New School Album

We have been very busy making samples for the store, and new class projects. This is a mini album made from 3 paper lunch bags. I folded the bags in half, and made a binding from black card stock. Very easy, and it gives the little album a nice finished look. The school card stock is from Little Yellow Bicycle.

Have yourselves a great weekend.
Linda

A Beautiful Thing

As you may have guessed by now, I am a dog lover. I have never done this before, but I am posting a link to a website looking for donations. Whether you do or don't donate, the word needs to get out about this incredible effort.

HEART is run by one woman. Her name is Sherry Patten. She has 4 rescue dogs, and decided later in life that she wanted to do something to help animals that no one else was helping. Sherry lives west of Indianapolis, in the same area I do, and I found out about her from Cathy. Allyscraps has one of Sherry's candy jars on the check out counter. Pure Concepts, the Aveeda salon in Plainfield, IN. also has a jar. The idea is you can take a mini candy bar from the jar for whatever you feel like donating. ALL donated funds go to help an animal in need.

For example: (warning! this story will grab your heart) a couple owned an Irish Setter. The dog was riding in the back of their open pick up truck, and jumped out while the truck was moving. The dog was severely injured. They took the dog home, and let it suffer for 24 hours before surrendering the animal to a local shelter. Yeah. The shelter called a vet in Danville, IN. who in turn called Sherry. This vet had just met Sherry, and felt terrible asking for money, but the surgery that was required was going to cost approximately $1400, and it had to be done that day to save the dog. Sherry gave the vet $500, and another dog lover donated the remainder. Surgery was performed, and the dog is healing.

What a simple concept. What a wonderful person to do this. Cathy and I are going to have a garage sale at Allyscraps to try and raise some funds. But it won't stop there. We will continue to be in contact with Sherry, and spreading the wonderful news of what she does. Want to read more: click here.

Thanks for reading.
Linda

Dog Groomer?

When I still had Sarge, the Sheltie, I truly tried to groom him at home. It became impossible. He had undercoats under other undercoats, and became terribly matted. I ended up taking him to a groomer on a monthly basis. She did a very good job, and his fur was always untangled and moved beautifully when he ran.

Dog grooming is, or can be, expensive, and I decided after having Jake for a month or two that he didn't need grooming. He just needed his face trimmed once a month. Please look at both photographs above. Dega, the white dog, is trimmed on a regular basis by his mom, Melissa. Because Dega and Jake are both terriers, the fur growth is very similar. So Melissa has not only given me tips on how to trim Jake's face, but has done it in the past as well.

Today, being totally insane, I decided to trim Jake's facial hair prior to giving him a bath. His beard was way too long, and the hair growing off the ends of his ears was down to his chin. Note how Melissa has evenly trimmed Dega's ears, beard, and nose.

I would love to show you an "after" picture of Jake, but he isn't coming near me. Getting a haircut and bath all in one morning has made the boy wary of coming closer than 3 feet to his mom. Suffice to say that his beard is not even, his ears are, the trimming around his eyes is uneven, and if he sees the scissors, he hides. Gracie, who is beautiful no matter what and never needs a trim, is laughing a lot.

Have a good day.
Linda

Pool Party for the Dogs

Jake

Dega, the host

Rylee

 

 

My friend, Melissa, has a Wheaton Terrier named Dega. Dega, being an only dog, is spoiled. I jest. ALL the dogs in our group are spoiled. It just goes with the territory. But Dega has two wading pools for his pleasure. The backyard of their home has shade from a line of trees to separate the subdivision from the hospital complex to the west. It's the perfect set up for a pool party, as there is also a privacy fence.

Jake, being part terrier and we now think that part is Airedale, loves the water just like Dega. The boys had a blast, sticking their faces down to the bottom of the pools to cool off. Gracie, being a Diva, won't get wet. At all. I've tried. Rylee will go in to cool off her paws, but she prefers swimming in a lake.

A good time was had by all. The moms took their shoes off and stood in the pools for a few minutes, trying to entice little Miss Gracie to get in. She wasn't having it. This was a welcome relief yesterday. Our temperature shot up to 101 by 5pm. With the shade and water we got the dogs out for an hour to play and keep cool.

