How a Princess Recovers from CL Surgery

Where to begin? I suppose back in January when Tobie first hurt her left knee. She was able to recover with anti-inflammatories and rest that time. Then, the day I made the banner in the last blog post, she turned up lame again. This time, there was no known event (like playing in the snow) that caused the injury and it seemed worse, as she was not using the paw at all. My mom and step-dad rested her for the week we were on vacation, and there was some progress.

Fred and I met with the surgeon on Wednesday and due to muscle loss in her hind-end and severe swelling, the surgeon felt that this current injury was in fact older than 10 days. I walked in the office not wanting the surgery, but we both felt that was the right course of treatment and so she stayed and the TPLO was preformed that evening.

We picked her up yesterday afternoon and she let us know by grumbling at us for the first hour she was home how unhappy she was with our decision. She slept most of the evening and did eat a bit of boiled hamburger and cooked rice for dinner. I slept downstairs with her on an air mattress. I really should say "slept." She was a bit restless. About 3 AM, Fred brought Monty down as he was upstairs complaining. After that, she got up on the mattress with me and we slept for about three hours.

This morning, she was sleeping in the mudroom in one of her favorite spots while I was on my computer. Monty was doing his usual desk troll task. When I got up, no Tobie in the mudroom. Where is my girlie? Where did she go?

As you can see from the picture, she is so glad we set up the air mattress just so she could recover in comfort.

Lookey What I Made (with Martha's help!!)

Here is a really cool Halloween banner I made at Craft Fancy on Saturday. I hung it up tonight and it looks so awesome in the candlelight on my mantle. Craft Fancy is an awesome new scrapbooking store in Arlington Heights. If you are in the area, check it out!

Martha is an awesome teacher. I can't wait to take her next class where she promises to show me what to do with the oh so cute new Sassafrass papers. She always brings her students candy, which I was enjoying this afternoon. Check out Maratha's blog here. Here is a link to Craft Fancy.

SIS Online Coffe & Cupcakes Class

Here is the cover for my Starbucks cup book. I used Summer Breeze Twinkling H2O in the watercoloring, so there is a very pretty glimmer! I punched a 1-3/8" circle to completely cover the mermaid and used a large square foam riser to push up the button. I figured this might make it easier to close it with the ribbon, but will wait to measure the ribbon closure until the book is assembled.

I am so behind on posting RAKs...

So, here I go. My desk is an absolute MESS. Awful. So bad, I can't really do much of any kind of stamping or scrapbooking. The worst part is that my desk kind of swallows things...like the new sheet of EZ Mount I know is here somewhere. Since it is missing, I am being kept from using my new Just Johanna stamps that are crying to me...birds wearing pompadours and panniered skirts...and all my new Copics that would be so perfect to color the layered skirts. I am working on the mess, and in the process turned up a few cards I knew were here but couldn't find to photograph and post.

The first is a card from Kandi Kwirant in Iowa. This was probably the first fully colored, put together Bella I had seen other than what I had done. As is so often said, IRL, this card is amazing. The windows and headlights have Crystal Effects or a similar product on them. Bella's car is a glittery, shimmery pink and all the chrome is metallic. The flowers on the wheels are covered in Stickles with a red spot in the center. I am not sure I would have had the courage to put the lavender dotted ribbon with the polka dot paper, but it really works. I also envy Kandi's ability to sew. The stitched lines are so nice and straight! I've tried a couple of times at my mom's, but mine never come out so nicely. Maybe when I get my new craft room in our maybe new house I can get the Janome Sew Mini machine that Cambria Turnbow is always raving about. Since pink and green is my favorite color combination and given that this was my first Bella, I don't think I'll ever part with this card.

This card, featuring yogabella, came from Theresa Haire. Theresa was my "send to" partner in the May Postabella exchange. I love the green mat - it kind of looks like mine! Bellas top is nice and glittery, just like my favorite instructor likes to wear for TurboKick. The radio has a metallic sheen to it, too. It looks like the same medium Kandi used for Bella's car, above. Ladies, what are you using for this? I need some of them to feed the mess on my desk! Thanks, Theresa!

