Oops and Daisies

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5 Gift Ideas to Encourage Creativity in Kids

November 28, 2025 by Liz SanFilippo Hall

5 Gift Ideas to Encourage Creativity in Kids

One corner of our house is bursting with art supplies, the drawers full of colored pencils, markers, beads, pipe cleaners, construction paper, and oh so many odds and ends. The kids use all of our random art supplies when they just want to explore and experiment. That alone can be an incredible way to encourage creativity in kids.  But sometimes kids just want a project to play with, or to test … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: art set, arts and crafts, Christmas, creativity, drawing, gift guide, gift ideas, life with kids, sensory kits, stem kits

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  • My 10 Favorite Books From the 59 I Read in 2025 January 1, 2026
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oopsanddaisies

Let’s get that story out of your head and onto the page | Editor, Creative Writer, Author, & Coach

National Book Day seems like a good day to remind National Book Day seems like a good day to remind you that I wrote a picture book! Etta Betta and the Beast is about a girl who thinks her parents brought home a beast for a pet. He sits on her puzzles, slobbers, and his farts? They’re the absolute WORST. But the Beast is determined to prove he’s not so stinky - and rather silly - in this tale about the eventual friendship between a girl and her bulldog.#BookDay #KidLit #MomLife
My 6-week in-person picture book workshop launched My 6-week in-person picture book workshop launched last night! My students are all starting with a seed of an idea and building it from the ground up. For most, it’s the first time they’ll ever workshop their writing, and I know how intimidating it can be, so we’re spending the first half of the class pre-writing and getting to know our stories (and each other) before we start providing feedback in week 4.I can’t wait to dive in with this fabulous group of writers and see what stories emerge!#WritingWorkshop #PictureBook #AmWriting #MomLife
Let’s talk about waiting. (This is for the peopl Let’s talk about waiting. (This is for the people who hit refresh on their email inbox countless times a day).So much of life is waiting. As Dr. Seuss once wrote, “Waiting for the fish to bite or the wind to fly a kite… or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.”And when it comes to the publishing industry, whether you’re looking to publish in a literary magazine or with a book publisher, you hit send… and wait.And wait.And wait.And wait. x100There is no promise of a yes. No promise of even a ‘no’ to be honest. (Sometimes, it’s just silence).Waiting is something to get used to. So what can we do? Keep writing. Keep creating. Recognize that waiting is just a part of this game called life.And then, one day, you open up your email, and you’re hit with a… “Congratulations! Is this story still available for publishing?” And it makes the waiting all worth it.So, if you’re in the trenches, I see you. If you’re putting yourself out there and feel like you’re shouting into the void, I see you.But I encourage you to keep writing and keep hitting send… because you never know when you’ll get that yes.#DontGiveUp #WritingLife #AmWriting
I feel like every time I start a new journal, I’ I feel like every time I start a new journal, I’m starting a new chapter in the “book of Liz.” And it feels really appropriate starting this journal on 3/3, a time of a lunar eclipse, signaling new beginnings. #Journal #NewChapters #MomLife
February weather was all over the place — one da February weather was all over the place — one day, my kids are having a water-balloon war with their friends in the yard, the next, I’m insisting they bundle up in their winter gear. It kind of felt that way with my work, too, a combination of super busy weeks brimming with client work, and slower weeks, which I’m OK with, because it gives me some flexibility to work on my creative writing and some other projects I have in the works.So, without further ado, here’s what I’ve been up to work-wise, including my creative projects, which, I promise you, will see the light of day:🌸 Wrapped up teaching a six-week in-person journaling/creative writing workshop (and making plans to do it all over again!)🌸 Ghostwriting projects for my clients, including writing about community-health centers and access to mental health care.