Wild Blue Yonder

We're off to the wild blue yonder. My three sisters and I are leaving tonight for our long awaited cruise. I know we are going to St. Thomas, San Juan Puerto Rico (I have already been to these two places) and two more stops that I do not remember the names of. I know that sounds dumb but I told them to just book it and I will be there.

The four of us have never been on a REAL trip together. This ought to be rather interesting. If you knew us you would know what I mean. Four very strong, different personalities together for a week on one boat. I am a little nervous. But as one sister said, "Debbi, it's a BIG boat. You can go to the other side."

I am most excited about Kim. She is 35 and has never been on a trip before. Let alone to a foreign country. She is so excited she is jumping out of her skin. I am going to have the most fun watching her experience different cultures. She called me last night squealing "in 29 hours we're going to be on a plane" I told her "better yet. in 47 hours your going to be in a foreign country." She about died with excitement.

So I'll see you in about 9 days. Hope to have lots of photos to share with you all. Gotta go pack.

WOO-HOO!

Inspiration

This months challenge for Challenge Club was to use and every day item for inspiration. I chose this mug from Starbucks because I love the pink and the doodling. It just makes me happy.














This is the finished project. I absolutely LOVE it. First I painted the base of the flowers. Then I doodled over it to match the mug. I am pretty proud of the way it turned out.
And this is Cookie checking herself out to make sure she doesn't look fat or that her double chin is not showing. She gave the final approval.


Have a Creative Day.

More Uglies

Lovin the new Ugly Kitty. It is supposed to be Hello Kitty but I am not sure it looks like her. I love the way she turned out. So flippin cute. This one is for Rafael. He is giving it to his niece.
And this one? Not so sure about. It was cuter in my mind. Neva requested this one for her niece. I wanted to do lavender but this is the only purple I had at the time. The dress was a pain and I did not enjoy that part. Lovin the eyelashes and the flower in her hair.

Gotta go get ready. Must be at a seminar this morning an hour earlier than I usually get to work. I hate that.

Have a creative day.

Lady Gets a Bath

Matt is dumb! We are all sitting around a couple nights ago. Matt asks "when was the last time lady got a bath?" Jen and I are thinking "are you kidding me right now. Have you met lady?" We told him "NEVER"

Lady is a cat you don't mess with. I think she is sweet but I am her mom. Honestly, she is mean to everyone. People are seriously afraid of her.
Matt being the dumb a** (said with love) throws her in the shower. All Jen and I could hear was Lady screaming her furry little mouth off. Seriously, it was the most horrible sound a cat could ever let out. Matt made me hold the shower door shut as he got in and scrubbed her up. I had to hold it shut because she kept opening it and jumping out.

As she is howling. Matt announces "she is being pretty loving right now" WHAT? Doesn't sound like love to me. But when he got out with her I could see that she really was being loving to him at that moment. Who would have thought? Hmmm?

I was sure he would come out with claw marks everywhere. But she did not hurt him. It's amazing how small she looks without all that hair everywhere.

All I know is he was crazy to attempt this in the first place. But she must really love him to have not hurt him.

Did Another One

Did another Ugly. This doll was created for Tanya. Her bedroom is black, red accents and leopard print. I hope she loves it. Gosh! I have so many more to make. I am sure I will be working on them all weekend. Or......maybe not.

I am off to court this morning. I am apparently a criminal. GREAT! My offence???????? Barking dogs. Yep, you heard me right. My dogs make me a criminal. Go figure.

I have had three complaints since September of 2006 so they are making me see the judge. I am prepared. I went to the police station and got a print out of the dates they barked. I have had no complaints since 3/15/07. So I am not too worried. I just don't want to get fined for something that happens when I am not home.

When I am home I am afraid to even open the windows for fresh air. What if they bark? I don't leave them outside. The complaints come when I am not home. They are in crates, at the opposite side of the complainers bedroom on the first floor. His bedroom is on the second floor. And all the windows and doors are shut. Soooooo, now what to do with them. Oh, and when the officer came to the door they did not bark at her. So really the neighbor is being a jerk.

