Spring Subway Art Printable

I’ve been seeing various Subway Art Printables around the web for a bit and I wanted to make my own.

So here it is! You can download it directly from Scribd.

Spring Subway Art

Being that I wanted it to be Spring Themed I searched for poems and found one that I thought really was inspiring and appropriate.

I found this poem by one of the greats, Percy Shelley and just ran with it. You can either download it from the embedded widget above or if that isn’t working you can get it Here.

This is sized for a normal sheet of paper. I printed mine on Cardstock and am using a document size frame to display it.

I would love to do some that are specifically about Paganism or Heathenry. I think maybe some from the Havamal would be awesome!

It was a lot of fun and pretty simple so I hope everyone wouldn’t mind seeing them fairly often in the future.

If you have ideas please shot them my way. The big issue I was running into is that it can’t be very long. This part of the poem is only 4 lines long.

Opinion Question: Is the embedded Scribd box too much? Do you all like it or should I just leave the link in the future?

Technorati Tags: spring,printable,poem,Percy Shelley,download

Interview with the Pagan Children’s Author behind Rupert’s Tales, Kyrja

My family was lucky to be first introduced to Rupert the Rabbit early on. We happen to live near the author, Kyrja, and learned of him at a local event. I asked her if she’d be willing to answer a few questions for the blog to help introduce Rupert to more people.

She very enthusiastically did!

First A Background on Rupert

Rupert is a curious rabbit and the first 2 books of Rupert’s Tales follow Rupert as he learns about the Pagan Wheel of the Year. The stories are written in a whimsical manner and are good for children of all ages.

You can also view this Youtube video by Kyrja who will explain about him herself.

An Introduction to Rupert by KyrjaRocks

Current books available are:

• Rupert's Tales: The Wheel of the Year Beltane, Litha, Lammas, and Mabon
• Rupert’s Tales: The Wheel of the Year – Samhain, Imbolc, Ostara and Beltaine
• Rupert’s Tales: The Wheel of the Year Activity Book

Onto the Interview

Q: Kyrja, I know you to be a colorful and vibrant person. Have you always shown these qualities as strongly as you do now?

A: No. Absolutely not.

MM: Spring Stuff Galore, Job Interview, Pentacles and Moons

If you haven’t noticed it’s been very busy around the blog and shop this past week.

We have a Giveaway currently going for a Handmade Spring Matching Kids Game.

Yesterday we hosted the Spring has Sprung Blog Hop which is still open if you want to add a post to it. I still am making my rounds to each of the posts.

On the Job Search Front

I have a job interview tomorrow morning at a local High School as a temporary math teacher for Algebra & Geometry. I’m so nervous. I went and got my hair cut yesterday and dyed it myself last night. I just lightened it some because I’m a naturally a bit of a light-dirty blond if I don’t spend much time outside. That’s something I haven’t been doing much of either. I’ll get some pictures up later on the Facebook Fan Page and the Google + Page.

Please Good  thoughts my way if you can spare the energy.

New Pentacle Patches in the Etsy Shop 

We have 3 new listings up in the Etsy Shop. All are for 2 inch patches. We have the Triple Moon Symbols now available in 3 metallic colors. We already have a listing for them in the 5 elemental colors.

We also have 2 inch pentacles available in the 5 elemental colors and in 3 metallic colors.

Eostre/Ostara at Our House

This is my post today for the Spring Has Sprung Blog Hop. Make sure to check in and visit the rest of the participating blogs!

Yesterday the kids had their egg hunt, curtsey of the Spring Bunny.

Oh boy were they excited!

Lil ‘R spied the eggs in the backyard through the window. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him eat his breakfast so fast!

I was surprised at how well Wee Rose did. This was her first real egg hunt. She held her own basket and went around the yard with Daddy methodically looking for her eggs.

Lil ‘R was so excited he kept taking his sister’s eggs. This is something that goes back to my childhood as I have only 1 brother. My mom split the colors up so that my 5+ yr older brother wouldn’t take all the eggs.

Spring has Sprung Blog Hop

It’s finally here!
We’re hosting what I hope becomes an annual event.

Spring has Sprung Blog Hop

Just add your Spring Themed Blog post to the link tool below and leave a comment to let us know a bit more about it!

The party link is going to stay open so don't worry about when you add this. I jumped the gun a bit putting this up. Blogger was giving people, including myself, problems about loading the sign up post. It kept redirecting to the main page. So I wanted to get this out there.

Even if you never were on the sign up list please go ahead and join, grab a button still to help spread the word. I'd really appreciate it.

Technorati Tags: spring,blog hop,pagan

Frith

Modified Photo from freedigitalphotos.net

Frith comes from the Old English word for Peace but that is just the tip of the iceberg.

According to John Clark Hall's A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary,the Old English word friþ meant: 1. peace, tranqility; 2. security, refuge; 3. privilege of special protection and the penalty for the breach of it; 4. the restoration of rights to an outlaw. The first meaning,"peace, tranquility," appears to be the way most heathen use frith today.^[1]

Frith extended beyond just peace within a tribe or group of people it is the concept for which different clans/tribes/groups came together to meet and swear to no fighting.

