3 completed birds

All the birds are done! They took a lot longer than I expected them to but they came out way better than I expected them too.

Here is bird #2. My daughter was the muse behind the colors. They are bright and light just like my Sophia. A splash of red for her passion and love of life, a blue streak for her tom-boyness. Plus purple is her favorite color.


Bird #3 was the biggest of the 3 birds and the one I called the Momma bird. Yes this bird was me. Red for for the undying love I have for my family.


And here is the whole piece of fabric done.


Next step? Get this onto the box!

Coloring in the birds

The ideas has been steady flowing since I have received the box. Artful Chica and I knew we wanted to incorporate the lyrics into the box so I decided to embroider them onto fabric. The first step was to find the lyrics, then find a font. After those 2 tasks were done I set to work at embroidering.

Originally I wanted to do all the letters but after the first line it was not looking nice. Instead I just highlighted each letter with some color.


Then of course I had to add 3 birds. For the color of this first bird I thought of my husband.

The second bird is done and was colored in with colors that remind me of my daughter. The third and biggest bird is the Momma bird and I am using colors that reflect me. More photos to come soon!

An Artist Blooms

At some point,I remember PR MOM saying that she did not consider herself an artist,although she is a photographer.

The last few days she has sent me picture texts on what she is working on.

I have to admit that it has been

 wonderful and amazing

  watching our journey unfold.

There is something sacred about watching an artist unfurl her wings

slowly~gently

not quit sure if she can fly.

PR Mom

You have the wings

and

You can fly!

Painting Birdies

One of the reasons that I love the "3 Little Birds" theme is because in our house 3 is "the magic number" because we are a little family of 3. We have had no luck in trying to expand our family, so we have embraced the number 3.

Although this project is a collaboration between Artful Chica and I, I wanted my family of 3 to be involved in some way. So we each took one of the birds that Artful Chica made, and painted.




And here are our 3 little lovely birds that are now a representation of my lovely little family.

Arrival

The anxiety of the address mix-up is over! (Which was totally my fault by the way!). Thanks to Artful Chica's son, the package arrived to me yesterday. I almost hugged my postman in gratitude.

Moments later I was ripping open the package and packing peanuts were flying everywhere!

Inside the box was not only our beautiful cigar box, but lots and lots of goodies for me and my daughter, The Phi.

The Phi has a slight obsession with the Geico commercials with the money with the eyes. She calls him "cash money eyes", and of course Artful Chica sent him too!



I couldn't believe that I finally had my hands on the real live box! Photos really do not do the colors justice. Especially the gorgeous blue of the lining.

Also inside was the work that Artful Chica had already done, and our package was being well taken care of because everything got to me in one piece. Even the teeny tiny fragile birds. All 3 of them.

There was a gift for me too. A handmade sketch book. Decorated with Dia De Los Muertos calaveras. It is simply stunning and I think I am going to use it to sketch and doodle my favorite lyrics and quotes.

As usual The Phi was spoiled and not only received cash money eyes, but also got some amazing art and architecture coloring books. A book on Georgia O'Keefe and a letter and wrapped gift.

I had to wait until The Phi got to the office after school, but she opened her gift and found an oh so very cute children's books called "Owl At Home". She adored it!

Thank you so much for everything Artful Chica!

And now the creating begins

LIMBO

Long ago I sent a package off to PR Mom in California. It never arrived. Inside the box was random goodies,paint,baby birds,bits n pieces,and most importantly: Our Cigar box for this project. We waited and waited and nothing. I had put full faith into the USPS so I did not get the tracking option they offer.

Prior to shipping it,I had taken a picture of it and sent it to PR Mom,she didn't notice then that I had put the wrong address on it. It was one digit off. Days and weeks have tumbled by and Monday she went back and looked at the picture and caught my mistake.

So then we waited for it to return to me. And waited,and waited.

The problem on my end is,I have a rural postal service,

a VERY rural postal service.

I don't get packages left at my door,hell I don't even get mail left at my door. It is a 2 mile-ish drive to the mailboxes to get mail. If packages are something you are waiting for then all you get is a card notification usually telling you,you can pick up said parcel after 9 a.m. the following day. This wonderful Post Office is 25 miles from where I live,and yes it is our only one.

Now the dear USPS must have said to one another,"Lets see what hours Chica works and post those as our operating hours" and they did. Now they are open on Saturday for a whopping 2 hours. Of course those 2 hours could not be in the early morning so that you may go on about your business.

OH NO!