I moved the crates to the 2nd floor landing. Plugged in a doggie Pheromone thing to calm them. Seems to work so far. If there are more complaints I will have to go for the bark collar. I hate to do that as I want them to bark when something is wrong. Know what I mean?

So, wish me luck this morning. I will update you on what happens.

New Fugly Friends

I am so excited about the new Fugly Friends I created. Both of these were custom orders for people at work. Lovin me some Mickey and Minnie. They both have puffy noses. Love Minnnie's dress with the tulle under the skirt. Did you notice Mickeys mouth is on his neck. Yea, I kind of had a misplacement issue but I love how it turned out. They are supposed to be Ugly right?
I had a request for a Brown Nappy haired boy. The requester is from Puerto Rico and had a baby a couple years ago. He has very nappy hair so she wanted a doll to match him. I love how the hair came out. To get it all nappy looking I had to take strands of felt and twist them before sewing each piece down. Turned out so flipping cute.

All three of these dolls are selling for $30.00 each as they are custom orders. Any free style doll sells for $20.00 as they are not as detailed and I can create what I want. Fugly Friends have really taken off and so many people want them. I take orders for anyone that wants one. They are so cute and much better in real life. No two dolls are alike. Check out previous posts for more Fugly Friends (Ugly Dolls).

Have a creative day!

So Annoying

You know......I hate it when I take a picture just to make someone happy and then I find out it could have been a really great photo if I had not of wiggled the camera. So annoying.

This is Jennifer and her boyfriend Matt. A year ago I would not have ever been able to get a photo of them at all. A year ago Matt avoided the camera all together. A year ago I felt a lot different about Matt.

Now, today, this second, I feel a whole lot better about their relationship. Today I know he loves her. I can see it in his eyes. I can see it in the way he holds her. I can see it in the way he treats her. A year ago, even 4 months ago, I did not see any of that in him. That irritated me to no end. It mad me sad, but I knew there was nothing I could do about it. I had to just wait it out. Now, I hope the changes I have seen in him continue. I hope they can make it together.

Yes, I guess I am saying I like him now. Ahhhhh.....jeez......now I have gone and said it out loud.

Moral Dilemma

The Two Peas Blog challenge for today is this:

"A homeless person asks you for money on the street. Do you give them some or not. Why or why not."

Typically no. I too have seen those shows where they expose people who make a ton of money by begging. But I do have a story of a situation in where I did give the man money.

About 4 years ago I had to spend two weeks in a hospital in San Francisco. It was the general hospital so it was very run down and shabby. San Francisco is about 45 min. from where I live, and the hospital was on the far side of town. It would take anyone about 1 1/2 hours to get there. So it was very hard for friends or family to come visit me. I could not call anyone as it was long distance. I could call my work because it was an 800 number but really that did not satisfy the loneliness I felt. It was the lowest most lonely time of my life.

About 2 weeks after being released I had to drive down to this same hospital for a follow up. As I was leaving, feeling sad and down, I passed a young man who asked me for $10.00. I gave him my usual reply of "I have no money". He looked horrible "please mam, I need to get to the clinic for my methadone treatment." Thinking "wow that's a new one," I replied "No, I am sorry I have nothing." Remember I had now been out of work for four weeks. He replied, now crying, and looking truly desperate, "please mam, there is an ATM across the street, can we go there?" I again told him I had nothing in the bank and I was not lying. For some reason I felt this man was for real and not just an everyday begger.

As I walked away from him I was feeling lower than low. I knew I had exactly $10.00 in my purse. My last $10.00 I had. There was SOMETHING about this young man that was impacting my being. I could not stop thinking about him as I walked to my car. When I got to the third level of the parking garage I was still thinking about him. I walked to the edge and watched him for awhile. Everyone that walked by was not helping him. He was looking more and more desperate as I watched. Maybe being so lonely in the hospital was making me connect with how he was feeling. I observed a woman stop, take his hands and speak to him briefly but then she walked away giving him nothing." I lowered my head, and thought, "how can I turn my back on this poor man?"

