Monday, January 31, 2011

Manly Mondays and the Blog Candy Winner

I'd like to start off by thanking you for all your heartfelt comments on the Memory of our Tex from this post. We truly appreciate them. And please, no tears J, there was nothing more that he disliked. Made it hard to watch a chick flick with him in the room LOL.

***BLOG CANDY WINNER FROM LAST MONDAY***

The blog candy winner is from this commentator:

Sandi said...
What a cute card -- and how nice that you are able to have somebody share your stampin' time with you!! Welcome Betty, and thanks for reminding me that I haven't used this stamp "yet" -- I know, I hate to even admit it. But I will change that for sure!!

Congratulations Sandi!  Make sure you send me your mailing info by Wednesday Midnight from the "Email Me" link on the left hand side.

Make sure you read to the bottom 'cuz there's a little more candy up for grabs!

On to this week's card.  I hadn't made a black and white card in awhile so I thought it was time.



All the images are from the Pendant Park set.  The tree is embossed in White and the corners of the black layer were rounded using the Small Corner Rounder Punch. The bench (could that be one of the squirrels that Frankii has been trying to catch.....) was stamped with Black Craft Ink and embossed with clear powder. The Hello was done the same way and punched with the 1 1/4 Circle punch and adhere to a Basic Black punch out using the Large Designer Label punch.  Added two black brads and used Dimensionals to adhere to the Whisper White base.

Wouldn't this card be great for the senior down the road or your favorite cashier at your favorite store or your Uncle you haven't spoken to in awhile........

I've mentioned that I am re-organizing/sorting in the craft room.  Trust me, it needs a lot of work! There is stuff all over the place and discovering that there are many things that I have not used and probably never will.  So, for BLOG CANDY, I thought I would offer up these little cards with perforated labels all ready to be attached to your card or project. They are from Stampin' Up and I don't even remember from what or when I got them.....


And YES, I will also include this week's card. Soooooo, leave a comment by Sunday Midnight Feb 6, and I'll let you know who the winner is next Monday morning. GOOD LUCK! For those of you that subscribe by email, the post goes out to you by 9:00am Mountain Time.

A La Prochaine!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

In Memory Of Our Tex

A year and a day ago we made the difficult decision to put to rest our beloved, Siberian Husky x Lab, Tex. He would have been 9 years old on February 21, 2010.


He became ill shortly after Christmas. It was discovered that he had a ruptured stomach tumor. Our Vet knew and came to love him as much as we did and let us know that he would do all he could but the outcome would be "He will no longer be Tex".  Need I say more on our decision.

I'll never forget the day I picked him up from the SPCA. I was on their website and saw a dog that appealed to me so I headed over there, a 45 minute drive.  As I got out of the truck, a little boy comes out the door with the hugest smile on his face, holding a leash.  On the end of that leash was the dog I had come to look at.  I sighed but also smiled at how much joy that little dog was going to give the young fellow.  I went in, in the hopes they had a similar small dog.  Turns out, they didn't.  I was looking for a small dog, perhaps not more than 20 pounds. As I walked through the kennel, every other dog was barking except for Tex.  There he sat, quiet as a mouse, looking up at me with his big brown eyes as if to say, "Please, get me out of here." I asked to see him and they put us in a private room.  I asked him all the basic commands and he knew them well.  I must have called my husband 4 times with, he's a really big dog, about 70 pounds more then what I came for.....and another million things. I must admit, I was hooked instantly. As I filled out the forms he sat there with his head on my lap looking up at me.  I'm thinking, I'm getting you out of here and he's probably thinking "what's taking so long, let's go already".  He was 9 months old at the time.

He had many favorite things some of which were:


Watching TV. Especially dog shows. One time a dog went off screen and Tex got up very quickly to go behind the TV thinking it was there. It was so funny.



He LOVED Popsicles and somehow always knew when there were some in the freezer.  This is my favorite picture of my husband giving him one on a very rare occasion that he got to have one. The sugarless kind I might add.


