Atticus

We lost our sweet sweet boy, Atticus, this past Tuesday.  Luis was about to shower him off after a swim when he collapsed and was gone.  It was so fast and so completely unexpected.  We are all still in shock and trying to come to terms with a much quieter and more empty life.  

Above is a photo from the day I brought him home.  The picture below is from March.  

He was 9 1/2 years old.  

My heart is broken.

Big Bloom Birthday

Hi there!  Just a quick post tonight as I am completely knackered.  Atti had me up last night and I was being a bit paranoid.  Because he's a big, deep chested dog he is at risk for GDV (also known as bloat).  Thankfully it was just a really upset tummy and he finally settled around 3am.  I ended up sleeping in the living room with him so I could keep a close eye on him.  Having seen dogs suffer with GDV at work (with both happy and sad outcomes) it's not something I want to mess around with.  He's back to himself tonight and now I just want to have some dinner and crash!  

I managed to get a couple of cards done today despite my zombie-like state.  This one uses the current ColourQ colours and some Paper Smooches dies so I'm also entering it in the PS Sparks Anything Goes challenge.  Hope you all have a lovely evening!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Calypso Coral, So Saffron, Coastal Cabana, Smokey Slate) Stampin' Up

Dies:  (Big Bloom, Birthday Words) Paper Smooches

Punch:  (1/16" hole punch) McGill

Muse Thanks

Hello all!  I had a bit of time to play around in the Craft Cave today and wanted to join in with this week's Muse challenge.  How gorgeous and fun and cheery is Marion's card?  I was inspired by the colorful repeated die cuts and decided to frame mine with the negative of this butterfly die cut. 

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend.  It was gorgeous here and we spent most of yesterday doing errands which did not please Mr. Atticus.  So today he got a swim, a walk and multiple ball plays to make up for it.  I guess he's appeased now as he's stretched out on our bed snoring his head off!  Have a good night!   :)

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Strathmore, (Regal Rose, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi, Bermuda Bay, Basic Black) Stampin' Up, (Blue) Paperbilities

Dies:  (Nesting Butterflies) Lifestyle Crafts, (Thanks from Quote Tag) Paper Smooches

Gems:  Recollections

Rockin' Paper Piecing

Hi there!  Today was rainy and thundery all day a perfect day to spend in the Craft Cave.  I worked on some special order cards and Christmas card ideas and then took a break to play along with ColourQ.  I don't have any Bermuda Bay paper (which seems wrong somehow!) so I used some Paperbilities paper which actually looks a lot more like BB in real life.  I paper pieced this Sweet Stamp Shop cassette and added a Lawn Fawn sentiment.  Bright, fun and rock and roll!

The bad weather today was also conducive to having a little sulk about the fact that my brother has gone back home.  :( We had an awesome visit with him - lots of laughs and fun and way too much good food!  And Atticus is devastated that his Tio Phil has left him.  Phil spoiled Atti with lots of swims and walks and ball games.  Here's how Atti is looking now that Phil is gone:

Even with a big ol' pile of beds he's still not a happy puppy.  :(

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Turquoise) Paperbilities, (Primrose Petals, Daffodil Delight, RIch Razzleberry) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Cassette from Old School Rock) Sweet Stamp Shop, (Sentiment from Stay Tuned) Lawn Fawn

Ink:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

You Old Bag!

My mom and I have a little tradition where we always give each other 2 cards on our birthdays - a nice card and a rude card.  This is the rude card that I gave mom this year.  :)

It totally cracked her up.  In fact, I think she liked it better than the nice card!  LOL!  I want to add it to Unity's Friends With Flair blog hop.  If you've never hopped along with it you should - there's always a ton of inspiration!

I also wanted to share these pictures of Atticus being thoroughly spoiled by his daddy!

That would be Haagen Dazs Dulce du Leche that he's slurping up and that container was spotless when he was done with it!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Crumb Cake) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Bag & sentimnet from July '12 KOM - Ol' Bag of Fun) Unity Stamp Co, (Bit of Burlap) Market Street Stamps

Inks:  (VersaMark) Tsukineko, (Early Espresso) Stampin' Up

Die:  (Double Ended Banner, Tag Sale #5) Papertrey Ink

Gems:  Doodlebug

Eyelet:  We R Memory Keepers

Here For You

I've been admiring this Simon Says Stamp die all over Blogland for ages now and am amazed at how such a simple image can be used in so many different ways.  I finally got my hands on one and this is the first time I've played with it.  I die cut the image and then coloured it with Stampin' Up markers in this week's Colour Throwdown colours.  I then inlaid it in an embossed strip of Crumb Cake card and matted it on Old Olive card.  I finished it off with a sentiment from The Craft's Meow's Vintage Clocks set.  I'm also going to enter this card in the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge.  

