RIP Jem

Luis and I are utterly devastated and heartbroken at the loss of Jem.  He was our sweet, goofy, lovable boy and there is a huge void in our lives now. 

I will probably continue to post cards as making them is the only thing right now that is helping to keep the grief at bay.  But please forgive me if I don't have much to say for a while.

Celebration

Hi there!  Popping in with a red, white and blue celebration card for the colour challenge at Just Us Girls.  I love this skyline stamp from Paper Smooches and it looks great embossed.  And yes, there was an embossing powder incident this time.  Tip of the Day:  Put the lid on your embossing powder BEFORE you blow the excess powder off of your card!  *Sigh*  One day, drama-free embossing sessions will become the norm!  


Thank you so much for all your good wishes for Jem.  He's being a little trouper and enjoying his private swimming sessions with Luis every evening while I walk Atticus.  He's finding ways to entertain himself too.  I caught him lolling around on his bed throwing his toy in the air and catching it.  He's also taken to grabbing Atticus by the hock whenever he walks by Jem's bed in a desperate bid to start some wrestling!  :)  My funny boy...


Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Night of Navy) Stampin' Up
Stamps:  (Skyline and fireworks from Metropolis, Sentiment from Pretty Phrases) Paper Smooches
Inks: (VersaMark) Tsukineko, (Riding Hood Red) Stampin' Up

Embossing Powder:  (Seafoam White) Ranger

Punch:  (Corner punch) Marvy Uchida
Gems:  (Ladybug assortments) Doodlebug

Here's To A New Week!

Boy am I glad that it's a new week.  Last week was a bit of a nightmare.  Along with having two migraines, Jem completely blew out his knee.  There's no one on the island to fix it and the specialist who comes in from Boston a few times a year to do those sort of surgeries isn't due to come back until August or September so poor Jem will be running around on 3 legs until then.  We're trying to keep him as quiet as possible but he's bored silly and looks so depressed that we won't play ball with him or take him for walks.  Poor guy!


Between dealing with Jem and taking care of my head I haven't been in the Craft Cave or on the computer since Wednesday.  Today I finally feel better and am playing a bit of catch up. I gave the Craft Cave a good tidy and made a card for two challenges.  I was inspired by the layout and the flower on this card by Joy over at CASE Study and I used the colours from Dynamic Duos.  I also managed to use the Dessert Option from DD and used a ribbon threader punch and wove some ribbon through the white card.  Whoop whoop for using ribbon! Must dash but hopefully I'll be around a lot more this week.  :)


Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Melon Mambo, Basic Black) Stampin' Up
Stamps:  (Flower & leaves from In Bloom) PTI, (Sentiment from CL340) Hero Arts
Inks: (VersaFine Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko, (Melon Mambo) Stampin' Up

Die:  (In Bloom collection) PTIPunches:  (Corner punch) Marvy Uchida, (Ribbon Threader) Martha Stewart
Gems:  (Beetle Black assortments) Doodlebug
Ribbon:  Hot Off the Press

Amy Butler Butterfly and a Jemmy Burrito!

Good evening, all!  Hope you had a lovely weekend.  Friday was Luis' and my mom's birthdays so on Saturday night we went to a fantastic restaurant and had one of the best meals I've had in a long time.  Super yummy stuff!  Luis spent most of the weekend playing with his birthday present (tools for Mr. Carpenterman) and I did a bunch of sorting and tidying in the Craft Cave.  I have a huge bag of stuff that I'm giving to my friend who's a teacher - I think she'll be able to make good use of it.  :)


As you can see I used up some more patterned paper for today's card.  It's stuff I've had for ages too - Amy Butler for K & Co.  Yeah,  I had to blow the dust off of it first!  The card is for the CASE Study challenge. After Jen Rzasa's stint ended I promised myself I'd still play along even if the next muse wasn't quite as CAS.  Don't get me wrong - I find these shabby/vintage cards beautiful but I'm just not so good at pulling them off myself.  So I focused on the colours, the butterflies and the banner and came up with something a little more me.  I'm also going to enter this over at  Lily Pad's patterned paper challenge.


I thought I'd share a couple of photos of Jem who apparently was a little chilly the other morning!  I don't know why I bother to make the bed because Jem rolls himself up like a burrito and completely undoes it all!

Cardstock:  (Night of Navy) Stampin' Up
Patterned Paper:  (Amy Butler Belle collection) K & Co

Stamps:  (Doodle from Happy Trails) PTI, (Sentiment from Wish You Were Here) Hero ArtsInks:  (Night of Navy) Stampin' Up

Dies:  (Butterfly, Double-Ended Banner) PTI

Punch:  (Corner Punch) Marvy Uchida

Gems:  (Nightfall Ice Rox) Queen & Co.

