Wrapping Up May

I'm still in a struggle with my computer to upload pictures.  I got some good suggestions to use my e-mail and I have resorted to that on more than one occasion but the only problem I have with that is when the number of pictures that I've taken is in the double digits... but thinking about that, it would probably take less time e-mailing them in smaller groups than it has taken trying to download them.  I'll stop complaining and get on with this as it's already the 5th of June and I haven't wrapped up May yet.

The wildflowers I believe called Dame's Rocket bloomed profusely down the road near the brook.  I took this picture from the road coming home one day from an appointment.  This appears to be a new area of growth as I don't remember seeing them on this side of the bridge that's there.  Nonetheless, they were so pretty in the dappled sunlight.

HWNSNBP treated me to a couple of chocolate covered strawberries for Mother's Day.  Don't you just love that pink one!

This was a project that I started back in late October when the swallowtail caterpillars were pupating in our patio table enclosure.  They were very late in the season and it was getting very cold and we were going to put the netting and umbrella away but I didn't want to kill these chrysalids so I read up on it and found that I could gently remove them from the netting and store them loosely covered in the refrigerator for the duration of the winter which I did.  There were 4 of them that I was able to find.  I took them out on the day that our SIL called to tell us that the baby was going to be born that day and put them into a butterfly tent that I had purchased for this reason.  

I made little "cots" out of pieces of paper towel that I pinned to the netting so they would have something to climb up on when they eclosed.

The day we came home from Delaware was when HWNSNBP, who entered the house first, noticed that there was something fluttering around in the tent and quickly came back outside to tell me that I had a surprise inside.  At first I didn't want to believe him as this would be something he might tease about, but he assured me that he wasn't making it up and I came in to find that 2 of them had, in fact, eclosed while we were gone and were frantically trying to find a way out.  

I took the tent outside and was hoping that I would be able to have them step onto my finger first, but they were much too nervous at this point and flew out of the tent almost immediately.  Luckily I got a picture of one of them before that.  I know they must have been hungry.  There are two more in their cots and I also have a Luna Moth cocoon in there in the hopes they will eclose soon.  

I thought I saw something orange in one of the smaller trees in front of the pool the next day but it flew off too quickly to get a picture, but I was very lucky to have this beauty catch my attention when I was eating breakfast the next day.  An Oriole!  I have never seen an oriole in our yard.  Actually, I don't think I've ever seen one IRL anywhere though I know that they're around here.  I quickly grabbed by phone to get this picture through the window as it sat on the little fence by the birdbath outside the window there.  I'm hoping that they'll become regular visitors.

We picked up this plant at the Great Swamp Nursery because it promised that it was deer and rabbit resistant and so far has proved to be.  It wasn't flowering when we got it but we liked it so much we went back to get another one for another area and sadly, they no longer had any more.  We do know what it's called though so we can keep looking if we go to any other nurseries.  (Which I'm sure we will.)  We've really tipped the flower budget this year but HWNSNBP is the one who keeps saying he wants more - so why argue with him!

Here are two handmade cards that I received this month.  The first from Sabrina with one of my favorite quotes on it.  

And this one is from LeAnne who helped me out tremendously with some SU supplies that I needed to finish Rachel and Ryan's wedding invites which I'll share at a later date.

And here is a birthday and thank you/Mother's Day card that I sent out during May.

Well, that pretty much wraps up May.  I'll be back to do a wrap-up of The 100 Day Project and also a post about beginning ICAD 2023.  I've got a couple of birthdays this month and also Father's Day to make cards for and the Jingle Belles have a new challenge theme this month which will have busy.  

A belated welcome to June!

Jingle Belles - No Stamping Christmas

Despite the huge amount of stamps that I've accumulated, I often find myself making cards that don't involve much, if any stamping, preferring to put handwritten messages on the inside.  So this Jingle Belles Challenge to make cards without any stamping is right in my wheelhouse.  I should have been able to crank out a few cards for this one, but I'll squeak by with these two as family events and an inconvenient sinus infection have taken me in another direction lately.  

The snowman die came from Kokorosa and has seven snowpeople, seven hats, and five scarves in the die.  I kept the die together to run the whole thing through the Big Shot with white paper.  Then I colored the hats and scarves before I punched them out.  The eyes, nose, and buttons are also cut out so instead of trying to keep those tiny pieces in place, I punched them out and cut a thin strip of white cardstock and colored that to add to the back.  I did that in two pieces for each one swiping the orange and black on one piece and just black on another.  I know I could have used plain black paper for the button one, but it was just as easy to do it on the white right then and there.  I left a little space at the top of each of the piece and just added a dab of glue to adhere to the back of the snowman because I knew that I was going to add a strip of double-sided tape to the back of them to stick them to the background.  

I divided my snowpeople into two families to depict our kids and grandkids in their family units.  The die actually reminds me of  the ornaments I used to make out of tongue depressors and popsicle sticks and sold at craft fairs.  Those snowmen had top hats and I wrote the name of the person on the brim of the hat and the last name of the family and the year on a heart that held them all together.  I know I have a picture somewhere but I'll have to come back with that later as I know I'm running out of time posting this.

Please take a look at the Jingle Belles blog to see all the other stampless beauties over there. I'll be adding some love after the sun goes down.  

