Running With Scissors...

Good News!

LuLu’s heart murmur is gone!

She went for her third exam and to finish up her puppy series shots, and she was such a good girl.  She laid on the exam table as though nothing whatsoever was happening… ahem… “back there”.  Last month she weighed 16 lbs, and this month she weighs 31 lbs.  She was pronounced very clean and exceptionally mellow, but best of all – no heart murmur!  Oh, happy day!!!

Wally waited patiently in the car (and, of course, he was sitting in the driver’s seat when we came out).  I’m sure he’s happy about LuLu’s clean bill of health, too.  We discussed it, but he didn’t say much.  He just smiled.

I’ve been doing a lot of smiling, too!  I hope you have a very happy day!

Cupcake Day

Well, here I am with yet another birthday card, and a very simple one at that.  I’ve gone a little nutty over embossing folders lately, especially anything with a frame such as this.  It’s a wonderfully quick and simple way to create a nice design for a hand stamped card.  This particular frame is courtesy of a Cuttlebug embossing folder from the Heritage collection.  I went Googling for a good selection of embossing folders and ended up at 7 Kids College fund where I filled my virtual basket and went home a happy girl.  They have so many to choose from.  Just look here.  I’ll be sharing more of those later.

I’ve used a Lockhart cupcake and an Impression Obsession sentiment.  Very simple Copic coloring with these markers:

I had intended to do this without ribbon, but I think the recipient would like to have that little bit of something extra, and I just happened to have this bow already tied and tucked away in one of my ribbon scrap jars.  I adhered it with a spot of Aleene’s Tacky Glue, added some rhinestones and called it done.  I’ve summed up the simple ingredients in the recipe.  Have a wonderful day!

Stamps:  Lockhart Violet Cupcake #2012, Impression Obsession sentiment #B5433  Paper:  Almost Amethyst textured (Stampin’ Up!), Lemon Tart (PTI), Classic White (Flourishes)  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, rhinestones, Cuttlebug Heritage collection embossing folder

Birthday Hugs

Hello out there!  It’s Monday night as I write this and it’s been one of those days.  We had a good, solid freeze overnight after rain the day before and the roads were very icy as I drove to work.  I slid right through an intersection – good thing the light was green – and then I fell down in the parking lot at work – again, because of the ice.  I wasn’t hurt… everything is A-okay, but it’s a good day for a hug, don’t you think?

So, I thought I’d share another one of the birthday cards I’ve been diligently working on, and in my mind I’ll put myself in the kitty’s place, getting a nice warm hug from a big golden dog.  Hmmm…  come to think of it, I know just where I can get a nice warm hug from a big golden dog…

For this card I used an Inky Antics stamp (which has no name on it so I don’t know what to call it) and I watercolored the image to match my Wally and our sweet Marvin kitty (who is no longer with us).  I used Stampin’ Up! reinkers in Saffron and Pumpkin for the dog, and Tombow Markers in shades of gray for the cat.  I went back to the reinkers to shade around the image in Celery, with the darker Olive just under the dog.

It’s pretty straightforward.  I’m keeping it simple so I can get these birthday cards done.  Nevertheless, I do love this one.  I actually made two adult birthday cards this weekend, but I’ll have to wait till later to share those.

I’ll catch you later in the week.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed for some of that good old Oregon coast rain tomorrow.  See you soon!

Stamps:  Inky Antics dog and cat, Stampin’ Up! Hugs and Wishes sentiment  Paper:  90 lb hot press watercolor paper, Flourishes Classic Ivory, BasicGrey Sugar Rush designer paper  Ink:  Palette Noir, various inks and markers for watercoloring (colors mentioned above)  Accessories:  Self-adhesive flower with rhinestone, corner rounder punch, Scotch brand foam mounting tape (to pop up sentiment panel)

Swamp Dawgs

Happy Saturday!  These are photos from last weekend when we took Wally and LuLu to run themselves ragged in the Great Outdoors.  Recent rains provided the bonus of little ponds scattered throughout the area.  Nothing could make Wally happier, and little by little LuLu ventures deeper into the water.  One day soon it will happen just like it did with Wally – she’ll accidently find herself swimming and, oh, happy day, try and stop her then!

 

Life is such a great adventure!  Enjoy your weekend!

It’s a Topsy Turvy World

Hello!  I’m still working on children’s birthday cards and that’s all I’m going to do until they’re done.  Five more to go.  I hope these will be okay for 11 and 12 year olds.  I’m not sharing all the cards because I’m beginning to feel like this is The Blog for Children’s Birthday Cards, but since this is a new set, I thought I’d go ahead with these.

