The Creative Family
Amanda Blake Soule
Two things struck me when I first saw the cover of this book. One, was “Wow I thought it would be much bigger” and two, “Hey that’s us!” The reason for my first reaction is because I look at too many 12x12 scrapbook pages on line and I just assumed this square book was that large…you see my perspective was skewed. My second reaction was because so many people say those very words to me about my family.
Unfortunately, I didn’t buy this book, I borrowed it from my friend Chela because I couldn't wait for it to come in the mail. She was hesitant to loan it to me, being new and all, but I promised to return it in two days and that I did. I really enjoyed the format of the book, especially the small chunks of easy reading, with just enough photography and how-to instructions to keep my interest.
I found many of the arts and craft ideas a bit retro, but that just means they are good solid activities that can span multiple generations. I also had to keep reminding myself that Amanda is a young mother and although I have four kids under the age of 12, I’ve got a lot of these crafts under my belt having done most of them at least 2-3 times in my life already since my oldest is 21 years old.
Other reviewers seemed to enjoy her idea of a nature table, I took that a step further years ago and actually made a sand box area in my basement laundry room a number of years back complete with the shells and beach toys (we live over 200 miles from the beach). One “nature table” I have created with my daughter, is by putting her beach finds in a hurricane candle holder, that way “nature” is contained, but visible.
After reading the book over two days I was inspired to pull out all of those crafts I was saving, old scrapbook tools and supplies and droves of paper that I was hoarding and create an art basket for the kids. I realized that I hadn’t really nurtured the artistic side of Joseph, my four year old and I set up the basket on Sunday night and on Monday morning instead of the usual routine of watching Sesame Street, Barney & the Back Yardigans, I introduced him to the basket and he hasn’t turned on the television since.
Reading through Amanda’s book I started to jot down all of the creative things we have done in our family and you never know, they may make quite a series of articles in the near future. In the end, I felt very inspired and plan to incorporate a daily “art hour” into our schedule this summer.
I highly recommend reading this book especially if you are striving for more balance in your life...nurturing your creative soul is so necessary for a healthy balance.
