Fall Bake Sale

So, 2020 may be obnoxious, but for the girls, it’s been fun and profitable.

They’ve been so busy with the bake sale!

It started earlier in the Spring when Sof wanted money for a cheerleading bid. She lost the bid, but won herself an entrepreneurial ❤️ heart – wahoo!

She and her friends followed it up with a summer bake sale and now a fall one. It’s been so fun to watch them work. Choosing and making recipes, cute bags and ribbons to wrap everything up with, and signs and advertisements. The younger girls have been bringing in customers with their “mad sign dancing skillz” and amazingly even some breakdancing.

Everyone from two families has pitched in with various donations of time, expertise, help, etc. – it’s been so much fun to watch them come together to create and work hard. But the best thing about this one has been that they wanted to raise the money for a princess birthday party – that may turn into a business of its own. But more on that soon!

A GIANT thank you for our little community for supporting our girls so generously and for the “golden corner” which has brought them so much luck!

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Celebrating Creative People

Over the years, I’ve been blogging about people who I have found fascinating with their creativity, and I would like to highlight some of those posts here, to inspire you to continue to work on your creative projects.

For years, I thought that I needed permission or approval to do something creative. Not sure why. I would jot down ideas, keep a million plots for books twisted in my brain, have a shelf of half-completed projects in my house, but I didn’t finish them, and I certainly didn’t show any one anything. Then, two amazing people inspired me. My sister, who started a writing group and kept saying, “what are you working on?” I was in awe at her ability to just work. She said to me, “Ryss, if you need permission, then I give you permission to do projects.” I LOVE her for that. The second was a talk by [then] President Dieter F. Uchtdorf who wrote a talk called “Happiness, Your Heritage” in October 2008. It inspired me at a time when I needed a creative outlet more than anything else in this world.

The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.

Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.

Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty—and I am not talking about the process of cleaning the rooms of your teenage children.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Happiness, Your Heritage,” October 2008.

Check out these great reads and I hope that you begin to create today!

• Creative People: The Ostlers – a family creating together – about a family that makes amazing youtube videos together.
• Creative People: Sonia Singh and the Tree Change Dolls – I LOVE the way that she repurposed old dolls for her kids.
• Be “that” Dad! (Or, Let’s all channel the inner creator – which is what the post ends up being about.) – about designer and illustrator David Laferriere, who creates art with a sharpie and a ziploc baggie.
• Creative Chocolate Chip Cookies – about Jen Stott who reverse engineers dessert recipes and then creates her own AMAZING cookie recipes.
• Paper Doll Palooza and Interview with Creator Cory Jensen – if you haven’t seen Cory’s artwork yet, you are in for a TREAT!!
• Creative Homeless – I know this is odd, but I LOVED this guy!
• Childhood Creativity Leads to Education – this little girl dressed up like historical figures everyday – I love her creativity.
• Summer Creativity – Cardboard – about a little kid who created an arcade out of cardboard!
• Pirate Party – ARRRR!! – my cousin is one of the MOST creative people I know.
• As is her sister, but I haven’t written about her yet, but I will. Check out her channel on youtube that teaches art lessons to kids – Andra’s Art
• YouTube Fun – some of the first channels I found on youtube
• Creative Comedy – when I first found Studio C, and yes, I LOVE the new cast as well!
• Creative People: Fred Rogers aka everybody’s neighbor! – I studied about his life for quite a while as I wrote this post. He still fascinates me!
• American Music: The Sherman Brothers or Some Thoughts on Creative Collaboration – this is the duo that brought us so many Disney hits – “Spoonful of Sugar”, etc. It was phenomenal to research them!
• My Composers Series – I wrote about several classical composers, and was blown away by their stories and work.
• Book Reviews Series – I love to find books that embrace creativity or are extraordinarily creative.

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And a final word on creation and this post, is our new tagline (that my middle daughter thought of for this site) –

What will you create today?

Creating with my daughters has been enjoyable, but now that they are older – WOW! This is getting good. Stay tuned!

