The Creative Home {Day 6}

Today we are going to start exploring the creative home!  One thing that I think my husband and I have done well is to create an atmosphere in our home that invites our children to explore their creative bent.  Yes, it is messy and loud and perhaps just a little crazy, but as our kitchen wall states, "We do loud really well!"

My husband is a musician, he creates with notes and voice and words.  When he sits down to play there is usually someone who sits down at the drum kit and probably one sweet little girl dancing all around.  He is a passionate worshiper and pretty handy with tools.  He has invested a lot into making sure that our kids have opportunity to explore.

If I pull out a project to work on, chances are at least one child will decide that they, too, want to make something.  Unfortunately, their project usually supersedes mine and I end up spending more time helping them do whatever it is that they've come up with than the project I was planning to work on.  *sigh*  But I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, as I'm writing this the Lord is reminding me that this season is rather brief and if I can instill in them a desire to create and explore imperfectly, then that is time well spent.

The time we have spent is starting to bear fruit!  Our oldest son loves to create things out of leather, fabric and wood.  He has designed several projects from conception through to completion and done them well.  (I stand a little in awe because I don't do that nearly as well as he does!)  He decided this year that he is going to go into architecture - an excellent fit for him.

All of our kids are musical and we love to hear them grow in their gifts.  One of our boys is very athletically bent and has taken up gymnastics - he loves it!!  Another of the boys has a very scientific mind and so when he got a junior electrician set for his birthday he was thrilled.  He spends a lot of time reading information books.

All six of them are different and therefore it takes time to get to know what it is that they are passionate about.  They are still discovering it for themselves.  Yes, we've purchased a few things that we might not have needed to that got left by the wayside.  They have spent money themselves that ended up being poorly spent.  On the other hand, each exploration adds to your creative base - so it really isn't a waste of time or money at all.  And have we made messes!!!  We are constantly in a state of mess somewhere...and often it comes out of some creative pursuit.

Last night the younger kids and I spent time making a thanksgiving tree.  I stole the basic idea from my sweet friend Rachel over at Hot Pink Daisy (what that girl can do with a cake! Yowzers!), then we pulled in Ann Voskamp's Joy in a Box printables.  Next we used my Cricut cutter and some fabric bits and put it all together! (I used the This & That cartridge from Creative Memories for those sweet little stars but I don't think they have it anymore.)  I wanted a leaf but I couldn't find one on any of my cartridges (subtle hint for anyone who may be thinking of purchasing a gift for me!).

The tree isn't very straight and it's quite possible it won't survive in an upright position, however, cutting out all that stuff and putting it together was a huge bright spot in my day yesterday.  I think we will leave it up until the American thanksgiving and continue to put our gifts of grace and thanksgiving on the tree until then.  I think it will be a good lead up to the season of Advent!  I'm including some pictures here so you can see what we did and maybe make your own!

Ingredients: dead branch, joy in a box, big jar, some anchoring stuff, fabric, paper.

Eurcharisteo: grace, thanksgiving, joy!!

A little joy in the living room

I added some rafia and paper ribbon to the antique jar I used.

The 3 younger kids decorating the tree!

It's a little fuzzy but I love that word!

It REALLy is!

There it is in the corner of the kitchen, I hope we can keep adding to it!

This post is one in an ongoing series called {31 days of Uncommon Creativity}.  If you'd like to start back at the beginning you can do so buy clicking here!  You can find a lot of other 31 day-ers over at Nesting Place. go check it out you may find some great stuff there that is just begging for you to read it!

Grace * Thanksgiving * Joy

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