Butterflies and Raccoons

We grew butterflies!  (Grew?  Raised?)

We got this kit, and followed instructions:  Insect Lore - live bug kits!

It was pretty awesome at first.  I did this when I was younger, and have always loved butterflies, so it seemed like a no brainer to do this with Miss Raina this summer. Go online and order the caterpillars, easy peasy.  They arrived a few days later in the mail, cute and little and fuzzy wuzzy!

In no time at all, though.... they were eating through their brown food stuff, getting rid of waste, and getting big and meaty.  They yucked me out in a way I didn't remember getting yucked out when I was younger!

Raina checked them every day... she was so anxious for the caterpillars to turn from babies to "grownups" and build their "raccoons!"  We did lots of talking about the life cycle of a caterpillar/butterfly.  We read the book that came with the kit, read some things online, and of course read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" a few hundred times :).

A week and a half later, the raccoons came!  Slowly, one by one... the caterpillars built their raccoons on the lid of their little cup-bitat, and when they were all in... we moved them to their new and spacious butterfly screened in condo!

Then more waiting.  And some drama.  (With no pictures.  No pictures of sad butterfly drama)

I woke up one morning to find 2.5 of 5 butterflies out of their cocoons!  Hurrah!  By the end of the day, the count was the same - 2.5.  Ugh.  Next morning... 4.5 butterflies out.  And the half butterfly was flapping his wings furiously and frantically, causing the place to shake, and making a noise that freaked.  me.  out.  A day later, it was clear (to me, at least,  I don;t think Raina ever got it) that we had only 4 butterflies, and one sad cocoon mishap.  I am still pretty traumatized by it, and the sound of the flapping.

After 2 days of admiring our beautiful painted ladies indoors, we decided it was time to set them free!  Outside we went, opened the butterfly condo... nada.  Looks like the butterflies liked their condo... furnished with leaves, flowers, and tiny sugar water drinks.  I cut the whole lid of the condo, and they ventured out one at a time.

Raina's reaction was exactly what I hope for as she watched them fly out into the sunny day.  So amazing, that I couldn't stop watching it for long enough to take a picture.  You understand, right?  Those moments are gone so fast, I had to capture it in my memory instead of through a lens for once!

Will we do it again?  I'm undecided.  Part of me wants to give it another go and watch next years caterpillar larvae miraculously become brilliant orange butterflies.  Part of me can't go through the flapping again.

Pretty bibbies are not meant to last.

Yet, I can't help but make some :)  

They're all made from fat quarters on the front -  large piece for the main background, and details cut from coordinating fabrics.  The backs are made from soft white dishtowels.  Nice and absorbent for all those baby dribbles!

I love this bright butterfly bib!  As you may recall, I'm a bit obsessed with this orange butterfly fabric :)

decorated with a piece of wide yellow ric rac...

a pink butterfly...

and a yellow butterfly!

this one is a leaf pattern with a tree and flower

i hand embroidered around the pieces

embroidered around a few leaves...

and embroidered a heart on the tree.

this squirrel one is cute, even though I didn't try very hard when I was sewing around the squirrel, obviously!  :)

the leaves are cut our from a fat quarter that is printed with different colored leaves...

I love how it looks like the squirrel is letting the leaves blow up into the wind like balloons!


I sewed snap closures onto the necks of each bib - my first time with snaps and it was so easy, I can't believe I shied away from snaps for so long!!

These are pretty pre-washed, and after a washing they became so so soft.  Miss Lucca is a droll queen and quite the spitter-upper, so she goes through a fair number of bibs during the day.  Most of them are pastel and pink... not these!!

Wreath, complete.

 A few weeks ago, I told you about this "Pinspired" challenge I decided to take part in.  After a few false starts and lots of sticking my tongue out at a styrofoam wreath form, I finally finished!  There were a few times I almost gave up, but I'm so happy with the result and so glad I stuck it out!