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• Simplify – read all about it
• Fall Bake Sale
• Celebrating Creative People
• REPOST: Homemade Sugar Easter Eggs
• A New Reboot

A New Reboot

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So, we are doing a grand re-boot to Tamarack Idea Factory – and what better time than during the quarantine time during COVID-19? Actually, these plans have been underway for a while. As my daughters have grown, they have been more and more excited about my creative projects and have begun to do some of their own. Now, instead of just a blog to celebrate creative ideas of people, homes, and families, we are working on some creative projects as well.

Jillian, my oldest is working on a Pop-up Bracelet Shop both as a school project, but also to earn funds for an iPad so that she can do more of her artwork. She’s also a phenomenal artist, musician, and cake baker/decorator.

Sofia, my second daughter is in a video production class at her school, is working on a novel, and is learning to knit. She is artistic, creative, an actress and is so great at creative play with younger kids. She will be posting her creative ideas on this blog.

Ruby, my youngest (pictured with some of her art) is deeply into seeing what creative concoctions she can make – imagine with me absolute quiet coming from the bathroom (so I know that something is up). When I enter, she has been mixing soap, shampoo, perfume, etc. to create a homemade brew of exotic smells. And that explosion of creativity continues with clay, chalk, paint, food, art – anything she can get her hands on. Just listen for quiet and you know that she is up to something BIG.

As for me, I have been keeping busy juggling work, family, and trying to write and create when and where I can. (More on that another time). For now, please consider supporting Jillian’s Shop. or enjoying some of these creative ideas while you are in quarantine.

Check out some of these great posts –

Homemade Books – A fun idea with old pictures, drawings etc.

Notebooks – why this worked, I can only attribute to the creativity in children, because they worked on this for HOURS!

No Budget Birthday Bash – So, a challenge from this post: you’re a creative person – create a party or a game ONLY with what you have in the house – you cannot buy anything.

When to follow and when to fly free! – another challenge from this one: do an art project with your kids and just let them do WHATEVER they want with the materials. You will be so surprised as you allow them to do this over time how honed their work and style get because of the practice!

Old Scrapbooking Items – Okay, here is a fun challenge for the quarantine that goes along with this post – what do you have that you can let your kids “go to town” on (aka be creative with)? Old sewing, crafting, knitting projects? Stamping sets? Jewelry making supplies? Come on, you haven’t done anything with those supplies in a long time, and your kids/grandkids are cooped up! Let them have something to do. Open up your treasures – they will be in HEAVEN, and you may find some peace during this really crazy time.

Please consider sharing the creative things that you have been doing while at home during this time. And enjoy the possibilities that are coming with this very unusual season!

A Long Line of Sub-par Theatrical Productions

Yes, that’s my children’s legacy! As my cousin once said, this is one in “a long line of sub-par theatrical productions”. We did plays, my mother’s family did in-home musical concerts, and I’m sure way back, there were theatrical productions by the pioneer players!

Just like the March girls putting on productions in Little Women my children seem to put on plays when they’re with their cousins. It’s wonderful!

Here are some shots at my in-law’s house of their last play –

 

The players at the magic wishing well

 

At the curtain call

 

What do you need to get all of this fun in your life?

• Dress-ups – (old prom dresses, go to thrift stores for costumes, old Halloween costumes, old dance costumes – just keep a box handy and throw in any old outfits)
• Props – (again, just use what you have – toys, old games, boxes, etc. Let the kids be creative, you’ll be impressed what they do!)
• Space – (Any where – garage, carport, backyard, living room, any place can be a stage!)
• Imagination – (quite honestly, the key here is to have belief in your children. Tell them that they can do it. Maybe they’ll need a story prompt to begin with, but my experience has been to just encourage them to put on a play (a dance, or a show, or a concert) and they will do it. No further prompting needed. Watch them go!)
• Be an audience – (it is quite critical that you and the grandparents and the aunts and uncles watch the show when it’s ready. Film it, set up chairs, have them make tickets and programs, whatever! Just be there. Now, it’s okay to say to them in the middle of the performance, “one more scene” or “one more minute”, because sometimes these things can go on rather long, but MAKE sure to give lots of clapping during curtain call and positive reinforcement (“wow, who knew that you were so creative!?!”, or “I loved the part when …”, or  “What happened after …”,  the more you talk with your children about what they did, the more they will do.) 

Finally, my favorite part is to see all of the cute creative touches. Check out my favorite one from this last performance –

This is a microphone that they made out of paper clips and tape. Cute huh!!

