I actually got to do a challenge on Splitcoaststampers!!! My time has been tighter than I would care to admit. Today, my kids stepped up to the plate and took care of all 12 puppies, including the bottle fed ones, and I even had a nap! The 2am puppy feeds are tougher than I thought they would be. *sigh*
My new items on this card are all from i {heart} papers. I received this Birthday Fairy Lee (by Mo Manning for Stampavie) last spring and decided it was more than time to ink up this little cutie! I used Fair Day pattern paper by SEI for my inspiration. It's such a fun paper pad!! This light blue twill stripes ribbon is a perfect match for this paper, which is such a wonderful thing! That perfect bow was made using my Bow Easy.
Isn't Birthday Fairy Lee darling?!! I made her wings sparkly by applying Stardust Stickles after colouring using copic markers. i {heart} papers is my main source for Copic markers because Kate has perfectly reasonable shipping and she works really hard to keep costs down for her customers. By the way, Copic prices go up as of August 1, 2011!
This little sentiment banner was cut by hand. I combined 2 sentiments from Talking in Circles by Technique Tuesday and I just love the tiny typed text look!
The Something Old portion of my card is my Bow Easy (the most valuable, rarely mentioned tool I have!) and the brads which are from Karen Foster. I think they are 4 years old at this point! I have really been dipping deep into the stash these days which is a terrific thing.
Kate has a bunch of her inventory on sale until the end of the weekend as she clears out the old to make room for the new that will be ordered at CHA in a couple of weeks! Have a great long weekend, peeps!!
Today, the By Lori Designs Team is casting the spotlight on Beach Boy Cole. He's a super cool surfer dude! I found that fish charm hanging around my drawer and thought how perfect for this image!!
Sorry the post is so short, but we have orphaned puppies that are just a few days old again and they need to be bottle fed so frequently! They are thriving though and I'll have pictures of the two litters we are currently fostering on Thursday.
Welcome to the Heartfelt Creations Shoe Hop!!! If you came from Kerry Urbatch's blog, you're on the right track. If you're jumping in to the hop on my blog or you are lost, head to the HC Blog to get on track...
For our hop, I've created 2 shoes. The large shoe was made using a free template I found on ChocolateBaroque.com and it worked up like a dream. The template instructions were easy to follow and all the parts fit the was they should. I would have liked additional lines for open toe shoes on the template, but I know I'll come back to this and play with it more at a later date.
I used the new Decorative Lace Border Die to create some of the trim for my large shoe. I only cut the lower 2/3 of the die, and then cut that further to accommodate the small area of my shoe. The semi-circle design layered beautifully over the lowest portion of the paper lace.
The flowers were made using Heartfelt Creations Posy Patch Flower stamps and coordinating Posy Patch dies. I stamped the images on pink pattern paper using a medium brown ink (Frayed Burlap distress ink ) and added a little more definition using copic markers.
I stamped, cut, coloured and distressed many little flowers, and the final product is worth every minute of work!
I especially love the richness the velvet trim adds to the shoe. I saw that some of the other design team members used the heel piece on the upper part of the shoe. I suspect they are right and I put mine together wrong, but I do like that my shoe has a heel instead. {*edit* My shoe is put together correctly. I double checked because this was driving me crazy and I used a different template than the rest of the team and their shoe had an upper back while mine had this elegant low wedge heel!} Happy dance - I'm not a putz!
My daughter found the template for this darling little shoe in one of her craft books. Rachel was so excited when I told her we were doing shoes for a project because she remembered this in her "Usborne Activity Book - Princess Things to Make and Do" (ISBN 0 7460 6346 6). This little shoe is only 4" long and would make a delicate addition to a princess party. I think as a party craft it is a little fiddly for small (10 year old) hands and they might have a hard time with the delicate nature of the paper. In more paper crafting experienced hands though, the end result is lovely!
I used the same flowers as for the large shoe, created in the same manner. The green flourish is cut using Parisian Accent Shapeabilities. I used the same taupe pearls as well.
I made my template using tracing paper which enabled me to fussy cut the sole of the shoe. Since this shoe is so tiny, I wanted the pattern on the paper to work harder because I didn't want to lose the delicate shoe design by over embellishing it.
Now, put on your dancing shoes and head over to Lisa Somerville's blog to see another fun pair of shoes!
Our sick puppy went to a different vet yesterday and we received confirmation that he has Puppy Strangles and not allergies. He is on a much bigger doses of corticosteroids and will be in foster care for some time. Left where he started off in life, he would have died last week from this auto-immune disorder that has presented itself. The steroids have caused his appetite to kick into overdrive, so the poor little guy is frantic hungry all the time. Once his facial swelling is completely gone, we can start weaning him off his prednisone.
