Nature Crafts and Critters-Nanaimo, BC

 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

This week, I found this very lightweight large cone in my collection. It was damaged and so not one I would sell. I decided to have some fun with it. I combined it with a piece of driftwood, some smaller cones and a last minute acorn elf and this is what came out of it! Materials: paint (white, yellow, green) paintbrush glue sticks and glue gun scissors red ribbon bead chain or wrapping cord, 3 wraps of the cone 2 x 2.5cm (1 inch) foil-wrapped gifts (foam and colored wrapping paper and tie) piece of thick cardboard (I use a cereal box) or thin plywood at least as long as the driftwood piece and wider than the driftwood and large cone combined. scissors white glue or tacky glue 1 piece of driftwood 25cm-30cm (10-12) inches long (interesting shape) 1 large 15cm-20cm (6-8 inch) Pine Cone 5-7 small and medium pine cones 20 partially developed acorns Step 1 Gather the materials that you are thinking of using. This was before I thought of adding an acorn elf to the scene. Tip: I use a plasti

 The past few days, I've had some fun with making a medium-sized wreath for my front door. I am very pleased with the result. What do you think?  Materials: 9 inch styrofoam or wire wreath 25cm x 4 cm (9.75 inch x 1.6 inch) 24 inches of string (to hang) scissors tweezers glue gun white acrylic paint red acrylic paint No 4 flat paintbrush water container about 75 x 4cm (1.5 inch) round pine cones 11 x 4 cm (1.5 inch) redwood or sequoia cones 5 x horse chestnuts 7 x long acorns (painted red or green) 5 clusters of alder ones (painted white) 20 partially developed double acorns 2 handfuls of soft hemlock cones for filler or use burlap to wrap the styrofoam or wired wreath Here's How to Make It Step 1 Collect and lay out your materials. It helps to know what you have before you start.  Step 2 Fold the string in half and tie an overhand knot about 1 cm from the end.  Loop string around the styrofoam wreath, tighten and glue in place. If you don't want the knot to show when you h

Daphnia can be a great food for may species of fish and small aquatic critters. They are relatively easy to culture if you know a few things about them. Their cultures tend to crash when the water temperatures go outside of a certain range and the water quality declines too far. They can be fun to culture on their own as a school project as well! In the photo above, the yellow is the digestive tract. The black is a forming egg. The second photo is the top view. The antennae they use to swim with can be seen. Tips 1 to 3: 1. For a steady supply, always have at least two cultures going, each placed in a different location. That way, if one culture crashes, you can rely on the other until the crashed one is back up and running. 2. Once you have an established culture, collect the tiny black triangular eggs that float on the surface before they sink. Dry them and save them in a container at room temperature. When immersed in water, they should hatch within 2 weeks. 3. You don't need ma