What’s the point of all of this?

• Helps your children become creative problem solvers
• Helps exercise their imaginations
• Great childhood memories
• Builds social skills
• Helps them practice performing
• They become creators, not just consumers

and at the very least –

• Gives you time away from hearing, “I’m bored!” 😉

What shows do your kids do? Let me know in the comments.

 

School Projects – we rock!

This is just a reminder to my daughter that together, we can rock school projects!!  Every time we work in a school project, she FREAKS because whatever we are doing is not how she pictures it in her head. The problem is, we usually can’t recreate what’s in her head because we usually don’t have the supplies to make “life size dolls” and “what-not”. So we have to use what’s available.

This week’s assignment was to make a shoebox type float (a miniature float for a parade) about the county in our state that she was assigned. Here is the rubric –   She got Salt Lake county. She wanted to get something professionally store bought. The problem is, there aren’t a lot of SL county floats in the local stores. 😉 Then she wanted to build the whole thing out of Legos or put the float on wheels. (Great ideas, but we didn’t have the time or the supplies!) So, she was forced to use what we have at home (plus some styrofoam that I got at Walmart for $3). 

And here is her float – 

  
Why does she doubt? Our mixed creativity ROCKS!!! She did most of the float and I just helped with some basic ideas, but she put it together. 

Then she told me that next time she freaks out to show her these pictures so that she can remember that using what we have can work well, especially when we use our creativity!!!
   

That’s one happy fourth grader!!

What school projects are you doing? 

  

Creative People: Sonia Singh and the Tree Change Dolls

I have been so impressed by Sonia Singh’s Tree Change Dolls (see the video below) –

I especially loved the looks on the girl’s faces as they held and played with their dolls. One of the girls said, “They kind of look like they’re the same age as you,” and you could see that in their play. I think that the innocence of childhood is so beautiful and should be protected and nurtured. While I do prepare my children for the world that they live in, I am very careful in the way that I prepare them. I have had a very hard time choosing dolls for them and the girls and I have gone the rounds about which toys I’ll buy. In fact, I fell in love with Fanny, by Hollie Hobbie for that very reason, (see this post on my book review).

Sonia talked about the fact that her intention wasn’t to make a statement about the sexualization of girl’s toys, but as her work has become viral, it has created a debate and I believe that part of that is, as her husband said, “They really look lovely this way.” It’s true. There is a sweetness to the dolls. And, it does reflect a choice that the toy manufacturers are making. Based on at least some of the debate (and many of the mothers out there) it seems that a lot more people would also like to have dolls that are sweet and simple. I do love American Girl Dolls for that reason, but they are quite expensive, and this is a great way to save the expense, create, and teach some valuable lessons all at once.

It’s clear that Sonia’s main purpose was to make a statement about upcycling and reusing (as evidenced in her own words, but also in the name that she chose for the company). I am struck by the message that she has given both about choice and about creativity. Knowing that she can’t become a doll manufacturer on the scale of a toy company, she runs an etsy store and has created some videos encouraging others to create their own dolls. On her tumbler site, she encourages others to create saying,

I encourage others to recycle and upcylce old dolls and toys. Do it yourself, do it with friends, do it with children and others in your family, do it with strangers. There are so many plastic dolls already made that could still be played with and could inspire the creative minds of children with a little attention and creativity.

She also points others to some Do It Yourself videos on how to do a doll “makeunder”. The first is on how to remove the paint and change the face of the dolls –

and then she has one on what to do about missing feet and/or shoes, that one uses chemicals and is not recommended for children, but is interesting to watch –

I am so edified by this! I sometimes forget that I still have a choice and can fix the things that I don’t like in the world. We can change our clothes, toys, media, etc. and create things that are uplifting and wholesome in the world around us. Thank you Sonia for such a brilliant idea and for encouraging others to create as well!

Don’t Wait Too Long

So, two weeks ago, I wrote a post about summer creativity. Read it here. My girls went crazy after I showed it to them and they created an arcade of their own. They were busy for days. They created a bottle ring toss, a claw game in which you could win jewelry, an egg-carton game, and a few others (5 or 6 total).  They found prizes from our thrift store pile, made tokens, and wrote out rules.  Everyday, they asked me to put it up on Facebook so that they could have a “grand opening”.  But, I kept putting it off.

