Happy New Year To All...

Hope you have a roaring great New Year.  Success, Happiness, Health and Friendship are wished for you.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ WINTER

©Ginger Nielson

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ MAIL

©Ginger Nielson

Clay Bake Angels... and More

For years we used to make these flour/salt dough angels, snowmen, cookie shapes,
 and ornaments. Here is the recipe and some hints for creating your own angels.  To see any of these charts larger, just click on the image.

After you knead the dough cover the dough with a wet paper towel to preserve the mositure.  If you don't do this the dough will become too dry.  If your dough is too wet you can put a little flour on your hands before you begin to roll out the body parts.  Create 11 balls of dough in sizes similar to those above.

Once you have them all ready you can begin with the wings and place the head between the two wings.

 Next you will begin to assemble the angel.

Once the angels and ornaments have baked to a nice hard finish you can paint them with food color, watercolors, acrylics, or just leave them plain.    When you pack them away after the Holiday season, you can store them in air tight containers for the next year.  Our collection grew over the years.

Here is a hint.... the smaller the object the less time it takes to bake. So check your creations after the first 20 minutes or so.  These are about 3 inches high and maybe an inch and one half wide.

Once upon a Starry Night

..While shepherds watched their flocks by night....

This week our church hosts the Shepherd's Play, performed by the Life Sharing Communities in our area.

The Shepherd's Play

Now in its seventh year, the Shepherd’s Play will be performed at the Union Congregational Church in Peterborough. The play is an abridged version of the Oberuferer “Shepherd’s Play,” a medieval mystery play.

Our heartfelt performance began as an in-house production, following the Monday evening church supper. However, it has now grown to a community event, drawing a full house. This year’s performances will take place on Monday, December 13th at 7:00pm and Friday, December 17th at 7:00pm. Admission is free

You may want to know more about the community at this remarkable farm. Their goal is to share joy, work and a meaningful life in a community of care.  Here is a link that will help you get to know the wonderful people at Plowshare Farm in Greenfield, NH.

Conversations with myself

Each time I revisit this unfinished story I find a new direction for the main character.  This scene will definitely stay in the book.  The entire story has changed a bit over the past two and one half years, but I love the character I created and want to do it justice.  BLINK will have a few secrets to share with the village that lies below the mountain on which she lives.

I have the main idea worked out and there is a beginning and an ending. It is just how I want to get from point A to point B that takes some real crafting along the way.  I am sure it is that way for other writer/illustrators.  My work is kind of an inside/outside kind of process.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ PHENOMENON

Surprisingly enough the newest additions to Santa's flight school were a phenomenal group of Flying Poodles.

More Sticker Pages available

There are several more pages of downloadable stickers on my website on the BOOKS page.
You can download them to your desktop and print them on Avery Large Round Labels #5294 or a similar product that will have a 2.5 inch diameter.  The stickers are fun to use and I think some of the children who have contacted me have just printed them on paper, cut them out, pasted them on paper and written their own stories to go with the illustrations.

Here are a few thumbnails images of those that are available now.   You can find all of them on the link above and more are on the way .

A NEW Set of STICKERS ~ IN MY BATH

There will be more to come, but this set is all about IN MY BATH by Beth Bence Reinke.
You can find the PDF HERE and right click to SAVE it to your desktop.  It is also linked to the BOOK PAGE on my website, if you forget this link.

                       Have fun with these.  I used Avery Large Round Labels # 5294 to print these.

Little Charley Thornpaws ~ Sticker pages

This is another set of stickers that matches the new book, "Little Charley Thornpaws."
To download this set just CLICK HERE.  You will go directly to the PDF which you can either print from the site or download to SAVE on your desktop for printing later.

These stickers will print on AVERY Large Round Labels # 5294.  Some of the stickers are left as
line drawings so you can color them in yourself with markers, colored pencils or even with your paints.

Seasonal Downloads coming your way...

I have started uploading some PDFs for your enjoyment.  There will be sticker pages available for all the books I have illustrated.  The pages will be uploaded in portions ('cause I have to create them first)...

 But here is a link to the first one..  

a full page of POODLES and some of Santa too.

All you need to do is right click on the PDF page  and SAVE PAGE it to your desktop.
Then print out the stickers to Round Avery Labels # 5294

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ PREHISTORIC

A visit to the interactive prehistoric tar pits, 

a virtual experience coming to your neighborhood later this year.

(word to the wise:  best to leave the dog at home....)

©Ginger Nielson 2010

Flying Poodles is a BEST APP for Christmas *:)

An interactive story, written by Karen Morss and illustrated in a traditional style with children in mind, the APP is only 1.99 at the Apple APPs store.

CHRISTMAS APP BY: POODLE DOG PRODUCTIONS

RATING: 4.5 OUT OF 5
BUY IT? YES
IPHONE / IPOD / IPAD APP: $1.99
UNIVERSAL APP: YES

The book is also available at any and all bookstores with the ISBN ( 978-0-615-38490-0) reference and on Amazon.com for the full book price.