Well, I really, really, really love celebrating the holidays with the kids. Even the boring ones--the girls and I are planning to make a memory game next week with images of the U.S. presidents on them (probably just the iconic ones, because who really needs to know what William Henry Harrison looked like?) for Presidents' Day. So yeah, I really love the holidays now.
Today was Willow's class party for Valentine's Day. There was much excitement this morning (if only excitement made little girls act sweet and peaceful and so very well-behaved, and not crabby and hysterical and overwrought and prone to the biting and kicking of sisters). There was the creation of the Special Holiday Outfit:
They're really quick and easy--small piece of acrylic felt (I choose the felt made from recycled plastic bottles over wool felt as part of my crafting ethic) cut into a heart shape, with a little slit cut into the center, and buttoned onto your button--but the other Montessori moms gratified my vanity by acting like I had invented something AWESOME! I've actually seen these little hearts on several blogs, including Going Starfishing, and I've heard tell that it was actually invented by Martha Stewart years ago (OMG--It's true! You have to flip through her Valentine's Day Projects for Kids gallery to get to the Felt Heart Button Covers), although frankly I seriously think that she steals the original ideas of small indie crafters and plays them off as her own.Anyway, then comes the creation of Extra Valentines:
Montessori classrooms are very large (30 kids ages 3-6 in Will's class), and the children are encouraged to make Valentines, then, not for everyone in the class, but only for as many or as few people as they choose. I always worry that some kid will just sort of get overlooked by all the other kids and not get any Valentines, and this, combined with my other worry that some kid will forget their Valentines at home, causes me to every year make an extra blank ten or so Valentines in case of Valentine-related emergencies. These are made from hearts cut out of red file folders with more little felt hearts hot-glued onto the centers.And finally, we have the Viewing of the Handmade Valentines:
If you look closely through her work, you can see all the ones she made during our various collaborations--there are hearts from scrappy heart pinbacks, hearts from comic book Valentines, paint chip tags from paint chip matching games, and even a rogue denim heart from a denim heart quilt.
Will's Final Report: The Valentine's Day Party was the bestest! They got to eat a small cookie, they sang a song, they looked at all their Valentines (Is it wrong to judge a mother because her three-year-old child gave my child a Hanna Montana Valentine?). What more could you ask of heaven?
Lastly, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?
I always pick bad news first, too: Craft magazine has announced that their current issue, #10, is their final print issue. They are pretty renowned for their rockin' digital version of the magazine, so in these trying economic times I guess they're just going to concentrate on that.
Y'all, Craft magazine is the magazine to which I sold my matching game tutorial. And that tutorial? Scheduled to be printed in issue #12.
Matt, who is, um, "practical," is all, "Dude, it's not the end of the world. You already got paid, and you'll be in the digital edition." But..... I want to be in print. PRINT. The kind of print that's on paper, and my mother can go to a bookstore and find me there on the shelf. And people all over the country can go to the library and find me there, too. The LIBRARY, y'all. I was going to be in the LIBRARY.
Yes, there will be lots of other articles by me in print. And books. Lots.
But this was going to be my first. And I am so sad.
Good news? Every Valentine's Day weekend, which is also the anniversary of the date that Matt and I started "dating" 12 years ago, our whole family spends the weekend at Carribean Cove. Indoor water park + middle of winter + cable TV + a new romance novel = Happy Valentine's Day!
Tomorrow, look for me out on the Lazy River.
i actually have that heart/button page torn out from years and years ago. like about 8 i think. it's very cute, i still haven't done that one.
ReplyDeletesorry about craft! i used to get it, but the blog is better than the hard copy, i think. still, your first! bummer.
i'm sad about the craft magazine PRINT edition, and i think i understand what it means to you. i was also looking forward to picking up the PRINT magazine, that you were in. rats. really. that sucks.
ReplyDeleteand, will's valentines are lovely. no surprise there.
At least they already paid, me, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteBut if the next journal that offers to publish my work folds, too, I might start to harbor suspicions...