paint cut paste

earth day is coming up this weekend, and what better way to celebrate than to experience some of mother nature’s magic?! we’ve just witness a slice of this in our house — following a butterfly from the larva stage through to the butterfly stage before our widened eyes…

N has always been interested in the stages of a butterfly, from her favorite book as a 1 year old (the very hungry caterpillar, of course) to the awesome butterfly storybox she created last spring! (have you seen this thing?) N received this groovy butterfly kit from insect lore for her birthday, and while i’m not getting paid at all for this review, i’d recommend it to anyone. (great birthday gift!)

we waited until temperatures were seasonably warm, and sent away for butterfly larvae in the mail. when the container arrived, there were six larvae inside, which looked like super-small caterpillars. see:

about five days later, the caterpillars had grown much larger…

four days after that, the caterpillars had munched their way to their maximum size. (that tan stuff in the jar with them is their food.)

the had entered chrysalis stage only two days after that. it’s hard to see here, but five of them attached to the lid of the jar (as expected) but the sixth formed its cocoon on the bottom of the jar. we weren’t sure if that dude would make it, and ultimately and sadly, he did not.

now it was time to transfer the chrysalids to their new netted habitat provided in the kit. the instructions said to pin the paper to which they’d attached to the net a few inches above the bottom. my husband (the less skeeved-out one) did the deed with the little one lending support.

in their new home!

we watched and watched. and waited and waited.

and on the eighth day, our first painted lady butterfly pushed her way out, unfurled her wet wings, and was a beautiful butterfly!

over the next four days, all five butterflies were born! each day, we read one of N’s favorite books, butterfly birthday, and sang happy birthday to the butterflies as they came into the world in their new form. we put carnations drizzled with sugar water and tangerine slices in their habitat, which N prepared.

we hung out with them until the youngest butterfly was one day old.

on easter sunday, we brought the habitat into our backyard and unzipped it… one by one, we watched each butterfly take flight! it was so exciting for N …and for me and my husband, too!

what an a beautifully educational and magical spring activity to do with children! i think we might have to get the ladybug kit next…

how are you celebrating earth day on sunday?

i thought this might be a nice place to share our family recipe, passed down through generations, for buttercream easter eggs. mostly because this blog serves as a record for N to have (i print my blog into books for her to keep,) and so that my mom, sister, and i don’t have to frantically call each other every spring asking for recipe details. this is one of the easter rituals that has been passed down for YEARS in my family, so let’s archive it here and share the sweetness!

every easter when my mom was a kid, and when i was a kid, it has been tradition for us to find a large chocolate-covered buttercream easter egg, with our name on it, in the center of our easter baskets. these eggs are like diabetes in a ball – they are SUGARY SWEET through and through. this isn’t like a piece of candy you can bite into and eat. it’s one to slice ever so thinly and eat over time… if you can exercise restraint.

we don’t put the egg in N’s basket as though a bunny brought it. rather, it’s something we make together around easter time and enjoy and share with friends on easter sunday. here’s the secret family recipe… shhhh…

stir together:

• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk*
• 6 cups or 1 1/2 lb. of powdered sugar

use hands to form mixture into egg-shaped orbs of whatever size you wish. set aside.

for the chocolate coating melt (over a double boiler) a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips with a tablespoon of vegetable shortening. on my first attempt this year, i tried to use milk chocolate ghirardelli chips first, and it just clumped into a ball instead of melting nice and smooth. had to try again with the old stand-by semi-sweets and it worked fine.

once liquified, spread spoonfuls of this chocolate directly on wax paper to serve as the bottom of the buttercream eggs.

place buttercream orb atop this chocolate, then spoon chocolate over top of the orb until it is coated. you can smooth it out with the back of the spoon.

once it is hardened (you can expedite this by putting it in the fridge) you can decorate the eggs with royal icing or any icing that will harden (not gels.) this year, i got lazy and just used that cake mate brand icing in a tube.

voila! you’re finished. garnish your easter baskets and share with your loved ones and friends and co-workers. the recipe makes PLENTY!

bookmark or pin this for next easter. or you can make these in other shapes for other holidays, i’m sure! let me know what you come up with!

