Thoughts on organization...

I have been a fan of digital art for stampers and colorists since I discovered them many years ago.  I started with Make It Crafty in Australia.  I now use Saturated Canary, Sassy Cheryl, East Wind, Simply Betty, and Tickled Pink among others.  I love that I get instant satisfaction.  I can print in any size or color.  I can print on any paper, patterned or plain, water color.  I can create scenes with .png images without masking.  Versatile?  Yep.

But organization of 1.12 GB of files has been daunting.  I started out by putting them all in one folder so I could just scroll and see them all.  Then I got the crazy idea of sorting by artist so if I was in the mood for a Saturated Canary (which rocks, BTW) I could check the folder and print the image.  Then I developed thirty-five folders and sometimes I just didn't know what I wanted to color.  So, over the last three days, I went into every folder, added the artist's name to each image and moved it to my hard drive in one whopping big folder.  It took three days.  Some images only had a number, i.e. img 723, so I had to rename it something that made sense for searching.  I can now search for Halloween and every image from every artist that has Halloween in the name will show up.  Plus, I can just scroll until something jumps out at me.   As a result of all this hard work, I can see multiple images at once, the original files are on my  back-up drive so I won't lose them and all my images are on my hard-drive where I can take them with me when I travel (they had previously all been on my back-up drive) and each image has an artist attributed to it so I can give credit .  I also moved any Word, Corel Draw, Adobe Elements, Powerpoint, and Make the Cut files that related to the images.

So far I am very happy with this folder.  Using extra large icons or Microsoft Office Picture Manager, I can look at each image until I decide which image I want to work with.  I'll let you know how it works.

Tomorrow is a new day....

I'm pretty stoked about this card.  I've had my Cameo for years now but rarely use it for paper, I mostly cut vinyl with it.  Somewhere I managed to get it into my mind that these kinds of die cuts look childish, flat, one dimensional.  I realized yesterday, it wasn't the cut files, but the way I embellished and assembled them - duh!.  With that in mind, I inked the edges of all the pieces, off-set the shadows a bit so they would show, used my nibs to add extra ink after the die cuts were assembled, popped up the ladybug and was so pleased with the way the card finally turned out.  I added extra sparkle to the black dots and antenna on the bug and the center of the flower.  The flower was actually cut three times - once for the shadow, once in dark pink and once in lighter pink, all the petals were off-set a touch.  The leaves were only cut once, inked, glued and then the centers were inked.  Next time I will pull out my dry embossing tools and see if I can add more dimension that way.

If you have not visited Too Cute by Jessica, please do, her files are really cute.

Supplies:

Ink:  Adirondack Lights Cloudy Blue - Clouds; Memento Cottage Ivy - Leaves & Grass, Rhubarb Stalk - red on ladybug; Colorbox Frost White - black on ladybug; PTI Hibiscus Burst - Flower

SVG file:  Too Cute by Jessica - Silly Little Ladybugs

Dies:  PTI In the Meadow & Clouds

Stickles Stardust

Wink of Stella black and white

Stamps:  PTI Blooming Button Bits

Paper was from my stash

Tomorrow is a new day...

I'm pretty stoked about this card.  I've had my Cameo for years now but rarely use it for paper, I mostly cut vinyl with it.  Somewhere I managed to get it into my mind that these kinds of die cuts look childish, flat, one dimensional.  I realized yesterday, it wasn't the cut files, but the way I embellished and assembled them - duh!.  With that in mind, I inked the edges of all the pieces, off-set the shadows a bit so they would show, used my nibs to add extra ink after the die cuts were assembled, popped up the ladybug and was so pleased with the way the card finally turned out.  I added extra sparkle to the black dots and antenna on the bug and the center of the flower.  The flower was actually cut three times - once for the shadow, once in dark pink and once in lighter pink, all the petals were off-set a touch.  The leaves were only cut once, inked, glued and then the centers were inked.  Next time I will pull out my dry embossing tools and see if I can add more dimension that way.

If you have not visited Too Cute by Jessica, please do, her files are really cute.

