Guess who's coming to dinner?

I looked out the craft room window a few days ago and could not believe my eyes.  This is either a sharp-shinned or a Cooper's hawk sitting on top of my bluebird house.  My first thought was where was the mother bluebird?  Was she sitting inside the box?  Had she taken off in fright?  Luckily she was back on the nest later that day and I saw both bluebirds this morning.  I have not seen the hawk again.  We often have a red-tailed hawk in the tree across the street, but rarely see these hawks.  I was also privileged to see a pileated woodpecker cross the road in front of my car while on the way to the grocery store this morning. 

On a bittersweet note, my husband and I visited our local no-kill animal shelter last Friday.  We stopped by to drop off the canned food that we had accumulated during our cat's illness.  We tried to tempt her appetite with every brand on the market, grilled, classic, chunk, with gravy, without gravy, beef, chicken, shrimp, liver....  We filled a large box with all the food and trekked it across the river to the A.R.K. We took a tour through the cat area while we were there which was really hard.  I so miss my cat.  But there were many beautiful cats in cages just waiting for someone to give them a 'fur-ever' home.  I wanted to take each one home.  I fell in love with a little Persian and if she's still there when we get home from vacation, she will be coming home with us.  We have a ton of love waiting for her and I wasn't meant to be without a cat.

Free Digital Calendar and Birthday Sentiment

This is the last of this set.  Does anyone have any ideas for the next group of free digital stamps?  I'm open to suggestions.

 Download Birthday Sentiment

Download Birthday Calendar

Thank you all so much...

I got up this morning and automatically looked down to make sure I didn't step on the cat as she ran out from under the bed.  I left the bathroom door open a bit so she could come in and visit while I did bathroom things.  I checked my feet going down the stairs because she runs in front of me as I walk.  I glanced at the kitchen floor to make sure my husband had fed her when he got up and it suddenly occurred to me that she was gone.  It hits me at the oddest times.  There seems to be cats in every movie I watch, in every commercial on tv, in every magazine I pick up. In my heart I know she's no longer in pain but selfishly I wanted more time with her.

I did want to thank everyone for their kind words.  They were very comforting.

Thank you all so much...

I got up this morning and automatically looked down to make sure I didn't step on the cat as she ran out from under the bed.  I left the bathroom door open a bit so she could come in and visit while I did bathroom things.  I checked my feet going down the stairs because she runs in front of me as I walk.  I glanced at the kitchen floor to make sure my husband had fed her when he got up and it suddenly occurred to me that she was gone.  It hits me at the oddest times.  There seems to be cats in every movie I watch, in every commercial on tv, in every magazine I pick up. In my heart I know she's no longer in pain but selfishly I wanted more time with her.

I did want to thank everyone for their kind words.  They were very comforting and this card is for all of you.

Rest in Peace

April 14, 1997 - July 15, 2012

We will forever miss the way you always made us laugh.  With heavy hearts, great love, and many tears, we buried you under the cat mint so you can watch the butterflies. 

On a really sad note....

Our cat has been aging and two weeks ago was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, a treatable disease and not uncommon in elderly cats.  It's a problem for us because she doesn't like to be handled, although she's more tolerant of us than other people.  The medication we were given to treat her is in pill form and must be given twice a day.  When we first started giving it to her it wasn't hard, we crushed it and sprinkled it into her food.  And that's a good thing because we could never leave her with a sitter; she would not tolerate anyone giving her a pill but us.

We took her back to the vet on the 9th for another blood test to determine if the dosage was the right amount and if it was helping.  She was spot-on, the meds were perfect.  Except....after that visit she quit eating.  From Monday the 9th until Thursday the 12th, she ate less than a tablespoon of food.  Her weight on the 9th was 3.9 lbs and on Thursday was 2.6 lbs.  So, back to the vet.  This time another blood test showed renal disease, also a disease of aging cats and although you can make them comfortable and add time to their lives, you cannot cure it (and it's the same disease that killed my last cat, my beloved G.R.).  We were given cans of 'critical care' food, a soft pate to mix with warm water and a syringe.  We were told to back off the thyroid medication; we're down to one pill a day but feeding by syringe every couple of hours.  She still shows no interest in eating on her own.  If we can reach that point, there is an appetite stimulant we can add to her food.  In our attempt to entice her to eat we purchased every brand of canned food that was on the market.  We have at least 50 cans of cat food in 'her' cabinet.  In the end, we throw away everything that's been opened and we're continuing with the critical care diet.  If we can get her eating on her own again, there will be a special diet for cats with kidney disease and I understand from reading on line that many cats don't like it.  But we will deal with that when we get there.  In the meantime, she drinks copious amounts of water, will not allow an IV which would help her dehydration, and sleeps around the clock.  We wake her up to feed her, we clean her up (this is a really messy process), let her drink some water and put her back in her bed.