I'm getting back to being a bit more on schedule and so I have my By Lori Designspost ready on time and on budget!
The spotlight this week is on Beach time Todd and I gave him a nice tan. I can only dream of a nice tan... ;)
I doodled around the outside of the image using a fine tip sharpie pen. I really love the effect.
These fish are from the Summertime Hannah digital image which I cut using Gimp - a freeware image editing program. My daughter showed me how or my images would be a real mess! :D I coloured them using STICKLES! The glitter in the stickles makes the fish look like they have scales and it is DIVINE!
stamps; beach time Todd, summer time hannah (by lori designs) paper; mellow (basic grey), pinecone, powder blue (bazzill), x-press it cardstock (copic) accessories; white, pinecone and kraft half the edge paper trim (bazzill), stardust, green, xmas red, aqua, vintage photo stickles (ranger), copic markers
And from last week, we have Summer Time Hannah;
My Hannah has hair just like Summer Time Hannah. Check my Hannah out from just a couple of weeks ago in her grade 9 farewell dinner dress;
They grow up so fast!!! *sigh*
I printed off several of the star fish that come with the Summer Time Hannah image to embellish her after I covered them with Stardust Stickles so they would SHINE!
The i {heart} papers design team has been challenged by Deb to make a summery card on this, our summer solstice. The theme is wide enough to include almost anything light and lovely, or beachy, or destination themed. Many of my beloved friends are going away this summer. I am not. I'm having a staycation this year, and that's okay. As a result, my card is for all my friends who are blessed to get away this summer.
First of all, I want to mention that my card is a CASE from my friend, Cathleen Torina and her card can be seen in her gallery. I love the light loveliness of the Sweetness paper by pink paislee. It is very french castle countryside feeling to me and was the launching point for my card. Combining the robin's egg blue pattern paper with cream card stock is very King Louis the (insert a number to 14 here) *giggle* decorating. I often think of the Chateau de Chenonceau that King Henri II gave to his mistress Dianne de Poitiers when I think of gorgeous french architecture and decorating. I tried to recreate the sublime feeling of that castle here.
I stamped the ornate circle from Talking in Circles by Technique Tuesday in Ocean Aqua Adirondack ink - it's a perfect match for the pattern paper! I used the Mon ami sentiment from Mon Ami Paris, also by Technique Tuesday, because it's an amazing match. Then, I finished my image by stamping the tiny, 'I miss you' from Talking Circles in Weathered Wood distress ink. Because i miss you is slightly darker than Mon Ami, it doesn't disappear despite the tiny font.
Even though new items are still arriving in the store (new Unity, OCL and Echo Park, to name a few), CHA is only a few weeks away! Starting today, IHP is having a HUGE Pre-CHA Clearance sale to help make room for new things that will be purchased at the show. Some highlights of the big sale:
o All Unity $12 or less, including store kits and co-brands
o Unity Itty Bittys $3.25
o OCL (except the latest releases) are all $11 or less
o All open stock 12x12 only 25¢ per sheet
o FlowerSoft only $4.50!
o Stampavie only $6!
But there is much, much more so be sure to check out the sale page for all the details! And, as always, free US shipping with your $50 order!
Now, the rest of the IHP design team has stunning projects posted on their blogs and we would invite you to take a look and play along with us. When you upload, please use code ihp0611 so we can admire what you've created!
I missed my By Lori Designs post yesterday, but it will be up tomorrow so for all you BLD fans - stay tuned! We have a sick puppy right now which has dominated my time for the last few days. Last Friday, his eyes were swelling shut so I took him to the vet and he went on antibiotic ointment for his eyes. Over the weekend, he wasn't really improving and on Monday his whole face was infected and twice its normal size. We went back to the vet and now he is taking steroids and oral antibiotics as well. His muzzle was so sore and swollen that he was becoming dehydrated because he couldn't eat or nurse so we were feeding him using an eye dropper. As of today, he can eat normally and he isn't as sore, but the hair around his eyes has fallen out and his lower jaw is still very stiffly swollen. My poor little dumplin'!
For my Heartfelt Creations project today, I made another elegant wedding card using darker colours than for my project last week.
I stamped the double ring image using pumice stone distress ink after stamping off once on scrap paper to get more of a mottled vintage look. Then, I stamped the sentiment over the double rings using black soot distress ink. The focal image is stamped on card stock cut using a Labels 21 die which I embellished using small corner accents from Parisian Accents.
We have a special treat for you starting this week on the Paper Craft Planet Blog sponsored by Riddersholm Designs, a new to us Danish paper company. Their papers are darling, with a bit of an edginess to them. “The product itself is designed by Connie, produced in Denmark and marked with the Scandinavian environmental seal ‘Svanemaerket’ meaning it is produced to protect our environment.
