Paper Smooches Linked Hearts and Anything Goes challenge

I fell in love with this Linked Hearts die the moment I saw it used in a card, so it was a no brainer for me to buy it! It arrived in the mail last week, and I needed to make a quick card to send out with a pendant that a Facebook friend asked that I send on her behalf so I knew right away that I just had to use this die.

This is a super simple card, the die is such a rock star that it doesn't really need anything added to it!

Perfect timing that the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge this week is Anything Goes, dontcha think?!

 

I wish I had more time for card making, I would love to play with my PS stamps and dies all day. They always put a smile on my face!

This is the pendant that I made and will be sending for my Facebook friend, in case you're curious:

 

Sometimes you just have those 'ah ha!' moments... the Linked Hearts die was one, and the "I Love You to the moon and back" charm was another. I knew immediately that it would be perfect for making Scottie pendants. Here is the original pendant I designed, but since most Scotties are black rather than wheaten (cream), I'm also using the bronze Scottie above until I can get my hands on the perfect black Scottie charms. :)

Scotties and cardmaking. Love them, what can I say!

My first shaker card... for Kiki

I have a confession to make... I love sequins, and I even sell them in my Etsy shop... but I've never made a shaker card before! I've wanted to, but as you know my cardmaking slowed down to less than a snail's pace after I went back to work in June.

So last month I decided to put together a shaker card on the fly, and I'm just now getting around to posting it on my blog. I like blogging, but when I haven't made cards I don't feel like I have anything to say. I really need to find my groove again, but I'm not going to force it... it'll happen when it happens. :)

Back in July, when at last after over a year without any income at all I had a regular paycheque again and a bit of cash to spare, I splurged and bought a set from Unity Stamp Co. that I had been coveting for a really long time. For my regular readers (though not sure if I still have any since I dropped off the face of the earth!) you'll know that I love dogs more than I love humans, and the loss of a dog hits me harder than anything. Even as I type this I'm sniffling and blinking back a rogue tear or two. So I decided that it would be appropriate for me to use this stamp set for my first shaker card. Here it is:

This isn't a particularly great shot, I just quickly snapped it with my iPhone when I made it a few weeks ago. You may remember my friend Teresa's Kiki... In February we fundraised $5,000 for her chemo treatments. This helped give them half a year more with their beautiful girl. Well, this past week Teresa and her husband came to the realization that it was time to let Kiki go to the Rainbow Bridge (okay the tears are fully flowing now). On Friday September 4th, Teresa and Dave said goodbye to their beautiful 12 year old Kiki. She's been kicking cancer's butt for the last two years, and now it's time for her to rest. This card will be going to them.

Dance and play little girl, you will never be in pain again. ♥

More Scottie die-cut notecards

I made these for a fellow Scottie mom, thought I'd get some pictures up. Not staged very well, I just took them with my iPhone real quick.

These were fun and easy to make, using the Scottie from Top Dog Dies 'Dog Days #2'. I gave a bit of an explanation when I first posted a set a couple of months ago: Scottie notecards. 

If you have any questions though, just leave a comment and I'm happy to provide more info!

All Scotties Go To Heaven

There isn't much to say about this card, I think it speaks for itself. The stamp is from The Cat's Pajamas, it's a retired set which I've been chasing down from the moment I saw Poochie with wings. It's a Valentine's set, but that particular stamp has a whole different meaning for me. I hope that Alma doesn't mind the context that I've used it in, especially since I made this card with a lot of love and reverence for all the tears my friends and I have shed for our beautiful lost Scotties. Again today there was sad news. Right after I made this card I learned that Shamus, my friend Julie's boy is nearing the end of his battle with cancer. He was diagnosed with Transitional Cell Carcinoma (TCC) just a few short months after they lost Doughall, one of their other boys, to TCC also. TCC is canine bladder cancer, but it has now gone into his bones. I don't want this card to be for Shamus. I don't want it to be for any of our babies really. I just hope that it will bring comfort to whoever ends up being the recipient.

The 'rainbow' paper was hand colored using distress inks. It represents the Rainbow Bridge. 

I'm entering this card in The Cat's Pajamas' Spring Blog Hop. A little last minute, but I've been planning this card for weeks... just had to get some other cards done first. :) I'm also entering it in the Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge: In the Middle. The middle is the center... and Scotties are the center of my life. I wish that cancer wasn't a part of that, but it will always be right there at the center too...

Scottie notecards

It's been awhile... I was procrastinating a set of notecards for a Scottie gift exchange. I don't know why, it's just in my nature? I felt guilty about making anything else till the notecards were done, so I haven't made anything!

I wanted to make something simple, a basic blank notecard. Several weeks ago I was playing with my distress inks and made what hubby referred to as 'cotton candy looking' paper. :) When I first received my Top Dog Dies 'Dog Days #2' set in the mail, I used that 'cotton candy' paper to die cut a bunch of Scottie dogs, just for fun. Today I decided to use my Top Dog Dies Scottie die to die cut a negative shape into the notecards. I then used some glue dots to glue the 'cotton candy' Scottie die cuts to the inside of the cards, so that it would pop through the Scottie 'window.

I don't know if I'm explaining myself very well, but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So here are my pictures. :)

The colors also fit in really well with the SplitCoastStampers Free For All 'baby pinks and blues' challenge.