Create with TLC Blog Hop--Celebrating Children

Welcome to the Create with TLC Blog Hop! Paulette and the Design Team are excited to show you what we created using the theme "Celebrating Children"! If you arrived here from Karen's blog, you're hopping in the right order. If not, you may want to begin your hop at Cynthia's blog. Paulette, our generous benefactor, gave each Design Team member an image to use on our creations. You can pick up these images as freebies at each stop, so be sure to visit each blog! All you have to do is right-click on the images and "save as" to your computer; then you, too, can use Paulette's pretty images for your creations.

Here is my "Celebrating Children" image, Vintage Swinging Free, for you to grab:

Isn't she a cutie? And here is what I created with this image:

I printed the image on Make It Crafty Blending Card. I chose a piece of the Prima Nature Garden collection for a background to this image. This paper gave me my color scheme. I colored the image with Copics: R20, C2, C5, YR20, YR21, E000, E00, E11, E31, E40, E41, E42, E43, E81, E84, E87, E89. I added some accents with a Signo Uniball white gel pen. I used Stampin' Up CS for my card base, die cuts, and sentiment, (also from TLC). If you are a follower of mine, you will know that I am a die-aholic. So it stands to reason that I would use several on this creation. They are, in no particular order, (I love saying that!): MFT Grass Border; Spellbinders Leaves and Labels 16; Cheery Lynn Small Butterflies; Memory Box Branch, Country House, and Wrought Iron Fence; and Stampin' Up Sizzix Embosslits Beautiful Wings. To finish my card, I added several flowers and some pins from Wild Orchid Crafts. I think that about does it.

Thank you so much for hop-stopping! Your next destination is Marsha's inspirational blog. You will want to see her wonderful creation and freebie! I hope you enjoy the rest of the hop; if you should get lost, here is the entire hop list:

Cynthia
Karen
Penny (you are here)
Marsha
Carla
Lisa Lynn
Rhonda - Printables
Vicky

TlcCreations

Here's wishing you a super Sunday!

Create with TLC Blog Hop Tomorrow!

Just a reminder! We are having another blog hop at Create with TLC on the 30th!
Please come and celebrate children with us in honor of "Children's Day" in October. There will be freebies along the hop--you don't want to miss out. :^)

 

See Paulette's blog here for more details. Looking forward to seeing you September 30 for the hop!

Lady Anne's Paper Crafts Challenge

Another post today. And I will be brief on this post as my other one was long. I have a card, that I made for the Lady Anne's Challenges DT, to show you.  This is an Anything Goes challenge.

I got my inspiration from The Outlawz CPC Challenge Singing and/or Dancing. I decided to use a digi image by MayzyArt called Digi Dancer Ballet. (MayzyArt is currently on hiatus, so this image is not available at the present time.) I printed her on MIC Blending Card. I used a sketch from Sketch Saturday shown here:



Of course, I turned the sketch. (Apparently, my brain insists upon that.) My DP is from Bazzill Basics Vintage Marketplace collection. Cardstock is Stampin' Up. My sentiment is another from Create with TLC, which I printed on CS. Per usual, I die cut several pieces using the following dies:  Spellbinders Classic Squares, Cheery Lynn Lace Corner Deco B, Memory Box Typewriter Lower Case and Corner Bow. I added: pearls from Martha Stewart; flowers, crystal hearts, and a crown pin from Wild Orchid Crafts; a bow and some tulle from my stash; Copic Spica to her lips; and Pearl Pen accents to her tutu, hair band, and arm bands.

Of course she was colored with Copics! I couldn't stay away from them for long. I used: W1, E000, E00, E11, E21, E25, E27, E29, RV23, BV00, R000, R20, R30, R32, R35, R37.

Hope to see your Anything Goes entries at Lady Anne's this next fortnight.

Outlawz Sketch and Great News!

Well, well, well. Yes, that is a very deep subject. (Smart aleck. There's at least one in every crowd.)

This is my last post as GD on The Outlawz Sketch challenge group. I have enjoyed this month with these talented ladies. Although my time with them is done, I will still get to chit-chat with them, because Colleen has asked me to join The Outlawz Greetings Challenge DT! I am so thrilled, once again, and honored to be a DT member for Colleen! I am really looking forward to working with the entire Outlawz crew on an extended basis! So, don't cry for me, Argentina. I'll be Bach next week on Monday with a Greetings card. And I hope we get lots of entries from all of you peeps.

