A New Toy!

I totally forgot I had ordered this cute butterfly punch. There was a box in the mailbox today and I just thought it was something that hubby had ordered. I set it on the counter and just a while ago I looked at the box and the rest of the mail and I saw that it was for me. I had mixed emotions about the box then. I wanted to be discrete about it, I didn't want hubby to know I purchased yet another item that won't fit in my workroom!!! LOL

I opened the box and saw the punch and headed right to my workroom. Which was a good thing because I hadn't posted anything yet today. I was SO busy with "spring" house stuff that I totally forgot about my blog!!! I am exhausted from all the things I'd been doing today. First I watered my flowers. I HATE outdoor work but the temps were not bad but it was windy and I got a pretty good misting from the sprayer.

I took the windows out in the kitchen and cleaned them and the screen. Those windows are not easy to get out and require a knee on the counter for leverage. I don't like having the windows out because I have this vision of a bird flying in my house and then bird poop everywhere while the cats chase it around the room. Doors open all over the place for the bird to escape the instead of the bird leaving the cats do. Such an imagination!!! LOL

I had to clean the blinds too. SO that meant taking the valance down. I got it down and the blinds went in the bath tub. I soak them in Avon bubble bath. I have done that for YEARS and it cleans them SO well. I hang them on the window over the tub, it has a crank handle and the blinds hang there so I can rinse them off and let them dry there for a bit while I finish cleaning and putting the window back together.

Well, in cleaning those blinds I notice that the bathroom blinds were actually "dirty." We have had some pretty windy days and there was actually fine black dirt in my bathtub from it blowing in. We usually leave that window open all the time (until the air conditioning comes on). SO I soaked those blinds in the bubble bath.

Then I had to take the top glass from the security door and put the screen in. But the screen needed to be washed so I had to clean that first. Well, while looking at the door I thought today was just as good a day as any to start painting that door. It is black and the house trim is dark brown. We had purchased some dark brown Rustolium for that door a couple of months ago. SO I had to clean the door and sand a few rusty spots first. The door was much harder to clean than I had anticipated. It has a design in the bars and I had to get in there with a scrubby brush. UGH. I got it all clean and let it dry. In the meantime I removed the top glass and was going to put the screen in but realized I couldn't because I would probably get paint on it and I really did need to paint both sides of that door. I got the top part of the door done. Well, not completely, just the scrolling part and the bars on the door. I didn't do the outside, it is something that has to be done all at once. No top half or bottom half there, the metal is smooth and one long stretch there. It's that design in the bars that takes so long to do and I still have the bottom half left to do! UGH. That job was a lot more work and time consuming than I thought it would be.

Then the next thing I know hubby is home. I still had blinds in the bathtub and we had to go pick up my car which had to go back to the shop because the new breaks made a new noise. Hubby said, "apparently they thought we said change the grinding noise to a clunking noise instead." And charged us $630 for a new noise!!! LOL

We got back home and I had to make dinner. Blinds still in the tub. SO while that was cooking I finished cleaning the blinds and as soon as I get this posted (they should be dry by now) I will be hanging them back up!! I'm exhausted!!

Now let me get back to the fun part here. This cute butterfly. It's a punch that has it all. There are a couple of different style wings, small circles and the body. I punched out a set using Pirouette Pink and Pretty in Pink card stock. The body was cut out using Chocolate Chip card stock. I sponged the wings with Pretty in Pink. The top wings were curled a bit using the edge of the scissors. I added some white dots using my gel pen and I taped it all together.

The tree is from the Stampin' Up! "Thoughts & Prayers" set. I stamped the tree in Certainly Celery and then took the Chocolate Chip marker and colored in the trunk and branches. The tiny flowers are from the "A Beautiful Thing" set. I used the Sizzix Scalloped Oval die for the frame around the tree. And the frame was made using a piece of decorative paper from the "Bella Birds" package. The butterfly punch is by the McGill company. I'll show you other butterflies more once I play with this one more!!!

I am going to have a LOT of fun with this butterfly!!!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda