Woo-hoo

I just ordered one of my Friday Favorites!!! The Webster's pages. I'm sooo super excited to get them, they are sooo purdy!! Cathy just listed them yesterday and I swooped down and pretty much ordered one of everything, except for the letter stickers... I refrained and got just one. Cute stuff, can't wait to play with it.

Here's the link of the Webster's goodies at Ally Scraps if you want to take a look, or pick some up... ;) She ships super fast!!

I got scrappy over the weekend. Are you sitting down? Ok, I did one double page layout and 2 single layouts. I'm pretty happy with that, seeing that I've only ever previously done 2 double pagers (ever!!) and one was a digi. I actually might want to do some more. I know that 3 layouts isn't a lot for some of you, but me, I'm a slooow scrapper, so I was pretty tickled to get that many done!!

Here's one with some October Afternoon papers:


I did order the Jenni Bowlin Office Chipboard Buttons and used one on this layout... another one of my Friday Favorites.

I am having such fun with the project 365. We went on a very long walk yesterday (Matt calls it a death march) and walked about 2 miles to see this barn. Very cute, and I got some great shots. I {heart} my camera.




You can see my whole year here.

Have a happy day.

We Have A Winner!!

Wow, what a day. First, I was all excited that I was the photo feature of the day on 2Ps... it was soooo coool. I was really shocked.

Check it out...


Little close up -

I'm just sooo tickled. I wish I knew who to thank!

Then, I had a bad email from a very mean client. GRRRRR. Ya know, just because you're having a bad day doesn't give you a reason to freak out on everyone else. Chillax dude!

Later in the day... I get a little note from Christie.... and guess what? I won her RAK... she was doing a RAK for project 365. It's the cutest camera necklace that she got on Etsy. Thank you Christie!!

Very cool. So, it was a good, bad, good day.

Drum Roll Please.....

The winner of my long Pearl Pug Rescue story is.....

AMY aka - silly goose monkey!! Amy, send me an email at chris_hertel(at)yahoo.com, and I'll send you some goodies.

I asked my DH to pick a number between 1 and 16, and he picked lucky number 13!!!!

That's it, quick drive by post! Have a great weekend!!

It's a story.... of a pug named Pearl....

(this is a long story on how we adopted Pearl, so if don't want to read it, just skip down to the end to see a picture and a project.)

We had a wonderful weekend. We adopted a pug!! It was quite grueling. I was on pins and needles for a few hours. I just can't imagine how it must feel to adopt a child. It must be excruciating... the wondering, the waiting....

I always go on Petfinder.com to see if there are any Pugs or Boxers or Boston Terriers or Pekingese (we like the smashed in face doggies!). Low and behold there was a female black pug. She was rescued from a puppy mill. (Puppy mill = bad). The only way to adopt her was to go to Pet Smart on Saturday between 12 - 6. The shelter is being renovated, and they can't do adoptions there.

On Saturday morning I woke up and got dressed super fast! The whole family jumped in the car and we went to Pet Smart. We were there really early, 11:15 or so. We hung around, looked at dog stuff... then Matt said the van was pulling up. I tell you, I was like a rescue stalker! They pulled in and then started setting up. They wouldn't let us see the dogs until noon. So, we hung around. Let me tell you, my kids were real troopers that day. At 12:20, she still hadn't let anyone in. Starting to get a little frustrated.

THEN another woman wants the pug! OMG noooooooo. But, she was just looking, so I told her all about pugs... how they shed twice a year, six months at a time, how they can get pug dog encyphilitis. I think that if you want to get a dog, you should not only know about dogs, but what the breed has in store for you. Each breed has specific needs. Pugs are brachycephalic, having the short snouts makes it hard to breath, and they can't be in hot weather.

FINALLY, I got to see Buttons, the black pug. I immediately asked if I could fill out the adoption papers. She handed me the papers and I began to fill them out. My kids and DH got to take the pug out and play with her. She is a sweetie.

