Batman Day coming up!

 Welcome!

(Revised 5/30/25)

Unknown, Pinterest

There’s still time to get ready!

May 1 is the Official Batman Day!!!

I have collected a few quick and easy ways for you to celebrate this 

Important Holiday Occasion!

With no time to waste, let’s put on our Batman Thinking Caps and get going!

Icedragon529, Deviant Art

The holiday does not state which Batman we are honoring, so we probably should just do all of them.

Here’s what my son calls 

‘The Blue Batman’

LIFE, March 1966

BB, as I fondly call him, gave us wonderful new words to use in work situations, as needed.

(You should be prepared with extra samples as your co-workers will most likely want some for their work-day usage  also!)

Delving into the rich history of the American Language, BB has given us choice words to use for everyday encounters - such as:

Red Bubble

No need to resort to childish cuss words - you can Batmantize them!

I have found this…

…to be oddly satisfying.

And versatile!

Sometimes we get flustered while trying to remember just all the special words we want to use in a situation.

Can-O-Batman fixes the problem.

All you need do is grab 1 or more sticks and insert the chosen word(s) into your sentences. It’s even okay if you repeat a word a few times. This can add to the authentic BB Effect.

To make your own get some wood skewers (your local grocery store probably carries them), some fun foam and some good glue. I like Aleene’s Tacky Glue in the gold bottle. Hot glue gun might work if you are adventurous.

Trace and cut out letters. Refer to the above photos. Layer letters onto spiky-cut  fun foam backgrounds, sandwiching the skewer between 2 layers. Cover a large, clean can with fun foam. Add a Batman symbol to the side of the can. Place florist styrofoam or something similar in the bottom of the can. Glue in place. Stick skewers in a pleasing arrangement.

Pinterest 

Later you can recycle the can to hold pens and pencils.

The ‘Gray Batman’ comes next.

In fact, he is a lot like the Blue Batman.

Let’s call him GB.

Pinterest

How about we paint an easy to do Batman Clay Pot?

Pinterest, no credit found
Don’t want to get that fancy? Then just paint his head!

You will probably need a clip board or file folder at some point May 1. (After making this one, be sure you need one!)

Here’s a fun idea-

Folder, construction paper or cardstock, Batman logo, glue. Optional: clear Contact paper to cover all as a protector.

Look at the photo again. It’s made up of circles, triangles, rectangles and ovals!

Here is a symbol you can use for any of these projects, just resize to your item:

I found many Batman logos on Pinterest. 

Are you in the mood for Batman Day yet? I sure am!

Let’s give a brief nod to 

Batman’s Essential Sidekick-

Robin.

(Please please add an apostrophe in ‘we’re’. Can’t believe all the grammatical snafoos out there now…)

There have been so many versions of Batman you can celebrate whatever vision you choose - they are all Batman!

Unknown, Pinterest

Lastly, we have ‘The Dark Knight’ or 

The Black Batman.

I’ll call him DK for short.

Christian Bale as Batman

I always thought it humorous that directors seemed to think that in the movies, the Batman with the funny lips would be unrecognizable if they put a mask on him.

Seriously?

Batman Foreve

Let’s make a cool corner bookmark that you can adapt to so many more ideas-

Here is the basic fold:

Marigami.com

Now make a Batman symbol to be glued onto your corner bookmark-

Drawingtutorials101.com

…and the finished bookmark-

Now fold and cut 5 more for your friends!

Let’s end today’s blog with some Bat Treats. After all, it is for a 

‘Special Batman Holiday-

 Dip marshmallows in some melted chocolate wafers (our craft stores carry these in the party/Wilton aisle) Place on a wire rack to let excess chocolate drip off. Set in refrigerator or freezer until firm. 

Cut strips of crepe paper, with jagged ends to look like bat wings. Place marshmallow in center and wrap and tie both ends. Refer to the photo.

Jolly Rancher hard candies would also fit well for inside the bat.

Keep these in a bowl close-by to give to whomever happens to be walking by.

That’s it for today.

‘Til next time,

inkspired

 

12 Days of Christmas Day 4

 On the fourth day of Christmas 

my true love gave to me

4 Colly birds…

Ummm…

Calling birds?

Collie birds?

Lorie Siebert - Courtney Davis, Pinterest 

How about Matthew, Mark,

 Luke and John?

So, are we naming our birds now?

Of course not!