His best friend was David, the little boy of some friends of ours. The first time they met David whacked him a good one in the face for no apparent reason. We had only had Tex for a month by then and I froze terrified at what Tex might do. He sat down and tilted his head as if to say "what'd you do that for?".  All was well and I knew that he would be extremely gentle with children. These two were inseparable.  As soon as we would walk into their house, David would grab Tex by the collar and take him to his room and close the door. You could hear David chat away to him and Tex was always very attentive. This picture was taken on the morning of David's first ever sleep over, which happen to be at our house.  A big event in this little boy's life.  Tex was trained to sleep in his own bed. For that night only when I put David to bed I let Tex sleep at the foot of the bed. I whispered in his ear "You keep David safe. He's a little nervous without his Mom and Dad." That dog did not move all night.  The next morning I caught them "reading".  A true Kodak moment.

He was also very affectionate towards the little girl next door by the name of Amanda. They were only a few months apart and it was rather neat watching them grown up together. Once Amanda, she was maybe 3 years old, came over on her own to play with Tex. Good thing I was home when she rang the bell. After that, her parents made sure the door was locked at all times. One Christmas we made her a photo album of pictures of her and Tex.  She would sleep with it under her pillow.

He was a hit with the seniors too.  Grandma needed 24 hour care and we visited her 3-4 days a week. Once we got on the ward I felt secure letting Tex roam the ward and the residents looked forward to it. The minute he was let loose he would head into a woman's room and you would hear "You're here". You see, she saved her toast for him.  We have a friend who is on oxygen and walks with a walker. Tex went for a walk with him, without a leash, and never left his knee. He just knew.

We use to have a lake lot and he loved laying in the sun. He could hardly wait to get out there. One night a drunk man tried to break into our trailer. Tex and I were there by ourselves and there was no way, no how that man was getting near me. Tex let him know who the boss was and it was quite intimidating when he was in protective mode. Quite a few people thought he was a German Shepherd because of his coloring. That was fine by me. A contractor came to our home once and when he saw Tex he asked me to tie him up in the backyard.  Tex was letting me know this fellow was not safe to be around. I told him "Sorry mister if you can't be around my dog in his own house I guess you can't do the work".

Here's Tex looking after Frankii on the day that we move to our new house. Frankii is barely 5 months old here and Tex is 6 years old. Tex would show him the ropes and made sure he followed the rules. He was extremely protective over him.  We grate trained Frankii and when he would cry Tex would lay by the door to keep him calm.  Every once in awhile Tex would have to put Frankii in his place but not very often. He was very tolerate of all the things that Frankii would do to him like grab at his ears and paws like young pups do.

It took them awhile to get use to all the new sounds in the country.  We would often catch them together at the window.


Frankii actually sat at this very window for two weeks straight wondering when Tex was coming back. It was heartbreaking and hard to distract him. We've lived through it and come out just fine. Maybe one day we'll get Frankii another friend, we tried that for 3 months and it just didn't work out.  The other dog was just too aggressive towards Frankii. For now Frankii is very happy chasing that squirrely squirrel and "dating" Dolly.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Freestyle Fridays - Regina's Fun with Fun Foam

Regina has completed her mission and my oh my what a success.  Here's a sneak peak. 


She gives you all the intel on her blog.


You won't believe how super easy and quick, and, as she states "forgiving"  her technique is. Please take a moment to leave her a comment and let her know how much you appreciate her inspiration and details of her art work.
 
Back next Friday with another Freestyle and Mission. You never know what might happen.
 
See Ya Next Week!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Manly Mondays and Blog Candy Winner

I have a special treat for you today, well 2 really.  The first one is, for the first time on the Manly Monday posts, A Guest Designer.  May I present to you, drum roll please, Betty!!




Betty and I have been making cards together once a month coming on 3 years.  You may recall my mentioning her from time to time. You are sure to have a blast with her around. She was over on Saturday and demonstrated how to make this card. I just had to feature it for you all.






Super quick to make and a fabulous technique.  The base is Basic Black. A layer of newspaper is crumpled, then layed flat followed by sponging a bit of Creamy Caramel here and there.  Take care when you apply newspaper to the base. It is best to use sticky tape as opposed to a glue runner. Chances are you will rip the paper like I did.  And, to add a more manly feel to it, it is a page right out of the sport section.

The typewriter is from Puns From The Past inked in Basic Black Classic and stamped on Very Vanilla.  This was stamped twice and punched out using the 1 1/4" inch punch.  The black layer that they sit on was ran through a crimper.  The sentiment, from the same stamp set, was creatively layered using the Modern Large Extra Large and Word Window Large Punches. To adhere these two together, a Two Way Glue Pen was used. We tend to avoid using ribbon for men, it's just not their thing we seem to think a lot of the time, but by adding a little strip of black satin ribbon it gives it just the right touch, don't you think?? For ease of writing a message on the inside a layer of Very Vanilla Cardstock would be recommended.

