here's an idea: indoor butterfly garden

Ok, not a *real* butterfly garden... those pretty insects wouldn't stand a chance in a house with two cats and I'm not really sure I'd want bugs (even beautiful ones) flying around my home, ever. But did you know that you can get fake paper butterflies at basically any craft store and they look amazingly, ridiculously real?

After I got sick last month I didn't end up going shopping for over three weeks (I was pretty sure my absence from Michaels was going to put them out of business) I finally went back to Michael's a few days ago and decided to just absorb all the craftiness for as long as I could.. I wandered around the aisles observing all the pretty new things that had shown up while I was gone, like spring flowers blooming all around me (literally, the new spring silk flowers are out now!)



I did have one goal in mind as I meandered around the store -- something to put on top of this bookcase that I'm using as a room divider. I had some Christmas decorations up there before but now that I took them down the top was way too barren.

AND THEN I SAW THE BUTTERFLIES. And all was right with the world.  I snatched up some fake potted plants and flowers (50% off all spring florals last week, yippee!) and then went home and got to work. I mixed them with some other fake plants I had already purchased at IKEA and then started adding my little insects.



One butterfly pack was enough to do my whole garden. They come pre-attached to long thin floral wires so you can strategically plant them in your display. I chose to make some really obvious, perched on the sides of pots, and some tucked deep in the middle so that you just catch them out of the corner of your eye. Would real butterflies only mingle on the edges where everyone could see them? Nope!

You could also do this with real plants, of course, I just wanted something that would be more permanent and require no maintenance. And if one of the cats (cough, Hubble) hops up there and knocks stuff over I don't have to worry about cleaning up tons of dirt from my carpet. (Honestly, living with Hubble I practically need to baby-proof my apartment.)

I love how fresh and spring-y it looks! Everything might be fake but it just adds so much life to my apartment.

here's an idea: pet name book display

I thought it would be really cute to make a little display of books where the titles are my cats' names! It was like a scavenger hunt trying to find titles to represent each cat. I really lucked out with Hubble Bubble, since that's Mr. Hubble's nickname and the spine is so cute! I ordered three Chloe books on Amazon before finally finding this perfect one. I picked up the Arrietty book at the Japanese store in Epcot, and I've had the Hypatia book for a long time (my cat was named after her.)

Of course some names are definitely going to be easier than others -- "Chloe" turned up hundreds of results on amazon while my childhood cat "Jaspurr" is proving to be more of a challenge. This would be fun with kids names, too, or one book for each family member (pets included!)

While I'm on the subject of names, every once in a while I get asked where my cats' names came from so here's the backstory on each cat:

Chloe: I was 16 and just really liked the name Chloe. Her name at the shelter was Frosty because she had frostbite on her legs :(
Hypatia: Named after the mathematician, philosopher and last librarian at the Library of Alexandria. Her name at the shelter was Sara.
Hubble: Named after the astronomer and the namesake of the Hubble space telescope, Edwin Hubble. His name at the shelter was Max.
Arrietty: Named after the character from The Borrowers books, my favorite books when I was a kid. Her name at the shelter was Ghost.

here's an idea: TTFN sign

We're big Winnie the Pooh fans in my family and we each have a character to represent us -- mine is Tigger! I decided to pay homage to my favorite bouncy tiger with this sign above my front door :)

My apartment is on the second floor but you enter at ground level and go up a private staircase to get there, so I thought I'd put a hello sign at the top of the stairs to greet guests when they're arriving (I haven't decided what that one is going to say yet..) and a goodbye sign at the bottom for when they leave.

It was so simple it doesn't even require a DIY post -- I just bought wooden letters at the craft store (already painted white) and attached them with Command strips. The whole project cost like $12. I haven't been super cautious about being renter-friendly (I got a list of how much each thing will cost to replace when I moved in and I'm just planning on owing some money when I move out, lol) but this project is definitely renter-friendly and so fun! :)