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! 

Making Halloween Stickers

Creating an adorable detail is not always a time consuming thought out in advanced process. Making your own stamps is one of the quickest and easiest ways to add a detail to all sorts of items- treats bags, gift bags and quick notes.

With a roll of plain white stickers from an office supply store and an accent stamp or two, you'll always be ready to quickly create a tiny detail that can make your presentation all the more sweet. Also, making stickers to hand out instead of candy is a great alternative if you live on a block where candy looked down upon (by mom's of course, not kids!) 


Happy stamping and have a happy and safe Halloween.

Pre-Halloween Party and Invitation

On the day of Halloween there’s always a strange time when the kids want to get dressed up and collect their goods but have to wait until it’s ‘time’ to go trick-or-treating. And nobody ever seems to know when that ‘time’ starts. A great way to fill this waiting period is to throw a party.

Invite over the neighborhood kids and parents for a pre trick-or-treating bash. Keep the food simple- order a few sandwich and veggie trays. A small treat bag or simple cookie with a great gift tag allows both parents to go trick-or-treating later since everyone on the block will have already gotten a goodie.

Try some classic games like bobbing for apples or pass the apple or pumpkin (be sure the stem is removed.) Decorate some small pumpkins with paint or markers. A game of musical chairs is always fun and has no clean up. Good scary music options are; Night on Bald Mountain, The Monster Mash, or Thriller.

If the weather permits have the party outside or in your garage. There’s always lots of excitement when costumes are involved. This way the kids get to hang out longer in their costume and best of all, when the party breaks up- everyone will know that’s it officially time to trick or treat!

Here is an invitation idea for a pre-Halloween party using stamps from our Halloween collection. 

We started with a flat notecard, cobblestone ink and our spider web accent stamp. We simply rotated the stamp around to create a handcrafted pattern.

Then we printed the text on a piece of yellow vellum that we found at an office supply store, and trimmed to the same size as our flat notecard. This is a great trick if you don't have a fancy color printer that prints on a range of papers easily. Most black ink jet printers can easily print on vellum.

Next we folded a sheet of our juicy orange paper to make a jacket and our boo! accent stamp to create another pattern. We used orange ink as the majority of the pattern and one cobblestone stamping for a little extra fun.

For the cute tie around the jacket we use Divine Twine. As you can see from our other Halloween ideas it worked great for everything. It was always the right amount of color and playfulness, without any extra bulk.

Finally, we end where your guest begins- at the envelope. The boo! accent stamp is sold on its own but is also part of our ghost stamp set. It's always wonderful to be able to set the tone of the party with the first glance of the envelope.

Remember to use your stamps to decorate game prize bags, treat bags or gift tags. And have a fun and safe Halloween.

A Month of Halloween

What used to be a single night of spookiness and sugar highs has turned in to a month long celebration of treats, decorations and parties. What would you do with a personalized Halloween stamp? More than you realize.

Fall is an amazing time to bake and share. Welcome crisp, cooler air by turning the oven on again. Filling your house with delicious smells can make packing away your cute sandals feel ok. The fall harvest lets you bake in quantities to share, whether it’s from your own garden or the farmers’ market. Zucchini bread for your neighbors, pumpkin cookies for the play group and an apple pie as a hostess gift. Give all of them a finishing touch with a personalized rubber stamp on a gift tag.

Then there are the parties. Children’s parties, adult parties and pre trick-or-treating parties. If you throw a Halloween party then a personalized Halloween stamp will cover all kinds of usages. Invitations, prize bags, treat bags, gift tags and thank you notes. And the best part of using a rubber stamp is you can reuse it every year and create a new look by changing the paper, ink and layout. If you have friends that host a Halloween party every year- a personalized Halloween stamp makes a great hostess gift.

If you have a special treat for your favorite neighborhood kids or know a child that is forbidden to have sugar, then the stamps work great to create packaging for a unique little gift. A simple stamp can transform even a brown paper bag.

If you send a store bought Halloween card, then a stamp on the back can give it more personality. If you scrapbook, try creating your own line of Halloween cards and finish them off with a stamping on the back of the card. And if you are a crazed mother with no time to make a card, let alone stand in an isle and pick a card, then get out the art supplies and your stamp and let your kids make some Halloween cards. This should give you a half hour to figure our where you put their trick-or-treating baskets.

Halloween Collection

Our Halloween collection of personalized rubber stamps and accent stamps is now available in our Etsy shop.

This is a great time of year for baking, crafting, parties and gift giving. A personalized rubber stamp is a wonderful way to give everything you do this fall, a personal touch. We have so many great usage ideas to come in future posts please check back soon!