Butterfly Specimen Case {Re-Post}

While I'm on vacation I'm re-posting some old projects that you may not have seen the first time around, hope you enjoy the repeat.

This is certainly not a new project, they're starting to pop up all over but I think they're really cute.

I first saw this idea at least a month ago and knew I wanted to re-create it so I bought the frame but I was unwilling to buy a butterfly punch that I'd probably never use again.  My sister-in-law has a Cricut so I was waiting to make use of it.  This weekend was the right time to work on it so I headed over to find out she doesn't have a cartridge with what I wanted but she did have a punch and a ton of beautiful paper so I started flipping through and punching.  I'm sure this idea is pretty straight forward but tutorials are the thing to do so here goes.

For supplies I used an 11x17 frame I bought for real cheap at Liquidation World.  I really wanted a double matted one but they were all too expensive so I made do (more details on that further down).  I also used the borrowed butterfly punch and lots of pretty paper plus a couple magazine pages.  I used a nice cardstock page for the backing and some adhesive pop dots that I bought at the dollar store.

I started by cutting out all my butterflies (I have lots extra just in case) and then since I wanted them to be extra 3-D I bent all their wings a little.

Then it was time to space them.  I couldn't bear the idea of measuring and marking each spot so instead I came up with this using PowerPoint.

The large rectangle is 8x10 inches since that's how big my opening was.  I figured out how many rows of butterflies I wanted and then I used the computer to evenly space them.  The dots show the centre of each butterfly.  Much faster and easier than marking them by hand.  So I printed the above page, lined it up on top of my cardstock and using a pin (still loving my pink pins) I poked a little hole through the centre of each black dot.  That showed me exactly where to put each adhesive dot which I did using tweezers (those things are tiny!)

Then I layed out my butterflies on the counter with the patterns arranged the way I wanted them.

 I transferred them to my sticky dots using tweezers.  I tried not to place them down too well figuring I'd have to move a bunch of them to make my lines neat but somehow I manged to do that on the first go so very little moving was necessary.

All butterflies glued down, see how their wings stand up?

Here's where some creative thinking came in.  I wanted the wings to stand up so I bent them, remember?  The problem being when I put the picture in the frame the glass was going to squish them flat again (that's why I wanted a double mat).  I'd seen other bloggers just leave the glass out but I was worried about the stability of my foam dots and I also like the finished look of glass.  So I took the frame apart and it consisted of the mat, the page inside that tells the size and a really thick piece of cardboard to hold it all flat.  I pulled out some bbq skewers, taped them to the cardboard and reassembled (with my butterflies inside of course).

The page you see above was my test to make sure it would be raised high enough.  I had visions of using a glue gun to carefully and neatly attach my skewers but once I got to this point it all seemed so silly and it worked so well that I just left the masking taped and put it all back together.

Here's the finished picture all re-assembled and ready to hang.

I hung it up in Catie's room and I think it looks so sweet though it's almost a shame to waste such beautiful paper.  It's hard to tell but lots of them are glittery or shiny and on their own they looked so beautiful.

There are a few things about this that could be changed, like the cardstock colour and the mat colour don't go together all that awesome.  I also would have liked a little more space around the mat and the start of the butterflies but I'm happy enough with it to call it finished.
L

Strawberry Smoothie

Look at this, a brand new post!  This one is not a repeat.

I have a new smoothie obsession, I eat one for breakfast every day and sometimes a second later in the day.  They're great for me and delicious so I refuse to feel guilty about it.  The beauty of a smoothie is that you can put just about anything in them.  Today I thought I'd give my recipe for the most basic smoothie, you can build off this one to make some delicious creations.

First, here are you ingredients and I think these 4 are the building blocks to any good smoothie. 

So 4 main ingredients:

1. Juice - Orange juice, apple juice they're both awesome
2. Milk - This one is pretty obvious, you need the liquid to your fruit
3. Yoghurt - This makes just the right consistency.  Any flavour works but I tend to stick with vanilla
4. Frozen Fruit - I almost always use strawberries because you can buy big bags but as long as it's frozen it does the trick

Let's get on with the blending.

Start with your liquids and your yoghurt and put them in the bottom of your blender.  I know in the picture above there's a lime, it's my favourite addition and I'm sad when I don't have one but it's not essential.


Okay, here's where things get a little crazy.

Yes, that's spinach in there.  Sounds gross, I still can't quite convince myself that it's good so I only manage to add about 7 leaves, I'm getting better though.  I swear you can't taste it at all and it adds a ton of iron and other good stuff, you just have to get over the idea of it.  Add it to your liquids and blend it up.  Don't be afraid of those few flecks of green, you won't notice them.

