Snakes and Bees

Terry has a working beehive and the bees decided to swarm Saturday morning. There were thousands of bees everywhere. Click on the photo to enlarge it and you can see them better.

I have never seen bees swarm before so this was really exciting for me. Terry grew up on a farm and they had beehives so he was prepared for this. He got two steel rods and started banging them together to mess up the bees signal, by doing this he got all the bees to the lower part of the trees and some even went to the ground and made a big pile of bees. Go figure that, completely amazing!




He got most of the bees in the hive and I got a photo right when he got them in but later they completely covered the front and sides and Terry wasn't sure if they were going to stay or not. I left in the afternoon and not long after, the bees all swarmed again and Terry got the steel rods and started banging them together, this time the bees went up the trees and landed on two branches. Terry got a tall ladder and cut the branches and then took the branches down to the hive and shook the bees inside the hive again. He thinks he got the queen this time so was pretty sure they would stay. Sure enough, the bees were all there today so now we have two hives! Can't wait for that first jar of honey!

Yesterday I say my first king snake when I was moving a tarp, he was about 4 feet long but he slithered away before I could get my camera. Today I saw our big black snake which lives in the wood pile out by the guineas. He was curled up, all 6 feet of him in the wood pile. Nice little snake, stay where you are! Now that the snakes are out, I will proceed with caution as I don't want any surprises. Last year I was standing right next to a big planter that has a grapevine growing in it and I looked over and there was the big black snake, all curled up right next to me. Hello! Totally scared me and I jumped back and since then, I move really slow in that area.

I don't have any crafty things to share today but will later in the week but wanted to sign off with an adorable photo of the puppies! I held one yesterday and they are so soft and cuddly and have that sweet little puppy smell, help me please, I want to keep them all! They ventured out of the dog house today and three of them were all cuddled together and they were too cute, I just love the little tan one laying on his back with his feet crossed over!

Have a wonderful week!
Annette

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and the weather was good to you! Terry says the puppies are doing great, still not doing too much yet as they are only a week old and basically just eat and sleep at this point.
Just a couple new tags to share. The first is a rainbow tag that I started working on a couple weeks ago and finally finished this morning. I was not in the crafty mood last week so I didn't get much done but I am back and ready to craft this week.
I cut each little rainbow color out by hand, then attached to cardstock, then cut out and handstitched. The tag background is lightweight chipboard and covered with cloud fabric. I used a silver metalic thread around the clouds and added a little white pom pom trim to the bottom. I wanted to have a colorful bow so I ripped strips of fabric in the same colors as the rainbow, tied and added a button.



I cut out some little felt houses and handstitched and added to a tag with some pretty Melissa Frances papers. The little crochet flowers are from my stash that my friend Jennifer and my stepmom Bonnie made for me. My stepmom is bringing her crochet hook with her when she comes to visit in July to give me a lesson, maybe I'll be able to make my own finally!

And lastly, my new blog buddie Lisa is having a huge giveaway at her blog! Click here to visit and sign up for the huge stash she is giving away! Also, if you can, take a moment to read some of her hilarious posts, I always get a smile and a laugh when I visit her blog as she is an extremely talented writer and storyteller and has a unique way of making every day moments into hilarious stories.
Have a wonderful week!
Annette

Free Puppies!

Terry got quite a surprise when he went to the property on Monday. Somewhere between Easter night and early Monday morning, Rachel had her puppies - 8 of them! We thought for sure she would have around 4 because she wasn't that big, I just don't know where she put them all! I went to visit them today for the first time and got a few photos, there are 2 light tan and 6 black, some with brown feet and some with white feet.
Are you ready to see some precious puppies!!!!!


And here is the mommy, Rachel.......



And, here is the daddy, Tyler.......at least we think he is the daddy!



I am so worried that I am going to get attached to them and have a hard time giving them away! I cannot wait until their eyes open and they start walking and playing!! I'll be sure to get lots of photos and post them later on down the road.

Nothing crafty to share today but I'll be back hopefully by the weekend to post a few things. I have been in crafty slump and working on several projects but just need to finish them up.

Have a wonderful day!
Annette

One Little Card....

Is all I have to share today. I used a little of this and that on this card, including some Basic Grey paper and a sweet little K & Company felt flower.

Please check out the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog for Prize Giveaways this week! My sweet blog buddy Amber is on their Design Team and if you get a chance, please stop by her blog to see her adorable creations!
I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Annette

Happy April!

I can't believe it's spring already! We are having some April showers today with a few thunderstorms expected later. I'm spending the day in my craft room working on projects, which I love!
Here are a couple tags sets which I made in the past few days. I am working on getting a variety of different themes in my Etsy store so I thought I would make some baby tags. The base of the Baby tags are chipboard with Melissa Frances papers on the top half and some misc. papers on the bottom half, then I sewed around it with my sewing machine. I crackled the lamb, then put some white swirls on it with Tulip slick paints, then glittered while they were still wet. I painted the moon and glittered it and the BABY letters are sizzix, which I cut with chipboard, then painted and glittered. (You can click on the photos to see them better) :)





I love the shabby look and can't get enough of it lately. I made these tags using the same wood cutouts from my "Bless our Home" card I posted awhile ago. On the house, I painted and crackled the wood, glittered some little Prima flowers and added a little nest with an egg. On the bird, I painted and crackled it and used some white german glass glitter around the edges(LOVE IT!) and also on some craft store flowers. I love the look of German glass glitter and just ordered some Christmas colors and can't wait to use them!




I hope you all have a wonderful day!
Annette