Monogram Card

This is a cute monogram card, any initial can be used. I used recycled wallpaper which has a great gold and silver embossing on it. The image doesn't reflect the gold and silver in the wallpaper that enhances the look. In real life, it is impressive! I stamped the initial in black stazon ink and highlighted it with a gold metallic pen.

Stormy Sunset on Lake Ponchartrain

A walk in Fountainbleau State Park

Pictures of our cabin from the pier/beach area, along a 1.5 mile scenic nature trail which at the end was a boardwalk leading to a view of the marsh wetlands. Last, pictures of the old sugar mill plantation.

Sunrise on Lake Ponchartrain

Sunrise on Lake Ponchartrain at Fountainblue State Park. It's so quiet and
calm here.

Sunset on Lake Ponchartrain

Taking some R&R with a friend in a cabin at a state park on Lake Ponchartrain in La. Here are some pictures of our cabin over the lake, at sunset, and of New Orleans across the way.

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Sunset on Lake Pontatrain from my cabin on the lake til Saturday.

Wallpaper Card

This is one of a number of cards I'm making with wallpaper rolls that were being thrown out from an interior design store that had closed. I liked the stripes from the sheets so cut them out and coordinated the colors with the cardstock.

I heat embossed the monogram because this particular card is part of a set for a customer.

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Can't even boil water right. Turned on wrong burner & melted teapot to burner. Just wanted some pasta!

Mason bird watching...

Mason checking out the cardinal in the tree. This cat is so cuddly and awesome. You can see the cardinal in the tree if you look hard enough.

Cool Cardinal

Opened up my window blinds and this beautiful cardinal was on a branch outside the window. Wish my camera had a better range.

My first wreath!

I made it for my front door for Mardi Gras! Gotta have something for the season in cajun country, especially if you have a cajun name! Doesn't matter if you're a ***gasp*** yankee.

Artwork for the holidays

This is some artwork that I made for a Christmas present. This was my first time at using artist canvas and acrylic painting. I decoupaged over it and took the pics before it was completely dry, hence the visible brushstrokes.

I made all my gifts this year for budgetary reasons, plus I'm trying to get into different mediums besides cards, although I did make cards for gifts as well. Something about handmaking an item for someone that is personal and appreciated that makes the time spent well worth it.

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Mark this under objects are smaller than they appear. Goofy mason is using this as his sleeping bed.

Furkid Christmas 2009

Furkids open their stocking stuffers!

Furkid Update

It's about time I updated how the furkids are doing. Ms. Kitty, the foster furkid almost got adopted...but it didn't pan out and Ms. Kitty is still loving life with the rest of the crew, especially Mason. Mason was in foster care for a year before I got him, so perhaps they have been talking...

Anywho...Mason and Ms. Kitty (the M&M kids) like to stay up at night and chase each other around the house. I have 2 floors, so it's up the stairs, through the bathroom around my bedroom, over my bed, while Evie, Bailey and I WERE sleeping, back down the stairs and I can hear them running all over downstairs until they are back up again.

It is so good to hear them both playing like that. Ms. Kitty was so placent at the shelter, just laying on her pillow by the window all the time. She gained so much weight we were real worried about her. I took her to the vet the other day for her rabies shots and she lost a little over a pound since the last time she was weighed over at the shelter. That is great news!

Mason isn't feeling to well right now, he's on the tail end of a cold and was quarantined from his buddy for a while. Vet said it was pretty much over but he was in a little pain (achy) so he got somepain meds. I'd been giving him a heating pad to sleep on and patting his side to break up his congestion so apparenty that has helped break it up and he's doing a ton better now. He's alowed to play with Ms. Kitty again, and everyone is happy.

Evie and Bailey - oye. Bailey is getting old I think. She's turning silver in the face. She is also stubborn. Wants to go to bed early (like at 6:30) and won't leave me alone because she thinks I should be in bed too. Drives me crazy. She's been limping since she pulled a muscle from running after the laser pointer at night and keeps aggravating it running up and down the stairs and jumping up and down off the bed. Plus in the am it's worse, so wonder if it's arthritic as well. Sure doesn't stop her and she doesn't seem in pain at all when I do a little PT on her.