Now add your frozen fruit, blend it up and your done.

Strawberry Smoothie
1/3 cup juice
1 cup milk
the juice of half a lime
3 tablespoons yoghurt
8 frozen strawberries

Now that you have the basic recipe you can change it up anyway you want.  I like to use two kinds of fruit, mango and strawberries being my favourite.  The second fruit doesn't need to be frozen either, just add it to your liquids and blend well.  Thicken with strawberries like usual and you have a whole new drink.

Happy Blending

What Catie Wore Wednesday #43

I'm enjoying the freedom I have now that I'm not telling you where Catie's clothes are from.  Before I was always trying to find the picture that best showed her outfit but now I get to just find the picture I like best.  This likely means there will be a few more pictures than there were in the past, I think we'll all agree that's not a bad thing.

Thursday

In Calgary at this time every year our city hosts the Calgary Stampede.  Labelled the greatest outdoor show on earth it's a week full of western wear, lots of tourists and free pancake breakfasts.  Normally I can't be bothered to get up in time to stand in a very long line for some crummy pancakes but some of these breakfasts had pony rides and I was determined that Catie would ride her first horse.  We had some hiccups along the way and it took us 3 breakfasts but she rode her pony.  I was a little disappointed that she was finished 3/4 of the way through the ride but she looks so darn cute in that helmet that what does it matter.

For your viewing pleasure this ride was videoed.


Friday

Catie loves blankets and pillows.  Today we were relaxing and watching TV.

Saturday

This was another Stampede breakfast, only it was much more enjoyable because it's one put on by our church.  Catie refused to turn around and is in fact very carefully ignoring me as I called for her to come back to us.

Monday

Today was hot hot hot so we called our friend Jane and her son Russel to come play with us.  We bought a cheap $4 sprinkler and hooked it up for the kids to run through but neither of them were very interested in that.  Luckily we thought to bring out some large bowls of water and they were a much bigger hit.  Daddy found a gun attachment for the hose and would occasionally mist Catie just so we could see this cute shrugged pose.

She thought it was great fun to sit in the bowl.

When she wasn't wearing her bathing suit she was wearing these cute pink shorts, though they'll real short so that'll probably be the last time.

And one more cause she's so darn cute

Tuesday
She was a blur today, refusing to stay still for a picture.  She ran around in this cute nightshirt all day.

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Thumbprint Pendant {Re-Post)

I'm taking a vacation and rather than have silence I decided to re-post some of my old projects that you may not have seen.  This one was a quick project that I'm still glad I have to look back at.

I found a really cute tutorial a while ago and really wanted to make one so using my Michael's coupons I bought what I needed for less than $4.  I then waited for a trip to Calgary where my sister-in-law and I made them together.

We used some white polymer clay and kneaded a small amount until it was soft.  We then took our clay and rolled them into small oval shapes and pushed our girls thumbprints into them.  I had first decided it would be cute to use Catie's right thumb since this is the one she sucks and it's her favorite.  I hadn't taken into consideration what damage constant thumb sucking at night does though and my first imprint looked a little like a tiny 80 year olds.  It was cracked and funny looking so I rerolled and used to the left thumb with much better results.

Once we had imprints we liked we poked holes so they could be threaded on a necklace and then we baked them in the oven following the package directions and these were the results.

I love that I can carry around a little imprint of Catie all the time and I like that it's so unique.

The only downside being Catie always wants to put it in her mouth, I guess she thought I used the right thumb :)

Double Stroller Re-Cover {Re-Post}

I'm on vacation, posting old projects while I'm gone.  Hope it's a good filler.
This double stroller is the one I was talking about in Tuesday's Post.

Posting has been a little light this week and will probably continue to be for the next little bit.  I have a bunch of projects planned but they were all put aside as I worked furiously, obsessively, painstakingly on Michelle's stroller trying to get it done in time for her to take it home.

Michelle is in Edmonton for the summer and hating her stroller so when she decided to come home for a couple days we figured we could fix it for her.  The original plan was to have lots of time and work on it together but the modified plan involved much, much less time and me on my own.  Overall the project was a success but I have learned that I won't take on any more time sensitive jobs, it takes most of the fun out it.  These before and after pictures just might make all the difficulties worth it.  I was incredibly grateful that I had practiced on my stroller first.

The before

The peach was especially hateful and I feel you can't quite grasp the ugliness of the alphabet print from this far back so here's a close up.  This picture shows the alphabet and the plaid that you can see at the top of both seats.

I was asked for pics while I was working on the last stroller but I hadn't taken any and figured this time I would but I only managed to take one, there just wasn't time for any others.  So here it is, this is one of the sunshades all carefully taken apart.  From here I used the pieces I was replacing as a pattern to cut out my new fabric.  I then re-assembled the pieces and used the original trim to finish the edges.

