My one and only Henry

I just love my Wee Henry.  I am THE ONLY owner of this image.  NO ONE else will ever have this image.  Isn't that WAY cool!!!  I had the winning bid on Hambo's Thursday auction where Tim has an original drawing that you bid on.  The winning bid gets the image and it is never sold.  I'm soooo tickled.  I colored this Wee Henry up for my husband's birthday card.  We are getting him something that has to do with driving (can't reveal here....you never know who will be reading!).  So......I thought I'd color Henry up looking like he would be ready to go driving.  I know.....a real stretch of the imagination.....but what the heck!  Henry is colored with copics.  The background was done with prismacolor pencils and gamsol.  My bush drawing skills need some more practice I can see!!  If you think this wee Henry is cute, you should see the other two.  One with a chef hat and cupcake, one dressed as a bunny AND my personal favorite a chubby cupid!  You can head on over there and see the fun HERE.  I hope that you enjoy Wee Henry!! 

As I look over the locations that my blog readers are from I notice that there are a number of you that are from the Portland Metro area.  If you are, leave a comment and tell me where you are from.  I think it will be a blast to find other stampers in the area!

Feathered Mo!

What by chance is a feathered Mo?  Well.......here is a card that uses THE most adorable image from Mo's Digital Pencil.  It is called End of Summer.  The minute I saw it I KNEW I NEEDED it!!  I spent quite a bit of time coloring it in with my copics.  I really wanted to do it justice! I hope you like the little hint of circles on her shirt!   BUT for the light yellow background, I hadn't worked on it before the rest of the image and didn't want to mess it up so I did it with my prismacolor pencils/gamsol.  Now you know the Mo part of the title.......the feathered part of the title is the background she sits on.  It is called Feathered Tie Dye and is a technique from the December 08 newsletter.  When that technique came out I made a TON.  It was such a fun thing to do that I just couldn't stop.  Now, I have wads of the paper in my stash and it just worked wonderful for this image.  The small words (which I have no idea where they came from) were stamped on white but I colored it with air brushed copics.  I hope you enjoy this image and want to try the technique for yourself.  You'll go crazy just like I did!! 

Saturday Sketch Challenge

Here it is a Saturday again.  So.....what do you do with your Saturdays.  Catch up from the week, relax and stamp, or run errands.  Whatever you have to do, try to squeeze in a little stamp time and play with this week's sketch!  Click on the Sweet Stop Badge to the right to see what the design team created.  Then create your own and upload it.  Last week we had over 60 participants!  Isn't that wonderful!! 

This week I decided that since I had some left over strips from my last Valentine card that I would use them instead of throwing them away.  The stripped background is called Herringbone and is a Technique Junkie technique.  The badge for TJ is also to the right down a little further.  Check it out!!  The image used for this card is a digital image from Sweet N Sassy stamps.  Isn't it darling?  I colored it with copic markers.  The little hearts are hard plastic.  I had picked them up.....somewhere!  The bag is long gone but I think I got them at Michaels.  I pierced the border to give a little interest and that's it!!  I hope that you enjoy.

On a side note, yesterday I won the  Thursday One and Done auction at Hambo stamps and got a digital image drawn by Timbo.  I am the ONLY person who will ever own it.  Isn't that fun!  I' hope to have a card posted with the cute little Wee Henry in the next day or so.


Tomorrow will be a sad but glorious day.  One of the ladies at church that I have known for years will be laid to rest.  She fought valiently against a cancer that was throughout her entire body for the last several years.  She was a wonderful and sweet person.  She loved the Lord and I know that she is pain free and enjoying the presence of our Lord!  She leaves behind two teenage boys.

Mid-Week Class

It seems like forever since I made a post that wasn't connected with a challenge.  It was fun to just do what I wanted for a change.  This card uses a rubber stamp from RubberStampAve.  I think that it is sooooo classy.  Kathy (RubberStampAve owner) has a ton of wonderful images.  You can check them out HERE.  Tell Kathy you hear about her from my blog!

The image is colored with copic markers.  The background is a super fun technique called Bingo Blast.  It is a "blast" to do too........would be a wonderful technique to play with when you're mad about something!  LOL....      I added a little bit of satin ribbon left over from a special gift, some glitter on the rose to glitz it up, and some faux stitching to give it a little bit of umph.  I hope you enjoy it!

