New Designs

We are using our Etsy shop to test out some new designs. Here are our latest, a new birds with heart from stamp and a dog print new address stamp set.

As always we’d love to hear what you think. Comment or email us at ideas@butterflyfly.com.

Handmade From Little Ones

Handmade is not reserved to the many talented people on Etsy. It can easily extend to your budding artists at home. No matter how young, chances are they love to create and they love to give.

On her blog, My Favorite Everything, Shanna Coady had her two little ones paint rocks and a pot for their grandpa’s birthday. The joy it will bring to grandpa every time he sees them in his garden and the thrill the kids will have when they visit their creation in use, proves art projects don’t need to be complicated to be great. Gift tags, a from the family stamp and accent stamp gives it a polished presentation.

‘Handmade’ can be a cheat. Here the wooden bird houses were bought at Jo-Ann’s for a dollar each. The three year old who painted them for his grandmas doesn’t consider them a handmade stretch. In his world these are masterpieces marked with his seal of approval- his name stamp on gift tags. A simple name stamp works great as a sign off or the word ‘handmade’ can be added to many of our name stamps. Check out our handmade stamp collection for more ideas.

Find Free Inspiration

Butterfly Fly is based in Chicago, where there is a wealth of free days at our many museums. The Art Institute, Museum of Contemporary Art, The Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, Museum of Science and Industry, The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and Chicago Children’s Museum all offer free days throughout the year. The Chicago Public Library also offers museum passes for free admission that you can checkout for a week at a time.

With kids, don’t worry about seeing everything in the museum, just spend time in the areas they find interesting. It may be a Miro painting, the jellyfish, stegosaurus bones, or an upside down prop-plane. Often a museum visit makes for great dinner conversation, and may spark a special trip to the library for books on a subject or even inspire an art project.

Free outdoor concerts are a wonderful gift that come with nicer weather. Millennium Park offers lots of free concerts- great for picnic dinners. Old Town School of Folk Music offers free children’s concerts in the summer mornings in Millennium Park. And many of the Chicago Parks have free concerts throughout the summer featuring a very wide range of musical styles.

Old paper towel rolls transform into a number of pretend instruments and for older children chop sticks work well for drumsticks or a conducting baton. An inspired 'musical performance' can continue for days after- sometimes weeks.

Be sure to check with the museums, city and parks around where you live for free opportunities and get inspired!