Monarch LOVE

we spied the whole Monarch Butterfly lifecycle at our Butterfly Park this week 

 It's the little things like this that make my happy!

Pineda Covalin

On my recent trip to Mexico a stumbled across the most amazing store, Pineda Covalin.  The fashion house specializes in the most amazing silk prints.  You can see the designers love for her country as well as nature.  I was drawn in by the bright vibrant colors and beautiful butterflies.  Lots of turquoise too, like the beautiful ocean.  For some reason I didn't pull out my camera and take any pictures, but lucky for my you can see lots of images on line.

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Craft 52 week 52: a decorative toilet seat

Craft 52
Week 52
Toilet Seat Art


It's been a great week!

I managed to stay on top of all my loose ends, with a huge list. As the week went along I kept adding to the list.  One last minute addition was to come up with a white elephant gift for a party on Friday night and I was at a loss. My husband headed over to Home Depot and brought me back a toilet seat to do something funny with it. I'm seriously not that funny. So I thought maybe a little sparkle on a toilet seat would be funny. Well, it was funny and kinda pretty too.  One of the party guests really loved it and we had tears being shed over this beauty. 

Here it is up close.

I used an old shirt we had in the Goodwill box and cut it to fit on the top of the seat cover.  I glued the shirt on with Mod Podge and let it dry.  Then, I added a row of pennies a long the edge for some added sparkle.  Next up, I glued on a bunch of butterflies cut from some scrapbooking paper.  It didn't quite look right, so I added two rows of green sequined ribbon to outline the pennies.  To give the toilet seat a lacquered look, I added a thick coat of Mod Podge the night before the party, and you can see from the photos that some of the glue still needed to dry clear. I'm so glad someone had such a nice reaction to my art.  The family that took home this beauty are planning on hanging it on the wall. 

Craft 52 week 13; Spring Butterfly Wreath

I recycled my acorn wreath and used it to make this B E A U T I F U L Butterfly Wreath.  The yarn was given to me by one of my best friends, she was purging.  I knew I would never knit a sweater with the yarn, but I might want to use it for gift wrapping.

I thought it was funny my snack matched my project.  I did this craft sitting on the sofa watching Martha.

First, I wrapped the entire wreath with yarn.  I did mine thick, cause I wanted it fuzzy like a sweater.   

I took some feather butterflies and adhered them with the wire attached to the butterflys.  The wire is nice cause you can position them anyway you choose. 

I seriously LOVE this wreath...it's so pretty.

Craft Lab: Butterfly Cube Update

I picked up this butterfly back in May. Thanks to the lovely comment's on this blog, I went to the Container store and picked up a new display box to put the butterfly in. Lucky for me, the transition from the big first box to the small one went smoothly. I adhered to the wood piece with some hot glue. Now if I can just get the kids not he touch the darn thing.

Monarch Time

I got a call from my friend from Butterfly Park asking if we'd like to take care of and tag the park's butterflies while she's on a vacation. Heck Yeah!! So everyday, we watch these beauties come out of their chrysalis and dry their wings. After a few hours we tag them and watch them fly off to live their magical little lives.

Book Love: I, Monty

This book is a great book about my beloved Monarchs. My mom-in-law picked this up for a buck at one of our local libraries. We miss her, she's on a super long vacation across the states.

Oh My: planting new TREES

Me and my Dad!!

We spent Saturday morning planting trees at Norma Gibbs Butterfly Park. The kiddies, my Dad and I planted a new eucalyptus tree to replace a vandalized tree. It was nice to see the kids are able to help out way more now that they are older, they make perfect helpers. I also really enjoyed spending time with my Dad. He's the whole reason I'm involved in this park and it's brought a lot of joy to my life learning about the monarchs and helping to create a place for them so close to home.

oh My- a beautiful Moth

I spied this little moth in our backyard. I can't believe I had time to run and get my camera and take all these shots.

Craft Lab- Fingerprint Butterfly Collage

We're doing a few classroom art projects around here for an auction coming up. This one is for the preppy K class. I used a die cut machine and punched out 19 2" butterfly out of black scrap- book paper. Next, I had the kiddies place their little finger prints on the wings of the butterflies with white acyclic paint. Then I took pipe cleaners and cut them into 1 1/2 "strips and twisted them 1/3 of the way down to make the antenna and body of the butterfly. Next, I bent the butterfly in half and hot glued the silver pipe cleaner bodies down the center of the die cut. I found a nice wallpaper sample from a discontinued book, and wrapped and hot glued it to the backing of a shadow box frame. I arranged and hot glued the butterflies into a swarm pattern onto the wallpaper. I cleaned up the glass and was done. Super easy, inexpensive, and quick. I would totally hang this up in our home!