Maggie Update

A quick update. Maggie is on the mend. We are slowly weaning her off the meds and no shaking. A couple more weeks and she will be back to her normal peppy puppy self.

Thanks!

My little Maggie

It has been a tough week for my sweet little Westie. We noticed that she was shaking. The best I can convey what was happening is to liken it to adult onset of Parkinson, where they have small tremors continually. I got on the Internet of course and started researching Westie health issues. The closest I could find was an ailment called White Dog Shaker Syndrome. Took her to the vet and Dr. Mike confirmed it.

This disorder develops suddenly in young adult, primarily small white dogs. The cause is unknown but generally speculated that there is some deficiency due to an autoimmune reaction. There is an all-over tremor that can range from mild to so severe that the dog may have difficulty walking. Luckily Maggie has mild tremors. The tremors do worsen however, when she became excited or tried to perform specific actions such as eating, walking towards an object, playing. At night when we went to bed and she relaxed the tremors would disappear. The condition is not painful but if untreated can cause seizures. If diagnosed early, the treatment is very effective and can totally eliminate the tremors.

We caught Maggie early and she is on Predizone now for a couple of weeks. Already the tremors have stopped. She is not the peppy puppy that she normally is because I suspect that the meds are making her uncomfortable. I remember how I felt when I had to go on Steriods for my back. She has been on the meds for a week and will keep her on them for another week. If she continues to do well, we can stop the meds next Friday.

I just hated seeing my sweet little girl go thru this, but very glad that it wasn't something more serious. Thanks for stopping by and letting me share.

Annie

A few more

Most of these are done with some of the new stamps from Purple Onion Designs. Used Copic Markers to color all of them.

This one uses a mixture of stamps. DAD - Purple Onion, Tree - Eat Cake Graphics - Bear - Inky Antics.

As always, thanks for stopping by and visiting. I really do appreciate your comments.

Annie

Copic Certified Designer

IT is offical. I am now Certified. I was able to participate in the Copic Certification Class yesterday in Eden Prairie with 30 other Copic addicts. Debbie Olsen and Lori Craig tag teamed the instruction and did an awesome job. For me it was a repeat of things I had already learned in Copic Classes, but Debbie and Lori did such a great job presenting the information that I was totally engaged for the entire day. The plan now is to take the intermediate class when they offer it sometime in Sept.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stampers Sampler

Awhile back I did some cards using Purple Onion Designs Birthday Note Block. I drew up the cake so that there was nothing else stamped but what I could pull from the Note Block. I submitted the cards to Stamper's Sampler for their Different Point of View section and was thrilled to find out that they had picked them up. I have put the pictures from the magazine as well as pictures of the cards themselves for you to see.

Thanks for stopping by. I always appreciate it.

Been Awhile

I have been a busy gal, just not in the crafting department. Took a little trip to Minsk, Belarus and Chennai, India in April for my new job. Did both countries in 8 days. It was a great experience and I enjoyed seeing both countries. Didn't get much done in April. So I am posting a few things I did at some point recently. Some of my most recent work is out on Eat Cake Graphics Techniques Blog.

This cards was done for card club. I got the stamps at a place up in St. Cloud. I love that chicken. It is by Whipper Snapper. The Whatever is a Unity Stamp. The fence is Martha Stewart Halloween fence but I cut the little bats off.

This was a thank you I did for a wonderful friend who sent me a little present in the mail. The Thank you is Purple Onion Design. Flowers are from assorted vendors. This was really pretty IRL. Picture is not so great.

This is another card club card. The Note Block is Purple Onion Design. I love the background paper from The Angel Company.

I did a card for Eat Cake Graphics Blog using this chair and cat and liked the design so much that I decided to use it again for a birthday card. So I add the present and the hat for the cat. Smile is Purple Onion Design.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

A little Valentine

This was done for my MIL. I wanted to show you this because of the flowers. I colored them with a copic marker so that they matched the cardstock exactly. A nice effect. The flowers were plain white mulberry. Thanks for stopping by.

Some Putzing

My sister-in-law just completed her PhD. Sent her this to celebrate that. All stamps are Purple Onion Design.

I loved this stamp of the bears butt and the cute saying that went with it. Tina's Dad is in the hospital so I did this to let him know that I was thinking of him. The card folds up so that it can be mailed flat. Thank you Miss Julie for this great template. Stamps are Inky Antics and I colored with Copics.

Did this card for card club. This was one of the left overs. I love the background paper from The Angel Company. The stamp is Purple Onion Designs.

This last card was just some putzing around. I covered a page from an old book with gesson and then inked edges with Distress Ink. All of the stamps are Purple Onion Design.

Thanks for stopping by. It is always appreciated.

Maggie Mae Update

We have had Maggie for a little over a year now. She is all grown up and is very much a part of our family now. Definitely a terrier, however.

Thought you might like to see a couple of pictures.

Thanks for stopping by.

Some work with Eat Cake Graphic Stamps.

I have loved ECG stamps for many years and now I get to have some more fun with them as a member of the Design Team. I did these two thank you cards recently. I colored with Copics. The last two were done for Christmas and were also colored with Copics. I took a beginner class on how to use these markers and it was well worth it. They are amazing and I think ECG stamps look amazing when you use the Copics to color. I also used embossing folders to complete. Thanks for stopping by.

Feeling Creative and Doing some LIfting

I love Purple Onion Designs Stamps and these blocks are so much fun to use. I borrowed the idea from a card I had seen on the POD blog. I drew the cupcake on paper and cut out. It is covered with diamond dust.

The card below is also a lift from the POD blog. I loved the simplicity of the design. So what do I do, I go and add a bunch of stuff. No stamping on this one. All die cuts.

These two cards are done with Copic Markers. I stamped the image in a very neutral color and then used the markers to add the color. The detail was then drawn in with a black marker.

Some more POD stamps. These are my design tho. For a variation, I applied Gesso to a piece of an old book paper and then added some distressed ink.

Christmas Cards

Finally getting around to posting some of the cards I did for Christmas as well as an ornament. I will start with this ornament. I had bought these stars last year and they sat in a box. Took them out this year, spray painted them with a clear glitter paint. The inside is some sparkly ribbon bunched up. I added beads and wire and a bow. Did them in red, green, blue and silver.

This card uses spray watercolor wash for the background. I embossed the snowflake in clear, then sprayed on the watercolor wash. Let dry and then ironed off the embossing powder.

This next card is done with a Unity Stamp I found at Archivers. I restamped the tree and the bird and tree and cut them out applied over the image. The background is a snowflake embossing plate. The die cut is done using 1 x 1 squares of coordinating paper and then glued down and cut out.

I bought this fun sentiment stamp quite some time ago looking for a fruit cake to go with it. Just ended up drawing my interpretation of a fruit cake.

The last card is colored with Copic and uses up some old Basic Grey Christmas paper.