Happy Easter!

I just want to say this one more time before next year: HAPPY EASTER!

Yes, I do realize it's May 23rd, a total of forty-nine days after Easter Sunday, but believe it or not, it is still the Easter season! As some of you may have noticed, at the end of every post since I've begun this blog, I've concluded with "Happy Easter!" That's because the Easter season in the church is fifty days long, lasting from Easter Sunday until Pentecost Sunday, which happens to be tomorrow. 

Why do I continue to say "Happy Easter" after most people have forgotten it? Basically, I say it to keep the spirit of Easter alive as long as possible, a reminder of joy and new beginnings. It's a reminder of just how much God loves every person that He sent His only son to not only die for us, but to bring us new life.

The thought of writing "Happy Easter" all throughout the Easter season came to me a few years ago when a book I read challenged its readers to keep the spirit of Easter alive all fifty days of Easter. So, I decided to write "Happy Easter"at the end of things I wrote.

And now, even though Easter is drawing to a close, I challenge you all to keep the spurit of Easter alive next year. It can be through words or actions, whatever you choose!

Once more, happy Easter!

~ Emily Silverwing

Artwork

Hi y'all! I've had a busy past few days and haven't had a chance to post anything, but I'm back! I wanted to show some of my artwork because I enjoy doing art; it's fun. Here's some of my favorites from the past two years.

So, this one is called Spring Awakening. It's a dual medium piece of work using watercolor for the background and permentant marker for the flower.

This painting has no name, but it's one of my favorite paintings I've ever done. This giraffe is made of water color which is really hard for me to use because the painting never goes where it is supposed to go for me, but by some mirace, this turned out! It took quite a few days to complete it and a lot of layering was involved, but I think it turned out well!

This painting has no name again, but it is made from acrylic paint using complementary colors. It's actually based off of a museum somewhere but the name and place has escaped my memory.

Again, this picture has no name. I usually don't name any of my artwork. This here is based of a theme given to me by my art teacher: dragons, castles and wizards. At the time, I had been in the midst of the TV show Merlin and I thought that it was a great theme. Anyways, the picture sort of got it's sides chopped off, so part of the dragon and castle are missing but it doesn't take much away from the piece. This was made using colored pencils.

This here is a pencil drawing of trees to focus on depth and sizing. I think it turned out pretty well, and it was fun to make so many different shaped trees!

This is a frog of some sort created using colored pencils. It was based of a picture of a real frog, so yes, those colors do exist on a frog. 

Being as one of my favorite animals is a giraffe, I have lots of drawings of them! This one is simply done in colored pencil, but the shading is not done all that well.

That's all I have right now, but I hope you enjoyed them!

Happy Easter!

~Emily Silverwing

May Flowers

Well, time has really flown by and I've already had this blog for a month. I haven't posted as much as I would like to, but things have gotten pretty busy lately and will probably be that way throughout the next few weeks before school lets out for the summer. So, keep watching for more posts!

Anyways, May is already here, and that old saying of "April showers bring May flowers" often runs through my head. May is also the month of Mother's Day, which just so happens to be this Sunday. In celebration of all these things, I'd like to post a flower card craft that is easy to do.

Step 1: First, you will need to gather all of your materials. You will need three sheets of colored paper, glue, ribbon, scissors and a hole puncher.

(Missing from photo is the hole hole puncher.)

Step 2: Fold the color paper that you want the petals of your flower to be into thirds.

Step 3: Draw three seperate flowers onto one side of the paper you just folded into thirds. The flowers do not have to be the same and can be any size depending on your preferences. Then, cut them out while making sure to keep the same shaped and sized flowers together.

Step 4: Cut the flowers out while making sure to keep them together by both size and shape.

                                     

Step 5: Now, the edges of the flowers need to be softer and less flat. To accomplish this, take the eraser of a pencil and push down on all the edges and center of the flowers. It's best to do this on a softer surface such as a mouse pad to obtain the degree of softness wanted. (It's okay if the paper becomes crinkled in this step.)

Step 6: Now punch a hole in the center of all the flowers.

Step 7: Choose another sheet of paper to act as the center of your flowers. Cut this sheet into strips of paper about one inch thick and five inches long. You will need three of these. Then, fray the edge of the paper so that it sort of looks like a comb.

Step 8: Take one piece of frayed paper and roll it into a tight coil. It may help to wrap this around and thin object such as a toothpick. Then, insert the rolled piece into the holes of three of your flower petal pieces.

Step 9: Take the last sheet of colored paper and fold in half like a card. Glue the ribbon near the bottom of the paper and arrange three flowers neatly onto the card and glue.

From here, the rest of the card is up to you. You could make it into a thank-you card, a birthday card, a Mother's day card or more! They work well for any occasion and is the perfect way to brighten someone's day.

Happy Easter!

~Emily Silverwing

Cinco de Mayo

Hola! Ayer fue el cinco de mayo! (For you non-Spanish speakers out there, the translation is "Hello. Yesterday was the fifth of May.")

So, many of you have probably heard about cinco de mayo before, but do you truly know what the holiday celebrates?

So, here's a short true and false quiz to test your knowledge of cinco de mayo.

1. Cinco de mayo is equivalent to the United States' Fourth of July. T/F 

2. Cinco de mayo is a widespread, major holiday that is celebrated all throughout Mexico. T/F

3. Cinco de mayo commemorates a the defeat of one battle against Spain in 1862. T/F

As I said, it was a short quiz. So, are you curious about your results? The truth is, every one of the answers to those questions are 'false'. That may be surprising to some of you, but don't feel bad. Until I took Spanish class at school, I didn't know much about cinco de mayo either.

There are two main common misconceptions about cinco de mayo that people have. One is that it celebrates Mexico's Independence day, and the other is that cinco de mayo is a major holiday in Mexico. Mexico's Independence day is actually September 16, 1810. Mexico gained independence from the Spanish on this day after rallying under the leadership of Father Miguel Hidalgo. Cinco de mayo actually originated 52 years after Mexico gained independence from Spain.

The story goes that the French army had come into Mexico to collect debt that Mexico owed to France. This day celebrates the Mexican victory in one battle in that war, the Battle of Puebla. Puebla is an area in southern Mexico. This was a day of great glory for Mexico and thus came the celebration of cinco de mayo. Cinco de mayo, though, is not commonly celebrated in areas outside of Puebla in Mexico. People here in the United States celebrate the day more than people in Mexico; here, the day is more of a celebration of Mexican heritage and culture than commemoration of the victory in Puebla.

There are many ways that people celebrate cinco de mayo. Yesterday, my Spanish class and I had a fiesta - or party - to honor the day. We brought in homemade salsas, homemade guacamole and homemade totopos, or chips, to eat and Jarritos - a Mexican soda made with natural sugar - to drink. While listening to music and watching a short clip about how people were going to celebrate cinco de mayo, we enjoyed our snacks. After eating, my teacher took out his guitar and called up a trumpet player and violin player to play a song that we had to sing to. In other words, we had our own little mariachi band as we sang "De Colores." Finally, to end he day, my teacher passed out washable stick-on tattoos of the Mexican flag for us to wear.

This here is my flag tattoo that I got and put on my arm. It's a bit hard to see, but it was the best I could do at the moment. 

So, my cinco de mayo was fun, and I hope you learned a little something about this celebration!

Happy Easter!

~Emily Silverwing