I got into my car. Drove down to where he was, pulled up and stuck my arm out the window with the $10.00 bill in my hand. As he took my money he started to seriously cry now, squatting down next to my car. He said, "you wont believe what just happened. A lady just came by that had no money but she took my hands and prayed with me. She told me God would take care of me." I assured him this woman was right. He continued, "I don't believe in god, but after her prayer, and your help, I think I should re think my beliefs." I told him he should believe and please put this $10.00 to good use. Still crying, he told me he would do just that as he thanked me.

I swear, I just wanted to put this young man in my car right then and drive him to the nearest church. As I drove away, I had this overwhelming sense of impacting someones life more than I ever could with such a simple act of kindness. This man was DIFFERENT! I still to this day truly think I helped him. I am also a firm believer in "everything happens for a reason." Maybe I was meant to go to THAT hospital, to feel the LONELINESS that I felt, just so I could help this ONE man. I KNOW I did a good thing that day.

Would I give to a homeless person so freely again? Probably not. But this man was an exception and I have never regretted helping him. I get warm fuzzies every time I tell this story. What if he was my angel testing me? Weather he is my angel or not, I will be forever thankful I got the chance to help someone so much.

About time.

OK OK I am a little behind the times. I thought it was silly until I did this. I did not realize it actually tells about you. It is pretty right on about me. Soooo fun.

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My Desk

The Two Peas challenge today: What 3 things are on your desk that should not be?

According to my boss NOTHING should be on your desk. He is a very organized man. Go figure.

The main thing that should not be on my desk is piles of files. The last week of the month and the first week of the month there are piles everywhere. It is hard to do what I do and stay CLEAN. However, I am proud to say that this month and last month the piles did not materialize. For some reason my desk stayed clean the whole time. My friend Michael came to visit me at work and he said "What happened to your desk?" I am like "What do you mean?" and he replied "It's clean." Whatever! It was a slow month so I just stayed more organized.

Sticky notes stuck to my desk probably should not be there. But they are my reminders of what I need to do. And the only other thing I can think of is hmmmmm......yea I cant think of a third thing. I told you my desk is clean. Somebodies Arse does not belong on my desk. I hate it when someone comes to talk and sits on my desk. Yea. That defiantly does not belong on my desk.

Random

Does your life ever feel like this? Random...... Sometimes I am not sure how to feel, where to go, or what to do. I just am.

When it seems as though my path is no longer a path. But a series of uncontrolled spurts that land where ever they want. Mostly coming to rest in places you do not wish for them to find.

When do you gain control? Do you gain control? And, just when you think you can control, it all seems to spurt again. What the heck?

I am not given more than I can handle. It makes me stronger. But you know what? I am tired of being strong. Seriously, how much more can I possible learn. I just want to BE!

PS.....no, I am not depressed today. Just being Random.

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all the Mothers out there.

Jen works all day on Sunday so we celebrated Mothers Day last night. She took me to Chinese Dinner. Brenda and her two girls Brandi and Casey joined us. We had a good time. And the food was delicious.

After dinner Brenda came to our house. The three of us scrapped until 11:30 when Brenda left. I scrapped alone until 1:30. It was great of Jennifer to arrange for dinner and scrapping time together. It's not very often Jen will sit and scrap with me. When she does I love it. She even passed up going to the club last night to be with me. What a girl.

This is the layout I did last night. This is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Oakland Cemetery located in Atlanta Georgia. Brenda, Helen, Michelle and myself spent about 4 hours at this cemetery taking photos and reflecting on the lives of those buried there. The tombs were amazing. The confederate section was moving. There was even a Jewish section. There were little rocks on some of these headstones. I learned that the little rocks are placed there as a sign of respect for these Jewish people. Who said you could not learn something in the middle of a cemetery?

This cemetery was so old that only white people were to be buried there. Amazingly, there was one African American granted permission to be buried there with the family she was a maid to. The family went thru a lot to be granted the permission to have her there. They said she was as much a part of their family as the other family members. To my knowledge this is the only case in which a slave was granted permission to be buried in a white cemetery.

Ginger Retreat

Ginger made so many Scrapbooking friends. As I said earlier she touched so many people in so many ways. She had more friends than most dogs I know. When she passed away I had decided I wanted to do a Scrapbook Retreat in her memory. I organized it at a location we had retreats in the past. Ginger loved to go on these retreats this particular place was her favorite. It only seemed fitting we should go there again. I had a memorial area set up for her. She attended the crop with us (she's in the box). We had a candle lit the entire weekend for her. There is a scrapbook for attendees to do a "Ginger layout" in her memory. All the Layouts went into this album for me. There was a contest for the best layout and the prize was the blue basket filled with pampering product. We ended up with some amazing layouts of how Ginger was a friend to each person. There were 24 ladies that attended this retreat and many more that wanted to come but there was no more room for them. That should tell you how many scrapping friends she had and how we all miss her. We had a great time.


We scrapped a lot.

There were also four other dogs there that were Ginger's best friends. I don't have a picture of them. Molly, Gidget, Joey and Cookie miss her and will miss the barking, running times they had together.


We danced like there was no tomarrow.

Ginger loved to dance with me.




We had a pajama party Saturday night.

Ginger loved to cuddle up to me when I got my Jammie's on.




And at 11:00 pm Nikki surprised us all with Starbucks. She drove about 40 minutes to bring us this surprise. She's the best.

Ginger loved doggie frapacino's. Otherwise known as whip cream in a lid just for her.


Nikki even created a Ginger layout while she was there. She had some scraps in the trunk.



Overall it was a great weekend and a huge success. I just wish Ginger could have been there with us. But it was a great event for her memorial and reflection on what a great friend she was to so many people. We all love her.

My Soulmate

This is Ginger. She was and still is my Soul mate. She passed away Dec. 2005 by choking on her food. It was a horrible experience to say the least. I adopted her when she was 6. It was Dec. of 1999. So I had her for almost exactly 6 years. Not long enough. She was sweet, kind and always by my side. Ginger made many Scrapbooking friends as she would come to the Scrapbook store to work with me. College students from our town would come to the store just to see the dogs. It made them feel like they were home again. I guess you could say Ginger touched many people in different ways. When I first brought her to the store I realized she did not like men. Probably due to the fact that her previous mommy was a single woman also. Ginger got over the men thing somewhat when she realized the men would play with her too. She had separation anxiety. When I would leave she would freak out thinking I was never coming back. I did this layout after she passed but I made it as though she was still with us. This was also one of my Hall of Fame entries for 2007. I did change the journaling to typewritten so it would look much cleaner.

Journaling is as follows:

I wanted a Pomeranian for so long. There were a few breeders that offered to sell me one cheaper than they normally sold for. At the time I was not sure why I kept saying NO. Then one morning, while getting ready for work, the Humane Society was on the radio talking about some of their adoptable dongs. All I heard was "This is a Pomeranian named Ginger." I call the radio station, the first words out of my mouth was, "I want that dog." I went after work to meet you. I loved you instantly. You were so shy and sweet. I could not believer someone could give you up at 6 years old. You came home with me. We were immediately best buddies. You hate to leave my side. When you smile I feel loved all over. When you fall asleep in my arms, it's like heaven. When you act like you haven't seen me in years I melt. I am so glad I was listening to the radio that morning.

I miss her soooo much!

Oh My The Girl Cooked

The Girl NEVER cooks. EVER! What the heck. All of a sudden she is on this "gotta learn to cook" kick. About time as she is almost 20. I have been trying to get her interested forever. Growing up, I was baking cookies at a very young age. I could not understand why Jen did not want to do the same thing. She fried her 1st egg on Easter of this year. Seriously.





So last night she made Venison nachos. Now, for one of your first meals that is pretty creative. AND it turned out sooooo good. I am very proud of her.


Doesn't it look so yummy? Nikki missed out on a great meal she would have loved. Sorry Nikki.













This is Jen eating her creation. She found the recipe online. After she called and told me she needs hamburger helper to put the ground Venison in. I hate hamburger helper and I do not buy it. Gross.

Now if she could just stop yelling "I cook great" at the top of her lungs as she eats, it would be all good.













This is Jen's boyfriend Matt eating his serving or servings. We got the ground Venison from his mom. Thanks Mom! He totally loved it and was also very proud of Jen.

Should I be worried?