BTW, we got our credit card bill on Friday and I nearly fainted. It was big, really, really big. And, because I apparently have short-term memory issues, (who I am I anyway?), I felt the need to look up the charges. Imagine my surprise, (and just where the he** am I?), when I saw the $2000 worth of charges for Donovan the dog. You know, the dog who almost croaked because he swallowed a rawhide dental chew whole. And it was bigger than he was. (Well, that's a slight exaggeration, but it really was big. If you didn't see the photo you can find it here.) And then there was the charge for our baseball season tickets for next year. And then there was the charge for my new glasses. (As an aside, my daughter and my sister, Merrilyn, did not notice my new glasses the first time they saw me wearing them. Thanks a lot, Girls. I feel so invisible and inferior and sad and put upon and, yeah, that's all a load of cr**. But I do have something to hold over you now, so watch out!)  Where was I? Oh yeah, the bill and its charges, I guess I felt a lot better, knowing why the bill was so large. Of course, just because I felt better doesn't help pay the bill off, does it. Arggghhh.... I am taking donations now. They don't have to be large, just numerous! Very, very numerous. Oh, gosh, I am just kidding. Please don't send me donations. I would have to return them and that would cost me more money. Oh, why don't I just leave well enough alone and get on with my card. Okey dokey.

I found myself in a tiny panic mode last Thursday, realizing that I had to do two cards for today. So I decided to make one of them easier than usual by not coloring with my Copics. GASP! I know! It was a terrible shock to my nervous system as well. But I also realized that it was time to make a card with one of the beautiful stamps that Kristen, from Pearl Gateway, had sent me. So it worked out well for this particular sketch challenge. Here is our sketch this week:

As usual, I flipped the sketch, just because I could. And you know, I'm ornery as all get out. So there.

The stamp I used, (thanks again, Kristen!), is from the TPC Studio's Summer Collage set. I used Stampin' Up CS for everything on my card, except the background for my image. I stamped the image with Versamark and heat embossed it with white SU embossing powder. I cut out the image with a Spellbinders Grand Oval and placed the image on some cheesecloth, on top of some SU DSP from their Night and Day collection. Then I cut several palm trees with a La La Land Crafts palm tree die, and placed them around my image. I also used a die from La La Land Crafts to cut my lacy corners. My sentiment is from Create with TLC. And that is pretty much it--a simple card, for me. I might mention that Gary was wondering what the image was. Apparently he couldn't see the palm trees in the image. And he couldn't figure out that there were film strips in the image either. Really? Is he blind, or am I?

I thank you for looking, reading, commenting, or whatever you feel comfortable doing. Whatever you do, please join us at The Outlawz Sketch Challenge and share your sketch take. I'm looking forward to seeing them! 

Outlawz Sketch/J&G/Jennifer

Today's post could be very short. I could just tell you about my latest card as a GD for The Outlawz Sketch group. But, you know me. If I can say it in 1000 words instead of 100, I will. Besides, I have to tell you about our trip to J&G Steakhouse at the Phoenician in Scottsdale on Saturday night. We had a group of 13, from our monthly dinner club, meet there for a wonderful meal at 6:00 p.m. There were supposed to be others, but they called at the last minute and cancelled. Believe me, it was their loss! Saturday night was the start of Restaurant Week again in the valley, and J&G's special menu is $40 for three courses. Drinks are extra, but they have a great half-price/bottle wine list. I had a glass each of three different ones, (Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir), and while they were all good, the Riesling was a star!

Gary and I have eaten at J&G three times before this meal. And each time, I got the steamed shrimp salad, which is so divine it should be illegal. The dressing is a champagne vinaigrette, and besides three big shrimp and scrumptious greens, there are enoki mushrooms and avocado slices. It's an OMG salad if you love sweet, tender, juicy, flavorful shrimp. And I do, boy howdy. Of course, for your first course, you also have the choice of tuna tartare with avocado, spicy radish, and a ginger marinade; or asparagus and goat cheese in a grilled shiitake vinaigrette. The tuna was pronounced delicious, but only one person had the asparagus; and he described it as "good". Not the best recommendation. So, if you go, stick with the shrimp or tuna, if you're not allergic to them. (As an aside, my spell-checker didn't like the word "enoki". It wanted me to use "nookie" instead. The very idea!)

For the second course, your choices are:  slowly cooked salmon in a sweet and sour carrot sauce with basil vinaigrette; Parmesan crusted chicken with white asparagus and basil lemon butter; or grilled beef tenderloin with pear-horseradish puree and comte fritters. Gary had the steak, which he loved. I have had steak there and really enjoyed it, but I wanted to try the salmon. OMG! Am I ever glad I did. Flavorful, tender, juicy. Soooooo good! I think most everyone ordered steaks. Their loss, IMHO! 

The dessert course was a choice of:  pear brown butter cake with spiced ice cream and pear sorbet; warm chocolate cake with caramel ice cream; or lemon-meringue tart with crushed raspberry and lemongrass ice cream. I opted for the pear cake, which was fantabulous, although I wasn't crazy about the ice cream or sorbet. Gary got the chocolate cake, which he loved. I took a bite of his, and, while it was delicious, it didn't hold a candle to the pear cake, which had a sweet, crusty top and melt-in-your-mouth creamy middle. Mmmm, mmmm, good!

It seemed everyone had a good time, although we couldn't all sit at the same table, so that was a little disappointing. But the view from the restaurant is spectacular, the service impeccable, and the food fantastic. What more could you ask for? Seconds, perhaps? Oh, and it was a leisurely meal--we weren't done until 8:30. Just the way I like it! If you are in the Phoenix area this week, try to get to J&G for the $40 special. You will not regret it!

Well, back to business. I just made myself hungry again. Hate when that happens!

Here is today's sketch:

I took a few liberties with the sketch, as I am often apt to do. But, I think, for the most part, it is still recognizable. Sort of. Kinda. Well, isn't it? Sandi, if it is not, my apologies.

Keeping in my Halloween theme this week, I decided to use Saturated Canary's My Bite image, which I find impossibly cute. Just had to use her this fall. Had to. And this Create with TLC sentiment seemed to be the perfect fit. I printed the image on MIC blending card and the sentiment on Stampin' Up CS. I used SU CS, (ooh, I just realized what that spells. My bad again!), for the card base and the die cuts. I love the DP I used: Bazzill All Hallows Eve. The chevron pattern is so cool, and I was able to use a SU Chevron Embossing folder on CS to repeat the pattern. I added a bit of SU ribbon to divide my DP paper. 

Never being described as "die-shy", I used plenty of them on this card. I accented the corners with the new La La Land corner die. I also used the Memory Box bats die, as well as Spellbinders classic circles, scalloped circles, and classic heart. 

After coloring my image with Copics, I accented it with a white gel pen, added Glossy Accents to her eyes, (which she said did not hurt), and used a clear Copic Spica pen on the dog's tag. The Copics used:  R20, BV00, BV01, BV02, BV04, E000, E00, E11, E41, E42, E43, E44, E47, E49, YR00, YR01, YR02, YG91, YG93, YG95, YG97, YG99, C2.

Do join us at The Outlawz Sketch this week. We'd love to see your creations!

Last, but definitely not least, I want to give a big shout-out to Jennifer Scull. I received a wonderful package from her last week. It seems she drew my name after Jen's Sunshine Blog Hop for her blog candy of breast cancer support and vintage items. How cool is that? And the package had so many wonderful goodies in it. I am going to enjoy using each and every one of them, from two darling Itty Bitty Unity Stamps to seam binding to buttons to lace to tags. So many things from such a big heart. So, Jen, thank you so very, very much--not just for the great blog candy, but for being you! You hang tough, Girlfriend. We need you in our blogland community. I am sending you the biggest hugs possible. 

Through The Craft Room Door

I am celebrating two firsts today. One, I am posting my first DT entry for the Through The Craft Room Door DT. I am totally thrilled to be a part of this group of uber-talented people! And I can hardly believe it! I am covered in bruises from pinching myself, which would be OK, because I look so good in black and blue. However, it's when the bruises turn yellow and green that I find it's not such a good look for me. So I am gorgeous now, but in a few days, not so much. Sigh...

My second first that I am celebrating is that today is the first day of the rest of my life. 'Nuf said.

I am certain that all of you who love me, and those who are on the fence about it, and those who definitely don't, are undoubtedly extremely happy anyway for me this week. Not just because of my new DT, but because my Arizona Cardinals won on Sunday!  Oooh, though if you are a New England Patriots' fan, you might not be too thrilled, huh? Too bad. Pffffffft! (Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. She made me say that.) This was such a big game for us, as we were underdogs by about 14 points, and we won by 2. NFL.com said it was the surprise upset of the week--really? I never would have known. I do have to admit: I couldn't watch the tail end of the game after our running back, (that's the guy who carries the football, securely, for those of you who don't know), fumbled the ball away after we had the game pretty well in hand, or foot, as the case may be. Securely is not the way I would describe how he carried the ball. Gag. Anyway, the Patriots' kicker is "kick-a**", so I knew, I just knew, that he would kick a field goal and win the game for his team. And I was so upset, I just couldn't watch that. But. he. missed. the. field goal. Whaaaaaaat? Gary was yelling "He missed it, he missed it, he missed it", from the other room. OMG, OMG, OMG, we won, we won, we won!!! And there was hugging and screaming in our house for a bit. Or a bunch. Oh, and barking. Because Don doesn't like it when Gary and I hug without him included. Nor does he like it when we scream. There was a lot of disbelief turned into pure joy in my house. But I am pretty certain that there were other homes across the Valley of the Sun that were rocking and rolling then, too! I can hardly wait for the game this Sunday at home. Maniacal giggle.

OK, to calm down now and describe my card, I shall have to pinch myself once again. Ooooh, that smarts. And now I have a new bruise. Lovely.