After the papers were filled out, we had to get interviewed. When I initially heard that someone else had already filled out papers before us on her, I almost cried. During the interview, things took a turn... I told the lady that I used to be the past president of SPPR (the now defunct Southwestern Pennsylvania Pug Rescue) and that I knew Patti, who changed the name to Guardian Angel Pug Rescue. Well, the adoption lady's (BARB) eyes lit up... she knows Patti (everyone knows Patti Pug around here!). I knew right then I was a shoe in.

We had to leave, so she could call our vet and make a decision... by now it was 2 PM. My son kept asking me why we couldn't just take her. It's hard to explain to a kid the process, so I just said the lady has to pick us and make sure we're the right fit.

We went to lunch, then picked up some groceries, then went home. YIPPEE, there was a message from Barb.... she wasn't able to get a vet reference, but she said Patti would do. So, I called her back, gave her Patti's phone number and waited some more.

At 4:40 Barb called us back and said we got the pug. Patti had given us a "glowing review". They were there until 7 and we could come by any time. I told her we were pretty anxious, so we left right after I hung up.

Meet Pearl Buttons. I kept the name the shelter gave her as her middle name. Pearl seems to fit her better... because she's a gem (awww).


She is the sweetest, happiest little thing. After living her first few years in a cage under horrible conditions, it is amazing that she is so well adjusted. She seems to be house trained. She hasn't had any accidents. She gets along well with our big dog Sophie. They play tug, and Sophie is so gentle with her. It's cute.

Pearl no longer has a crummy life. She will be spoiled and loved by us.
Save a life! Adopt from a shelter!!


OK, phew, long post eh?

I also scrapped a page!! After all that waiting and wondering, it was relaxing to go up into my scraproom and create something. Pearl was pooped and needed rest, so it was a perfect time to play with scrap goodies.

More cool Bo Bunny boy paper... it's from their line called "U Bug Me." Great for boys.



Flowers on a boy page? Sure, why not.

The paper I cut the wave from is the Bo Bunny U Bug Me OUTDOORS. It is also the plaid paper, it's double sided. The orange paper with stars is from the same line, also double sided and called stripe... there's a nice striped pattern on the other side. I can use that for another boy layout. The journaling card is from the same line and comes on a 12x12 sheet of double sided cardstock cutouts. Ally Scraps also carries the rubons, letter stickers and other cool boy papers in this line.

The letters are thickers. Here are a couple close ups:




Well, that's it for today. And if you stuck with me, and read the Pearl story, you are to be commended! And I'll even offer up a RAK. I've been so blessed lately, I'd like to share my good fortune with you. Just leave a comment and I'll pick a winner on Friday.

Happy Earth Day!

(you can purchase the above illustration (done by my talented hubby) here.)

Friday Favorite & a Fun Find (plus a card)

Fun Find....
We have a little "junk" store as my husband calls it, here in town. I love looking thru the stuff, but, he doesn't have the patience. Well, the other day, after going to the post office, I talked him into checking out the junk store. They had these cool old milk carriers. So, I got one! It's a great size for packages and it has 4 compartments. I think it will look cool in my scraproom.


Incidentally, we found the chair at the same "junk" store... 2 of them as a matter of fact. I painted them black and they sit on my front porch.

Friday Favorite...
Here's what I found today, and it's not even out yet, but I can't wait... it's sooooo cute. It's the new Cosmo Cricket, and I really, really hope that Ally Scraps has it on order, that would be cool.




I'm lovin' that little toaster!! More stuff on the Cosmo Cricket site.

Ethan had a birthday sleep over, so I made his buddy a card. I used some of the left over Bo Bunny Grease Monkey paper I had used on the layout from yesterday. I actually like how the card turned out better than the layout.... I still think that layout needs something.



Close up:


And, the inside, because no one ever shows you what they put on the inside, and I always wonder...


Have a great weekend. I'm off to get some sushi.... mmmmm.

Mark Your Calendars....

For May 9th... for a fantastic fun filled crop at Ally Scraps!! Woo-hoo, and our guest designer for May is none other than Jana Eubank! The time is 2-8 PM.... stay tuned for more details as we get closer to the actual crop date... but I do know that there will be games and prizes.