They have given us the luxury of being open 12 to 2. Yes, right smack in the middle of the day. Those mail happy procrastinators now can sleep in and be rest assured that they can breeze in late to mail their "Dear John" letters off before sobering up from last nights debauchery. The line during these hours are almost ALWAYS clear out the door. and since they have 2 separate sets of doors you have to schlep through you end up at some point being the Guardian of the door.

Yesterday the Return To Sender card arrived,and scrawled on it is:

AVAILABLE FOR PICK UP ON 10/3 AFTER 9AM

really Postman? I can go after 9 am and you will be there bright eyed and bushy tailed to hand me my package after 9 am on a Saturday?

I really doubt it.

Really I do.

This weekend we are supposed to go to Tucson which means the package will have to..(drum roll please maestro)..

wait and wait and wait  some more 

until Wednesday when I have a mid week day off and I can get in there to fix the number and send it right back.

I wonder If they'll make me pay for another trip back to Cali?

In Route

A box lovingly packed and decorated in on its way to my office! It contains our cigar box and all the work that Artful Chica has already put into our collaboration. I am very excited and anxious to get the package to me. I am also nervous that I will open the package and take out our box and my mind will go completely blank and every artistic thought I ever had will fly out of my brain like a little bird.

Birdies & Trims

For those of you new to the blog,I just want to give a quick recap.

The PR Mom and I have never met. We have never spoken one word to each other outside of texts and emails. This is the other way we communicate with each other. 

She is totally the Bomb for doing this with me. 

I wanted the PR Mom to see the trims that I molded out. The camera wasn't being very cooperative.

The trims are not glued down, I just wanted to spread them out so that she could see them.

A tail feather view of the little birds.

3 little birds to be exact perched on a popcorn box. By the way I burnt the popcorn,like charcoal burnt.

Just thought I'd share that tidbit.

Ok is it me or does that little guy on the box look a lot like a dolphin?

Keep your fingers crossed that Lily Munster doesn't find the birds. 

I don't want to wake up to a bird head in my bed.

I don't know what they are doing,but the orange on the box sure makes the white bright. I sculpted the birdies out of Paper Clay. Love that stuff,but living in AZ you have to work fast.

They need to finish curing and then the beautiful PHI can paint them.

Hey! Who went to McDonalds and didn't bring me a cheeseburger?

And Yes,as a matter of fact I did eat the popcorn,and boy are my teeth clean!

Signs

I have yet to get my hands on the cigar box, but I have a few things I have worked on. I have a sun done and the font I want to use for some embroidery. I am really excited about getting the box soon! It seems like everywhere I go and everywhere I turn there is a little sign reminding me what a great journey this is going to be. While grocery shopping I found myself humming along to the music over the store speakers. I realized that they were playing "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley. Then a few days ago I realized I had not changed my bedroom calendar to September. The calendar is one I made last year as Christmas gifts. I had used my own photography and add music lyrics to each month. As I turned the page to September, and a purple flower I looked at the music lyrics. It read, "Rise up this morning, smile with the rising sun".

These are just 2 examples of the signs around me lately. Signs telling me that this project was mean to be!

Ideas

I had a variety of ideas for the outside of our Shrine. Some place somewhere there are sketches to prove it. I am in charge of the outside of our box and PR Mom is the woman manning the inside.  

I spent some time with the box,talked to the box,caressed the box,and thought about the box. Trying to figure out what it wanted from me as the outside artist. 

I thought it told me it wanted a pitched roof with space for a nest.

I measured twice cut once,then I cut twice and by the third try I got it.

Sometimes I'm a slow learner when it comes to my intuition and my Muse,or perhaps it's the other way around. Those familiar with my blog,know that my Muse runs my artistic life. 

I think she'd run my whole life if I let her.

So there I was early yesterday morning digging through molds and air dry clay looking for things only apparent to my Muse. I came across a mold that had various trims on the sheet. Honestly I have no recollection of owning much less purchasing this mold, besides this project, I don't know what I would use it for. I started rolling out the thin vine looking trims yesterday and this morning I enlisted the "oh so very bored" youngest child to roll out more of them.

My Question now is this

What am I supposed to do with them?

Sketches

This will be a weekend of sketching and tweaking. I will post pictures as I go along. There have been many ideas and visions of the finished Shrine. I am excited and scared at the same time. It's how all journeys of a Spiritual nature begin for me. Fear of the unknown,fear of what will be asked of me and the worst of all fears Failure! So I will try my best so keep these fears in check and not allow them to rain on this magical ride.

