BCG Wk 44 - Owl Together Now

Isn't this little Owl the cutest! - What's even better is this is a brand new set in the upcoming 2008-2009 SU Catalog. So how did I get it you might ask...Well it's quite a story. Patty Bennett was sharing some photo's of the Bermuda Cruise she was lucky enough to go on and how this set was one of the sets that was used for the "make'n'take" projects on the cruise. I made a comment on her blog about how if she absolutely hated the set she could send it my way.

Well before long she was emailing me saying she actually didn't really care much for the set and if I would send her my address she would send it to me. I can't tell you how excited I was and of course I sent her my mailing address zippy quick. We made a quick "trade" of sorts and in a few days I had this cute little set in my hot little hands. Today is the first day I've had a chance to play with it. - Thank You again Patty for sending me this super neat stamp set.

Our challenge this week was a color challenge using: Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue and So Saffron. I really liked these colors when I paired them up and decided they would go well with my new stamp set.

Stamps Used: Owl Together Now

Inks: Basic Brown, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery
Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue, So Saffron, Whisper White

Other: Prisma Color Pencils, Gamsol, Photo Corner Punch, Scallop Punch, Giga Circle Punch,

Swiss Dot Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug), Saffron Brads, Paper Piercing Tool, Foam Mounting Tape

Be sure to check out all the other great projects from the fellow members of the Blogger's Challenge Group - See Icon on Sidebar.

Memories of Nuisance

In Fond Memory of one of the COOLEST cats that ever lived.

Nuisance came to live with us one cold, rainy night in October of 1994. I had gone to the grocery store and when I came home the kids were sitting in the doorway with this tiny little soaked kitten. I asked them where on earth did they get a kitten and they said he just wandered into the yard. Well we took him in and got him dried off & fed as he was very hungry. We discovered that he was covered with fleas so we spent about an hour bathing him and picking fleas off of him as we knew my hubby wouldn't let us keep him unless we did.

We knew this kitten belonged to some neighbors as we'd seen their little boy tossing him around by his tail one day. Needless to say we just knew that we couldn't send him back home to them so he became a member of our family.

As to how he got his name...A few months earlier I begged my husband to let me have a kitten and he reluctantly agreed saying it would be nothing but, "Trouble" so that is what we named that kitten. When he agreed to let us keep this one he said he would just be another "Nuisance" around the house so that is how he came to be our beloved Nuisance.

This cat loved playing in the snow and whenever it snowed he meowed at the door to get outside so he could play. One year he had a bad ear infection so we hauled snow inside and dumped it in the bathtub for him to play in. You can see in the picture how much fun we was having.

You could put almost anything on this cat and he would let you. He's been a "Carnival" cat, a New Years Cat, and even inside a jack-o-lantern as a tiny kitten. He was certainly well loved and well photographed. In the coming days I'll share a few more pictures of him.

Coleen just adored this cat and it was sure hard trying to explain to her why he wasn't here anymore. Of course children seem to adjust rather quickly and I think she's accepted his being gone a lot easier then I have. It seems so odd to pass by the chair he loved to lay in and not see him sleeping there. He loved to purr and eat (yeah you can't tell he was well fed in those pictures can you?)...He loved to YOWL at the top of his lungs in the middle of the night, go for car rides, he even laid on the dashboard and would watch the trees as you went by and try to bat at them. He was always very friendly and people just loved him. He had a lot of fun with all our other cats and the last photo is of him and the other 3 cats taken just a day before he passed away.

It was so sudden and unexpected. I had a hard time trying to write about it the night he died.

He started having breathing problems on Sunday night and not knowing our regular vets home phone we had to take him to an Emergency On Call Vet. She thought he was having an Asthma attack so she gave him a steroid shot and some pills to give him for the next few days. We had to keep him calm (if that was possible) so he spent the night in our bathroom. I kept getting up to check on him but he wasn't any better and the poor thing didn't sleep all night long. The next morning I called our regular vet and he said to just keep an eye on him & if he got worse to bring him in. At noon I just didn't feel he was any better so I took him in to our normal Vet. He gave him a faster acting shot and said to keep giving him the Prednisone pills. By evening he was restless and still had hard labored breathing. We took him in to lay him on our bed to give him the pill about 6:00 when he soddenly started convulsing and we laid him on the floor and he was gone. It was really very traumatic to witness and also so sad to see him that way as he was such a beautiful cat.

It's hard to say "Goodbye" and quite frankly we never will as he lives on in our hearts and in these special photos we have of him. Gone but not forgotten - Nuisance 1994-2008

BCG Wk 43 - Chipboard in Burgundy

Hooray, I did it!!! - I wasn't sure I'd be able to participate this week for the Blogger's Challenge Group since I've been swamped this week. My mom had a Total Knee Replacement done on Tuesday and I've been mos of the week at the hospital. In fact the day of the surgery I was there 12 hours! Last night she got to come home and I stayed the night trying to sleep on her tiny little couch (oh my aching back) so I didn't get much sleep last night either.

I had this idea in mind though and had actually started it the day before she went in for her surgery. I can't believe as rummy feeling as I am that I managed to put this card together. I may just use this for my Anniversary card to my dear hubby as today is our 16th Wedding Anniversary. We will most likely celebrate a week late though since I can't leave my mom alone for very long as she is still having a hard time getting in and out of her bed (why do they make those beds so doggone tall?)

