Grow Project - Project two

So I'm horrifically late doing this thanks to a missing USB chord, and all the family stuff... but, since i did it, i thought i might as well share. 


The Project this time was to make something and give it to someone else. Totally my favorite kind of project!


I was inspired by the awesome and fun things that are always going on at Color Me Katie. 




Like This One where she wrote tiny little notes and hung them all around the city. 

or This One which is one of my all time favorites, and reminds me of a super special and dear friend of mine. Plastic ducks in rain puddles!! How great is that! 

So, mine wasn't quite as clever as either of these, but here it is, regardless:

I made a little crochet heart, and wrote out a little poem of mine (since it was supposed to be something we made ourselves), and put everything inside a jar (we all know how i feel about jars) 

and left the jar in a park. 

Thanks for the inspiration, Sarah!

Magic carpets and Muffin men,

- shawnacy

people are poetry

Sometimes, I see a person (usually someone who is doing nothing in particular - standing on a street corner, drinking coffee in a sunwarmed window, walking a dog, leaning against a building at just the right angle at just the right time of day...) and I am suddenly struck by the fact that they are alive. That there before me is another human being. Complete, though unknown, full of their own memories and thoughts an ideas and philosophies... and I have to resist the urge to run up to them and demand of them their life stories, or slide in beside them at the corner booth and just sit quietly... or break out the sketchbook... In general, I'm successful.


But I'm intensely grateful to The Sartorialist for taking snapshots for me, so I can look and look and get lost in the vast, spinning universe of another person... at leisure. And without the threat of police intervention and multiple restraining orders. 


Here are a few souls to get lost in.

all images via the sartorialist

See people today. 

Shuffle and Wry,

-shawnacy

A Mama's Manifesto

A Promise for the Small

I will make your pancakes into shapes

I will read you the good books. As many times as you ask me to.

I will teach you to see that the world is a beautiful place, and the value of wonder, and of being undone.
I will teach you the difference between what is important, and what is merely urgent.

When things get bad, we’ll put on something happy and dance around the living room.

I won’t let you give less than your best.

I won’t tell you to ‘leave that rock alone and hurry up!’ when we’re in a hurry. If we’re 4 minutes late to school, so be it.
I will teach you to forgive, quickly and completely.

I will buy you microscopes and oil pastels and charts of the stars. Sorry about the Barbies and all the hand-held games, but no.

I won’t let you grow up believing you’re the center of the universe.

I will teach you how to learn, and how to want to learn.
I will help you to find ways to be kind, to be useful, and to be attentive to the fragile, fleeting moments of these our days. 

I will take you for rainy walks and insist on our jumping in every puddle.

I will teach you to treat others with respect, and to see through the eyes of the world.

I will teach you what love is. And what it is not.
I will show you how to be big... immense. Sky-splitting and ear-splitting, and soul-splitting; and yet to love the small and wonderful things. 

I will cuddle under the blankets with you at night and read  stories by flashlight.

I will teach you to hope through despair, to joy through the rough patches, and to hold on to peace with all diligence as the wars rage.

I will show you how big the world is, and how small.

I will do all the regular things – wash your clothes, make your dinner, lace up your new shoes; and then at the right time, I’ll hand them back to you.

I will tell you the truth. Every time.

I will teach you to be both fearless and wise.

I will pray for you, with you, and behind your back.

I will teach you to make something unbelievable out of whatever is at hand.

I will sit in your room when you’re six and keep the Thing In The Closet at bay.
I will remember that I am a person, separate and unique, and I will continue to learn and grow and become, so that we'll have lives full of things to talk about when we're old. 

I will sing you songs, and plant them in your heart, so you’ll have something to hold on to when things go dark.

I will make home the place you love best.

I will teach you responsibility by giving you things you can handle, and expecting you to shine.
I will show you how to let gratitude live in your heart, that there may be no place for bitterness and contempt.

I will keep my word.

I will teach you that the best defense against the demons of self pity and depression and narrow thinking, is helping someone else. 

I will be your go-to girl, your new idea, your wailing wall, your secret-keeper.

I will watch the skies with you, I will dream with you, I will laugh and laugh and laugh with you, I will be pierced through, and sorrow with you, and then lift you out again.

I will understand.

I will push.

I will not give up. Ever.

And, like it or not, child of my heart, I will be your mama ‘till the day you die. Pinky promise. 

(just in case i start to forget...)

-shawnacy 

Kids Poetry Challenge week #1

Last month was National Reading Month and we had such a great time doing our celebratory theme: 30 Days of Books, (flip through for tons of book recommendations for all ages... even grown-ups!) and participating in the Read-Along at Helping Little Hands. We read so many great books, and did a bunch of fun activities, and, though we'll be continuing to do that, of course, I was a little bummed that it wouldn't be quite as focused or intentional. ... but... I stumbled upon the beautiful and fun Brimful Curiosities Blog via the Ultimate Blog Party (yay!) and she is doing a Kid's Poetry Challenge during the month of April. (double Yay!) 

We'll do one of these each week this month, and link up with Brimful Curiosities to see what everybody else is doing! Join in!

For our first poem, we used a Chippewa Indian Song called 'A Song of Greatness.'

here's an excerpt:

"When I hear the old men

Telling of Heroes,

Telling of great deeds

Of ancient days,

...Then I think within me,

... I too, when my time comes, 

Shall do mightily."

The boys love hero stories and have been in a bit of an Indian craze lately, so I thought this would be a great inspiration for art. We spent some time looking up information about the Chippewa, and found out that :

## They called themselves the Anishinabe, which means 'original person.'

## They live in North America, especially in the northern US and southern Canada. 

## They lived in wigwams or tipis depending on location. 

## They wore clothes like These.

And then we went to work on our illustrations. We used the fun watercolor colored pencil technique to make the drawings bright and colorful. 

If you've never done this before, it's super easy and ends up looking a lot like a watercolor painting, but without the mess. (less mess = happy mom). 

Quick little explanation, if you'd like to try: you just take a regular set of colored pencils, and dip them in water as you would a paintbrush, before coloring.    We've found that soaking the pencils for a few minutes before using helps the led become nice and soft and watery. Also, that normal printer-weight paper isn't really good enough for this type of technique, as it tends to rip and tear. 

Here are the finished works: 

Max's, titled: 

Young Brave Dreams of Killing a Bear Like a Great Warrior.

Annika's, titled:

An Indian Girl and her Mama in their Wigwam Doing Grown-Up Things Like Cooking and Setting the Table

And Owen's, which he calls:

Chippewa Brave Listens to the Old Men Speak, and Dreams of Brave Things

Thanks for playing, everyone, and pick up a poem today! 

If you're at a loss for where to start, here are some great ones for us big kids:

W.B. Yeats, When You Are Old

Billy Collins, I Go Back to the House for a Book

Margaret Atwood, Spelling

Dorothy Parker, A Thought For a Sunshiny Morning

to rhyme and meter and the love of cadenced words,

-shawnacy

linking up to: