Another Cornflake Card - Laurie Jan

Another great card done by one of my card swap buddies, Laurie Jan.  I like the clean lines and simple colors.  Laurie always comes up with some great cards for our monthly swap. 

Annie the Water Dog

Annie loves to play in water and no water bowl is safe.  I finally decided to make her a little wading pool. I know as she grows so will the pool size.  As soon as I was done filling it, she jumped and started splashing around.  During our walk/run to the park today I took her into the children's area to climb stairs and checking out the tunnels.  Annie shows no sign of fear of unstable surfaces, bridges with wide gaps or going into tunnels. She may grow up to be a search and rescue dog.

Marcia - Cornflakes

Another great card done by one of my card swap buddies, Marcia. Love the colors and all the details to her card.   I've been listening to the Dog Whisper all day, so I have a new plan of attack in training Annie. We have to walk first (which means 6:00 am) and then breakfast.  I have to hold the leash higher and no treats during the walk.  She is showing signs that she is ready to start running, all packs animals like to run.  I  can walk for hours but running just a block is too much for me.  I think I will have to look into hiring a dog runner. :)

Cubicle Makeover

I'm still planning on modeling our backyard.  We've been in our house for over 20 years and did a major remodel of the house 10 years ago but never did anything with the backyard.  While I searched for buidling plans for outdoor sheds (for my hubby's tools) I came across this photo.  It's too funny but all so creative!  I think this is called "working inside your box."

Charlene's Cornflake Card

Last night my card making group the "Cornflakes" met for our monthly card swap.  This card was made by Charlene who has been stamping for a long time.  She always come up with something different to share with us.  We also had a mini demo on how to make a super fast flower from Marica which I will post later on my blog

Quick Easter Card

Another quick Easter card using the Martha Stewart corner punches and Copic markers.

Play date for Annie

This is what happens when my daughter Evan comes home to play with Annie.  It's 6:00 pm and she's out like a light.  It was Annie's first car ride down to Monterey and she did great in her XL crate in the back seat.  When we got home this afternoon Annie and Evan wrestled for hours.  She is so tired she's not even waking up for dinner, which is her second favorite meal of the day. 

Cards for our troops 2010

Being a military mom and card maker, I make cards for our troops to send home to their loved ones.  Here's the link to Debbi (with no "e") who coordinates the collection and shippment of all the cards.  Her son was nice enough to send a photo of his group, along with thank notes from the troops.  If your not a card maker but want to help out, you can send Debbi first class postage stamps.  The troops still have to put the correct postage on their mail headed back to the states.

Easter Is Coming

In between chasing after Annie and whatever she has decided to chew up, I started making my Easter cards.  To me (being Buddhist) Easter is all about the chocolate bunnies.  Do you start with the ears or feet?  It's raining again so it's a big challenge with a large puppy in the house breaking mode and daily walks.  Purrcy still won't have anything to do with her but he still comes in every night to tell me how unfair it all is. :)

St Patrick's Day Card

Photo is a little dark because I didn't want to set up my photo tent.  Annie (the puupy) likes to attack anything that moves so plugging in the lights has become a new challenge.  You can see her new teeth breaking through so she is in full teething mode.  I know St. Patrick's day isn't a big card sending holiday but I thought I would make some for my card racks.  My children have a little Irish blood (Dad's side of course) in them but the most we do is have corn beef on St Patty's day.

Baby Shower

There have been a lot of babies born to my family in the last year.  Today is the baby shower for my nephew (really a second cousin but just like a nephew) and his wife.  It's their first baby and the first great grandchild for my Aunt who has been waiting a long time for one.  My Dad has 10 (at last count) with 4 of them being born within two months of each other.  I wanted to do a homemade type of gift, so I made a set of baby thank you cards, found a pair of  hand crochet boots (they are way to big for a new born, but too funny to pass up) and hemmed some tiger print flannel blankets. Since it's the year of the tiger, there was a run a children's tiger print fabric.  I was lucky enough to get the last 2 yards the store had in stock.

Maya Road Tree Stamp

This is one card I will be doing for my card kits at Memories Live On.  I'm not a big fan of cling stamps since not all of them will take ink the same way.  I was having such a hard time getting this stamp image to work, I finally decided to cut out the tree trunk and replace the leaves with flowers.  It took much longer to design this card because I had to try every ink pad I own (and I have a lot) to find one that would work.  I may be a red rubber snob but at least I know all my ink pads will work.

Pringle Seaweed Chips

I was at my local produce store this morning and saw what I thought was a box of Pringles.  It's a Japanese produce store so I was wondering why they would carry Pringles.  When I took a closer look, I saw that it's a Pringle but with a nori (seaweed) flavor.  It was too funny not to buy and bring home.  Not as crispy as the regluar Pringles brand and you don't really notice the nori. 