Now for a little Willie update (the dog).  Still no real diagnosis about the excessive water drinking.  He has been on antibotics for almost two weeks and I actually think he is drinking less.  One more test on his urine to see if it is concentrated or not.  I'm hoping that this is the end of the whole thing.........

Now for some fun news.  One of my best friend's daughter, Mandy, is pregnant.  On bedrest.  BUT they accidently found out what the baby's sex will be (they didn't want to know).  A different doctor was seeing them and didn't realize that they didn't want to know and spilled the beans.  I'm happy though.  I really don't care for buying yellow and green baby clothes.  I get to buy PINK!  She may be induced this week (3 weeks early) because of low fluid levels.  We'll see.  Sounds like baby is healthy and weighty enough to do it.  Now for them to get a name picked out. 

No new news on our own home front.

It's Sugar Baby challenge day!

It seems that the weeks are just flying by!   Here is this week's Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge.  I know that my card is a little dark looking but in real life it isn't.   The metallic reinkers used on the Tapestry technique from Technique Junkies newsletter really makes it glow!  The word stamp is from stampendous! and the one used in making the background paper is from stampin Up.  I tried using a new toy that I got!  A photo cube and lights.  It really didn't work very well for this type of card so we will see what the next card does with the set up.  It is a white nylon fabric cube and the lights are on tripods and adjustable.  The whole idea is a bright lit card without the shadows from the lights.  It will be interesting to see how it works in the future. 

Remember.......click on the badge to the right to see what all the other design team members did with this sketch!

BUNK!

I don't often vary off my stamping posts but I thought this little article was interesting and worth passing on to those who believe otherwise!  In the midst of 'global warming' outcries and myths, this is just another piece of information that tells us that we are just in a cycle.  Also, think about this.....Florida last week.....freezing weather.  Hmmmm.....doesn't sound like GW to me! 

US Weather Bureau Report


The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consul Iffy, at Bergen , Norway .   Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers, he declared, all point to a radical change in climate conditions and there to unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone.   Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met with as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes. Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm. Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared. Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic , while vast shoals of herring and smelts, which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds.

I’m sorry, I neglected to mention that this report was from November 2, 1922 as reported by the AP and published in The Washington Post.

For a complete background read extensive reports at :  http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/03/16/you-ask-i-provide-november-2nd-1922-arctic-ocean-getting-warm-seals-vanish-and-icebergs-melt/


We'll be back to our regularly schedule stamping posts next!

It's sweet time!

Not only is it time for the Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge BUT this is also a sweet Valentine for my granddaughter, Breauna!  You can play along with the challenge by uploading YOUR creation!  Just click on the the Sweet Stop badge to the right!!  The cute little mouse (I think it is absolutely adorable, BTW) is a digital design from Sweet N Sassy Stamps.  The background of the card is a technique from Technique Junkies called Herringbone.  You can read more about the Junkies by clicking on their badge to the right!  The little mouse is colored with copic markers.

Willie Update:  STILL no absolute diagnosis.....sheesh!  Now we have him on an antibotic for 2 weeks to see if there is something to cure before we start more expensive tests.  I'm praying that this does the trick for the water drinking.  The pain pills seem to be helping his random pains.  At least he is yelping less!

You've gotta play along!

(NOTE to AHTIA)  DO NOT LET JIM SEE THIS!!

This week the sketch for the Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge is a fun one!  Don't miss out on it.  Click on the Sweet Stop banner to the right where you'll be able to upload your creation on the Sweet Stop blog!!  I needed a birthday card coming up the end of this month.  My son (that's the Jim above) loves Mustangs (the cars).....and BTW.....his dad and I love them too!  When I saw this Mustang Clear Dollar stamp I knew I just had to have it!!  I'm not too thrilled the way it stamps though.  It seems to want to ball the ink up.  I have that problem with a lot of my acrylic stamps so maybe it is just me.

The SSS37 was perfect for me card because the circle reminded me of a wheel and the wheel of the car and the car of the Mustang.  Right!?  I was supposed to have this posted yesterday.  BUT that was the day we took Willie (our dog) in to have his X-rays.  Needless to say.....my Sketch blog post was totally forgotten.  I have vowed to be a better design team member this year!!!!!!  So....here is my card and the Willie in-depth update is below.

His appt was at 10:40.  The vet's office didn't have them done until after 2pm.  Fortunately we were able to leave him there and accomplish some errands while we waited.  They didn't find anything abnormal on his innards.  He does have a ton of bone spurs on his spine and one is just about touching the next vertibra.  I wonder if it is fused there?  Those bone spurs may explain some of his pain but NOT the excessive water drinking.  So......the vet calls us on Monday to talk about what to do next for the water.  I'm guessing that an ultrasound is next.  This is nickel and diming us to death!!  BUT at least the dog is a little happier now than he was a couple of weeks ago,.  The other good news we had was about his other test.  He doesn't have Addison's disease.  I guess that it a good thing but with that 'no' we still don't have the answer.  Maybe we can make a bunch of money off him in the end by being on one of those "Medical Mysteries" shows on TLC, right!!!?

Willie Update

Don't ya wonder exactly why things just can't be cut and dry?  The pain meds Willie has been on has taken away the 'flee' urge.  THAT's good.  He was tested for Addison's Disease yesterday because he has been drinking way too much water. So.....negative on Addison's Disease.  Now, we take him in to have his hips X-rayed.  Sheesh!  I don't think they have a clue yet.  It is a mystery.  This mystery better not cost too much though.............

My loss, your gain!

THE SET HAS BEEN SOLD!  THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST!!

Here is a nice way to end the year for you!! 

When I ordered some stamps from Our Craft Lounge, I mistakenly ordered two of Granny's Support Team.  The retail price is $14.99.  You can have it for only $12.50 AND I'll pay for the postage to get it to you.  I can do PayPal but you'll have to pay for the fees if you aren't doing a balance transfer or e-check.  The free shipping offer is for US addys only.  International will have to pay their own shipping.  The stamp set would be $11 for internationals and shipping and any fees would be added to that amount.

Do I have any takers?  You can see it on their site here.

On a side note......took Willie into the vet today to have an ATCH (or some order of those letters) blood test done.  Seems they think he may have Addison's Disease which doesn't let the pancreas do it's thing for the kidneys to concentrate the pee.  I'll know the results of the test tomorrow.  He has been drinking just gallons of water every day and it isn't diabetes.

I've been working on my submissions for my Design Team work for Technique Junkies this week so not much posting of other artwork!

Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #36 and Willie Update

This is the last challenge for the year!  My three months as a Design team member is up BUT I was asked to stay on for another three.  I said yes......it has been so much fun.  We will be missing three of our designers and I will miss them so.  It has been fun designing with them and getting to know them!  Here is this week's card.  The design is one of the digital designs from Sweet N Sassy stamps.  My husband like this one so much that I think I'll make it for my Christmas card for next year.  I could even start early and get them done early.....THAT would be different!!  The candle is color with a Krylon gold leaf pen and doesn't show well in the picture at all.  After taking a picture of my card it became VERY obvious that I could really use a photography light box.  So, with the help of Bev Gerard (one of the designers that is leaving...;-( )  I think I'll be hunting down a good one for the future DT term!

We had a wonderful Christmas time.  All the clan was here opening presents after Church Thursday night.  The families do their own thing that their own homes on Christmas morning.  Ray and I, Jim and his wife, Ahtia, Angie and her daughter, Breauna, and Leah all sang together for the prelude of the Christmas Eve service.  We sang "I heard the bells on Christmas day/Dona Nobis Pacem"  We had piano accompanying and Leah and Ahtia used some of the bells from our bell choir.....thank you Cindy for letting us use them!  I really love singing together with my family.  It is such a special time.  I wish we would do it more often!!  Ray and Jim sang the solo parts for the song.  It happened to be a song that the Singing Christmas Tree did in last year's performance.  I know we weren't as good as the singing Christmas Tree but I hope that we did justice to the song!  I felt that we did......

I pray that all of you had a blessed Christmas.......a time of year to remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  May all of you realize the blessing that his birth brings.

Willie update:  He is on Prednizone (sp?), and pain meds and also some for loose stool.  He actually is acting a little better.  He didn't act like he wanted to run away today.  Yeah!!   Ray said that he didn't yelp as much today too.  I hope the meds are helping and getting him back on the road to recovery.  He is such a sweet dog, I really hated to see him sick......I also hated having him shut up in the garage to keep him from running away.........three times he peed in the garage even though is was only 4 hours of waiting.  He has been drinking soo much water that he pees gallons......   I hope that the meds help in that area too.  Thanks guys for your prayers even though he is only a dog and not a human!  ;-)

