The Art Box – June 14, 2010

Another week of letting M choose his own art box supplies… I am going to have to limit him to 4 or 5 items per drawer (so 8 to 10 items total) I think, because he just grabs and grabs and grabs, and it ends up looking like this:And honestly, I’m not sure what all was there!   He was a busy, busy boy!

He was in love with the little sticker roll he’s holding in the above picture.  He called it his “sticker machine” and used up the entire 200 stickers.  Yep.  200.  Thankfully I’ve had them for ages, not knowing what to do with them, and they only cost $1.00.

I’ve been thinking of ending my little Art Box series on here because, really, how interesting is it (to someone other than Mama) to see hundreds of paintings and collages made by a 3 year old?  And interest in the link-up seems to have waned (which is fine, I’m just sayin’)… but I realized what  wonderful memories of this time I have from these posts.  M has been nothing if not a creative and artistic little guy; I remember when he was 1 year old and hopping mad about something (who knows what) and after crying and screaming about it, all he wanted was “paint!”  “red!”  :)  He expresses himself so easily with art, and I love looking through his artwork and seeing how he’s progressed. 

Also, I have to say, it’s soooo much easier for me to pitch a bunch of it in the recycling knowing that I’ve got photos of it on here!  ;)

Speaking of recycling, sometimes it irks me a bit when he uses entire sheets of foam in a collage, like this: or those perfectly good pipecleaners, or whatever.  I must say if it’s not a work of art that we intend to keep I eventually strip it of all useful and reusable items before tossing it.  He has no idea how many times he’s used those buttons and craft eyes, etc.

So, on to business…

This week he made the following masterpieces -

Glitter, macaroni, eyes, and buttons:

Tissue paper circles: 

Sparkly pens, flat marbles, buttons, colored glass pieces, shells, pasta, eyes, oh my:

And he tried out some new stencils with his dot markers:

I think he’s leaving the painting phase he was in forever and entering into some new and glorious collage phase. :)

Thoughts or opinions about continuing to make this a linky?  Let me know in the comments!  I’m fine with these posts being  just for my memories, with the hope that others will get ideas of what to supply their preschoolers with.

If you do have a post you’d like to link up… it’s below!

Have a beautiful day! :)

Book Review – She Walks in Beauty, by Siri Mitchell

The golden age of New York, the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, has always captured my imagination.  Balls and gowns and opulence… lots of pretty, sparkly things. :)  I loved this book.  It made me laugh and cry, and if you know me, you know there is no better recommendation.

Clara is a young and somewhat naive debutante, who in fact becomes the debutante of the season, and while she is supposed to be pursuing the heir to a well-known family’s fortune, she is drawn to his younger brother instead.  The story is a mystery as well as a romance – Clara is not completely sure why her family is pressuring her to reclaim their honor by marrying the heir, and she learns some unpleasant things about her father’s life and the death of her mother. 

There is a social commentary going on in the book as well.  It describes the gap between the wealthy of the city and the very, very poor who reside in dirty tenements and live like animals; as well as the status of women as decoration and no more, made to fit into a too-tight corset both literally and figuratively.

I could criticize a few areas… the suicide of one young man comes as a bit of a surprise and the way in which it’s treated seems a bit unrealistic.  It’s mentioned in passing, in one paragraph, and seems mainly to be an attempt by the author to get rid of a minor character that has served his purpose, and for whom she could not think of a better conclusion.  Clara brushes the death off lightly, which seems completely out of keeping with her character.

At other times I felt that the story was a bit contrived to suit the purposes of the author, and some of the characters weren’t as well developed as I had hoped they would be.  However, all in all, it was a fantastic book that I could not put down.  The romance between Clara and Harry was played out very well, and ends very satisfyingly.  There were lots of sighs and tears here as I read the final pages. 

There’s nothing like a good love story, and this one is very good.

Thank you to Bethany House Publishers for sending me this book to review free of charge.