Kindness Has a Canine Connection!

by Mary Jane | May 17, 2019 | The Kindness Connection Blog

Hi. Scoop, the cub reporter from the Shady Pines Gazette. Have I got news for you!

I just found out that there is an art project you have to see to believe. I’ll give you a hint. This is one doggone good assignment for me. I’m heading over to our local author, Mary Jane McKittrick’s, house right now. Seems Mary Jane has a friend with some artwork that might just unleash a whole new trend. Have you guessed what it is yet?

Here’s Mary Jane’s friend, Jan Maresh Saunders, with the artist herself – Polly the dog!

Well, to be clear, Polly didn’t actually do the drawings herself. She had a little help from a friend of Jan’s who clearly has some real talent. Still, it turns out that Polly’s paws are the inspiration for the designs. Folks here in Shady Pines Story Town are buzzing about these creations. It seems when you combine beautiful art, with an owner’s loving connection to their dog, you have a winning combination.

These are original works of art. Do you see how the paw prints make up the flowers?

I’m told that over at the Shady Pines Elementary School the kids are being encouraged to use Polly’s Art as an idea for a project. The art teacher is showing the students how to make something like this by using their own pets as inspiration.

And, you know, the beauty of this is that you can use your cat’s paws if you don’t have a dog. Isn’t that cool?

Wait a minute. I wonder if Harold and Edna Sanders have seen these drawings. After all, there is no more famous cat and dog in Shady Pines than Boomer and Halley. Boomerang, the Australian Shepherd dog and Halley’s Comet, a silver streak of a cat, have their own book series for cryin’ out loud.

Hey, I’ve got to talk with the critters’ parents. If Harold and Edna haven’t seen Polly’s art, they’re missing out. Oh, wow. I just thought of something. Now that Mary Jane has met Polly the dog, maybe the artistic canine will wind up in one of her stories. Wouldn’t that be something? Stranger things have happened in our small Southern town that’s for sure.

You can’t buy Polly’s art. At least not yet. But you can check out the wacky adventures of the Sanders family. Harold and Edna had no idea how challenging parenting could be ’til they adopted those two rascals. You can find out more about the Mom’s Choice Gold Award-winning Boomer and Halley books HERE

Loving connections is the Shady Pines Way.

-Scoop out.

A Gratitude Tree of Your Own

by Mary Jane | Nov 9, 2018 | Offline Activities

Now that the good folks of Shady Pines Story Town have shown you the fun and importance of gratitude this season, why not make your own Gratitude Tree? There are so many ways to do it. No one way is better than another. This idea is from Mindy who has a Blog called, The Inquisitive Mom. Here’s how she discovered how to make one for her family.

How to Create Your Own Gratitude Tree (Thanksgiving Tree)

I was covered in flour, hands deep in pie dough yesterday when Ella approached me with a children’s magazine open and enthusiastically asked, “Can we make a gratitude tree?” A list of materials needed and the accompanying mess ran through my head, but I quickly set them aside. What’s a bit more mess – especially for a cool project like this.

A Thanksgiving or Gratitude Tree is a paper tree decorated with colorful leaves sharing the many things you are thankful for. The supplies needed are simple and you probably have them on hand.

This would make a great Thanksgiving Day project for kids or the whole family, especially if you think of it less as a decoration and more as a creative project and a fun way to focus on gratitude.

SUPPLIES

Brown paper for the tree. You can use construction paper, paper bags, or even brown packing paper like we did.
Red, yellow, and orange construction paper for the leaves. You could also print colored leaves and simply cut those out as well, but we had fun drawing ours.
Markers
Tape
Scissors

INSTRUCTIONS

Create a tree with branches to the scale you would like for your wall space. You can trace the tree before cutting or free form cut. You can also crinkle your paper to give it a cool effect.

Tape the tree to the wall.

If you would like to cut a hole in your tree for a squirrel or other animal friends, do so before taping it to the wall. Fold your piece of brown paper in half, then cut out a half circle away from the folded edge. After the tree is taped to the wall, you can add in scrap pieces of paper to give it dimension.

Trace and cut leaves from the red, yellow, and orange construction paper. Gather some leaves from outside or pull up a few different types of leaves on your computer screen for inspiration. Remember, leaves come in many varieties and have imperfect edges.

Write something you are grateful for on each leaf. Tape the leaves on the tree branches.

Step back and enjoy your creation.

OUR TREE

The magazine provided leave patterns to cut out, trace, then cut out again. Luckily, Ella has inherited a bit of my “experience over end results” mentality and we quickly decided to simply free form our own leaves. Printing leaves and cutting them out is also an easy option for this project, but we enjoyed sitting together, drawing, and cutting the old fashioned way.

Ours was an impromptu project and we lucked out with the large brown packing paper that arrived in our shipment of Molly’s Suds today. I love how it is crinkled and gives the impression of tree bark and looks more dynamic than smooth paper would taped to a wall. Given more time or preparation, we might have stressed more over the lines or cutting, but writing on our leaves of gratitude together proved the best part anyway.