Well Done Betty!!


Blog Candy Winner for Last Week

Here's what the winner had to say:
Great card, those teenagers can be so hard to do cards for ..
thanks
Debbie in las vegas

Debbie, please be sure to contact me by using the "Email Me" link on the left hand side with your mailing info. Please put "Blog Candy Winner" in the subject line. You will have until Wednesday the 26th at Midnight.  Should I not hear from you by then I will choose another winner.

Now on to the Second Treat - More Blog Candy

This week I have this little brass stencil up for grabs.


A winner will be chosen from the comments left.  You will have until Sunday at Midnight.  Good Luck!

A La Prochaine!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Freestyle Fridays - Regina's Mission

My efforts to make a video for Regina's Mission this week just tanked!  Frankii was just all over the place and there was no way, no how, for me to "direct" him. You see, we had just returned from playing in the snow and he was still super excited.  Especially since we stayed out quite a bit longer today because it was +1c.  Yes, that is in fact a + sign.  We had a blast! The wind was calm and exceptionally warm. And yes, the infamous squirrel was spotted and chased.  At the end of this post there is a little video of Frankii.  On to the card. 

Here is the card for this week:


This is a card that Frankii will be giving to his girlfriend Dolly. The base is Real Red.  The Whisper White layer was ran through the Big Shot using the Flourish Texturz Plate. All well as the Real Red Label Punch. After I ran the Whisper White layer through the Big Shot I edged the top and bottom with the Pinking Hearts Border Punch. On the Whisper White punch out using the Modern Label Extra Large Label Punch the sentiment "a dog wags its tail with its heart" was "stamped" using the Real Red Marker.  This sentiment is from the stamp set D is for Dog. The two hearts are made of sticky back fun foam purchased at a local dollar store. Be advised should you use this with the Sizzlit like I did.  The foam is a little thick for the Sizzlits. I actually broke one of the hinges on the first past. Not to worry, it worked fine on the second pass and it should be fine for other future projects.

On the inside we got a little creative:



All of these images are from the D is for Dog set.  The paw prints spell out in human language
Will
You
Be
Mine?

Yup, this human needs some human time! 

******Regina's Mission******

Make something with Fun Foam. Options would be: a complete card, book cover, door hanger, coffee cozy, embellishment(s). Can your new Gypsy handle it?? You're sure to have some fun with it.

************

Here's the little video I promised a the beginning of the post. Poor dog, when I was listening and trying to make a James Cameron movie/video he kept looking for food in his dish and obeying the commands he could hear. 



See ya next week!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Let it Snow, Let it Snow

I have a non-card post for you today. Like many of you, we are experiencing record snow falls.  It just keeps on coming.  Frankii was having a had time maneuvering through the backyard so my husband took the snowblower out and made him a run.  This is what it looked like on January 11th.




Frankii sure is having a blast with it.



Today, his run looks like this





We've been playing out front in the hopes that Frankii can catch "his" squirrel.







He thinks he hears it so he does a quick turn of the head. Nope, not the squirrel.  After half an hour or so and me falling in a snowbank, twice, it times to go in. 


This is his "I'm listening to you but I don't like it" look.  He liked having the little ice pellets that had formed all over his legs and belly removed even less. He was covered in ice and still he didn't want to come in.

I drove into the city last Thursday and it was the worse I have seen it in a long long time.


Once on the highway home it was a little better but the snow was drifting at quite a high speed. 


Fortunately it did not take forever to get there and back and it was a safe trip. It will be awhile before I venture into the city again. Like Betty mentioned the other day, the roads are like a roller coaster and it makes for hazardous driving.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Manly Mondays and a Little Blog Candy

This week's card was inspired by all the wonderful Faux Tile cards I have been seeing as of late. Although I did not "tile" the layer I still like the way it turned out.