I tell you that to tell you this:  Card making, blogging, cooking, housework, gardening, and socializing will all take a back seat to spending time with my best friend.  We don't know if she will be with us for much longer and I plan to make her as comfortable as possible.  I hope where ever you are today, your loved ones are happy and healthy, hug them for me.

I won, I won....

Well, second place, anyway.  I entered Papelito's "Anything Goes" challenge last week and won three free digitals from Papelito.  So many choices and if you like quirky, this is the place for you.  This week's challenge is Flowers and I may have time to finish a card and enter.  I have a retirement dinner to cook for a wonderful guy who is retiring from Caterpillar the end of July.  Just a small gathering on Thursday but a nice meal with a great cake from my bff at Divine Cakes in Lacon, IL.  So, food to cook, house to clean (Heaven forbid, Russ should see a dirty house).  And today is  movie day.  We're having ribs, baked potato and corn on the cob.  I'm the grillmaster in our home and I got a great deal on a huge package of ribs yesterday so cooked half last night (and we licked our plates) and I'll cook the other half today (a person can't eat too many ribs, right?).  For Ruthann's viewing pleasure, I have an appetizer of Gabriel Iglesias, the fluffy guy.  For the main course, Ice Age and Ice Age, the Meltdown, for dessert - Ice Age, Dawn of the Dinosaurs.  Can you imagine, she's never seen Scrat.

Since we're getting ready for vacation in August and since we're planning a trip out west, I thought this card was really appropriate.  Using PoppyStamps Grand Madison Window die and GinaK's Mountain Wilderness, I created this scene.  The paper was DCWV Old World Stack and if you knew my grandmother, you'd say, "yep, that's her wallpaper".  A valance of lace set the whole thing off.  I may use this card for our anniversary because "joy" is what my husband brings me every moment of every day.  I hope where ever you are, the butterflies are amazing and the skies are blue...

From this window - 7/8/2012

I write to you from the midst of the drought.  The corn around our county is just about dead.  It's tall enough to produce ears but there are none.  Instead of a solid field of green (which I always took for granted), such a lot of it is yellow brown.  I suspect our corn flakes will be much more pricey this fall than it is now.  Farmers that use corn to fatten their cattle will also have to raise prices.  My heart goes out to the farmers who work so hard to get their crops planted only to find a dust bowl in their fields.

On a brighter note, the bluebirds are outside the craft room window checking out the empty box.  The bad news is I saw the wren checking it out this morning, too.  Hopefully, if the bluebirds do decide to build a nest and have another brood, the wren's five eggs will be hatched and he'll be too busy feeding them to bother the bluebirds.  From my lips to God's ears. 

The wrens in the back flower bed had seven eggs.  I checked the box yesterday and saw the babies in distress.  The male literally filled the box to the roof with twigs.  Mom created a 50 cent size spot in the back right corner and lined it with grass.  Seven one week old chicks very quickly outgrew the lined nest.  This morning three had gotten wedged between the side of the box and the twigs and the rest were stacked in the tiny soft part of the nest.  So, I took a screwdriver, opened up the side of the box, gently moved the three back up on top of the others, pulled half the twigs out from the bottom, closed the side, opened the top and flattened the remaining twigs.  Now there's a flat area the size of the box and no chance the babies can get trapped again.  The parents weren't happy with me but it didn't take long for them to come back with food. 

