Back to the yard

I haven't been in the craft room since Monday so I have nothing new to show there. Work really is an inconvenience but without it I couldn't afford to buy new craft supplies so for now I will keep the job. Of course I have enough supplies that I don't "need" to buy any new for quite a while.

I'll take you back out to the yard with a few more pictures that I took the other day.
This is the Lupine that I used to have tons of but something viney has choked out most of it over the last several years. Fewer and fewer come back each year.

The lambs ear around the tree in the front yard is growing like a weed.

The yarrow is another thing that has fallen victim to the viney stuff. This used to overflow the front area and hang out over the sidewalk, Now only a small patch remains.

Thinking of you

So I made you a card

I stamped the image then colored it in with colored pens. Some spots I used glitter pens and for the daisy petals I used a white paint pen. 

It's hard to tell from the picture but the three butterfies pop out when you open it.

I found a butterfly image on snappygoat.com and uploaded it to my cricut account. Then I used the print and cut feature to cut them out. The inside wings are stuck together with glue dots and the outside wings are stuck to the card with glue dots. When you close the card they fold neatly together. This was another thing I saw on Pinterest and decided to try.

Playing with butterflies

Yesterday was a day of play. Can you tell from this picture?

The first thing I did has to stay a secret for a little while longer. But I can tell you that I did some playing with butterflies.

These were die cut, embossed and then inked with 3 different shades of ink. These were going to go in a card I made (which I'll show you tomorrow) but I decided they weren't quite big enough.

Then I decided to try something I saw on Pinterest. You cut out a butterfly shape that has blank spaces on the wings then cover the back with packing tape. Next you sprinkle glitter on top and it sticks to the exposed packing tape.

Here's a better look with light coming through the wings. Of course the paper ends up looking black because of the lighting but it looks rather nice. Maybe I should try this again using black cardstock.

Last but not least I did a little edit with the above picture.

It's a shame I have to go to work today. I would really like another day to play.

Since my son doesn't read my blog I won't post any pictures but today is his birthday. He's 32 already. My but times flies.

Manual

Lately I've been keeping my camera set on manual mode rather than using auto. I had gotten quite lazy in my photography and decided that it was time to get back to taking control

While I was out doing some trimming in the yard I noticed that the Japanese Iris are blooming so I went in and grabbed the camera. These were all taken in manual and the only thing I did to them was to sharpen them just a bit.