things that start with S

took bryan last friday to the kiddie pool when brandon was in school. love that no one is there except serious swimmers (swimming laps in the big pool). it was in the high 80's....perfect way to cool off.tried to replicate an old butterfly print you see in vintage books. would love to find an old book with butterflies and just rip the book up and frame the prints. i made the stick pins myself :) all the card needed was a pop of color and that did the trick.

bryan had his 1st soccer game on saturday. so did brandon. we had 1 game at 8:30am and another at 2:45pm. the weather was definitely cooler....felt some big raindrops here & there. when the game ended and as we were walking to the car, LOUD thunder rumbled! i've never seen bryan run so fast to catch up to me! the thunder started to rumble closer in time and we saw lightning. then, all the sudden, it started to pour. i mean, it came down!!! and can you believe----- we got hail!! jaw-breaker sized hail! just the day before, it was in the high 80's. such unusual weather!

here is a picture of bryan and his team mates before the game. so cute!

after the game and shaking the other team's hands. learning sportsmanship.

the parents making a 'tunnel' for the boys to run under after the game. always fun!

brandon's game pics another day. it's on the other camera. posting a few cards. this one is heat embossed. i scorched it a little....can you tell? both colored with distress inks. fast & fun.


another heat embossed card (not scorched).

this card & little gift below is for a friend. she has received it so i can post my pic now. she LOVES to sew and will change the thread color to match the card she's making! i can't even thread my own sewing machine! it's been out of commission for over a year now! anyways, the jello mold is vintage and so are the spools of thread. some are even on wooden spools marked 19¢! knowing amy, she will use the thread!

TFL! been nursing migraines this past week....think they're heat related. it's been very hot and humid. makes it hard to want to do anything.

butterflies

i made ths card this morning. inspired by our trip to a butterfly garden ths past weekend.

we saw the most amazing and colorful butterflies!

butterflies just come and land on you.some with injured wings but just as pretty!

this one landed on my shoulder.

fun story.... weeks before we left for hawaii, the boys found a caterpillar on our way walking home on the sidewalk. it was black with red spots. they wanted to inspect it so we put it in their bug box. we gave it water, some sticks, leaves and grass. the next day or 2, we observed it and it was hanging upside down and molted. soon, we found it cocooned and was like that for over a week. we went to hawaii and forgot to tell anyone to check on the bug box in front of our front door. when we returned home from our vacation, we found that the butterfly emerged BUT was laying sideways. i figured since we didn't ask anyone to check on it, that it had just died due to no room to fly. i left it in there just waiting for a good day to dispose of it. then one day when i came home, i nearly jump out of my skin. something by my foot was flapping rapidly. it was the butterfly!!! it was alive afterall! the boys were not home but i wasn't sure how long it was flapping so i had to release it before they saw it. i took a few pics and this butterfly is exactly like the one the boys held at the butterfly garden in the 2 pictures above.

bryan holding the bug box. i think it had molted at this point.sorry for the glare but can you see it hanging?

snapped a quick pic before i released it. amazing, no?

your kindness is what i'm thankful for

a quick post today. made this fall-ish card. can you see the glossy wings?! and butterfly wings are wet in spots as they emerge from their cocoon.....me & the boys witnessed that firsthand!a few cards i made for OWH . go check that site out. i know we all have tons of handmade cards just sitting around.....find out more about this organization and make use of those handmade cards to brighten up someone's day. i will be digging up some cards in my stash to add to the ones i will be sending.

thanks for stopping by! thankful for you all leaving sweet comments and letting me show off my boys (not on this post but on every other post!)

butterfly or moth?

hi all! about 2 weeks go, we had about 7-9 black caterpillars latch on to out stucco ceiling above the front entrance of our house. and 2 that didn't make it up there but hung themsleves upside down on the front entrance posts. i don't know why we had this huge infestation but the boys were very interested---especially brandon. so we saw the black caterpillars one day and then the next morning, we's find them in their next stage of life. everyday, the boys would look to see if there's been any changes overnight. a little over a week later, we got to witness what became of the black caterpillar!

i'm not sure if that was his cocoon or just decided to latch on to it. so what do you think?? butterfly or moth? anybody knows the difference? well, for now, they boys would like to say they are all butterflies!

look at how excited brandon's face was when he saw the wings open up! we spent a good time being patient waiting for the butterfly to open its wings. i had to explain to them that their wings are wet when they emerge. then they slowly dry them by opening up their wings.

the picture below is brandon, right after the butterfly flew right onto his arm! he was so excited!!brybry was sad the butterfly never fly onto his arm BUT, he's my happy-go-lucky boy!saturday, i got to go to a card class taught by sally traidman (hero arts card artist extrodinaire) at stamp fever in orange. this was my favorite out of the 5 cards we made.and here are all 5 cards finished.

here is kelly alvarez of lawn fawn stamps and nancy. it was nice to finally meet kelly! super nice!from L-R: nancy, kelly, me, sally and tiffany. a late post but this a make-and-take from stamp fever's grand opening weekend a few weeks ago taught by tiffany.

i am so behind in posting since my laptop crashed. i still don't have my laptop. crossing my fingers i get it back this week!

happy spring--happy earth day

just wanted to share something brandon wrote (all on his own) back in march in school. notice how he just says that my mom likes me instead of love! haha

happy earth day....a day late. my earth friendly element in the card above is the grass. it's made from a coffee cup sleeve, cut and fringed, then inked.

mother's day is coming up. what are you all planning on giving to your mom or to the moms in your life? it's always so hard to figure out what to give. i started making my cards earlier this year! the one above is layered 4x. the ones below were fast & easy to make. stamp, cut, stickled, adhere and stapled.

edited: trying something new in blogger to make my pictures bigger. it worked but also cut it off some on the side. i am too lazy to fix them.