With our fuzzy little friends happily in their new homes eating themselves silly, today Miss G and I went out to the garage to dig up one of the butterfly homes I made years ago when teaching my first ever Kindergarten class. Of course, there are probably many different butterfly huts available for purchase online, but I’m typically a fan of making things myself if I can. Such was the case 8 years too… Instead of purchasing a readymade butterfly home, I opted to purchase several of these inexpensive mesh hanging storage tubes and modify them a wee bit.
To start out, I carefully made two large perpendicular cuts on the very bottom of the storage unit in order to open it up. Then, very carefully, I snipped out all of the mesh dividers that created the separate compartments.
Next, using some picnic table covering plastic (found on large rolls at IKEA and hardware stores), I cut out circles just a hair larger than the circular openings along the sides of the tube. With a hot glue gun and a hand I was wiling to burn repeatedly for the sake of my students and soon-to-be butterflies (just kidding…um… kinda ☺), I glued the plastic windows to the inside of my tube to cover up the holes (gluing them to the outside would have undoubtedly been easier, but that would have also allowed my hot glue slip-ups to be more obvious, which simply was not acceptable at the time).
In order to create some homey resting ledges for my winged friends, I glued several brightly coloured faux flowers to the inside of the enclosure too.
Though very wrinkled from years of storage, our butterfly enclosure is now hung from the ceiling so it rests perfectly on the tiny little table our chrysalises are going to sit on when they’re ready.
In the meantime, since we’re not at the chrysalis stage yet, I pinned up the butterfly enclosure, set our caterpillar containers on the little wooden table, and set up a little reading and observing corner for her to enjoy.
Now to figure out how we’ll hang our chrysalises… While teaching, I stuck them (still attached to their container lids) to the ceiling of a large wooden block that was open on two sides, but since we don’t have one of those, I’m going to have to get a little creative. We shall see what we come up with!
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To get started, I purchased 25 of these flat 5 by 7 paper bags (you don’t want the lunch-style ones that fold out at the bottom) from one of my favourites – 
Then, using one of the stamp sets I use for my 
Next, I selected an area of wall to hang my calendar. I went with this spot because it’s right along the ground and allows Gracen to reach her own bags each day, but you could really do any spot you wish. 
Next, I filled the bags, added a note inside each, sealed them shut with washi tape, and hung them on the lines with mini wooden clothespins.
Originally, I had really wanted craft paper bags, but I actually think the white ones turned out perfectly. They are just see-through enough to show the shape of the object(s) inside, which gets Miss G really curious.
This year, because Grae is nearly obsessed with adding to the tree each day, we decided to make her advent calendar all about ornaments. Some days her bag will be filled with a purchased or previously made ornament to add to the tree, and other days, she’ll have to create the ornament first. Either way, there will always be a handwritten note included that tells her why the ornament is special or what she can create using her materials.
Making one of these sweet little ribbon wands for Miss G has long been on my project list, and since her last dance class took place today, it was the perfect motivation to not only make one for Grae, but to make one to gift to each of her little friends too. 
If you poke around the internet, you’ll find tons of different styles of ribbon wands and methods to make them, but when we stumbled upon these adhesive picture hanging strips (available at hardware stores), we came up with a way of our own. 
First off, we took wide satin ribbon and cut it into strips approximately 125 centimetres long, cutting one end straight across and one end at an angle. Then, using a lighter, we sealed off the cut edges.
Next, we took the adhesive backing off of the picture hangers and firmly attached them to the straight end of the ribbon. At this point I was going to sew the picture hanger onto the ribbon for added security, but the adhesive was so strong that it wasn’t necessary. 
With our ribbons ready, we moved onto the wand part of the project. Using painter’s tape, we taped off our 6 inch dowels about a third of the way up.
Then using crafter’s acrylic in colours that coordinated with our ribbons, we painted the bottom third of each dowel with two coats of paint.
When the paint was good a dry, we carefully removed the painter’s tape to reveal the handle part of our wands.
