'Parkly Butterflies

  I've never really been a crafty person.  However, my kids love to do crafty type things.  So over the past few months, I've been slowly learning, searching the internet, and copying great ideas like the one Laura at Pitter Patter Art did with her kids.  (And Pinterest, of course!)  Doing this one project, stemming from this one idea that I found, got my creative juices flowing (which, by the way, I didn't really know I had!) and I now have ideas for 3 more book projects with the girls!  Excitement :)
  AB got the book, Fancy Nancy Bonjour Butterfly, for Christmas.  The book is adorable.  If you've never heard of Fancy Nancy and you have little girls, you should look her up.  She dresses super fancy and uses super fancy words.  In Bonjour Butterfly, Fancy Nancy is simply devastated that she can't go to her best friends Butterfly Birthday Party - and instead has to go to her grandparents Anniversary Party.  But, she does get a butterfly surprise at the end! 
   I sat down with the girls after putting Creek down for his morning nap and we read Fancy Nancy Bonjour Butterfly together.  Then we got down the craft box (that my born-to-be-crafty mother-in-law put together for me a couple of months ago) and got down to crafty business.

Construction paper, scrapbook paper, craft sticks, glue, glitter, and pom poms.

The girls picks out a piece of construction paper, I folded them in half and cut out a "B" outline, adding a piece at the top for antennas.  We glued small, colored craft sticks down the middle, cut out some pretty scrap book paper and glued them on the wings for prettyness, pom poms on the ends of the antennas and added glitter all around for Fancy Nancy sparkles.

After they'd dried, the girls put on their own butterfly wings and we took them outside to fly them around the backyard.  I'd added a larger craft stick to the back as a handle for them to fly their butterfly.

Creek didn't participate in the craftiness, but he sure enjoyed sitting outside and watching the butterflies with me.

   I love doing things with my kids, but this was especially fun...even though my perfectionist nature had a tendency to want to do the whole butterfly project FOR them so everything would be even and color coordinating!  I loved it because I love books, I love to read, I love to read to my kids, my kids love books, and my kids love crafts.  Mostly, I loved it because I was spending time with them.

Bonjour 'Parkly Butterfly!