That was then but What about Now?

In today’s world most of us wouldn’t be a part of a diplomatic group that needed to operate under the concept of Frith. But really it still does apply.
If you’re a part of any larger community I’m sure you’ve seen where splits happen in groups. And then the bad talking happens, possibly lies or even worse.
This is where Frith is a concept that is good for all people to take to heart and to teach our children. Frith doesn’t mean just keeping the peace for the sake of peace but frith can easily be kept by always acting in an honorable manner.

Low there do I See

Right now I’m seeing a bit of this between two pagan run festivals. It has come to my attention about bad words being said about one to discourage people to attend it. This isn’t healthy or beneficial for either even when each is very different from the other and serves different needs of the community. What is the worst is it’s being said by members of staff for the event (though not the organizers). I know animosity has always occurred between the two and things have been said on both sides. What I don’t get is why. What good does this do?
Have you any experience where if Frith was a known and followed concept maybe things would have happened or been dealt with differently? I’m pretty sure you all have. I only shared one of dozens I know of.
I hope everyone is having a great Friday.
In Frith,

Technorati Tags: pagan blog project,frith,heathen,pagan,ethics

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Today was the 2nd F post for the Pagan Blog Project. You can see all the other posts for this week Here.

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[1] Frith (N.A.) Wednesbury Shire of White Marsh Theod, retrieved from http://www.englatheod.org/frith.htm
This Post was written for treegoldandbeegold.com all content is copy writed and held by Treegold & Beegold or to any persons expressly listed.

Family Trip to the Bay Area Renaissance Festival

We try to go to the local Renaissance Festival at least once each year. We unfortunately missed last year but this year I was taking no chances of missing it.

I also go a convenient sponsor offer that worked great with it. Costume Discounters contacted me via email and offered me a costume in exchange for a review. I thought it would be great to get Lil ‘R a knight costume to wear to the Renaissance Fair.

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Knight Costume Review

I have to say that for the price it’s a pretty nice kids costume. The arms have this metallic silver fabric that really gives the impression of chainmail. The image appears to be well adhered so I don’t think it will flake off too fast. It seems to be of sturdy construction so I expect to get quite a few wears out of it. Lil ‘R loved it. He was running around saying he was a Knight for quite awhile.

The one Big draw back is it’s made entirely of polyester so it’s hot. By about noon Lil ‘R was complaining of being hot and I had to change him into a spare set of clothes. A minor drawback is the design of the pants & leg grieves. The pants are really black polyester shorts and the leg grieves just wouldn’t stay in place.

The Top is awesome but I think the next time he wears it I’m going to put him in a pair of his own black pants instead of the ones that came with the costume.

For More Information check out Costume Discounters Facebook Fan Page.

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The Bay Area Renaissance Fair

We loaded up the kids and went with 2 very close friends (Aunty & Uncle to the kids). Lil ‘R was so excited to see the Knights!

One of the first things we did was let the kids each get a pony ride. Lil ‘R wanted to keep squirming and telling his pony to giddy up and go faster.

Wee Rose absolutely loved riding her pony. I was shocked at how well she sat the horse too for being so young. I used to ride Hunter/Jumper when I was younger.

Tutorial & Giveaway! Ostara-Spring Themed Matching Game

Ostara – Eostra – Spring Blessings on Everyone

Eostra is a huge Pagan & Heathen holiday for the kids. In our house I keep trying to make it bigger and bigger every year. On Saturday I’ll be sharing our family photos for the Spring has Sprung Blog Hop. If you haven’t signed up to join make sure to hit the post and leave a comment with the name of your blog and it’s web address.
Today though I’m sharing a tutorial for this cute fabric Spring Matching game.
I’m also running a Giveaway of one set for one of our readers. Jump to the End of this post to enter and get more details.

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What’s Needed

• 1/4 yard of 3 Spring Themed Fabrics (front fabrics)
• 1/2 yard of 1 Spring Themed Fabric (backing fabric)
• Small amount Felt in at least 3 different colors.
• Coordinating thread or embroidery floss.
• PDF Pattern of the shapes

What to Do

After printing out the PDF Pattern I cut out each of the shapes.
From the felt I cut out 2 of each shape. Then I set them aside.

No Monday Madness This Week

photo credit: mainstreamfair.wordpress.com 

Due to my current status as Chicken with it's Head cut off getting ready for Eostra there will be no update.

Expect in the next coming week:

• A New Tutorial
• A Giveaway Annoucement
• The Countdown to Our Blog Hop on Sunday
• Pictures from our Family Day at the Renfair
• Maybe an interview with a Pagan Children's Book Author

Hope everyone is having a great start to their week!

-Velody

Creating A Family Faith: Deciding on What to Teach and Share

Today is the first week of the letter F for the Pagan Blog Project. You can find all the other great posts Here. Please be sure to visit the link and check out the others.

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This is a huge topic on my mind at  the moment. I have two small children and not only do I identify as pagan but so does my husband. But we still don’t share all the same beliefs.