Quick note. Jennifer (my daughter0 who is 19 and NEVER been interested in cooking is at home right now preparing to make a Venison taco dip for dinner. She doe NOT cook. Seriously. she just called to ask which pan to use for a "flat casserole dish." Then she said she also has to "brown the Venison and onions until clear" when I said "in the frying pan" her responce was "OOHHHhhhh, in the frrrryyying pan" I think I should be worried. Would you be? Wanny come over for dinner? I am sure we will have plenty.

Tnkerbell rocks

Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE Tinkerbell. She rocks! She is so sassy and just plain sexy. When I was young I wanted to be just like her. I hate the product that is made where she is smiling all sweetly. That is so wrong. Tink is NOT sweet.

When I visit Disneyland I simply MUST stay to see the beginning of the fireworks. It is the only time you will see Tink. She flys from the Matterhorn to the top of the castle just before the fireworks start.

WELL, not during Disney's 50th anniversary week. Brenda and I were standing there waiting and waiting to get my glimpse of Tink. The show finally started and WOW! Not only did Tink fly her usual route but she kept flying. All over the sky. It was the coolest. I could feel the lump in my throat. Dumb huh? Then if that was not enough she came back out towards the end of the show and flew around more. Again, the lump started. I was trying desperately not to look like an overgrown fool. Just about that time I could hear Brenda behind me "there she is Deb. Oh my" or something to that effect. And THEN I heard her voice crack and a little whimper come out. She was crying too. Yep, that did me in. The tears poured. I know I know a couple of whimpering dorks we are. But it really was the coolest thing to see.

And I thought it was great when Tink was in the parade. She has NEVER been in the parade. Yep, that was nothing compared to her flying all over. I am so glad I got to go during the 50th anniversary celebration. And, I was thankful it was Brenda I got to share it with.

This layout was done at a crop with Ali Edwards. Brenda and Nikki were teasing me because I was embarrassed about the journaling. THEN when we were leaving Ali says to me "I hear you got some great journaling about Tinkerbell" Ahhhhhhhh! Brenda is a brat! She told Ali all about my journaling and Ali played along with the joke. How embarrassing.

Have a Creative Day.

If Only

this is sooooo random. 2 peas challenge today is to complete the sentence. "if only_________. If only we could have won. HUH? Nikki, Brenda, myself, Mary Gail, Clair, Ana Cabrera (some of you may know her as editor of Scrapbook Answers magazine and now a CKU professor) , and a couple other ladies formed a dorm when we went to Creating Keepsakes University back in 2005 San Jose. Now, we had to decorate our door to compete for prizes. We created this game on our door that really worked. See the gumball machine at the top? There are also 4 playing pieces at the top as your game pieces.
This is a close up of the squares you land on. The little black spots are Velcro so you game piece will stick in place. You can see the spinner on the left. Notice the tube that goes from the gumball machine to the bottom of the door.
Now, can you see the tube ends just above a bowl? Once you get to the end of the game you can take a penny out of the envelope and put it in the gumball machine. The gumball will travel through the tube to the bowl for your prize. Each of the game squares had a scrapbook star with a saying. The object was to get to CKU. One of the prizes was for most interactive door.

This is the door that won. Survivor CKU. That is all great and everything. It was very clever. But all you had to do was read the question and lift the card for the answer. Now, I ask you, which door is REALLY most interactive? I am not bitter I just think ours was.

Sorry, I needed something to post about so this was it. I know it's random. But whatever!

Have a creative day.

The Ultimate Compliment

Jennifer wanted a tattoo long before her 18th birthday. She could not wait for that day to come. For a couple of years she told me her first tattoo would say "I want my mommy". Now, that alone made me very happy. One day she was going through a box or something and came across one of my drawing from 1992. She immediately knew this had to be her first tattoo. That made me soooooo happy. To have my artwork on some one's body forever. What a compliment.
When I asked her why THAT drawing, she said, "because then I will always remember you." I believe my reply was something like "you mean you would forget me if that was not there?" She laughed and made it clear she would not forget me. She meant I would be with her always, no matter what. I feel so honored and amazed that Jen could pick out a tattoo that means so much to her for her 1st. On her 18th birthday she got it done. The studio was closed on her birthday but she convinced the artist to open just for her. It was great. He even put my signature on the tattoo. I WILL be with her always. What a memory.

