A VALENTINE FROM OSCAR

I had this little dog in my Miscellaneous Stamps box and tried coloring it in Oscar's colors. I want to send it to the Canine Soulmates organization as a Valentine to them from Oscar and to thank them for putting the two of us together!!! He went to the doggy hospital Friday and was neutered, had all of his shots, was micro chipped and tested for heart worms. I also had all of his blood work done so that he would have a complete health history with his new forever home!! He checked out well, except that he has a case of fleas -- of course, after his surgery we can't get a bath for 2 weeks, so he will have to put up with them for a while. He did not have to get a "cone of shame" (from the movie UP). With my being off this week-end I have been watching him to make sure he doesn't start licking on his incisions. He's coming along well, and I have cleaned the house and am washing all of the linens for the flea situation. As soon as the next pay day gets here, I plan on calling the exterminator to come out and use a "green solution" to spray the house and outside. I feel like he either came with them or he picked them up on our walks around the neighborhood. The doctor gave him a 30-day pill for the fleas, so that should be kicking in shortly.

Anyway, I'm still very THANKFUL to have him with me and it is a real joy for us both to have each other.

A Gretting Card for ME!!!!

My big sister, Susan (susiestampsalot), made a card for me and my new Mom!!! Isn't it cute!! On the inside it says, "I Ruff You!" Susan wrote "I'm so glad you found Oscar and he found you!" ............ and it's soooooooo TRUE!!! She also brought over a gift certificate to the Three Dog Bakery in Southlake. Maybe my Mom and I will go over this week-end and get some treats!!! I sure hope that my Mom takes me; however, she may have to think about it. I got mad at her this morning. She put me in my kennel for when she's at work and (I'm ashamed to say) that I started fussing at her cause I just DID NOT want to be in there, even though she made it really comfortable with an afgahn, my chew toy with the hidden cheese inside, and my new strippey squeek toy. Anyway, she'll be back this afternoon and maybe will have forgotten about how ugly I was when she left for work this morning.

Hugs from Oscar

OSCAR

Hello everyone!! My name is Oscar and I'm a 2-year old Shih Tzu and I'm the new man in Linda's life!! She and are doing very well together. I really like my new home and have taken a lot of walks (which by the way is my FAVORITE thing to do). She is very impressed with how well I behave and gives me lots of cuddles and hugs. I have taken over her ottoman but still leave her a little bit of room to put her feet up. She let me sleep in her bed last night (shhhhh! don't tell anyone, but I think that might be a permanent nighttime bed for me too). I did get a little scared last night when I got off the bed and saw a dog looking back at me from Linda's mirrored closet door! I growled in my very low and scary voice to let whoever that was know that this is MY room and stay away. Linda woke up and led me over to the door and guess what!! ...... that was ME in the mirror. Well, I wagged my tail and Mom and I got back into bed and continues our night's sleep. Whew, that was a close one..........

I'll get my Mom to post any of the new things we do. I know you will be interested to know how things are going with me and my "forever home"!!!

Hugs to all from Oscar and Mom

PARTY INVITATIONS

My oldest daughter Susan Liles (susiestampalot.blogspot.com) has two daughters in elementary school. Annually, there is a fund-raiser for various things at the school (I'll bet you never heard of that happening! :D ). Anyway, they try to come up with something to do in an auction every year, and this year Susan had a TERRIFIC idea --- make up baskets filled with party giving goodies to be auctioned off! All Moms have to give birthday parties for their little ones every year and who doesn't run around getting paper plates, cups, decorations, invitations, etc. to throw a party!?!? This was a great idea to have a basket full of these goodies already made up making this job soooooo much easier!! Of course, Grandma, had to contribute something, so I came up with these two invitations (boy and girl) with envelopes to add to the basket. I thought they turned out really cute! Hope you like them.

CRAFT ROOM

I am using my second bedroom as my craft room. A while ago, after cleaning it (as well as could be expected for a lot of stuff), I took some pictures of it to send to my Uncle Garner who lives in Dallas so he could see my "creative" space. In return he made this collage (is that how you spell it?). I thought it was TERRIFIC and speaks so well for his computer savvy!! So, I'm sharing it and his talents with you!!

FALL 2009

I'm in the middle of making a bunch of Halloween cards to take to my doctor's office for he and his staff to pick from for their families and friends. I'm also doing my usual duties - cleaning, dishes, laundry - that I do every week-end.

During the cleaning chores, I got down my fall decorations -- a swag of fall leaves for the front door and the table decorations for the dining room. The door swag I ordered online a really long time ago and pack it away every year. The table is made up of two gorgeous ceramic pumpkins and a black candle stand that my daughter, Susan, gave me for my birthday last year. All of the other things (fall leaves - actually 3 vines of them - pumpkins, goards, etc.) I purchased last year at the Dollar Store (and, yes, they were ACTUALLY a dollar).

