The last three days have been filled with good things..so much to share that it's probably going to be a long winded post.
Friday afternoon was a great time. My friend Gina had asked me if I could do something memory art related with her three children and some of their friends and I agreed. But, what was I supposed to do with 11-13 year old kids? I had never taught memory art to kids of any age and just wasn't sure how to plan this play time. What I finally decided was to totally leave my teaching style and give these kids a time to creatively express themselves and play with materials that I would give them.
There were 8 kids total in Gina's home (Gina has a heart of gold in opening up her home and allowing the kids to play with inks, stamps and glue!)- her two daughters and 5 of their friends and her son, Cameron. Of the group of 8, there were three sets of twins. Good thing for me 2 of the sets were fraternal and the identicals dressed entirely differently...YAY! Ashley came along with me to help...I was glad to have her there.
I brought tons of things for them to play with-patterned paper cut down to 6x6 pieces, bolts of ribbon and seam binding, a big bag of buttons, brads, a huge pile of die cuts in all sorts of shapes, inks and great foam alphabet and background stamps. There were no kits and no instructions...their homework was to come up with 5 words (good and positive ones!) to describe themselves or someone else. We started our playtime by creating a 6x6 pamphlet stitched book. I showed them my sample, told them that this was my book with my title but that I wanted them to do their own thing...and set them loose. WOW, was I impressed!!!! They really took what I said to heart...each of them totally got into being creative...they were seriously amazing little artists. It was cool to see them so uninhibited in their self-expression. Here's a collage of the afternoon.
I'm missing pictures of Cameron...he didn't sit still long enough for me to snap one...he is one creative dude! As soon as I get a pic of him from Gina, I'll post it...he will have his own spotlight! It was fun to watch a couple of the moms and Ashley getting into building their own books and filling them with stuff! You know that it's a good time when the girls didn't want to stop; in fact, they were pulling things out of my bins and baskets while I was trying to pack up! Gotta love it. That was an experience I will treasure for a long time.
Saturday was unusual in that Vern and Ashley were not out riding...they gave their horses a rest after the competition last weekend. Ashley, Elizabeth and Elizabeth's sister, Erica, made their annual trek to the Renaissance Festival...it was the final weekend of their spring break and they wanted to make the most of it. Vern and I had a date day...that was really cool. We went out to lunch at Joe's Farm Grill, just outside of Agritopia in Gilbert. We had been wanting to try that place...it was not a disappointment. This restaurant is owned by the same family that owns Joe's Real Barbeque in Gilbert and they have lived up to their reputation for serving great food in a relaxed environment (very kid friendly) for a reasonable price. It was a relaxing day with no pressures and deadlines...the first weekend this year that I did absolutely nothing related to memory art.
On Sunday morning, Vern and I did some much needed yard work in the backyard. January's heavy frost left us with some dead plants, cracked pots, etc. so we really got into chopping, digging, dragging and replanting. Here are some African daisies I planted in one of the empty containers. I actually planted some tomatoes in pots this year...it's been years since I did that so we'll see how it goes. I'll just share some if we have a bumper crop!
The pond fish came out of hibernation yesterday and got their first feeding of the year. Every year, I wonder when it's time to start feeding them and every year, they tell me! They all congregate around the "feeding rock" and get real active and start begging for food...great communicators is what they are! They were all out there waiting for me this morning again so let the feedings begin!
Last evening, we had a great church service...inspirational...just what I needed.
There's a cool thing happening over at Scrap Scene today...Angie does "Spotlight on Designer" segments and today, it's yours truly. If you've not been over to that site, you should check it out. Angie is a gifted networker...she sniffs out all of this great industry information...not just about people but also about events, projects that people have done, sneak peeks, classes, etc. It's a great way to stay connected to the industry and get the scoop without hopping all over the blogosphere! Thanks, Angie...you do amazing work on your site!
There's other news to share...but I'll save it for a later post this week. In the meantime, hope that your weekend was as inspirational as mine was...hope there was a lot of goodness in your life...hope you can share some of it with all of us! Thanks for reading and sharing!
It's the end of March and it's time for me to give away something and since I have no leftover kits from any classes (that's a good thing because that means full classes with no cancellations), I decided to give away a copy of my new book which I co-authored with Tena Sprenger.
