Saturday, May 29, 2010

Marian ATC Swap: Vee's Edition

(I finished up the last card for the Marian ATC swap and am dropping these all in the mail today, juuuuuust making the postmarked deadline. Phew!)

Below are my contribution to the Marian ATC Swap. If you receive them, please know they were not drawn by a child. It's a grown-up's drawing ... a grown-up who draws like a happy child and enjoys doing so!





 (This was the first card I made, which was on canvas ATC material. Painting it was rather fun, but unfortunately, due to myriad events at Clubhouse Dali, I couldn't paint the remainder cards. Pressed for time, I turned to my beloved colored pencils.)






Marian ATC Swap: Oldest Son Edition

At the last minute, my oldest son (age 8) decided that the Marian ATC Swap wasn't something he wanted to miss! Below are his contributions to the swap, too. Some of the details are lost in the scanning (he draws minute details), but they're still perty dang kuh-yoot.

Above left: The Immaculate Conception, of course!
Above right: Joseph and Mary heading out to Bethlehem. I like their matching green shirts.

Above: The Nativity Scene ... Baby Jesus is sleeping. Shhh, don't wake him up.
Above: Our Lady of Guadalupe ... How can you not love our Lady when she's wearing purple?


Above: Mary holding baby Jesus ... He is very, very tiny, but he's there. Look very closely. Jesus is always with us.



Thursday, May 27, 2010

Marian ATC Swap: My Daughter's Edition

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." (Pablo Picasso

My daughter and I are participating in the Marian ATC Swap, hosted by Pondering in My Heart.  I'll share mine before I send them out, but this post is about my daughter's cards.

When she showed me her ATCs, I was moved by the joyful spirit and imagination of each one. More than artistic stuffiness or theory or anything formal, her drawings focused on a Mary that is very much a real living person, a mom and wife. I asked for my 9-year-old girl's permission to share these with you, and she was happy to do so:
Above left picture: "Mary feeding the Child Jesus
The simplicity of this picture makes it one of my favorites. Jesus, as a child, needed to eat. Mary is his mom, so she fed him. That's that.
Above right picture: "Our Lady of Guadalupe"
La Virgen de Guadalupe is my favorite apparition, and it made me happy to see that my own love of this one has spread to my daughter.

Above left picture: "Mary in the Manger"
Above right picture: "The Coronation of Mary"
She looks so cheerful, doesn't she? Like she can hardly contain her grin, and her hands are clutched in anticipation on her lap. My daughter's Mary is full of smiles and peace. She doesn't have a nose because my daughter doesn't want her to have one. And I love that she's confident enough to just skip it and depend on the strength of the rest of the picture.

Above: "Mary with Joseph"
My favorite part of this is her cute rounded belly and the fact that Joseph is showing his love for her with a big bright heart.

Whoever receives these pictures in the swap should know they were drawn with a great amount of love and cheer. I think it shows.







Monday, May 24, 2010

One Pretty Booklet



My Printable Booklet for a Bookworm is featured on the Printables Roundup this week at the sweet, wonderful and all-around inspirational One Pretty Thing.

Be sure to swing by and look at all the lovely printables there.

That Resource Site

Have you visited That Resource Site? You should. It's packed with worksheets, activity pages, and ideas for incorporating the faith into the classroom. I've been downloading their mini books for unit studies to supplement my children's learning this summer. It's exciting to find good, free stuff online.

And you still have seven days left to celebrate Mary during her month! That Resource Site features activity pages to do so.


I'd tell you more, but it's just better if  you hop on over and check it out.










photo credit: DontBblue

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Pentecost Printables

Need the 12 apostles to color on Pentecost Sunday? I have a few Paper Dali figures that might substitute in a pinch. Just print them out and color them with different hair color and tunics, and they might work. (Or they might say, "Look, Joseph Mukasa is dressed like St. Andrew today." The point will still get across!)

