Mahlon Dickerson Reservation

I left a butterfly for follow hikers on a trail that I will be "adopting" and blazing in Mahlon Dickerson Reservation for the next two years. I hope someone enjoyed it!

Tegan Made Me Do It

My niece Tegan is visiting us (yeah!) and she suggested that I make one out of flowers. These were from a flower arrangement from Easter.

BTW, I missed doing my butterfly yesterday. I'm blaming it on four kids and my inability to remember things!

Strong Butterfly

This idea came from a doodle book that I picked up a while back. The kids flip through it and draw pictures every now and again. I wanted to go for a little humor tonight.

Pencils & Erasers

I can't believe this is what's left of that 48 count colored pencil set!

Duct tape is Awesome

Yes, it's true. You can make anything with duct tape. Adam suggested that I make this one since I had used duct tape to tie up sections of our basement carpet for the dumpster. An unfortunate event with the sewer system required that it be removed. Lucky for me Mark took out the stinky section!

Reflections on 100 Butterflies

Today's post is a reflection of things that I have learned over the last 100 days of butterfly making.   I hope you enjoy the notes.   Thank you to all that have supported me thus far.   You make this journey even more fun!!

If you have a favorite --- name it and its yours!

Happy Easter

I hope everyone has a joyous Easter with family and friends!

The Iron Butterfly

Today's post is not my own creation, but I thought it was so neat that I wanted to post it.  There are five of these metal butterflies and dragonflies on the road that heads toward the Philadelphia Zoo.   This city has such an amazing display of outside art.  I'm sure the photo doesn't do it justice, we were on top of a tour bus!!

Nappi Butterfly

We're on vacation on Philly so I'm having to improvise tonight. The apartment has a nice collection of napkins so here we are.

Go Phillies! Just kidding!!

Butterfly ornament

I made this shiny butterfly out of a piece of nickel - 24 gauge. This project would have been a lot easier with the right tools. I had super size tin snips and miniature metal files. Slow and steady gets the job done.

Shelly

We find the nicest shells when we go to the Jersey shore (no, I've never met Snookie or The Situation). I'm always amazed at the size of the shells and how many are not broken. I really need to find a cool craft to do with them!!

Rolls

Hard to believe that I've been collecting these toilet paper tubes for weeks and I still don't have quite enough. I would have liked to do this one as an open wing - oh well.

So, I'm only a few days away from doing my 100th butterfly. I can't believe it. I have a surprise for number 100, so you won't want to miss it!

Jelly Bean Butterfly

I picked up a book on sketching yesterday and a comment really stuck with me. Basically, the author (artist) recommends getting in touch with our inner child to draw. Sometimes we have too many adult perceptions that get in the way of our creativity. He's so right.

Today was one for the kid in me. I made a point of eating a few jelly beans as I worked. I know my kids would have. I plan on making a point of listening to my kids and my inner kid as I continue on this journey.

Snowy marshmallowis

Did you know that stale marshmallows are really easy to cut? My kids were helpful by leaving the bags of marshmallows open so I had plenty of stale ones to work with! The best part was that I didn't feel the need to eat them!

Taenaris Catops

Sorry for the delay in posting. I forgot to make one yesterday. Today I went and picked up a color photo book of butterflies. I was getting bored of drawing the same ones. This one has these spots that look just like eyes. What a great defense mechanism.

Tiger Butterfly

I was in the mood to use watercolors today. Halfway through painting it reminded me of our cat named Tiger. He was an yellow and orange tabby cat. The points at the top of the wings remind me of ears. I think I'm mixing up my animals!

Call me shy

This is the butterfly that you can't see. I carved it into the ice - easy enough. Then I tried to get a photo - not so easy. I tried dipping it into baking soda, hoping that it would stick to the flat part - nope. Then I tried laying it on paper hoping it would make a print - nope. Then I tried dipping it in dye to make a print - nope.

So, you'll just have to believe me that it was there. Honest.

Teeny Butterfly

Today I was in the mood to make a small butterfly, really small. I carved this into an Oreo. I decided to be kind and use a broken one, so it's only on a half a cookie. I put the quarter next to it for size perspective.

The best part is that I don't have to worry about storing this one!!

This Butterfly is A-Peeling

AKA... Banana butterfly II. Of course, recycling is a big thing so I thought using the entire fruit was as close to recycling as I was going to get today.

Paris

Never been. How about you? At least I can pretend when I paint since this is the label in my easel!!

Patches

These are the eye patches that Amy wore went she was in Kindergarten and First grade. Fortunately we are done with them! Her eyes have strengthened and seem to be staying that way. Yay!!

I'm sure Amy would rather do this with the patches instead of wearing them.

Cookie Dough

Mmmm, cookie dough. Megan made us chocolate chip cookies tonight. I borrowed some of the dough to make my butterfly. Then I returned it to the pot to make more cookies!!

Whiny

I've been collecting these for my niece. She's going to make a dart board with wine corks. I'm wondering if the desire to make things is a gene? I have some very creative people in my family tree!

Personally, I think they will make a much cooler looking dart board!

Banan-a-fly

It's so much fun playing with your food! Go ahead, try making something with your breakfast or lunch tomorrow!

Then you get to eat it!

Only the Shadow Knows

Focus on the shadow.....

A few months ago, I was admiring the shadow on the ceiling of my dining room.  I've been obsessed with trying to figure out how to do a butterfly with shadows and reflections.  An idea occurred to me to use my pretty crystal glassware.   So in the dark of dining room, I played with a flashlight and my crystal.  Now, I can cross this one off my list!!

Tootsie II

Well, as expected the Tootsie Rolls had to be eaten. So I asked them to save the wrappers. I folded them and twirled them around a pencil to make Tootisie II.

Tootsie

I was handing out Tootsie Rolls at the craft fair today. Fortunately, I had enough left over to make this butterfly. I won't need to find a place to put this one!

Finger Painting

Wow, not sure how old I was when I last did finger painting! I know I cleaned up some messy kids afterwards but I didn't get in on the fun.

The blue mark is my finger printing signature!