oh, boys -

mary jane dodd

i consider myself fortunate that 3 souls chose me to mother them -

but when the holidays approach and i have 2 teen aged boys, dread settles in... 

my 20 yr. old daughter is easier to gift... i can make her handmade things & find all kinds of wonderful items on etsy (thanks to heather powers for a great post the other day)...

and then there are the boys - (who i love with all my heart, but struggle to get things for... of course, i could buy all kinds of stuff for stuff's sake... but i prefer not to do that - though one can get desperate)

one will wear a necklace and has a favorite charm from beth hemmila on leather that he wears almost daily...

the other doesn't wear jewelry at all... 

the younger one likes to skateboard - and i knew that at the skate shops, people will leave their broken decks when they get new ones... 

what if?

so i called a local shop, and yes, he had some decks -

here are a few of my first beads cut from them...

they obviously need sanding and i learned to try to peel the grip tape off first... but they have potential and i quite like the layered look of them...

my other son loves vinyl records - our own barbara did a post on using those... hey, barbara, think you can help me out? 

how are you doing shopping for your kids? with money tight for so many families how do you balance their excitement with your reality? 

and if you have any great ideas for teen aged boys (or girls or kids of any age), please send them along!

loving the ripples

mary jane dodd

i was invited to teach at our county teen arts festival this week... almost 2000 kids come through over the course of 2 days... this photo is from my first workshop (there were 3 a day - 45 minutes each with 15 minutes in between... riiiight)... 

see how neat and orderly everything is? it's like when you have your first child... and just like having your first, they are the only group i got pictures of... 

because after that, all bets were off!  

i thought it would be sensible to limit the class sizes to 15... 

that was sensible... 

but it didn't happen! 

really, how do you turn away the kid who wants to learn but didn't get to sign up because she was being critiqued?!  except it wasn't just one child... 

i taught about 120 kids... 

at the end of the first day, i was cleaned out of the materials i had purchased for 2 days... 

i wanted to show them something they could do, they could afford and that might keep them experimenting... something they could teach their friends... 

we made wrapped beaded bracelets... i taught them a weaving technique and they were excited... (and i was excited that they were excited because i was worried that no one would sign up... i even brought a book with me just in case...)

it was an incredible experience and i want to thank sandy at the monmouth county arts council for the opportunity... i would love to do it again... 

the kids were wonderful and, as always, helped me to hone my skills and kept me learning... i thank them sincerely... 

if this sounds like something you might want to do, join your local arts council... you never know what kind of opportunities might present themselves!

and on a more serious note, i would like to mention the loss of one of our own from this blogging community - judy glende... a beautiful, caring creative who no longer suffers but will be terribly missed...)