Project {Coffee Filter Butterflies}

According to the Farmer's Almanac, May 15th is the final frost date around here.  This can only mean one thing: the Gnomes and Fairies are ready to make their arrival in our gardens for the summer!  Little Miss C has been very curious about when the Fairies are going to move in. We go down to the garden everyday and see if any have come to live in the little homes. So far, we have just attracted a small Lookout Gnome.  A few weeks ago,  she looked at me and said, "mama, we have paw-tee, and fay-wees come."  What can I say, she's my kid.

And, yes, I am that crazy mother that decided to have a "Fairy Garden Housewarming Party!" 

The Gnome Workshop has been in full swing lately; over the next couple of weeks I'll give you all the details on how to create a simple (and affordable) Fairy Garden for even the smallest of spaces.  This weekend, we started making some decorations for the party.  Chuck has been full blown obsessed with all things winged lately, so I thought we'd try her little hands out at coffee filter butterflies. 

We set up a table on the porch  with water color paint, brushes, and dot-a-dot painters, gave the girls some coffee filters, and watched the magic happen. 

Chuck and her little friend spent the better part of an hour watching the colors whirl about on the coffee filter.  Watching them experiment with different color combinations was quite fun.  They quickly figured out that a dot-a-dot painter and a wet coffee filter create beautiful swirls of color.  We hung our Technicolor creations up to dry for a bit. 

When the filters were dry to the touch, we folded them accordian style, and clipped the middle with a clothespin to create a "bew-ti-ful" butterfly. 

With a little luck, these winged creations will attract a fairy (or two!)