To get started I consulted the Color Coach since I wanted to use Marina Mist. I went with the Creative Combination: Marina Mist, Crumb Cake and Cajun Craze. I stamped the Medallion stamp with Crumb Cake on Whisper White cardstock. Then, using a Dauber, dabbed Marina Mist and Cajun Craze Classic Inks. I followed that by using the Embossing Buddy over the layer completely and covered it with Versamark, "stamping it" all over directly from the ink pad known as the direct to paper technique.  Added Clear Embossing Powder heating it with the heat gun. I repeated this two more times. Once it cooled I added a blue rhinestone brad in the middle by using the Paper Piercing Tool. The image above does not really capture the shine this created.  Here's a close-up:


My original thought was to cut it in squares to do "tiles".  With the shine it looks like one big tile so I decided not to. I stamped the sentiment Very from the Define Your Life set in Marina Mist on Crumb Cake and punched that out with the Label Punch. Surrounded the punch out with Cajun Craze. Applied the sentiment using Dimensionals to the top right hand corner.

Wouldn't this card be perfect for the teenage boy in your life that has recently had his heart broken by the "she's the One" and needs a confidence boost?? or your man friend going through a divorce??

I've got a little blog candy for you this week.  I'm slowly going through my supplies and decided to clean some out. This is a package of butterflies in spring colors.


Leave a comment and I will choose a winner which will be announced next Monday. The winner will be posted then and will have 3 days to contact me by email (the link is on the left under Email Me). Should I not receive an email from the winner within that time I'll choose another one.  Good Luck!

A La Prochaine!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

My First Award

I've been presented with my first ever Blog Award by the very talented Regina! I am super excited about it  as this was a goal I had set for this year and thanks to Regina is happened very quickly. The start of the year was not off to a great start and THANKS to Regina it's getting better already.  



I have to tell you 8 things about myself to accept this award and then present it to other bloggers that I find inspiration from. Here are the 8 things that you may or may not want to know: 

1 - I have many food allergies - mostly fruits. 

2- Turned 50 in December

3- Can't or won't write longhand - depends which way you look at it. I've been printing in block letters since grade 10 and even that can be hard to read.

4- On most days you can hear music in my house, LOUD!

5- To my husband's horror I like to play Barbie with Frankii, my almost 4 year old Golden Retriever x Pyranees.  We've been having a lot of snow days lately and it makes for very entertaining days! And no, I don't dress him up when we go out. This is purely for my own enjoyment although he does wear a scarf on a daily basis. My husband put his foot down at a green neon wig.  He never lets me have any fun! :)

6- Frankii (yup, it's spelt with two i's) came to us by way of an ad in a grocery store when he was 3 months old.

7- L-O-V-E cheese, any kind. My absolute favorite is from a dairy in St. Albert, Ontario. 

8- When I'm in a car as a passenger for any length of time I fall asleep. I'm a very quiet traveler.
The eight bloggers (in alphabetical order by first name) I present this award to are:

Corinne at http://www.stampingwithroxy.typepad.com/

Jackie at http://jackietopa.typepad.com/

Krista at http://www.krista-kris.blogspot.com/

Mary-Jane at http://chookarooni1.blogspot.com/

Robin at http://robinroom.blogspot.com/

Susan at http://simplicitybylateblossom.blogspot.com/

Sylvia at http://www.smdgreetings.blogspot.com/

Val at http://www.cardsbyval.blogspot.com/


Ladies please pay it forward and share the love!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Freestyle Fridays - Mission Accomplished

Last week I issued a mission to create a 9x4 card using the Faux Pearl Technique.  The ever so talented Regina not only completed this mission, she delivered with enthusiasm and created a breath taking new version of this technique. Here is a sneak peak.


You just have to go to her blog and see the full card along with details on how she accomplished this. It is truly amazing! If you haven't been there in awhile or it's your first time please take a moment to have a look at her other creations. There's plenty of eye candy to inspire you!

See Ya Next Week!

Friday, January 7, 2011

Freestyle Friday

It's a New Year so we have a new Name!  On Fridays Regina and I will no longer be featuring ideas only on the female side.  Expect Anything. Missions are still going strong so please be sure to read to the bottom of the post.

We're the starting the year off with a Birthday card that I made for my Gal Pal, Betty.  Don't ask how old she turned. She's older than I and that's all that matters  JEven though our birthdays are 10 days apart and she's a wee older I'm still not telling. Thankfully when we went for lunch this year it was nowhere near the -50c (-58f) we faced last year.  It was a warm -18c (-0.4f).