The more I review the pictures the more the late nights seem worth it.  The $6.00 seam ripper made a world of difference.

As usual this re-do is far from perfect and we may need to do a little touch up when she's back but it's so far ahead of where it was that she was thrilled and I'm confidant I could tackle another.  Here's one last photo to showcase the pretty new fabric.

What Catie Wore Wednesday #42

So I've been showing you what Catie wears for 42 weeks now, I think it's time to admit that no one cares where her clothes are from.  If you like the post you like it for the cute photos, from here on out I'm going to stop telling you where her clothes are from.  If you like them you're welcome to ask where you can buy it, otherwise just enjoy the cute pictures.

Wednesday

Watching a movie in cute polka dot shorts.

Thursday

Yeah, today was a pyjama day.


Saturday

We went to the zoo with cousin Riley today

After a nap we watched yet another movie.  She really loves pillows and blankets.

And then she found Mommy's shoes, and she put them on all by herself


Tuesday

We're house sitting right now and they happen to have a trampoline.  If we let her this little girl would spend her entire day outside.  She jumps up and down saying "Juum" (Jump) over and over.

 

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Vacation - Catie's Stroller {Re-Post}

It's time to admit it, I'm on vacation, there will be no crafts coming any time soon.  Some friends of ours have gone away and they've asked us to house sit for them so I don't even have any of my crafting supplies, I couldn't make anything if I wanted to.

I figured rather than just having silence and What Catie Wore Wednesday I'd post a few of my older projects that you may not have seen before.  For some of you these will be repeats and for some they'll seem brand new, hope it's better than nothing.


This first repeat project is the very first stroller I re-covered and I'm still very happy with how it turned out.

This was a project I had thought about doing a while ago and then dismissed it because it seemed too difficult but Michelle really wanted to re-cover her's so I decided to tackle my stroller in preparation.  Her's is a double so it'll be more difficult but I'm now convinced that we'll be just fine.  This project was the main one that encouraged the Great Falls trip with Mom and I was so pleased with the fabric I found and the price I found it at.

I carefully took apart all the pieces of my stroller, cut out new fabric and re-assembled using the original seam binding.  It looks so much better!

Here's the before and then a bunch of after shots.

What Catie Wore Wednesday #41

This is a picture heavy week, there were lots of good ones to share.  We've had lots of fun this week enjoying summer.

Wednesday

We went to Eau Claire Market today to play at the wading pool and Catie had a great time.  They have a jungle gym and some fountains and it was a great morning.

Sunglasses - Dollar Store
Bathing Suit - Gap

Thursday

I was so happy when I captured this picture, this is the exact same face she makes every time she hears an airplane or hears the neighbours dogs outside.

Orange T - Walmart
Capri's - JC Penny

Friday

Love these little girls.  We went to the zoo today and Catie' two cousins, Gwen and Bryn came with us, they're playing ring around the rosie together.

Recently Catie has been incredibly clumsy and whiny and it was driving me crazy, then I put this dress on her.  The last time she wore it was no more than two weeks ago and suddenly it really isn't a dress anymore.  It's so short!  Apparently she's gone through a huge growth spurt which explains the clumsiness.

White Dress/Shirt - Carters
White Tights - Children's Place
Pink Sandals - Walmart

They have a playground at the zoo with this tube that kids can crawl through, I always want Catie to go through it but she never would, that is until Gwen led the way.  I love that you can see Gwen, Catie and Bryn all crawling along.

Saturday

We went to our community centre today where they have a really nice playground, a spray park, a sandbox, fields to run in and bbq's for hotdogs.  All she wanted to do was play in the mud hole kids had created in the sandbox.  If she can't be dirty here where can she be, right?  Not sure her bathing suit is ever coming clean.

When she wasn't in her bathing suit she was wearing this.  Notice the mud on her eyebrow?  This was right before she was dumped in the bath.  She got her first band aids today, she tripped as she got to the park and skinned her knee badly enough to draw blood so we covered it up.

Yellow T - Walmart
Denim Mini - Children's Place
Pink Flip Flops - Old Navy

Sunday

White Sweater & Pink Dress - JC Penny (thank you Grandma West)
Obviously those are my shoes she's wearing, she's carrying my keys and wearing a key fob around her neck.

Monday

We're down visiting my Mom and she had a little tea party with cousin Riley

Striped Tank - Walmart
White T - H&M
Jean Capris - Old Navy (made by me)

Tuesday

Blue T - H&M
Shorts - Old Navy
Pink Flip Flops - Old Navy

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