Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Happy Harvest


I made this simple card over the weekend to prepare for the Fall Card Buffet. This card will be one of the four cards that you can make on World Card Making Day at my event. I love the stamped image of the pumpkins. Instead of straight, drawn lines, they are kind of "scribbled". I used my watercolor pen and the ink lifted off of the top of the ink pad lid. I'm not a fabulous watercolorer, but I think this turned out pretty nice. The card needed to be simple so that we can make several of them in a short amount of time during the Card Buffet.

At the class, you'll have the opportunity to make this card, in addition to three others (Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving). Let me know if you'd like to come!

Stamps:
Autumn Harvest (Stampin' Up mini catalog)
Loads of Love

Ink/Cardstock:
Chocolate Chip cardstock
Timber Brown Stazon
Pumpkin Pie cardstock
Pumpkin Pie Stazon ink
Very Vanilla cardstock

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Goodbye, Old Friend


UPDATED 11-15-07 We still have Jack. After speaking with Linda at SecondHand Shelties, we are trying some different natural remedies. She knows how much we do not want to give Jack up. Additionally, we have brought a new Weimaraner puppy named Emmett into our home. Jack and Emmett play together and we really think that Emmett has helped by keeping Jack busy and not licking! We also have taken Jack off of his weekly allergy injections. After a year and a half of shots, we decided that they were just not working. So as of now, he's on steroids, Vitamin E, Fish Oil, Dogzymes and another dog powder added to his food. He's growing back some hair and isn't itching. We'll see how this all plays out in a couple weeks.
p.s. There's a picture of Emmett below. :)


Today is a sad day. We are putting our dog, Jack, into a rescue home. We've had Jack for almost 5 years. About 2 years ago, he started losing the hair on all four legs and itching. After unsuccessfully trying natural remedies and a food trial, we found out that he is allergic to grass, trees and other stuff. He's a dog...how can he be allergic to grass? I've been giving him allergy injections every week at home for over a year, in addition to steroids and Benadryl several times a day. He's still itching ferociously and is just miserable. We cannot keep up with the $120 shots, plus recurrent infections. He licks and gets open sores, so he gets infected. Once we get him cleared up, he's still licking so the vicious circle continues. We just can't keep up with it any more.

He is the sweetest dog ever. He is the best dog we've ever had. He listens. He sits when you tell him to. (OK, he barks every time someone opens the garage or rings the doorbell....he's gotta have one flaw.) I love when I'm on the couch and he just jumps up and lays his head on my lap. He looks at you with the sweetest eyes. Now when he looks at me though, I imagine he's saying, "Don't give up on me." It is so hard to push the emotion aside to see the reality of what we can realistically do for him.

The hardest thing now is waiting for a home to come available. The lady at the rescue organization has been great. Each day I wake up, I think, "Is this going to be his last day with us?" In some ways, I pray NO. Other days, I think...."Please, let this be over with so I can go on." See, now I'm crying again. I know, I know....he's a dog.

Today I had to sign release forms at the vets office so that they could send Jack's records to the rescue organization. I had called them ahead of time, so I wouldn't have to explain the situation in front of everyone there. When I arrived, the lady knew exactly who I was (maybe the teary, red, puffy eyes were a clue). She gave me the paper, I signed it and she said she'd take care of it right away. It was *so* hard to see all the people there with their dogs knowing that I was there completing yet another step to giving permission to give my dog away. I walked out bawling.

I've been hard to live with for the past week. (OK, maybe I'm always hard to live with, but this week has been especially bad.) I know this is the right decision, and someone else will have the time to take care of all of the special needs he has. But still, I love this silly dog and I feel guilty that I can't make this work. Hopefully by banging out these words, it will help me come to more peace. As of right now though, I'm crying again. I do have a scrapbook page dedicated to him that I made the first week we got him. I'll share it on another day.

Thanks for listening to my story.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Cards, Cards, Cards! Photos galore!

I joined a New Catalog Swap on SCS in July. These are the cards I got back. I love swaps. This one was cool because instead of getting all cards back from one set or one color scheme, it was just a general swap. I got back lots of different cards from a variety of stamp sets. This is particularly nice, because I can show off examples from sets that I don't own. (Well, now that I have great card examples, I have to buy the sets of course!) I love the different styles and color combinations of all of the cards! Email me if you need to know the colors or stamps on any of these cards. :) Click on the cards for a larger example. Happy stamping!









Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Fall Swaps


I joined a pink and brown swap on SCS. I *LOVE* pink and brown! I decided to use Stampin' Up!'s Polka Dots and Paisley stamp set since the paisely paper worked so well. I am mailing them off in a few days....I'll post photos of what I get back in October. I will also be posting photos from my "New Catalog Swap" later tonight.

Stamps:
Polka Dots and Paisley
Stampin' Around Jumbo Petals

Cardstock and Ink:
Pretty in Pink
Chocolate Chip

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

World Card Making Day

Join me for a Fall Card Buffet on World Card Making Day! We'll be using the Autumn Harvest set from the new mini catalog. See the post below for all the details! I hope to see you there!

See that long, blank, outline of a rectangle up above? Yeah.....that's supposed to be a graphic. Don't know what is going on. You can still click it and it will take you to the World Card Making site! I'm a *way* better stamper than blogger. :)

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Fall Buffet Class

It's World Card Making Day!

Come and make as many cards as you like using
the new Autumn Harvest set!(page 21 of the Fall-Winter Mini). You will be able to make Fall, Thanksgiving or Halloween cards using this set…you decide which cards and how many!! Everything will be cut and ready for you….

Cost: 4 cards for $8; 8 cards for $15
Date: Saturday Oct. 6
Time: 10:00-12:00
R.S.V.P: Sept. 30