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy yourselves.
Linda

Hibiscus

My Hibiscus plants survived the winter, and with a great deal of watering will survive the drought. THIS is what I don't understand: we have had almost 40 days of day time temperatures over 90 degrees, at least 7 days over 100 degrees. Yet look at this plant. The blooms are huge, perfectly shaped.

Please note all of the dead blooms lying on the ground around the plants. The bad aspect is the bloom lasts 24 hours, then will dry and fall off. For whatever reason, the pink plant is doing far better than the red plant behind it.

The worse drought in Indiana in 56 years, and the best blooms I've had on this particular plant. Sigh.

Stay cool. Pray for rain. We are in a very serious situation here, as I'm sure other areas in the country are experiencing as well. Global warming: fact or fiction? My money is on a definite fact. And it scares the crap out of me.
Linda

Dang

We have had light rain that lasts for 10 minutes, if we're lucky. Not enough to do any good, really. But I wanted to post what my backyard looks like. This is the first summer I am concerned about the grass coming back. Our third year of drought, and I think this is the year that will kill it for good. Not too much you can do about it, as the mandatory water ban is in effect. First fine is $100, second fine is $250, and after that I think they tack on some type of sentence. Very sad.

I had the big camera in my hand, trying to get Jake to look at me. He hates that camera. It's best to take Jake's picture with the smaller, compact camera. Little fart. The last photo is Gracie amongst all of the dog toys, or what is left of them. She wants more. Yeah, I'll get right on that, Gracie. Spoiled Diva Princess.

Hope your day is a good one.
Linda

Cards

It has been a very long time since I made greeting cards and posted photos. Not sure what happened, but just haven't been in the creative mood. I truly think it's the weather. Today it's 72 degrees, and overcast. The general mood of everyone has improved. We're not getting a lot of rain, but 10 minutes at a time is better than 105 degrees and the unrelenting sun.

The first three cards are with a new line from Bo Bunny - Weekend Market. All were done on black cardstock. The last card is with some old scraps I had, and just had fun putting the colors together.

Have a great day.
Linda

Not a drop to spare

Chicago Botanic Gardens are not located in Chicago. They are in Northbrook, IL. When I was there July 5th and 6th, they had a fairly good downpour in the late afternoon hours of July 5th. So I assume there is not a water shortage in that area, as they have had rain off and on all summer. The point is they can water the gardens, and this little pond/waterfall in the Japanese Garden is still full.

I have always heard that looking at a body of water has a calming effect on people, and have found that to be true on a personal level. I took this shot at around 8:30 am, drenched in sweat, kneeling in the shade. And then I just sat down to gaze out at the beauty. I was calm but slightly delirious when I considered jumping into the pond. Good sense prevailed: I want to return to the gardens when the weather is not so blazing.

Indiana's water restrictions are growing. Scary stuff.
Linda

Rain

It rained last night. Not very much, and not for long. But at this point, we will take whatever the skies want to give us.

The weather people on television have been explaining that the longer a drought is in place, the harder it is to get rain. I didn't know all of this prior to this summer, but the moisture from the earth will "feed" the atmosphere and kick up an afternoon thunderstorm. Our area has not had a thunderstorm since March. The earth has been baked cement dry with temperatures in the 90's and 100's. This last stretch was 17 days of temperatures above 90. So whatever small amount of rain we get is a blessing, if it is going to help get more.

The first pic above are the hibiscus in my front yard, the second are day lilies. Have a wonderful day.
Linda

Digital Photography

Photography has been my hobby since I was in my teens, which is a very long time ago. My first camera was a Polaroid Swinger. Because I am part of the baby boomer generation, I have first hand knowledge of what companies used to target us as consumers. Polaroid was very smart: the Swinger was one of the first cheap cameras that gave decent results. Prior to that, most Polaroid cameras were expensive. My dad surprised me with this camera for Christmas my senior year in high school. I loved it.

From that I progressed into the world of 35mm photography, with a Minolta. No auto focus, no auto anything, and I learned a great deal with that little work horse.