This is my favorite time of the year -- the colors, foliage, and everything! We're having our first chill of the season. It's in the high 50's low 60"s outside and the leaves on my trees are falling in the yard. GREAT!!!!! Sooooooooo nice! I think it looks wonderful and will enjoy it for the next weeks before putting out the Christmas decorations.

Thank you for stopping my and I'll see you guys later.

WITCHIE WITCH

Here we are again with another Halloween card using the little witch from Stamping Bella. This layout was posted on Kristine B (Oregon) blog http://www.inksomething.blogspot.com/ . This was so much fun to make ... I had ALL the ingredients needed without going out to add to my already bulging stash of stamps, paper, embelishments. I love the way it turned out with all the just right layout (thank you, Kristine). I hope you like it, too! Come see me again.

TRICK OR TREAT HEDGIES

I found it!! I had stored away this Stampin Up set from waaayyyy back, but it's one of my favorite Halloween sets -- "Halloween Hedgehogs". This particular stamp is so much fun to color and to use on a card -- it says it all!!! I used my Copics to color. The old fence and tree images are from a more recent SU set - "Home is Where the Haunt is" -- and I embossed this image using black ep (thank you, Susan, for this suggestion). The little candy corns and stars in the sky are also from the Hedgehogs set colored with Copics. I punched the moon out using a CM punch. I accented the images and the punched out moon in Spica glitter pens in complementary colors. This is one of my favorite cards so far this Halloween season. Look for more in coming posts. Thank you for stopping by!

GHOULIES!!

I visited Sherrie at our neighborhood store (Scrapper's Boutique) yesterday and picked out this little stamp from some new ones she got in .... I'm so glad I went by as these seem to fly out the door before I even know they're there!! I'm on vacation this week, so, had I been working, I'm sure this cutie would have gone they way so many more have done -- GONE!! I colored this with my Copics (thank you Jen for the lessons) and mounted it on black cardstock. The sentiment "Have a BOO-tiful Halloween" I did on my computer and backed it with black and orange cardstock. they may not show up well in the photo, but I put in black eyelets to run the ribbon thru. I just LOVE this little card and know my grandkids will like it too.

ANOTHER LITTLE WITCHIE!

Here's another little witch card. I had an image in my mind about doing some "scribbles" with the colors that I used on the card -- gray, orange, black, light purple. That's what the background is in the middle of the card. I offset the little witch image (colored with Copics) and put a tag accented with Primas at the top corner. I added a black/white check ribbon to the orange ribbon in the bottom part of the card. I hope you enjoy it! Come back and see me again!

Halloween

One of my most favorite times of the year to make cards (other than Christmas, of course) is HALLOWEEN!! .... and that time is fast coming upon us. I just adore this little witch from Stampingbella and had to make my first Halloween card using it. The decorative paper is some left over from about 3 years ago and goes so well with anything and everything Halloween! The sentiment stamp is from Michael's $1 bin from a couple of years ago. I love being able to use all the stamps, papers, and ribbon that I already have. I hope you like the card and there will be more posts to follow as I have six grandkids to make them for. Thank you for stopping by yet again on these many posts. It seems like with my blog recently it is either feast or famine!

Baby Card

Jen Del Muro's Sketch For You To Try this week inspired me to go to work and come up with this little baby card. The little one is busting out of an "egg" which is an oval punch cut in half with ziggy zag cuts to look like a little egg. I colored the little one (from Whipper Snapper) with my Copics and I shaded the egg with a gray Pallette stamp pad. This little card just tickled me and I hope you enjoy it, too!

Thank you for coming for a visit and come back again.

Wasabi Ketto

I just had to get this cute little Ketto stamp by Stampingbella when I last visited my new neighborhood store, Scrapper's Boutique. I had this floral paper that I thought would go with this little gal and accented it with the little white flowers that I used a marker to color and did the centers with a 3-D paint dot. The little gal was colored with Copics and blended with one of the many techniques I learned in a recent Copic class by Jen Del Muro (thanks again, Jen). I also added 3-D paint dots for the hair decorations.

Thank you for stopping by and I've got one more post to make at this session.

Apple Harvest

This little "just because" card started around the dp paper I found in my stash. I did faux stiching around the green background cardstock. I punched the scallop oval and then stacked the plain ovals on top with the final one holding the image from Stampin Up's Basket Full of Fun stamp set. I colored it with my Copics and added a "shiny" accent with a white gel pen.

I hope you enjoy the card. Thank you for stopping by and come back again soon!

