Outdoor art

Somebody (not anyone I know) made this in High Park. I think it
counts as a random act of craft.

Studio step one

I’ve finally decided to take myself seriously and set up a studio space. In what used to be my dining area. That meant that today, D and I re-arranged a bunch of furniture and swept up cobwebs and dust bunnies. Our living space is piled high with toys and supplies that need organising. It’s too embarassing to take a picture of.
BUT, we did manage to make a start on a workspace:

More progress to come tomorrow!

I’m moving!

Things are getting ridiculous. I have so many spots, spread all over the web, and I can’t figure out where to tell anyone to find me. So, I’m merging my website with my blog. From now on you’ll be able to read my blog and find out all of the Butterfly Tree information (including a storefront, although I’m still maintaining a store on 100milefinds.com and etsy as those are both wonderful communities to be a part of.) at www.butterfly-tree.com
Hopefully this works, because then I’ll be able to share even more ideas and tips, etc!

Teabag Bath

D loves bathtime. It’s a favourite activity, as I mentioned earlier in my post about boat-making. The thing is, he Really Really likes “fizzy ball baths” (bath bombs). Those get expensive quickly and his holiday present supply ran out recently. So bathtime became preluded with mournful whining. Until!
I was having a cup of tea and realised it had that slightly dusty flavour indicitave of being around too long. It still gave the water a pretty colour though …
I threw a couple bags in the bath last night

It made for a mix of purple, blue, and pink. Unfortunately once D got in the bath he squeezed the teabags until they broke. Very messy.

Tonight my clever husband thought to do this:

Oh. In case you’d like to make this colour mix too, this was the tea:

T-shirt sleeve as a toddler scarf

Last week, the fabulous Jennifer from http://www.playmemamacrafts.com dropped off some spare fabric scraps.
Today D and I finally had some time to go through it. Well, okay, we were getting ready to go out and D was looking in the bag while I was getting everything together.

D pulled out a t-shirt sleeve.

Because everyone laughs when D walks around with his hat over his eyes, he tried that joke with the sleeve. Admit it. You chuckled.

Then he pulled it down.

Check it out: a t-shirt scarf. Solves my worries about using a long scarf. If I get over my laziness, I may decorate a few even!

Planting in the winter

It’s January. It’s yuck outside. I’ve been reading 100-Mile Diet which is a fabulous book about eating locally. I need to grow  something edible.

I have seeds from before D was born, when we were attempting to grow veggies on our east-facing balcony. D and I pull the packets out.

Aha! Cress. That can be grown in little (hopefully no) soil. I rummage the cupboards and find 2 containers that might work. As well, I grab paper towels, water, and D.

We fold one piece each container of paper towel.

Carefully, we dump the seeds into a bowl. Then I put some back in the packet.

We add some water and test to make sure it’s wet.

Place in an unreachable but sunny spot. Apparently we needed a bear to watch over it all.

We’ll see if it works.

Boats, not garbage.

Yesterday was not a fun day in my house. I have an exhausting cold and it got the better of me. The weather was crappy, so I kept my toddler and myself inside. By 3:00, he was getting into everything he’s not supposed to. Usually when that happens I give him a bath. He can splash and swim and use up some of that energy in a contained space. But he didn’t want a bath. He was adament. So, during a time out, I desperately looked around for a way to entice D into bath.
Boats! Boat races. Aha!

I don’t have any boats.

What can I use to make boats?

Time out was over, so D helped look around his room. There was an empty pacifier container. (I admit to sloppy housekeeping. One of the many things on my list to improve)

We chose ribbon. Got glue. Wrapped the ribbon around the top of our boats:

For the sails, I had some scraps of cardstock. In retrospect this was not the best choice. You may prefer a straw or chopstick with a triangle fabric sail. I was in a hurry and couldn’t think of how to make that work. I cut the paper to about 4″ x 2″. Folded down the middle. Cut about 1″ along the fold line.

Fold the edges up.

Glue the inside folds.

Press down into the middle of the boat.

Let them dry.

Run a bath and pop them in.

It only took a minute for D to come
play. He even brought captains!