Scootchie

I'm baaaaaaack!

Wooo-hooo! Did I have a great weekend at the Great Yosemite Stamp Escape! The StampGrrlz and I traveled together on Friday, after filling my Camry and Bessie's SUV with all of Katy's stuff! (Running joke: Katy really does take the kitchen sink--or at least it's weight in stamps and supplies!) Here's a picture of the grrlz at The Cat's Meow stamping and scrapbooking store. From left to right: Lorraine, Katy, Sharon and Bessie:
Someone gave us "bunny ears" through the window!

At the store, we all had a little nosh and joined the feeding frenzy in an Artist Trading Cards (ATC) exchange. You can see that all the ladies have little boxes or bags or baskets on the table in front of them. They are full of cards to exchange.

Here's Sharon scanning the crowd for someone who hasn't already exchanged with her.

Spreading out over half the table, Katy counts her loot.

Fortunately, my trading cards got a warm reception. I admit, since I didn't do any new techniques or really elaborate assembly, I was apprehensive. However, thanks to the great images I got from Brandy at loosetooth.com people were coming to find me, saying, "I just had to have one of your cute cards!" and Mike Strong, one of the teachers, said, "That's just the kind of thing I really like!"

We got a really pretty sunset that night.

Afterwards, we went back to our chalet at The Pines Resort on Bass Lake.

Staying in the chalet is one of the treats of the weekend. We really enjoy everything about them-- the big windows overlooking the lake, the little kitchenette, the living space where we pull out all our new stuff and play and the loft. This year, I got to sleep in the loft. It was like my own little treehouse!

Bass Lake is really pretty and we have a great view of it from the classrooms. This year it was rainy and overcast, but still beautiful.

Classes. Ohhhh, the classes! We had such wonderful classes and teachers this year. The grrlz and I took Zana Clark's "Luna Moth Quilt" class first. I have been an admirer of Zana's Stamp Zia images for a long time and I have looked at her class examples and books with longing for years. But this was my first opportunity to take a class from her. First, what a great teacher she is and how gracious and positive! Second, what a wonderful class for learning new techniques and tricks. My favorite was the "Metallic Flows." Finally, what a great project! All of us went home with a work of art. Here's mine, and I am going to hang it in my living room.

From the big colorwash class, we went to Mike Strong's "White on White" class. (You can believe we washed our hands first!) Mike has taught several classes nearby, but I have never made it a point to take one. But every time one of the grrlz comes back from his class and shows off her projects, I have to get a towel to wipe off the drool! Shame on me. Mike is a great teacher and his ideas are fantastic. Here's a class sample using his cloisonne butterfly image and a bunch of flower punches.

Glitter makes everything better. Here's Sharon applying glitter to one of her cards.

Mike and his Wife, Carla, came out to dinner with us after class. We went to my favorite restaurant near Bass Lake, called, Mountain House. They have an extensive menu, wonderful food, excellent service... I cannot recommend it enough!
Rumor has it that Mike and Carla went back the next night as well!

Loretta Axt and Ming Kwong taught our next class. It was a "Blitz" class, meaning that we were to make ten cards in three hours. That's a lot! Ming and Loretta were both representatives for DeNami stamps for many years, but now they are independents and used a line from Canada called Gel-a-tins. Cute images and, as always, beautiful cards. I didn't learn any new techniques in this class, but I got a million little design and layout ideas that I will use today. Here's two favorite cards from the class.


Here's Stampgrrl Jan and her sister Cathy, who came all the way from Kentucky for the Stamp Escape. Don't they look like they're having fun? (Cathy sticks her tongue out when she is working, just like me.)

Last but never least, we took a metal art class from the lovely and charming Michele Charles. Michele introduced me to a new favorite word. You know, when you see or do smething really wonderful/beautiful/creative/crazy/cool and you say, "oh oh oh oh oh?" Well, that's an ARTGASM. Ahhh.

Anyhoo, Michele's class was all about the artgasm and full of technique and a little daunting at first because the metal work can have a million little steps and refinements and a hundred specialized tools and metal is a bit unforgiving, but... I got a really good result and lots of compliments on my little journal. Michele even asked me to send a photo so she could post it on her website. Wasn't that nice?

When it was all over, we were utterly exhausted, but still found a reason to stop in at The Cat's Meow before we left. At the very least, we needed to visit the store's two resident cats. (I just love shops with resident animals-- ever since I worked at Recollections Antiques with the darling Emily the dog.) Here's Peachy and Mittens. Guess who is who!
Look at Mitten's mittens. She has a thumb!

Also, a highlight of the trip home was a visit to the Sun Maid raisin world headquarters. Apparently, raisins have a big fan base, as in this excerpt:

I'm SO hot for the Sun-Maid Raisin Girl. She's a cross between Melissa Gilbert as Half-Pint Ingalls and Jane Seymour as Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

Wait, no... I mean, they're a healthy snack. Especially covered in chocolate! Not on this products page, we bought Dark Chocolate covered Muscat raisins. Ohhhhh, mommy! Those are good! Here's me, dressed like a chocolate-covered raisin.

