For Mom

Still not much time to work on anything crafty, but I had to take a break from my school work to make a couple cards for Mothers's day. Nothing fancy here, just two Hero Arts stamps and some rhinestones. The tiny ones are from a snowflake-shaped rhinestone sticker that I cut apart. Happy Mothers's Day to all the Moms out there!

Puppy Tricks

Trixie got her first haircut and I took a little video of her tricks.

I swear this will not become a dog-blog, I just have no crafts to show!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Trixie O'Puppy wanted to take a moment out of her busy schedule to wish you a fantastic day for the wearin 'o the green. I haven't managed to make any St. Pat's cards or Easter cards this year, so this pic is all I've got to show.

Welcome Home Trixie

Here she is- Beatrix "Trixie" the new puppy in the family. I'm working on some new puppy photos that have to be touched up- it sure is tough to photograph a black dog! Anyway- here is one straight off the camera from last Thursday, the day we brought her home. I'm amazed at how much she's grown and changed in just a week! Sweet little fuzz-butt, she's been such a joy to have around the house.

Just a couple more weeks of school, we're having some winter weather, so I'm going to stay indoors and have a homework-fest! I went to my advisor to be sure I'm close to graduation- just one more quarter at full-time, then ONE math class is all that stands between me and graduation! :D

The Language of Love

Our Valentine gifts to each other got me thinking of this book that I read before Jeff and I got married called The Five Love Languages. I was given the book as a wedding shower gift, and it's a fast and worthwhile read. Dr. Gary Chapman outlines the five different ways that people show and feel love. Once you have figured out which language you and the people around you prefer, you can show your love in the lanugage they understand. There is a quick quiz you can take to find out your language, and if your spouse hasn't taken the quiz you can figure out their language by watching how they express love to you. Usually the way a person expresses him/herself when they show love is the way they understand best.

So, since Jeff knows I like a little something to show he was thinking of me, I got a beautiful card and a darling little bear as my valentine and Jeff got acts of service, aka a cleaned up house. I hope your Valentine's day was as lovely as mine! :)

Puppy Love

Awwwwww, sweet little poochie- just an updated pic from the breeder. Little pup looks sleepy here, I wonder if she takes their pictures right after the puppies wake up to cut down on the friskies.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone- I'm bummed I didn't make cards this year- but I'm not going to miss the boat again next year. I've got some new ideas cookin' up for this blog and for my crafting life. If school would just stay outta my way that is ;)

Puppy Update

Here she is folks- a little black ball of fur who probably won't have a name until we bring her home and play with her a bit more. We went today to look at some puppies and had three to choose from. We loved this sweet little girl and she'll be coming home with us at the end of the month. Here are the details- she's a shih-poo like Buckeye from previous posts, a dog that is generally good for people with allergies such as myself. Hopefully I'll have luck with this dog too *knock on wood* and won't be sneezing all day. She was born on January 1st and she'll end up being about 10 pounds. I'm going to take some time off work to get her all settled in and used to life here. It will be a homework and puppy-fest. ACK! I'm excited and nervous at the same time. We have been out browsing for supplies and making notes about what various stores have and the prices. Yes, we really are that dorky. I need to see all my options for puppy stuff before I buy- I'm just that kind of girl.



We decided to get a puppy sooner than later, having Buckeye here really convinced us that we wanted a dog. I'm able to be home a bit more right now because I'm working on school, so I can be here to take her in and out. We also like the thought of having her here for the nicer weather, making housebreaking easier... hopefully. Then, when the winter holidays come around we'll have a pup who is nearly a year old and hopefully polite enough to do a little Christmas visiting. Whew- the countdown begins!

Juror 101

That's my number folks, I have jury duty again. I guess it was a few years ago that I had to serve on a jury, but it seems that this jury duty summons is only for today. The wording isn't very clear, so I guess I'll find out more when I get there. This is just City of Dayton court, so it's not anything big. The last jury I served on was a felony case and was under a different court. I'm missing a doctor's appointment to go to this dang it! Hopefully I will be released this time- fingers crossed.

