Here are a couple of cards made with items from the bargain bins at Michaels. I am not usually a “blue” person, but 8 blue polka-dot cards (with envelopes) for $1.50 was too good of a deal to pass up. I figured I could come up with SOMETHING, using the cards as a base. Then I spied the polka dot layered stickers in the same bins … and … here is what I came up with!

The Thinking Of You stamp is by Stampin’ Up.

Our Calgary Stampede starts today - Woo Hoo! I love the Stampede … hope I get to take part in some of the festivities again this year.

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We had a wonderful one-on-one session here with Colleen from “Diamonds In The Ruff“. What an absolute relief to know that some of our dogs behaviours  - the things we don’t like - are all fixable. And it can all be done without choke chains, training collars, punishment, or harsh words. I don’t even think relief is the correct word - yesterday after she left I was in information overload. Not that she gave us a ton of information that had to be digested quickly - just that what tools she DID give us, opened up a world of possibilities — and THAT put me  in overload! This morning I am confident and calm and I look at my three hounds snoozing close to me KNOWING that they will all be more polite, well mannered dogs in the very near future! THAT is where the relief comes in!

Colleen was so calm and gentle and kind — no wonder she is in demand. I love that I don’t have to be tough with the dogs. I’m the one who was cringing at puppy classes, and just couldn’t ‘get’ the correction technique of the choke chain. I HATED those sharp jerks. Colleen doesn’t believe in  this TV show stuff — the dog trainers who have been promoted to celebrity status BY celebrities and say you can train your dog but first you must not talk to it for a week. You must jerk the collar, or ‘kick’ the dog from behind your knee to get a correction. Or scruff it by hanging it in the air … all the things that you see on the ‘helpful’ TV shows … that make me wince but at the same time brainwash me into thinking that is how I must behave to be a good leader.

Turns out - I AM a good leader.  I just didn’t know how to teach the dogs the behaviour I want. Teach, reward and praise. Soon you phase out the treat reward and the praise becomes the dogs reward. Teach in small steps. Colleen showed us the steps. Woo Hoo!!

Onto today’s card .. I’m pretty sure this is the last of the hand embossed bits and pieces:

Sorry the picture is a bit skewed. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder for the background panel, swiping over it with dye ink and a sponge to darken the raised areas.

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This is a hybrid card I did for Sue, for our June exchange …

I used one of my own overlays (resized from 12×12″ to 5.25 x 5.25″), and digitally painted it using a soft edged brush. I added the text, then printed it out on an ink-jet transparency sheet. Here is another look …

After printing, trimming and scoring, I sewed the printed transparency sheet to a white Bazzil square card.  A teal circle was cut & embossed with a Nestabilities and attached to the white card under the words on the transparency. I also printed the painted square and words of friendship on a 5.25 x 5.25″ panel of printer paper, at a reduced opacity to put inside.

When you print a transparency, you need to flip what you are printing. You are actually printing onto the rough, or back side of the transparency. I thought my printer would do it automatically the first go-round, but … nope. So I had a printed piece with the words in reverse. I salvaged a strip and attached it to the bottom of a square white envelope with 2 faced tape.

Thanks for stopping by today - HAPPY CANADA DAY !!!!!!!!!!!

This is a digital ATC I did awhile back …

…using some of my overlays & word-art, AFX buttons, a photo and burned edges.

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My friend Debbie bought these flowers at our local scrapbook store, and once we saw how pretty they were out of the package, I picked some up as well!

This is s simple card (my usual, ha ha) - but I like it’s simplicity. I used my Cuttlebug and a Cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss the leaf/stems on white cardstock, then swiped over the raised areas and edges of the panel with green dye ink.

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I heard from Shaun last night - this is the weekend for the 200 km “Ride to Conquer Cancer“. He said it was pretty brutal for the first part, but eventually the wind changed and the hills leveled off. And he DID IT!! I’m so proud of him - and his whole team. Between them they raised $17,000.00. Incredible for a group of 19 & 20 year olds who don’t have big corporations to back them. Lots of door-to-door canvassing, family and friend donations, and some companies helping out as well. Thank you to everyone who donated to this very worthy cause. This should be a link to the video clips …  RIDE TO CONQUER CANCER

OMGOSH - you have to see what our CT has been doing with my kit “Take Flight“. Amazing!!

Above layout done by AnnikA - credits can be found HERE

Above layout created by Lynn Weber - credits can be found HERE

Above layout is another one by AnikA - credits can be found HERE

Finally, this amazing layout by Pam - credits can be found HERE.

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This ATC came from Sue in one of our monthly exchanges … notice the textured layer done with a Cuttlebug embossing folder? Those things are SO handy!!

She always adds such cool TINY objects to her ATCs … such a treat to receive.

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This geranium is a POSH stamp - probably my first big stamp order was POSH. They were all the rage, and I still love them. Big solid images - easily coloured with markers right onto the rubber.

The “many thanks” is by Stampin’ Up.  Thanks for stopping by today!

I have a couple of photos to share today. Wow - I sure see a difference in Chloe from last week to this week. This first picture shows Chloe at 11 weeks old … She was ’stealing’ wood from under the tarp. As fast as I could get it from her and put it back, she’d have another. Notice her real PUPPY face profile?

THIS picture was taken yesterday - she is only 11.5 weeks old, but what a change. Notice her more pronounced profile?

Her other ear is up lots of the time, and you can SEE her fur changing on her back. In just a few days all this happened. Ha ha, I have my camera battery charging now - so I don’t miss any of this transformation.

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Our CT Winterlady created this layout using my “Our Dad” background papers and elements, and “Father’s Day Word-Art” 2!

For full credits, see HERE.  Note - the word-art has been corrected so that there is no apostrophe in Fathers, she just hasn’t had a chance to re-upload her layout. I wanted to share it anyway! Thanks for stopping by today.