(my post explaining the challenge)

I started with a simple styrofoam wreath form, and started wrapping it in light purple yarn....  one thing Pinterest doesn't tell you... wrapping a wreath form in yarn is a freaking LOT of work!  It took a lot longer than I expected, especially the first go around!  (Sorry there's no pictures of my steps... there were so many starts that I took apart to do over... it seemed silly to take pictures since I was never sure if I was going to keep the result!)  The yarn was really thin - it's probably faster if you use a thicker one!  At first I was cutting lengths of yarn a few yards long, wrapping, then tying on a new length.  After a while, though, it seemed that this wasn't any faster than just passing the entire skein of yarn through the wraeth every time, though... and that way there weould be no knots showing.  I secured the end with a straight pin.

The fabric ruffles are from polka dot fat quarters - mine are flannel, but I don't think the fabric matters much.  I cut strips running the long way, about 4 inches in width.  (These are actually the strips I usually cut to make brims for my bonnets, but I repurposed a few!).  I ruffled them, then wrapped them around tightly and secured them with straight pins.  At the base of the ruffle, to hide the raw edge, I glued some silk flowers.  You could make flowers to put here if you're so inclined, and I might have if I hadn't had a box of pretty flowers sitting around waiting for a project :).

Then came the butterflies!  These feather butterflies have lived a long and happy and varied life!  I bought them at Paper Source about 5 years ago, when I was living in CA.  First they lived on my bedroom windows in CA, then in my bedroom in Boston, then decorated Raina's nursery, some now live on a painting I made for Raina's room, and some are reserved for a special project I'm working on with Raina now.  Phew.  They are still for sale on their website, and depending on the season they are on the stores sometimes, too!  Their is a garland set and a magnet set - for this wreath I used the magnet set minus two, and a strand and a half of the garland.  

I didn't make too much of a fuss about the pattern, except for making sure there were none of the same color touching.  I'm not really sure why the two to the right of the ruffle at the bottom are flying the opposite direction.   I don't know if I love it or not, but by the time I really thought about it, the hot glue was dry and they weren't going anywhere!

I did end up snipping off all of the tiny antennae.  They looked a little messy when they were on... I think it looks much cleaner without them.

These feather butterflies are delicate.  If you pull on them too hard, the feathers will separate.  If you pull way too hard, the wing will pull right out of the body.  BUT, with that said... these butterflies have lasted through one cross country trip in a U-Haul, a cross city move, a move out of the city, and being hung in a baby's room.  So as long as you don't let your dog play with them, you should be good.  :)

This little guy has some funky eyes.  And an antenna that left a little stump.  It looks a little like a vampire butterfly.

For a project I was unsure of at best when I started, I couldn't be happier with the result.  Purple sparkly butterflies.  If you know me, then you know this IS me :).  (My senior year of high school, if something didn't fit that description, it was not in my wardrobe)  These pictures are taken on my front door to use the pretty natural light, but I'm thinking this is more of an indoor wreath.  Maybe if we had a storm door I'd feel differently.  Maybe on the outside of Raina's bedroom door?  (She already thinks it's for her anyway!)

"MUMMA!  Fairies live in there!!"


my pinspired/rewired inspiration board  
and the wreath that was the final inspiration!

Pinspired & Rewired {pinterest challenge}

 I'm trying something new.  Something I hesitate to do in real life.  I'm participating in group activities!

The first one is this exciting challenge:

challenge intro post @ Gingersnap Crafts







Challenge One:  WREATHS.  Hm.  Last spring I bougt a foam wreath form, intending to make a beautiful ribbon wrapped, flower adorned door decoration.  I wrapped it in wide yellow ribbon, and promptly lost interest.  It's been sitting in that state in a closet ever since.  So this challenge is just that... a challenge!  I'm looking forward to dusting off my abandoned project and giving it some new life!

For inspiration, I made a board on Pinterest:  Wreath Challenge Inspiration

As you can see, I'm really feeling the butterflies.... but I guess that's no surprise!

If you've made any great wreaths, leave a comment!  I'd love some more inspiration!