My two newest books arrived today! We wrote a series of 24 Reader’s Theater scripts based on the Grade 1-2 Common Core State Standards for Language Arts. They’re fun and funny to write AND to read! Plus, I got to write the teacher’s guides for all 24 of these books and the Grade 3-6 scripts as well . . . another fun, creative project. I do love my job! ♥
Related Link: My Books
Welcome to the “THANKFUL” edition of Collectively Creative! Today I have a giveaway for all of our blogging friends . . . one of my children’s stories from Pockets magazine for you to read, share, and/or use to introduce a creative writing activity about holidays. Simply click the first link for a printable word document or the second link for a printable pdf.
Mrs. Hetherington’s Thanksgiving Pageant (word document)
Mrs. Hetherington’s Thanksgiving Pageant (pdf)
I hope some special kids in your life will enjoy meeting Mrs. Hetherington and her Portland Elementary School Drama Club this holiday season! But first, please pour a cup of tea and take a few minutes to savor the rest of this month’s Collectively Creative posts. Each one has something special to enrich our lives. Happy Thanksgiving! ♥
P.S. If you’re a parent, grandparent, children’s book reviewer, librarian, or teacher, please check out the new kids’ Thanksgiving book called Sarah Gives Thanks by one of our fellow WordPressers, Mike Allegra at heylookawriterfellow. I bought a copy, and it’s a keeper!
COLLECTIVELY CREATIVE:
In a reply to a comment on the Autumn Mantle post, I lamented that there never seems to be enough time to do all the projects I have on my list. But intecoolochoberord replied,“Time can be a funny thing . . . but I’d rather have too much inspiration
and too little time than the other way around!”
Then, on the Start Where You Are . . . post, gentlestitches commented,“The more I let go of perfectionism,
the more perfect my projects become.”
This isn’t my usual sewing or crafting post, but my “real” job is writing education materials for students, teachers, and parents, and . . . my newest books are out! These 14 books are part of a 60-title Classic Tales series consisting of retellings of short stories, folktales, fairy tales, pourquoi tales, myths, legends, and fables for kindergarten through second-grade readers. Didn’t the artists do a fabulous job on the covers??? (My earlier books are at www.edwriter.com—click on the BOOKS link and then use the pull-down menu to select “Books for Students” or “Books for Teachers.”) Most of my assignments involve writing or editing teacher’s guides and language arts lessons, prototyping new products, and other non-book tasks, but they’re ALL challenging and fun. Thank you for letting me share a bit about my other creative ventures today! ♥
UPDATE on 9-22-12: Click HERE to read the heartwarming results of this post! ♥
One week from today is the anniversary of my first WordPress blog post! Since I’ve discovered how many people around the world I’d love to have for next-door neighbors, I’d like to celebrate with a new award and giveaway!
AWARD: Please nominate a WordPress blogger (or lots of them!) for the “Good Neighbor Award” in an email to me at k[underscore]scraper@hotmail[dot]com (to keep it a surprise!), including a link to the blog and why you’d like this blogger to live next door. To cook/sew/craft/shop/write together? To learn to do something new? To be inspired? To visit over a cup of tea? Nominees will receive the award button on September 22.
GIVEAWAY: The person with the MOST nominations will be invited to send me a formerly-loved garment that I’ll make into some fun treasures (a-la “What can you make with a flannel shirt?” or “What can you make with a lace tank?” or “What can you make with a polo shirt?“) and return. THANK YOU for reaching out in friendship this past year, and I hope to hear from you soon! ♥
I have such a fun job (writing books and classroom resources for K-5 students and teachers!) and I’m lucky to have a small but cozy home office to work in. It has a large black desk, a black rolling chair, and black metal shelves filled with my curriculum and reference books. It also has a matching black metal shelf for my fabric and sewing/craft supplies and a very small black desk for my sewing machine. My favorite piece of furniture is a dressing table bench that belonged to my Aunt Vitha. We painted it black and recovered the seat in zebra print, using a bedsheet I found at Target. I also made a black and white alphabet print cover for my sewing machine (from a fun book called Simply Irresistible Bags, but I’ve since seen lots of tutorials on sewing blogs and Pinterest) and black and white floral curtains (basic hemmed sides and bottom and casing on top) for the window. So, when I needed to leave my ironing board set up for my after-hours sewing projects, its stained, worn, pink and green cover looked badly out of place. This weekend I remedied the problem by making a new cover from the zebra bedsheet! I simply used the old cover for a pattern, leaving a little extra around the edges to stitch a casing for elastic. Oh yes, and the old cover had two velcro straps that fastened under the ironing board to help keep it in place, so I snipped those off to reuse, too. It fits, and I love it! ♥
One of my teacher/writing group friends just got her first publication acceptance, so I wanted to give her a gift that includes the dragonfly on her business cards. I traced the dragonfly on a small scrap of sheer fabric, triple-folded it for strength, and embroidered over the lines. Then I cut it out and glued the body onto a flower on the cover of one of my mini-notebooks, leaving the wings free. Oh, and I wrote a message for her to discover on the first page. I’m SO happy for Pam! ♥
My Grandma Leona recorded her life in Citizens National Bank & Trust Company calendars day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year. When she passed away, my parents gave the books to me since I’d always been an avid diary-keeper and lover-of-reading-other-people’s-diaries. Grandma wrote about who came calling, weather, handiwork, baking, errands, appointments, funerals, church activities, the comings and goings of various family members, and holiday gatherings. My sons were still in elementary school when we got them, and the first thing we did was look to see what Grandma wrote on the days they were born:
When we were kids, our mom often bought us books published by the Whitman Company of Racine, WI. Some were classics, like Fifty Famous Fairy Tales or Little Women (which I read over and over again, wanting to be Jo when I grew up and secretly hoping that maybe . . . this time . . . Beth wouldn’t die). Others were based on popular fictional characters or real-life singers and actors. I still have a few of them, and now I have a treasure from my sister Susan, who found this journal made from the cover of a Donna Parker book that we used to have and filled with blank paper. I LOVE it! ♥
Everyone has a different reason for creating a blog. My inspiration was my new Wednesday night writer’s group. Some of our members are looking for a way to collect their poems, memoirs, and essays, so I decided to learn how to blog so I could help others create them. I chose pillows for the theme because that happened to be my new hobby, but I’ve found my blog to be a fun forum for chronicling all sorts of ideas and events . . . and reading other writers’ blogs to be rather addictive!!! For our last writer’s group meeting of the year, I compiled a list of prompts we can use to sum up our writing lives and set new goals . . . feel free to try one and share! ♥
Paper Art by Matthew Sporzynski
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Aaron and Shannon
Growing up, Aaron always had a hobby that he engaged in 200%. (He still does!) For example, when he was ten or so, he started building model rockets, then started designing them, then won a national design contest for his age group with Estes Rockets. Somewhere along the line, he had a bunch of catalogs and circled all the rocket kits he hoped to get for Christmas. Supportive mother that I am , I chose several, bought them, wrapped them, and put them under the Christmas tree.
