CARDS TO SHARE - UPDATES - AND STUFF

Hey All! Sorry I've been away so long. But, I have lots to share with you so I'll get started. Do you not love that picture up there for my header?!? Shotsy is the one with the rose in his mouth. He is so sweet. He will do anything that I told him to do. He looks like he has such "love" in his eyes, but in actuality, he was falling asleep. I had taken about 20 shots of them to get a good one and he was just plain tired. I love him so much.

Please try to read through everything. I've included some good stuff that I wanted to share. You might want to grab another cup of coffee or your favorite beverage! LOL I'll start this post with the couple of cards I made, then get on to the news and other stuff I want to share!

The first card I'll start with is my entry into this weeks House Mouse Challenge over at House Mouse Monday Challenge. This week's challenge was to use paper piercing on your card. Here is my entry:



You can click on the picture to see it in more detail. The piercing is in each corner of the image panel. This is such a sweet image. I love how he has buried his little face into the flower. When I look at this image, it reminds me to stop and smell the flowers. The paper is by Paper Pazazz. I stamped the image in Archival black, and colored it with my colored pencils and OMS. Used a corner punch for the corner slits. The dark green card stock is by Bazzill. I mounted the image panel with foam squares. Added the ribbon and done.

Here is my second card:




This is a thank you card that I made to send to Lisa who donated the Inchies squares to the blog candy I'm offering. Because she donated the Inchies, I thought I would use Inchies on the thank you card. I really LOVE this product. They are one inch squares and are made of artist quality matteboard. They take stamps so well! To learn more about them, click here. I stamped flower parts from larger stamps on these in Colorbox red ink, then embossed them with red ep. I matted them with black Bazzill card stock then mounted them on the card. I'm sorry, but I don't know who the paper is by or the stamps. I didn't look or write them down. I need to get better about that! Anyway, I stamped the sentiment, matted it on Bazzill card stock, added the black brads, then attached it to the card. I stamped the butterfly, embossed it, then cut it out and attached it with a foam square. Again, you can check out the Inchies here. You can also do a search at Splitcoast for "Inchies" and see all of the clever uses there are.

OK, now for some news. The House Mouse Challenge Monday blog is looking for 2 new DT members. I've been encouraged to apply by one of the current team members. I've decided to try out! The application process will have me post here on my blog that I am applying and to post 3 samples of my cards. So, my next post will be the application. This would be fun, and it will be the first DT for me. So, keep your fingers crossed for me!

Next on my list is an update for the Valentines for the Kids at Children's Hospital of Michigan. For those of you who have donated cards, you will remember that the hospital had asked Pat if she could come up with 1,000 cards for the kids. I am so excited to report that she has received over twice what was asked for!!! Can you believe it???? As of last week, she had collected well over 2,000 cards. Thank you so much to all of you for participating in this worthy cause. We all did a wonderful thing here! Remember, I'll be doing the random number thing for my blog candy on February 8Th so you still have time to sign up for it.

Next, I found the most amazing crafter while poking around Splitcoast. So amazing in fact that I had to share her work with you. She does what she calls "Magic Boxes", and they are truly the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Do yourself a favor and go see her Splitcoast gallery here. You can also visit her blog here. I also read on her blog that she had sent one of her boxes to the Queen, and it is housed now in her private quarters. How cool is that? I just wanted to bring her to your attention. I am going to try one of these soon. I know I'll never come close to her talent, but I just have to try one of these gorgeous boxes.

OK, almost done. . .I wanted to acknowledge a couple of RAK cards I received and hadn't posted yet. The first was from my good blogging buddy Danielle.



Is this image adorable?!? Thanks so much Danielle!

The next is from my very sweet blogging bud in Australia, Jane.




I loved this card. The velum with stars lays over the 2009. It was the first and only New Years card I have ever received. And coming from Australia made it even more special. Thanks so much Jane!

Second to last thing. . .I told you that you would need another drink! LOL Anyway, I was tagged by Laura Davis. I normally as a rule don't participate, but this was an interesting one and I've seen/read where others have been tagged with this one. The deal is, you have to go to "my pictures" on your computer, go to the sixth folder and then to the sixth photo. You then post it on your blog and describe it. So, I decided to play along. Here was my picture:




LOL! I had forgotten all about this picture! This was after we had Gunther neutered and had his back dew claws removed. I'm even more embarrassed to let every one know that those are a pair of my old underwear that he is wearing! He is a little over 9 months old in this picture. As you can see, I cut out a hole in the back for his stubby little tail to go through. We put these on to keep him from licking his stitches. Believe it or not, he wore them with no problem. We, of course, had to take them off whenever he went out, but we would put them back on as soon as he would come back in and he'd run around and never try to take them off. You can see the bandages around his back paw too. He was such a great little guy through all of it.


Finally, I want to thank all of you who have posted several awards for me on your blogs. I'll be adding them to my sidebar here on my blog. I'm both honored and humbled that you would think of me. As all of you know by now, I just can't bring myself to choose just a few of you to get them, so I just don't. I think you are all amazing, and I think you all deserve them. So again, thanks so much to those of you who nominated me. I truly appreciate it so much.


Well, that is it. Sorry for such a huge post, but hey it has been a couple of weeks since I posted and had lots to say/share. Hope you thought it was worth your time. Don't forget to see the pic of the week below. I'll be seeing you on your blogs over the next day to catch up on what you've been doing!


Take good care all! Thanks for being so wonderful!


Best,


Curt


"God help me be the person that my dogs think I am."