Do You Mask Merry?

 
We like to masquerade in these parts.

Especially when learning our Pacific Northwest animals.

 

Especially when all fuzzed up about pumpkins and costumes.

 

I started with a few sketches, 

the kids made their own beautiful batches, 

and Voila!

Wildebeests, unite!

Need a quick costume this week?

I'm offering a few freebies for your personal or classroom use.

 

 

  {Please note that these images are my original art.
    They're not to be sold or passed off as anyone else's work.
    Thanks!}

To use, just drag the image to your desktop,
print on card stock,
color at will!

Crayon, colored pencils or watercolor work just fine.
We also tried gouache and acrylic gel medium, for hoots.

Birdie asked if she could change her name to Owly-Whoo.

When you finish all that lovely color,
cut out and fix for wearing! 

Our salmon puppet has a popsicle stick taped to his back.

 

Did you know sockeye salmon turn red when they spawn? I did not. 

The wildebeests told me. 

I guess this means they are learning something in the midst 

of my art diversions.

Yarn or ribbon is an easy tie for the masks.

Hey, anything for a party, right?
Anything for a printable, coloring, educational, masquerade party!
That's right. We mask merry around these parts.  

Happy hoots!

Books!

S is for Salmon - Hannah Viore

123 Moose! by Art Wolfe, ill. by Andrea Helman

Have You Heard the Nesting Bird? by Rita Gray, ill. by Kenard Pak

North - The Amazing Story of Arctic Migration, by Nick Dowson, ill. by Patrick Benson

A House in the Woods by Inga Moore

Leaves  by David Ezra Stein

Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson, ill. by Jane Chapman

Once Upon a Memory by Nina Laden, ill. by Renata Liwska

Kiss Goodnight by Amy Hest, ill. by Anita Jeram

A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

 

 

Wings and Winners

I am Icarus. 

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.
Thank you, Margaret Bloom!
 
Here is 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

Uppity

 

We like to ring in Groundhog Day
with high style over here.

He sees his shadow, he doesn't see his shadow,
either way we get balloons

because Sugar Snack is four!
Bring on the sweets and sprinkles.
  
Sugar high!
 
I'm thinking of changing his name to "Cheeks."
 
Everyone likes a party.

Even small sewn friends.
 
 




Happy day, Cheeks.

And speaking of happy days,
Happy book birthday to Margaret Bloom of We Bloom Here.

"Making Peg Dolls" is a gorgeous book.
I can't wait to rave all about it.
And I will!
I get to be part of Margaret's blog tour, which starts today.

Margaret will be giving away a copy of "Making Peg Dolls"
to one of my lucky readers this month.
Stay tuned for giveaway details.

You can also visit Margaret as she tours the blog-globe.
Giveaways and surprises, oh my!


February 4th:  The Crafty Crow
February 5th:  The Magic Onions
February 6th:  The Toymakers Journal
February 7th:  Clean
February 8th:  Anna Branford
February 11th:  Red Bird Crafts
February 12th:  Art is a Way
February 13th:  Softearth's World
February 14th:  Chocolate Eyes
February 15th:  Rhythm and Rhyme
February 18th:  Wild Faerie Caps
February 19th:  Sacred Dirt

I'm the caboose! 
It's going to be brilliant.

Hooray, Margaret!

and in other news, goodbye Pip's tonsils...
That's our next adventure.
I'll let you know how we do.

Sugar Snack's birthday books:



 

I, Crocodile, by Fred Marcellino
Little Tug, by Stephen Savage
Alphabet City, by Stephen T. Johnson
Shortcut, by David Macaulay
In the Town All Year Round by Rotraut Susanne Berner