On a happier note, we have decided that we are definately adding a fur-baby to our family. Having Buckeye here for nearly a week showed us how much we really want a dog of our own. Watch this space for puppy updates- we'll have a little fuzz-butt here sooner rather than later! :)

A Sad Change of Events

Well, I guess I jumped the gun posting good news about puppy adoption. I called today to see when we could go pick him up and got bad news. Seems his first family has changed their mind, so we won't have a new fur-baby after all. I'm very sad- I wanted us to adopt him, and hadn't gotten my heart set on him until she called me Tuesday and said we could have him. Guess it's just another case of not counting your chickens before they hatch. I shouldn't have gotten puppy fever before having the puppy in my house. Looks like birdie is an only pet after all. Kind of a birthday bummer! :(

Waiting

So tired, tired of waiting, tired of waiting for yooooouuuuuuuuu...

This darling little fuzz-ball is Buckeye, and next week he will be adopted by us! A week ago a friend of my sister let us borrow this six-month old puppy because they were thinking of finding a new home for him. Well, he didn't want to chomp our bird, and he fit in here right away. Yesterday Buckeye's family had a meeting and decided that he is indeed up for adoption- and he's going to move in here. We'll be gone for the weekend, but we'll be picking him up when we return.

Who? Me? I'm moving?

He's a shih-poo, and will stay pretty small. I mostly took pics of Buckeye on his own just being cute- but here is one of Jeff walking him down the street behind our house. (I love my 10x zoom!)


Now we just need to decide if he stays Buckeye or if he gets a new identity. He was named for Ohio State University. Living in Ohio, but not having any OSU ties and not sports fans... we might need to think about that. Any suggestions? ;)

The Sweetest Thing...

One of the most thoughtful and amazing things happened to me at work this past week. My friend Angie told me to close my eyes and hold out my hands- and she gave me this basket.

She gave me new shoes- and really cute shoes too. They were in this basket arranged like flower petals, and they're a bit messed up in this pic since I was trying them on for size. Shoes? Yes- shoes- lots of them! It may seem like no big deal to you, but I'll tell you why it was so amazing to me.

You readers in blog-land probably don't know this about me, but I am a large lady. I am 6'2'' I have big feet- size 13 women's shoes, and I'm, how shall I put this so I don't hurt my own feelings... not slim. I was always large for my age, growing up I was the tallest girl in my class all through school. As far as feet go, I've always had whoppers. I wore a size 8 when I was 8 years old, 9 when I was 9, and wore a 10 when I was 10. I held at 10 for quite a while, but slowly went up to a 12- and in my 20s, when my size 12WW shoes were just too small, I finally found a pair of size 13 shoes that were a perfect fit- I'd probably needed them for years and my feet could finally be comfortable.

Growing up I never had the cool shoes or clothes that the other kids had, I was adult sized as a child and they just weren't available. I've been wearing men's gym shoes for years, I also have several pair of unisex birkenstocks which have served me well over the years. I have plenty of work shoes and dress shoes, but was unable to find cute, casual shoes in my size... and then I was handed this amazing gift. Shoes that are exactly what I was looking for, they're in style, they're *women's*, cute, pink- they are something I've never had in my life.

This is the amazing thing about friendship- my friend noticed something that I wished for, and couldn't find, and took the time to go and find it for me. It doesn't have to be a concrete object- friends see the confidence you're missing, the joy, the strength, the forgiveness, the peace, and share their own. My friend gave me something I've wanted since childhood, and most of all, she thinks enough of me to think about me.

Happy 2008

toothpastefordinner.com

Just popping on to say that I'm busy crafting away and making some thank you cards and birthday cards to use in 2008. I'm trying to use up some scraps and make more cards that I can send during the year. I've been slacking on card sending since I went back to school- I'm not sure that I'll graduate this year or not, but I've got my fingers crossed! I hope you're having a great year so far!

A Little Happy

I'm in love with this song, I can't help it- it makes me happy. I'm playing it over and over while I'm sitting here wondering why I didn't measure my Christmas cards before spending $11 on envelopes that are just a smidgen too small... Hmmmm, nevermind... I don't think I care about that right now...I'm too busy singing...1234 tell me that you love me more...

