New coloring page!!

"Dream it. Think it. Plan it. Make it true."

I hope you enjoy it. Click the images below for larger versions to print and color.

Dream coloring page small jpg version:

Dream coloring page large transparent png version:

The Turnip Girl's newest costume

So The Amazing Turnip Girl has been working for weeks on a new costume. Now, if you've been following The Adventures of a Turnip Girl , you know that all her costumes are what's called "closet cosplay". It's an inexpensive form of cosplay that uses things that are easily available in creative ways. She's not casting rubber, or spending hours drafting patterns to sew. She starts with an idea, and heads to thrift stores and garage sales to pick up the pieces she needs. It takes a fair amount of creativity, and involves sees possibilities in the shapes of things. For this particular costume, the only brand new items in it are the buttons, spray paint, glue and a zipper.

The shirt is a lightweight sweater, that was modified heavily. she removed one arm to make room for the armor, and created tac style pockets for it and added a full length zipper. All hand stitched in. The knee pads were a huge find. She got those at a local garage sale- 50 cents for the full set of pads. The others are set aside for other costumes. The armor on her arm is made using paper mache, so is the knife and gun.

The glove was a good find too. She found that actually alone in my things and asked if I was going to do anything with it. Um.. not so much. A pair of gloves, I might crochet an edging for, but a lone glove? She happily took it.

All those straps? She bought a lot of belts. One was the wrong color, but a quick coat of paint fixed that! She used fabric to make a harness back piece for some of the belts. The holster and sheath are hand stitched from black vinyl.

She's getting really good at paper mache isn't she? 

The mask is paper mache glued to fabric. The star was stenciled on, using Frog Tape to get a really clean edge.

So in the process of working on this costume, we found out that part of Barnes and Noble's Pop Culture Nights was a Marvel night! She was excited, no waiting to wear her costume, she even had to hurry to finish it! There were a LOT of Captain Americas, it was hero night at B&N.

The Winter Soldier won, and people stopped and complimented her costume.

Book Review- Show Me a Story

Show Me a Story: 40 Craft Projects and Activities to Spark Children's Storytelling by Emily K. Neuburger is a guide to creative exercises you can do with a child to make up stories.

Children love to make up stories with their toys, friends and in play. This book helps make a regular and thoughtful pattern of it. While it's meant for adults to do with children, a lot of the activities will work with children of all ages.

The craft projects include cards, decorated rocks to work as figures, small paper puppets and creating small scenes. One of my favorite things in the book is the number of projects that are portable so you can make up stories on long car trips or any place else you might have to sit quietly.

My favorite projects are very interactive, and use storytelling prompts like decorated dice. It turns storytelling into a fun game and conversation starter. Also the part about exploring with a camera and a notebook to collect things to turn into a story is a very good one.

The author also talks about the basic structure of a good story, having a beginning, middle and end, and ways to help develop that part of a story.

They are easy projects, they don't require that you have to be an artist to do them. The author has taught creative writing and used some of these techniques with high school students. While it's aimed for children, the writing prompts and exercises will also work with adults, and can be used as a great problem solving tool or communication tool.

My family has been putting some of these ideas into practice and it is a lot of fun for the whole family. The book is well-written with clear language and ideas. It's one that I don't just recommend to parents and people who take care of small children, because a lot of the exercises will work well with tweens and young adults. I also think (hope!) the tips in here will make me a better blogger.

Published by Storey.

Emily K. Neuburger's blog is red bird crafts.



I received a complimentary copy of this book to review, my reviews are always my personal and honest opinion. You can read more about my review policy here.

Creativity Quote to color

Quote art to color, the quote is in the banner across the word CREATIVITY and says

Living creatively is really important to maintain throughout your life. And living creatively doesn't mean only artistic creativity, although that's part of it. It means being yourself, not just complying with the wishes of other people. -Matt Groening

I got the idea for the layout of the text from one of the Kiki Lowenstein Scrap and Craft Mystery books. Cut, Crop and Die is available free in Kindle format now. They are cute little cozies with a scrapbooking theme.

Click on the image for larger versions. Rotated to portrait mode for easier printing.
Small JPG version-

Large transparent PNG version-