I can never resist browsing the "stationary & school supplies" aisle of any store that has one, this perhaps being the mental residue of a time when a fresh notebook was my favorite new toy. (Never for scholarly purposes. I just liked notebooks.)

There's little reason for me to be excited by such items these days, as I can't remember the last time I used a writing utensil for anything other than signing checks or doodling scars and Hitler mustaches over the proud newlyweds in the Sunday paper. Browsing these aisles has just become a mindless, fruitless habit.

Well, not always. Sometimes, Crayola puts out a new kind of magic marker so insane, I have to try it. Other times, my brain, struggling to justify even the smallest bit of frivolous spending, will conjure up some obtuse use for a package of index cards. These are rare exceptions, and so is the purchase I'm about to tell you about.

I feel like I must've seen these before, but it didn't hit me until recently that they're capable of changing lives. Rose Art has a line of crafts out called "Color Blanks," and the basic idea is that you get naked, poseable figurines to design, color, paint and adorn in any way you see fit.

The concept made me giddy, and I could only imagine how much I would've been into these as a kid. Imagine -- your very own action figure! So many possibilities! You could create yourself, or some creature known only to you, or perhaps best of all, you could finally pay tribute to an existing character who somehow never found himself immortalized in doll-form!

The "Color Blanks" kits vary with figures in different shapes and sizes. The one I picked up is a good starter set: Two blank figures, a bunch of Sharpie-style markers, and some "facial feature" stickers for anyone too lazy to draw their own eyes and ears.

If you're feeling extra motivated, the manual urges you to create hats, hair and other accessories out of clay (of which a small brick is included), and this could be a necessary exercise for those who simply cannot come up with designs for figures with box and marshmallow-shaped heads.

When pressed to be creative when I'm not at all in the mood to be, I always wander to Krang. My Krang looks like shit, but he didn't have to. The kit gives you enough to get the ball rolling, but if you bring acrylic paint and other tools into the mix, you can make some pretty dynamite figures.

I'm not sure what the dolls are made out of, but my catch-all description of "plastic" doesn't really do them justice. As canvases, they work surprisingly well. The marker ink takes to them beautifully and dries quickly, and I'm confident that had I spent more than five minutes to create Krang, he wouldn't have come out looking anywhere near this terrible.

You can find sets like this in most toy and department stores, or you can buy 'em online. I suggest you do a bit of browsing first, since "Color Blanks" figures come in a pretty wide variety. No sense in buying a blockheaded Color Blank if, say, you're more inspired by one with a vaguely rhino-shaped head. They have those, too.

Just another bullet on the ever-growing list of things that make me wish I was seven.

PS: My kit came with two figures. Haven't gotten around to turning the other guy into anything yet. What should he be? Tell me in the comments. If you're more persuasive than your fellow readers, I will obey your command and present the finished product this coming weekend.