Pam Gaynor sent me this beauty. I've always wondered how Pam's cards looked in person. I was pretty sure from the pictures that I've seen that she embossed the image with black and then colored it. Really cool. That's how it looks. The embossing gets shiny - perfect for blingy Bella! This would also solve my continual feathering problem with my Copics. The background rosy red is embossed with the Floral Fantasy Cuttlebug folder. Sad to say, I have this folder and I don't think I've used it. I really need to, it is lovely, as is i-wish-i-looked-so-good-on-a-bikabella.

clickabella arrived in today's mail from Laurel Seabrook. My June Postabella card travelled all the way to Prospect Heights from Port Alberni, BC. Wow. That is about 2,161 miles. This is the first time that I have seen paper piecing in person. It seems so simple, but somehow I've been intimidated to try it. I am not sure that you can see that the two sentiment circles to the left are covered in iridescent glitter, as are Bella's shoes and necklace. I love it.

Somewhere in the mess are these cool little clips I bought so you can make a wall hanging out of individual pictures. I thought this would be so cool to do with cards and it looked like it would work, but I haven't seen them in months. I promise to keep cleaning. I also know there are at least two cards still MIA. One from Katie Cotton and another from Kim Docktor.

This last picture is a very precocious 10-year old trying to get in on the picture taking. Isn't Brian handsome? (BTW, I believe that is a Transformer weapon in his mouth, if you were wondering.)

Claire's Birthday Card - Cling and Scrunch

Here is the card I gave my sister, Claire, for her 19th birthday. I can't believe she is 19. Shouldn't she only be about 9? I made this card a while ago using a technique from Technique Junkies. I used the Cling and Scrunch technique for the background using Stampin' Up! reinkers. The bodice and skirt of the dress are covered with clear Stickles and there are bezel gems scattered on the skirt.

The Recipe:

Stamps: Blooming with Happiness and Everyday Flexible Phrases (Stampin' Up!)

Paper: Lovely Lilac, Tempting Turquise, Whisper White and Basic Black (Stampin' Up) and glossy white cardstock

Ink: Lovely Lilac and Tempting Turquoise reinkers

Other: Round Tab Punch (Stampin' Up!), Fiskars corner punch, Stickles, Stampendous bezel gems and velvet ribbon

Good Morning!

Peaches is slowly getting used to us. The tiny little lady likes cabinets. The only places she seems to quiet is right up along the cabinets. I think she was very pleased to discover the cabinets in my office. She checked out Monty's spot under my desk and settled in a spot to my left, along the file cabinet. How lucky am I? I have three beautiful Berners in my office!

She hasn't eaten a bite. Hopefully, she'll feel comfortable enough to eat by this evening. She is doing better with doorways, but didn't like the thunder this morning at all. Tobie and Monty didn't like the thunder either!

Postabella Cards - April & May

OK. So as usual, I am a bit behind. I have signed up for Postabella where every month we get a sketch and are assigned a sistah (or two) to send a card to. Well, being the perfectionist I am, if I am given a sketch, I MUST do the sketch. I had trouble wrapping my brain around the May card. Last week, the lightbulb went off - instead of stitching, ric rack! I had to mount a ton of new Bellas from my last order, and somehow Grumpabella came out. All the papers are from my mom's scrap bin in her basement. I think she turned out cute, and hope that everyone does, too.

The April card was a problem as the sketch had a dimension for the box where the Bella is. Again, given a direction, I am hard pressed NOT to follow it. My first several attemps to get all of Flowahbella's curls in the designated size box failed. The sketch also called for four one inch circles. Wouldn't you know that I have NOTHING that makes a ONE inch circle. 1-1/4, 1-3/8, smaller, sorta one inch, but NOT one inch. Grrr. Well, I played around with that one for a while. The first draft ended up being my mom's Mother's Day card. I still wasn't quite happy with it, so when I finally sat down to finish this, I dropped the designated size for Bella's box. I made her box fit her shape, so all her curls are included. Since she is a party girl, she has glitter in her hair, too! I kept the circles, but changed them to flowers. The flowers are from the Stampin' Up! Pretties kit. I dabbed them with Tempting Turquouise and put yellow brads in the center for a little extra color. I stole the leaves from something in my mom's embellishment box, but I think they are from Making Memories. Bella's boots are colored with a turquize Glaze Pen which makes them look like patent leather. Too cool!! I learned this tip from a stamping store I recently visited in Chicago called Stamp On In. They were using the black Glaze Pens to make black patent leather boots. I have a black Glaze Pen as of yesterday, so be on the lookout for some black patent leather boots!

Hopefully, I won't be so late with my June card. Procrastination, rather than Marie, should have been my middle name.



My nifty signature thingy isn't working, so I guess I'll just type it -

Lynn

Learning how to do this blog stuff

So, I have the blog, but now I want it to look cool. I am trying to figure out this signature thing today.

And so it begins

Oh, my. I have a blog now.