Mother's Day Flowers

I stamped and fussy cut a bunch of flowers from Stampin' Up's Watercolor Garden. I had fun building bouquets and butterflies. I still have a few more flowers.

Now I have a stash of Mother's Day cards for some of the amazing women in my life.

Butterflies

I know a sweet girl from our church group who loves butterflies, so do I. I had some fun coloring the butterflies in our favorite colors with a bit of Wink of Stella. I cut and colored a copy of each of the butterflies to have them fly.

Butterfly Speciman Art

I had fun coloring these lovely butterflies. I decided to color some duplicates to give a little dimension in my frame. I love the end result.

Kathy Rascoosin Color Challenge

I saw this fun Color Challenge to color for at least five minutes every day for 30 days. I've been wanting to try out coloring on black and some other colors. I pulled out my favorite Butterfly set from Simon Says Stamps. I have A LOT of butterflies...now!!! I made a few cards and pulled out two other favorites Rain or Shine from Mama Elephant and Simon Says Stamp and My Favorite Things Magical Dragons for more coloring practice.

My showers of love was inspired by this post

I had this background colored sitting in my stash of card bases for a few months

I used this gorgeous watercolor flower from a card my hubby received.

Prayers and Hugs

I've had a few friends who have recently lost family members. Butterflies bring me peace, so I thought I would share them with my friends.

I had a cutout of the prayers sentiment from some adhesive backed paper. I gently used it as a mask with my Distress ink.

Simply the Best

We are losing my girls favorite dental hygienist. Since she's the BEST, I thought I'd send her god luck wishes for her new adventure.

I loved coloring these butterflies. It took me some time to create the right background and sentiments. I love how they turned out. I Keep Smiling every time I see them.

Happy Birthday Mom

It's my mom's birthday, so I made a card for her. She loves butterflies and had commented on the coloring of this butterfly before it became a card. I love rainbows and a little bling, so I add a bit of Simon Says Stamps glitter paper behind my sentiments and a few sequins. I've seen a few spinner cards lately, so I colored two of these butterflies, fussy cut them and put some see through thread and glue between them. I had fun twisting the butterfly up, then letting it spin. :)

Happy Birthday, Mom!! Love you!

BUTTERFLIES

I wanted to practice some shading with my pencils. It was fun with these butterflies.

Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Day is stunning. I smile every time I pull out the butterflies. 

Practicing some Distress Ink blending over my embossing paste and Stencil Butterflies (Squeezed Lemonade and Picked Raspberries)

More Butterflies

I needed more Thank You notes and had some butterflies lying around after a fun night of coloring. I also had this background stamped probably ten years ago. It's been in my crafting cupboard WAITING. I love how they turned out together.

I love Simon Says Stamps Beautiful Day set. 

My yellow Ranger Stickles adds a touch of bling.

BUTTERFLIES and RAINBOWS

Okay, a little secret... I love butterflies and rainbows. They make me smile, even on a gloomy day. I love how a rainbow comes after the rainstorm. A little thing that brings such hope. Butterflies are so graceful and delicate, but they brighten our world and migrate (Monarch) thousands of miles through impossible conditions. They remind me I can do hard things.

I was so beyond EXCITED with Simon Says Stamp released their Stamp Card Kit for April, Beautiful Day I quickly ordered it and started creating with it when the kit arrived. I was super excited to try the Distress Oxide Inks. Actually, I LOVE everything in the kit!!

I used Mermaid Lagoon, Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean and Squeezed Lemonade Distress inks over my embossed butterflies.

I mixed my Distress Inks (Squeezed Lemonade and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Inks and Ripe Persimmon, Mowed Lawn and Seedless Preserve Distressed Markers with my Glossy Embossing Paste to get the colors) Thanks KWerner for the GREAT idea and tips!

Squeezed Lemonade went around these embossed butterflies. I added some chunky glitter for a little bling. I had an issue with the sentiment, so I fussy cut around the butterflies to fix it. I like the end creation. I was having some serious doubts. I love when you can save a creation.

Butterflies and Rainbows #2

I've been wanting to try Distress Inks out. When I saw Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday and their new Stamp card Kit for April, I decided to give it a try.

Such gorgeous colors. I'm so in love with the stencil Butterflies. I love the little white dots and the GORGEOUS Really Rainbow Paper Pack from Lawn Fawn that comes in the kit

Bowling

Intel had a bowling activity at a local alley. Everyone had a fun time. I loved watching Cutie Pie and Sweet Pea bowl. After our bowling, Cutie Pie wanted to go again, until we took her upstairs for some arcade games. Before we left, the girls got some arm painting. Sweet Pea loves turtles and cats, the turtle won this time. I went for sparkly butterflies for Cutie Pie. Afterwards, she excitedly would show anyone her butterfly. I wish I recorded how she says butterfly. Super adorable.

Butterflies, Rainbows and Turtles

Ms A and I love butterflies and rainbows. When I saw this on Silhouette's FaceBook Page, I had to try it out except in rainbow and as a wall hanging (Ms A gets nervous with things hanging above her). Instead of knots, I used sparkly beads tied to the embroidery floss with clear beads in-between the butterflies. Here's what I came up with.
Ms A was JUMPING ALL OVER HER ROOM when it went up, I guess it was a success. She also enjoyed the extra butterflies. (My Silhouette cut 120 and I used 48, Grandma V will be getting some soon.)
I also made this cute little *girl* Turtle for my busy five year old Primary class (7 boys and 1 girl) to hopefully remind them to be reverent. She's a bit shy and doesn't like noise. Ms A pleaded for one. I ended up making a smaller *boy* Turtle - Terrence - for my class and gave Crystal to Ms A after I drew eyes and eyelashes.

Butterfly Hunt

Once a year in Waterton Lakes Park, they go out and count the butterflies. We were fortunate to be there that day. After we hiked/walked along Lake Cameron, we found the butterfly hunters/identifiers. We were tickled when they had a few extra nets for the kids. They each caught a butterfly with Ms A being the last one. The people had a hard time identifying her butterfly, it had common characteristics of a couple of species. I think the butterfly hunt was the highlight for Ms E and Ms A.

Canadian Tiger Swallowtails

Ms A and her Butterfly

We did a little yard work this evening, ie: trimming the Butterfly Bush, when Ms A discovered some butterflies/moths eating. (I think their moths, but she insists their butterflies) We watched for awhile and then one started eating from the branches I had trimmed. Ms. A quickly and carefully picked up the branch while the butterfly continued to eat. We were fascinated watching its long tongue check out the flower for nectar, if there was some the head would disappear inside. We watched it eat for at least fifteen minutes. I grabbed a few other branches so it could have more of a selection. The butterfly could not get enough and neither could Ms. A, she was enthralled. We finally said good night to her butterfly and went in to tuck Ms A in to bed. Hopefully she'll have dreams with peaceful butterflies tonight!

Here's my favorite picture, Ms. A's favorite pictureand a Slideshow.
Somehow I narrowed 25 pictures down to 7.