By David Delamare 

In more recent history someone thought they could give a spiritual meaning to the children’s rhyme

12 Days of Christmas

and this is how the whole idea of 

‘The true meaning’

came to be popular.

Actually, there was no hidden meaning, no deep belief that it could teach children about major events/people from the Bible and no persecution, in the original versions.

Wow!

That turned what I always have heard right upside down!

Linda Silvestri 

Go ahead and use ‘12 Days’ as a great way to remember some major events/people/books from the Bible.

Just don’t add in the myth about persecution, etc.

Etsy, posted on Pinterest

The first printed edition in 1780 says

‘Four colly birds’.

A colly bird is nothing more than a black bird, or even just a catch-all phrase for songbird.

‘Coly’ was slang for ‘black’ in the 1760’s.

The roots may go back to collier

which is a coal miner.

A colliery is a coal mine.

So sometimes it is spelled

‘4 colley birds’

Etsy, posted on Pinterest

As language evolves to fit current times,

the colly birds became 

‘4 Calling birds’

when Frederic Austin put the rhyme to a melody in 1909. This is the tune we are most familiar with nowadays.

Lori Reynolds posted on Pinterest

‘Calling birds’ can easily be used for birds 

that ‘call’, like songbirds.

This also fits with the theme that the first 6 birds in the song were common ‘eating’ birds that frequented the dining table at that time.

There was even a chef’s ‘trick’ where live blackbirds were put inside a pastry crust, and quickly cooked so that when the pie was cut into the blackbirds were still  alive and flew out of the pie, to the delight of all the diners.

I doubt the birds were too thrilled.

Do not try this at home.

Uploaded by Tina Horn.

Irenagasha Photography

People around the world still eat songbirds, especially in the Mediterranean.

11-36 million songbirds are killed or captured every year.

In Italy alone 5 million songbirds are killed every year. This has caused many species to be placed on endangered lists.

From an article by Gil Michelini, 12/2011

Next I have an origami bird for you to make. These would make charming additions to your Christmas decorating.

Kunihiko Kasahara, paperflowers2 

While it says ‘dove’ I think it could be any bird.

Here is a nice simple line drawing you can use for many different types of crafts-

That’s it for day 4!

‘Til next time,

Inkspired

In addition to websites I looked at and are listed on Days 1-3, here are some more:

blog.nature.org

Etsy.com

lincolnshireworld.com

Merriam-Webster

Oxford English Dictionary 

The Guardian, article by Peter Armenti 

Naturalist Jim Hurley

blogs.loc.gov

Courtesy Thingsesque

12 Days of Christmas Day 3

 On the third day of Christmas

my true love gave to me

3 French hens…

By Sandra Boynton

So, what exactly is a French hen?

Or is it supposed to be

3 fat hens!

Fine Art America

In 1864 the rhyme said ‘fat hens’!

Since the first printed version in 1780

there have been 20 or so different 

versions of the rhyme/song.

Etsy.UK

The 1877 version has the 2 turtle doves as

‘2 French hens’.

Wonder if there were 3 turtle doves then?

That makes no sense!

By LoriLynn Simms

Back to ‘where did these hens come from?’

The scientific name for chicken is 

Gallus gallus in Latin.

The Romans (who spoke Latin) called France ‘Gaul’ and the French people were ‘Gallic’.

Gallus and Gallic sounded so similar 

that ‘French’ and ‘chicken’ became entwined-

Linguistically speaking that is!

One two three

Then the Holy Roman Church picked things up and Middle Age churches in France often have their church bell towers adorned with roosters!

…and so we have 3 French hens for Christmas.

Some people use this as an argument that the original rhyme was from France.

Who knows?

Zazzle

Let’s play with chickens now-

Chicken. Sketches by Rikke Lindskov

HowToDrawEasy.net

Practice away until you can draw some great hens.

Now you can decorate envelopes,

or use fabric markers and make a custom t-shirt. 

Or make unique book covers for friends.

Your crochet

Sova-Enterprise

I have to add in a shape to Zentangle with 

and a coloring page too-

By Giam, Pinterest 

I love this next art piece made from paper scraps:

Uploaded by Joletta Brooks, Pinterest 

That’s it for today!

‘Til next time,

inkspired 

In addition to the last 2 blogs’ websites listed, I also checked out these sites:

americanornithology.org

Christianity.org

preppygirlonthefarm.blogspot.com

almanac.com

Faverolle hen and rooster

Flickr