paint cut paste

many of my closest friends are having/have had their second baby this year. to celebrate these new little people entering the world, we have held mother’s blessing ceremonies (or blessingway ceremonies) in lieu of the traditional baby shower. with an older sibling in the mix, it is essential to include them in the celebration, as this is a huge rite of passage for them, as well.

this spring, i prepared an intimate blessing for a dear friend of mine, where her son (then 18 months) participated in an art project for his little brother to be. first, i gathered the prayers, wishes, and blessings from the family’s nearest and dearest via email, and i wrote their words on pretty paper. i cut the papers into small strips. then i painted a mandala for the growing family. in the mandala i painted a symbolic, abstract portrait of the soon-to-be foursome. after that, i visited the family and engaged their son in a fingerpainting project, which he really enjoyed! his mom and dad also helped with the painting for the new baby.

big brother to be

after the finger painting was complete and dry, i glued the mandala to the center of it with the blessings radiating out from there. i put it into a simple frame, and the family now has it hanging in their sons’ bedroom. the energy of this piece encapsulates the words of the family’s family and closest friends, and the marks of mom, dad, and the big brother, with an image from me, as well.

framed blessings

at another blessing ceremony for another girlfriend in her second pregnancy, the group of us created a beaded necklace to bless the big sister to be and honor her new role. first, i handed out small pieces of pretty papers to the group of gathered family and friends. on these papers, everyone wrote sweet wishes and notes to the eldest child. each participant brought or selected a bead to offer, as well.

beads & blessings

we went around in a circle and read our wishes aloud to the child, and offered our beads. after the ceremony, i strung the beads onto a necklace for the big sister to wear, and pasted the blessings into a small book that she can forever cherish.

big-sis-to-be with her necklace & blessing book

there are so many art projects that are involved in mother’s blessings; however, here i chose to share just a few artful ways in which i have honored these joyful new beginnings for the eldest sibling in a family.

there’s a lot of fingerpainting going on in my house. yep, it is one of the choice art activities for two-year-olds. many of novi’s fingerpaintings remain in-tact in her mom-made portfolio (two pieces of poster board bound at 3 edges.) while some fingerpaintings take on new life.

a full fingerpainting

one of my favorite things to do with the fingerpaintings is to find interesting sections of them and cut them out. then i paste them onto blank greeting cards. i send these as thank you notes, birthday cards for novi’s friends, etc. all are custom pieces of art! (the grandparents love getting their paws on these sorts of things!)

another idea i saw on sarah jane studios blog was to cut the paintings into animal silhouettes. for novi’s grandma’s birthday, i created a cat shape (grandma loves cats) of my own and traced it onto one of novi’s bright and beautiful paintings and cut it out. i glued it to a nice heavy piece of white stock. (this is truly a paint cut paste project!) then i got an inexpensive frame at the craft store, and a great birthday gift came to life.

grandma's birthday cat

for mothers’ day, i was inspired to make a little cut-out image from lots of colorful fingerpainted scraps for novi’s other grandmother, who she lovingly calls “gwee” and it turned out kinda cute.

novi & gwee

so why not repurpose the thousands of fingerpaintings you might have stuck on your fridge into some cute gifts and cards?