Major Cuteness: 2 and 4 Legged

Just a quick post today. I've been feeling icky lately, so I have to apologise for my absence. So, in an effort to win you back, I bring you a big honking load of adorability, beginning with Henri Marie Raymond Toulouse Lautrec Monfa, better known as Toulousey Goosey, Goosey Goo, or just plain Goo.

Next up, a layout I made for Elizabeth Goodson's Creative Memories January Challenge. It's my completely charming neice, Vivienne. As the journalling states, she is a big fan of Stephen Colbert (talk about good taste!) and the word, "butt-nut", a favorite term of endearment my husband made up for my dog, Revco, who Vivi is slightly less fond of because Rev can't seem to curb his habit of barking in her face. They made up, though, by the end of their most recent visit, over a good (and gentle) rhythmic head bonking with a stuffed stingray, right between the ears. Somewhere between petting and the world's softest bludgeoning.

 Next, a big smile from Ms. Usagi, floppity tongue and all.

 And finally, here she is with her new, blue toupee courtesy a cat toy we had to take away from her before it could be completely eviscerated. It's hard to teach the dogs the difference between a dog toy and a cat toy.
Love the wink here!

Have a great week! It's almost the Fabulous and Festive Month of February! Losar! Valentine's Day! My Birthday! Scott's Birthday! President's Day! And I'm sure I must be forgetting something, but the point is, February is Fun! Whoot!

Something Nice and Something Extra Nice

 

Rough weekend all around. I was in a half ton of pain and had to miss my friend Teresa's open house event that I had been salivating over since I first heard about it (new Stampin' Up Catalogs, some kind of game involving ribbon and quarters, eensie weensie shopping bags, etc.)  I loathed being stuck at home, missing out on cool crafts and games, but the pain was so evil, it made my skin feel like it was humming a full inch deep (which wouldn't actually be skin, but the endodermis or something like that, but please humor me anyway). The worst part is how the pain makes me feel like I'm teeny tiny, wrapped in roll upon roll of scratchy insulation, then stuffed deep inside my own head. Please forgive me, Teresa. I promise I would have been there if I had any choice.

Now, that wasn't so nice, I know, so let's move on to something that is...a challenge!

This challenge is one you can enter in several different ways...all of which you can read about here, at Card Cupid's Blog! You can earn entries by posting about the challenge, making cards for the Card Cupid Program and posting about them, and you can also enter by mailing cards in (marked with the appropriate information so you get credit for sending them). And, if you send in links/messages completing one or more of these different challenge entry tasks, you can be put into the drawing to win this!

What, you may be wondering, is the Card Cupid program? It's a really easy and fun way to do something kind for a sick kid. You create happy cards for holidays, birthdays, or just to wish someone a great day, then send it in to the organizers. There are a few rules you need to follow, but they're not complicated, and I like thinking about who might open the card I'm making while I'm putting it together.

This is my first time making cards for this program. I had a lot of fun, though, so I'm quite certain I'll be making more soon. I made a group of five Valentines, it being that time of year and all. Plus Valentines are just all-around exciting. Hearts, bright pink and red, ribbons and the like are the kinds of things that I can get seriously enthusiastic about. I'm a holiday dork in general because they let you stop, relax, and be tacky. Like a snow day collided with a Big Lots. Glitter, plastic decorations, shiny banners, paper hearts, chalky candy, crepe paper whatnots, colored lights, centerpieces featuring wire covered in whatever that thin metallic plastic stuff is that tinsel is made of...oh yeah, I remember exactly what that stuff is made of: pure joy.

So, interspersed throughout this post are photos of my cards.I hope I did everything right and that the hosts of the challenge like what I've created.

So...consider making cards for some minors who aren't feeling so great--it's an extra nice thing to do! I plan to make more soon, so if your cards want to hitch a ride with mine through the postal system, just ask. I'd be happy to help more cards get to this happy destination.

Revco, Exposed and more challenges. Huzzah!