🌸 Started submitting my poetry to literary magazines and kept pitching some essays to a wide variety of publications🌸 Held my Creative Writing Accountability Club every Thursday morning (it’s free! If you want in, let me know)🌸 Shared four new posts on my Substack, Where Daisies Grow - on everything from journaling methods to creative cross-pollination🌸 Posted three blogs to Oops and Daisies, including two interviews with some incredibly creative moms🌸 Nearly finished my next draft of my New Adult contemporary and started to get feedback from some trusted writing/critique partners🌸 Learned how to use Adobe Illustrator (and I can’t wait to tell you why… but you’ll have to wait to find out!)🌸 Released a new short story in the latest Writing Journey anthology, Awakening… and seriously. The things I have in the works? They’re still growing “underground,” if you will. But I promise you this: I have some things I CAN’T wait to share!#MyCreativeLife #AmEditing #MomLife
Habits are funny things. Sometimes we create them Habits are funny things. Sometimes we create them without even meaning to, and when we attempt to change them? It can be really, really hard to get out of our old ‘auto-pilot’ setting and into a new one.Take for example, our old dishwasher. Yes, I said dishwasher. In our apartment, the dishwasher’s top drawer only came out halfway. It was a pain in the arse, but we lived with it for five years. Fast forward to when we moved into our new house: we suddenly had a dishwasher that had a fully operational top drawer.For WEEKS, I only pulled it out halfway. It was a self-imposed limitation I was setting for myself, because I had a habit for FIVE years of only pulling it out halfway. It’s a habit I had to break, and it was just the dishwasherHabits can be freaking hard to break… and they can be just as hard to create, whether they’re related to writing or not.So what I’ve learned over the years?  Don’t hold yourself to perfection when forming new habits. You’re going to hit snafus. You’re going to miss a day. You might have a slip. We’re human after all! And life is full of oops and daisies.Hop on over to my blog to learn more about forming writing habits and developing a sustainable writing practice that works for you.#WritingHabits #AmWriting
Whether you are just starting out or you’ve been Whether you are just starting out or you’ve been writing for years? I hope you’re calling yourself a writer.Too often, I hear writers dismiss themselves - they claim they’re not a ‘real’ writer, or they say they’re ‘aspiring’.Why is that? Because we only consider ‘published’ authors, ‘real’ writers?To that I say, psh.If you journal, you’re a writer.If you scribble down notes about stories, you’re a writer.If you dabble in poetry, you’re a writer.If you love to play with words and ideas, guess what? You’re a writer.And don’t kneecap your sentences. You’re not ‘aspiring’… you’re a writer.Please do not dismiss yourself and your writing simply because you’re in a different place in your journey compared to someone else.You are a writer.(My free Creative Writing Accountability Club is now two months in, and we’re a welcoming group of writers who are working on ALL sorts of projects… so if you want in on the Thursday morning creative jam/co-writing session, just let me know).#MomLife #CoWriting #WritingTips
I haven’t shared too much about my New Adult con I haven’t shared too much about my New Adult contemporary manuscript, but as I inch closer to finishing the latest draft, I’ll be pulling back the curtain on my process and inspiration…To start:Music plays a huge role in my main character’s life. I want my book to pay tribute to all sorts of my favorite bands from the late 90s/early 2000s, but I also wanted to stretch myself…and so I decided to write some songs of my own.To do that, I’ve taken out my ‘English lit major’ hat and putting my literary analysis skills to good use. I’ve printed all sorts of songs and analyzed them, studying structure, repetition, theme, you name it.When I studied English lit/writing back in college, I definitely never expected this is what I’d be doing with what I learned… and I love every second of it.#MillenialThrowback #AmEditing #PunkGirl
Some awaken through rebellion. Others through loss Some awaken through rebellion. Others through loss.‘Awakening: The Unreal, Untold, and Unexpected’ is now live!This anthology is for readers who love stories where things are not what they seem.Expect mind control, missed connections, startling revelations, rebellion, redemption, and the quiet power of self-realization.As for my story? Don’t trust what you see in the mirror.Thank you for supporting indie authors and the stories that dare to go deeper!(Check my bio for the link!)
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