The Girl Says Goodbye to The Dog

Once upon a time-or more specifically, in 2003, there was a Girl who wanted a dog. She lived in a new city and didn't know very many people and although she had cats who were lovely, she wanted a companion to go out with on Adventures.

The Girl checked the rescue websites every day for months, waiting for just the right one to come along. And one day, she saw the cutest little pup was available for adoption along with all her brothers and sisters. She called right away and arranged to meet The Pup at her foster parents' house.

The foster parents warned The Girl, "This one is stubborn! She knows her own mind!"  But The Pup and The Girl took one look at each other and both thought at the same time, "This girl is The One!"

The Pup and her siblings had been the rescue's  "O" litter and the fosters had named The Pup Olisa. The Girl found that no other name seemed to suit The Pup as well and kept it, and took The Pup home.  

The Pup was very happy and everyone said it showed.

The Pup loved to play and chew and especially to run. The Girl and The Pup would have many Adventures, finding lots of smells to sniff and places to explore and things to go bounding after.

In a few months, The Girl would bring home a new playmate for The Pup as the other cats were too cranky. The Pup and The Cat were instant friends. Or would be as soon as The Cat learned to wrestle with the Pup from places higher off the floor, like the arms of a chair, or the back of the couch.

The Pup was curious and clever and lively, and was always looking for high Adventure. Or squirrels. Especially squirrels.

Eventually, The Pup grew up into a beautiful Dog.

The Dog was loving and loyal, full of energy, and very, very clever. The girl was often heard to call out in exasperation, "Oh, Lissa, what did you do now?!" The Dog loved to go exploring in the neighborhood, and to chase after bunnies and squirrels and deer. And, oh, did she love children! The little humans laughed and ran and The Dog would laugh her dog-laugh, racing after them with her ears flapping and her tongue hanging out. 

The Girl and The Dog and their friend The Cat moved back to where The Girl grew up and close to The Girl's Parents, who fell in love with The Dog as much as The Girl. 

They all lived a happy life full of love, playtime, snuggles and treats. The Dog had a fondness for napping on piles of pillows, and The Girl would take many, many silly pictures.

The Dog loved The Girl even though she took so many pictures and once bought The Dog the silliest yellow raincoat, which The Dog wore, but only under duress, and after the promise of a really meaty bone. She even let The Girl take a picture of her in it. But only once. 

The Dog got her bone, and enjoyed it very much.

One day The Girl brought home a brand new playmate, The New Pup. The Dog taught The New Pup everything she needed to know about wrestling...  

...and about which smells to sniff and where the best things to chase would hide in the backyard.

 

The New Pup always followed wherever The Dog would lead...

even if that was sometimes under the back fence and into the burdock.  

Although The Dog would lose her friend The Cat when he got sick, she and The Girl and The New Pup would have several years together, chasing furry things that ran very fast in summer, visiting The Girl's Parents, finding Adventure, and playing in the snow. The Dog still loved to run and run, and in winter, she loved to bound gracefully through the snow like a gazelle..

The Dog would sleep on The Girl's feet when The Girl would sit at her craft table. She would go on rides with The Girl, always in the front seat, looking out at the world to see what was about. She would enjoy shredding her stuffed toys, gnawing her rawhides, and playing tug-of-war with The New Pup. She would greet The Girl with the same happy excitement every day when The Girl came home from work and coax (too) many treats and spoonfuls of peanut butter out of The Girl whenever she could. She would interrupt every movie The Girl would ever try to watch by asking for a potty break. She would still take every chance she could to run, run, run! She would whuffle while she slept, chasing bunnies in her dreams and making The Girl laugh.

One day The Girl took a photo and realized that The Dog's fox-red face had turned to pale wheat and she was sad. But The Girl and The Dog continued to live each day without too much thought to Time.

Time, however, had other ideas. On Thanksgiving Day, Time came and knocked on the door. The Girl didn't answer and took The Dog to The Vet to ask for a way to hide from Time for a while. The Vet gave The Girl some magic and The Dog seemed to be fine for a week, but Time was not to be put off. He came for The Dog on Sunday afternoon while The Dog and The Girl were at The Girl's Parents. They took The Dog back to The Vet for some more magic to make the trip easier for The Dog. The Girl said goodbye and sent The Dog off alone on her last Adventure.