About 7 years ago, I ventured into the world of digital. It was moving fast, and like computers, the camera you bought today was almost obsolete the following week. But this is also the world of totally automatic picture taking, and sometimes it can fool you. I now have two cameras: a Canon D40, which is big and bulky and my favorite, and a little Canon Powershot, which can fit in your purse or pocket. The above two photos were taken with the Powershot. Same subject, both on auto setting. Then why the difference in the shots? My position in relation to the portal opening. In the first photo, I am standing at an angle from the circle, pointing the camera at the opening. The built in meter read the entire scene, and gave me that shot. In the second photo, I am directly across from the portal, so the meter read the opening for perfect exposure, but underexposed the surroundings.

Both shots are SOC - straight out of the camera, no adjustments in Photoshop Elements. My favorite is the second shot. And this brings me to a very important point. When shooting digital, there is no expense involved. You need a lot of memory on your computer, but no developing film to find out you have an undesirable shot, or blurred, whatever. If you don't like a particular shot, delete it. I take far more pictures since switching to digital, and therefore will experiment more.

Enjoy yourselves today. Go out and take a few pictures.
Linda

Serenity

All things must pass. That is a truth. The drought will end, rain will fall, and life will return to it's normal flow.

I just want it to happen now. Smile. Have a good day.

Linda

Chicago Botanic Gardens

There is nothing quite like early morning light for taking photographs of flowers. All of these were taken between 7 and 8am. The gardeners were out watering the flower beds, so some of the shots I took have water droplets on the petals. Black Eyed Susans are the last shot: are they not stunning? Thinking I need some of those for next year.

Enjoy your day.
Linda

What not to do in the heat

Pat and I took a 3 day break from being pet moms (yes, that requires a vacation every once in awhile), and stayed in a very nice hotel in Northbrook, IL. We wanted to visit the Chicago Botanic Gardens.

If you have never been, please consider going. The gardens are beautiful and you can easily spend an entire day wandering around taking photographs. We have done this in the past. But not when the official temperature in the Chicago metropolitan area was 105. I left 105 degrees in Indianapolis, sure wasn't looking forward to revisiting it in Chicago. Big sigh. The Gardens open at 7am, so that is when we pulled into the parking lot, getting a spot very close to the main entrance.

By 9am, we were done. More than done. Cooked, fried, dripping sweat, and looking at one another to make sure neither of us was going to collapse. We threaded our way back to the air conditioned cafeteria for a cup of coffee, shopped in the gift shop, and left for an air conditioned mall.

It's only July 10th. Traditionally, the hot weather lasts in the Midwest until mid to late September. Oh, boy. With no rain in central Indiana and intense heat, it has developed into a serious condition. The entire area is on water restriction. I fully understand the need for this, because there are some people more concerned about a green lawn than conserving water. I stopped water my grass over a month ago. It is now brown and dormant. I am very worried about my trees. Just don't want to lose them.

So if you know someone in this area and they have a birthday, anniversary, whatever, a very nice present would be a tanker full of water.

Thank you. Thank you very much.
Linda

Enjoy

Had some really bad and good news from a dear friend, concerning her husband's health. It put me in a reflective mood this morning. We need to enjoy each day, and take what we can from it.

The beauty of the garden is fleeting, but I still treasure each moment. Have a good day.
Linda

Breath

I enjoy exercise. Yeah, I know. Not many people actually admit that, but I do. In the past few months, the exercise has decreased due to what I thought was a sciatica problem. After having a lumbar MRI and old fashioned x-rays, the problem was diagnosed as spinal stenosis.

I am in the "what do I really want to do about this problem?" stage, researching online, talking to people who have had some back surgeries. Just gathering information and opinions. I believe in being a proactive patient.

But the lack of consistent exercise combined with this damn heat (106 in central Indiana? Are you kidding me?), and the drought have taken a toll. I'm stressed. This is ridiculous because the stress is there due to my allowing it to develop. Be that as it may, I'm stressed. And anger has become a daily occurrence.

I don't much care for anger. About the only purpose it serves is to get you into action to right a wrong. For example, if someone were to threaten my dogs while on a walk or at the dog park, anger would definitely motivate me to move and take action. But to be angry just because I can't exercise normally, or that the temperatures keep creeping up over 100 degrees, or that rain has abandoned this
area is irrational. Don't much care for irrational behavior either.

It's time for a break. Time to wander and take some photographs, get the creative juices flowing and make some cards or alter something. Anything to take my mind off medical issues, rain, and dogs that are bored. So that is what we will do today.

Just breath.
Linda