Colorful Thanks

Since I couldn't make it to Stamp-a-Faire on the 23rd Suzanne, over at The Card Yard, picked up my goodie bag for me.  She stopped by my favorite store, Ink About It, to give it to me and all I can say is EEEK!  What a boatload of goodness!

PTI gave us 3 stamp sets!  One of the sets had this great sentiment and it was perfect using with some die-cuts I had leftover from other projects.

The various dies used come from PTI and MFT and the card base is a trimmed down Memory Box card.  A summer goal of mine is to get a bunch of thank you cards made to send to the families of my students.  A teacher can never have enough thank you cards on hand! :)

It's a Color Challenge!

Today at Top Tip Tuesday we are challenging you to use color, but just certain colors. :)  Any shade, but your challenge is to use green, blue, and brown.  Here's what I came up with...

It's a soft and simple sympathy card.  None of us enjoy having to give these cards, but I try to have a couple on hand when they are needed.

This was a quick card to assemble since I had the punched papers already cut.  Playing around with a variety of pre-cut papers in the shades we were calling for in the color challenge, these had just the comforting feel I was looking for in this card.

I conned talked my in-laws into helping punch a bunch of old paper a while back (mentioned it here in the studio tour) and it really pays off 'cause I just pull out the color(s) I am looking to use and play around 'til it looks just right. :)

So what can you do with green, blue, and brown????  Come join us in the fun!

I'm paying a call at these lovely spots:
The Shabby Tea Room- Mix and Match 3 pattern papers (I made the pattern on the kraft base)
Papertake Weekly- Anything Goes
The Kraft Journal- Walk in my garden

Guest Post at Craft Goodies

Edit- This Guest Blogging gig was set up a month ago.  Clearly life has been a little crazy since then. :)  For a Cad update scroll down.

Hi Folks!  Well, I am back from the Papertrey Convention in Cinci and all I can say is WOW!!!!  While I come back down from the stratosphere I have a couple fun field trips for you...

The first one is my Guest Blogger Tutorial over at Craft Goodies!  Wendy is on vacation with her family and while she is relaxing lots of us bloggy friends are doing our best to fill in for her. :)  After you (hopefully) hop over to my tut, give this project a girly twist and enter it over at Top Tip Tuesday!!!  We are hosting a "Make It Girly" challenge, so get out your pink, froo-froo, flowery goods and make it work people. :)

So do you have your walking shoes on?  Got a water bottle so you stay hydrated?  Ready to go?  Great!  I'll see you back here tomorrow. :) 
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Cad is home and I will admit that his recovery is tricky.  I am a little overwhelmed and emotional about the whole event, but I know it will get better.  We both saw some tail movement today and he was able to roll himself a little to a kinda sitting up position to see me.  There are so many amazing folks at Tufts!  We are going back to get out his stitches next week and I know there is a crew looking forward to seeing his progress.  I'll be so excited if we have some to show!

Hugs to all,

Cad on Sunday

Well Cad has made it to Ward A which is for less intense needs, so that is great.  He has a cage big enough to fit all of us, but we took turns since he still has lots of tube attached to him.  It took Tom a couple tries before he could get this shot 'cause Cad kept moving his head so much.  :)  The other vets in Ward A said he caused a fuss with a husky today.  Cad and the husky were talking trash to each other across the cages.  That's my mouthy pup.  He must be feeling better to be so fresh already.

Cad still can't walk, but he is beginning to move his legs more and we even got a tail wag just before we left!  That was a pretty big deal to both of us.  He has also acquired a red harness for carting him to and fro.  Doc says with the steady progress Cad is making he should be up and walking in a month.  He will likely be coming home before he is on all fours, maybe on Tuesday.  We are so grateful to be in a position to be able to have gotten Cad treatment like this. 

Maybe tomorrow I will even be crafty and post something more than a Cad update! :)  Hugs to all of you from Cad, Amy, Tom and Me!

Cad Update, 2 Bloggers & Thanks

We got to see Cad last night and he was AWAKE! :)  This was the best shot I took using my iPhone.  Poor guy, his tongue is swollen from the ventilator.  It hangs out of the side of his mouth and he ends up looking like a Chinese Crested competing for the Ugly Dog Contest.  Doc says that it will go away and in spite of the swelling he managed to get down a little wet kibble- man he doesn't miss a meal for nuttin'! That's the corgi we know and love. :)  He is breathing on his own now and can move his head a bit.  They tested his legs for feeling and he has feeling, he just needs to remember how to use his legs. 

We know he's him.  He got the excited shakes when he saw us and we used his important words like "dinner" "treat" "beach" and "walk" mixed in with other nonsense words.  He perked his ears as best he could each time he heard a word he knew. :)  He also wanted to bark at a vet who walked by wearing *gasp* something that jingled.  He HATES jingles.  The student vet who was with us even noticed Cad perk up and we told her why.  These seem to be good signs and we are keeping our fingers crossed for continued progress.

I was supposed to be at the PTI Stamp-a-Faire in Cincy today.  When I posted I couldn't go and asked for prayers for Cad two lovely ladies offered to get my goodie bag for me.  Folks who were strangers to me before Thursday night!  They are so sweet and I want to ask you all to stop by their blogs and give them some love.  Melissa and Suzanne are amazing ladies to do this mitzvah and as a bonus they are both uber talented too!

Tom and I cannot begin to tell everyone how much all the well wishes for Cad mean to us.  I've posted about this on various boards and FB and the outpouring of support continues to be a source of strength for us both.  May all this kindness be returned to all of you tenfold!!!! 

Asking for prayers

I'm not usually a sad news posting gal, but I need help.  We had to rush our corgi Cad to Tufts Emergency Hospital last night.  He had a ruptured cervical disc in his spine and lost all motor function in his legs.  Very early this morning he had to be put on a ventilator to help him breathe.  He has made it through the surgery and now we are waiting to see if he will be able to breathe on his own again.  If he can, he should be able to pull through all of this and regain the use of his legs.

Cad was my mom's dog for 6 years until her unexpected passing from a brain aneurysm and we have had the pleasure of his companionship for these past 6 years.  Needless to say, he means so much to us and we are a wreck.  I am begging for prayers, thoughts, good vibes, whatever you are comfortable sending our way.  I truly believe in the power of prayer/good vibes/positive thinking for others, any of these you could send our way will be so greatly appreciated.  I'll keep y'all posted on how Cad progresses...

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Ever find you have been so busy you don't have a chance t stop and smell the roses?  My DH and I have been so crazed these last couple of weeks that just this weekend we noticed that the back gardens look AMAZING!

We both thought "take pictures"!  All of the day-lilies are from my mother's house.  My DH and his dad helped me dig them all up when we sold her house.  It was quite an ordeal.  We had to tranlplant all my mom's plants at my in-laws until the following year because we knew we were going to move in November and the plants would never take if they went in the ground that late.

Our backyard gets sun the entire day, so in the few years we've lived in this house we've already split the day-liles once and will need to do it again next year.  It is lovely to have a bit of my mom here at our place.  The entire backyard was a blank slate when we moved and she would have loved what we did with it. :)

These lucky little gals were rescued from the bulldozer and have gone to town!  Looks like the bugs think they are tasty. :)  They were a little upset the first year they were planted, but geesh- they will need splitting next year too.

Hope these pics brought some cheer to you.  If you have some pics of your flowers, please let me know!  I adore "walking" through the gardens of the blogosphere. :)