On top of that I run an active Pagan Parenting Group on Facebook. I’m constantly researching and searching for references.

I’ve talked before how important I feel it is to not keep your children in the dark regarding your faith. But what about in a mixed faith household?

My husband beliefs fall closest in line with Eclectic Paganism with it’s roots strongly in Wicca. That description holds pretty true for him but of course he is an individual. I’m the complicated one. I believe the best definition for me is as a Humanistic Pagan or Heathen. It’s a label I only learned about a month or so back but it seems to fit pretty well. In a nut shell it’s a focus on nature and the ethics of pre-Christianity (for myself Heathenry) without a fundamental view of any deity/deities. For more information please visit the link.

How do we mesh this when it comes to raising our children?

Tutorial: Simple Spring Sock Chick

I am completely in love with these sock critters. The Sweetheart Sheep was adorable but a bit difficult. I wanted to do a much simpler one that was still in tune of spring.

This time we have a Cute Spring Chick!

He only involves hand stitching and took me about 30 minutes including pictures.

What I Need

• A child’s Yellow Sock (I searched my kid’s to no avail but found a 3 pack at the Dollar Store).
• Orange Felt
• Orange & Yellow Embroidery Floss
• Black Puffy Paint Or Black Felt
• Stuffing
• PDF Pattern for Feet and Beak

What to Do

 

I first took the yellow sock and cut it just before the heel.

Monday Madness: House Update!

It’s Monday again! And that means update time!

Mundane life has been incredibly crazy here so no new items for the shop. Yes a big frowny face about that.

Our home repairs are complete though. Last week I show the kitchen ripped up and this week I have pictures of it finished!

Also I am done with my first 2 classes towards my teaching certificate. Just a bunch more to go!

Complete Kitchen & 1 Bathroom!

I said last week I would share pictures of our kitchen when it was done. In some ways this turned into a blessing in disguise. Because I had an issue with how they did the cabinets over something you can’t see from the outside the company gave us a discount. That meant they did the job low enough it compensated for our home insurance deductible.

The whole thing cost us almost nothing out of pocket. For weeks I was stressing over the money about fixing this. I’m so happy that:

• It’s finished!
• The money worked out
• We got were able to upgrade our kitchen
• We also upgraded the kids bathroom

The Kitchen Before & After

Lil ‘R liked is so much he wanted to move into a cabinet.

Environment: It’s more than just dirt

In what I call my previous incarnation I was an Environmental Engineer. I hold a Master’s degree in it even. I went into that field originally with the intensions of wanting to make a true difference.

For a few years I felt I did. I worked on a project to learn the cause of tree die off in a ecosystem a bit south of here. I then worked on possible scenarios to try to bring it back to it’s original state while still working with the changes of how the local land was being used.

In time though restoration jobs became less and I became less happy at my work. As long time readers know I was eventually laid off that job, and I decided to change careers. Something I’m currently in the middle of.

The environment is still dear to my heart though I show it in not so obvious ways. I’m pro technology just as I feel my ancestors were.

Though I follow a Reconstructionist path I will never go back to how my ancestor’s lived exactly.

My way of being environmentally conscious is through my usage and I’m a strong believer in reuse and fixing things. When something breaks the first thing I try to do is fix it, if I can’t fix it can I use it differently? And just because something is older doesn’t mean it isn’t good.

I try to make things out of other items like my Mate-less Sock Black Widow Spider or my Sweetheart Sheep.

Monday Madness: (On Tuesday I know) Ripped up Kitchen and New colors for Sif Patch

 

Things are running a bit behind here. I feel like I’m juggling 1000+1 things.

• I’m in my last week for my current set of classes.
• I got my resume redone and faxed it out to 3 different high schools.
• Also our kitchen is currently in pieces as it’s been redo and repaired.
• I also finished up a custom colored Sif patch.

Ripping A part our Kitchen

Ideally we would not be having our kitchen redone right now. Back in Mid January we came to learn that the wax ring on kid’s bathroom toilet was leaking. That toilet happened to be right above one of our kitchen cabinets.

Yes EWww!!

Monday they ripped out all the kitchen cabinets and today they are putting in the new ones.

Before With Cabinets                   And After the Cabinets Gone

The funniest thing was Lil ‘R. He had a fit!

Eostra: A Goddess & A Holiday Plus a Free Embroidery Pattern

This entry is for the Pagan Blog Project please be sure to check out the other participating blogs for this week Here.

Be sure to go to the end of the post for our Eostre Rabbit Embroidery Pattern.

Eostra (sometimes Eostre) is often better known in to some as Ostara, the holiday to celebrate the Spring Equinox.

Eostra is the Anglo-Saxon form of the word^[1] and the one most used in Heathenry, though Ostara’s origins come from High German. The Anglo-Saxon variation is what eventually turned into Easter, the holiday celebrated by Christianity at a similar time of the year.

Eostra is said to be a spring Goddess, the Goddess of Dawn^[2], who was worshiped specifically in the months of April. She represents fertility and new beginnings.

There is doubt amongst some to her actual historical existence.