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!
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!
One of the things that I admire most about my sister (and there are a lot of things) is that she has a TOTAL mother-heart. She and her hubby LOVE their family and they love to be together, which is wonderful, but can be problematic when you are trying to make your artistic dreams come true! Both she and her husband are incredibly creative people. Fiona writes novels and has a theater background (including acting, writing and directing) and is amazingly musical (songs just pop into her mind – wow!) Bret is an artist, I mean everything that the man touches turns into art! He does photography, draws, writes poetry, and is very musical. As a married couple, each has supported the other in their aspirations – he has a band, she a writing career.
But recently, they came up with a BRILLIANT idea. What would happen if they created together? What if they involved the whole family in creating together? That way they could work on their dreams, talents, and passions, but have family fun as well (and teach the kids valuable lessons about creativity). The solution? The Bret and Fiona Show. It’s a YouTube family comedy sketch show. They involve everyone, create original songs, write and produce, film and edit. It’s truly amazing to think about how much those kids are going to learn about the creative process!!!
Here’s their first season –
1. Family Band: in which Bret quits his job in order to start a family band.
2.We Have Cookies: in which Bret is unable to get his job back, but finds a silver lining in a bad situation.
3. Fiona Strikes Back: in which Fiona uses her musical ability to slap some sense into Bret.
4. The Mommy List: in which Fiona goes back to work and leaves Bret in charge of the home.
5. Staycation: in which Bret can’t stand being a stay-at-home dad and moves the family into a hotel.
6. Travel Agent: in which Fiona loses her job and only writing a song can bring her out of her sadness.
I put in my favorite videos, although they’re all fun and there are some holiday special songs as well. Check out all of their shows through the links above.
It led me to think for a long time about what I could do with my girls. What would be a creative activity that we could all do together? One that will be fun, teach them some skills, help us to learn to work together, and fit into our time and money budgets – but most importantly be something that I am passionate about creating. I think I’ve come up with the right fit, which I will write about soon.
What about you? What can you and your family to create together? With summer coming up, this is the perfect time to do something wonderful together!
Two weeks ago, my daughter’s school sponsored an Art Show for families. There was an Art competition, and displays of student art work. The school is fortunate enough to have an artist-in-residence who was able to work with the classes. My daughter is in 1st grade, and they made these amazing paper mâché hats.
I’m just posting pictures below for you to see the scope of the work. It was such a lovely activity and so great for the children.
Tamarack Idea Factory 