Sometimes....Life Stinks....

Meet Ms. Dolly....

she's my girl cat in a family of 3 boys-4 if you count our feral, Moe, into the mix.

She is also our current cat crisis of the moment.

She had surgery this morning

for a mystery lump on her head

that quickly got bigger and bigger...

and I just got word...and the word isn't good.

While we don't have the pathology report,

our most awesome vet is perplexed and concerned.

She also thinks this THING will be back,

possibly before the stitches are even removed.

That sucks.

Sorry.

I don't usually use such words-

but today, it does. Big time.

While I believe in the power of prayer

and that God can still turn this thing around---

or use it for His purpose and glory

(yeah, even the bad stuff like this...)

it doesn't mean I have to like it.

She came to us after she was abandoned at the vet's office.

She has something wonky with one eye although it doesn't bother her

or affect her movement.

She was quite skittish with us and would not stand up to the boys---

something she's just recently overcome

(all those puffing and hissing lessons paid off!)

and I HATE HATE HATE to hear

she might not make it.

February around here is hard enough as it is...

I lost my late husband in February

my(current) husband lost a son in February

and now the news of Ms. Dolly....

 It comes in threes, right?

Am I done after this?

I hope so!

 

Let me say this---

DO NOT

take any moment---or anyone

for granted.

Ever.

Cherish it ALL.

You never know what tomorrow---or even the next hour or minute

will bring.

Ms. D was fine one night-

woke up with the lump the next morning.

And it doubled in size in less than a week....

and here we are...

 

Prayers, please

for whatever lies ahead for us

and our girl...

 

I need to go lose myself in some crafting

until I can go and pick her up later on...

 

Until next time,

happy stamping and scrapping.

Blessings,



It's Raining Cats....

or I should say it's raining cat CRISES at our house...

 

First up-Bad Cat

who continues to battle us in the pill taking process

but alas, we (yes, it takes 2!) have a technique down

and manage to get the pills down the cat

with little or no blood shed (ours or his!)

or missing appendages

not once but 2 times a day.

Oh, and the noises he makes in the process!

the "Ooooooowwwllllllllllllalalala" he does just cracks me up!

I keep saying that I need to get my friend Theresa over here

and do a video for You Tube on how we do it

because let me tell you-we watched a lot of how to pill a cat videos---

before we purr-fected our technique!

 

The other problem with Bad Cat is

he has lost so much weight---he is cold.

I have a Hoosier in my kitchen that sits over a heat vent

and he is usually under there trying to thaw out.

Our house isn't that cold-he's just lost that much weight, poor guy.

So I searched the web to find how to make a sweater for a cat.

I first tried the use an old sock method.

You cut off the toe, tuck the heel up and under on itself

make a small semi-circular cut

to make two front leg holes.

I tried it.

I got it over his head and one leg in---

it was wayyyyy too small--the other leg was not going through

and he was half in half out and growling.

Yes, cats GROWL.

I was laughing hysterically which did not help his dignity one bit!

I tried to take it off---more growling.

I got the scissors and very carefully cut it off.

Plan B.

I found a simple pattern for a dog coat using Velcro.

Enlarged the pattern, did a dry fit, and started cutting and sewing.

Now, Bad Cat is a boy-but the only cuddly warm fabric I had

was pink, white and brown.

But it was a CAT pattern--so we went with it anyway.

There is brown in it-and he really doesn't care.

Here's what we came up with...

I need to adjust the "collar" part to make it a little bit tighter and bring it up a bit...

Yes, I know-he's on the counter where he shouldn't be....

 

I even did top stitching!

He looks grumpy---I think he was still miffed over trying to stiff him in the sock...

 

The second cat crisis is my little girl, Ms. Dolly.

Here she is cuddled up next to my side...

If you look close, you can see that she has a rather large bump on her head

right between her ears....at 7:45 tomorrow she will have surgery to remove it.

We covet your prayers and good wishes that it's not cancerous

and that it can easily and quickly be removed.

Our vet is awesome---but she really didn't like the looks of this.

If she's worried...you can imagine how worried this cat momma is.

Ms. Dolly was adopted after someone abandoned her at the vet's office

and we suspect she was abused along the way as she was extremely skittish

for a very long time.

The boys all chase her and she'd flee

so she has had her own room with a screen door for several years.

Just recently

she has started demanding to come out

and, surprisingly, all my lectures and lessons of

"Ms. D, all you have to do is PUFF and HISS and they'll leave you alone"

(complete with my own puffing and hissing...)

has paid off!

Last night as she was sitting on the bed with me

and Poppa Cat came up ready to take her on

she merely looked at him,

gave a loud hiss and even SWIPED at him!

Didn't connect-but she got her point across-

and he left her alone!

That's my girl!!!

Please pray for her---us.

 

We've had our share of cat crises-and we've dodged a lot of bullets

I'm worried we might not be so lucky this time...

but GOD IS GOOD

and He cares for His creatures.

We will put our faith and trust in Him.

And yeah, I will be praying over her and the staff

before I leave their office tomorrow.

You can count on it!

Need to get busy on some paper crafts-

show coming up in early April.

Stay tuned.

 

Until next time,

happy stamping and scrapping!

Blessings.



You're Tweet! Some Sweet Valentine Magic...

Spoiler alert: Theresa Forge do not look at this post until your card comes!

or you won't be surprised!

Lots of my so-called "spare" time

(actually time I should be doing housework, etc.)

is spent blog hopping.

