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I thought they might be a fun Valentine-y gift.
I like to carry around pocket-sized art decks, don't you?
Because don't we all carry words on the go?
Who doesn't like a little
fun on a ring?
Or words on a string?
perfect word surprises
for your small people -
or your pocket card collectors.
Local buyers can enter the code: LOCALPICKUP
on my shop to waive shipping fees
and arrange a delivery option.
Here's to the small, the tiny, the mini,
the little bits of love and beauty in this big world
that make life sweet and good.
Tiny book favorites:
Enormous Smallness by Matthew Burgess, illustrated by Eric DiGiacomo
The Tiny King by Taro Miura
Tiny's Big Adventure by Martin Waddell, illustrated by John Lawrence
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes - by Mem Fox, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
The twins are fast approaching ten!
"Tween twins!" Winnie reminds me.
"Double digits, doubled!"
And just like that, a decade ebbs with moon and tide.
Having soaked up the Emily Windsnap books lately,
they want to be mermaids.
So, I've been making art.
Mermaidy tattoos!
Painted shells.
Waves of seaweed.
Glowy lights.
Cupcakes + art = yummy.
Mermaids, this way. Your party awaits.
Books!
The Mermaid and the Shoe by K. G. Campbell
The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler
The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Anderson, ill. by Lisbeth Zwerger
Breathe - Scott Magoon
Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea - Steve Jenkins
Shh! We Have a Plan - Chris Haughton
The Storm Whale - Benji DaviesPlastic Ahoy! Investigating the great Pacific Garbage Patch - Patricia Newman
Shackleton's Journey - William Grill
By:
Faith Pray,
on 3/6/2013
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Some children are raised by wolves.
Others, by creatives.
And really, is there a difference?
Sometimes, the lines between "creative" and "fur-brained" blur.
And that's the beauty of it.
To be a creative,
you get to strap on your courage boots every day
and write,
paint,
parent,
sew, stitch, cook - whatever your bent -
and be prepared
for surprises.
Surprises like tears and paper wadding.
Snapping pencils.
Earnest screwdrivering until the cabinet doors fall off.
(Thank you for that, my wildebeests.)
Havoc.
Howling at the moon.
Eating paint.
raised-by-wolves days,
and sometimes, gleams of brilliance.
Have I mentioned this book?
"The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, the Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood and illustrated by Jon Klassen
(the Caldecott 2013 doublescoop!)
I love this book! I am in a happy swoon.
Jane Austen meets Agatha Christie meets Alexander McCall Smith, only with heaps of originality and humor. Well done, Maryrose Wood. Wow. wow. wow.
More wolf-ishness we love:
[For the record, and in case any great-grandmothers are concerned:
dry ice is considered dangerous in some contexts.
As such, it should probably not be given to toddlers...however, the children in these pictures were skillfully trained stunt-models, posing as children, and obediently avoided actually touching the ice.]
By:
Faith Pray,
on 2/27/2013
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I am Icharus.
Except instead of wax and feathers,
I'm patched together with glitter glue,
writing morsels and
cups of hot tea.
Struck by a blaze of new story lightning,
I'm going down.
That's a good thing, right?
...Right?
Muttering at walls, scribbling
"Words are my wings!" on sticky notes,
covered in ink smudges,
I'm delightedly doomed.
But not too doomed
to help with peg dolls.
Indeed!
And Ancient Greek peggies at that.
Athena, patron of wisdom, and arts and crafts!
She's an owl lady.
Aphrodite, patron of love.
Posiedon. Sea guy. And that's his trident.
Hera, wife of Zeus, patron of marriage.
Peacock lady.
Also compared to a cow in some circles.
Now you know.
Parthenon?
Ruler. Cardboard. Scissors. Tape. White glue.
And now for the drum-roll, please...
we'd like to announce a winner!
A hearty thanks to all of you who entered
Margaret Bloom's
Making Peg Dolls giveaway,
and thank you to
Margaret for the fantastic blog tour.
Our winner is...
Barb Davis-Pyles. Congratulations, Barb!
I hope you will all go out and find this beautiful book.
You are going to LOVE it.
And did you know SACRED DIRT has a
facebook page?
"Like it" to get posts on the beautiful mess of artsy writing,
daily dirt, and parenting sent directly to your facebook feed.
Ancient Greece on the page:
Greek Myths For Young Children, by Heather Amery, ill. Linda Edwards
Explore Ancient Greece!
Greek Myths - Ann Turnbull, ill. by Sarah Young
A Gift From Zeus - Jeanne Steig, ill. by William Steig
The Adventures of Odysseus, by Hugh Lupton, Daniel Morden, ill. by Christina Balit
Aesop's Fables - Lisbeth Zwerger
By:
Faith Pray,
on 2/10/2013
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Here we go again!