I wanted to do something a little different so I made the card to measure 9"x4". Also used the Faux Pearl Technique that Betty has been wanting to learn although I did it a little different than taught by my upline Wendy.  When Wendy demonstrated how to do it we had used a piece of Saran Wrap bunched up in a ball and dabbed into Shimmer White Paint.  I did use Saran but I wrapped it around a Dauber and applied it to Glossy Paper.


Once that dried (does not take very long) I sponged a bit of Pear Pizzazz all over it. I then stamped the image with Black StazOn. I purchased this image a long time ago and unfortunately do not have the name of the company or stamp. I colored it with Metallic Pencils and did some paper piecing for the shirt using the same paper as the background which is made by Chatter Box called Olive Parlor Roses.  The little flowers coordinate perfectly with Concord Crush.  The ovals were cut with Nestabilities and the word WHEW! was computer generated and printed in Concord Crush usind the small Oval Punch.

For the inside:


I computer generated the words and printed in Concord Crush on Pear Pizzazz. The image of the lady in curlers was a freebie from the lady that I bought the image on the front of the card.  Betty really liked it as she laughed that hearty laugh of hers that makes me love her so.

I tried to make a "mission video" featuring Agent Frankii. He would have none of it and my patience was running a little thin yesterday as I have had a tooth that has been bothering me for the last few days and quite frankly it's making me crouchy.  Hopefully the tooth ache won't last long and the next time I try to film a mission Frankii won't be such a Diva.

***** REGINA'S MISSION *****

Make a card that measures 9" by 4" using the Faux Pearl Technique. Shake up the White Shimmer Paint bottle.  Using the paint that is on the bottom of the cap dab a piece of Saran Wrap either wrapped around a dauber or not and apply to Glossy Paper. Shake up the bottle again to get more paint on the cap - a little goes a long way - and apply until you like the effect.  You can choose to sponge a color on it or not.

                                             **********

Make sure you drop by Regina's blog to see what she has been up to.  Last week she started Make It Snappy Monday. The card she features is one of my personal favorites.

See Ya Next Week!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Manly Mondays Week #32

Happy New Year Blog Fans! 

Hope your New Year is off to a great start. Mine, not so much.  I spilled a full cup of freshly poured  coffee all over my keyboard on day 1! Expletives fly out of the mouth, husband comes running in and dog goes running out.  Once I brought the keyboard to the sink to let the hot liquid pour out it seemed like it would never end. It was initially thought that a new keyboard would have to be purchased. Letting it dry overnight seemed to have solved the issue and thankfully all is right for the time being.  Keeping my figures crossed.  This mishap was followed by dropping one of my favorite Christmas tumblers full of water, yet again freshly poured, and shattering to the kitchen floor. The saying "when it rains it pours" is very apropos for this day. Thankfully it's over LOL.

My first Manly card for this year has a French theme.


I'm really liking Early Espresso and Marina Mist these days. The Early Espresso layer is a bit of a Faux Leather technique.  One of the easiest you will find out there.  Mist the paper and roll loosely.  Put it between your hands and roll back and forth.  The paper will start to get a bit of a cracked looked to it and especially with a dark brown color the effect will be that of worn leather.  I then followed that by embossing French Script with white embossing powder.  The scallop squares where made with Nestabilities. The Early Espresso layer for this one is stamped with an image from Provençal using Versamark and White embossing powder.  I added a piece of Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon.  The sentiment from the French version of last year's Whimsical Words, Douces Pensées, was first stamped in Versamark then Early Espresso and embossed with Clear powder. As I was putting the layers together I decided to distress the edges of the large Early Espresso layer. The whole card has a very subtle shine to it. 

Frankii had a good Christmas and Santa bought him a shiny new red toy.  Like with all his new toys he is rather possessive the first few days. 


"This Christmas stuff is exhausting" he seems to be thinking.  "I wish I had more of those cookies Dolly gave me." He got he cutest gift from his Girlfriend and no matter where that bag went he sniffed it out.  I must ask for the recipe.   He's still playing with his squirrel but for now this is his toy of choice.  Thankfully the squirrel is still all together and he has not had the inclination of ripping out either of the two squeakers inside.  He comes running when we step on it by accident.  He'd much rather chase a real squirrel which he has been very busy to try and find.  They're there because we can hear them when we are outside shoveling the front steps. They are most certainly keeping cover to stay warm.

A La Prochaine!