I’ve used JustRite’s Topsy Turvy Cakes for both cards.  Both are colored with Copic markers.  The first card has a sentiment which was originally part of an oval sentiment frame – more words on the bottom with candles and swirlies in between.  However, I cut it into four pieces so I could more easily use only part of it, yet I can still piece it back together for the full frame.  These are clear stamps, so the cutting was easy.

The second card has all that clean white space I’m loving these days.  I used another of my Designables cut and emboss folders.  This one is #DS0907.

Shown below are the Copics I used for coloring – same colors on both cakes, but mixed up a little bit.  I did not use E50 and E51 on the second card.  Those were used only for shading around the image on the first card.

By the way, the camera I lost is gone for good.  It was not turned into lost and found.  I checked with all the usual sources and no one has seen it.  It was a Nikon Cool Pix, which I loved because it took great pictures and was very compact.  I could slip it into my pocket and hardly notice it was there.  Great for when we were out with Wally and LuLu.  Tsk, tsk.  Well, hello Canon Elph!

I’ve already ordered it.  In the meantime, I do have two other cameras I can use and, thankfully, there weren’t many pictures on the Cool Pix.  I always put them on my computer and then clear the card.  Later they’re uploaded to Shutterfly and saved to disc.

I’ll leave you with the recipes for today’s cards and wish you a happy day.  Take care!

Card #1 --  Stamps:  JustRite Topsy Turvey Cakes  Paper:  Classic White, Crystal Blue, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, BasicGrey Phoebe designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, rhinestones, Prima flowers, Stickles Stardust glitter glue, Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder, Spellbinders Classic Ovals Small,  Classic Ovals Large, and Big Scalloped Ovals Large, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Card #2 – Stamps:  JustRite Topsy Turvey Cakes  Paper:  Classic White, Citrus Leaf, Bubblegum Pink  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, Stickles Stardust glitter glue, Marianne Designs Designables cut and emboss folder #DS0907, Spellbinders Nested Pennants, Classic Ovals Small, Classic Ovals Large Scalloped Ovals Small, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

It’s a Dog’s Life

I had some pretty adorable new photos of Wally and LuLu on my camera, and now it appears I have lost my camera.  I can hope someone turned it into lost and found at work, but I’ll have to wait till Monday to find out.  Yes, I’m pretty disappointed about that.

The best I can do today is share some older photos.  The Wally photos were taken in August, and the LuLu photos were taken one month ago.  She’s grown so much since then.

Have a wonderful weekend!  

Princess Birthday

I’m getting back to the business of filling a birthday card order – all for girls ages 2 through 15.  When I pass the 7 year old range, I’m a little bit stumped.  What would they want that I have in my stamp arsenal?  I puzzled over this for quite a while until I decided I would concentrate more on making cards the grandma would like for her granddaughters and grandnieces.  I know she likes pretty things and I think most little girls do, too.  I’ll let the grandma decide which child will receive this card.

Today’s card uses Flourishes’ Make a Wish set.  I stamped the crown in Versamark ink and embossed using gold tinsel embossing powder.  I added some rhinestones and colored the rest of the crown’s jewels with a Copic marker, then went over them with a Sakura Stardust glitter pen.  I also shaded around the crown with Copic BG0000, BG10, and the colorless blender.

The white embossed panel is another of my Designables cut and emboss folders.  This one is called Designables Classic #DS0911.  This folder will emboss the entire card front, but I chose to cut around just this focal area so I could work with the designer paper.  It was easy enough to cut around with regular small scissors.  I cut out the center circle with a craft knife.  The crown image was cut with Spellbinders Standard Circles Small.

A princess must have lots of glitter.

I covered the Prima flowers and butterfly with Stickles Stardust glitter glue.

I hope one of the girls will enjoy this card, and I hope you do, too.  All ingredients are summed up in the recipe, below.  Thank you for joining me today!

Stamps:  Make a Wish (Flourishes)  Paper:  Flourishes Classic White, Prima Annalee designer paper  Ink:  Versamark, Rose Red, Copic markers for coloring  Accessories:  Prima flowers and Prima butterfly, Martha Stewart branch punch, rhinestones, decorative brads, Stickles Stardust glitter glue, gold tinsel embossing powder, Designables Classic #DS0911 cut and emboss folder, Spellbinders Standard Circles Small, decorative corner punch (for sentiment panel), Scotch brand foam mounting tape

2011 Favorites Review

Happy 2012!!

