Myprinties.com; online and offline creative fun

You can walk into many if not most malls in the country and there will be a store or kiosk where you can make your own stuffed animal and clothe it for well over $30 in most cases.

Well, for less than $20, $19.99 MSRP to be exact, you can go into retailers such as Target, and Toys "R" us, as well as their respective online sites and even Amazon.com and Walgreens and get the Printies Design Studio Kit. It's debut included the Printies Pet Design Studio, Printies Ocean Design Studio and The Printies Jungle Design Studio.

This kit will allow you to make not one or two, but SIX stuffed creations using just your home PC, internet connection and inkjet printer. The full introductory kit also contains 10 printer test sheets, so you do not have to worry about making mistakes on the real thing. And refills are just $9.99, and come with all the stuffing material and materials to make 3 more Printies. You do need access to the design studio to use the refills, and the code needed is only in the full kit. Really, the process is quite simple. you pick your design at the Printies online design studio at imprinters.com, print the design on both sides of the fabric sheets, tear along the perforations, add the stuffing and then put them on display.

The whole process was tested on a Dell Dimension E521 running Windows Vista Home Premium SP1, and printed on a Canon Prixma MP210 printer. This was with the help of the writers 7 year old daughter who was delighted to help in the test.

The design studio is very easy to navigate for even the basic elementary reader. The hardest part for the "tester" was choosing the colors. After that, from printing to stuffing took less than two minutes (your time may vary due to network and printing speed). Color was crisp and bright, but again, might vary due to your printer and print quality). Then it was time to stuff... With the included tool, it was extremely easy. Again, the longest part was picking the colors. After printing, the time from stuffing it to look like cute pudgy animal took only about 3 minutes. It is now on display in her room and waiting for show and tell.

Not to be judged as just a side feature is its customization. There was a second one made in the shape of a dog, with our own dogs face on that of the Printie. The sky is the limit.

This is a great gift, whether it be a birthday, Christmas or Hanukkah, and it is even better for a rainy afternoon or snow day activity that you can both have a little fun with.