Doggie Jail

It was a real game of Monopoly today.  Our Dog, Willie, landed on the first corner and had to go directly to Jail and could not pass Go.  Something has been wrong with him for about a week.  Yelping in pain at strange unpredictable times and running away when he yelps like we jabbed him with a cattle prod.  We had to retrieve him from neighbors three different times this past week.  He's never done this before and we are baffled.  Nothing has changed around here......no new dogs or cats.  Same food, bed, household humans.  One big thing that changed was his appetite.  It diminished and the past month or so he has been drinking a lot of water.  We only really started to notice that it was too much water recently.  THEN......today......when I had soooo much to do, he is gone again.  I spent lots of time calling neighbors seeing if they have seen him.  Look on the dog pound site as a last resort and lo and behold there he was...in doggie jail.  I went to get him right away.  It was quite a ways away too.......about 15 miles one way.  Used to be only 4 miles away but they moved a year ago.  A nice family WAY down the road had found him and couldn't find us so off to doggie jail.  Since he was a first offender and they had only had him in the pound for 1/2 day there was no charge.....thank goodness!! A Get Out of Jail Free card!!

A trip to the vet on the way home.....blood tests to see what is going on with the kidneys.  Nothing seems to be broken so it must just be his hips.  He got pain meds and some pepsin to see if that will help his appetite.  As you can see he is a big dog......120 - 130 pounds.  Vet went to take his temp and he pooped all over the floor with the thermometer's urging.  How embarrasimg but I guess they get that all the time.  Still.......

So, Willie is on house arrest.  Instead of being able to run around like he wants on our unfenced 5 acres, he is held in the garage and let out with a lease to potty until we can figure out what is going on.  Blood results come back tomorrow.  Still need to get a urine sample..........the gravey ladle sounded like a good option.  "ewwwwwww'.........

An exhausting day and a late challenge (SSS35)

It is 3:30 am and I am bushed.  It was a hectic LONG day!  Our car club provided food baskets to the families of deployed soldiers.  I worked in the morning calling some of the families and making shopping lists.  Started shopping at 2:30 pm and finished shopping at 10:30 pm.  Two different trips to two different stores with unloading and some planning between runs.  Packing the boxes with the right stuff for the right family and we were finally done at 1:30 am.   THEN.......freak......my sketch challenge card was not done.  Korin (the design team owner) is going to disown me any day now.  I decided that I just couldn't flake out and went down to the stamp hole to create this week's card.  The darling mouse in the Christmas cup is one of Korin's digital designs.  It is sooooo stinkin' cute.....  I love this one even more than the mittens one.  Colored with copics.  This challenge (SSS35) was to include a pocket and the candy cane was the perfect match for the image, don't you think?    Below is the inside of the card.

Make sure you chick on the badge to the right to see what the other design team ladies did this week!

I'm off to bed for a few hours sleep before the men come to pick up the boxes to deliver the food baskets.  Nighty, night.

Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #34

It is the wonderful season of Christmas where there are always so many things to do that it makes my mind swim at times.  We had our car club here for the annual Christmas party last Sunday.  38 people crammed into the house.  We all had a place to sit down to eat wonderful BBQ meat prepared by our master BBQ chef of the club, Tim.  That meat comes out soooooo tender.  He has homemade drum grills and makes his own homemade BBQ sauce.  Award winning in my opinion!  Well.......on to this week's challenge.  The image for this card is sooooo darling.  It is one of the digital images from Sweet N Sassy Stamps.  It is colored with copic markers.  To make the mittens look a little more woven type, I used a rag with a little bit of blending solution on it to texture that area.  I really didn't want to dig out the sewing machine so I just punched the border of the bottom layer and drew in stitch lines.

You'll want to head over to the Sweet Stop Challenge Blog to see what the other design team members created.  They are all splended!!

This week I've been working like mad to try to finish up my Christmas cards!  I'm close but still not done.  Today will be my push to finish! 

We watched Julie and Julia last night.......cute movie.

Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #33!

Hard to believe that it is December, don't you agree?!!  Being December, I felt that I just had to do a Christmas card for the Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge this week.  The angel stamp is from Stampendous and is colored with copics.  The 'joy' is from PSX.  I sure miss that company.  Their stamps were always such wonderful quality.  The striped background is a Technique Junkie technique called Herringbone.  Herringbone is quite similar to a technique I had submitted called Corded Pieces.  The lightest paper actually has some metallic gold on it and is beautiful in person.  Make sure you click on the link to the right to see the other cards that the Sweet Stop Design Team came up with!!