There is now a Dog-sized hole in The Girl's heart, full of pain and loss and sorrow... and a longing to have her old friend back again. The Girl's memories are hard to see through the tears that fall without warning. They are hard to hear through the quiet that seems to blanket the house. The New Pup looks for her friend, too, and is confused when she cannot find her. The Girl knows that Time will return eventually and fill the hole with happy memories, and so she waits, trying to hold on to her favorite image of The Dog... with eyes alert, a doggish grin, and one leg up, ready to take off on the next Adventure with Her Girl.

 Goodbye, my sweet Olisa Girl. I will love you forever. XO

The Party Continues... on the Pony Express!

Hello, hello, helloooooooo! Back again, with another birthday card as threatened, er, promised. This one was created for my friend's grandson who is turning 1 this month. I know the card is more for his mama than for him, but I kept it cute, colorful and simple anyway. After all, it will end up smooshed in a baby book or a box of mementos, right? LOL

I had fun coloring up this Party Pony image from Whipper Snapper Designs, by the same artist who created last week's Party Kitties...

Isn't he just the sweetest? =)

I colored him with my Copics, adding shimmer, shine and sparkle details with Glaze pens (hat, pressie and saddle), Stardust Stickles (hat pom) and clear Wink of Stella (saddle, pressie and sweet little posies).  The clouds, most of which got cut off/out of the image when I die cut it, were made with a combination of colorless blender, C0, and a bit of a white Souffle pen, so they have just a little texture and rise off the image.

I used a combination of dies - Spellbinders scalloped and standard circles and MFT Blueprints 15.. My papers are from the new Hip Hip Hooray pad from Doodlebug. I foresee an addiction to Doodlebug pads coming my way shortly! =D  My sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp's Handwritten Borders. I admit I held my breath while I stamped it! Thank goodness my stamping skills have improved. =)   I popped up my image for just a teensy bit of dimension (considering its future storage haha), and added a few epoxy stickers here and there. The final touch was the number 1 from the MFT die set By The Numbers. Cut from the same paper as the scalloped circle, it was coated in clear Wink of Stella and smothered in Glossy Accents. All I can say is "oooooooooh, shiiiiiiny!" ;)

I was going to duplicate the layout of the front on the inside of the card, but... ok, I'll be honest. I would have had to cut into the second sheets of these papers and I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Yes, thank you, I AM scheduled for my first Paper Hoarders Anonymous meeting next week.

So to avoid the dreaded second sheets, I used MFT's Fishtail Flag Stax and the remaining strips, and I sacrificed a different orange sheet in the pad for the scalloped circle.

A few more epoxy dots here and there and done!

The Pony Express will be stopping at these challenges on its way to the birthday boy...

     Crafting When We Can Challenges - #82 Use Your Markers (Copics for me!)
     Fab'n'Funky Challenges - Happy Birthday
     Crafting for All Seasons - #90 Birthdays
     Addicted to Stamps and More - #122 Make Your Mark
     Tip Top Tuesday - 3 or More Papers

And tha'ts it for today!  I'll be back soon - yes, another birthday card, but soooooon, Christmas and Snow and all things winter! LOL  Til then, happy crafting! =)
Christy

These Kitties Are Ready to Party!

Greetings, fellow crafty folks!

Just stopping in to show you another birthday card, this one full of the cutest darn kitties you've ever seen... who are TOTALLY ready to PARTY!!! =)  LOL

This is the Party Kitties stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs, and one from my favorite of their artists. I broke out the Copics and actually enjoyed coming up with different ways to color each of them and keep it visually interesting... although I might try doing this image in all black/white/gray cats sometime. After I did a test run for color, I stamped the image three times so I could fussy cut and layer them up....

For a bit of interest, I used Glaze pens to color in their noses and hats.  It's hard to see on the photos, but there's a lovely sheen on their noses as I used a thin coat of clear over Copics.  I used the colored Glaze pens on their festive hats and gave them a thicker coat for real shine and added a bit of Stardust Stickles (I should start buying it in bulk lots haha) on the pompoms for sparkle. So fun! =)  On the background I added some dots with a Viva Decor pearl pen.   

