and now a layout

Sean and I hit the mall yesterday. I bribed him with a Cinnabon. While he was eating it I thought to myself that I should take pictures. It then ocurred to me that I had pictures of him with a Cinnabon from when I bribed him to go to the mall last year. (I sense a pattern)

I decided to do the layout and planned it in my head during his football game. It came together quickly once I sat down to do it and I love the results. Maybe I should plan more layouts during his football games.

I also want to note that I did not eat any of it. Although from the pictures you can tell Sean was not sharing.

Happy Hauntings

Sorry for the so so scan. The penguin is the Vampire Penguin from Memory Box. Memory Box is one of my favorite stamp companies. I used spica red and orange markers to add some sparkle to his cape and his flippers. I also found out that if you modge podge something that has spica pen the glitter spreads all over the image. That is the fuzzy image on the penguin. It looks better in IRL.

The pp is glitz pumpkins. I love the Trick or Treat ribbon at the bottom. I bought extra and made extra penguins to tie Halloween goodie bags.

I have found card making very therapuetic lately. I am the world's slowest scrapper. Cards are faster for me and I have a sense of accomplishment when they are done.

More of the Stamping Bellas

I really love the Stamping Bella Stamps. Scraptasia, my LSS, has a nice selection. I used pink spica to color in parts of her dress and red for the cherry on the cupcake. I used my beloved copic marker in pink flamingo for the flesh tones. The silver is a silver jelly roll pen. I framed her in gray bazzil bling paper. I used the pink Bo Bunny paper in punch dot. I think I have bought every sheet they have in every different color. I love it for cards and layouts as it can be matched with so many things. The Birthday Wishes is from Amuse.

House of Paper is having a challenge for making cards called Card Sharks. It really kicked my butt into gear for using my stamps. Thanks Chiara. I now have more than 10 cards in my stash. I need to remember to do this on my own. I usually make cards at a class, use them up and then rush around throwing something together when I need one. I am going to make a new school year resolution to sit down and make cards for a stash on a regular basis.

Cards and Cards

I created this card with Crate Paper's Kaitlyn line. The stamp is Stamping Bellas. I colored her with spica marker and water color pencil. I am in love with Stamping Bellas. I got them at my LSS, Scraptasia. They are great for girlfriend cards.

Another card tomorrow. I will get better about blogging. I promise.

I visited...

Kate's paperie in NYC. What a great store. I bought some handmade paper that is just beautiful. It was really expensive but so worth it. I hope to make cards with it this evening. I also visited the Ink Pad in NYC. They had some stamps that I did not. Now I need to organize this all.

The Bionic Puppy

The dogs love to chase each other. Ginger being a puppy nips and nips at poor Abby. Abby is our ten year old golden retriever. She is a big lump of love with a little bit of arthritis in her hind legs. The legs Ginger loves to nip at. Thursday night the dogs are rough housing in the kitchen. I go to yell at them, I hear Abby whine and then Ginger scream. Apparently Ginger bit Abby in the leg and for the first time Abby bit Ginger back.

In a freak situation, Abby got Ginger in the right hind leg. She bit through the Achilles tendon. Ginger could not walk and was bleeding terribly. Luckily TJ is home from college so he used his EMT skills and wrapped Ginger's leg and we went off to the ER vet. The ER vet took X-rays and told us that the tendon might be torn, might be ruptured and might not ever heal. She sent us to the ER vet surgeon over one hour away.

The surgeon saw us at 11 pm that night and told us that her prognosis was not great. The soft tissue specialist would see Ginger in the morning and call us and give us his opinion. We left the puppy and drove home. I am proud to say I did not cry. I was thinking that I did not know that there were vets that were soft tissue specialists.

The specialist decided that he could repair the rupture based on the X-ray. His only concern was that the x-ray did not show whether or not the whole tendon was there. We decided it was worth going ahead with the surgery and hopefully give her a 90% mobility range which is what the surgeon was hoping for.

The good news is that the surgery went better than expected. They found both parts of the tendon and were able to suture them together and to the bone. They now hope for 98 - 99% mobility. The poor puppy is in a splint with a metal rod and an e collar for six weeks. She needs to stay quiet and locked up for six weeks.

For anyone that has read my previous posts on this blog, six weeks in not something easy for Ginger. Heck she cannot make it six minutes. She is locked in her cage and let out to eat, a little TLC and a quick bathroom run. She hates it. We had to explain to the kids that this is for her own good so that she heals properly. It is terrible to hear her howl. But we know it is for the best. And considering that on Thursday night the vet was preparing us to have her put down, this is ok.

I have told TJ that instead of going pre-med he should go pre-Vet. For those of you with pets you can imagine the costs that were involved with this. The specialty animal hospital was nicer than some of the hospitals for people. As TJ put it, the patients would be nicer as well.

Here is a picture of the bionic puppy as I refer to her. The pink thing in the back is her splint. We need to go to the vet weekly and have it changed. I consider us very lucky that she is ok. I love this stupid dog so much. She has been a great distraction for me from the insantity and chaos that my mother causes. I am so glad she is going to be ok.

On other fronts, I finished the state competition with my students. 77 students, chaperones and me their fearless leader on our way to Cherry Hill for three days and two nights. I had 20 students qualify for nationals. This is why I have been so busy. I hope now to have some time to scrap and have a life again.

My dog ate your homework

Scenario: bagel in school briefcase left on the floor. Puppy eats briefcase, lesson plans, tests, quizzes, homework and the bagel. Family members take pictures and laugh. At least they took pictures. This will make a great scrapbook page when I finish making up all the lesson plans that she ate.

Thankfully my students laughed and took the hundreds and grades gifts I handed out with a grateful smile. I then gave tests on Thursday. The class average was not very good. One of the students handed me a bagel and asked me to leave it in my briefcase with the tests. He was hoping that we would have a reenactment of the bagel incident, which is how the class refers to it now. I am the only teacher in the world that can say my dog ate your homework.

I missed it

I never realized how dependant I was on my computer until it went crashing to the floor thanks to puppy wrestling that takes place in my home.

Scenario: Puppy and Golden retriever fighting over stuffed toy. Golden chases puppy into dining room table and both dogs crash into the leg of the table. Everything on the table crashes to the floor including my laptop. I was very upset. I was in tears. The laptop would not boot up. Of course it would not. You could hear the hard drive shaking around in it.

Luckily I purchased accident insurance. I bought it because I have four kids. I never thought I would have to explain that my puppy broke my laptop. That is the worst excuse for a teacher to have.

The laptop is back. All of my documents are gone. I had backed up but I do not have all of my documents. I am missing all of the schoolwork I set up for January. I am missing some photos. But I am over it. I still have to install a lot of software and add in all my files that were backed up. Here is a puppy picture when they are behaving. Which is not very often.