I was sent the Happy Party line of paper to play with and I came up with this set;
Now, let me show you the pieces for this set a bit closer! It’s very sweet. First up, I made this cupcake box using a free petal box template I found when I did a Google search for a cupcake box template.
Here’s the box open;
And then the box closed on this bit of sugary heaven;
Next, I used the Riddersholm Designs paper Happy Party Enjoy – 2. They have cupcake wrappers printed on this paper and are super simple to cut out and assemble;
The lacy border was added by cutting out a white cardstock strip 9″ long using your favourite border punch. Here, I used the long border die from Parisian Accents by Spellbinders.
I made some of the cupcake wrappers using the cupcake image printed on the paper with the wrappers – an easy embellishment that I didn’t even have to colour!
I used 3 of the Happy Party papers to create this card. First, I cut a 1″ strip from the 3 papers. I cut each strip into 1″ squares and sponged the edges of the papers. Next, I scored lines evenly dividing my card stock base into quarters. These score lines helped me line up my squares so I didn’t go wonky as I assembles my patchwork card.
Finally, I cut out one more cupcake to embellish the sentiment I used for my card. I don’t think it gets any easier or cuter than that!!
Be sure to go to the Paper Craft Planet blog every Saturday for the next few weeks to see more projects by the rest of the Super Novas using more Riddersholm Designs Product.
I am an Animal Rescuer. I am not a crazy dog lady (maybe), even though I have been given that title on occasion, even by my dad. I am head over heels in love with every furry critter that I am blessed to call my own for as long as I have them.
I'll start with Opie because she is ours. She has an on going love affair with stuffies. We name them Dead Fred, Dead Ned or Dead Daisy. Opie loves killing them dead dead and pulling their innards to make outards all over the carpet until there are no innards left. It's so funny when she gets excited that she starts snorting INSIDE the half dead stuffie...
and then we know she is about to fall asleep with her nose deep inside the dead stuffie. I can't even describe how she sounds when she falls asleep with her nose pressed tight against a stuffie or a chair leg, or the floor. It's just to odd and it's not a normal dog sound since a hearing dog would wake from the sound and stop. Opie is a joy!!!
Opie is training like a dream and will be coming with me to a reservation school so she can help me with teaching grade school kids about dog safety. She doesn't go missing in the house anymore since much of the day she is firmly parked on my foot.
We have had 3 litters since Opie's litter, which is to say we have had 26 fosters since the end of February. First, mom Clover and her Shakespeare litter came to stay.
Clover had 11 pups and tried her best to take care of them all. She wasn't getting enough food herself from the family caring for her on the reserve, although everyone was doing their best with what they had. By the time the litter was 3 weeks old, 4 of the puppies were nearly dead. Clover kept removing the 4 smallest puppies and hiding them, to let them die. She just couldn't care for all 11 pups. The family they were with went and found they pups when Clover hid them and returned them to the litter and put a box over the litter. While this kept the pups together, they would forget to remove the box so Clover could feed them.
Clover and her litter we surrendered when the pups were almost 4 weeks old. Despite getting enough food and water once in foster care, Clover continued with the behaviours she established early with this litter, but now she was only hiding 2 of the pups. Then, I got the call that I needed to take Clover and her litter because she wouldn't be able to hide anyone, and since I am home most every day, I could keep a better eye on this little family.
This is a picture of Desdamona. She and King Lear were the largest pups in the litter and they both had bold personality to spare. We had to bath them every few days until they were 8 weeks old to keep their lice population in check. Prior to 8 weeks of age, the medication they needed could have done neurological damage to the quickly developing brains in these little guys.
This is Juliet. We watched the life light go very dim in her eyes, and I must tell you that it is a very alarming thing to see a puppy so close to death. We bottle fed the entire litter to help Clover, but we fed Juliet every 2 hours to try to bring her back from the edge. In fairly short order, I determined she was incredibly dehydrated despite force feeding her and she needed medical care. After receiving subcutaneous fluids (fluids needle injected into her back which absorbed into her system) she made a full recovery and is such a little gem!
She loved being bundled and cuddled after every bath, and would promptly snuggle down to sleep.
I'm going to list their names with links if you want to see their beautiful little faces. I was so busy caring for this litter that I just didn't get many pictures of them and since so many were black, we needed sunlight to get good pictures of them and it was painfully cold during the time I had them.
My Shakespeare litter was moved when they were 9 weeks old to new foster homes so I could accept my Little gods litter (this picture is how they looked when they were given to me). They came from a reserve south of Calgary and were surrendered at a Spay/Neuter Clinic. The family they came from kept the mom and 3 other boys from the litter.