Good robed figures for makeshift paper-doll apostles are:
St. Joachim
St. Joseph Mukasa
St. Joseph

And don't forget Mary!

Happy Pentecost!





Friday, May 14, 2010

Art to Celebrate Mary: Artist Trading Card Swap



Kimberlee at the Pondered in My Heart blog is hosting a Marian Artist Trading Card swap. If you have a little free time; the desire to draw, paint or color; and two regularly stamped envelopes, you can participate by sharing your original Marian pictures ... and receiving a few in return. Best of all, the swap is open to all ages, meaning parents can join in on the artistic fun as well.

All the details are at Kimberlee's blog. Do stop by and say hello!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Bl. Miguel Pro's Life in 10 Minutes

For people interested in an overview of Bl. Miguel Pro's life, "Mexico's Merry Martyr" is free to watch online. It's just a 10-minute movie with captions in English to keep the viewer engaged. (It's a .wmv file, so you may need Windows Media Player to see it.) It's a fabulous overview, with my only complaint is that I kept recognizing the music from movies and TV shows. Otherwise, I highly recommend you visit the link and get to know more about Bl. Miguel Pro.

Why? Because his bravery, sense of humor, and deep devotion to the faith can inspire those who long to live out the Catholic faith. He was a saint of the 1900s, so we have so many images of him, as well as his writings and drawings. When people think of saints, they usually imagine them as solemn and dusty, creaky-minded and lacking fire. It is only when one starts reading about the various saints that one comes to understand the diversity of the saints. There are definitely solemn and grumpy saints, but there were also ones who laughed heartily and exuded enthusiasm and vitality.

In seeing the short movie mentioned above, you do get a sense of how dangerous the political climate of Mexico in the 1920s was, but you also get glimpses of how Bl. Miguel navigated through all that tension and had moments of joy that he brought others.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Happy Feast of Saint Joseph / Feliz Dia de San Jose

"Holy Joseph, chosen by God to be the guardian of Our Lord Jesus Christ and spouse of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, receive the offerings of our hearts and listen to the prayers we humbly address to you today." (Archbishop Kazimierz Majdanski)


In celebration of St. Joseph's day, here's a St. Joseph paper doll from the Paper Dali archives. He's from the early days of drawing, however, despite that, he's one of the most popular ones here.

You can also make a St. Joseph peg doll: (Directions and image taken from my St. Joseph's Altar post.)
St. Joseph Doll

Materials:
green felt
brown felt
white felt
beige felt
toothpick
paint
black yarn

1. Paint the face as you would like. Do this first, so as it dries, you can work on the following steps.
2. Cut a half-circle of green felt.
3. Cut a strip of brown felt.
4. Cut two small triangles of green.
5. Cut two beige circles.
6. Warm up the glue gun.
7. Put dots of hot glue on the wooden body of the doll. Quickly, drape the green cloth over it and make sure it covers the body.
8. Put dots of glue on the brown strip then drape it diagonally over the green. (See picture above.)
9. Put a drop of glue on the wide part of the green triangle. (The green is the sleeve. The beige circle is the hand.)
10. Do the same for the other green sleeve and beige hand.
11. Put a drop of glue on the top of the green sleeves and press them against the body.
12. Take a strand of yarn, put glue on it, then drape it under St. Joseph's face to form a beard. (I didn't put it on his face because, in case I made a mistake, I didn't want to have glue bits all over it.)
13. Cut black pieces of yarn in the same length, enough to be hair.
14. Put glue on the wooden head then press the black yarn on it. Be careful not to burn yourself!
15. Trim the "hair" at the length you'd like.
16. To make the lily, just cut a small half-circle of white felt. Glue one edge of the circle to the top of the toothpick. Swirl it around until it looks like a lily. Then put a drop of glue on the toothpick and press it against St. Joseph.

And then, you're done.
Creative Commons License ... and please do NOT offer my works as downloads from your site.