I trimmed up the image with a Spellbinders Reverse Wonky Rectangle die and layered on my kitties before adhering the panel to a cute striped paper from a Glitz Color Me Happy paper pack which is nearly 2 years old, but still available. I love the current rainbow phenomenon going on and since I was away from crafting, I'm just getting into the whole chevron thing... but since I'm no trendy crafter, who cares?! =)  LOL

I added a bit of Doodlebug twine in Ladybug red and Stickled the heck out of that bow. For the inside, I added the leftover snipped from the striped paper. I created and printed my sentiment from Word and cut with the same Spellbinders die and running a Copics marker around the embossed edge, followed by a coat of Wink of Stella. Simple, but purrrfect. haha =)

The birthday girl is a cat lover, so I'm sure this one will go over well. I certainly had a good time creating it! =) 

One of the best things about blogging again is getting to participate in challenges, so I'm popping over to these blogs to enter my little party felines:

     Fab 'N' Funky Challenge - Challenge #237 Birthday

     Seize the Birthday - Birthday - Optional Topping of Monochromatic Orange (my 2nd entry)

     Crafting for All Seasons - Challenge #90 Birthdays

     Papertake Weekly Challenge - 2 or 4 Legs (Kitties have 4! LOL)

     Inky Impressions Challenge - Challenge #185 Animals
     Eureka Stamps Challenge - Challenge #114 4-Legged Friends
     Addicted to Stamps Challenge - Challenge #121 Anything Goes
     Creative Moments - Challenge #55 Anything Goes/Celebration  (my 2nd entry)

So, that's it for today... til the next card, happy crafting!

Christy

Sweetly Shaking It Up on Your Birthday!

November is turning in to a challenging month to get back into the swing of crafting regularly... I've got six birthday cards to make for coworkers and friends this month!

So I'm back again (I know, twice on the same day! haha), this time with a birthday card that I had lots of fun creating! I love the recent wave of shaker cards so I decided to create one of my own for a coworker's birthday card this week featuring a Birdie Brown stamp from My Favorite Things:

Looking at it on this screen, the colors are kind of blah.  Here's another photo with more accurate color...

Aahhh, much better. Anyway, bad pics aside, This one is going to be one of my all-time favorites I think. I love the colors of this DCWV paper from their old Celebrations stack. And I really like my coloring on the image on this one. I have finally started to convince my inner cheapskate that the only way I am going to get good at coloring is to practice, even if it's "wasting" supplies. LOL  Another thing I will have to remember is that I have to recreate my light tent and take proper photos. =\

I used two sizes of a Spellbinders die to cut my window and a piece of acetate from some Spellbinders packaging. My image is part of this lovely Birdie Brown Sweet Birthday wishes stamp set. I absolutely loved coloring her - the hair turned out exactly as I wanted and that skirt... I actually managed to get a hint of the ruffles in her skirt. Yay!  I wanted to add white polkadots, but the white Signo pen I bought two years ago has thoroughly dried up, so I went for black, using a Glaze pen. I also used purple Wink of Stella on the bottom ruffle of her skirt and a mix of clear and purple on her dress and hair bows. I gave her patent leather shoes with the Glaze pen, too. I know, no self respecting girl wears a skirt and patent leather shoes together, but since she's a drawing, I figure no boys will be able to see any reflection up her skirt. LOL    Last, I glittered the top of her cupcake with my favorite Stardust Stickles. The color is off on these pictures as well, but they show you the shine and glitter. =)

For my shaker, I used the image of the cupcakes on a tiered stand that is included in the set. I colored up the top two tiers where the cupcakes didn't overlap each other with Copics to match the colors in the DCWV banners cardstock and cut them out before coating their icing in Stardust Stickles.  I used two layers of foam adhesive to make a pocket and threw in some purple and lime sequins and pink and blue glitter (all from Doodlebug Designs and with fun names like limeade, bubblegum and swimming pool) together with the cupcakes. Then I sat here at my crafting table and played with it for the next 15 minutes. =)

To finish off the front of the card, I used a Copic marker to get the right shade of purple on my little sentiment flag and heat embossed a sentiment from the stamp set in white.

For the inside of the card I used the leftover scalloped die cuts, a few more sequins and a larger cupcake and sentiment from the stamp set. Simple, but oh so cute!

