Hi there everyone.

It’s been a busy start to summer. Miss Fi started kindergarten. Of course she loves it. I’m sure she would like more time to play but what fairy wouldn’t? As for me? You would think that with her being at school for an extra hour or so would give me more time to CREATE, but in my Kingdom that doesn’t always happen. However I did get involved in a really cool giveaway. A fellow blogger came across my pocket tin, “You are a vision of a a thousand gorgeous moments”. She is having a “pocket week” the first week of August.

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Check out Expect Moore’s blog

My pocket tin and also my pocket altar, “Kiss me in the shadows of my desire” will be part of the giveaways. In return I’m getting my first taste of marketing by working with other blogers and artist. So if you have a pocket project take a picture of it and enter her contest. Please be sure to check out her blog and pass this blog on to your friends and family.

My family has a long line of artists in every medium. I have furniture made by my great-grandfather and grandfathers. My brother is artistic and the similarities between my mother’s painting style in college and mine are almost freaky. When I found out Curtis and I were starting a family I couldn’t wait to be able to share my artistic genes. Fiona has definitely acquired a love for painting. Her 1st time painting was for her Daddy’s Office in January 2007. We started out with tempera. I knew how important her experience with paint would be and I wanted to save it on the proper material; canvas. I quickly discovered that although she loved to paint she never wanted to do it for more than 10 minutes at a time. Which worked out great for mixing colors and not letting them turn muddy brown and it gave us a chance to watch the painting transform over several days. Fiona really enjoyed herself and it was a wonderful way for her and I to spend quality time. It also proved to be an important therapy tool for all of Fiona’s delays. At first all I saw was a my child enjoying the craziness of finger painting. I started to see how painting was building her fine and gross motor skills. Fiona had to work on hand eye coordination to look at what she was doing. The texture of the wet and drying paint gave Fiona proprioceptive information about where her hands were in space. She could squeeze, stroke, and scratch at the paint and see the cause and effect of her motions.

The largest painting she has ever done is 36×48 it took two weeks (July 8, 2007 to July 22, 2007). Everyone who comes over quickly learns the story of how talented an artist Fiona is. You can see the spirit of fun and creativity come through in her art. Her art work is beautiful because of the color and composition and the fact that it was painted by someone so young. But it is more than that; because when she is painting all of her struggles with her disabilities melt away from the canvas.

Our mother and daughter painting time is so special that my mother, Marvelle Thompson even photographed her painting for her book, “Blessed Are These Hands an exploration and celebration of women’s values “ co-authored by Susan Kulman. This is the excerpt from Fiona’s picture, “Letting Fiona immerse her hands into paint is a sacred act. It is sacred because it connects her to me (her mother), her grandmother and her other ancestors who expressed themselves creatively with their hands. I want her to paint with my expensive acrylics and use real canvas because I want her to know that her soul, her voice, her creativity is worthy of a gallery wall.”

Fiona’s “Red and Blue” painting is now avaible for purchase at Miss FI’s Kingdom

TITLE: Red and Blue
DESCRIPTION 24x24in acrylic on canvas, finger painted by Fiona Grace King from November 20, 2007 to Dec 8, 2007

Note Jessica King was responsible for priming the canvas and setting up the acrylic colors on the canvas so Fiona could use her hands (and feet) to paint. This means putting the paint on the canvas and using Fiona’s hands to spread out the paint in the desired area so to allow for greater surface area of paint and the mixing of colors. Jessica turned the canvas as needed to make it easier for Fiona to react as the colors moved around. Fiona is completely responsible for texture and emotion of paint on canvas. Each section of painting lasted no more than ten minutes and no more than two colors at a time. This allowed for the color blending and control of pattern.

Fiona was 2 when she painted Red and Blue.

I know how to use my hands to create works of LOVE. Let me capture your breathless moments and hearts true desires. Set your Cupid’s arrow on Miss Fi’s Kingdom to find a unique Valentine’s Day gift. I can also full fill special requests just shoot me an email at info@missfikingdom.com or convo me on etsy.