After Clover's litter, it was quite wonderful to get some fat, healthy pups. This litter was amazing. They free fed, meaning that they only ate until they were full and never gorged themselves until they were sick. They didn't fight, ever. EVER! They still make my heart pitty pat when I think of them because they were easily the best litter we've ever had.
They were wonderful with gardening and helped us all spring;
My feet were never cold because Hera was usually sitting on them;
Opie tried really hard to help with the puppies, but she couldn't hear their squeaks, so she didn't know when she was being too rough. We ended up only letting her with the puppies once they were a little older. They loved Opie to bits though and regularly chased her and rolled over for her when they were in the yard together.
The little god litter grew very quickly and I would say too quickly! And they kept right on helping us get our garden in shape!
This is Persephone. She was the little girl in the group, but none were dangerously small as we have seen in the past. This entire litter knew their names by the time they were 7 weeks old and had personality to spare! Persephone would come into the garage when called and sit just inside the door facing a quarter turn away from me. The little flirt would look over her shoulder at me and give her tail a little flip. I'd tell her to 'Come!' and she doing the flirty look again. As soon as I called her by name she came bounding to me and jumped into my arms. {don't cry...don't cry...}
This is the beauty in the bunch, Aphrodite. Her coat was smoother than the rest of her litter mates and her face had sweeter proportions. She was sniffing around and all I could get were bum shots until I called her name and then I couldn't get her to stop from running at me. She was a gentle little lady and I do miss her dearly.
This is Athena and just before I took this shot, she was laying on her back so my daughter could throw the weeds on her tummy. These are the things we shouldn't admit in public that we do with and to our foster dogs!
The day before my fosters left for new foster homes, they were helping clean out the garage. It was hard work and later in the afternoon, they were exhausted! True to their nature, they stuck together and slept in a puppy pile in the yard.
2 days after they were moved, I had to take my new foster mom to the vet to check out her cherry eye (protruding tear glands) and there was a dog in the back that got progressively louder while I was there. The vet left our examination room to get the antibiotic ointment I needed for my new foster and, when he returned, I asked about the dog in the back. I said I think I recognize the bark. He doubted it, but maybe I knew the dog since it was from my foster organization. It was Athena!!! Every time I spoke she could hear me and was barking at me. The vet and I are both certain of this since she was quiet the rest of the day while she was there waiting for her spay surgery. I went into the back to see her, and she was so happy to see me and all I could do was cry. She knew me and recognized my voice. It was hard leaving her there and the vet felt so sorry for me, but to rescue more I must let them go.
I really miss Aphrodite, Hera, Apollo, Athena, Persephone and Demeter. While things were stressful with our attic, I would let everyone out and just sit in the yard watching and playing with them and my stress would flow away. I think I just might get more from my fosters than they get from me.
"The Heartfelt Wedding Collection features 7 new PreCut Sets and a new exclusive Heartfelt Creations die, manufactured by Spellbinders. With this collection, you will achieve lovely cards for all the weddings you are attending this summer. You are not limited to just wedding, you can create sweetheart, friend, and all occasion cards, especially with the new vintage lace die and stamp in this collection, the sky's the limit! We are delighted that some of the images in this collection coordinate with the recently released Bella Rose Die, adding even more value to a die you might own already. Leave a comment on my blog or the Heartfelt Creations blog by June 14 and one lucky person will win the entire release valued at $129.99. The winner will be announced on the HC blog on June 15."
As I have shown before in this blog post from last February, I stamped the main image on card stock and cut it out using the Nested Hearts die by Spellbinders. Next, I stamped the image 2 additional times on the same card stock and cut the extra blossoms and mounted them on the main image to create a fuller floral cluster.
The floral cluster looks like a vintage nosegay! I used White Enamel Accents by Ranger to create the little white dots on the image which gives a folkartsy feel to the image.
The image done as I have shown adds lovely depth to the front of the card.
I love the classic embossed look of these corner details cut and embossed using the Parisian Accents Die from Spellbinders. I mounted them using tiny pop dots so they would have a heavy presence on the card as they create shadows.
After using such ornate detail on the card front, it seems only fitting to give the inside of the card the same attention to detail. I cut and embossed these symmetrical flourish shapes using the same Parisian Accents Die set as for the front. It coordinates so well with the Nested Hearts die used for the main image. This sentiment is from the Bella Rose Heart set which is part of the Heartfelt Wedding Collection as well.
This card has a very simple, vintage colour scheme;
Rose buds; R0000, R00, R30
Leaves: G0000, G00, G12
Please do make your way over to the Heartfelt Creations Blog to see what the rest of the design team has done with the other sets from the Heartfelt Wedding Collection.
