Creativity "the ability to produce or original and unusual ideas, or to make something new or imaginative." The magic of creativity is the gift it brings to both the maker and those it is shared with. There is such Joy in the creative process. So my latest project is a Felt Camper for the girls.
When my grandlittle Anna was on her way over to visit one day, my daughter heard from the back seat, "Hurry up Mama we have to get to Mimi's and make some Magic!" My daughter refers to the house as Mimi's Magical Mansion. I have always loved to design and make things. Creativity extends to many other skills like cooking or painting but it is about thinking creatively to make something concrete or an experience or a surprise.
This is a felt camper hideaway I designed for the grandlittle girls fairy tale attic play space perfect for sleepovers. "Destination Imagination" complete with felt campfire and toasted marshmallows. The attic ceiling is sloped so it was perfect for a camper shape between the chimney and the sidewall. Basically I used a camper photo, measured the dimensions and multiplied it into almost life size. The wheels I used a plate as a large circle to create.
I remember as a child my grandmother's home , a large old house very much like the one I live in now. The attic was filled with hats, vintage clothes and toys, she had a wee elf that glowed in the dark she brought out at the holidays for us to see just for a minute. She created magic.
The thing about being creative you can make something out of anything. Simply throwing a blanket over a table, adding pillows and a cosy throw for inside, makes a fort or hideaway. A large box can be painted and colored. These ideas are perennial favorites and if you add snacks or a picnic it makes it so much better! The campfire addition is a super easy project. I used a metal container I had already. Another intention these days is shopping the house and recycling items I already have.
You can use 9" x 12" craft cuts of felt for this project. Kunin Brand felt was used in yellow, white, sandstone and cashmere tan but you can mix up the log colors to be birch or a darker "wood". For the logs roll and glue two craft sheets together so you get the spiral effect of a cut log. Cut ends on an angle. Cut logs in different lengths. For the flame cut jagged oval shapes from yellow and glue into a log.
The marshmallows are simply two inch wide strips of white. Paint a couple of dowels for sticks. Roll a marshmallow around a stick gluing as you go so it will have a hole in center. Add some toasted effects with a brown marker lightly around the ends. Be careful not to burn them! Anna has requested Smores for the next sleepover. She did say the chocolate could be real.
For me making surprises for the little ones is the best. Maya requested a princess castle playhouse with capes and crowns for her guinea pigs.
The magic of creativity is just that, magical and it has nothing to do with how elaborate or simple it might be. A thoughtful surprise, a new twist on something old, a cardboard box, with imagination and love comes the joy! For me I get to be Magical Mimi!
Creatively yours,