I got scrappy the other day. I did a birthday layout of my sons 10th birthday party. I used the really fun boy themed Bo Bunny Grease Monkey line of paper and stickers.

I like how it turned out, but I can't help but think it needs something else.... any ideas? or should I just leave well enough alone?



I had such a busy week, I'm so looking forward to Friday (tomorrow) yeah!!

Have a great weekend.

TAG! You're it!

I totally stole that title from my friend Jingle... hope she doesn't mind!

It is my turn to update the Ally Scraps blog and Jingle totally inspired me with her clever use of plain old office tags on a layout.

I decided to try to come up with 3 ways to use office tags. I made a layout, a card and a mini book.

Here are some sneaks:




To see more details and photos, just visit the Ally Scraps blog.

Hope you all have a great Saturday. I'll be busy preparing for Easter. Time to dye the Easter Eggs... my kids are "bored"... ahhh, to be bored. Seriously, I don't know what that is.

Can you stand more baby pictures?

I just had to do a layout of my son when he was a fat chubby baby, since I had just shared the one of my daughter. Oh my, was he FAT! Look at those cheeks!! They swallowed his chin! LOL!

This is all Sassafras Lass that I got in my goody box from Ally Scraps the other day! Mmm, I'm loving my Sass Lass lately!



Couple close ups:

(journaling says “nice place for a snooze”)



On this layout, I didn't use a lot of embellishments, which is sort of unusual for me.... but, I thought that it didn't need a lot.

The Sassafras Lass paper is from the Vintage Yummy collection. I used Pleasantly Puzzled and Remember Me. I also used the Vintage Yummy Stickers and the bunny sticker is from the Woodland Whimsy collection. The letters are Sassafras Lass, too, the pink are called from the Heaven Collection and the brown are from the Fawnd of You Too Collection. Black letters are Making Memories tiny alphas in black. Love those.

The Ally Scraps store has lots of Sassafras Lass. Go check it out.... she ships super fast, too!

We had a quiet weekend. It was nice on Saturday and we got up early, went for coffee at Starbucks and breakfast at Sonic. The Sonic here just opened last Monday. I had a egg, ham, cheese sandwich. It was OK, I think I prefer McDonalds... shhhhh. It's hard to eat fast food breakfast when your kid has allergies. He can't eat eggs, milk, or peanut. Not that peanut is a breakfast food, I just thought I'd share the trifecta of allergies that he has. He can tolerate small amounts of milk and egg in baked goods. Thankfully, he is outgrowing some of it. Notice how his cheeks are super red in the picture on the layout? That is a rash from his allergies... poor baby, looked like he had teen acne for the first few months of his life until we figured out that everything I ate, he was eating... and those PB and J sandwiches I was scrafing down at lunch time just wasn't good for him.

We've come a long way.

Anyway, I digress, are you still with me? I usually don't ramble as much. Ethan was able to eat the tater tots and french toast sticks at Sonic, so all was good.

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my Making Memories pub. I'm pretty excited. I really don't submit too often. I like to share here too much! ;)

Have a creative day!!

Have You Seen Memory Makers?? and Friday fav....

Have you seen the May/June issue of Memory Makers magazine yet? My bloggy friends are in there... Kim Watson and Jocelyn Cutchens have great layouts in there.

I particularly like this layout, by...


ME!
I'm soooo excited and honored to be pubbed for the first time in Memory Makers. I have been searching in stores for this magazine for a week.... finally I gave up, and just figured I'd have to wait until April 7th when the mag goes on newsstands. But, when I came home yesterday I had 2 magazines in the mail from Memory Makers. Woo-hoo.

Here's the LO


Yesterday, besides the good scrappy magazine mail, I got a great scrappy box from Ally Scraps... wow, my orders come fast!! In my box was this new line from My Little Shoebox called "Who's There". I just love the owls. I ordered everything... the paper, the punchouts, the rubons, tiny alphas... I can't wait to play.

My Little Shoebox is my Friday Fav pick....


That's it for today. Have a super weekend.