Today is the last day of the Bloggy Book and craft-a-thon.  I hope you all were inspired by the fabulous guest bloggers.  Please consider joining us to Read to Feed.  We will accept donations through September 15th. If we all did just a tiny bit, together we could make a huge difference in the lives of others. Heifer International is giving the first 50 people that donate a free book!

Cassi, of Bella Dia will wrap up the week for us.  I don’t think I could ever write something that would do her and her site justice. Her blog is just as it says— simple, happy, pretty things.  She is a generous and lovely woman who shares her art so beautifully with us all.  You can also find Cassi at the Crafty Crow, a children’s art and craft collective. There you will find a wonderful collection of art and craft activities from all over the web. Cassi has choosen a book for us about somebody choosing to leave the world a bit more beautiful by the things she does. Well, that IS Cassie—-making this world more beautiful by the things she does!

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Cassi writes…

Have you read Miss Rumphius? If this is a new title for you then you are in for a treat and if you already know about Miss Rumphius then I’m sure you have fond memories of her.  What a lady!  She was a young artist, she worked at a library, she traveled to faraway places and eventually ended up living by the sea just as her grandfather did.  When she was a child she made a promise to her grandfather – do you know what it was?  She promised she would do something to make the world more beautiful!  How was she going to do that?  One day Miss Rumphius discovered some beautiful lupines in her garden and that’s where she got her inspiration to make the world more beautiful.  Now, we can’t go around scattering seeds like Miss Rumphius but we can gather seeds and give them to friends and family and help spread the seeds that way.

After you’ve read the book, go out to your garden and see what kind of flower seeds you will be collecting.  Next, print out a seed packet template.  You can do a search for one if you’d like or you can use the one that I used here.  Draw a picture of the flower on the front of the seed packet and write the name at the top.  You can include any other information, such as how much sun and water they need, at the bottom of the packet or on the back.  Cut out and glue the packet together according to the instructions at the template site.  If your seeds are available for collecting go ahead and get started!

We are lucky to have lots of lupines where we live.  Here are some pictures of our seed packets.  I think we’ll collect some sunflower, poppy and columbine seeds too.  What kind of seeds will you be collecting where you live?

draw the flower on the template and label it

cut it out

fold and glue according to the template instructions

I hope you’ve enjoyed Miss Rumphius and this seed collecting and packet activity.  Barbara Cooney is the author and illustrator and has said that this book, along with Island Boy and Hattie and the Wild Waves are the closest thing to an autobiography that she has ever written.  All of her books are brilliant and beautiful (can you tell she’s one of my favorites?) and deserve a place on your home bookshelf

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