I wanted to share this great family art project. Not only is it a fun craft to do with all ages but it is eco-friendly too. Basically, it is creating a block print from your child’s artwork by recycling Styrofoam.

Materials

Paper
Pencils crayons
Styrofoam containers
Utility knife or pair of scissors
Acrylic or tempera paint
Roller or paintbrush
Cardstock paper
Small stack of Newspaper

First, save your Styrofoam containers. Now in a perfect world we would not have access to Styrofoam and we would all be able to get packaging made from corn or other such green choices. You want something flat and thick like meat and produce packaging. Cut the Styrofoam into blocks. I was able to get a block shape close to 4×6 from my meat package. Then assemble your paper and drawing materials. For example, let your child draw a picture or help them by hand over hand drawing an image. Note: If you are going to try adding text then you have to reverse the lettering so it will read when you stamp it. Keep in mind that the drawing has to fix on the block. If you want to save the original work of art make a photocopy of it and use the copy to transfer the image to the Styrofoam. All I did was hold it on the Styrofoam and use a pencil to retrace over the image Fiona and I drew. An older child might be able to do this step. You might poke through the drawing and you will have to go over the drawing a couple of times to get all the lines to show up on the Styrofoam. Or, if you and your child are feeling free spirited you can just draw on the Styrofoam. I advise that the adult do the next step. Use a pen or pencil to scratch the image into the Styrofoam. Keep in mind those lines are the areas that will be left white (or the background color) when you stamp the image with paint. You might have to ink the block up with paint to see how well your image is showing up. Then, when you have it the way you want roll or paint the block and stamp it on heavy weight paper. I put newspaper under my cardstock to get a better print.

I had a lot of fun doing this art project with my daughter. Fiona got a little bit of fine motor therapy and art in one. I like the fact that I’m using everyday items and old school techniques to create timeless work of art with my child. I liked our image so much that I got it in my head to make Christmas Cards. So after stamping, handwriting and addressing thirty Christmas cards everyone got a little bit of our Family’s Holiday Magic. I also tried glittering a few of the stamped images. What a pretty mess that is. For those of you who get the sparkle cards and continue to fine glitter in their house into the New Year… Your welcome!

This Halloween this eco fairy has raised some old T—shirts form the grave and turned them into Trick or Treat bags for your little ghouls and goblins. I trekked through the aisle of forgotten clothes and rescued tees from Halloweens past. These T—shirts once cloaked a ghost or vampire on their Hallow’s eve journey to wander the streets and bang on the doors of scared townsfolk. Now they have been turn into sacks for Tricks and Treats. Skulls, pumpkins, black cats and rock star bone men are ready to hoard your loot this Halloween. Come creep over to my Etsy store and snatch up a Halloween Tee-Bag before they disappear before your eyes in the fog and mist of Internet sales.

And while you are entranced by my Tee- Bags why not check out more of my Witchy Crafts. I’ve dug up some Halloween Paint Swatch Cards and Beaded Bracelets. Want to send someone a little note or write a spell and wish them well? These sets of 3 cards will give you the right amount of Halloween flare without a trip down the card aisle. My cards are one of a kind creations made on 100% recycled card stock and decorated with decorative paper scraps and flowers punched from paint swatches found in haunted home stores. Wishing you could get away with wearing a full blown Halloween Costume to work? Well show the office that even working girls can get into the spirit without a costume. My beaded bracelets hold enough Halloween magic to cast a spell of beauty. Just enough black and orange to say Happy Halloween without the fake vampire teeth, bad wigs, or devil horns.

Miss Fi’s Kingdom has Tricks and Treats for all!

That’s right we have our winner for Miss Fi’s Earth Day Contest. We had seven entries that shared all the great ways they’re helping save the planet. It seems like we all get the message about reduce, reuse, recycle! Many of us are using reusable bags when we go shopping and have made the switch from regular light bulbs to CFLs. This community of eco-fairies is off to a great start. I hope that you all continue to look at your day to day lives and make steady progress towards being as “green” as possible.