Aaaaaand, the World's Largest Box of Raisins. You saw it here!


Ummmmmmm, I'm not sure if I want to know if those 16,000 pounds of raisins are still inside the box or not. Bleah.

Aaaaaaah, I'm tired and happy and I have nearly one hundred new ATCs and four new classes to inspire me. And lots of happy raisin snacks to eat. And some new underwear from the Tulare Outlet Mall, but I won't post pictures of that. Ever.

Tomorrow, or later today, pictures of puppies.

Stampin' Campin'

Tomorrow, I am going up to Bass Lake, near Yosemite, for the Great Yosemite Stamp Escape. An annual trip for the StampGrrlz and me, we call it "Stampin' Campin'," even though camping plays no part of it. We stay in a chalet at a resort and take four fabulous paper arts classes with four or more fabulous teachers. And, we exchange Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) with all the other attendees. Trading handmade cards is a blast! Everybody does such wonderful things, they are like little treasures. I have learned a lot of new techniques and gotten incredibly inspired by the things I have seen on others' ATCs.

This year, for my ATCs, I decided to use some stamps I bought from Brandy Agerbeck at loosetooth.com They're really bold, graphic images that speak for themselves, so I didn't do much to dress them up. I just stamped the images in black VersaFine on two colors and punched out one little picture on each. These are my cards to trade:
Here's a closeup of the green card:

Wouldnt' ya know, I also found ways to use all of the punched out pictures:

One of last year's Stamp Escape goodies were blank white tins with hinged tops and handles. Katy told me to decorate mine to hold all my ATCs and if Katy told me to jump off a bridge, I'd do it. So, here's my tin, and it only took me a whole year to get around to it:

When I come home, I'll post pictures of all the great projects we are going to do! Well, first I'll play with the puppies, then I'll do something about posting pictures of all the great projects.

Scheherazade #3

I made another one, and it is soooooo pretty! My dear Pastor John and Tom commissioned this necklace for Tom's sister's 70th birthday. This is the first I have made using the green iris beads and I think that, when I finally make a Scheherazade necklace for myself, I'll make it in green iris. The jasper pendant and box clasp with an inset garnet add to the beautiful effect. I also added a little Celtic knot charm to the pendant, and not exactly in the center, just for a little more interest. I hope she likes it!


Tom's sister does not wear dangle earrings, so I needed to come up with an alternative to my usual teardrops. I borrowed an idea from Matsuko Sawanobori in her book,Antique Style Bead Accessories
I have really enjoyed this book for Matsuko's beautiful designs, even though I rarely make any of the projects the way she instructs. For one thing, she uses fine guage wire for a lot of the projects in the book, and frankly, my wire skills are not so great. Still, when I needed inspiration, I turned to her book, and there on page 50 are "Cluster Earrings," made by sewing loops of beads onto a perforated backing which can be attached to a post style earring. Taah-daah! They turned out rather splendidly, if I do say so!
Here's a side view of the cluster attached to the post earring.

Then and Now

Remember this picture of Maizie (Surprise) and Pepper (Soxie)? They were one week old.
Yeah, you say, I remember that picture like it was yesterday. Well, this picture actually is from yesterday!

Wouldya look at all of Miss Pepper's spickety-spots? And check out Maizie Long Shanks. How they do grow.

Scrapbookin'

Our friend, Kiera, age 7, made us this wonderful puppy scrapbook using pictures from this blog. I love it! It's one of the nicest presents I have ever received.

Page One reads, "Good mother," and is all pictures of Mollie:

Page Two is all pictures of Wiley (Sly), Kiera's favorite pup. For a while, she was hoping we would name him, "Dante, Jr." after her Auntie Brenda's brown and white Aussie, Dante.

Page Three, I am told, is all the "group shots."

Page Four, if Scott remembered to tell me correctly is "pictures taken outside."

Page Five is "the cute pictures" of Wiley (Sly) and Maizie (Surprise):

Page Six reads, "funny" and is mostly pictures of the dogs, including a baby Mollie, sleeping in funny poses.

Page Seven is more funny pictures:

Page Eight is pictures of us with the puppies.

When Kiera and her little sister, Drew, delivered the album, Scott met them at the door and got the inside scoop. When he reached the last page, Drew said, "Wait! You haven't seen the end!" and, sure enough, on the back cover is the end, Wiley's little nether end, to be precise.

Thank you, Kiera! You have given us a treasure!

Relaxxxxxx

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...Oh, yeah.

Reunion!

Today we had a little puppy party. The Barretts and the Brysons agreed to come for a visit so that we could take some pictures with the whole bunch before Little Miss Pepper needs to go to her new home in Minnesota. What a blast! We had such fun talking puppy talk, ate a little nosh, and sat around ooh-ing and aah-ing while they tore into each other... OK, wait that didn't sound nice! We all sat around cooing while they barked and fought. No, wait... we refereed the playfights--er, we kept an eye on things. Um, I give up.

Actually, it was not nearly so violent as I am making it sound. It was just exciting. See? In this video, no tears! Just fun and games (except for Pepper who chose to be cuddling with Ethan B.)

