Catching Up and a Winner!

June, june, june. How I loathe dump season at the rescue. Just one unwanted animal after another, one excuse after another. We got one yesterday that read more like a kidnapper's threat than a rescue request. To paraphrase, they announced that they were holding a guinea pig in an outdoor cage in the intense heat where she was being attacked by mosquitos. She's too much work and they need to get rid of her right away. It was a mistake to get her (Really? You think?) and she needs to be gone, now.


See what I mean?


Sadly it turns out that they contacted us from several states away so there's little we can do other than refer her to rescues in her area. It kills me to see guinea pigs or rabbits in outdoor cages or hutches. They're prey animals, so being kept in a cage outdoors, with the scent of predators everywhere, with no where to run (in the wild they would have shrubbery, burrows (in the case of rabbits), the ability to run and run and run, but in a cage they're sitting ducks, if you'll pardon the mixed metaphor. Not to mention the weather extremes, parasites, ugh!
(I heart robots! And stitching on cards using shimmering thread!)

Let's go on to something happier. Last night was my flower arranging class. This week's theme was "garden style" arrangements, which are intended to look wild, or create a mini woodland scene. So fun! I love dioramas and the like so this was right up my alley. We have to use faux flowers for the class (not something I usually like, but they grow on you (no pun intended)) so I found this sprig of lantern flowers that were kind of spooky looking and went from there. I was really proud--I had no corrections from the teacher this time and not because she wasn't doling them out, either! I added some scrubby looking stuff, some vine (that looked a little too much like, ahem, bully sticks in the package, but worked great once they were cut and arranged), and a tombstone I put together using a photo I took in a Sonoma cemetery and some layers of heavy-duty cardstock. I'm rather pleased with the result.

(Giraffe matchbook mini journal. Cute, huh? I loooove the new "in colors" at Stampin' Up.)

I was also busy this week getting ready for my Stampin' Up catalog preview class. It ended up being a lot of fun (it usually does. I really like my stamping peeps) and I like how the projects turned out.

(Yep, that's them.)

(This one is hard to see, but the elephants have a neat batik look that worked well with the somewhat indianish color scheme and, of course, the fact that it's an elephant! The look is acheived by first inking up a stamp with a large, flat, solid design, using Stampin' Up classic ink. Next, ink your intricate design stamp with a Craft ink of your choice. (I used Expressions silver ink. Just in case you're itching to try these techniques, visit my webstite and click "Shop now" at the top, *or* email me.

http://veronica.stampinup.net

(Closeup on the ATC. The birdpuddle is made of super thick embossing powder.)

On to what you've been waiting for...the winner of the poetry prize...

Brandy!

Please email me with your address so I can get your prizes in the mail! (It's at the top of the page). Hooray for you!

For those who didn't win, don't worry! I have more goodies and more contests in mind. Stay tuned!