10 things

10 things that make me smile ALWAYS

1.) Receiving flowers for no apparent reason. Just out of the blue.

2.) Barney's laugh. He is the owner of the company I work for. He is not in the office but once a month. When he laughs it is loud, bold and comes straight from his gut. It's a great laugh.

3.) The giggle of a small baby.

4.) Winning something. Who would not smile if they won something? So unexpected.

5.) Accomplishing something I never thought I could do. Like sky diving or flying through the jungle of Honduras on a zip line BEFORE you get hurt. After you get hurt it's all bad. Trust me. Swimming with Sting Rays rates right up there too. AND hand feeding sharks.

6.) Unexpected money coming my way. You know you would smile too.

7.) Random acts of kindness. Mostly when I am the giver but receiving ranks right up there. It's just an all over good, warm fuzzy feeling when you give.

8.) Seeing an older couple (like 70 and up) holding hands like they just met and fell in love. I so want this when I get married. If I can't have it I wont get married. That's why I am still single. I may always be single. I refuse to settle for something other than what I want. He does not have to be perfect. I just want to be passionately IN LOVE (and act like it) for the rest of my life with the same man.

9.) Showing someone what I created just for them and they totally LOVE it. That's when I know I have done good.

10.) A GREAT practical joke. Even if I am the one it gets played on. But being the player is always the best.

Now, some of you may be surprised why I did not mention things regarding my daughter, dogs, family or friends. I would, but the challenge was to name 10 things that ALWAYS make me smile. As much as I love the people I did not mention, I do not ALWAYS smile every time. I would like to but that is just not possible. That does not mean I love them any less.

What 10 things make you smile ALWAYS?

I love my Dork Friends

God I love my two best Dork friends. You never know what the three of us will do next. Seriously. We always have sooooo much fun together. Especially when we go away on little trips. This particular trip to Creating Keepsakes University in L.A. was no exception. As you can see we went to Disneyland (a couple times). There is nothing like being at the "Happiest Place on Earth" with your two best friends.
It's like being little girls all over again. We do what we want, when we want and how we want with a few practical jokes in between.

Like the dares. hehehe. We had a few drinks and they dared me to stab a waiter in the behind with a little plastic sword you get in the drinks. Well, me being me, I did it. I thought Brenda was going to pee her pants from laughing.
Of course they both had to stab someone after that. We had to walk back to our hotel that night because we missed the last shuttle. Go figure, us on another adventure. We walked through a parking lot because we were going to jump the wall to get to our hotel instead of walking around. When we got to the wall we realized it was about 10 feet tall and none of us would be able to get our butts over it. It ended up in next to a tiny alley. Nikki with the small bladder, decided she needed to pee before our adventure could continue. Brenda was laughing at her trying to take a picture as I am standing over them both yelling "WE'RE IN A ALLEY IN L.A. AND WERE GOING TO GET MUGGED!" Shortly after that little incident we realized we may be lost. Nikki, being the ever so outgoing girl, asked a local which way our hotel was. He told her and immediately she replied "NO IT'S NOT.....IT'S THAT WAY" pointing in opposite direction. Now first, why would you argue with a local and if you knew which way it was, and why did you ask in the first place? Besides, he was right, Nikki was wrong. It really was where he told us it was. Remember this all happened in one night. You can imagine what the other 4 days were like.

Happy Creating

What's with the Do?

Oh my! Nice hair. This is Casey. She got so boared waiting for Jennifer's graduation to start she did not know what to do with herself. So Casey being Casey, put a Gatorade bottle on her head and pulled her hair up around it. I am told that everyone in the bleachers were laughing hysterically at her. I would have been to had I not been down on the field.

Most of the time I wish Jennifer did crazy things like this for me to take pictures of. She hates for me to photograph her anymore. She started that little phase when she was about 14. It sucks. I am glad I get to use Brenda's girls sometimes. Brenda took this photo.

The papers are Rusty Pickles Sweet Verona. I use Tim Holtz distressing inks, Heidi Swapp flowers, pink ric rac and some assorted buttons sewn on with embroidery floss. I love the colors and the button stem on this layout.

