaters just for tweens that are colorful, comfortable, and truly hip. Nothing too cutesy - just beautiful fine-gauge knits with well-proportioned lines (and these passed the "itch test"!). Price points are $33-$85.

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A Perfect Birthday Gift For Tweens

Remember our New Year's Resolution post about writing thank you notes? We had a terrific response to that idea, and one company, Expressionery, wrote to tell us about their line of stationery created for tweens. Their cards are fun and customizable, but what we REALLY fell for were their custom Hello Kitty zodiac stamps. How cute is this!?!?

We think this is a perfect birthday gift for the next time your tween has a birthday party to attend - it's personalized, unique, and will be adored by the recipient. We chose one with our name (Ms.Twixt), city (Washington, DC), and our horoscope (Gemini). You could have an entire address printed on the stamp, making it ideal for envelopes, invitations, and customizing school supplies and notebooks (which, come to think of it, will help our tweens stick to another New Year's Resolution to pack and keep the right gear).

The company also makes a fun line of invitations, cards and bookplates featuring the Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, and (our fave) the Wizards of Waverly Place.

Hello Kitty zodiac stamp, $45; flat note cards start at $14/set

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First Tweens Sasha and Malia Obama Not Allowed on Facebook

If you've prohibited your tween to go on Facebook, you're in good company. As part of First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" tour she has been making rounds on several television shows. On the Today Show this morning, she was asked if Malia and Sasha had Facebook pages.

Mrs. Obama said, "I think we're lucky that there are a lot of real constraints, things like Secret Service and stuff like that. I'm not a big fan of young kids having Facebook. It's not something they need, it's not necessary right now."  She added that the First Tweens may be permitted to create a Facebook page after they leave the White House.

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How Tweens and Teens Use Social Networks

Today we were invited to sit in on an interesting webinar on tween and teen girls' usage of social networks. The webinar was run by the Girl Scout Research Institute and the Pew Internet and American Life Research Project and featured results from their surveys on how girls use the Internet, Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

While the data is older than we would've liked to have seen (from 2009), there were some interesting tidbits:

• 93% of teens use the Internet, and 73% of those use social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace
• Girls who use social media update their Facebook status at least twice a day on average
• Middle school kids acknowledge that they act "fake and phony" online but know that they "should act responsibly"
• 68% of girls have had a negative experience (read: cyberbullying) online, but they are also self-aware: surprisingly, 58% admit to engaging in gossip online
• Three-quarters of girls say that girls "make their social network profiles look cooler than they really are"
• 4 out of 10 girls ages 14-17 curse online and 10% have posted photos of themselves smoking or drinking even though they know that such posts could hurt their college applications
• The most common words girls use to describe themselves online? "Fun", "funny" and "social"
• 38% of socially networked girls use Twitter and send about 8 Tweets a day
• MySpace isn't dead yet - 28% of socially networked girls still use it
• 31% of girls do NOT protect their profiles and photos online (see our detailed tips here and TALK TO YOUR TWEENS ABOUT PRIVACY AND PROFILES!)

For more tidbits, you can view our coverage of this webinar on our Twitter feed.

Check out our report from the FCC's forum on Texting, our tips on how to keep your tweens protected from unwanted photo tagging on Facebook, and our call to Take Back Formspring.

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In Case Your Tween Missed It: Live Footage from the "Never Say Never" L.A. Premiere

The premiere of Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never" movie was last night in L.A. As with everything "Bieber", the star made full use of digital and social media to share the event with his fans. Here's the video footage from the red carpet, courtesy of Live Stream:

Watch live streaming video from bieberpremiere at livestream.com

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