Weeks 12 & 13 of The 100 Day Project

I didn't give up, I just got side-tracked a little with family events going on the last couple of weeks.  I had Week 12 done but not photographed before we went to Delaware and forgot about that when I got back until today when I went to photograph Week 13.  I have been writing down the words of the day in a little spiral notebook along with the layout for the word so I had some recollection of the particular word that I chose for the day.  If I didn't write down the word, I relied on checking my phone camera for a picture that I might have taken on that day because surely that would have sparked some joy.  So on with it.....  Week 12

And Week 13

I'll be adding the last nine in a couple of days when it is finally finished along with some wrap-up thoughts.

He's Here

I've been absent for a while because we just became grandparents again!  Beckham Fredrick H-C (GS3) was born on May 15th - about a month early.  We knew he was going to be early because a few months ago they found out that he has a heart condition and would probably not go to full term.  We were praying that it wouldn't be too soon.

  

Our daughter and SIL had been making twice weekly trips from Newark, DE to CHOP in Philadelphia where they decided they were going to have him as it's one of the best children's hospitals in this area.  They had met with the cardio team there and it was possible to have the baby in the same hospital and not have to have him transferred there.  He went right into the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and got the best care as did she.  

He was 7 lbs. 2 oz and remarkably didn't need to be put on oxygen as they thought he might.  He has a third degree heart block which means that the chambers of his heart are not beating at the same rate.  One is very low.  This is not repairable with surgery to the heart but eventually he may need a pacemaker to help his heart.  There was the unknown as to whether that would be right away, but he's got a strong heartbeat and the doctors were very pleased with what they saw so he was able to come home 8 days later and meet his big brother Maverick.

We have been traveling back and forth to Delaware to take care of Maverick while his parents were staying in Philadelphia at the Ronald McDonald house there so they could be with the baby as much as possible for feedings.  During those eight days he spent time at his other grandparents' house and some time with mom and dad when they came home to get their personal items and see him.  And we stayed with him at his house for several days.  It was important to his mom and dad that he stayed on his schedule as much as possible  - like going to daycare and his daily routine at home, so being there in his own house was a lot easier on him during this time.  

He helped Papa with a project - building a tomato enclosure for their yard - by using the heavy drill to put the screws in.  

He picked up a wagon full of sticks from the yard one day.

And he water-painted after dinner one night (Note to add: it was a purchase from the $Tree and one of the very rare times that I've been disappointed with the product.  It came with two posters that had the paint on them in dots and all you were supposed to do was use the paintbrush to add water to activate the paint.  Well, it didn't activate easily but he gave it a good try.)

Grandma and Papa did the best they could keeping up with a 4-yr-old and we're happy to say that there weren't any meltdowns during this time.  (But I can't say the same about HWNSNBP who tried my patience more than once.)  

As soon as Rachel and Ryan got home we left so that they could have their family bonding time and Maverick could welcome his baby brother.  Rachel was thinking ahead and had a gift for Maverick from Beckham and she sat right down with him to put it together while the baby was still sleeping from the car ride.  

I only got to hold him the day after he was born when we went to visit the hospital and purposely didn't go near him at their house before we left because I thought I was coming down with a sinus infection (which I was).  I know we'll be going back down soon though to get in plenty of cuddles.

And remarkably, the day that they called us from hospital to tell us that he was going to be born that day was the day that the little bluebirds fledged from the nesting box.  I was nervously waiting outside to hear from our SIL the status and got to see the 3rd and almost the 4th baby leave the box.

Jingle Belles - Holiday Tic-Tac-Toe

This fortnight the Jingle Belles gave us a little creative game of tic-tac-toe.  Just choose 3 in a row when creating your card.  And here I am last minute again, but I chose the first row down .....

I originally had the die cut in white and was just going to cut the stars off the gold one I had also cut but then decided to use the gold one entirely and I kind of rather like it.  

I just have to find my special eraser to get a little bit of errant glue off that gold paper.  That's what happens when you're in a rush.  

I'll be heading over to the Jingle Belles blog to leave some love for the other creatives.  You can also by clicking here.  

Week 11 of The 100 Day Project (With Bluebird Baby Update)

Here are the baby bluebirds - there were originally 6 eggs and it looks like only 4 of them have gotten this far.  They should be ready to fledge at any moment so the box won't be opened again for a while.  We do have a set of mirrors on a stick so we can spy on them without too much intrusion.  The only problem with that is that HWNSNBP sometimes doesn't remember to put it back where it belongs and it becomes the wrong kind of scavenger hunt.  (Much like when he misplaces his cell phone.  That may be one of the only reasons why we still have a landline telephone ...... so he can use it to call his cell phone without asking me to do it and getting a lecture.)

We made another trip to the nursery again for more plants.  We had to search for the vinca in the colors we wanted but finally found a few flats left to choose from.  One of the plants that we had previously bought is doing well amongst the forget-me-nots - a bleeding heart.  It's not the first one that we've had here but those previously planted years ago have disappeared for whatever reason.  So I'm hoping that putting this one in this somewhat protected area will keep it around for a long time.  I remember that my grandfather had one planted in our yard growing up and I always loved it.  

And finally, the sunset from Friday night.