Long about this time you’ll be browsing blogs and seeing these “favorites” posts.  I always enjoy them and I hope you’ll enjoy scrolling through the few I picked out.  If I were to wait a month I may choose different favorites as I don’t seem able to settle on any one style.

As you review your own year, I hope you’re able to say there were more ups than downs.  It was a good year for me, ending on a happy note as we welcomed LuLu into our family.  Every year my perspective on life shifts just a little bit.  Priorities jostle each other around trying to claim the #1 spot.  I can’t say what’s ahead but I anticipate a continued trend toward home, family, peace, serenity.  That’s what I’ll be keeping in my sights.  I’m wishing you all a happy and successful year!

 

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Just for kicks:

• 2010 Favorites
• 2009 Favorites

Thank you all for adding to the success and happiness of my 2011!  Take care!

Wally and LuLu

The photo pickins are slim this week due to the low light conditions of our gloomy weather.  We take Wally and LuLu out for fun and exercise during a break in the weather, but slow shutter speeds + moving puppies = blurry photos.  I did the best I could, though, to capture the kids enjoying themselves and looking cute.

This first photo shows my little family in what we call “the pile”.  It’s an area off the edge of the yard where we throw garden trimmings and leaves.  My husband rakes it out flat and tidy, and it’s always covered with a cushy carpet of leaves.  Wally and LuLu love it.  We never throw anything on the pile without Wally getting there first to catch it.  He’s pretty good at it, too.  LuLu’s still in the learning stages.  She doesn’t know why Rich sometimes throws a handful of leaves in her face, but she thinks it’s great fun and she’ll catch on eventually.

Here’s Wally, all smiling and bright eyed.  You can just barely see LuLu’s rump in this photo, but notice their tails are both a wagging blur.  So happy!  Life is good!

Wally finally has someone who enjoys his pool as much as he does.  His tongue’s hanging a bit after a vigorous ball chasing session.  LuLu will fetch, also, but mostly Wally chases the ball and LuLu chases Wally.  We put just enough water in the pool for a cool down.  Again, LuLu’s a little blurry.  She goes all goofy puppy when there’s water in the pool.

Finally, this is what I hoped for more than anything when we brought LuLu home – love and companionship for both of them as well as for us.  It couldn’t have worked out better!

Happy new year to all!

Cheers!

I finally did something I’ve been meaning to do for years – make some New Year’s cards.  It comes so close after Christmas… I guess I’m just not ready for another holiday yet, except in regard to having the day off work.

The first card uses an American Art Stamp couple with an Art Impressions sentiment.  Both stamps have been gathering dust for a few years – not because I don’t like them (quite the contrary), but I don’t have a lot of occasion to use them.  I generally look at them every year when I think about doing New Year’s cards, but that’s as far as it goes.

So… you’ve probably noticed the embossed and cut away card base.  That was done with a new-to-me product called Marianne Design Designable Folders.  I got mine here (in the UK), but you can find them elsewhere, too, if you do a Google search.  I was amazed with the speedy delivery from all the way over there.  I guess those planes fly pretty fast!  The price of these folders is a little scary, but they sure can help you do a cool card design in record time.  That can be important.  However, you can do a little or a lot.  Either way, they’re very fun to play with.

I decked out the couple in glittery party finery by stamping in Versafine Onyx black ink and embossing with sparkly Stardust embossing powder.  The sentiment was embossed with plain clear powder.  You can see the sparkle better in the next photo.  Even the gentleman’s moustache and hair have glitter in them.  Either he’s been nuzzling his lady friend or he’s been wiping his nose on his coat sleeve.  Maybe he’s no gentleman, after all.

I cut the image panel with Spellbinders Labels Sixteen S4-301, and added just a touch of color with Copic markers and a pink rhinestone.

The next card features an image from a retired Stampin’ Up! set called Along the Same Lines.  The sentiment is from A Muse and is cut with a Spellbinders Ribbon Banners S4-324 die.  I sponged with ink while the die was still in place.  The BasicGrey Euphoria designer paper looks all bubbly and floaty (like your head after a few glasses of champagne).

We have sparkling pink champagne for our New Year’s celebration.

I hope your plans for New Year’s Eve are as exciting as mine.  If I’m still awake at midnight maybe I’ll hear some distant fireworks…   Whatever you’re doing, stay safe and enjoy!  See you again soon!