Summer Holidays are over!

I can't believe that the school started already.  Somehow, it starts early August in East Tennessee.  So I feel like it should be cooler, but it's still August, so it is still hot.  Summer is not over yet.

We had a busy first half of summer vacation.  We went to Florida, we attended Wedding, my daughter went to drama summer camp, and we went to Florida again. 

But last half of summer vacation was very slow.  We didn't have any plan, and the construction was going on, we practically stayed home everyday, not doing anything much.

It was not really fun for my daughter nor for me.  

So we are so glad to have school started.  And the construction is done, so we can now paint the newly renovated bathrooms and bedrooms.  Suddenly we are very busy!

Here are the sweets that I made during summer.  I was so fortunate to have good berries and peaches in June and July.  Almost all the sweets were made with local fruits.

Today marks one year from the day we came to TN form North East.  I feel like I didn't do anything this past year.  We had the cycle of having renovation going on, which means I get stressed out having workmen in the house all the time, then it's done and they are gone for a while but we can't relax, because we have to paint, then the next renovation starts.... we did that 3 times in the past year.  Our painting part is not done yet.  But after that, it's done for now.  I am glad.

I hope 2nd year of our new life in Appalachia will be nicer.  We couldn't go out much because either we wanted to do something at home while the workers are not around, or we had to paint.  I'd love to visit lots of places and check out some events.  I want to start working if it's possible.  I don't know if there are many chances like in North East for me to make dance costumes, but I would like to do something with my skill.

There are a lot of hopes for the future.

Tulle... My favorite fabric

Tulle is my favorite fabric.  I always loved it.  Ever since I saw a ballerina dancing on a stage as a child, I dreamed of the skirt.  I told my parents that I like to learn ballet.  They knew that I was not really active.   I was a child who spent time drawing and reading, never into any physical activities so they said it didn't seem like a good idea for them to send me a class.  They knew I was just dreaming about the costumes.

I drew pictures of princesses and I soon forgot that I even wanted to dance.  But I always liked watching ballet on TV or ballet themed movies, etc....

So I love making tutus.  Not those tutus for the little girls, the tutus for grown up dancers.  Gathering tulle makes me so happy.  And I have to say that my parents knew me so well.  They encouraged me to learn design and here I was making the costumes that I dreamed about.

Now that I left North East where I worked as a costumer, I miss making tutus.  So I started to make little tulle flowers.

Gathering tulle had calming effect on me.  

So I started to decorate my room with the tulle flowers.

Sleeping Beauty Ballet Craft Class (How to make a tissue flower)

When I was still back in North, I had a chance to teach a class for young ballerinas.  Not a dance class. A craft class.  I worked as a costumer, so a little craft is my cup of tea.
The summer ballet camps for young children usually include arts and craft class since they need a break from dancing.  But lots of times it is just to color the printed out ballerina pictures or putting stickers on the paper dolls.  I wanted to teach something about ballet along with the crafts they enjoy.  So I made the session into Ballet Craft Class.
I would tell the stories of the ballet.  Everybody, especially young children know the stories of Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella.  But what they know is usually Disney version or fairy tale version.  The story lines for the ballets are a little different.  I would bring in the pictures of stages, and describe how the stories go act to act.
I had realized how messy the gluing with preschoolers can get, I was always thinking about something that doesn't require glue.  The little dancers are so anxious to try on the headpieces or wings that they just finished and some end up with very sticky hair or leotards.  I needed to avoid that.
For the ballet Sleeping Beauty, I picked a rose for Act 1's climax, Rose adagio.  I made these flowers as a preschooler and I know it's not messy!  I can talk about very important part of the ballet, too.  The principal dancer has to be on her toe while the 4 prices give her rose one by one.  It's extremely difficult position to sustain.  It's so beautiful though.

Here is how to make the flower:

Now all the little ballerina has a rose.