 Working on rattie cards the last few days. Look at this cute little hairless. I think she (we'd know if she was a he, even from this angle) looks a little less naked in tiny dots. I used the sketch from this week's challenge at Pricillastyles' Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge. I adore card sketches, so when you combine them with a challenge, I'm hooked. Those with a keen eye might have caught a distinct resemblance to last week's sketch in the post just before this one. Could it be that I just barely missed the deadline? Perhaps. Darn. Well, it's not going to happen this week. Or next. I'm hooked on this one.

 Now here's an interesting little conundrum. I made this card for Scott (who hasn't seen it yet. Shhh!) (Yeah, I know, even *he* doesn't read my blog!) using a sketch for one challenge and the "man card" theme from another. Then, for some unknown reason, my computer rebooted without my permission and I couldn't remember the sites I got the challenge assignments from. Noooooooooo! Oh well. Sometimes a card is just a card. I love that cute PS3 sticker from E.A.D. Designs.

Ever been sniffed by a blog? That's my little Revvy's nose and I guarantee he can't *wait* for blog assisted sniffing technology to be common and affordable for all dogs. Want to know more about my little canine pal? OF COURSE YOU DO! And it's your lucky day because he's the Pet of the Week at the Etsy for Animals Blog. Be sure to let them know what a cutie patootie you, naturally, think he is.

Thanks for paying attention to me! :)

Helpful Kitty, Yet Another Challenge, and This Week's DT Card

Isn't Weezee helpful? She's very good at helping me select the right paper. Of course, she shreds it and/or drools on it shortly afterward, but she does have very good taste.

Here's what Weezee and I put together for the CES Challenge Blog's All Creatures Great and Small Challenge and the Stamp Something Digital Stamp Challenge. I know I generally go for the "small" when it comes to creatures, but this time I went for the "great" in size. I chose an adorable Rottweiler from Bugaboo Stamps. Isn't he just adorable?

Rotties are one of those breeds who have been demonized by the media and some very irresponsible and abusive people who take a sweet, gentle giant and use cruelty to turn them into a fearful, reactive dog. In general, when I think of a rotweiler the first words that come to mind are "big lug". :) I love the way they lean into you to ask for petting and their cute, lumbering walk. It's unfortunate that they've become the victim of breed descrimination, with some places refusing to rent to people with this breed, insurance companies charging unfairly high penalties for having one, etc. We need to crack down, not on the innocent dogs, but on the jerks who go out and buy a large dog from a store or breeder who doesn't screen buyers carefully, and then bully the dog into behaving aggressively. These people don't want a dog to love and raise responsibly. They want a large, aggressive dog to selfishly satisfy their ego. They like to think that they look tough because they can mistreat a large animal any way they want. It's they who need to be stopped, through the passage and enforcement of humane laws and by careful screening, including vet references and followup, of anyone who is to be trusted with a dog. These adorable, loving dogs deserve this.

Okay, no more ranting. Onto a cute card with one of my favorite digis ever! Look at that sweet waggy tail. :)

And...here's my design team contribution for this week's challenge over at For Fun Challenges. This week's challenge is to use the colors black, olive, and purple in the same card. Come give it a try!

Happy Wednesday!

Happy 14th, Revco!

Yes, it's true! One year from now, Revco will be old enough to get his learner's permit. Then he can drive me around since I never really learned how. That'll be so handy!
I've got another challenge entry! I've been itching to use this neat green paper since I love hearts, but you usually only see them in reds and pinks. So, here's a new (to me), adorable image of a cat and mouse by the Digi Doodle Shop for a challenge on their blog.

That's all for now. Happy Revco's Birthday!

Do I Stack Up?

I recently learned that Revco will break into a hearty howl at the words, "Whoot whoot" or "Peep boop boop". I think he is afraid that the robots are going to take over and enslave us all, so he's aiming to rally the dogs to stop the uprising. Maybe he knows something I don't. Hmm.

In the mean time, I have been working on some projects for the inaugural challenge at the Do You Stack Up blog. The theme this week is buttons, so you'll see a lot of them today. First project is this ATC Valentine I made using an image from Pricilla Styles. I love the old timey valentine look to this image, so I ran with that in designing the card. I'm rather pleased with it.

