Remi - 6 x 6 Layout - and intro to our new pup

Meet Remi :). He made it onto his first page - a 6 x 6 fall layout.  He's a character, that's the best way to describe him.  He came to us when we needed joy the most this past February.  He was born Dec. 23/19 and is a Whoodle - half wheaten terrier, half poodle.  He has more energy than any dog I've had and keeps us laughing.

I love the dimension on this page with the copper coloured Thickers and the little wooden acorn.  The pile, jump and smile sticker is also popped up.  I just can't capture the shine and colour of the Remi letters - they're so coppery!

Supplies:

Simple Stories, Pebbles, Jen Hadfield patterned papers and stickers

American Crafts Cozy Gold Thickers

Dearly Loved - Scrapbook Page

I finally got around to finishing off this layout from an older Crop & Create class.  I thought it was perfect for these pics of Sampson and I from Fall 2019.  I love the copper chipboard letters and embellishments.

Supplies:

Simple Stories, Pebbles, Jen Hadfield patterned papers and ephemera

Doodlebug enamel dots

American Crafts Cozy Gold Thickers

Believe In the Magic - 6 x 6 layout - and farewell to my boy

This is one of the last photos I have of my boy Sampson.  He has gone over the rainbow bridge now after a battle with cancer.  He would have been eight in February.  This one is going to hurt for a long long time.

I let the paper do the work in this case - it's designed by Unity Stamp Co., I only had to add the sentiment and a few enamel dots.  The die is from Simon Says Stamp and 'in the magic' is a Tim Holtz rub on.

Wet Nose, Warm Heart .... and a sad good-bye

I am sharing some sad news today, last Saturday I had to say good-bye to my Bosley.  He would have been 13 in December.  He had not been well for some time due to liver problems, he was blind and not hearing well, confused at times and I just couldn't stand to see him go through the winter like that.  I'm sure he wouldn't have made it through and I didn't want him to suffer.  I had been mentally preparing for a little while now.  Even though I know it was the right decision, it is hard to be the one to have to decide.  He was not alone, he deserved to be held and comforted and not be more frightened than I'm sure he was, I was there for him.  I'll never forget that day.

Needless to say, I was not up for making cards on National Scrapbooking Day.  This weekend it's quiet in my house, daughter working and visiting friends, hubby and son away hunting, so the house is littered with my crafty supplies.  And I created this:

It is cased from a layout I found on Pinterest from Pamela O'Conner, a CTMH consultant.  I fell in love with the layout the minute I saw it and I knew I had the perfect picture.  It was taken in January 2012, before we had Sampson and before Bosley turned ill.  Some time ago, I had bought the Echo Park For the Record 2 paper pack specifically to make layouts of my babies...so I used those papers on my layout.  I embellished with coordinating stickers.  Don't you just love the title??!!  I couldn't change it, it's perfect.  The heart was cut using my Cricut and the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge.  The enamel dots are from MME.

These next few photos show some of my thought processes in planning my pages - papers, layouts etc.  For my Cricut Expression cutter I always use Cricut Craft Room.  LOVE this program.  I'm not even sure what most of the buttons are for on the Cricut 'sigh' so I'd be lost without it, but it works well for me using the free software.  So in the first picture, I plan the layout so I can determine what size I want to cut the heart.  To do this I go to the Machine and Mat tab and change the machine to Cricut Imagine, this lets me use the colours and patterns that are offered and I can make it similar to the patterned paper I'm using.  The black square represents my photo.

And these are my cutting guides for my photos.  I like to place these over photos so I can see how they will look at different sizes and where I need to cut to best use the picture in the layout.  I used the 8 x 8 guide to trim my 8 x 10 photo of Bosley.  I also cut out a sample heart so I could place it over different patters of paper to see which one I preferred.  I couldn't decide between two papers, so this definitely helped me decide on the flowered pattern, rather than the more abstract pattern I was considering.

I'm sure you'll be seeing more layouts of my babies soon.

My Boys

Bosley and Sampson enjoying playtime on my bed at camp. So glad they are best buds. Bosley will be 10 in December and Sampson is six months now.

Sampson!!

He's here!!! Meet Sampson, aka Sammy :0

He arrived last Thursday evening and is settling in so well!! He's an 11 week old Airedale and I keep forgetting that although he is almost the same size as Bosley (my mini Schnauzer), he's still just a baby. And my what big feet he has, and sharp teeth!!!