One of my daughters, who is a total organizational/neat freak, decided that now (two weeks later) it was old news and has disassembled everything. (The other daughter didn’t mind, because her attention span is short).

The Arcade did have one day of fun though.  My sister’s kids came and played with it for an afternoon and they all seemed to have an AMAZING time.

A word of caution, don’t wait too long. Kids grow. Kids loose interest.

But kids are also inventive, loving, and very forgiving. It is not too late to enjoy their childhood. Remember Stephen R. Covey’s metaphor of Emotional Bank Accounts (or EBAs)? He writes –

Remember the emotional bank account—similar to a bank account, you can make deposits or withdrawals from each of your family relationships. Make a conscious effort to make meaningful deposits in your relationships. When you make a withdrawal, apologize and correct the mistake.

See more on his blog here.

It reminds me of the 1957 song, Turn Around

Where are you going, my little one, little one,
Where are you going, my baby, my own?
Turn around and you’re two,
Turn around and you’re four,
Turn around and you’re a young girl going out of my door.
Turn around, turn around,
Turn around and you’re a young girl going out of my door.

So, I am sorry that I didn’t get pictures of the creativity. I am sorry that I didn’t follow through, but we will have more fun.  Right now, I’m making this post is short so that we can hatch up new schemes of summer creativity.  What are you doing with your children this summer?

Be “that” Dad! (Or, Let’s all channel the inner creator – which is what the post ends up being about.)

Recently I ran across “the Dad that draws on sandwich bags,” David Laferriere, a designer and illustrator who creates art with a sharpie and a ziploc baggie, so that everyday when his kids open their lunches at school, they are met with something amazing!

Check out a video about him here and links to his website and his flickr account which is definitely worth a look.

In the video, he stated that “it was a way to kick-start his creative juices in the morning” which is such a win-win! Be creative, show love to the kids, become listed as one of the world’s greatest Dads. NICE!

My first thought today is, “in what ways can I creatively show my kids that I love them?” I know that whenever my Mom sent me a note in my  school lunch, I relished it.  Just a simple little, “Have a lovely day, my treasure. XOXO, Mummy” (My mom has a British background. 😉 ).

I am more of a mediocre artist, so as I studied this amazing Dad, I began to think about things that I like to do creatively and how I could use those creative juices in a way that would show my love?  Kids are excited when they are the center of attention. What a great way to bond with them.  I decided to pull out the old (and some new) poems that I wrote about them when they were toddlers, dust them off, add a layer of polish and see if it will make them smile.  Here’s one –

Ruby in her red galoshes
In the wet and mud she sploshes,
In the tub when she washes,
At the table, munch and moshes.
Sploshes, washes, moshes – 
Ruby loves her red galoshes!

Until …
Ruby spies pink glitter slippers,
Though this time she is much hipper,
As the shoe is much, much quicker,
And it matches the skirt with zippers.
Hipper, quicker, zipper – 
Ruby loves pink glitter slippers.

Until …
Ruby spies the green high heel
Now, this is the real deal!
Matches it with a dress of teal,
Twirls and she gives a squeal!
Deal, teal, squeal – 
Ruby loves mom’s big high heels.

Until …

Okay, it’s silly, I know. But there are a couple of things I want to say here about creation.

1. I LOVED writing that. It was silly, and fun, and I loved the spark of imagination that came as I wrote.
2. I am PETRIFIED to share it. You can tell because I practically apologized for it right after I shared it (I said, “Okay, it’s silly, I know”.) If I had more courage in my own creative abilities, I’d say something like – “Did you want me to sign a copy of that poem for you?  ‘Cause that’s gold!”

Why do we doubt our abilities? (Ok, maybe I’m making that statement too general. Maybe you are different and everything that you do is amazing.  If so, that’s awesome! Ride that pony, keep creating!) For the rest of us … I’ve noticed something about a lot of my students. When I push the ones that have undeclared majors on what they would really like to study, they usually say something like interior design, or cooking. But they blush and say it under their breath.

