In a crafting house...(and the importance of Art!)

Peek with me into, a cupboard in, my 15 year-old's room...

Crafting supplies and creations fill the shelves!  

Here's a close-up of some of the creatures she made from an Amigori book.  

This girl is her own creation.  

Several Sock Monkeys hang around, each with specially made clothes!  

My daughter is good at recycling.  The monkeys clothes above were an old 

halter top of hers and knit leggings she out grew.   

Sock Elephants too can be found here.  

The gourd bird house I received for my birthday is hanging 

outside right now with sticks poking out of the hole.  

Looking around the rest of my house you can find other treasures my 

crafting girl has made herself and for me!  

*****

Sometimes, just looking at a shape will inspire my young creator.  

She picked this rock up from our yard or the woods and saw a bunny.  

Thank goodness there are still art classes in our school system.  My baby made this Elephant "Teapot" last year.  The lid does come off.  

The beach is an important place in our lives and mermaids float around my shelves...

above made of cloth and below made of clay 

While I knit a simple scarf or a dish cloth, my baby free hands dolls...

Teeny, tiny flower pots looked like gnome soldiers

I love this clay gnome (below).  He has a rabbit fur beard!  Standing next to him is a wooden figure that I found at my grandmother's house.  I think she may have carved it.  

I do love Tom Clark's gnomes and many are scattered all over my living room, 

but a little fairy sits quietly between these two.  

Here she is up close.  Her arms and legs are bendable.  

And finally I am sharing a shelf I have loaded with trinkets my daughter made in elementary school art class.  

My favorite item is the little hula dancer.  The hula dancer wasn't made in art class though.  

Maybe five or six years ago my daughter was going to make me a gift for my birthday. 

(Home made gifts are my favorite by the way!)  During school my daughter drew a sketch of a hula dancer and planned to come home and make it out of clay for me.  When she got home she was disappointed because the drawing had been accidentally left at school.  I encouraged her to make her creation anyway.  The above girl is that creation.  Two days later my daughter brought home her sketch.  I was amazed how exact her creation matched the drawing!  

Now in high school, my daughter can balance her creativity with her smarts.  She has a schedule filled with honors classes, accented with a fiber arts and theatre class.  

Whether my child knows it or not, she is able to connect her English, Geometry, Social Science and Biology classes to the rest of her life through her art.  These connections are needed for some children.  My son is a bookworm.  He can read something and totally understand it. 

When I look at my two children I know they are the best of both my husband and myself and for that I give thanks.