Creativity
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Artist/Illustrator Carolyn Le
One of my favorite things to do with my daughter is to go into the local bookstore and look at all of the beautifully illustrated children’s books. There is something quite magical about sitting down and opening up a fresh-off-the-press book with your child and reading through it together. I am drawn to many types of illustrations – I wouldn’t say I have one style I favor over another as I think it really depends on if the illustrations can make you smile, laugh, and even cry. I came across Carolyn Le’s work at a local Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) function about three years ago. …
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ARTIST: Eli Halpin
I asked my good friend Jennifer Mercede for some artists she could recommend as I want to feature artists in all their glory on dandelion moms as I feel art can move and inspire us. One of my favorite things to do pre-kid (and when I had more time on my hands), was to go to estate sales as you can find the best abstract artwork from the 1950’s in our parts of the woods. My entire house is filled with this estate sale art as well as from some of my favorite local artists including Jennifer Mercede. One of her recommendations was Eli Halpin, an artist based in Austin,…
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Scout Out Other Possibilities
There are stories I have worked on for months – years – that may not see the publishing light of day. Yet I invested so much time and brainpower in developing them, I hate to see that go to waste. What to do? Rewrite. A couple of years ago, I came across an article about Daisy Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts. I learned that the 100th anniversary of the organization was in 2012. After checking on Amazon to see what books were already written about her, I discovered that there were no current picture books. Aha! Opportunity! My book idea was filled with hooks – the Girl Scout…
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So You Want To Write Books For Kids
Kids have no patience for books (printed or eBooks) that don’t capture their attention. An author has three minutes, maybe four, to hook them. By the first page or two if they are not hooked, kids are “so out of there!” But, if your book does grab them, they’ll devour it. They’ll read it over and over again (or ask you to) until they’ve memorized it. A great book can give children a gift—the desire to read more. There is no need to “dumb down” writing for kids. Richness of language helps kids increase their vocabulary. Children will learn the “big words” if the words are written in an exciting way.…
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Wool Felting: The 6,000 Year Old Fiber Art
What is felting? Felting with wool fleece is the oldest form of fiber art, older than knitting or even sewing. As soon as people began domesticating livestock, they harvested wool to make sturdy and warm blankets, hats and boots. A simple form of felting is to boil fleece (or a knitted garment) until it shrinks and hardens into felt. Needle felting is the art of sculpting wool with a special needle. Wool roving (unspun wool) is poked repeatedly, until it compacts into a solid shape. At that point, the wool can be sculpted with the needle. Generally, no gluing or stitching is needed. What is so special about a felting…
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Artist Jennifer Mercede
Creating and publishing a children’s book can take months and even years to see the light. I wrote Gerry the Giraffe about five years ago and had the story on the back burner until I came across an illustration of a giraffe in a Land of Nod catalogue. The picture of the giraffe was so unique and wonderful that I wanted to see Gerry come to life with this illustrator! By chance, the following month the illustrator’s name was mentioned in the updated Land of Nod catalogue so I proceeded to find out more about this creative artist. I contacted Jennifer Mercede and we spoke about the possibility of doing a book and app together. This…