Evie, my poor toothless wonder, tried to chew a rawhide a couple days ago. Normally Bailey will gnaw on one and get it gooey so Evie can chew it without hurting her gums. But Bailey went to bed early and Evie wanted to chew. So she did and her gums bled all over the bone and my carpet. Poor baby. I need to find some kind of alternative for her. Or maybe she needs that, perhaps it feels good on her gums for some strange reason. Like a kid teething?

Nikita, well, what can you say about her. Still the same rotten cat. Hasn't attacked me at all. She's outnumbered, so guess she is being nice because there is an alliance against her. lol.

Shhh....don't tell the furkids....

I told Santa what to put in their stockings this year. Even told him to get Ms. Kitty a special treat since she was staying with us. The furkids will be enjoying the holiday when Santa comes! Nikita, Bailey, Evie, Mason and Ms. Kitty and I will be enjoying ourselves for the holidays!

Something is clogging the sink....

Ms. Kitty decided my extra bathroom sink would make a good comfy bed. Therefore she has claimed it and it is hers. At least it is getting used. I never used it!

Embossed cards and a really good card!

If I don't say so myself. Made these for a customer, she's giving packs of them as gifts. The cross and fleur d'lis are embossed and highlighted with a zig painty, and the other is just stamped.

Weirdest Monthly National Holidays

Congress actually passed these so that the nation can recognize them during certain months. So I decided to use these weird quirky holidays to inspire some handmade cards for a Christmas gift. You can probably figure out which cards go with which month except for December. I didn't have a stamp that worked for National Tie Month, plus....come on....

I was told I had to decorate for the holidays.

Not kidding. So here is what I did:

Christmas stockings for everyone. Took $1stockings at HL (except for Nikita and I, we already had ours) and cut out letters w/ a sizzix cutter, ran both sides through a xyron adhiesive machine and put glitter on it. Sprayed glitter with aquanet hairspray - a craft trade secret - it holds the glitter and hardens the cardstock. Just adhered them to the stocking and voila! Even though Ms. Kitty is a foster cat and hopefully will be adopted before the holidays, I made her one too. She can take it with her when she goes so Santa can fill it for her at her furrrever home.

I have a Christmas tree that I have talked about on previous posts, but took really bad pics of it. So all I have is the bow and ribbon for you to see. Then the coolest part, a wreath - which is the only thing we can decorate outside with at my townhome association. I bought the stuff and a friend put it together. She does floral, wreaths, all kinds of stuff like that. Love how it came out and how it looks on my front door.

Pukefest 2009

Yep, that's the title. All 4 furkids have been puking and I am SICK of cleaning up the vomit. It's their own doing too, the little stinkers.
First culprit is the cat from hell, Nikita.
She gets into the garbage can and eats who knows what. I go downstairs to let the girls (Bailey and Evie) out to do their business and see Nikita's been dining on garbage when she has a bowl full of food to eat. So early this morning, she's puking it all up, and I'm cleaning it all up.

Second culprit is Mason, Mr. Tug o War with the Christmas Tree decorations. When I was putting them on, he was grabbing the other end of the ribbon and pulling it off. If I didn't win, the tree was going to come down. It was funny but it wasn't. Well, that night he got what he wanted, and but his stomach didn't want it and I had to clean that mess up.

Next we have the 2 mouskateers, Evie and Bailey. They do this constantly but never, ever learn their lesson. I guess this is why they call Boxers clowns and the children of the dog world. They like to come in from outside, drink a TON of water, then run upstairs and jump up and down on my bed. No joke. So when I go up there, I tell them to stop jumping because they are going to puke. They don't listen, love that I'm talking to them (even if it is reprimanding), and do the infamous boxer butt wiggle. Next thing, one of them gets that wide eye look and blllaaaahhhhh, up comes the water. Lovely.

Now you know why I call them my furkids. Because I spent the past week cleaning up puke, just like any mother would do when their kid was sick. Except my kids do it to themselves, it's not from the flu or a virus. They are just goofy.

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Looky at my wreath my friend put together with stuff we picked up at hobby lobby.

Oh Mason. Had a war with him when decorating tree, he took half of ribbon & tried to run with it. Other half was on tree!

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Miss Kitty

Miss Kitty is adjusting rather well to being back in a house after a year of looking at the same 4 walls day in and out. She's used to the dogs and other cats. I had friends over this evening and she hung out with us in the craft room while we worked on a project.

Here are a few pics of Miss Kitty in the craft room.

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Mason on the Christmas tree box. Can't wait to see what he does when the tree goes up...