I used this month's CLP Sketch Challenge #51 for my design. I truly tried to follow it to the best of my ability. You know how that is...(clearing throat)

We had an anything goes challenge with an anything goes image. Kewl. So I chose a Halloween-ish image from Dilly Beans, called Pinky's Skull Bow. Megan's images are fresh and unique and fun to color. I printed her on MIC Blending Card. I am still working with this CS for Copics, and, so far, I love it. (Just wish the shipping wasn't so danged expensive!) I love the sentiment, which I got from Create with TLC, but I can't remember if it was from the Halloween club or her store. My bad.

I bought several 6 x 6 pads of Halloween DP. (Shhhhh....don't tell Gary.) It was actually fun to pick out paper to use from my new stash. (Short confession--Halloween has never been my favorite holiday, and I never made cards for it. But it is growing on me this year.) I chose DP from the Carta Bella All Hallow's Eve collection. It has mostly neutral tones to it. Then I decided, for some unknown reason, to add purple tones to my die cuts and image. I guess I wanted some dramatic contrast--yeah, that's it, that's what I wanted! And I'm stickin' to it. Oh, I also distressed my paper with my Zutter Distrezz-it-All.

Boy, howdy, did I have fun with my new dies! (Shhhhh...again, don't mention this to Gary.) I used Memory Box Dancing Skeleton, Creepy Spider, Dangling Spider, and Creepy Web. I gotta say, the spiders really did give me the creeps--they look far too much like the black widows we have hanging around the outside of our house. (Oh, and at least one is in the garage. Ewwww!) Spiders are my least favorite bug. I tend to go postal on them when I can. But I am really afraid of the black widows; I don't even want to get bitten by one of those. So I have trouble getting close enough after dark, ('cuz that's the only time you'll actually see them in their webs), to kill them. Have I creeped you out enough yet? Good. Because my skin is actually crawling right now, so yours should be, too.

I also used Spellbinders classic oval and lacey dies for my sentiment. Because I could. So there. That's how I roll.

Other items of interest:  some Copic-dyed cheesecloth, Doodlebug ribbon, and fiber from the gift Pryn gave me a couple of months back. Also some cardboard from my stash of torn boxes.

Now to the Copics I used with great abandon: E0000, E000, E00, E11, E21, E23, E25, E40, E42, BV0000, BV00, BV01, BV02, BV04, BV11, R20, R22, R24, V12, V17. I used a bit of white gel pen after I was finished coloring.

I am also going to enter this card into the current color challenge at Lady Anne's Paper Crafts. I don't have all the colors in my card by any stretch, but the color I did use does fit the color palette.

The challenge this week at The Paper Shelter is to use punches or dies. Well, I have that covered in spades with this card. I am entering this at the last moment. Sorry about that, but it couldn't be helped!

And that does it for this edition. Stay tuned, because tomorrow I'll be Bach, (you can be Beethoven), with another card for a GD spot.

On a more serious note, I am going to my craft room to create a speedy recovery card for the father of my son-in-law. Jon's dad, Phil, is having quadruple by-pass surgery on Wednesday. It may turn into quintuple by-pass, if the doctor can't repair the fifth vessel by other means. (I had never heard of quintuple by-pass before this.) So, if any of you are so inclined, the family would definitely appreciate prayers sent Phil's way. Thank you.

Have a great Tuesday. And grab yourself a subscription to Through The Craft Room Door ezine, if you don't already have one. You'll be glad you did. Details about the latest issue are in the video to the right. Yeah, your right, not the screen's.

New Issue of "Through The Craft Room Door"!

I will be back on Tuesday with a card for my new DT at TTCRD. In the meantime, the online magazine is now out with a new issue--another great one! Check out Jo's video to the right. Here's what publisher Colleen Holmes has to say about it:

"September - October issue of Through The Craft Room Door online magazine is now released!! 90 + pages and a total of 19 free digis. Learn how to make Holiday Thought Blocks, engraving on glass, pocket card, and mini album to just name a few of the tutorials. Would you like to know which glue or tape to use on your projects - well, Marti has the answers for you! The prettiest tea cup tutorial with easy-to-follow directions makes a gorgeous gift for someone special. Tina teaches you how to make a faux ceramic tile wall! Do you realize what all Paper Temptress carries in her store now! Come read all about it! And thank you, Jo Ham, for making another awesome video!"

Reminder: TLC Blog Hop

Just a reminder! We are having another blog hop at Create with TLC on the 30th!
Please come and celebrate children with us in honor of "Children's Day" in October. There will be freebies along the hop--you don't want to miss out. :^)

 

See Paulette's blog here for more details. Looking forward to seeing you September 30 for the hop!

Outlawz Sketch

For those of you who braved yesterday's post, I want to congratulate you on your fortitude. For the post was long, too long for most of you, I'm sure. And yet, I have to add something that I did fail to mention about my person on Monday.