Tomorrow is the big day.
Tonsils out!
I'm reading about the hero's journey lately -
the road a character takes
to become changed in a story
- a.k.a the story arc.
Writing and life are so linked, don't you think?
We're all on a journey.
We face monsters, magic, trials, portals every day - they just look a little different in real life.
Tests, school, work, laundry...
Pip's monster this week is tonsils.
We're trying to equip her with happy times,
to sustain her on the road of liquid food and couch time.
So we took her ice skating.
And experimented with pennies.
and made some copper valentines.
Did you know salt and vinegar can make some pretty impressive green crystals?
Then it was time for invisible ink, made of baking soda and water.
and purple cabbage juice to reveal our secret messages.
Very spy-like.
To go with the spy theme, I'm making her a book treasure hunt.
Like the book
geo-caching we did last year when Winnie said goodbye to her tonsils.
  |
| Sticky note clues hidden in favorite books: "The Nutcracker" ill. by Maurice Sendak, "The 5,000 Year-Old Puzzle," ill. by Melissa Sweet | | |
|
And speaking of books,
Margaret Bloom's "Making Peg Dolls" book giveaway is coming to my blog soon!
Stay tuned!
Happy, healthy hearts to you!
Sick days, valentines, and writers' journeys:
By:
Faith Pray,
on 1/16/2013
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Because everyone needs a reason to hide secret notes...
I made a mail kit.
It's our Narnian Lamppost.
Our Portal.
Our place where the real world transforms into the magical one.
See, Pip and Winnie haven't exactly been excited
about writing time.
They moan and whinge when it's time
to pull out notebook and pen.
But now they have a reason to write.
All manner of small letters, notices and lists
have been appearing in the mailbox, begging for a reader.
Secret message makers, word lovers in the making, I hope.
And if we're not so concerned with punctuation just yet,
still Something is being kindled,
and that Something is what we're going for -
getting so lost in play so that the unseen world
shines brighter within us,
and the ordinary world shines brighter on our return...
This is what I want for myself, too.
To take more time to play
with my words, with art, with the kids
without focusing on how much I get done.
I have a choice every day -
wear myself out trying to blast through my goals,
or find the sweet spots and savor.
Relish the revision.
(thank you Gail Carson Levine and
Molly Blaisell for your great advice.)
and
if you need a reason to play with your words,
or an incentive for young heel-dragging-writers,
may I suggest a mail box?
Our kit is compiled of:
A domed box (thrift store find)
Denim.
Felt.
Mod podge.
Ribbon.
A cardboard swing arm fastened with a nut and bolt.
I added a mail sack, felt envelopes and flannel stamps
plus a thick stack of paper
for good measure.
My dad's old mail carrier hat tops the cake.
Any mail today?
Books of Note:
The Dove's Letter by Keith Baker
The Jolly Postman, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
The Jolly Christmas Postman by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
The Gardener by Sarah Stewart, illustrated by David Small
Toot and Puddle by Holly Hobbie
Letters from Father Christmas - J.R.R. Tolkien
Love, Mouserella by David Ezra Stein
Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly - Gail Carson Levine
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
The Enchanted Chocolate Pot - Patricia C. Wrede, Caroline Stevermer
And an experiment.
I've been trying to set up some freebies for my small writer friends, so here is my first attempt to provide a download.
You are welcome to use this art as long as you credit the artist (Hey, that's me - Faith Pray!) and as long as you don't try to pass it off as your own work, or sell it (That would be illegal). If you are going to pin or webshare this, please credit me as the artist, and link back to this original post.
Thank you for the respect.
By:
Faith Pray,
on 12/12/2012
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We made ornaments this week...for the birds.
Because they ate all our cherries this year?
Because they pecked holes in the eaves
and made attic nests?
Heh.
But then we went birding.
A day's adventure into the wet, into the wind,
unconnected
from my technical world,
no busy busy, no run arounds, no errand hopping,
just listening.
Squinting into far off brambles.
Surprisingly, I connected. With the herons in the tree.
With the brown-headed eagle, the sparrows, the finches.
Like the time we stumbled on a barn owl and we lingered there, watching,
till the sky turned shadowy.
Or the day we pulled over the car to observe scores of starlings bathe in muddy puddles.
Maybe it's just the act of stopping
in the midst of a life that whirls
-watching birds go about their day,
breathing in a piney forest,
feeling rain pelt and pummel -
Maybe that's what slows me down.
wakes me up.
brings me peace.
And peace is what we all need this time of year.
So we made gifts for the birds.
I never thought I'd buy lard.
Or thistle seeds, for that matter.
Who needs more thistles? Birds, I guess.
So we squished together birdseed "cookies,"
threaded cheerios onto pipe cleaners
and bent them into hearts.
Where did Birdy's cheerios go?