Why is that, I wonder? I’m not judging them for cooking. I’m not thinking “How dare you want to major in cooking!  Go back to the social status that you were born into – to be a stable boy. Your father was a stable boy, your grandfather was a stable boy, and so shall you be. There will be no dreams here …” It’s not happening. Usually, I’m wondering if somewhere there will be a pastry in it  for me. 😉

When I went to college, I finally got the courage to take a few creative writing classes (which I reveled in) and some theater classes (which I loved almost equally). But, I was too scared to major in creative writing or theater. I’m happy with the path that my life went on, but I counsel everyone to study what they love.  You will excel when you are doing what you love, not what just what you think will make money, because if you hate it when you’re doing it, you won’t make money in it anyway. Yes, you know that I’m right on this. Just think about “that” doctor at the clinic that no one wants to go to because he/she is a misery to be around.

For those of us who already have a path (college degree, work, family, etc.), practice your creative dreams! Practice on your children, who think the world of you, anyway (especially if you create for or with them). Practice on a blog that mom and only your most loyal friends will read.  Dare yourself to perform at an open mic night, or a community play (you can pull off that English accent!) Practice on sandwich bags, or soccer fields as a coach (where you can create those magic plays that only you can dream up).  But most importantly, engage your children with you in your creativity. It will give you opportunities to bond, to talk, to dream together. Each of my older daughters is now writing a book, as in “Mom, can I borrow the computer? I have to work on my book.”  Then we read our writing to each other and discuss plot, character, settings, etc.

Maybe in doing this we and our children will become creators rather than just consumers, (that’s a win for kids who are glued to devices all day!)  Maybe we can get closer to that child who is having a hard time. Maybe we can gain courage in our abilities and talents. Maybe we could be able to have that spark of inspiration fill our souls a little every day.  Now, that would be awesome!

Shared Human Experience Reflected in Art

This has been quite an amazing year for me. My father passed away on November 24, 2012 and my daughter was born on October 15, 2013.  When Dad passed two days after Thanksgiving last year, I could have never guessed that less than a year later I would hold a new baby in my arms.  What a blessing she has been, and both the pregnancy and her birth has helped me ease through the past year and the anniversary of his death.

This morning, I came across this phenomenal performance by the Hungarian Dance troupe, Attraction, that mirrored my own experience, and I had to share it. (The group was the winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2013).

It is so amazing to me that their beautiful and emotional performance is one that can reach across language and culture and can help comfort me, even as I relive and process this year of life events.  

Just this weekend, I spoke with a friend who is dealing with her mother’s cancer.  She basically said, “How can I be a mom if I lose my mom, my source of comfort and knowledge?” I felt the same about my Dad, my human search engine, cheerleader, and source of all knowledge and help.  Others have come and with their talents and love have helped to fill in the gaps.  It will never be the same, but now I know that I need to make my children my friends and my support in the way that Dad was to me.  I may not have him, but I will have them, and I can be (in part) to them, what he was to me.

When Dad passed, I was shocked when we showed up at the viewing and found that there were flowers all over the social hall, which had been sent, mostly, by others who had tragically lost someone early.  I found comfort in friends who also had lost their parents too early.  Now I know how to comfort those who have lost.  Maybe that is the reason that we have shared human experiences, so that we can understand each other.  So that we can know that we are not alone.  And, so that we can help each other deal with both the difficult moments that life brings and the joyful ones.

Non-Pumpkin Halloween Fun

I wanted to do a fun Halloween family activity, and so I decided to be creative with what we had at home. My husband is out of work, and we literally have no extra money. I wish that were a joke. I know how cheap pumpkins are, but I don’t get paid for another week. Since one of the main points of this blog is to celebrate good old-fashioned creativity, I thought I’d share. You’ll probably laugh at me, but here’s what we did.

We had a box full of apples that we’ve been eating for a while. We still have a bunch left, so instead of decorating pumpkins, we decorated apples. Paint, glitter, paper = an evening of family fun. Even my sweet husband had a good time painting apples to celebrate sports teams.

Here are the results:

The front of my husband’s apples –

And the back –

My four-year-old’s –

My seven-year-old’s (she did a squash, because, to be honest, we weren’t going to eat it 😉 –

All together now –

So silly, I know, but I think that the girls will have a fun memory. Also, it took the sting out of the job search to spend time together rather than self-medicating our sadness by watching television or moping.