My person took herself to the dental hygienist at 1:00 p.m. Never mind about that. That part is not important. The important part is: at 2:00 p.m. the hygienist painted a fluoride treatment on my teeth, which could not be brushed away for four hours. That part is important because:

1. I had intended to brush my teeth after 6:00 p.m., but Donovan's episode happened before I had the chance, and 

2. I went out to all those places with scuzzy-looking teeth, since the whitish fluoride crap was still on them, and

3. I had to try to remember not to let people see my teeth, so they didn't get grossed out and

4. I am sure I didn't remember not to let people see my teeth, so they probably did get grossed out. They probably thought my teeth were mossy from never brushing them.

5. And this doesn't relate to my teeth at all, but I was covered in dog vomit, my make-up was streaked from crying so much, and I looked like hell. 

6. Which brings me to the fact that I actually went to a wine bar that night, looking like something a cat dragged out of the sewer. Do you believe it? I don't--and I was there!

7. And the emergency clinic vet made me do it. When Gary suggested that we go to the wine bar, (while we waited for Donovan to come out of the anesthesia), and I distinctly said No, because look at me, I'm such a mess, I'm covered in dog vomit, the vet said, Oh, go ahead, it's dark in that bar, and no one will see you anyway. (Sorry, somebody just typed another sentence with a million commas in it. Again, who does that?) So I blame the vet for me scaring so many pretty young people at Postino's in downtown Gilbert Monday night, especially our waitress. Deepest apologies to you all.

Alrighty then, onward and upward. (We can only hope.)

Today's card is a take on The Outlawz Sketch challenge as a GD. (I wonder if Sandi is regretting her invitation yet?) I decided to use the Dutch Canary image I got as a freebie from the Het Canary Blog Challenge. Krista of Saturated Canary designed this image. If you agreed to post a card to this blog challenge, you could receive this darling image free. So, of course, I agreed. And then almost forgot I needed to make a card with it. Thank goodness I remembered in time! The sketch for this week is: 

I turned the sketch on its side and came up with the brilliant (?) idea to use the image twice for the two taller arrows. What was I thinking? Dunno, 'cuz I made lots more work for myself. I thought that I could use my sentiment from Create with TLC for the third arrow. The rest of the design came from "somewhere out there". (OK, what movie was that song from?) 

I chose my color palette from my DP, which was a piece from the Bo Bunny Forever Fall collection, which I paired with Stampin' Up CS. I printed my images on Make it Colour blending card and my sentiment on SU CS. Below the sentiment I stamped a bird from the SU Bliss set and added some Queen & Company pearls. My corners were rounded with my Crop-a-Dile Corner Chomper. There are several die cuts on this card, (I know, I am shocked, too), made from the following: Memory Box/Poppy Stamps Wildflower Patch die, Memory Box tree and branch dies, Cheery Lynn Lace Corner Deco B die, Magnolia Doohickey fence die, MFT grass die, Spellbinders Labels 10 die.

I accented the images with a white gel pen, coated their eyes with Glossy Accents, (they said it stung a little bit--my bad), and added a touch of Stickles to their hair bands. All this was done after coloring them with my Copics. Are you ready for this list?  R01, R02, R05, R20, W00, W0, BG10, BG45, BG49, BV00, YG61, YG63, YG67, Y21, Y23, Y26, YR14, YR16, YR18, YR20, YR21, YR23, YR24, YR27, E000, E00, E11, E21, E25, E27, E29, E35.

I am also entering this card into the Saturated Canary Dotty Challenge at the very last second. I figured, oh why not, I can't dance.

I hope you will try this sketch and join us at The Outlawz Sketch Challenge this week. We'd all love to see what you create!  

Heads-up! Not a card.

This is going to be a very strange post, even for me. Which means it is way out there in left field for you. Or possibly right field. Actually, it could be center field. Sorry. I digress again. I do that a lot. Or hadn't you noticed? (Clearing throat now.)

OK. I would like you to take a good look at the following photos:

These are both photos of an ABC rawhide dental chew, (sitting on grid paper that is measured in inches). I say ABC for "already been chewed". By Donovan, my dog. Yes, he was given this chew to gnaw on to help clean his teeth, as it was covered in toothpaste.

Yesterday, I gave this chew to Donovan. He proceeded to work on it quite diligently until he had it softened enough for it to fold over. So he could swallow it whole. Yes, I said whole. Please, remember, Donovan is a Maltese. He weighs 7-1/2 pounds soaking wet. Or dry. Whatever. The point is, he is a small dog. And, as you can see from the photo, that is a large piece for a small dog to swallow. Who am I kidding? I couldn't even swallow that large a chunk of something! Not only is it 3-1/2 inches long and 1-1/4 inches wide--it is also 1/2 inch thick.