The big kids strung popcorn, nuts and apples into garlands.
I cut up felt and old jeans and t-shirts into bird-ish shapes
for ornaments and pins.
It was a good project for little sewists.
And then we gathered our bounty
and strung it up
in the climbing tree.
"I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
- and wild and sweet
- The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
- Had rolled along
- The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
- A voice, a chime,
- A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
- "For hate is strong,
- And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
- The Wrong shall fail,
- The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Peace to you, my friends...
peace that lifts,
peace with wings.
And some beauteous books to warm your winter!
The Birds of Bethlehem - Tomie dePaola
Night Tree - Eve Bunting, Ted Rand
The Candle in the Forest - compiled by Joe L. Wheeler
Uncle Vova's Tree - Patricia Polacco
The Trees of the Dancing Goats - Patricia Polacco
The Birds' Christmas Carol - Kate Douglas Wiggin
The Mitten - Barbara McClintock
The Mitten - Jan Brett
The Money We'll Save - Brock Cole
Owl Babies - Martin Waddell, Patrick Benson
Owl Moon - Jane Yolen, John Schoenherr
No Two Alike - Keith Baker
By:
Faith Pray,
on 10/4/2012
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Peanut shell sacrcopha-guys.
Yes, I know.
We're nuts.
I like to think of research as
permission to plunge overboard,
to get lost in your story world
in order to find it.
Some people tape maps to the walls
and wear fuzzy Russian hats.
Others swear by magazine clippings.
Hungarian folk music.
Books on fly fishing.
French chocolate.
We wear pipe cleaner headdresses.
What's your research quirk? 
Can you tell what we're into these days?
It helps that King Tut's treasure is only a ferry ride away.
We said our howdies to the Pharaohs
and hopped home, hot about Egypt.
I buried old pottery shards for a "Dig."
Kids + Dirt = Heaven!
When I was sixteen, my parents took us to Egypt.
Valley of the Kings, pyramids and the Sphinx
all did their dazzling best.
And then there was this old dump,
littered with broken scraps.
At the time, mum and dad seemed so very un-cool
sifting through that Egyptian dump,
selecting a few shards to bring home.
But who's my mummy now?
Oh yeah!
There has never been such excitement in our backyard.
My fake gold necklace
came in handy
as the crowning discovery.
Treasure!
Hieroglyphs + Clay = Name cartouches!
Sarcophagi:
Our wee coffins
are nothing more than
peanut shells, paint,
and gold pens for a little extra pizazz.
That's it in a nutshell.
So many great books to share with you! The 5,000-Year-Old Puzzle - Claudia Logan, Melissa Sweet
Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile - Tomie dePaola
The Egyptian Cinderella - Shirley Climo, Ruth Heller
The Secret Room - Uri Shulevitz
Zekmet, the Stone Carver - Mary Stoltz, Deborah Nourse Lattimore
How the Sphinx Got to the Museum - Jessie Hartland
The Three Princes - Eric A. Kimmel, Leonard Everett Fisher
One City, Two Brothers - Chris Smith, Aurelia Fronty
Exodus - Brian Wildsmith
I, Crocodile - Frank Marcellino
The Shipwrecked Sailor - Tamara Bower
The Jewel Fish of Karnak - Graeme Base
By:
Faith Pray,
on 1/25/2012
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I'm at a blank!
I know my plot, my scenes,
my characters and their backstories to the nth generation.
I have tidy rows of index cards in Scrivener
spelling me all the way to the end.
I know what NEEDS to happen next
but I just can't picture WHERE it happens.
On a ship? In a shack?
(Sounds like something from Green Eggs and Ham)
Outside? Moonlight? Storm clouds? Hammocks? Dock? Bridge?
This is no end of frustrating!
I recently read
this advice from author Molly Blaisell
about writing novels.
One of the gems she writes is to Stop Rushing Yourself.
So I'm playing with the kids.
A fruit box puppet theater is a good way to try different settings for the novel...right?
While a fruit box has a perfect open shape
for marionette-style puppets,
my kids wanted stick puppets.
So I cut a hole big enough for four pairs of hands
plus
By:
Faith Pray,
on 11/23/2011
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sometimes whirlwinds blow in
intrude on those carefully crafted goals
send sacred mud
in spades
and shovels
do i sigh and grumble over my lost tasks?
truthfully? too often.
but when i'm paying attention,
i stop and look at my happy wildebeests,
soak them up with my eyes
douse them with kisses
and then we go play in leaves
gather up our thankfulness by the armful
press them flat in big books
By:
Faith Pray,
on 11/9/2011
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Pip and Winnie's fairy door.
Do you ever find portals while reading?
