Nature Crafts and Critters-Nanaimo, BC

  Today we are checking up on our guppy maternity tank.  As our young adult females continue to produce babies, it is time to move some of the the hybrid fry and young fish to another tank to grow up. This also gives more room in the maternity tank to reduce stress on the females and babies. Some of the young are starting to show color. They are moved from a 20 gal tank to a 15 gal tank that was a snail and scud (amphipod / side swimmer) tank.  Enjoy! Here'a 10 day update on the guppy fry! 

Of all the things I have made so far, I think this is my favorite! Making mini-crafts are always cool! I love working with the scales. It is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together! I love the rich brown wood texture of the scales. And I find it oddly soothing to pull the scales apart from the pine cones! Kind of like popping little packing bubbles. Here we go!  Materials: sharp scissors glue gun and glue sticks acrylic paint (red, silver) (optional) paintbrush (optional) glitter glue (optional) rings about 7cm-8 cm (3 inches) in diameter (some examples are a canning lid, the rubber from a canning lid, a ring cut out of cardboard, an expired glow in the dark bracelet (from the dollar store) about 40 pine cones scales per mini wreath-scales with patterns on the inside work well if you plan to leave the wreaths natural color. Step 1 Collect and lay out your materials. Step 2 Lay out the scales around your ring. This gives you an idea of how many you need and how you might arrange them. I u

Penguins are a fun and easy critter to make with cones. While not a northern bird, most species enjoy a cold (southern) climate. Did you know that most penguin species have all black or mostly back faces? This is not what people tend to depict in their recreations of them. The white face is just so cute! In this project, we are going to try mixing colors of paint to make our own color for the feet! Can you use this chart of 18 penguins to figure out which species I made? Materials: scissors black or white felt pen ribbon for bow and to hang your penguin from the tree  glue gun and glue paintbrush paint pallet or plastic lid or plastic plate acrylic paint: white , black, red and yellow optional: oak acorn cap for hat 2 googly eyes 1 acorn (head) 1 round redwood cone (body) 1 long wide scale from a pine cone (for tail) 2 scales from a pine cone (for feet) 2 maple keys (for wings) Step 1 Collect your materials so they are all nearby. Step 2 Prepare the Redwood so the acorn will sit on it.

When working with cones, bark and other parts of nature, we are bound to get sap on our hands or clothes. While some people enjoy the scent, most of us don't enjoy the sticky mess that follows until we get the sap off our hands.  Removing Sap from Skin An easy way to get sap off skin and clothing is to apply a greasy product. Anything from Vaseline (petroleum jelly, mineral oil), water-based hand lotion, vegetable oil, butter, mayonnaise, peanut butter, coconut oil etc. can be applied and rubbed on your hands or skin where the sap is. Next, wash your hands with soap. Good old-fashioned bar soap works just fine. Liquid soap does too. If there is still some lingering sap left on your hands, repeat.  Using hot water from the tap also helps to melt the sap so it flows more easily off your skin. You may still have some of the pine sap scent left but it will soon wear off.  Removing Sap from Clothing For clothing or other materials, freeze the material first for about 2 hours until sap i

 Catkins? What are catkins you ask? They are the male part of the tree that sheds pollen. In most trees and shrubs, the catkin falls apart soon after it releases the pollen. The type of catkin we will use comes off an evergreen tree and while somewhat delicate, it holds it's shape for quite awhile and we can prevent it from losing the bits by spraying it with a coat of hairspray. My interest in it is that it has a really neat texture with curling ends we can use in crafting all sorts of things. Since it is the holiday season, a tree sprang to mind! :) My tabletop Christmas tree turned out well and I thought of several ways to adapt it to your liking. Below is how to make the basic tree and some ideas of how to dress it up, if you choose. I really like it in it's natural form. It could also be used in a model railway train set up. Materials: glue gun glue sticks 20cm x 28 cm (8" x 11") light cardboard (What color is up to you and may depend on how you decide to dress u