So, is it any wonder, that immediately after swallowing this, Donovan began to scream--loudly. He was in my craft room with me, and Gary was just driving into our garage (fortunately). I knew what had happened immediately and tried to grab the chew out of Donovan' throat, but couldn't reach it. So I yelled for Gary when he walked in the door, explained what happened and said we had to go to the vet. Immediately. So he called our vet and said we were on our way. I managed to grab my purse but not my phone. So, during the following 6-hour ordeal I had no way to contact the outside world. Or play a game of solitaire. Or check my emails. Or comment on blog posts. Oh well....

Anyway, Donovan was retching, and his little sides were heaving so hard. And all that came up was foamy liquid. I had no idea how large a piece he had caught in his throat at the time. If I had, I probably would have fainted. (Or maybe not. Sounds melodramatic, though, doesn't it?) He threw up on me a few times on the way to the vet, and was having trouble breathing. When we got there, a tech saw me and opened the door up and took Don out of my arms. She went to the back with him, and I sat down and started crying, so the receptionist quickly ushered me into an exam room. Where I really fell apart. Crying like one does when your pet dies. Because that's what I was afraid was happening. Gary came into the room and just held me and let me cry.

I am not going to go into all the details, because that would make a small novella instead of a blog post. My vet couldn't help Don other than to give him oxygen and pain medication. She also took x-rays and said that the chew was stuck in Don's esophagus, and that we would need to go to the Emergency Animal Clinic to have it removed with an endoscopic procedure. The chew was pressing on Don's trachea and making it hard for him to breathe. But somehow he was getting lots of air into his stomach, causing even more problems. Wonderful. When they handed him to me, it felt like he was a pregnant dog about to give birth--that's how distended his tummy was. Sigh...

Donovan cried all the way to the clinic, which took a good 20 minutes. Even with Gary speeding all the way. A specialist had been called, by the clinic, to do the procedure--but they were waiting to see Don and give us the charges to OK before the specialist would come to the hospital. Well, we got there at 8:00 p.m. and the procedure started about 9:15, I think. (Somewhere in there Gary ran to Burger King and got me a salad and himself a burger. We were starving! But I barely ate anything. I was too nervous.) At 10:00 the E.R. vet came out to say that Don was fine, there was no damage to his esophagus, and the specialist had removed air from his tummy to make him more comfortable. She showed us the chew, (which stunned us to say the least), and asked us if we wanted to take it home with us. Heck, yeah! We had to have something for show-and-tell.

We were told that Don could go home a little after 11:00, so with another hour to kill, we left and went down the street to a wine bar. (What a surprise!) We each had a glass of wine and split a dessert. Then we went back to the hospital and paid the bill. Well, actually that's not quite true. We paid the estimate before they would do the procedure. And the estimate included charges for an overnight stay. But, since we could take him home right away, we actually got a credit on the charges. And then they brought Don out, looking ever so groggy. I was so glad to see him no longer in pain! To add up the charges: our vet cost $429.84, the specialist charged $1000 for the endoscopic procedure, and the emergency clinic charged $585.52. Oh, and $7.52 for some special canned food he needs for the next few days. And we had to buy some Pepcid AC. So that "ABC chew" has now become the "$2000 chew".

Don was pretty out-of-it on the way home. But at least he didn't cry or hurt anymore! I must mention, that right after we left the clinic, Gary slowed way down at an intersection, and I asked him what the heck was he doing. He replied, "You need to slow down at intersections and look both ways." Remember this. Then, when we got off the freeway, Gary stopped at a Quik-Trip to see if they had Pepcid AC, which they didn't, (and I told him not to stop because they wouldn't have it. But you know men, and how they gotta do what they gotta do!)

Well, when he drove out of the Quik-Trip, he turned right into the far left lane. And all of a sudden there are flashing lights behind us. Yup. You got it. A highway patrolman was pulling us over. It just doesn't get any better than this. The cop said that Gary didn't come to a full stop before turning, and he turned into the wrong lane. So, while Gary got out his driver's license and vehicle registration, we told this nice young man our sob story--fortunately the dog was in my lap, for evidence. The cop said he hoped Don would be OK and then went back to his car to write up a warning ticket. Apparently, Gary checked out as an all-around wonderful guy, so the cop just handed back the license and registration without any ticket. And we were on our way once again. I must mention that I started laughing my butt off because Gary had just given me the lecture on slowing down through an intersection and looking both ways. Then he manages to miss a stop sign and turn into the wrong lane in front of the highway patrol. What's wrong with this picture? (And we didn't get caught for speeding to the clinic, for which we would have received a "real" ticket. Good grief.) And what an appropriate ending for the evening, hey? An evening that ended at midnight, for that's when we finally got home.

Don is doing very well today. He's very quiet, but has eaten a small amount and has taken his meds (oh, yeah, Gary went out to get Pepcid AC for Don before he left for work and bought the wrong thing. Which I found out when it was time to give it to Don this morning. So I raced to Walgreen's and got the right stuff and raced back again. Jiggety-jig.)

