The days are just flying by...

Somehow I've managed to survive the last two weeks.  I'm not sure how, exactly, but I'm quite thankful! :)  The boy (Finally!  Already?!?!) started kindergarten (can you tell that I'm a bit conflicted?) and made it through his first full week.  His first "week" was actually only a few days - this last week was the full deal.  Of course I took pictures on the first day of school... he was NOT impressed.  Actually he was quite the little booger about the whole thing.  Well, look:

:D  I may have gotten two other pictures that were even worth editing!
While I know that starting Kindergarten is a trial for most kids - this has been especially challenging for us.  Talk about a grumpy kid!  And since he's my kid there is NO possibility of a nap after school.  *sigh*  Let's just say that there have been a lot of "interesting" evenings around here!
So.  Due to that whole situation (and a few other things) I have had a half finished card sitting on my table for more than a week.  It's still patiently waiting.  Hopefully the cat doesn't do anything destructive before I get back to it!  Another thing that has caught my eye is this melted crayon project.  I got so excited that I bought all the supplies already and am just waiting for a few minutes to begin melting.  I'll let you know how it goes!
The final thing I have to share with you is something I've been sitting on for a while.  In my last post you saw that the lovely Lauren sent me a tower of gifts. :)  Well, those gifts were some awesome crafty stuff (of course!) and included this awesome shadow box kit that I dove into right away! (literally, the day I opened it I started working on it - and didn't stop for days!)

As you can see, there is a LOT going on! :)
The base was covered with a piece of watercolor paper that I with Distress Inks.  I added a little bit of water to the background & blotted it to make it more interesting.  I stamped with more DI while the background was still wet and allowed it to dry.  Once dry, I adhered it to the base chipboard piece and went over some of the stamped lines with a Spica pen.  The frame pieces were adhered to the base then painted with the Pearl dabber from Tim.  Why does it look silver?  I have *no* idea.  Maybe it's the combination of Pearl dabber and raw chipboard?  Once those pieces were dry I used Glossy Accents to glue in some glass glitter to the inside edges.  I guess I was still fascinated by the geodes we saw up in Estes Park. :)
The saying was printed on a sheet of printable transparency - actually I had to do this several times.  The original used a font that was too delicate (it was practically invisible!) to compete with the underlying components.  I to cut it out and try again.  The second time I ran it through the Xyron and adhered it to the acrylic cover - BIG mistake!  That one had to be peeled off and then I had to clean the acrylic... not something I suggest!  This one is lightly adhered around the edges of the frame (to keep the glitter in and stop any slipping).  Although you can just see where I stamped a flower on the edge of the frame with DI before adhering the transparency.  I actually thought up the saying myself - it relates directly to how I wanted to encourage the boy to make friends in Kindergarten. :)
Finally I added the die cut leaves (colored with DI & spattered with water) and the rolled flower (also colored with DI but a bit of Distress stickles and PP mist added) to the corner to help cover some of the adhesive.  On the back are a couple of tabs to help it stand up.
On the whole I am quite happy with how it turned out!  I do wish that my font was bolder (it's harder to see IRL) but not enough to keep me from enjoying it.
Thanks for dropping by!  Hopefully things will mellow out a bit and I'll see you soon! :)