Lucy Pevensie's wardrobe
Alice's rabbit hole
Harry's Platform Nine and Three Quarters
Dorothy's tornado
Meg Murry's tessaract
Characters in these stories are ordinary people,
minding their own perfectly normal business
when whoosh! -
in zips a talking rabbit, a parliament of owls, an envelope in emerald ink,
bag ladies spouting Latin -
and the next thing they know
they've been carried away into a gloriously different world -
and life is never the same.
Children, lunatics and writers
live on the edge of that line between fantasy and reality.
Life is good here.
It takes less work to believe in books,
to look for fairy doors
and hang out near them, hoping for a way in.
At least, that's my excuse when I find myself
wishing for Diagon Alley,
an invitation to Camp Halfblood,
2 Comments on The Fairy Door, last added: 11/9/2011
A wise old owl sat in an oak
the more he saw, the less he spoke
the less he spoke, the more he heard.
Why aren't we all like that wise old bird?
Pip's owl costume.
Well, it turns out birthday buntings
double as owl suits.
Whether she's recognizable as an owl, whoooo knows,
but she's happy.
By:
Faith Pray,
on 10/8/2011
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Sinkers and Floaters.
This summer we made an entire fleet
of homemade boats.
We wanted to see which would be the most seaworthy.
If you're an artist or writer, you may be able to relate.
How do you view what you've made -
as experiments,
or tiny pieces of your soul?
Too often as a writer,
I send out tiny pieces of my soul I like to call
manuscripts.
My manuscript souls wobble out into the blue -
some of them proud and brave,
others nervously checking their rigging,
desperate to sail smooth waters.
But when those manuscript soul pieces,
(dare I call them horocruxes?)
hit bad seas
or... or...
sink
Elephants
are always a little...
Big, big, big.
And lumbering.
They chomp bamboo like toothpicks.
Stomp and shove and shoulder.
Elephants do tricks
and live to a ripe old age.
Bigger than monsters,
are they afraid of much?
Huge as giants, do they roar?
Elephants trumpet and harrumph into their trunks
But do elephants snore?
Elephants
in their wrinkled grandeur
make me feel
small, small, small.
Serpentine
I would sob
into my thin second skin,
4 Comments on Serpentine or Elephantine?, last added: 5/27/2011
"Oh No! How My Science Project Destroyed the World"
by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Dan Santat.
Ah, Science Fairs. This book says it all.
Pip and Winnie can relate.
|
Yes, we did have a pet snail for 3 days. |
2 Comments on Writing, Part Two: Science, Snails and Santats, last added: 5/5/2011
We've been watching Haiti, wanting to do something.
And I've been looking for a way to help that involves my kids.
At the same time, the twins have been begging to learn how to sew.
We got a sewing book for Christmas.
We discussed our favorites, which dolls we would make first,
what kind of dresses we would make for them.
They're taking dolls to orphans in Haiti.
What better start to our adventure with the Wee Wonderfuls book?
The Dolly Donations drive asks that the dolls have a love note or prayer tucked inside the body.
Pip and Winnie got to help hand sew the faces.
The skin, hair and dresses are made from repurposed fabrics.
Pip woke up with a tennis ball-sized lump on her neck.
I shook my hubby awake.
"I'm taking Pip to the Clinic.
Can you take care of the kids?
Are you aware enough to be in charge?"
"Huh?
Yeah...
What?
Oh... TV..., yeah."
(For the record, he isn't normally inept at childcare. He really was laid out with a fever and chills.)
Eyeing my sadly oblivious husband,
I had the same talk with 5 year-old Winnie.
"Honey, you're in charge while I take your sister to the doctor.
Can you make sure Sugar Snack, the baby and Daddy are safe?"
(Yeah, I know, I know! I abandoned my kids. I left them alone. with their dad.)
Three hours and an ER visit later, we returned home to
Winnie's gleeful:
"Daddy's throwing up!"
7 Comments on The Mystery of Six, last added: 3/29/2011
"Sometimes I go months without looking"
- Phil Connors, Groundhog Day
Introspection takes courage
and detachment.
I'm not brave or detached.
Their take on flaws is joyful.
They delight in uniqueness.
12 Comments on What To Do With Windfalls, last added: 11/27/2011
5 Comments on Haiti, last added: 4/2/2011
Love it. :)
Thanks for the book recommendation!
If you like Alexander MS as I do, you'll LOVE Alan Bradley...the author of "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" and sequels. Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. We just had a library book by Jon Klassen...I Want My Hat, I think it was. Again, fabulous!
ooh -- photos of paint-covered babies! love it!!
xo
Faith, Bloom, thank you. I love having such dear blog buddies.
Knitty, happy baby to you! And I can't wait to try the book recommendations. Thank you!
I love the the Incorrigibles! I've read them all so far. Funny to read your post today. I just read The true story of The Three Little Pigs to my son; we're going to see the play tomorrow. Time to get into our Wolf point of view.