Home Made Doggie Treats

I'm not much of a baker (at least not for humans) but I thought I would make a batch of doggie treats for Annie. She While I'm training her in basic commands, I need a steady supply of treats.  The recipe didn't look so hard and we had everything in our pantry so I gave it a go.  Annie seems to like them but then I haven't found anything she won't eat.  

CJ Card III

Another card that I will be sending off to Operation Wirte Home.  My son who flies in the Navy and is on his fifth deployment, will be coming home next month.  I know there must be a lot of down time for him since he made plans for his sister to clean up his condo and make sure everything is in place for his return home.  My son never gave a thought to any type of housekeeping before. :)

Annie in the studio

I've been trying to get Annie to use her crate, but she hates it.  She will sleep in it for an hour tops and then wants out in the worse way.  She would rather sleep outside all night than go into the crate.  I've been working in my studio non stop (tons of deadlines due) so I finally let her come in and hang out.  Her favorite napping places are right under my chairs in my studio and computer desk. I guess I don't roll around too much because she will sleep like this for hours.  With her teething, I have pig's ears in every room (there is one next to her back feet) along with always wearing leather slippers. No bare toes are safe at our house.

CJ Card II

Another card for Operation Write Home.  I'm trying to use up all the paper Sue sent along in her CJ packet.  She asked that we make at least 7 cards but I'm working on sending more.

Beef Bone

I know that Annie will start chewing everything in sight so while I was at the store today picking up a pot roast (just love the smell of cooking pot roast) I remembered that you can get beef bones for dogs.  Beef bone marrow is a big trendy food dish (haven't had it myself yet) so they now charge for what they use to throw away.  I cooked up a few and gave one to Annie.  She was so excited she didn't know what to do with it.  She didn't want me anywhere near it so I had to hurry to get a photo.  I've always trained my dogs not to have food issues so I also had to work with her not to snap at my hand when I took the bone away.  After 30 minutes of chewing, she is sound asleep.

Spring is here 2010

Spring is here in California!  I thought I would take a picture  of some flowers growing out in our backyard before Annie pulls them all up.  She likes to play tug-a-war with everything. We do plant a big vegetable garden every year but with a new puppy in the backyard who is showing signs of being a "digger" we will have to rethink our vegetable beds.

Operation Write Home

One of the women in my CJ group asked us to make cards for operation write home when it's time for us to work on her CJ project.  Since I make cards all the time, I decided to start working on them early.  I know to keep them simple (bulky cards don't mail well) and not to use glitter. I also make cards for our troops for a local group here in the Bay Area.  The only challenge is making manly ones. :)

CJ - Patti

I'm in a circle journal group and we have started our 2010 round.  By luck we met several years ago online and have remained friends ever since.  Patti from Michigan sent all of us a mini book with our very own special word.  My word was explore, I'm guessing because I like to travel or maybe because of all the dramatic changes in my life.  Love Patti's creative work and thoughtfulness.

Silly Little Card

This is a silly little card I made for my CAS (clean and simple) muse Susan. She has a great blog called simplicity which I read every morning.  When I need a quick card idea or inspiration I can always find something on Susan's blog.  Someone had this on their esty site and it just screamed "send it to Susan" so I CASED and drop my copy in the mail.  I know she will find the humor and double meaning in the saying.

Happy heart Day

It's hell month (as my hubby calls it) at my house.  There are two birthdays,Valentine's Day and our anniversary all in this very short month.  It's make my hubby even more grumpy than normal.  On the plus side though, the bees will start to swarm at the end of the month (out here in CA) so please call your local bee guild if you spot one.
Annie (new puppy) is walking on her leash well but isn't too crazy about going for walks.  All the new sounds, cars and other dogs distract her.  She is sleeping 3-4 hours at night which is very nice.  Hope everyone else has a wonderful Valentine's Day.

Artfully Asian Card Class

The samples of the cards I will be doing for my Artfully Asian card class in March at Cranberry Hill.  I made my samples (between keeping Annie from chewing on everything in sight) and forgot one of the cards needs to be done with alcohol inks so there will also be a bonus card too.

First Walkie

It's very important for me (and should be for all dog owners) that Annie walk well on a leash. I've been working with her all week in the backyard and this morning we went out for our first walkie around the block.  Annie had her first vet visit yesterday and he gave her the all clear to be out in the public.  Even I was amazed at how well she did.  No whining or pulling on the leash.  Only had to deal with a crazy squirrel that ran out in front of us and scared both us.  I'm really looking forward to her being able hike on some of the more remote trails with me, since I like to hike alone. Now that I can add long walks to her daily program, maybe I can get more than 4 hours of sleep.

