Ombre Project - Butterfly Home Decor

I forgot to mention that a few days ago, my first project - as a CropChocolate Design Team member - was posted on their blog here. You can click to view it, or just scroll on down... :)

Ombre Project – Butterfly Home Décor Project

Before Amber issued her first challenge to us, I had never heard of “ombre”, or a graduation of color. After much brainstorming, I chose black-gray-white for my color combination and kept thinking about butterflies fluttering through the sky (remember, I’m still an entomologist at heart!). Ultimately, I created a home décor project based upon a butterfly poem (“Ode to a Butterfly” by Thomas Wentworth Higginson).

LIST OF SUPPLIES

CC-materials: patterned papers (EP Be Mine), Bazzill cardstock (Charcoal), butterflies (MM Paper Reverie – Noir), flowers (Prima), bling (MM), adhesive (Snake Tape)

Non-CC materials: shadowbox (10” x 10” for this project), leaves (Petaloo), Bazzill Institchz flower template, paper piercer, and needle; embroidery floss (DMC), adhesive (pop dots, hot glue)

Step #1 – Preparation of project background

Trim the background cardstock to fit inside of the shadowbox frame, keeping in mind that some of the outside margins will not be visible after the frame is put together. Print poem, trim, and adhere to the right-side of the cardstock. Cut and glue patterned paper to the left side.

Step #2 – Making stitched flowers

Using a design template, such as one from Bazzill’s Institchz line, pierce holes where designated and sew embroidery floss through the holes in an overlapping manner, so that the correct design shows and you don’t have to tie any knots. The back won’t look terribly attractive (see second picture from the right), but nobody will see it anyway. Simply tape down the ends (on the back) and sew away! It’s easy to make stitched flowers without a template, too – just lightly draw a pattern with pencil and pierce holes along the design. When you are finished stitching your flower, trim close to the edges – just don’t cut any of the floss.

 

Step #3 – Arrangement of Butterflies and Flowers

Once you’ve stitched your flowers and selected your butterflies, arrange them on the patterned paper until you’re happy with the design. I arranged my butterflies in a curve formation, flowing around the flowers, to look as if they’re flying.

Step #4 – Addition of Exterior Embellishments

After you’ve made sure that everything fits perfectly inside the frame, it’s time to embellish the outside. I adhered some Prima flowers (which offer a lot of texture and dimension), along with some twigs & leaves from Petaloo. 

Step #5 – Completed project

Once your frame is embellished, it’s ready for display!

The other entomologist in the house...

Today, Marika and I went to volunteer at Mika's library and on the way back through the front office, found a new friend to bring home. He was missing one leg (obviously not a good sign) and when we got home to google information on how to keep him alive, learned that he was probably on his way out anyway, due to the time of year. Even as I type, he is on his back, suffering through the throes of death, the poor thing! That was really too bad... I've been thinking that I should help Marika create some sort of terrarium to house critters and teach her a little bit about plant biology... a project for the future! Oh, but did I mention that I cannot keep plants alive unless they're being watered by automatic sprinklers...?

Marika came to me this evening and said that next year, she wants to be a butterfly. Not just ANY old butterfly, but that Mika had kindly MADE her a butterfly costume. And here it is... they are upstairs coloring it right now... gee... I wonder how long it will stay intact (it is being held together by tape and staples!).

As a scrapbooker, it warms my heart to see my girls being creative with paper, scissors and glue/tape. They could play in "the fun room" (that's what we call where the scrapbooking/crafts supplies and work area is) for hours! Of course, it's always a mess afterwards, but... I look forward to their scrapbook creations - they'll get their first ones to work on this Christmas!

Release Day!

At long last, on Monday morning, it was time to let our insect friends go back to nature!

The butterflies fluttered away pretty quickly, except for one soul who apparently FINALLY noticed the sugar wick and settled in for a deep drink. Upon cleaning out the cage, I found a multitude of tiny blue eggs... which hatched a day later. I'm trying to find food for the miniscule caterpillars to eat, but we don't have any thistles or daisy plants around...

The ladybugs ran away even faster, except for two love bugs. I didn't even want to get into the whole thing of insect "mating", so I just sat quietly while the girls talked about how nice it was for one ladybug to be giving another one a ride. Mika surprised me with her sharp observational skills (usually she is not so interested in insects) and announced, "look, Marika - there's a yellow egg!" Yup, we have one lone ladybug egg to watch...

And we also had a grasshopper to release as well. He joined our little family on Saturday night, during S.'s work function dinner party. This grasshopper really liked something about Marika - he kept jumping onto her head and crawling around (2-3 times) before hopping away. Really, he was in no hurry to leave us.