    

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  

Merry Drinks

Whoop whoop!  I just discovered that over at ColourQ I am Co-Colour Queen with the fabulous Jenny!  And then I found out that I won some Unity goodies from the Friends With Flair blog hop!  I was worried what the day would bring when it started with Jem stealing half my breakfast but after all this good news even he is forgiven!  :)  
My card today is an entry for Jay Gee's Nook's latest challenge to use holiday stamps to make non-holiday cards.  I'm hoping to give this challenge another go at some point and use some actual holiday images but for now I'm using this holiday sentiment from Hero Arts.  It's from a set called, appropriately, Get Merry and is a 2010 release.  I thought the sentiment would work perfectly for a boozy birthday card and used it for one of the girls at work.  
Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill Basics, (Melon Mambo)  Stampin' Up
Stamps:  (Drinks from Cheers to You) Stampin' Up, (Sentiment from Get Merry) Hero Arts
Ink:  (Memento Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko
Impression Plate:  (Sunshine ) PTI

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!

Birthday Wishes

After all that fabulous rain the last two days the water trucker turned up today to deliver the water we ordered 2 weeks ago!  Ah well, the tank is now almost full and if we're careful it should last us the rest of the summer.  It's still cloudy outside and I hear some thunder rumbling (Jem is sitting at the door barking at it).  Maybe more rain to come!

Supplies:  CS: SU & PTI; Stamps: Unity & PTI; Ink: VersaMark & SU; Embossing Powder: Ranger: Threat: DMC; Buttons: Craft stash

A simple colour blocked card for the Inkspirations colour challenge this week.  I used another uninked Unity stamp (from KOM Aug 2009) and a sentiment from PTI.  Off to try and get one more card done before Luis gets home!    

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...

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!   

More Wag, Less Bark

.It was a beautiful Good Friday here!  There wasn't much wind in the morning but by early afternoon there was a good strong breeze and lots of kites to be seen.  I tried taking some pictures and was just looking for my camera to upload them but I think I left it at my mom's so the pics will have to wait.


We actually didn't fly any kites ourselves but we had a busy day.  We took the hounds for a long walk this morning along a new route so they had a ball - noses working overtime! Back at home we had a big pancake breakfast with my mom (we don't eat them often so they're a special treat when we do).  Then it was off to work on the roof.  It needs cleaning, patching and painting and we decided that the long weekend was the best time to tackle it. Once done on the roof we took the hounds for a swim off the dock - their favourite activity ever!  After the swim was bath time for the hounds, shower time for us and then a few minutes of chillin' on the sofa... which became a 4 hour nap which we woke up from at 9:30pm!!  Whoops!
  
More Bermuda facts for you today:  Roofs in Bermuda are painted white and need to be cleaned and painted regularly as they affect our water.  Bermuda houses have water tanks underneath them.  When it rains the water runs along our white roofs into gutters that funnel it down into the tank.  Because this is our primary source of water we have always been conscious of water conservation - no leaving the tap running when you brush your teeth, only run full loads of laundry, no dilly dallying in the shower and baths are a special occasion luxury.  


So today Luis power washed the roof and since we had the washer (on loan from a neighbour) we did the windows, porches and cars too.  Tomorrow we will patch the cracks and on Sunday we will paint.  Busy busy!


So no crafty time for me today but I made this card the other day with another of my new Unity stamps.  I thought it went well with the sentiment from Hero Arts and the clients at the veterinary hospital I work at love animal cards so I can never have enough.  Have a great weekend!

Supples: CS: Rubber Stamp Co, Paperbilities; Stamps: Unity, Hero Arts, Stampendous; Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaFine Onyx  Black, VersaMark; Nesties & Copics

Flowery Birthday

I put together a simple mini card for this week's Inkspirations Challenge.

Lovely spring colours which made me think of flowers.  I found these blue and pink flowers in a container on a high shelf that I had forgotten about - being 5 feet tall the things above my head get forgotten often!!  The brads are glittery ones from Doodlebug and the sentiment is from Hero Arts.  

Just finished a ball of game with the hounds and they are crashed out cooling off on the tile floor.  Jem must be dreaming that he's on a big hunt because he's letting out these little ruffs and is paddling away with his paws.  Too darn cute!  

The Hounds in Action

It always amuses me how seriously Atticus and Jem take playing ball.  They have a real routine when it comes to fetching and returning it.

Jem is ready to play some ball so he stalks it and shows me where it is. 

I throw it and usually Atticus gets to it first.  He carries it around for a bit, tormenting Jem, and then finally drops it.  Jem then gets the ball and he trots up the slope of the driveway with Atti close behind.

Then he gently puts the ball down...

..and holds it in place with his nose for a few moments.

Then he lets it go to roll down the hill to me.

"Uh, dude.  It didn't roll."

"Doh!  Okay, I'll try again."

Repeat the process a million times until Atticus gets tired and instead of dropping the ball for Jem he takes it up on the hillside, lays down and chews on the ball.

They really do lead tough lives...

PS  Check out Lucy's blog for 6 days of awesome giveaways!!!