WHAT WE ARE ABOUT

Sometime last year I came across a blog that was talking about a wonderful project.

the blog,which is wonderful in it's own right is called 

RECUERDA MI CORAZON 

The Mujer behind this blog has a wonderful heart. How else could you describe a person who has such a passion for a cause such as this?

The Post that I happened upon had to do with an auction. 

Not just any run of the mill auction,but an auction of 

SACRED SHRINES

This piqued my curiosity. Why would one auction off something that had a mixture 

of 

Blood, Sweat and possibly Tears?

I know first hand what goes into making Altars and Shrines.

It's always a Spiritual journey,one that I have made for many years.

As I read through Rebecca's Posts I learned of her passion.

and this passion is called the 

OAXACA CHILDREN GRASSROOTS

A little thought was created at the back of my mind. 

It nudged and it prodded.

It said "you can do this"

it taunted "what if it was your child?"

The "Thought" and the little voice have won.

I am honored to be a 

PARTNER IN SHRINE

with the gracious PR Mom.

Together, we are working towards a Sacred goal.

and what is more 

Sacred than a Child?

Do us a favor and please visit Rebecca's blog and the website for the Oaxaca Children Grassroot.

If you feel the thought and hear the little voice,give into it

create a Shrine for the auction and help create a better and safer place for a child.

OUR BLANK CANVAS/BOX

This is our beautiful box that we were so lucky to have gotten from Rose over at

ARTISTIC VIEW IMPORTS

I explained to her what we wanted to do and she helped me pick out the most wonderful Cigarbox

When I told PR Mom about it, I tried  my best to describe it to her.

It was the fact that it had 3 pieces that gave her the idea of a 

3 Little Birds 

design for our Shrine.

The blue satin is so rich and inspiring. We have decided to cover the outside and I am in the process of creating the outside of our little house. 

I will post the sketches as I go.

Just so you know,this will basically be the only way her and I know what each of us is doing. 

I hope you will enjoy our journey along with us.

3 is the Magic Number

When Artful Chica scored us a super rad cigar box for our alter she told me it had 3 sections. The first things it brought to mind were:

the holy trinity
Manny, Moe and Jack
3 blind mice
3 three pigs

and then.......

3 Little Birds

(My 4 year old daughter and been in a reggae phase so Bob Marley has been on repeat in our house.)

The lyrics began swirling in my head and the ideas just began to flow. This song is speaking of hope and happiness and I hesitated for a moment. Aren't altars suppose to be about death or lost love? I remembered who this altar was for. The event for the lost children and these kids deserved hope and happiness. Heck in the world we live in today we all could use more hope and happiness so I went ahead and approached Artful Chica with the idea.

She liked the idea and we were able to cross off one more thing from the to-do list.

PARTNERS IN SHRINE

Hello everyone in bloglandia. 

I'm the Chica from over at

Artful Chica's Studio

I have to admit I was a bit surprised that PR Mom 

from over at 

Punk Rock Parents  

agreed to this collaboration. You see, as our description above says, we have never met. We have never spoken outside of e mails and Instant messaging. I think those facts make for the allure of mystery. When I learned of this years auction, I kinda threw the idea of a collaboration out to her.

 Honestly, I was bracing myself for a NO thanks.

PR Mom and I met through our blogs ( I am addicted to her's) what started as a few kind words left in a comment box has brought us here.  What I know from following her blog and our daily chats is that PR Mom has an enormous heart. She has a passion and endless devotion for her family and an amazing daughter.  She is an amazing photographer and her art has so much raw emotion behind it. I am truly honored to be working virtually alongside her.

Having kids whether they be 4 or 20 sparks something inside you and when you read or hear or see something in which children are being abused,neglected or homeless it creates a pain in your heart. From a personal experience with a friend of my sons it's hard to see a child have to suffer such pain at the hands of a parent whether it's physical abuse or in his case abandonment.  So when this opportunity presented itself I must admit I jumped on the bandwagon whole heartedly.

I am hoping that you will check back often to watch our progress and perhaps even bid on ours or someone else's Shrine. This will surely be a journal chronicling our very different or perhaps maybe  the same, Sacred journey to do something to benefit a child.

Co-Conspirators

So when an artist you admire asks you to collaborate with her on a altar piece to be auctioned off for charity there is no other answer than YES!

I will admit it, I am a bit nervous. My artistic strength is behind a camera lens so this project will be a welcome challenge. I am so looking forward to the journey that making this alter will take us on. I hope that it will build my confidence as an artist.

Thank you for visiting and following us on this journey.