Mighty Girl Art™: November 2012

Mighty Wintry Workbook

Howdy Mighty Peeps!

For those of you who did not get a fireside seat in the Mighty Wintry Workshop, I am offering a 24 page PDF for $10. It's the next best thing to being there...

The Wintry PDF package contains detailed instructions and photos for the FIVE projects from the 2012 Mighty Girl Art Wintry Workshop. The projects are simple, fun and suitable for tweens, teens and adults. You can host a Wintry Weekend Craftapalooza in your own home. Create cool gifts for siblings, friends and teachers.

Once I receive notice from paypal, I will email you the PDF file.

Proceeds from this sale support Mighty Girl Art. Your generosity makes Mighty things happen, and I thank you for that.

Spread the love,
Wendy

Week Three: Feathers

"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all," - Emily Dickinson

We sipped hot cocoa and read the above poem, then discussed our plans for the morning. What are your hopes? What makes your soul sing? We thought about the poem and these questions later on as we worked on our projects.

Before we took our morning walk in Big Woods, Mighty M read a poem that she wrote. It was so powerful and beautiful that we all clapped.

During our walk we met two horses, Magnus and Lucia.

We headed back to the studio to begin working on our Twine Feather ornament.

After the twine feathers were set aside to dry until our next class, we made keepsake ornaments with hollow glass orbs. The girls filled them with found objects like princess pine, and feathers.

They learned how to make twisty wire hangers and incorporated beads and ribbons made from recycled sari shreds.

And of course, OF COURSE....we made S'mores.

*This post is dedicated to Celeste.

Week Two: Everything You Do is Sacred

"Now is the season to know
that everything you do is sacred" - Hafiz

Joined today by E and M, we were very excited to have everyone together...our circle complete. K read the poem from last week aloud then we discussed our plans for the morning over hot cocoa, while considering the above quote. We talked about the gift of creativity and how we can use our gifts to serve others.

We put the finishing touches on our felted soaps from last week.

We made gift tags and wrapped them for giving...

and finished mugs.

We took our journals into Big Woods for some inspiration. I told the girls that my friend Maezen says, "Keep your eyes open, everything you see is the teaching". We found deer tracks by the creek and a lot of spiders with beautiful markings that blended nicely with the leaves and the lichens.

Spider wisdom reminds us to look for creative opportunities and to weave our dreams into reality.

We found a fallen tree perfect for climbing.

When we returned we made snow globes inspired by the ones sold at Anthropologie.

Then we ended the morning with a wish ceremony and S'mores.

Now is the season....

Week One: See that Inner Landscape

"Winter is the best time
 to find out who you are.
Quiet, contemplation time,
away from the rushing world,
cold time, dark time, holed-up
pulled-in time and space
to see that inner landscape,
that place hidden and within." - David Budbill

The leaves begin to fall, the days get colder, and the color of the light changes its hue with the earth’s tilt. We are moving into a season of thankfulness and giving. In this workshop we embrace the gift of our creativity by making artful gifts for our friends, family and ourselves. In this workshop we discover that everything we create, when done so with intention and purpose, is a sacred blessing. The coming season of Winter reminds us to take it slow - it's not a race, it’s a journey... 

The girls arrived and sipped hot chocolate while I read the above poem and discussed plans for the morning. The ceremonial sipping of cacao (or hot chocolate in our case) can be traced back to 1900 BC and was offered in sacred ceremonies by the Mayan and Aztec people. Chocolate comes from the seeds of the cacao, a sacred plant in some ancient cultures. Chocolate increases the release of dopamine, endorphins, and anandamide ( a neurotransmitter that promotes a blissful feeling).

Once blissed out on chocolate, we rubbed some wild orange and frankincense on our forearms while reciting an affirmation then headed into Big Woods for a nature walk.

This blend of oils is said promote positive thoughts and the
awareness of goodness in oneself and those around you.

We took our journals with us to record patterns and forms in nature that we could later use in our work...

like berries that resembled faceted beads.

When we returned we began decorating our cups. The cup is thought to be a metaphorical symbol for enlightenment. When we sip from our cups this winter, they will remind us to find out who we are inside - to learn what fill us with joy - when to tip ourselves over and share our gifts with others.

They wrote messages on their cups seeking inspiration from this guide.

The cups will be baked and ready next week, so we moved on to a Mighty Girl favorite - felted soaps. Felted soaps are a real treat and are sold in stores like Anthropologie. We used a natural and wintry peppermint soap. The soaps were placed on a rack to dry until next week.

We closed the morning with a Wish Ceremony to set our intentions for the coming season. There was a round of personal wishes as well as a collective wish for humanity. The girls used magical Flying Wish Paper to send their wishes aloft.