One day, Aaron came into the kitchen and thanked me for all the kits he was going to get for Christmas by name. I was stumped! How did he know which ones I’d picked? When I questioned him further, he pointed out that all the entries in the catalog listed dimensions and weights for the kits, so all he had to do was measure and weigh the packages to know which ones were there. Smarty-pants! But being fooled came in very handy years later when I needed to write a funny Reader’s Theater script. Thanks, Aaron!
My mother was an amazing artist, and she loved creating, but she freely admitted how hard it was to make herself get started most days. Even though throwing a pot or weaving a shawl was much more satisfying than, say, folding the laundry, the laundry often won out because it didn’t require the intense mental and emotional energy that creating art does. Even some of the strategies artists use to make their time and space more conducive to working can become just that . . . time spent creating the perfect work station instead of time creating the art itself. Lucky for us, she was often able to overcome her resistance. A picture I now cherish is this watercolor of the farmhouse where we grew up. I was really glad I didn’t have to wrestle my brother and sister for it!
Now that I’m a writer, I struggle with the same problem sometimes. I find that a straightforward assignment such as “write teacher’s guides for this new series of books” isn’t nearly as problematic as a highly creative project like “write a book for third graders about a child who uses an object to solve a problem” (which turned out to be Baby Song, my favorite book . . . ironic, huh?) Actually, the begin . . . the rest is easy sign in my office is my best motivation, because once I get started it’s really not that hard to get into the “zone.” And, for some reason, I NEVER have this issue when I’m getting ready to sew! Anyway, if you ever suffer from procrastination, I think you’ll enjoy the video below as much as I do. I know my mom would have loved it!
P.S. I was going to write this post a long time ago, but I kept putting it off.
Welcome to PILLOWS A-LA-MODE, a blog about my new hobby–designing and sewing pillows. Why do I need a new pasttime? When I was an elementary teacher, my hobby was writing books, but now I get to write all day for Benchmark Education Company in New York. I work from home where I live with my walking-encyclopedia husband Dave, who sweetly puts up with all my quirks and whims, and where we love to entertain our big family while embracing the motto “The more, the merrier!”
My grandmother taught me to sew and embroider when I was young. I’ll always remember the many happy hours we spent together and all the wisdom she imparted not only about our projects, but about life. When she passed away, I inherited all of her fabrics, threads, flosses, and now-vintage buttons. My mother inspired me, too. She made a beautiful quilt for me when I (finally!) graduated from college, but her favorite medium was painting. Then it was my sister and best friend Susan, a musician, quilter, photographer, baker, and storyteller. Today I’m blessed to have seven daughters-in-law who never cease to amaze me with their creativity . . . scrapbooking, cardmaking, photography, painting, pottery, cake decorating, interior decorating, quilting, cooking, writing, designing birthday parties for our adorable grandchildren, and much, much, more. And I mustn’t forget my dad, who gave me my first sewing machine (the one I still use!), drove us to 4-H meetings and the county fair to make and display our projects, made it possible for me to pursue my love of piano, and reads my books. Dad, by the way, lives an innovative life himself . . . but that’s another story for another day.
One of the reasons I enjoy making pillows is that I can simply browse through my stash, put this and that together, and come up with a one-of-a-kind creation. I also love to upcycle things like vintage clothing and table linens into pillows. And, of course, I’m always excited when I find intriguing remnants and decorative items in the clearance aisles of my favorite stores!
I call this one “Pillow Pillow.” I found the fabric-stamped mini pillowcase in a bargain bin at Michaels, cut it out close to the edges, and sewed it onto a piece of pink polka-dotted material from my collection. The finished throw pillow is 14×14.
Besides sharing my pillows, I hope to post some recipes (“Chicken Pillows” coming soon!), kids’ crafts, sewing and decorating ideas, and general chatter. Thank you for visiting, and please come back again!