Shalyn’s name was chosen out of the bowl from six other entries by Miss Fi herself. She had just come home from Fairy Preschool and was ready for her nap. But she hung in there to choose a winner and pose for the camera.

Thanks to all of you who posted three ways you are an eco-fairy. This contest is now CLOSED. The drawing for the recycled Tee-Bag will be held on May 1st after Miss Fi gets home from school. She will pull the winner’s name out of a bowl and I will contact the winner via email. I will also post their name on this blog.

Here at Miss Fi’s Kingdom I want to encourage everyone to wave his or her Eco- Fairy Freak Flag high. So in honor of Earth Day 2009 I’m holding a contest. One lucky winner will get a Stitch of Grace recycled T-Shirt, Tee-Bag!

All you have to do is share at least three ways you’re an Eco-Fairy. Write them in the comment section of the Miss Fi’s Kingdom Blog (sorry, emailing me doesn’t count ☺). Do you recycle, compost, shop at thrift stores, use compact florescent light bulbs, or buy organic? You can also let us know how you plan to be even greener in the near future. Do you have plans to get rid of your grass? Are you going to start to buy greener products? Going solar anybody? The point is I want you to share how you’re making a difference big or small.

Everyone who leaves a comment will be entered into a drawing for the Tee-Bag. Only one entry per person, please. The contest will end April 30, 2009. Miss Fi will select the winner by pulling a name out of a hat on May 1, 2009. I will notify the winner by email and post the results on Miss Fi’s Kingdom Blog. Big or small all our collective efforts will make a difference.

Using reusable bags for shopping is one of the best ways to help the environment. Harmful chemicals and energy are used to produce both paper and plastic bags. 
Recycling and reusing plastic and paper bags does a lot to help keep them out of the landfills and the environment but it doesn’t end the demand for these antiquated forms of transporting goods. Energy, water, and fuel are used to collect, recycle and transport the bags. Reusing plastic bags is a great idea, but realistically you would have to use them eleven times before you would absorb the environmental impact. Reusable bags like these recycled tee shirt bags are the most responsible ways to shop and carry items. Bags made from old tees aren’t a new idea, but it’s a great idea that should be embraced by us all. My personal twist is finding the unusual ones, like old Monty Python and Mad TV tee shirts. I’ve been scouring thrift stores and yard sales for unusual tees. I’ve even enlisted the help of friends and family, asking them to save their favorite pop culture shirts. I’m also exploring the sizes of the bags: Large shirts for groceries and laundry, medium shirts for shopping and school, children’s sized tees make great lunch sacks and gift bags. I’m also collecting old Halloween shirts to make trick-or-treat bags. I hope that you will find a Tee Bag that makes a statement about your personality and your commitment to the environment. And whether or not you buy one of my creations I hope that you will consider using reusable fabric bags and maybe even make some of your own. My Tee Bags and other eco-Fairy products are at my Etsy shop MissFiKingdom. I will be posting the Tee Bags throughout the week.

If you want some more information about the production and use of paper and plastic bags visit http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=4

One of the things I always try to do when I’m out in nature is clean up trash and clear debris. To my absolute surprise there wasn’t any trash down by the spring. But there was a lot of fallen branches and leaves choking the path of the water. We had a lot of snow fall in the canyon this year, so many of the trees just couldn’t handle all the extra winter weight. While pulling the Alder branches out of the spring, all of the pollen bursted into the air in large yellow clouds. It made me think of how artist back in the day used pollens as pigments for paint and fiber dye. I pictured the people who made their artist signature back in caves. They would put their hand on the wall and splatter the pigment over their hand and onto the wall. This left the stencil of their participation in the pictorial history painted 0n the cave walls. Of coarse I had to get funky and creative while I was energizing myself down at the spring… So I gathered the pollen and found the perfect rock to slap a high five. “I was here”

While Miss Fi and I frolicked by the sacred spring I set the White Winged Gourd Fairy out to fly and wake up the forest from its long winter nap.



Do you want this gourd fairy to fly into your life? Then you have to catch her at www.MissFiKingdom.etsy.com