For this card I drew my inspiration from a patterned piece of Designer Paper by Basic Grey (Figgy Pudding Line). It just oozes romance to me. I covered a square of chipboard from SU's On Board Blossoms and Basic with the DP and inked the edges with Cranberry Crisp Ink (retired). Then I ink up one small heart with White Craft Ink and dipped it in Crystal Clear EP and heated and repeated the steps until it look pearl like. For the other 2 hears I inked them with Cranberry Crisp ink first several times and then distressed them with Bravo Burgundy Ink.

I embossed the "Love" sentiment (Hero Arts) with Winter White EP. For my background I stamped the En Francais BG with Bravo Burgundy and then over stamped the Linen Background using Cranberry Crisp Ink. I also stamped the Linen BG on the Burgundy Strip and distressed the edges with the Cutter Kit. I added a piece of eyelet lace (antique stuff from way back when that my mom had) and I distressed the edges with the Cranberry Crisp ink. Then I added some half pearls (vanilla colored ones) from the Pretties Kit.

I hope hubby doesn't think it's too "feminine" because I really like how it turned out and hope you do as well.

Be sure to check out all the other great Blogger's projects by clicking on the Icon on my sidebar.

Now I'm off to rest a little as I probably won't get much sleep again tonight. My mom is tough but she is 79 years old and just went through a major surgery so I think it's important to be there if she needs help even though she's stubborn and thinks she can do it on her own.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Many of you commented on my bow tying skills for the card posted here:
http://faithartistry.blogspot.com/2008/04/bcg-wk-41-friendship-blooms.html and while I'd like to say that I'm super "talented" at bow tying I must give credit where credit is due. You see I didn't actually tie this bow at all. Instead I used a very cool and clever faux bow technique that I learned here: http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2007/04/3.html to create my bow. In Nichole's tutorial she uses paper strips for the bow but the same technique can be easily adapted to actual ribbon. - Thank you all for your wonderful compliments though on the bow for my card.

You Quack Me Up

I belong to this really fun group called, Stamp Girls Gone Wild (doesn't that just conjure up all kinds of fun stuff!) We're actually a group of stampers that are not dedicated to just "one" stamp company meaning that our cards can use stamps and supplies from any company we choose.

Our first 2 swaps have been Mystery Image swaps. What this means is that one person picks out an image and sends it to everyone who signed up for the swap. We are then assigned a partner and send our card to that person. All the cards are then posted in a file for everyone to see what we all did with the same image.

Our first image was a Gnome sent out by our Moderator (Kerry) and the card I did for my partner for that swap is found here: http://faithartistry.blogspot.com/2008/03/roaming-gnome.html There were some really great entries for that challenge.

I asked if I could pick out the next image for another Mystery Image swap. I had my new kitten (Callie-Jo) help me out by looking at stamps from http://www.addictedtorubberstamps.com/ and then we settled on this adorable Duck image from http://www.hambostamps.com/ . It was new and I thought it was just to cute to pass up, Callie-Jo agreed with me.

I wanted a cute saying to go with my duck and picked out the (You Quack Me Up) sentiment made by Penny Black at addictedtorubberstamps. I must say here that both places have excellent Customer Service and I highly recommend shopping with both companies.

For my card base I chose: Only Orange (SU) card stock stamped with the Sanded Background in OO ink. My color inspiration was taken from this FUN piece of Designer Paper (Oh Baby!Boy - Garic by Basic Grey) I also added a small strip of Apricot Appeal that I ran through the Cuttlebug using my Swiss Dot Embossing Folder and a piece of Orange Rickrack (JoAnn Craft Essentials). I embossed the sentiment with Bold Black EP (SU) added a cloth brad (not sure of source) and a Felt Flower (Queen and Company).

I colored the duck image with Prisma Colored Pencils blended with Gamsol. Then I added Lemonade Yellow Fun Flock (Stampendous) using a glue pen to the duck and let it dry. I also added Crystal Effects to the mud pond. I used a Scalloped Square Punch (Marvy) to punch out my image an mounted it to Green Galore(SU) card stock and Textured Lavender CS (Bazzill) and added 4 tiny green brads (Queen and Company) then mounted the image with foam dimensional tape to complete my card.

The card measures 5 1/4 by 5 1/4" - I really had fun with this card and my partner loved it so I am very happy with how this turned out.

BCG Wk 41 Friendship Blooms

I started this card yesterday and didn't quite finish it. This morning I got up and just didn't like what I had done but after trying a few other things I decided it was just going to have to do for this weeks challenge. For some reason I wasn't to thrilled with the way this card turned out and in fact I told my mom I thought it was ("ugly"). She assured me it wasn't but I'm still not convinced.

The layout was pretty cool even though it was out of my normal comfort zone. So what do you think?

Stamp Set: Friendship Blooms (Sale-a-bration)

Card Stock & Paper: Chocolate Chip (Textured), Afternoon Tea Designer Paper, Groovy Guava,Cameo Coral

Ink Pad: Cameo Coral

Other: Winter White EP, Swiss Dot Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Island Blossom Dew Drops, Wide Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon, Clear Spica Glitter Pen, Foam Mounting Tape, Distressing Tool.

That's it for me this week. Be sure to check out the other members creations by using the Bloggers Challenge Icon on my sidebar.