I will have a new post tomorrow with an actual card! And if you got to this point, Donovan thanks you. So do I.

P.S. We saw such an exciting finish at the Cards' game on Sunday! And we won! There's always a bit of bright news mixed in with the not-so-much in life, huh?

OMGosh, So Many Thanks, and So Much News!

I have so much to tell you. I don't really know where to begin. I am at a loss for words.

Or, not so much. First of all, I want to send a shout-out to my sister, Barbara, who had her knee replacement surgery yesterday. She was doing quite well the last time I heard, thank goodness! I expect she will have a great recovery like my other sister, Merrilyn, did! Big hugs to you, Barbara!

Secondly, I have some thank-yous to spread around blog-land! You know there are so many fabulous peeps out there in the ether!

Many thanks to MayzyArt and 7 Kids College Fund for the recent goodies that I won on your challenges! I love when that happens! 

I would like to thank Pryn Garritan, (of So Not Mocha-vated), again for her gift to me of some beautiful bird stamps and some wonderful fibers. I received these for a prize from her after the Outlawz 2000-member party! I finally managed to make a card with them. I hope I did them justice, Pryn. It took me a long time to make, because I had to learn how to color birds first--Class 5 at CMC, (thank you to Suzanne Dean!).  

I also received a wonderful prize from Colleen Holmes, creator of The Outlawz Challenges, after that 2000-member party--a great gift card to Oozak.com. I bought some fabulous Memory Box dies from Rusty--he is wonderful to work with--his prices are great, and he ships immediately! So thank you to Colleen and Rusty!

More recently I received a fabulous package of goodies, (from stamps to an embossing folder to a letter press to adhesive) from Teresa Gray of Mommamea's Favorite Things. She generously gave me this wonderful gift for her 50-member blog candy and for commenting on her blog! She's so sweet--thank you again, Teresa!

And last, but certainly not least, I am going to receive a gift of stamps from Kristen Combs of Pearl Gateway, for commenting on her blog. How nice is that, too? I so appreciate it, Kristen! I am looking forward to receiving the package from you. Thank you again!

Now to my news. I mentioned, in my last post, that I am currently a guest designer for The Outlawz Sketch group, which I so appreciate--my thanks to Sandi Huggett, of Sandi's Samples, for inviting me! I am always honored to serve with a team of talented ladies! :^)

And I have more news! Colleen Holmes, of The Outlawz fame, is also the owner/publisher of the ezine,  Through the Craft Room Door. This magazine was originally started by Suzanne Dean and Marti Willis. Colleen has taken over the magazine, and developed it into a unique publication! (If you don't have a subscription yet, why not get one! You'll get wonderful free digis and lots of tutorials and other great info!) Anyway, Colleen asked me to become a design team member on the TTCRD DT! I am again very honored to be asked, and will begin submitting my designs on September 18. Thank you again, Colleen! :^)

And yet, even more news. I have also been asked by Lady Anne Milnes-Howard to be on her Wednesday DT for her website Lady Anne's Paper Crafts. I will begin my submittals on September 26th. Once more, I am honored to be asked to join a design team. Thank you again, too, Lady Anne! :^)

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention this as well. Jennifer Scull, of Just Coffee Please...& Stamps & Ribbons & Paper, contacted me yesterday about doing a guest design spot on Jellypark Friends Friday Challenges this fall, with a potential regular term this winter! Another honor for me! I will guest design in November. Thanks so much, Jennifer! :^)

I will have another announcement soon. I have not been given the go-ahead to make that news public yet. So stayed tuned!

What on earth did I do to deserve all this goodness coming to me? I really can't comprehend all of this, honestly! I am thrilled beyond belief; I just hope I can live up to the talent of the DT members I will be joining! Send me good vibes, please!

OK, back down to earth. (Did you hear the crash from there? No? It was a pretty big one! I scared my dog.) I have a card to show you that I made for my first DT, Create with TLC. (My thanks to Paulette at TLC for honoring me with my first official DT membership! And we are having another blog hop on the 30th with freebies for everyone who stops by--so be sure to put that on your calendar!) I have been busy with so many things this past week that I have been unable to create as much as I would have liked. But I think I am back to normal now, (oh, help, what does that mean?). 

As an aside, I have also been dealing with drafting for my two fantasy football teams. Yup. I am a glutton for punishment, it appears. At least I am not in any leagues that cost money this year. I nearly had a nervous breakdown over a money league last year! It was too stressful! So wish me luck with those as well. OK, sorry. I am almost 100% certain that you didn't really care to hear about that. But I had to mention it. (She made me. She is pretty bossy sometimes.)