We also babysat our friend's guinea pig, Flower, on Sunday for a few short hours. I thought it would be a good time for Daisy to have a playdate and maybe, start to vocalize a little more. After all, supposedly females are supposed to get along. Well... I'm sorry to report that that wasn't the case. They chuttered, they snapped... they were separated. Daisy was not a good hostess, I'm afraid...

Update on our insect rearing...

Since a couple of you were remarking on our ladybug and butterfly habitats, I thought I better post an update! Interestingly, both sets began to emerge last Sunday. We had 6 butterflies (out of 7) form a chrysalis, but only 5 were able to emerge perfectly. The 6th one... I think one of his wings were deformed, or he was unable to emerge (he was on the bottom of the cage) without getting caught in his own meconium (leftover unnecessary "stuff" from the final transformation). The remaining 5 appear to be doing just fine (one pair was observed mating for most of the day, which prompted Miss Mika to innocently ask, "what's mating?" - I could have kicked myself for talking to aloud! I told her I'd tell her later..!).

And the ladybugs are doing just fine as well. All thirteen pupated and everybody successfully emerged as adults. It's getting a little messy in the cage (you can see the leftover pupal cases still plastered to the dome)... we collected some aphids from weedy grass outside, so there are shriveled carcasses and ladybug poop strewn about as well.

We will keep the insects around for S.'s work party folk tomorrow (conversation pieces, if you will) but plan to ceremonially release everybody on Sunday sometime. I am hoping, though, that there may be some eggs laid that we can rear out again...

I think the girls have been enjoying the experience... I know I have!

The Ladybugs Are Here!

Our lovely ladybug larvae arrived yesterday... the girls (especially Marika, of course) were terribly excited!

Thirteen precious little larvae arrived safely, with a little pile of food. They'd been growing steadily already, as evidenced by the cast skins found in the transport container. It's a really cute setup, as far as a ladybug habitat could be - very colorful and very easy to make observations. Every day, the girls will have to pipette some water into the habitat, but other than that, it's just a waiting game to see insects develop.

Speaking of development - after 6 days, our painted lady caterpillars are developing very nicely. At least six (out of seven) are doing great, although some are certainly fatter than others. I hope they go through metamorphosis soon... frankly, I'm a little worried about all that poop (and therefore, mold) that is steadily accumulating... it's hard to see with all the debris plus silks that are being produced...

And in other news... here was Marika's fashion statement yesterday...

As the school year winds down (one more day to go!), things are still busy. I spent the morning making candy lollipops for the teacher and teacher's aid. Unlike other parts of the country, this neighborhood appreciates home-made gifts. It was fun to create these sweets, but a little stressful if they didn't turn out perfectly... (I really liked those ladybug lollipops, though!).

It was too cold for the kids to have a "Water Day", so Plan B was to have several stations in the recess yard for the kids to play. I was in charge of the "Potato Sack station" - purely by choice, because I remember how much fun it was to do as a kid. Marika had a blast - she hopped all over the place and even though she never won a race, she had fun! Mika, on the other hand, fell over during the first race, promptly began to bawl, and quit immediately. *sigh*

One more day of school!

They're here! They're here!

And straight from Florida, we have... (drumroll, please)...

Our painted lady caterpillars arrived today from Florida! We just sent off for them about a week ago and they're already here. Lucky for us, the day was cool and overcast, so there was no chance of them roasting in our mailbox! The caterpillars came in a little plastic cup (with food), in that little cardboard box. Hopefully their postal journey wasn't too traumatic...

I'll have the girls keep a science journal of observations. They may not find it too interesting except at the milestones: chrysalis formation, butterfly emergence, and butterfly release. However, it would be pretty cool if we could get them to lay some eggs and start a new generation!

Stay tuned! Our ladybugs are due any day as well... :)

Easter Wrap-up

* to see any of these pictures in greater detail, just click on it! *

Sorry it's been a few days since Easter without any pictures! We spent the day with our good friends. The kids went bug hunting and enjoyed their new bug viewers. Lucky for them, there were lots of ladybugs flying around!

C. and S. also released the painted lady butterflies that they had reared from caterpillars.

Doesn't all that food look good? It was delicious! There's nothing like enjoying good food with good friends!

Hmmm... there were so many Easter hunt action shots, that I couldn't whittle them down... but now the kids are itty bitty in there... can you see all the loot they scored, though?

And finally, our very first group shot of the two families! Aren't automatic timers and tripods wonderful?

And as the grand finale, of course the kids played their hearts out. Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy! And some firefighters start so young...!