Wanna Dance?

I'm sure you've seen this, but have you seen my bird dance? I don't think so! Click here if you want to watch us elf ourselves.

Sock it to Me

I was in an altered stocking swap on a message bord I'm on, and this is what I came up with. I really had a hard time getting it going, but decided to go with a snowflake theme on these baby pink footies. I tucked it into my white Christmas tree to take a photo. I stitched a few ornaments and buttons onto the sock and filled it with goodies. I sent the other sock too so my partner can just snip the threads and hang the ornaments on her tree then wear the footies.

This Birdie Means Business

Olie the bird says to go visit Lisa Renea's blog The Tattered Tiara where he is currently being featured in ornament form. Actually, he only has about twelve phrases, and that's not *really* one of them, but half of his phrases include the word "bite". Such as: Nice birdies don't bite, Ouch! Don't bite me!, and sometimes he shortens it to a simple "bite me". So, if the promise of cuteness won't get you to click the link, how about a little encouragement from birdie, after all- he bites!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Just a little happy birthday wish to my husband Jeff who turns 34 today. He always wants snow for his birthday, and today we woke up to a couple inches of beautiful snow. The flakes were fluffy and falling softly, it looked like our little house was inside a snow-globe. Here he is setting up the train around the Christmas tree- wearing his circa 1973 shirt. Fitting since Jeff made his debut in 1973 as well.



These are a couple photo ornaments of our trip to Rhode Island this summer. Our tree has several photo ornaments of me as a little girl, and he gets a kick out of those, but there are none of him- so I fixed that! Mine has some shell beads hanging on the bottom, but I left Jeff's plain. I had a hard time choosing a picture of me, so I chose a laughing one. It's easy to pick one of Jeff since he is handsome and photogenic, doesn't he have a baby face? These ornaments are his birthday gift, and we'll go out to dinner if the roads are clear.


I made a quickie card for him using Basic Grey paper and Purple Onion Designs stamps, the center circle was rubbed with distress ink for color and raised on a pop dot. Happy Birthday Jeff!

Band-Aid Boxes

These were made a while ago for a swap- they're little band-aid tins with handles on the top. They're just the right size for ATCs, but mine will house little bits and pieces of crafty goodness. These started off white, I colored them with alcohol inks, stamped on them, and added some torn dictionary pages with mod-podge. I tied some ribbon and charms and/or beads so they had a little more decoration.

I tried for about 30 minutes to put each box into one front/back image so I'd have three instead of six... but I just couldn't figure it out! Maybe I need to get photoshop instead of paint shop pro. The backs follow the fronts, that's the best I can do for now.

An Ornament Preview

I've been making some ornaments with microscope slides in several different shapes and sizes. I learned to solder with lead, but being that ornaments can last a long time I decided to use lead-free solder on these. This way if they are handled often, or heaven forbid are chewed on by children, there will be no harm done. Well... besides the usual harm that chewing glass would cause- I mean there would be no lead poisioning! I ate more than one ornament as a child, so I'm looking out for the health of other ornament eaters out there, but that is a story for another day! I've made several of these for gifts, so I won't show those to you, but this little one is for my tree. More to come! Thanks for stopping by :)

Bird Fight!!!

It really is true that tomorrow never comes, because I STILL haven't bugged DH to load my pictures, and I also haven't played with the new camera yet. It's a Christmas gift for me, but he'll be wrapping an empty box because I am not going to wait. Patience is not my strong suit. So... I bring you more cell phone pics of my rotten little bird when I introduced him to my knit and felted owl.


Here we have Owlie, a darling little bird I knit up in one night thanks to a very clear and easy pattern I bought from CraftyAlien on Etsy. I love birds, I have one of my very own, and decide to introduce him to the newest member of our flock. Olie meets Owlie... it ain't pretty folks...



Dang! Look at him go straight for the EYE! He means business- this house is not big enough for the two of them- goodness me! I have always said that this bird is 2.4 ounces of evil covered in perty feathers- do you believe me now?? Owlie suffered little damage, but won't be making nice with any other birdies any time soon. Once bitten twice shy.