*as you’ve noticed by now, pretty much any “secret family recipe” in my family involves sweetened condensed milk. remember our snow ice cream recipe? perhaps that’s why i’m a vietnamese coffee fiend!

we’re one of several wonderful blogs taking part in the tinkerlab creative challenge: create something using egg cartons! we made cute and tiny egg carton baskets.

what a timely challenge this was, too! on saturday when dyeing our easter eggs, i challenged my little N to make whatever she wanted with the egg carton.

first she instructed me to cut it up for her (after realizing it was too tough for the kid scissors. darn.)

N decided to paint each little cup with watercolors. i’m not sure if she had an idea in mind yet, but as she painted, she said they should be small easter baskets.

some were pretty intricate in their design.

she wanted to “sew” a handle to the cartons, but later decided that if she painted strips of the egg carton to staple to the egg cups, that would create a basket!

each basket was filled with a bit of easter grass. N was delighted to find these were the perfect size and shape to hold the wooden watercolor eggs she painted to give to friends.

a couple were even created for our tinkerfriends themselves, as we were lucky enough to have easter brunch with the tinkerlab crew! can you believe our good fortune in being neighbors with these folks?!?

N declared that the unpainted cups would be good drying spots for our dyed eggs…

…which turned out suuuuuper-bright this year, by the way — we used intense ukrainian egg dye!

check out what many other amazing bloggers did with egg cartons:

wishing everyone a colorful spring!

on a sick day home from school earlier this week, N got on a (pre)origami kick. i went out to see art therapy clients in the morning while she and her dad stayed home and created folded paper fortune tellers (and puppets!) did you create these as a kid? oh, it so brought me back to the 80s when i arrived home midday to see them excitedly playing with their creations.

my husband, craig, created one and N created one herself alongside him. (i wish he had taken photos of this!) the one you see above is one she created and colored. craig wrote the color names on it, N did the numbers inside, and craig made up the fortunes.

i love the fortunes they came up with on the inside, like “you will have magic in your hands” and “you will be surrounded by loving friends” and “you will discover a secret cave with treasure” — among others.

hours of enjoyment, i tell ya!

after N folded another one, she colored a face on it to make a puppet. she noted that “it’s hard to color it when it’s already folded!”

later in the day, N emerged from her room with “envelopes” she had created on her own by folding paper and taping it. this is what i found on my dresser as a gift.

and when i opened it, LOVE inside…

we capped off our paper-folding sick day with making origami bunnies that our friends over at tinkerlab happened to post that same morning my husband initiated paper fortune tellers. i love how the collective unconscious works, don’t you?

making our tinkerlab-inspired bunnies

perhaps we’re ready to try out some other origami animals. i was saving it for an older age, but we’ll see how it goes if the interest is piqued right now… at what age do you think origami is appropriate for kids?

for the past three spring seasons, we have enjoyed watercoloring wooden eggs that we get from casey’s wood products, each time with a different twist.

the first year and second year we posted about this project, we woodburned eggs with the names of N’s friends and gave them as easter or spring gifts. this year, N intends to give an egg to each child in her class this week. in waldorf kindergarten, each student has a visual symbol that identifies their cubby, their coat hook, and each piece of their art work. these symbols have become important to N, so she asked me to woodburn the symbols onto each egg.

after the symbols were on the eggs, N was excited to watercolor them in colors that remind her of each friend.

after they were painted, we sealed them with our homemade wood creme. (see our recipe here.) i have to say that the imaginary play that ensued almost tempted me to keep the whole “kindergarten class egg set” for N to use to act out scenarios amongst her friends. it was fascinating play to witness!

but we’re sticking with the original plan and gifting these little lovely eggs to each child in her class, as well as two larger eggs for her teachers. (and perhaps we’ll create a kindergarten class set another time for home?)

