Encouraging Hugs

Two days in a row?! lol I admit, I cheated and scheduled this one yesterday so that I actually got it posted. :) I loved the inspiration picture at Calling All Sistahs, so I used the new set that came in the September card kit to play along. Isn't that spray of flowers gorgeous??? I love it. The sentiments are all gorgeous as well. If you haven't played along with this challenge, it's a great one for making encouraging cards you can send to a friend who might need a pick me up. I also wanted to link up with the Dragonfly Dreams challenge.

I hope each of you has a wonderful week full of kindness and love. As we get closer to the rush of the holiday season, remember to take care of yourselves. I find the last three months of the year particularly challenging, so I'm already thinking of ways to simplify and keep my stress level down. 

Hugs.

Stampin' Up! Dragonfly Dreams Inspiration

Splitcoast has weekly challenges, a different one every day.  I saw the Inspiration challenge on Saturday and thought I'd play along. I found this pillow and used it for my inspiration.  There's a lot of stamp sets going on here.  Stampin' Up! Best Thoughts, Dragonfly Dreams, and French Foliage, plus a Stampers Anonymous set called Papillon. It was fun to try to make and I think I need to remember to do that challenge every week if I can. :)

When we went shopping last week for school clothes Laila found one of her favorites, THE PIGEON!  She loves the Mo Willems books so much, so I had to get it for her. :) I can't believe how well she's reading. She read me a huge book of fairy tales yesterday.

And thank you guys who commented about keeping the blog going. I have a month or so before I have to pay Go Daddy again, so that gives me some time to see how things go once Laila starts school. My garden needs a lot of work after the summer heat, so that might keep me busy.  Plus I am determined to donate like half of our house.  The clutter is making my mental health issues much worse.  I can't wait to get stuff out of here and the rest organized.

And before I go, I thought I'd share a Gulf Fritillary butterfly.  We have so many caterpillars for this guy!  I only have a few in my enclosures because they make their chrysalises in places that make me have to move them and I'm afraid of hurting one.  We also have close to 20 Monarch caterpillars who are almost all in their chrysalis, plus about 5 Eastern Black Swallowtails who are still eating away. They are my favorite butterfly and I deal with the awful smell of dill on my hands to feed them. (I hate dill and all pickles!)  It's been a lot of work, but we love raising and releasing them.

I hope your Monday is going well.  Little Lady was on my shoulders kneading my arms to let me know she needed attention at 5:15 today.  I've had two coffees and am hanging in there.  Maybe I'll sleep well tonight after being up so early. :)

Stampin' Up! Dragonfly Dreams

Believe it or not, I got some crafty stuff done today!  I was so excited to make a card and do a little watercoloring.  I colored this dragonfly last night and wanted to use him for the current sketch at Fab Friday.  The pink background was done with distress inks and the dragonfly colored with Copics.   Dragonflies are so neat.  We have one that visits the garden every now and then.

It's been a weird day here. We were supposed to have rain all day, but not a drop as of 9pm tonight.  They kept moving back the start, so now it's more of a midnight storm.  I'm glad I went ahead and watered my garden.  Jason swears we live in a bubble that keeps our neighborhood dry, so we shall see if we get anything tonight. 

These guys have kept me busy this weekend.  They are almost ready to pupate, but are eating like teenage boys!  One of them managed to escape while I was feeding them on Friday and now we have a chrysalis hanging from Laila's playroom curtains.  I have to climb up and move it to an enclosure tomorrow.  Silly thing.  It's definitely been a busy process this spring.  We have a wide range of forms, from egg to almost ready to eclose.  It's never boring! 

We've also enjoyed watching these guys!  They haven't been by in a few days, so I switched out to homemade nectar today. I had used some I bought at Lowe's and they seem to have left after that.  Hopefully they come back as we love them.  

Stampin' Up! Dragonfly Dreams

Me again!  I forgot about this card!  I made it for a sweet friend for her birthday and had put it under some heavy stuff to flatten it.  Her birthday is today, so oops!  She'll still like it I'm sure.  I used the new Distress Oxide inks for the background and then the Stampin' Up! Dragonfly Dreams bundle for the rest.  The dragonfly has Wink of Stella and Crystal Accents on it, so it's shiny!  I cut a set of wings in vellum to put behind it too.  I love how it turned out!

Is it Friday yet?  This week has been so long!  I joined Weight Watchers this week so I've been trying to be more active.  Today, not so much.  I did do a bit of gardening and walking around plant shopping, so there was that at least.

I added a few plants inside as well.  We haven't had plants in like 14 years because of the cats.  I researched some that are safe for cats, so now we have some!  I love it.

I'm off to read a bit before I crash.  Another long day ahead tomorrow!