Had to share this picture of Luis and Atticus from yesterday.  With those shades on Atti is clearly too cool to be kissed by daddy!

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Old Olive, Crumb Cake) Stampin' Up

Stamp:  (Sentiment from Vintage Clocks) The Craft's Meow

Ink:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Die:  (Fresh Daisies) Simon Says Stamp

Impression Plate:  (Woodgrain) Papertrey Ink

Gems:  Michael's

Markers:  (Stampin' Write Pretty in Pink & Regal Rose) Stampin' Up

Be Whoever You Wanna Be

The last time I entered a Market Street Stamps challenge I said I really had to get some more stamps from them besides background stamps as Hippie Chic was the only non-background set I had.  Despite much temptation I haven't gotten around to ordering any others yet so it's more Hippie Chic for me for January's Paint the Town Challenge.  I was pretty liberal with the pink on this card but there's a touch of sherbet on the lower patch on the dress and an aqua patch as well as the aqua sentiment.  


We took the dogs for a swim this morning but Jem was not diggin' it.  Atti would swim if there were icebergs out there - as long as there's something to fetch he'll go overboard. Jem, however, is not appreciative of the chilly water and figures if we aren't going in then he sure as heck isn't either!  Since he didn't get much of a swim he's bouncing off the walls now so it's off for a walk.  Have a lovely evening!     
Cardstock:  (White, Dark Pink, Sherbet) Bazzill, (Pool Party, Regal Rose) Stampin' Up
Stamps:  (Hippie Chic) Market Street Stamps
Inks:  (Melon Mambo, Pool Party) Stampin' Up
Punch:  (Corner Punch) Marvy Uchida
Copic:  RV02  

Hello Card, Goodbye Chicken

***This is my third post for today!  Please scroll down to see what else I've been up to!***

This week at Lawnscaping we're getting texty!  I used stamps from two LF sets for this card - the phone and "Hello" from Just My Type and I spelled out the Blah blah blahs with Harold's ABCs.  I used this fun colour combo from this week's Picture Perfect Creations challenge and I'm also going to enter this card in the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge.

I kind of felt like I should be making a sympathy card today because last night Atticus caught his first (and hopefully last!) chicken.  There aren't too many places you can go in Bermuda without running into feral chickens or feral cats.  (And yes, they often hang out together!)  This includes our evening walking route.  The boys always make a mighty effort to get ahold of a chicken but usually their leashes are not quite long enough and the chickens are too quick.  Last night however Atti disappeared into the bushes and reappeared with a hen in his mouth!  Of course, once he had it he didn't seem to know what to do with it and dropped it pretty quickly.  It was still alive but not in good shape.  I would have driven it to work to have it euthanised but as Luis pointed out it might not make it that long (30 minutes not including us getting back home to the car) and I didn't want it to suffer any longer than necessary.  Luckily, Luis grew up on a farm and so knew how to take care of it quickly.  I know dogs are hunters and it's in their nature and I wasn't angry at Atti but I still felt pretty bad for the chicken.  And the dogs will be on much shorter leashes this evening!

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Calypso Coral, Old Olive, Basic Black) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Image & sentiment from Just My Type, Letters from Harold's ABCs) Lawn Fawn

Inks:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko
Dies:  (Nesties Standard Circles Large) Spellbinders

Impression Plate:  (Linen) PTI

Copics:  R02, R05

Sticker Birds Part 2

Forgot I need separate posts for each entry for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge.

The second card also uses Crate Paper stickers (border, letters) and rub-ons (bird, flower) but this time from the Bliss collection.   

Just got back from a walk with the hounds and I don't think they'll be moving any time soon!  They're both laid out under the fan puffing away.  Poor puppies.  It's been really hot and humid for them today.  Tomorrow morning we'll give them a good long swim before we hop on the plane and hopefully they won't drive my mom too insane while we're gone!

