Hand Lettering Giveaway!
Enter by using the form below to submit a photo of your student’s most beautiful lettered-by-hand version of the following pangram: Win a penmanship mug or a set of our beautiful Blackbird & Company stationary. Four winners will be chosen…
More Leaves for a Friendly Letter
Accentuate your friendly letter with a fall-themed crafty insert! This project began with a package of fall leaf table confetti. But you can just as easily begin by tracing real leaf shapes on colored craft paper, cutting out the shapes,…
Fall Leaves for a Friendly Letter
It’s November and we’re celebrating the art of letter writing, let’s embellish! Once you’ve composed a friendly letter first draft, it’s time to choose stationary. There are all sorts of envelopes and flat cards in many colors, shapes, and sizes…
A Reason for Handwriting
About a dozen years ago, a friend shared with me that she decided to bypass teaching her children the art of penmanship. Her children would jump straight to keyboarding: “This is the computer age. Cursive handwriting is archaic. Why do…
The Friendly Letter is a Gift
Let’s start a tradition! Let’s write friendly letters! Composing a letter by hand—a non-electronic letter—is a relational, social activity that teaches generosity, idea making, and the nature of beauty. Once upon a time there was no such thing as email,…
I Modinnari Apples
I Modinnari is a tradition that many communities have adopted to honor an Italian tradition that began way back in the 16th century. Once upon a time itinerant artists commissioned for bigger works, would, at the close of the project,…
Pop Art Apples
It looks simple. It is. But what makes it read “apple” is the fact that it began with observation. The most important thing that observation teaches, is that apples are not perfect spheres. One fun way to observe is to…
Pumpkin! Pumpkin!
Pumpkins are everywhere this time of year! Time to harvest, right? Following are three ideas to help you “switch it up” with pumpkin activities that will surely keep the fall mood stirring! ONE. Read (or listen to) a pumpkin story,…
Speaking of Apples
Cézanne said: “Everything is about to disappear. You’ve got to hurry up if you still want to see things.” What does he mean? I think he means: “LOOK!” This little painting by 9th grader, Kingsley, was accomplished during Session 1…
Three Ideas with Fall Leaves
It’s fall! Leaves are turning. Following are three ideas to help you “switch it up” with fall leaf activities! While reading the following ideas, listen to Vivaldi, Autumn from The Four Seasons performed by the Netherlands Bach Society. This will…