I think the pups had a great time and even Mollie sometimes relaxed and enjoyed herself.

Running, running running, tuck your toes in, they're running!

Aaaaaaand, this is what it was all about, people. I was still in my church clothes, so I felt like I was presentable enough to photograph, so we put all the pups on leash and I held them all. I love this picture. I feel like Rachael Doudrick, Champion Breeder! Look out Westminster! Not really, I have no ambitions to breed show dogs and none of these darlings will go in that direction, but I am so proud. So very proud.

Lest you think it was easy to get this semi-still photo, this is what most of the attempts look like:

Smootchie

Pepper climbs onto my lap and loves the camera. If this doesn't make you smile, you need some serious puppy playtime therapy and you should contact me immediately.

Patience, my dear ones, patience. Go read some of my other very amusing posts, then come back and double click the blurry picture.

Just Us Girls

Scott is really out-numbered. We are an overwhelmingly female household, now. Mollie and the two girl puppies are doing very well. They don't seem to be pining much for the boys, which is good, but I do occasionally see the pups looking around the yard for someone else to play with!

Both girls have new names. Miss Soxie is becoming "Pepper," and going to live in southern Minnesota with my brother. I fly her out at the end of April. Don't worry, she can come in the cabin with me. I have a Sherpa Bag and everything is arranged! Pepper is living up to her name. She has the most little black freckles of all the pups! She also has the most delightful and upbeat personality. Here's a picture of her relaxing under our hammock.

Surprise is our girl and will stay with us and Mollie. We will register her with the AKC as "Mollie's Amazing Surprise," and she is now called "Maizie," like A-maz-ing. Maizie already has many nicknames, "Maizie-MOO!" "Maizie Monster" and "Lazy Maizie." That last one is Scott, and I can't quite figure it out, because nothing could be more fast and furoius than our little girl! Maybe it was, "Maizie-Daisy?" Or "Crazy-Maizie?" I dunno. Maizie likes the tall grass when we don't mow, and has pretty much flattened all my forget-me-nots in the garden.

Mommie Mollie is just splendid, thank you, and shares the limelight with the two puppies very well. I mean, who could ignore this beauty? The way the sun catches her beautiful brown eyes just about stops my heart!

Finally, here's a little video of Mollie playing with Pepper. They are both upside down and mouthing each other... until Newton the bird screams and interupts them...twice! I call it, "Pirate Playtime" because Mollie makes a noise like, "Aaaargh!"

OOOOOOOOOH! I just figured out how to embed video! Check me OWT!

Oh, OK, ummmm... Count to 20 then double click the picture of Mollie and it should run. I hope. Sheesh, this is just so way beyond me why I can't make it work...

Snoobie says, "So long!"

Both of our precious little boys are gone. Waaaaaaaaah!

Actually, it's not so sad, because little Mister Snoobs went home with the lovely, lovely Barrett family, Valerie, Ethan, Cameron and big sister-doggie, Marmelade. (Dad, Jeremy, was not able to be in the picture.)

Certainly, Snoobie is having the time of his life with those two boys! And, when the pups met Marmelade for the first time, the two girl pups went and hid with their tails between their legs, but Snoobie fell in love at first sight and trailed his new sister-doggie all over our back yard! It was meant to be!

Valerie sent me this e-mail:

dear rachael and scott,
thank you for our package of joy.
it is so sweet for me to see the enjoyment the boys are getting out of having this little ball of energy in our midst . . . and he truly is.
cameron was sitting with me in the back yard today just laughing and laughing as snoobie raced around the garden like a maniac.
wow, all of us (snoobie and marmalade included) are going to bed exhausted each night.
(i am thinking of hitting the sack when i finish this e-mail.)
our little snoobs is doing so well. i don't think he has peed or pooed in the house once.
the crate training is a little confusing for us as he seems he is always out of it and then when we are ready to put him in, i think "oh, we can't put him in until he pees or poos." which starts a whole new session of fun on the grass.
marmalade is putting up with him nicely. she is loving all the racing around on the grass after balls and toys and it is good way to wear them both out. the boys are taking their job of raising him very seriously. i have to bite my tongue sometimes when i see the amount they feed him or when they are carrying him outside to go pee instead of having him follow them but he just eats what he wants and is fine being toted around.
he was wonderful on the car ride home. just slept and cuddled the whole way. interestingly, i tried to take him to the local baseball field to pick up cameron in the car and he was trembling, crying and trying to burrow between my legs within the first two blocks. i abandoned my plans and pretended it was just a little excursion and took him home to his safe haven.
i've got to go, he is crying to get out of the crate.
i will keep you updated.
thank you again.
valerie

Here are a few last pictures of Snoobie, one with him sleeping in my arms, that little cuddle baby, and the other just too cute giving you the Princess Di eyes.

Truly, we miss that little baby boy. But, we know that he is with the right family and having a blast! Go, Snooba-rooba! (By the way, Snoobie might eventually get a new name, but for now, he is still Snoobie!)