Picture Perfect Hearts

Red and pink always makes me think of hearts and Valentine's Day so it was inevitable that when I saw this week's Picture Perfect Creations colour combo that hearts would be involved.  I chose one of my new Purple Onion Designs hearts for the occasion.  I stamped it 3 times, cut out the middles and layered polka dot stamped coloured paper behind them.  

Supplies:  CS: Gina K & SU; Stamps: Purple Onion Designs & PTI; Inks: VersaMark, VersaFine, Brilliance Moonlight White

The BBQ went well last night and we have enough food left to last us for a week!  Sweet!  No cooking!!  :)  The dogs were so good last night and charmed the pants off everyone.  I was so proud of my boys.  :)  And the best part is they are knackered.  When we got up this morning they barely said hello before they raced into our room and hopped into our bed where they are still snoozing peacefully!  They really lead tough lives...

Awesome Circles

I love the colours of this week's Play Date Cafe challenge and the cool picture that goes along with it.  This PTI impression plate was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the picture and the card came together pretty quickly after that.  Some Cuttlebug action, some fussy cutting, a few gems and voila!  Awesome.  :)

Despite the heat we took the dogs for a short walk this morning.  There are a ton of feral chickens in Bermuda and we usually pass a few groups (flocks?) of them when we go for our walks.  Normally they take off at the sight of us.  This morning, however, we came across a momma and her chicks.  As usual, Atticus was straining at his leash, wanting to check them out.  This momma didn't run though.  She did not appreciate the looks Atti was giving her babies and before I knew it she was in his face squawking and pecking and slapping him with her wings.  The look on Atti's face was priceless!  He had no idea what to make of this pissed off female and finally jumped behind me for cover!  Satisfied that she'd made her point, momma hustled her babies across the street, tossing a few choice clucks over her shoulder.  I'm guessing Atti got the message though as when we passed a few more chickens later on, he slowed down and graciously let me lead the way!  That's my boy - 90lbs of wimp!    

Starry Congrats

Supplies:  CS: Stampin' Up; Stamp: Paper Smooches; Ink: VersaMark; Embossing Powder: Ranger; Impression Plate: PTI; Gems: Doodlebug

I wanted to get in on the ColourQ challenge this week with it's bright, fun colours.  I'm loving my PTI star dies and have been using them a lot.  They make life much easier in the star department.  Remember this card when I was complaining about trying to cut stars to size by hand?  They were pretty rough looking now that I check them out again!  LOL!  I'm going to add this to the Gallery Idol line-up as well.   

The photo inspiration for ColourQ prodded me to finally have my first swim of the year.  I think I'm getting old though.  As kids, my brother and I would race down to the dock and leap right off the end of it into the water.  We'd then tease my mom mercilessly as she eased her way down the steps into the water, stopping on each step for a moment to "acclimate". Why not just jump in and get the initial shock over with quickly?  Well, I am now officially an "Acclimator".  I caught myself going in one step at a time today.  I was horrified although not horrified enough to just leap in - maybe when it's a bit warmer.  Once we were all in (Luis, dogs and I ) we paddled around for a good hour or so.  Luis and the dogs are now crashed out on the sofa and I think I may go join them...  Have a great evening! 

My Favourite Boys

Since Colin Farrell has yet to take me up on my invitation to come visit I only have pics of 3 of my 4 favourite guys to share.  :)  

Oh, okay, I can't leave My Colin out altogether!  :)

Bright and Bold Birthday

We had a public holiday today for National Heroes Day.  Unfortunately it was a yucky day. The sky has been dark and threatening all day but instead of rain it's just been disgustingly humid.  We took the hounds for a long walk this morning and all four of us came back looking decidedly wilted.  After that we broke down and turned on the air con and watched a movie ("Easy A" - pretty good I thought).  Later on we ventured back out.  Luis puttered around and did a few odds and ends while I escaped to the Craft Cave to put together a card for this week's Play Date Cafe challenge.

