Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts

Monday, April 7, 2014

Variety Is The Spice Of Life




Usually my weeks are pretty much a series of routines, which makes sense since I am basically a very organized type of individual. I take my daughter to school on weekday mornings, I pick up groceries on the way home, I return home to feed the cats, do the dishes, clean the house, and exercise, I wait for the bus to bring said daughter home, I help her with homework, I fix dinner. You get the picture.  But then there is this other whole side of me that sparkles, shimmers, and shimmies with creativity of every kind. The part of me that loves to learn or try something new, the part of me that wants to travel somewhere new, the part of me that yearns to build, bake, create, reshape, dream, and make something new. The part of me that craves variety.

That is why I spent most of last week looking forward to Friday. What did I do on Friday, you ask? Why I traveled to the Polaris Fashion Place outside of Columbus, Ohio to meet with some of the ladies from my Blog Ohio group. I love this group of ladies, and I sit humbly at their feet, or maybe just at the same food court table, reveling in the knowledge they so willingly impart about blogging. Most of it goes over my head, but sometimes a bit sinks in, and I put it to good use.

BlogOH Moms
Blog Ohio Moms


And the really great thing about meeting at Polaris was, that afterwards, I had the opportunity to explore the very lovely Barnes & Noble store. I was a woman with a mission. I was a woman bent on using the extraordinary book offerings to  make a spine poem in honor of April which is National Poetry Month. Now for those of you who have never created spine poetry, I heartily encourage you to do so. You can use books from your own collections, books from the library, or books at your local book store. Spine poetry is very addictive and once you get started, it is difficult to stop!


Barnes & Noble Spine Poetry
Spine Poetry

Friday was a lovely day of variety spicing up my routine life. So when it was time to sit down and write this post, something I do routinely every Sunday afternoon, I decided to review a few books that were random books, books without a theme, simple books to add a little variety to your upcoming week.

First I read Someday by Eileen Spinelli. I was sure I would just love this book, after all Eileen is so very close to Aileen. And do you know what? I did enjoy it. It was a beautiful book, a book of great aspirations, a book of dreams. It was a book about a child imagining what she would do "someday" in the middle of all the every day things she was doing right then. It made me stop and ask myself, As an adult, do I still dream of what I will do someday? Yes, yes I do. Someday I will go on a cruise, and someday I will visit Alaska, and someday I will be a traditionally published picture book author with an agent all my own. What will you do someday?

Someday by Eileen Spinelli


Next I read Perfectly Percy by Paul Schmid. It turns out that it is terrible to be a small porcupine when your favorite thing in the whole wide world is playing with balloons. That is unless you are Perry. Perry puts on his thinking cap and thinks long and hard until he comes up with a solution to his balloon popping problem. Perfectly Perry puts a new spin on the term, Thinking Outside Of The Box.

Perfectly Percy by Paul Schmid


Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Creativity Takes Many Forms

As you all know, I am a children's author, but I have many other passions as well. I love cooking, geocatching, bird watching, putting together puzzles, sewing, genealogy, crafting, reading, gardening, and photography, to name a few. All of these things seem to spark my creative juices, but I have to admit, photography and writing are my two favorites. When I write, I string together words in such a way as to fashion a mental picture (a picture that may be different for each individual reader); and with photography, I  tell a story without any words. Sometimes, I even combine the two.

That being said, I just wanted to share some of my favorite 2013 summer pictures. And thank you to the friend who said the wagon wheel photo was a framer, because that is exactly what I thought.







 



 











I am curious to know what story you think my pictures tell and what you think they say about me as a person. So jump right in and leave some comment love.

Signing off for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day!

Friday, March 29, 2013

Creative Kids and Characters

Since my daughter, Emily, was very small, we have been making crafts. Crafts are so much a part of our life that whenever she has a play date she expects me to have a craft ready for her and her friend. So it didn't surprise me at all that while on Spring break this week she came up with a craft of her own. She managed to save some toilet  paper rolls, scavenged out craft drawers, and created these cute t.p. girls.




Looking at these imaginative girlies made me think of a creative character named Holly in a book I just read. Everywhere Holly looks there are beautiful gardens full of lovely blooms and she wants to grow perfect flowers too. But no matter how hard she tries, her flowers just won't cooperate. But Holly is inventive and persistent and manages to create a long lasting beautiful bunch of flowers. To find out how, grab your own copy of Holly Bloom's Garden!


Signing of for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Sandwich Box to Sleigh: A Recycling Story

Not all of who I am revolves around literacy, but the largest fraction of who I am does revolve around creativity in all it's forms. I love to bake, I love to sew, I love photography, and I love crafting especially when it involves turning something old into something new. So today I thought I would share with you one of my favorite Christmas crafts made from a recycled sandwich box.

It's a small sleigh that can be filled with assorted candies of your choice and looks lovely as a centerpiece. What you will need is a sandwich box (mine came from Wendy's), two individually wrapped candy canes, foe greenery or ivy, glue (I use glue dots), decorations (small berries, pine cones, bows, or whatever you like), and a small piece of wrapping paper.




First make a paper template by setting the front of the box flat on the inside of the wrapping paper. Trace the box and then carefully set it up on its bottom making sure to keep it lined up, after tracing the bottom, repeat by laying the box on it's back. Lastly set box back in the middle upright position so you can lay it to either side for tracing.Once this is done take the two candy canes and attach them to the bottom for runners. I found that package tape works best to keep them in place. Next, glue greenery to the back and sides of the inside of the box and decorate. Last but not least, fill with candy of your choice (I chose individually wrapped truffles that I bought at Aldis).







Signing of for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day!