This one was so fun, I may find myself making more shaker cards soon. I do know I had a hard time giving this particular card away. Do you ever have that problem?  Make a card you absolutely love and then have to send it on to another home? LOL  I suppose I'd be surrounded by cards eventually and have no room to make any more, so better to have crafted and given away then never to be able to craft at all. hee hee

For some more fun, I'll be shaking my way over to these challenge sites to enter this sweet birthday shaker card:
Artistic Inspirations - Challenge #116 Anything Goes/Happy Birthday
Craft Your Passions - Challenge #238 Bright and Sparkly
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Challenge #11 Make it Sparkle
Loves Rubberstamps Challenge - Challenge #125 Anything Goes
Creative Moments - Challenge #55 Anything Goes/Celebrations
Moving Along With the Times - Sparkle and/or Shine
Seize the Birthday - Birthday (Topping choice: Monochromatic Orange)
 Challenge Up Your Life - Challenge #1 Anything Goes
ShowCASe Your Style - Challenge #1 Tic-Tac-Toe  I used Emboss-Sequin-Sparkle, plus there's White, Diecut and Sentiment, too!
Addicted to Stamping - Challenge #91 Bling, Bling!
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes

Then one more finished birthday to post... and four more to craft this month, so I'll be back soon!  Til then, happy crafting!

Christy

Retiring to a Rose Garden

Hello, fellow crafty folks! =)

I have been a busy stamper the past two weeks and have officially made more cards in the last two weeks than in the 6 months before that. Which feels good, but whew!

Here's the first... which is also the one with the most time invested. Our department VP retired after 40 years and is an avid gardener. She's been talking about looking forward to building a rose garden now that she'll have the time, so a group of us gathered together and got a rather hefty gift card for a local garden shop. My task was to create a card with enough space for 30 or so people to write messages and to 'package' the gift card. As soon as they said "roses", I knew this one had to be a Magnolia stamp. This little Tilda is one of the first stamps I bought when I officially discovered cardmaking online two years ago, and my coloring has most definitely improved since the last time I used her...

Isn't she sweet?

The rose paper from which I took my color inspiration is from a rather inexpensive Colorbok packet I was given as a gift last Christmas. I loved the deep burgundy and dusty pink together with the slightly shabby distressed look.  I cut them with stitched panel dies from My Favorite Things. Love the effect of that little bit of stitch detail! I used a bit of Walnut Distress Ink to age the edges of all my papers and the Spellbinders diecut I used for my image.   I colored Tilda, the Magnolia leaves die cuts, the largest rose, and the four little rosebuds with Copics so that they all matched.  On the image I used a bit of Liquid Pearl around her and some Lemon Ice Stickles on the rose centers.
 On the Wild Orchid Crafts flowers, just  a touch of Wink of Stella on the large rose and Stardust Stickles on some of the smaller pink roses gave them a bit of sparkle. A bit of creamy lace, a few pearls, and a little Magnolia dragonfly die finished off the front panel.



Now, for the really fun part...  again, there were about 30 people to sign the card, so I had to find a way to make the card a lot bigger... so I went for an accordion fold that goes on and on for about 7 more panels!

I had to glue together a number of burgundy card bases. I colored six sets of these Magnolia rose stamps, then fussy cut them before shimmering them up with some clear Wink of Stella.

Each panel is a triple layer of the Colorbok rose paper, a piece of white cardstock colored with the same YG95 that I used on the rose stamps, and another piece from the same Colorbok paper pad. All the edges are inked with either Walnut or Peeled Paint Distress Ink.

(The pages look slightly different colors here because there was daylight on the right panel but not the left when I photographed the panels. Oops!)

For the final page, I searched the internet for quotes about gardens. I loved this one:

"I sit in my garden, gazing upon a beauty that cannot gaze upon itself. 

And I find sufficient purpose for my day. - Robert Brault"

...so I typed it up on the computer, added my own note below it and printed directly onto the Colorbok paper. This panel was also going to hold the gift card, so I cut a notch out of it using the bottom bit of a Magnolia tag. I used the same tag to cut a tag from white cardstock, colored it with YG95 and coated it with clear Wink of Stella.
When everyone had signed, the tag was attached to a little envelope that held the gift card. Another little dragon fly perches on the the bottom of this panel as well.

To finish off the project, I created a 1" thick box out of gold metallic paper and created a little label for the front.  The box was done envelope style, with a little velcro closure on the back.

Everyone loved it... it even made her cry - in a good way, of course! =)  I won't be doing something so elaborate again for a while... it took at least 2 hours just to color and cut out all those roses for the panels. But it was well worth it in the end. A special card for a special event!

I'll be popping over to a few challenges to link my little Tilda creation...
Tilda's Town Challenges - Challenge #129 Anything Goes
Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia Challenge - Challenge #106 Sparkle
Midweek Magnolias Challenge - Challenge #101 Glitter, Lace and Pearls
Crafting When We Can Challenge - Challenge #82 Use Your Markers

My next two posts will be all about birthdays! Woohoo! Til then, happy crafting!
Christy