Supplies:

Ink:  Adirondack Lights Cloudy Blue - Clouds; Memento Cottage Ivy - Leaves & Grass, Rhubarb Stalk - red on ladybug; Colorbox Frost White - black on ladybug; PTI Hibiscus Burst - Flower

SVG file:  Too Cute by Jessica - Silly Little Ladybugs

Dies:  PTI In the Meadow & Clouds

Stickles Stardust

Wink of Stella black and white

Stamps:  PTI Blooming Button Bits

Paper was from my stash

Kill the screen, kill the screen...

I can't find any pictures but last year Sadie tore up all the screens she could get to.  The two in the picture window in the living room, the two in the family room windows and the one in my craft room.  I suspect the craft room window was playing with moths at night but the other four were either caused by the stray cat that comes around (Carl caught the stray cat hanging from one of the windows last year) or caused by Sadie trying to get to the stray cat that comes around.  I did some research on the web and discovered Pet Screen.  It's much denser than regular screen and we've tried both wire and nylon (she ripped through the nylon like it wasn't even there).  The view through pet screen isn't as sharp as regular screen, and if you just hold it up, it's black instead of silver colored.  But it gets rave reviews for being sturdy.  Carl has redone all the screens and purchased enough for the patio door and we're thinking about the gazebo.  We want to take Sadie out when the gazebo is cleaned and let her visit with nature.  But we don't want her tearing a hole in a screen and getting loose.  On a bright note, I saw the male bluebird at the nest box outside my craft room window yesterday and the snow is starting to melt a little.

What you find in the dark...

I mentioned before that we bought a small bottle of Urine Away which was recommended by our vet.  I kept smelling something in my craft room, especially after I've been outside and was filled with fresh air.  I couldn't find any wet spots, though so I ordered a UV flashlight; we turned off all the lights and walked around with it last night.  What a revelation.  Sadie has christened most of the rooms in our house.  She's even done vertical surfaces.  We only have a few rooms that she hasn't peed in.  Of course, we have no way of knowing how old some of this stuff is and I've used all the small bottle of Urine Away in my craft room so I ordered a gallon from Amazon.  As soon as it arrives, we will start early in the morning spotting, marking and cleaning those areas we find.  She even peed on our laundry sorter.  The foyer has the most pee, even the tray we use for our wet shoes has some in it.

I know I said it before but I love this Urine Away.  Yesterday my room smelled like cat pee, today it smells like laundry detergent.  It's a clean fresh scent and all you do is squirt it on the stain and let it sit.  It doesn't damage the carpet and the smell just goes away.

After we clean everything we can find, we'll do a check once a day with the flashlight and find out if she's still doing it.  She may have to go back on meds full time, we'll just cross that bridge when we get to it.

Happy Anniversary

Supplies:

Papertrey Inc. Ocean Tide card stock, ink

Papertrey Inc. Confetti Garland die & stamps

Papertrey Inc. Beautiful Butterflies

Penny Black Micey Day

Die-namics Blueprints 10 die

Cuttlebug Floral Screen embossing folder

Copics: E93, N0, N1, RV10, BG70, BG72

Nod to GinaK for the embossing idea

I've been thinking about you....

Supplies:

Penny Black Purrfect Day

Papertrey Inc. Blooming Button Bits

 Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss Embossing Folder

Cuttlebug Argyle Embossing Folder

Spica Clear Pen

G00, E74, N1, E93, 0, RV00, G43, N0

Thoughts on "My Cat From Hell"....

Saturday morning and a TV wasteland.  My Cat from Hell on the Animal Planet is always a good time, it's nice to see people having more trouble with their cats than we do.  One of the shows had a couple that made me yell at the TV.  California airhead blond (Khrys) with really big lungs was living with a really nice guy (Michael).  Her cat, but she would not clean up after it, feed it or chase it when it got loose.  "That's a guy's job", she said as she tossed her hair.  Her job was to love on the cat, his job was to discipline it and they couldn't figure out why the cat peed on his stuff all the time.  When Jackson said they needed to reverse roles you could see Michael visibly relax.  She was supposed to have the cat neutered, "Aw, I hate to have that done to him".  She had to work, Michael took the cat to the vet.  She finally did get the cat to the vet to be chipped but she was, like, an hour late.  When the show was over, I figured she must be really good in bed for him to take on the problem cat just to stay with her, even wearing clothes covered with cat pee.  WTH?  Maybe I'm jealous.  Yeah, I'm probably jealous.  Never mind.

