I’ve been known to throw a nice bowl or mug on the pottery wheel or grow big fat juicy tomatoes but get me into a craft store and you will see my eyes glaze over. Since the winters can be long in BC’s Okanagan Valley, I’ve decided to delve into the wonderful world of crafts – in very small bites.
To get started, I picked up Creative Play for Your Toddler, a Waldorf/Steiner inspired book with some very cool projects that focus on imaginative play. Although making the sweet little companion doll would be fun, it’s a little intimidating at this point, so I decided to create the butterfly mobile instead.
First we made some butterfly shapes by folding the rainbow colored tissue paper over and drawing one side along the crease.
Next we made six butterflies by layering the tissue, using two or three colors and then folding pipe cleaner in half and pinching the tissue between the halves to create the butterfly’s body. Then we scrunched the tissue a bit to make it appear flying.
Next I tied thread around each end of the pipe cleaner /body so that the butterfly would hang balanced. It took me a few tries to figure out how to tie the body and leave enough thread to hang the butterfly’s at different heights. (Novice, I tell you!!) The first part was fun to do with Olivia, however I would recommend tying the thread on your own if your children are young 
Then I hung the butterflies around a ring I bought at the craft store. I wrapped the ring first in ribbon to make it all pretty. Finally, I tied three ribbons to the ring for hanging.
Here is our finished mobile. A good first start, however next time I will make ten butterflies so it looks more spiraled (this will let me use more color shades in the rainbow). An earth rainbow would be nice as well, using greens, browns, blues, tan, etc..
I’ve also been impressed with Green Mamma’s artsy way. Check out her 30 days of You and Me, where Jessica created thirty cool projects to bond with her daughter Annabelle in the month before her brother was born.
Impressed because again I say, I’m not that crafty…YET!
Have a fun craft posted on your blog? Feel free to drop the link in the comments so we can all have a peek and get inspired!
These are my thoughts on living a healthy and simple life. I'm a modern mom with some simple ideas, a little common sense and a natural philosophy. This is the sanest way I know how to navigate the 21 century.