Next, we used a tack to poke holes in the top ends of the dowels. 
Then it was time for these guys – small eye hooks available at all hardware stores.
We screwed the eye hooks into the recently made holes by starting the process by hand and using pliers part way through. (One thing to be mindful of at this point is that if your eye hooks are on the larger side (like ours), you don’t want to force them down into the dowel too far. You’ll get a pretty good sense on when you should stop twisting, and please do so. Spoken from experience, if you force them down too much, the dowels will split open.)
Your wand should now look like this. 
Now the final step… We hooked the metal picture hanging hook onto the eye hooks and use pliers to squeeze the hook shut tightly.
And there you have it – a pretty little ribbon wand.
In order to transport them to dance class without a big tangly mess happening, we simply wrapped the ribbons around the wands, and secured them with a bit of polka dotted washi tape.
With those simple things done, I took a blanket we’ve always kept in Grae’s room, folded it in thirds, and lined the bottom of the closet with it.
The great thing is that the top is still a fully functioning closet. Tiny clothes = lots of leftover space.
Today, Gracen and I picked up some of 
On the other side, we hung 
The final touch was adding a battery-operated push lamp to each side so that there’s always plenty of light to read with.
The best part is that Gracen absolutely adores her new book nook. I’ll often find her in there, curled up on the platform, telling herself stories with a book in her lap. Other times, she can be found hard at work, switching out the books and carefully choosing new ones to replace them.
While we were at IKEA picking up a Bekvam stool for Miss G’s 
While Gracen was happily 
After a day’s drying time, my little helper and I assembled them according to the instructions provided.
Then we mounted them to the wall using plugs and long screws (this was by far the hardest part of the project – really should have used a drill instead of doing it all by hand) and voila – Gracen had instant wall-mounted book shelves.
These little shelves are all part of a bigger project which I’m doing in honour of Miss G’s upcoming 2nd birthday (which I’ll be sure to share upon completion), but for now, Miss G is loving her toddler-height display-style bookshelves.
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There’s no doubt that modified versions of 
Since the stool was for Grae, I chose to use leftover paint in one shade lighter than her bedroom walls. While Gracen happily 
The next day, while picking up some paper for a couple of block orders I’m working on, we came across this beautiful cherry blossom print, which really couldn’t be any more perfect. Anyone who knows me well, knows my love of cherry blossoms. I love them so much, in fact, that we hired an artist to paint a cherry blossom mural in Grae’s previous nursery in Kuwait. 
I cut the paper into a 12″ by 7.5″ rectangle, attached it to the the bench top (leaving a 1 inch border around the edges), and used a couple of pieces of rolled tape to hold it down temporarily.
Next, I flipped the bench top over and traced the oval cut out onto the backside of the paper.
After carefully removing the paper, I cut the oval out just outside of the traced line.
Next, I busted out some matte Mod Podge and a foam brush and spread a thin, even coat of Mod Podge over the entire surface of the bench.
After waiting just a minute to let the Mod Podge get tacky, I carefully placed the paper onto the bench top and smoothed it from the centre outwards to remove any bumps and bubbles that had formed.
Next, I topped the entire bench top with a couple of Mod Podge layers, letting it dry fully in between.
For added protection, I took it outside and gave it a couple of coats of a matte spray-on sealant, again letting it dry in between layers.
After a day of drying time, my little helper and I assembled her pretty new toddler bench.
I was excited to have her test it out and it turns out that her first instinct was to use it as a table and chair combo, rather than a step stool (I thought I might have to show her that, but not needed). She collected her baby and her jar of snacks and wasted no time putting her new bench to use. She’s used it constantly since, for everything from drawing, to sticker play, to meal eating, and game playing. The best part is that not only can this little stool be used as a toddler table/chair combo, but it can also be used the way it was designed to – for hand washing, teeth brushing, and kitchen helping too.
Mama. Papa. Bubba. 