In His Image

It’s a great pleasure to bring this book to print—part of the continuing creative adventure at Hillside Education. We hope it will edify you and encourage you to include creative activities in your home as fits your situation.

As part of the point she is trying to make in the book, Mrs. Gildersleeve was insistent that all the images in the book be hand-drawn, and no matter how much I tried to twist her arm she wanted no professional photographs of completed projects. She wants to encourage you to let your child be creative without an expectation of some picture-perfect result. I think I finally get it, so, please note that the images you see in this book are not done by professionals; project suggestions do not include step-by-step photos of how to do them; and, your child will not be judged by his ability to measure up to someone else’s work. We hope that your child’s imagination will be the guide as you seek to nurture the creative in your home. If you have questions, I encourage you to contact Mrs. Gildersleeve, or let your children solve the problem of how to do particular projects.

There is an incident described by Ann Ball in the introduction to her book Catholic Traditions in Crafts in which her adult daughter thanks Ann for the way she was raised, that is, making everything by hand when other kids went to the store and bought things. The daughter relates the pure joy she now experiences creating things by hand. I pray that someday my children will be as grateful for the creative time they spent as children. I believe they will be—and so will yours.

—Margot Davidson, Hillside Education