Thor the gray tabby cat is thoroughly confused by the antics of Sophie the dilute calico cat. Thor is usually the one in the box taking swipes at passerby. He isn’t quite sure what to do about this development. Missy the small black dog is on hand to break up any fights.
My youngest needed Valentine cards for school, but didn’t want store bought. I like toy-type cards, and if I can sneak some science in all the better. This line of pursuit led us to create a Thaumatrope, which is a spinning toy invented in the 1800s with two different pictures on each side of a disc. When the disc is spun, the pictures appear to combine. The original thaumatropes used string to suspend the circle, but a similar action can also be achieved with a stick mounted disc, and rolling a stick between two palms is easier than twisting string. My youngest chose the elements to go on the card, and I drew them up in Adobe Illustrator. Pro tip for getting colors right from screen to print: don’t go by screen color. If you want a bright yellow, go into the color picker and make sure that your CMYK color is all Y, with no cyan or magenta. High contrast images work better for this visual trick as well. I printed the images on card stock, and used my laser cutter to cut the circles (so much more precise than my old electric cutter). I used hot glue to secure the paper stick (I used a 6” stick marketed for cake pops), and keep the front and back together.
I like that when the disc spins, the bee and sun are smiling at each other. It came out cute. What wasn’t cute was making 35 of them. Phew.
We had an old tea jar that lost its lid, so I made it into a terrarium. Since the top was open I opted for succulents, which like the dryer environment.
I plugged the tea jar spigot hole with a silicone wine bottle stopper, which worked perfectly.
I wanted a two layer layout, with the back plants visibly taller and higher than the foreground plants, but I struggled with soil depth and the root systems of the plants I purchased, so it didn’t quite fit my vision.
For the non-plant decor, I raided my childhood rock collection, adding some amethyst crystal, pyrite, fish fossil, and two carved stone figures. Although the container and rocks were no cost, the soil layers and plants added up. I do have left overs that can be applied to a different project, though.
I do like the cactus color pop, and that I have a spiral feel to the layout. Now to see what lives.
Here is a trip in the Wayback machine to 1988. My Mom was into quilling and we were decorating eggs. My Dad recently sent me photos of one of the eggs we worked on together.
This is a 37-year-old paper, glue, and egg project that has lived in a cupboard and been moved around the country a few times. I don’t think the colors faded or pieces fell off. Quilling is great for developing fine motor control and patience. (The egg was blown out before it was decorated.)
This was an interesting game of cat chess. Izzy the calico was cuddled in the fuzzy blanket on my chair, and Sophie the dilute calico jumped up on the footstool and stared at her. Izzy woke up when I took the picture, saw Sophie sitting higher than she was, so moved up to the top of the chair in a checkmate move.
I would gave stayed in the comfy cozy blanket, which just proves I’d be rubbish at cat chess where the goal is the hold the high ground.
Critters and Craft 