Happy Scrapping

Fugly Cow

Annette......if you are reading this post don't get excited. This cow is not for you. Sorry.

This cow was created by Tammie. Remember me posting about her earlier? She is one of my team members at work. This is her second creation. I tell you that girl is creative. I love the eye lashes and the earrings in the ears and the high heels. She wants to create a Mr. Cow now. I can not wait to see what that turns out like.

This is way different than the cow I had in mind to create for Annette. Now I am worried my cow won't be as cute. I am going with my original plan though. You never know it might work out.

Now for the two peas blog challenge. What country would I like to visit? I have already been to Fiji , Mexico and the Caribbean numerous times. I think I would like to visit the UK. So many beautiful buildings and museums. I hear they have great food. The history there amazes me. I wish it was more affordable. Maybe then it would be more a reality and not just a dream. Someday I will make it.

Happy Creating!

Metal Dogs & Mothers Day

Aren't these kind of Cool? I was at the Sonoma County Animal Shelter yesterday and saw these dogs made from sheet metal. These had to take some serious time to make. And who would have thought to find someone to do this?

For those of you that have not been to the shelter for awhile, they have undergone some serious remodeling. There is a hospital now right along side the adoption center. The adoption center itself now has rooms you can visit with all of the adoptable pets inside. It's like a home away from home for these lost pets.

I adopted my Ginger from there and I never looked back. We were serious sole mates until she passed away. A couple of my other friends have adopted their pets there and are oh so happy. I recommend adoption to every body if your thinking about owning a pet.

Are you wondering if I am adopting again? No. Again, the answer is no. Jennifer's cat Roxy went there to get fixed. I had to drop her off and pick her up. If you have ever heard a cat in heat you would know why we chose to do this to her. Talk about howling. Whew! So annoying. The Dr. told me she had just gone into heat again. Thank God we had this done. I am not sure I could go thru another week of her howling in the middle of the night. She was still groggy when I brought her home but she is doing fine.


On another note. Jennifer created a blog because "mom is computer illiterate and she felt stupid" so she joined the blog world. Now, here is why it bothers me. Brenda, Nikki and I have been trying to figure out how to customize our headings. Little brat Jennifer customized hers with her picture and the title on the picture. Go figure! I am going to have to hit her over the head to show me how she did it. But, if I do that she will just tell me how illiterate I am and get all annoyed that she has to show me how. I created my whole blog without her help and now I gotta ask for it. I am not looking forward to it but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get what you want. Wish me luck.

Two Peas had a blog challenge on "how do you celebrate mothers day?" Well Jen and I used to go to Marine World every year together. It is one of the times every year where there are no huge crowds. You can get on any ride within 5 min. So cool you don't have to wait in line for 45 min. With no huge crowds it is so much more relaxing. You could even go at 3pm and do everything you want to do before the park closes. We have not done this for the last couple of years. Maybe this year. Maybe not. I kind of miss it and I know they have made some big changes to the park. Like the name. It is called Discovery Kingdom or something like that now. I cant remember. I am too old.

Happy Creating.

Mud Pie

This is Cookie. She is such a brat. Seriously.

I took her to the spa so she could look all pretty for the Scrapbook Retreat I organized in memory of my Pomeranian Ginger who passed away. Wouldn't you know it, she found a lot of mud and had no problem running through it all weekend. AHHhhhhh......She had specks of mud all over her.

You know how when you ride a bike in the mud? The wheels will fling specks of mud all up your back. Well, her little paws flung specks of mud all up her little tummy. I guess I should be thankful she did not roll in it. Mud and White puppy's do not mix.

I love this layout. The background was stamped with Making Memories stamps and paint. I used the fabulous and oh so funky AtoZ pattern paper foo-fa-la buttons and ledger paper for the journaling. The ghost letters for the title are from Heidi Swapp. They are attached with staples. This layout was created at a crop with Allie Edwards after one of her classes.

The Allie Edwards class was fab by the way. We did a chipboard mini book about a week in our lives. The technique was all about mixing pattern papers. It was weird to see how precut, pre selected pattern papers actually did go with the photos we took.