GIRL WITH KITTEN

I recently visited my new neighborhood Scrapper's Boutique and found this kitty paper on sale!! It is BoBunny Cat-Atude and sooooooo cute. I had just the perfect stamp image from Stampingbella to go with it!! It made a really cute card using complimenting cardstock and ribbon. I also had the cute little paw print brad in my stash. I used my Stampin Up Scallop Edge punch for the card base and repeated it on the border for the image. I cut out two of the little gray kitties from the dp and adhered one direct to the right hand bottom corner and popped the second image up with dimensionals. Since I made the card for a close friend, I thought the Warm Hugs sentiment also from Stampingbella was ideal!!

I hope you enjoy the card!

Thank you for stopping by and come back again real soon!

BACK TO SCHOOL

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! Don't tell my boss, but while he was out on vacation I brought my stamp stuff up here to the office to finish off this card. I was intrigued with the Tri-Shutter Card that was on Splitcoast (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/trishuttercard) and thought it would fit to do it for this card. IT WAS PERFECT!!

My granddaughter, Audrie, is starting kindergarten this year and I just HAD to make her a card for the occassion (her Mom, Susan Liles, just told me that I need to make her another card because she is losing her FIRST TOOTH, too)!!

Anyway, the images are from Whipper Snapper that I got some time ago and have hung on to them for all the grandchildren. The 12x12 "chalkboard" paper is from ProvoCraft and the

8-1/2x11 paper is by Masterpiece Studios (purchased at Michael's when I took delivery of the Whipper Snapper school stamps). The images were colored with my Copics using the techniques that Jen DelMuro taught us last Saturday (thank you, Jen). I really liked the way it turned out. I'm going to get a "magnifying" dot to adhere to the 24th date on the little calendar. In case you can't read the sentiment on the front, it says "The wheels on the bus.....go round and round". I did it on my computer and printed it on the cardstock.

Hope you enjoy the card and be sure to make one of these trishutters -- they're fun to make and goes toward a great looking card!!!

Thanks for stopping by and come back again real soon.

MUM

One of my favorite sets is Garden Inspirations from Lizzie Anne. It so reflects the images that my daughter, Sara Williams, created for my blog!!

This card was inspired by a Behr paint commercial I saw on TV last night for their "no primming" paint. The colors shown were the orange, tan, and green. They went so well together, I thought they'd make a wonderful card. The dec paper is from Big Memory Ideas (MPS-25 Fashion District) and goes ideally with the mum image from Lizzie Anne. I was able to apply my Copic blending techniques I learned from Jen last Saturday.

I hope you enjoy my cards.

Until next time ...............

COPIC CLASS

I had a WONDERFUL time last Saturday!! Jen delMuro held a Copic Coloring Class at the new Scrapper's Boutique (the new little shop in North Richland Hills --- just down the way from where I work). The things she taught us were invaluable. Some of the little things were the price of admission just by themselves!!!! She is a wonder!!! My daughters, Nancy Cook and Susan Liles were there, too which made it even more SPECIAL!!

These are two of the cards that we did in class. I'm still not good, but practice will make me better (or so says the expert, Jen)!!!

The third card is the very first image where we tried the blending techniques and I put the image on a little 4.25 x 4.25 card which I think is pretty cute.

If you get an opportunity to take one of Jen's Copic classes or, for that matter, any of her classes, you need to take advantage of them!!! She is an excellent cardmaker and a wonderful teacher!

VINTAGE PICNIC

I think I'm beginning to get my "mojo" back when I received the Vintage Picnic set from Papertrey! I've been working on some of the basket images and having a wonderful time coloring them with my Copics and other markers. (BTW, I am trying to register for two of Jen delMuro's Copics classes on July 25 --- EXCITING!!!) Anyway, here is one that I'm kind of proud of as I love the cheery colors and also the layout. I hope you like it, too!

HAPPY FOURTH!!

It's July 3 and I'M NOT AT WORK!!!! Yeah!! I decided last night to sleep in this morning since I don't have to be at work .... that plan seems to never work out .... I always wake up at the regular time (even without my alarm set), and can't go back to sleep; however, one advantage of being off is that I can ALWAYS go take a short "power nap" anytime during the day. I bought my little six pack of Starbucks Mocha Frappacino at the store last night, so I've had my shot of energy, my bowl of Cherrios, and my meds and I'M READY TO GO!!

I had been working on this card since Susan told me about the Vintage Picnic set from Papertrey and that it would be a must have!! I checked into it and sure enough she was right!!

I colored the plaid with fine tip Sharpies and handles and flag pole with Sakura Glaze pens in grey metalic. The stars were done with the Glaze gold metalic. I hope you enjoy the card and that you have a great JULY 4th!!