Will work for kibble

Of all the toys that Annie has, this is one of her favorite.  I don't  know why but she goes crazy, barking at it, jumping on it and running around the yard with it. She and Purrcy did meet this morning and it was not a good. Purrcy hissed and Annie screamed bloody murder and wet herself.  Yes, I'm up at 2:30 am waiting for Annies to do her business outside.  Will be up again at 4:00 am.

Leaf Card

The ladies at the Senior Center really like using my Copic airbrush system. I'm trying to do one card in each class.  This is a super simple card since we only have an hour to make 4 cards.  The ladies go crazy with the airbrush so I also have to use copic pen colors I have refills for. :)

Foot Warmer

If I stand still long enough (less than a minute) this is what will happen.  Annie doesn't like being too far away. We have the whole go in your crate thing down and sort of have the potty thing under control but being a puppy, she has to go every hour.  Working on wearing a collar and walking on a leash.

Quick Scrap Card

With a new puppy in the house, I don't get a whole lot of sleep or time to make any cards.  In between Annie's naps  I had prep for my card class down at the San Jose Japanese Senior Center today.  I totally CASE this card (but I' can't remember from where) since I don't have enough gray matter clicking right now. I used the Martha Stewart punch and paper from my scrap pile. I know this isn't something all the ladies will like but I'm working on very little sleep.

More Photos of Annie

I found out that Annie really doesn't like to have her picture taken.  Not like Mr. Purrcy or Lucy who liked being my models.  Annie won't be a big GS, if she takes after her mom.  We go to the vet's later on this week for her first check up and round of shots.

New family member - Annie

It's been several years since we've had a dog.  It's very hard to find a dog in our area that isn't a pit bull or chihuahua. Guess those people don't get their dogs fixed.  So for the past year I've been looking into getting a dog, but large mix breed puppies are hard to find. I also wanted a puppy that was with it's mother in a home setting but not a backyard breeder.  A very tough combination as well. .  I finally got my wish and found Annie.  She is a pure bred German Shepherd by accident.  Annie's mom (papered GS) lives way up in the East hills (it was the last ranch on top of very high hill) in a huge estate home. This place is gated like Fort Knox, so the owners thought their dog was safe.  They didn't know about the ranch manager's male GS in the back forty. :)  So on December 19, seven GS puppies were born.  It's not important to me that Annie is purebred, I just wanted a GS type of dog.  I'm now in for weeks of sleepless nights while I train Annie to sleep in her crate and go potty outside.  I named her Annie because tomorrow is our 29th wedding anniversary.

More button cards

One more card using buttons from my button stash.  I have tons for scrap paper and have been working hard on using up what  I have.  Very basic card to make - nothing over the top.  The button is cool and I have no idea where I got. :)

Soap Jar

Heather Bullard takes some of the most amazing photos.  She is in "the business" but still she does a beautiful job.  Her latest  blog posting is how to make this way cool soap dispenser.  Since I have ton of these jars, I'm going to give it a try.  Here's the link to Heather's blog for the directions.
Soap Jar

Cute as a button

I have my morning tea while I read my favorite blogs.  I always read Susan's blogs (she has more than one) "Simplicity" (see my blog roll) to see what cool CAS cards she has for everyone.  I think it was last week she posted cards using buttons.  It inspired me to use up some of my button stash.  Back in the day, buttons were all the rage in scrapbooking.  Really how many can you use a layout?  Since I'm working really hard to use what I have, I made several of these cards (pink, blue and yellow) for my card racks.  Super simple and great way to use up your scraps. 

Sunday Sailing

On Sunday we went up to San Francisco to go sailing with our daughter Evan, (picture on the right) niece Julie and her son Ty.  It was Ty's first outing on the "While I Can" owned by Tad and Libbie Sheldon, (Libbie in the red jacket) cousins on my hubby's side.  It's always fun to see the city from the water.  After sailing we headed up to the club house for drinks then off to dinner at great restaurant in town. The restaurant will be getting it's own blog posting.  It was that good and interesting.  I've been accused of being a bad Great Auntie for not posting a photo of Ty before now.  So here's a post with the little guy but if the title of "Auntie Loco" (learning it from his mom and Aunt Evan) passes his lips it maybe his last. :)

MIchael Strong

It was a very busy weekend for me.  Michael Strong came into town and taught all day on Saturday at Memories Live On.  I was his handler for the weekend getting him to and from the airport, hotel and store.  Michael is very organized so I didn't have to worry about if he was prepped for his classes. If you didn't get a chance to take his classes he will be back in town in May.  Every Monday (well almost every Monday) Michael will post a new card or creation on his blog along with the directions.  Here's the link Mike's Blog Click on the older post section to see what has already been posted. If you can't wait to take a class with Michael,  he will also be one of the four teachers at the Yosemite Rubber Stamping weekend.  Here's the link Yosemite  It's a great event run by "The Cat's Meow" a local rubber stamp store near Yosemite.