By Laura Bray


The big news at our house this month is the recent publication of Create With Me magazine.  My daughter  has artwork published in it! She's six and she already has artwork published! It only took me 38 years to accomplish the same thing. Seriously though, we both LOVE the magazine. I think it's one of the best children's arts & crafts magazine out there because it has crafts you would actually like to create too.

The Summer 2011 issue includes an article I wrote about the experience of teaching my daughter how to sew, and my daughter’s artwork was featured in another article about using your child’s drawings in your own artwork.  (To see how I transfer my daughter’s art onto fabric, check-out this video.)

One thing I found really interesting about the magazine was the common theme in many of the articles about the need for patience when crafting with children. It was relief to read that I'm not the only one who grits her teeth as paint flies and little beads are found on the floor for days (weeks even) after a day of crafting with my daughter. I found out the frustration of taking an hour to set-up for a project, only to have it abandoned in five minutes, is not unique to me. It was nice to find out that I'm not the only one who bites her tongue as she watches her child make strange color choices.  

We do these things for our children because we want to nurture their creativity and we know the importance of being able to express ourselves through art. And we might just learn a little something about color theory from them while we're at it.

To order Create With Me magazine, click here.