And one of my favorites is

Dawn's Stamping Studio

and on one of her posts she shared how to make

a magic card...

you can find her step-by-step video

here

 

 

I made a similar one for my goddaughter

but

I forgot to photograph it before I mailed it.

Oh well.

Last night I sat down and decided to make a few more

for some other friends...

and this is what I came up with...

Now, I had some technical difficulties---but I overcame them!

AFTER--

I had prepped all the pieces for the base card, the mechanism,

the embellishments...only AFTER all that...

did I realize I was completely out of transparencies

as well as vellum.

Of course...that is the KEY INGREDIENT

to making the magic happen.

What to do---what to do

I pulled out a CTMH page protector

and started cutting it up.

It`s clear, right..why not.

Then I realized...I didn`t have any red StazOn ink either.

We all know regular ink won`t stamp and stay on shiny, slippery stuff.

And brown wasn`t going to cut it.

I pulled out my red CTMH ink along with clear embossing powder

and my Heat-It craft tool.

I stamped the heart, covered it with the clear embossing powder

and CAREFULLY heated it with the Heat Tool.

This particular heat gun is a tad bit cooler than others.

And while it melted the embossing powder,

it did not melt the page protector!

It did ``curl`` it a bit--and it has a somewhat of a watery look

which I kinda like!

The other dilemma I ran into was when I put it all together

the page protector was getting caught as it didn`t have the òomph``

(wonky things are happening with my keyboard...sorry!)

that the acetate transparency or vellum would have had.

I solved that by simply using small pop dots on the sides of the card

instead of taping them down.

This gave the panel a little more room to maneuver in and out. 

So -- as the saying goes, I made a silk purse out of a sow`s ear...poor sow!

 

I made a special one for my darling husband

and I will take pics and post that tomorrow.

 

I also did treats for the preschoolers

but we were under winter weather advisories most of the week

and school was cancelled so they are all sitting on my desk until next week.

Funny to see ice at the beach.

 

Here`s my hard-working support staff...

 

 

And the BAD BAD BAD CAT!

We brought groceries home Sat. afternoon

and he got on the stove and was trying to get the cooked chicken¸

out of the container...

and before I could get him shooed away and the chicken secured...

he got into the package of pork chops, grabbed one,

and ran off with it!

Yes, I did get the wildebeest away from him

and I still have all 10 fingers!

Some days he really lives up to his name

which really is

BAD CAT!

 

That`s all for today!

Until next time,

happy stamping and scrapping!

Blessings,

 



A Couple of Quickies...

I am supposed to be cleaning house....

but got sidetracked

(sorry Flylady).

 

I noticed as I was emptying the trash

from the bathroom

that the can had a bit of a not so pleasant odor to it

and thought, darn, I should have got a scented thingy

at the dollar store for them.

And then I thought of the tons of herbs in my craft closet.

I pulled out my smell stopper blend

and added a little lavender to it

put a handful into the center

of a coffee filter

grabbed the hot glue gun

and sealed that sucker shut.

Into the trash can it went-

with the plastic bags on top.

End of odor.

Not fancy-but also not going to be seen!

 

Made one for the bedroom trash can, too!

Then I spotted the doilies on the work table

and thought oh, what the heck-

stamped the center of one of those,

but this time ran a line of hot glue and made a pocket out of it

before I filled it

and sealed it shut.

Added a small pink bow

and here's a cute little sachet

to give as a gift-

just in time for Valentine's day!

 

 

 

I've been busy---

baby sat a 15 mo. old out of town last week-end

and then the cats have issues yet/still

so not much time to play.

They on the other hand

are napping...

 

He has a toy opossum in his paw!

 

Keep praying for this guy...

he's lost sooo much weight--and still doesn't want to eat

the food he needs for his irritable bowel disease...

to the vet we go again on Monday to be sure

there isn't a dental issue going on

as there's been a lot of noise when he does eat...

 

Ok.

Back to my routines.

Gotta do that home blessing hour thing

Flylady talks about.

More fun stuff has to get done over the week-end

so stay tuned.

 

Until next time,

happy stamping and scrapping!

Blessings,



 

Card in a Box: Third project in three days!

Can't believe it!

Spent more time in the craft room these past few days

than I have in the past few months!

This is it for awhile tho--

this next week and week-end is packed full.

 

My friend Theresa posted a project she found

on Facebook

and since I needed to make a birthday card--

I thought I would give it a try.

 

You can find the tutorial at  Frenchie Stamps

It looks complicated-but it is super, super easy!

I had so much fun decorating it

 

It is called a card in a box

and the idea is that it folds flat to fit in an invitation sized enve (A2)

and then opens up into a box

with stuff in the middle.

Since I was going to hand-deliver mine

I went wild with the pop dots (no surprise there!),

the layers and the embellishments!

I used CTMH cardstock and both CTMH and SU stamps

colors are CTMH blush and lagoon and plain old white

oh and spring green I think for the leaves... 

 

It is really, really cute in person

and it was soooo easy to do---the base went together in no time

and I spent the majority of the time embellishing.

That's my kind of project!

 

I have an issue with one of my stamp blocks---

I've never had this happen before-

it appears the ink has "leached into" the block...

there is no ink on the  block itself-it has literally leaked inside it....?

 

 This is a view from the side of the block

I am not a happy camper.

Not sure what CTMH will say----going to find out.

None of my other blocks have done this---and not sure why this one has.

 

That's it, folks!

 

 Until next time,

happy stamping and scrapping.

Blessings,