Long Time, No Posts....

I'm sorry to say that it's been two years (!) since my last blog post.  That's just ridiculous!  

So let's do a quick review of the last two years around here:

• Finalized D's adoption!
• Sold the condo, home for over 10 years
• Bought a house with a yard and play room (my only requests after climbing over D's things in our tiny yard-less condo for nearly two years
• Moved, an adventure within itself
• Brought home a new little brother!

Looking at it in a bulleted list like this makes it seem like not that much has happened, but it certainly felt like life was turned upside down for a while there.  Little Brother, who I refer to as BabyCakes, has been home nearly a year and although his adoption isn't finalized yet, we are finally settling into a good groove as a family of four.  

I've loved being a stay-at-home mom with my boys this summer.  We've been pretty relaxed and laid back and simply enjoyed the time together.  There are two weeks left before my summer is over and we're squeezing in a beach trip before it's all over.  Not to mention the fact that I'm moving classrooms (upgrading from closet to classroom!) and none of that work has even started yet!  

One thing I know for sure, whether you're moving, bringing home new Foster babies, or starting a new school year, life never slows down.  There is never going to be a mythical "when things calm down" so we might as well just learn to enjoy the chaos and adapt to the lack of sleep!  

Big Changes Coming

This blog started out as a place to share my crafty pursuits and some personal reflections but it never really seemed to get off the ground and life around here has changed.  A lot.  

So the blog is changing, too!  

From here on this forum will reflect all aspects of life round these parts, especially those pertaining to foster care, adoption, and parenthood.  Since we are almost a year into this journey there will probably be several posts that take on a reflective, past tense quality.  

Stay tuned for more soon.  

Butterflies Abound

I was hoping at this point to have lots of items up in the Etsy shop and was planning on sharing all the fabulousness here, however I am plagued with the inability to get decent shots of the pieces and I just can't bring myself to list items with only kitchen table shots.  I mean, have you seen the quality of photos on Etsy?  I am so not up to that caliber, but I doing my best.  I did borrow a better camera (better than the camera in my Evo!) from a friend and have been reading all the great Etsy blog posting concerning photography and what-not.  I know that sunlight is my best option for lighting but this past week's string of tornados and thunderstorms have made it difficult to plan a photo shoot!  I let the perfect opportunity slip away yesterday morning and I am just kicking myself over it!  Oh well, it will happen eventually.
For now I thought I would share a bit more about the Butterfly Collage and share one special announcement...

So, the second time I made a Butterfly Collage was as a Baby Shower gift for a life-long family friend.  The first one had gone over so well that I thought I would try a variation for a baby girl with the sweetest paper I could find.  I had called my mom to quiz her about the things she had seen on the registry.  We determined that there was a definite prevalence of pinks, greens, and brown.  I hit the craft store and was ecstatic to find a paper set that fit the criteria perfectly! It was a set called "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Girl" from My Mind's Eye and purchased at my (current) favorite craft store.  I had also found a beautiful white shadowbox frame and I couldn't wait to get something inside it!

Since I had some time and the experience of one under my belt I decided I would try my hand at the How-To picture story thing I had seen on every blog in the universe.  Keep in mind, this is all new to me, this is my very first Tutorial so bear with me!

I pulled out my favorite pages and got punchy!

I quickly realized that the white background butterflies wouldn't work very well on the solid white background.   I hated to have to pull these out because I love the sweet colors, especially in the polka-dots.

I ended up with a good assortment of prints that all coordinated around the pink, green, and brown color scheme.  For a 12" x 12" project I use 25 butterflies.  Since I am punching them from cardstock no two butterflies are ever exactly the same.  Which means that each and every project is one of a kind as well, even if I use the same set of paper! 

The next step is folding.  I always take my time on this because if I mess this up, I've wasted a butterfly.  I use the edge of the scissor blades to hold the butterfly down as well as a straight edge for the fold. 

 It actually requires two folds, one on each side of the body.  You end up with a narrow, flat piece down the center of the butterfly's body.  It should balance on its own.  This is where it will be glued down to the background piece.  

Now the hard part: laying it out, lining it up, and getting it straight.  This was taking me forever the first few times I did it.  I have since created a template that I can lay over the background piece, apply the glue, remove the template and then quickly add the butterflies.  Life is much easier now, but it took something like 4 hours to create the template and cut it out with my exacto-knife.  After it's all said and done you have a gorgeous Butterfly Collage.

I added a personalized sticker to the back before wrapping it up for the shower.  I am proud to say that this was the only gift at the shower that was passed around the room!  Lots of "ohs" and "ahs" for this one!!  The Mommy-to-be said the colors were perfect for her nursery and loved that it was handmade especially for her baby girl.  

When I first posted this project on Facebook I had a friend from church ask if I would do one for her little girl.  Of course I said "YES!!!"  I recreated the original as closely as possible, but of course each one is unique.  In fact, I have decided to call this design "Sweet Emma" in honor of my first satisfied customer!  

Check out Emma's Mommy's Blog, My Life Thru Hello Kitty Glasses 

A Made to Order version of "Sweet Emma" is now available in my Etsy shop!  It is my first item for sale!! The shop still needs a banner and more listings, but at least it's up!  One step forward...

The Butterfly Effect

It seems only fitting that the first post in this new endeavor be focused on the project that started it all.  I had been tooling around on Pinterest for a few weeks when I came across this great Butterfly Collage from Ali (but pinned from Amy's Blog).

If you know me for any time at all you will quickly learn that I love butterflies!  I would explain where this obsession came from, but the hubby is letting me use his new "Big Mac" and I don't think he would appreciate me "leaking" all over the keyboard!  I'll save that story for a more emotionally stable post in the future.

After dutifully pinning the great collage, it occurred to me that "I can totally do that!"  Honestly, it probably just started as an excuse to buy a Butterfly punch.  An excuse it would definitely be as I have never before pursued anything close to scrapbooking.  However, I do enjoy the occasionally crafty pursuit and lately I had been pretty down in the dumps.  Let's just say that my professional life has become rather frustrating and I was in serious need of a distraction.  So, my "I can totally do that!" turned quickly into "I'm going to show that collage who's boss!"

 The original was apparently created with a small punch, possibly the one from the Martha Stewart collection, but it was too small for what I wanted to do. After nearly two weeks of searching, I finally found a larger one at the "Lobby of Hobbies", my personal happy place.  It was perfect, for my purposes at least!

I looked around for some cardstock that I liked and found some sweet paper that coordinated with my downstairs color theme.  And away I went...

I used an old frame I had laying around unused.  It doesn't fit the 12x12 cardstock perfectly, but it is the perfect wood-grain for my living room.  I will splurge a bit later and get a mat cut to size.

The Final Product...

Being the first timer that I was, it did not occur to me to take any step-by-step photos. I was doing this just for my own entertainment and stress relief. But when I took it with me to school the next day, people really seemed to love it!  I had several people ask me, that first day, how much I would charge to make one for them!  I was blown away!

So after much prayer, thought, continued experimentation, and research...

An Etsy shop was born!

I am currently working on getting better photos for the listings, but I already have decent inventory ready to roll out.  Stay tuned for further updates!!

Next: 

The Butterfly How-To