Okey dokey. Back to the card. I colored, with my Copics, (now there's a shock),  two birds, (by Martha Stewart), that I stamped on Cryogen CS with Memento ink. (Gosh, did you notice all the commas in that last sentence? Who writes like that anyway?) I used a Create with TLC sentiment that I printed on Stampin' Up CS. The DP that I chose is from the Prima Songbird collection. I managed to die cut several pieces from the following dies: Spellbinders Twisted Metal Tags and Accents, Memory Box Branch and Distressed Tag, and two Marianne Designs leaf flourishes. I added some cheesecloth from my stash; flowers, pins, and flat-back pearls by Wild Orchid Crafts; and several Queen and Company pearls. I accented the birds with a bit of white gel pen.  I cut out my birds, (I didn't hurt them, so don't call the ASPCA on me), after I colored them with the following Copics: YG0000, BG90, BG93, BG96, YR00, YR21, YR24, YR27, YR61, TR65, YR68, E40, E41, E42, E43, E44, E57, E59.

I am entering The Outlawz CPC Challenge Anything Goes at the last minute again. My apologies to their wonderful DT! I am also entering:

Craft Your Passion Floral Images
Inky Impressions Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly Anything Goes
Simon Says Put a Stamp on It
The Paper Shelter Tag You're It

Hoping you all have a fabulous upcoming weekend! Gary and I are going to the season opener of our Arizona Cardinals! Woohoo! ;^)

GDT at The Outlawz Sketch/Miles' Birthday Card 2012

I am very sorry. I scheduled this post to go live at 3:00 a.m., and it did not! For that I apologize. I should have stayed up and posted it myself. Ahem....

I am very tickled and honored that I was asked to be a guest designer for September on The Outlawz Wednesday Sketch Challenge group! They are a great bunch of gals, who would love to have you enter their weekly challenges. Be sure to stop by and check out their wonderful creations! I knew the first card I would craft for them would be a birthday card for Miles. Miles' birthday was just yesterday. He started kindergarten last month, so I thought a La-La Land Crafts Luka image would be perfect for him.

I chose Outlaw Luka because Miles is the son of an outlaw. Really! I swear, honest to goodness! Awwwww, no he's not! I lied. He is the son of Chef Blake of The Deli in Queen Creek, AZ. I made a card for Blake last month, and I couldn't let his son's birthday go by without acknowledging it, too, could I? Nope.

Gary asked me how I keep track of all these birthdays. I thought, 'Dude, I'm your wife. It's my job to know these things'. Bwaaahahaha! Yeah, that's a load! Actually, I put them in my iPhone. And my iPad. And then I check the month ahead to see what cards I need to make. Plus I have the birthdays entered on the calendar in my craft room. There's no magic to it, Gary. Dear. Darling.

I decided to use a background stamp to pop Luka against and chose SCACD Victoria Case Street Views City Skyline. Once I picked out my images I checked my DP for something boyish. And I came up with My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Two "Rosy". Now that doesn't sound too boyish to me, but I found a piece I really liked with the image. In my mind's eye, anyway...

OK, never-mind. I used some Bazzill Kraft CS and some Stampin' Up CS to go with my DP. I printed my image on some new CS I am trying from Australia, called Make It Colour Blending Card from Make It Crafty. (So far, it's working very well for me. It really isn't expensive per sheet until you add in the shipping charges. Then it's pretty pricey. I will try it a few more times before I give you a final verdict.) I then stamped the background stamp on the MIC CS with Memento ink.

My ticket sentiment is from Whimsy Stamps, that I die cut with a Whimsy ticket die. (Makes sense to me.) I added other die cuts made with Spellbinders Classic Circles and Sprockets dies. And I chose some Tim Holtz Sprocket Gears for embellishments. We R Memory Keepers Baker's Twine was wound around some burlap from my stash. I accented Luka with a bit of white gel pen. And he was colored with a bazillion of my Copics: BG0000, BV00, YR21, YR23, R12, R14, R17, R29, G40, G43, G46, W00, W0, W2, W4, W6, E000, E00, E11, E25, E31, E50, E51, E53, E55.

Here is the sketch I was working from:

And here is my card:

I hope you will enter the sketch challenge at The Outlawz! We'd all love to see what you create!

Upcoming TLC Blog Hop!

Paulette and her design team at Create with TLC are having another fun blog hop on September 30th. We'll be "Celebrating Children" in honor of Children's Day in October. There will be freebies along the hop, so be sure to stop and see us!

Paulette always has some fun tricks up her sleeve. This is the one she posted on her blog:

"Oh and as a little extra fun..........everyone who promotes the HOP on their blog with a post and the badge above.....will be entered into a drawing for a $20.00 Gift Certificate to the Store.....There will be two of these drawn.  Just post your post then email me the link and you will be entered.
Christmas Shopping ~!"

This sounds like a great idea to me! So, go ahead and post the badge on your blog and let her know! She has such great sentiments and images in her store--the winners will have so much fun shopping! :^)

Looking forward to seeing you on the 30th for the hop!