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Archive for the ‘Home and Garden’ Category

I blogged yesterday about hosting a Butterfly Themed Party recently.

Not one to do things by half-measures, not only was the food and decor butterfly themed, but I insisted those attending join me for a butterfly craft.

I hadn’t tried it before, so it was a good thing the process was easy.

You basically need:

a book you don’t mind hacking to pieces

glue (school glue would work fine)

scissors

a marking pen

a butterfly cookie cutter

floral wire

wire cutters

butterfly craft cut outs on pageRip two pages out of the book and, using the cookie cutter, trace your butterfly patter on the page.

butterfly craft cutting out one

Cut out the pattern, making sure you cut both pages together.

buttterfly craft getting ready to glue

Open your butterfly, like you would bread for a sandwich. Measure two pieces of wire to lay cross-wise across your butterfly and cut them with wire cutters. Set the wire aside.

 

butterfly craft gluing sideLiberally apply glue to the edges of one piece of your butterfly.    Place the wire on the glue then lay the top piece on top of the wire (like you were making a butterfly sandwich with the paper and glue – in other words, make sure you get the inside pieces together so the edges match up.)

butterfly craft cut out

Let the glue dry…

butterfly craft finished 2

And then you can shape the butterfly however you want.

You can give it a light wash with water color, if you so desire, or poke a hole and tie a thread through it if you want to hang it. If you wanted to make dozens of these and string them together, they’d look really cool hanging from the ceiling.

Set these on a bookshelf, tuck into a corner. I bet if you make one, you’ll find yourself wearing a big ol’ grin when you look at it!

She Who Likes Wordy Butterflies

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A few weeks ago, I hosted our book club and decided it would be fun to go with a theme for the evening.

Everything from the decorations to the food to the book selection included butterflies.

I had a blast getting everything ready and I think the girls enjoyed the theme, too.

This week I’ll be sharing some of the ideas and recipes.

butterfly lights 1

To set the scene, I hung butterflies in various colors from the light in the dining room, where I knew we’d be spending most of the evening. I got the butterflies at the craft store and looped a piece of gold thread over the curly brackets on the light, then clipped the butterflies to the thread.

butterfly lights 2

It looked pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

butterfly glasses butterfly

For an added touch, I used butterflies on wires and wrapped them around the base of the drinking glasses. Not only was it fun and added a touch of whimsy, it was also easy to remember which glass belonged to who. It was kind of like using wine charms, only with big butterflies.

butterfly glasses

Serioiusly, you have to be in a pretty grumpy mood not to smile when you’re drinking out of a glass with a butterfly on the stem.

Stay tuned the rest of this week for more butterfly party ideas and recipes!

She Who Had Way Too Much Fun With This

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I love lilacs.

Their delicate blossoms. Their fragrant scent. The beautiful shades of lavender.

I had a lilac bush up until the desolate septic project destroyed our back yard last year. It came from a start I got from my mom who got it from my grandpa. He enjoyed lilacs, too.

Spring without a lilac has not exactly seemed like spring.

So I’m making do today with some glorious substitutes for the real thing.

lilacs 1Light and lovely from Such Pretty Things

 

lilac 2

Lilac and a book from A Good Thing Happened

 

lilac 3

From Creative Country Mom Photography – can’t you almost smell the fragrance?

lilac 4

And this beauty from A Little Junk in My Trunk

Happy Monday from She Who Loves Lilacs

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johnny jump ups

The other day I noticed a random pot bursting with colorful blooms in the wasteland of our backyard. I didn’t plant these sweet little violas here, they somehow, magically, grew without my help (which is probably why they look so good!).

These little flowers are pretty special to me. They remind me of my Grandpa, my dad’s father, who always had them growing in his flowerbeds. He called them Johnny Jump Ups, so that is what I’ve always referred to them by.

Apparently, viola tricolor is a European wildflower and also known as  heartsease, heart’s ease, heart’s delight, tickle-my-fancy, Jack-jump-up-and-kiss-me, come-and-cuddle-me, three faces in a hood, or love-in-idleness. Americans bestowed the Johnny Jump Up title and refer to it as a wild pansy.

Whatever you want to call it, I know that the sight of one of these darling little blooms always makes me smile. Not only because of the bold, bright colors, but because it reminds me so of my Grandpa.

She Who is Feeling Nostalgic Today

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