Supplies:  CS: Bazzill Basics; Stamps: Hero Arts & PTI; Inks: SU, VersaFine, VersaMark; Punches: McGill Creativity & Marvy Uchida

Love the bold and bright colours this week!  I pulled out a Hero Arts flower stamp that I hadn't used yet.  It's calling out to be coloured in but for this challenge I just wanted to use the outline of it in the challenge colours.  Some PTI polka dots in VersaMark to jazz up the colour panels, a bit of bling and voila!  A cheery birthday card.  :)
Hope you all have a lovely evening.  Tomorrow I have to work in the morning and then have the joy of going to the dentist.  Blerg!  How did I get so lucky!  :S  

The Plague Lives

Seems like I'm not the only one who has suffered from the summer plague lately!  Aside from that floating around there have been a few odd illnesses and accidents occurring so I was playing around with some Get Well cards today.  They're not for any challenges - just for the sickies in my life!  :)

First up is that adorable Paper Smooches Chubby Chick!  Poor guy has come down with chicken pox (tee hee) and he's got a little thermometer in his mouth to check his temperature.  I had originally envisaged him in a little bedroom scene tucked up against a fluffy white pillow.  Sadly, my artistic flair just was not flairing and my attempts were quite sad.  So instead he's sitting on a scalloped strip of Cosmo Cricket paper.  (If anyone else can conjure up the original picture in my head then go for it - I'd love to see it!) 

Next we have a little dinosaur from Unity's Bella Blvd. Mr. Boy set.  I think he looks kind of sad and decided it was maybe because he isn't feeling well.  Poor little guy!


And poor me!  Luis and I made a yummy dinner tonight - Fiesta Chicken - and there was just enough left over to take to work for lunch tomorrow.  Someone had other ideas though. I left it on the counter to cool before putting it in the fridge but I  just went into the kitchen and found a bowl with a few stray bits of rice, Atticus licking his chops and Jem looking mighty pissed off!  Poor Jem can't reach the counter like Atti can and I'm sure Atti made no attempt to share his delicious find.  *Sigh*  PB&J for lunch it is then!

You Brighten My Day

As soon as I saw the picture for this week's ColourQ challenge I thought of the owl from Paper Smooches' Chubby Chums set.  I've barely touched my PS stamps even though I've had them for a few weeks now so I thought I'd better hop to it.  The card is going to go to my friend Louise in NY.  We were roomies in college for two years and she has remained one of my dearest friends who I can always count on for a good laugh.  We haven't talked in ages so I thought I'd send her a little note to let her know I'm thinking of her.  She's a 5th grade teacher so will be winding down the school year and getting ready for a well deserved break - although she somehow always seems busier than ever during the summer!  :)  

Now that it's really getting warmer the dogs are turning totally nocturnal on me.  During the day they're in a heat induced daze and don't want to do anything.  Between midnight and 9am, when it's coolest, they're bouncing off the walls.  Trying to get them well exercised without inducing heat stroke is proving to be a challenge!  I'm now resorting to trying to keep them awake all day so they'll be tired at night although they're not thrilled with being constantly prodded out of their snoozes.  :)

Beautiful Weekend

Thankfully the prediction of wind and rain for the weekend turned out to be completely wrong.  We had 3 gorgeous days.  Saturday was spent cleaning the house, mowing the yard and cleaning patio furniture in preparation for a BBQ that night.  Sunday Luis and his friend Ruben finished patching and painting the roof (as seen in the photo below).  It's now a blazing white - need sunglasses to look at it!  LOL!  Emily asked if there was a particular reason we use white paint.  Traditionally a lime wash was used on the roofs which helped to cleanse the water.  Nowadays a non-toxic paint is used.  I guess now you could paint the roof any colour but the white is traditional and also helps to keep the houses cool.

The dogs got long walks and swims every day which they were thrilled with.  I was thrilled too as we had some returning visitors down at the dock.  There's a gorgeous parrot fish that comes around now and then and I hadn't seen him for a while.  You can't quite tell from this picture but he's at least 2 feet long.

Our octopus has also come back!  He was living under our dock for a while but I didn't see him at all last year.  Yesterday he came out of his hole for a wander around and nearly got run over by Atticus when he charged along the shallows to get his toy.  The poor octopus inked everywhere and took off back to his hole!  You can see a bit of him sticking out of the hole in the picture below - the reddish-brown splotchy bits.  I'll try and get some pictures next time he's out and about.  

I actually managed to get some cards done yesterday too.  My friend's birthday is coming up so I made her a little set of cards with one of my favourite Hero Arts sets.  They'll be winging their way to the Cayman Islands hopefully in time for her birthday in May.

One last shot.  Lynn was talking about her sleepy boys in this post and I had 2 sleepy boys last night too!  I found Jem in our bed when I went to change the sheets.  I dragged all the bedding off the bed and onto the trunk at the foot of the bed and he never budged!  When kids crash they really crash!