And this one counts double because I used a sponsor's digital stamp...this adorable birthday rat (mouse?) from Stretch-n-Bubbles. I'm a big fan of buttons so I went to town on these, picking out all kinds of neat ones from my stash. I actually had to go to my backstock and re-fill my button tin after making a few of these. Oh and check out that border punch from Fiskars. Itty bitty cupcakes! Aww!

Wish me luck! The Do I Stack Up blog has already been generous...check out the horse stamp set in the right sidebar here...I won it! Once it arrives, I'll make some neat equine themed projects to show them off. I had recently been thinking my collection is deficient in horses. If I wanted a horse image in the past, I basically had to amputate a unicorn horn or a carousel pole.

Sleepy dog, Wolves, and Week Two on the Design Team

I love it when the dogs or cats get so relaxed, they forget that a teensy bit of their tongue is sticking out. It's awfully cute for a body part that looks so much like a slice of processed ham. I made a set of wolf cards for my design team assignment this week. It was only supposed to be one card, but I'm big on overkill. I like the cute little wolf pups in this realistic digital stamp image by the Digi Doodle Shop. Since we didn't have any color limitations so I went with one of my favorites--red and ice blue--using some SEI papers I had been saving for something I couldn't remember. That makes it fair game.

I was inspired to make this card by a humane issue that's been on my mind a lot lately: the arial gunning of wolves. In the state of Alaska, it is currently legal to harass wolves with small aircraft, flying low to the ground, terrifying and tiring the animal to the point of exhaustion before shooting the wolf from the plane while still in the air (often resulting in wounded animals escaping to sustain a long, painful death) or landing and shooting him or her at point blank range. Nationally, this inhumane pasttime was outlawed by the federal government in 1972, but the Alaskan government continues to sidestep the law to keep killing canines in this fashion. They call it "wildlife management" despite studies showing numbers that are quite contrary to their assertation that this is necessary. Predator species are vital to the environmental balance and deserve humane treatment like any other animal. Excuses are made to hunt them to low levels, then the overpopulation and clustered killing of prey species causes a sudden increase in births, resulting in an endless imbalance. We need to let nature balance itself. Our interference only makes the situation worse.

If you are as uncomfortable with this practice as I am, please visit the Defenders of Wildlife website and send a quick letter to the governer of Alaska, asking him to adjust state law to coincide with the current Federal law and end this brutality against animals. Thanks for checking this out. It's been weighing heavily on my mind lately.

A Disclaimer, Phabulous Phindy, and a Design Team Queen

Hope you're having a happy start to 2011. I just got back from a trip to Atlanta to see Scott's family. It was 3 days of driving, hard matresses, and fun. My spine really hates the first two (and seems to hate the third, if you consider how often it gets in the way of anything fun.) so I'm still recovering. I apologize to everyone who has been in any way trying to contact me, get information from me, come to see me, is owed an xmas card or gift from me, etc. I've been in so much pain it feels like my skin is humming.

Now, on a happier note, a Mouse-tini! It was going to be a sour-apple one, but the other day Scott brought some of those bright green candied cherries home and I had to immortalize them here. Though some may remember a long-ago poem I wrote, bashing the unnaturally bright and sticky fruit, I've come to love them, especially when they're smooshed into the top of cookies.

The image I used on this card is by one of my absolute-favorite stamp artists, Phindy! Check out her site and web store and just you see if I'm wrong about her brilliance. :)

I have some happy news though, that I've been anxiously awaiting the "okay" from HQ to share with you.

Ready?

I have been invited to be on the For Fun Challenges design team! For the next six months I will be officially creating projects for their website on the first and third weeks of every month (I'm on the "A-Team". I hope they let me fly the helicopter!) Unofficially, I will be creating projects other weeks as well, so subscribe to their web feed and keep up with their posts. Their challenges are neat and you can win prizes that rock from their weekly sponsors. Please take a look! I'm totally psyched to be on their team. Whoooooo!

P.S. Speaking of following blogs, at the request of one of my highly esteemed readers, I've added one of those Google "Follow" dealies to my blog. Go ahead. Click it. Amazing things will happen*!

*Amazing things may not happen.