Hubs took a stab at fixing the leak in the pond.  He was pretty sure he knew where it was so he got out the mortar and caulking and rebuilt one portion of the top pond.  We had been adding water to the pond every other day to keep the pump from seizing up.  That water could be used elsewhere.  Note for water conservation:  if you have hanging plants and plants in pots, move the pots under the hanging plants, you can water two for the price of one.  When the excess water drips from the bottom of the hanging pots, it will water the plants below.

After I purchased my Cameo, I found a site on the web filled with files created by Monica Bjork.  She has the most amazingly intricate files for free on her site.  And my Cameo cuts them beautifully.  This is Laced Frame 17, 18.  Does it take your breath away or what?  I struggled with embellishments.  I tried flowers and crystals and rhinestones.  They all took away from the beauty of the die cut.  Even the colored image pales in comparison.  Monica, you are a true artist.  I printed two of the Saturated Canary images and cut out a portion of the skirt on the second image.  After coloring, I popped it up on the original image.

Recipe:  Paper:  DCWV The Black Currant Stack, Saturated Canary Marry Me, Monica Bjork Frame 17, Sizzix Eiffel Tower Die, Star Dust Stickles, Stampendous Dots, Copics:  [Skin E000, E00, E11, B0000, E93, BG34][Dress Y0000, Y000, Y00][Flowers YR12, YR02]

Answering a design team call....

The Paper Shelter is having a Design Team call and since it's one of the companies I buy from, I thought I'd give it a try.  They have digitals that you can both color and are colored for you.  If you need an instant card, their colored images rock.  I use Hallmark Card Studio and their images to print a card in minutes.  Their images are really cute and I've been a fan for a long time.  This is not a Paper Shelter image; it was my next card up for posting.  It's a Saturated Canary digital called "Salute Her".  I used Recollections paper, a sentiment from GinaK's Ticket Trio, and colored her with my Copics.  I used my Becca's Peg Bow Maker for the bow, I LOVE my bow maker.

[Skin E000, E00, E11, E93, 0, BV20, BV34][Hair E33, E50, E51][Shirt Y35, Y21, Y32, Y23][Shadow C1,0]  I hope wherever you are the sun is warm and the flowers are blooming.

Ode to horse-flies.....

Oh, horse-flies:  I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.  The end.

The Midwest is having its share of troubles.  Excessive heat, no rain and those dratted horse-flies.  For those of you who don't know about horse-flies you can educate yourself here.  They can draw blood when they bite and they bite all the time.  I find myself dancing into the house when they find me.  It's too hot to be outside anyway.  So, more time to make cards, eh?  I'm entering this card in Papelitos 1st Stamp Challenge.  There are several of these witches at the Papelitos website, this one looks amazingly like Bette Midler in Hocus Pocus which is a movie I truly love.  I love the teeny stones I used for the rings, you'll have to double click the picture to see them.

Recipe includes:  Papelitos Morgan digi, Sakura Jelly Roll, Spica Clear, Queen & Co. Pearls, Recollections Pearls, M.S. Border Punch, M.S. Bat Punch, Zing Embossing Powder, Inkadinkado sentiment, Copics:  [Skin B00, B0000, B23, RV11][Hair C5, C3, C1, C0][Clothes YG03, YG61, YG63, YG93, YG95, RV13, R43, W1.

Where are the butterflies?

Even with the drought this year, we have a beautiful garden.  Our zinnias have never looked better and with sufficient watering will survive the heat.  But the only butterflies are a few sulphurs.  Last year we had monarchs and swallowtails everywhere and all the milkweed had caterpillars on it.  This year -- nothing.  I will be sharing pictures of the garden in my next post.

Which leads me to my card today.  I'm not one to toot my own horn, but I'm very pleased with the way this card turned out.  The hibiscus and butterfly are from the GinaK Stately Flowers 4, stamped, colored and fussy cut, the large flower was popped up with foam.   The butterfly was stamped twice, the top one was colored and then layered.  The paper is from a Recollections pack from Michaels and has many colors with many patterns in it.  Of course, I used a Spellbinder oval die to cut out the window and a PTI Blooming Button Bits stamp for the sentiment.

Copic colors are:  Y19, Y17, Y18, Y35, Y02, Y00, YG95, YR27, T6 and Orange Peel Stickles.