Sassy amuses us....

Sassy has been even more playful than usual the last three days.  She runs around the furniture and from room to room like her tail is on fire.  I have no idea if it's because the medicine is working and she's feeling better or if she just decided to kick up her heels.  There have been no messes and no confrontations.

Sadie continues to bathe our exposed skin as we sleep.  You can't reach to pet her without her tongue getting you.  I've never had a cat like that before, she has more spit than any cat I've ever had.  We're assuming that's how she shows affection.

Sassy exposes her belly for a rub, that's how she shows trust.  So different and still not friends.

Thoughts on winter....

Enough!

We have been cold and snowy for too long.  We've had to purchase a snow blower because we can't keep up with the snow using a shovel.  One of our wonderful neighbors even used his tractor to clear our drive once.  We've been to Kelly Seed for birdseed numerous times this year, purchasing 50 pound bags of mix, sunflower seeds, peanuts and suet each time.  Snow cover prohibits birds from finding seeds and our bird count at the feeders is really up this year.  A cardinal flew into our picture window last week and knocked himself silly.  I went out in my robe and slippers scooped him up in a dish towel and we placed him in a tub on the kitchen counter for an hour.  He revived and we let him loose.  Even the deer have had trouble finding food in deep snow and have been visiting our platform feeder in the middle of the day.  And the cold....so many days with the temperature hovering around zero.

The sun is starting to shine into my craft room window - as we get closer to spring, the sun will move to the left a little bit every day and eventually come up past my window.  For a while, however, I will be blind as I check my e-mail in the morning.  Even with the movement of the sun, spring doesn't look as if it's planning arrival anytime soon.

We are bracing ourselves for massive flooding this spring.  We live close to the Illinois River which floods a bit every spring but with all the snow and ice this year, I'm sure it will be worse.  As long as the river doesn't reach the highway, we can get home but luckily, we have a back way which takes us up the bluff farther away from the river.  If the water reaches where we live, someone better have built an Ark. 

I hope it's warmer where you are.

It's not spring but we have worms....

Saturday night Sassy had an unusual looking bowel movement in the living room box.  I won't bore you with the details but I saw something moving in it, scooped it out and put it in a plastic bag.  Called the vet first thing Monday morning and got to take Sassy in Monday afternoon.  Sassy, who hates the carrier, wasn't anxious to leave it when we got to the table and was very anxious to get back inside once her exam was over.  The test on the sample proved positive for worms, not the really bad kind, thank goodness, just one pill and she was back in the carrier.  Since it was assumed that Sadie had them also, we got a topical med for her and that was applied yesterday afternoon.  Hopefully that will cure the problem.  Our vet said Sassy could have had these worms for a long time, if you aren't looking for them, you probably wouldn't know she had them.  And it's also one of the thousand reasons that cats eliminate in inappropriate places.  Yesterday morning Sassy peed again in the living room in front of the entertainment center (always been one of her favorite places).  This morning she did it again although she used the litter box four feet away for the solid stuff.  On our vet's advice, we purchased a bottle of "Urine Away".  She said it's the best stuff on the market for removing odor and stains.  Lord knows we've tried everything else.  We even bought a carpet cleaner.  This is relatively inexpensive and much easier than the Earth Care Clear the Air Pet Odor Remover for Carpet & Furniture which is like ground up corn cobs.  It's a nice mess to clean up after you use it.  With the Urine Away, you blot, squirt the Urine Away on the spot and walk away.  You can get it in a gallon jug, which if it works, might be the way to go.  Ideally, it would be great if Sassy would just learn the litter box is for everything that comes out of her south of her back paws.

Sadie, on the other hand, just mostly lives in the bedroom, takes her pill every other day and doesn't cause us any grief unless we dare to touch her when she's in a bad mood.  If you wake her up when she's sleeping, pet her gently and talk to her softly, she will purr for you if she's in the mood.  Otherwise she's not interactive.

Today is movie day so I'd best get going.  Diane:  I hope you and your family is well, we miss you.