Inspiration for the New Designs

There was a little children's shop in Paris that had the cutest type in its windows. I took this photo years ago and saved it in an inspiration folder. It's taken awhile to create to new designs, but I had to start with making a fun lowercase cursive. Once the address stamps where created I played around with a few name stamps using the new type treatment. Some worked better than others, here are the winners. If there is something else that you'd like to see with the new cursive treatment let us know.

You can find our new name stamps on our Etsy site for now. And remember many of our accents stamps work great with these themes. Make your own set today!

New Cursive Address Designs

Introducing the our latest address stamps. The fun cursive type treatment is a perfect addition to our playful designs. All of the new personalized address stamps come in sets of two, an address stamp and an accent stamp, so that you can play with the layout. Stamp the address on the back of the envelope and stamp the accent stamp by the recipients name. Or stamp the address in the upper left corner of the envelope front and use the accent stamp to make an envelope liner or use it on the notecard inside. Change it up depending on the occasion or envelope.

The new designs are currently on our Etsy site.

Chocolate Cups

My intermittent blogging has been the result of jumping into the field of creating and designing apps. Rarely does my digital work cross over with Butterfly Fly, but I had to share an idea that came from an app I designed called MrChocolate.

Jacque Torres is MrChocolate and he is an amazing talent. The app features step by step videos, photos, and text for making and decorating all things chocolate. It was a peasure to work on and I hope you’ll check it out on either iPad or iPhone.

What I thought you’d really like from the app is a techique that I’ve used at my son’s last two birthday parties- and that is making chocolate cups. The kids had crazy fun dipping the balloons into the chocolate and then popping them to create a chocolate cup that we filled with ice cream. It was so much fun the first year that we hired a balloon guy and made the whole party a balloon theme the following year.

Beyond the kids loving this, it’s a great way to make a cute treat without baking. Summer is coming up and a hot oven can be miserable. But my favorite part of this treat is that it’s perfect for acommidating kids that are gluten-free. Nobody gets left out!

A couple of things to remember, make sure none of the guests have latex allergies, and it’s helpful to have a dedicated parent going around and picking up the popped balloon pieces. We had the kids dipping and then popping one at a time and everyone waited patiently for their turn. We all know that chocolate has magical powers, but patient children? It was amazing.

If the kids are popping the balloons themselves then a toothpick works well. They may need to hold the top of the balloon. The popping noise can be loud so warn tiny ones to cover their ears.

Also, it’s not as easy as melting the chocolate and dipping- the chocolate needs to tempered otherwise the cups don’t set well. Tempering and the chocolate cup technique are both featured in the apps.

If you’re ambitous try blowing up different sized baloons and make a flower like Jacques does. I think I’ll be saving that for a rainy day activity this summer. Enjoy.

The Curious Garden

Spring has come so early to the Midwest. Here's a little gardening inspiration for your young ones with a great book, The Curious Garden by Peter Brown.

A little like the Pothole Gardener's tiny creations, a boy discovers a small collection of struggling plants among the concrete and starts to take care of them. Overtime the garden spreads throughout the city transforming it into a beautiful environment. If you haven't seen this book yet please check it out from your library or better yet it would make a super cute easter present.

Happy spring!

The Pothole Gardener

This has to be one of the most charming ideas- tiny gardens planted in city potholes.

Many gardens have themes that make them not only lovely to look at, but add a wonderful bit of whimsy.

This spring as you drive and curse the giant holes that winter has left behind, remember their potential. Visit The Pothole Gardener for more inspiration.

Garden Stamp Offer

It's the end of February in Chicago and it's amazing to see plants starting to peek out of the ground. They might not fare so well for coming up this early, but it's nice to feel the hope of spring around the corner.

In honor of all the gardeners waiting patiently for spring to officially come, we are offering a free accent stamp with every personalized garden stamp ordered. 

Just include which stamp you would like when typing in your custom text. Offer good on both butterflyfly.com and our Etsy site until the end of March 2011. Happy stamping and happy spring!

Stamping with Kids

With so many of our designs created with families in mind, it’s only natural that kids take to using the stamps. Our stamps are made with real rubber instead of polymer which makes them more durable in the hands of little ones. And because they are mounted on wood, kids can change the colors as they wish. The traditional wood mount gives them a more intimate involvement than the big plastic, self-inking stamps.

If you don’t mind having the wood mounting stained a little, even the youngest kids can stamp. As long as you keep the rubber clean and the wood dry in between usages the stamps can last a lifetime. Kids love to use the accent stamps to create little stories and patterns.

For smaller children who can’t write yet, making their own thank you cards is a great way to get them involved in the thank you process. Let them use anything from their art supply arsenal- crayons, colored pencils, markers, stickers and of course glittery glue. Even if you don’t have a personalized rubber stamp, a single thank you stamp can transform any piece of art into a thank you card.

And don’t worry about the stamp impressions being perfect, that’s part of the fun. Parents can help with one clear impression on the envelope to pull the whole thing together.

For older kids wanting perfection every time, let them stamp on a separate piece of paper and pick out their favorite markings to cut out and glue on the card.

Send us a photo of your kid’s favorite stamps designs to ideas@butterflyfly.com and receive free stickers!

Our Holiday Special Offer

Buy three accent stamps and get the fourth free! Perfect for stocking stuffers, secret santas and Hanukkah. And they ship immediately! Pick out all four stamps and enter ACCENT at check out at either our website or Etsy site.

Mix and match accent stamps for different people or make a grouping for one lucky recipient. Kids will love having a little collection to have as a part of their crafting supplies.

For the busy bee...

For the space fanatic...

For a great tea party...

For the ocean bound...

For the baker...

And because we ship USPS Priority mail within the United States you can order as late as Dec 20th to insure delivery by Christmas.

The Universal Wish List

Were you hounded on Thanksgiving for your holiday lists by family members? Or maybe you were the eager beaver asking for lists. Either way Amazon.com has a wonderful new button that allows you to add items from all over the web to your Amazon.com Wish List.

Go to the Universal Wish List page and drag the Add to Wish List icon into your browser. When you are at any website and see something you'd like simply click on the icon and a window will pop up asking if you wish to add the item to your Amazon.com Wish List.

Take a look over your Etsy favorites, add a few to your Wish List and support the handmade community. Have a nephew into vinyl figures or an aunt who collects vintage china? Send them the Universal Wish List link and get that list back without any need to drive or Google. And if you have a favorite rubber stamp, there's even a place in the pop up window to place your personalized text.

Happy listing making!

The Pumpkin Fairy

This idea comes courtesy of Laura Donkel, a Chicago Waldforf teacher, and is a wonderful solution to the mountain of Halloween candy in your house.

Set your excess candy in a bowl outside by your jack-o-lanterns at night for the Pumpkin Fairy. During the night the Pumpkin Fairy will take the candy to help grow next year’s pumpkins. Pumpkins love sugar! In the morning the candy will be gone and she will have left a small thank you gift in its place, such as a book, a stuffed animal or some arts and craft supplies.

The Pumpkin Fairy could continue with the theme of their Halloween costume. If they haven’t had enough of being a pirate, a cowgirl or robot, then the Pumpkin Fairy could leave a small telescope, a stuffed pony or a book about planets. 

It’s a lovely and healthy way to celebrate Halloween. 

Thank you Laura!