creativity 101

If I sat down and made a list of all the things I am good at, crafts could be found nowhere on the list. It wouldn't even make its way to things I am kind of good at. Plain and simple, I'm just not that crafty. Although once in awhile I will hit the jackpot.

If you come to our house you will notice a stepping stone outside our front door. It says trust in the middle (fondly referred to as the trust rock). Well, I made this with some college girlfriends about 5 or 6 years ago and let me tell you, it looks pretty good. I guess that could be obvious by the fact that it has sat outside my front door for the last 5 or 6 years.

Or take for example a box I wrapped a few years ago for Christmas. I decided to wrap the actual box and then just put the present inside. I know, this is not a new idea but I was so proud of that box. In fact it is currently sitting underneath our Christmas tree as a decoration (there are real presents under the tree too).

But those are the exceptions.

I remember when I student taught in a first grade classroom that the most overwhelming thing to me was the bulletin board. It wasn't the 20 first graders or their non-stop list of questions or emergency bathroom breaks. It was the bulletin board. What would I put on the bulletin board? How could I make it look cute and artsy? Needless to say I figured something out but I'm not sure I ever took any pictures of it -- no need to document something like that and put it in the portfolio.

Maybe that's one of the many reasons I loved student teaching in a 7th grade classroom so much. Sure, there were bulletin boards, but they didn't need to be so frilly if you will. It was beautiful, I could teach and connect with the kids and not have to deal with my underlying fear of what to do with the bulletin board.

Here's the thing though -- I want to do crafts with Vera. I want to have fun projects that we can do together as she grows up. I'm making my first attempt at making some homemade gifts "from Vera" for Christmas this year. We'll see how they turn out. And right now I have her initials in large letters to hang on her wall. The only problem is they are white and so are her walls. I have to do something with the letters to make them stand out, but what? And these are going on her wall. For at least the next 10 years (I'll let her decide what to do with them then). If they turn out looking foolish I will have to look at them for the next 10 years. As you can tell, I'm a little nervous.

I guess I can just pray that these latest endeavors turn out more like the trust rock than those bulletin boards.