Friday, December 2, 2011

Life Imitates Art





October (& November) came and went with much fan fare, and I'm only now recovering from all the dressing-up hoopla. With the release of my book, Every-Day Dress-Up, falling so close to the most popular dress-up holiday of the year, it was an explosion of self-promotion and costume-making creativity. For Halloween, I designated my daughter Ginger, as the great Amelia Earhart, for whom the protagonist imitates. A little bit of back story (if you haven't read my book yet): Each day of the week the girl dresses-up as a different woman from history using things she finds around the house to make her costumes. Nifty, huh? This concept is true to my heart; The idea of reusing materials appeals to both my creative impulses and my environmental agenda. So, I made her mask out of a bathing cap, goggles and buttons, and I converted her stroller into an airplane with cardboard, craft paper and paint. Her brother's button down shirt and a scarf provided the final touches. G wore the outfit with just the right amount of sass and aplomb. At 3 1/2, I think it was the first year she really 'got' who she was, and owned it! Of course, I've read her the book about a million times– which helped. I've posted some photos of my daughter in costume, the illustration from Every-Day Dress-Up, plus a pic of the great Ms. Earhart herself.