we love this annual egg ritual because these are eggs that stick around year after year. i think i’m going to create a few story eggs for N’s easter basket this week, too.

have you ever wood-burned and/or painted wooden eggs before? what types to do like to create?

spring has sprung, and with the new season comes freshness and color all around our home. from mantel decorating to watercoloring wooden easter eggs and greeting cards to ink painting on beautiful smooth stones, it has been an artful and colorful spring so far around my home. my favorite hue is the inspiration for our spring mantel…

i used elements i saved from N’s nest-themed baby nursery to adorn the mantel, like the distressed iron bird candle holders and this robin’s egg blue nest plate.

isn't this beeswax egg candle beautiful?! it was a birthday gift from N's friend. (click photo to find one on bella luna toys for your home! nope, i don't get paid for that.)

N even made a spring “mantel” of her own on her bedroom dresser, just like she did for valentine’s day and st. patrick’s day.

we’ve been playing with watercolors a lot more since spring began… maybe it’s all of the rain that’s putting us in the mood for them. march showers bring… april showers…?

N's weather paintings on a rainy saturday morning

N is enjoying our annual spring tradition of watercoloring wooden eggs that we get from casey’s wood. i’ve posted about it twice, so i’ll just mention it here with the link to say, yep, we’re doing that again. they make for sweet spring gifts for little friends.

all our eggs in one basket

N has also been playing with liquid watercolors in the afternoons… mostly doing some wet-on-wet watercoloring and making sticker resist greeting cards.

i’ve been dabbling a bit in my acrylic inks, taking inspiration from geninne and inking some smooth stones we found on the beach. (i’m looooving the pale green stones!)

i’ve also been having lots of fun beading, needle-felting, and doing some light sewing… nothing to write home blogs about really. just the usual that i’ve blogged on before, but loving the rebirth of creativity i’m feeling this spring!

and i love that we got to bring out the spring placemats we made  – snaaaaails and flowers!

in the photo above you see my  sunday breakfast i saw on dr. oz – a 5 minute microwave muffin. it totally tasted like sand until i added the butter and honey, but gosh, i felt healthy! click the link to try it out. (i may add a little cocoa powder to mine next time.)

what sort of colorful inspiration is springing up around your home? 

wool roving is quickly becoming one of our favorite art materials around here. N learned how to felt stones at school recently, to make them into colorful, fuzzy eggs for spring. she came home all excited to teach me and my husband how to make some, too. so we let her lead in teaching us this activity.

first we gathered supplies: egg-shaped smooth stones (we have collected tons of beach rocks perfect for this,) colorful wool roving, a bowl of warm, soapy water, and a towel.

each of us selected a stone with which to work, and we each chose a first color of wool. i wasn’t able to take step-by-step photos of this because my hands were soon wet and soapy, but it’s pretty easily explained and if you want a photo tutorial, there’s a good one here on lil fish studios blog.

we spread out the wool and wrapped the first layer around the rock until it covers the stone entirely. you can use a felting needle to close the seam here, if you’d like, but it’s unnecessary. then we dipped the stone into the bowl of warm soapy water. once it was wet, we tossed the wet stone back and forth between our hands. it’s a gentle, repetetive motion of back and forth, which can be very soothing.

kid hands, husband hands

you can even squirt some liquid soap into your palms for this part, if you’d like. after the wool seems to adhere together a bit, wrap your second color around the stone in the same way and repeat. you might not want to cover the first color entirely – it’s fun to see it show through.

back and forth

we chose to wrap our rocks with three colors each. after they were wrapped, we put them on a plate to dry. N informed us it would take “a whole day plus a night” to dry.

she was right – in about 24 hours our egg/rocks were dry… and oh so cute!

since we made ours as egg shapes and in spring colors, they are so wonderful with our spring/easter decorations! i’d love to make some solid color ones (like she did on lil fish studios) as pretty stone gifts, too.

large one on left is N's egg, small ones in nest are my husband's and mine