Have a Pawfect Day with Gunner info!

Hello, Friends!

Happy New Year!  I realize we're actually more than halfway through January, but this is my first post of 2018.  So, I'm going to wish you all a 

Happy New Year even though it's not that new anymore.  

As you probably guessed from my absence, I have been having a lot of problems with my back.  There is nothing that can be done right now to help.  I just have to live with the pain in my lower back and down my legs.  When my back hurts so much, stamping and card making are out of the question.  As a result, I missed getting to make, share and send Christmas cards this year.  That was a huge disappointment because I look forward to making and sending Christmas cards a lot!  Luckily for me, there are Christmas Card Challenges that go all year long so I can still get those stamp sets inky!

This past week, my back finally started to feel a little bit better.  While I was trying to catch up on email, I saw that Kathy Rascoosin was starting her 30 Day Coloring Challenge again on January 15th.  I try to participate in it every single time she does it.  I usually make it a few days and them I'm out because of my back.  I'm not a quitter, though, so I decided, once again, I'd give it a try!  I am able to tolerate sitting in my "spot" on the couch and coloring images with my Copics pretty well.  I've been able to color 7 different images that I wanted to put to use, including the one above since January 15!

The first card of the new year that goes on my blog is always special to me.  I like it to have an extra special meaning.  It didn't take much thought at all to decide this year's card should feature Gunner James!  

Gunner is a sweetheart.  We've almost had him for four months.  He is my shadow!  He rarely leaves my side.  Gunner is definitely my dog, much to the dismay of both of my parents who would like to be able to pet him and hold him like I can!  Gunner isn't willing to do this yet, but he's better with them than when he first got here, so we are making progress!

No matter where I am, I can guarantee you Gunner will be very close by.  Even if I have to stay in bed most of the day, Gunner stays right with me.  He knows when I am really hurting and snuggles up right beside me to comfort me.  I'd prefer he'd go downstairs than stay in bed all day, but he will not.  The one time my Dad took him downstairs, as soon as his feet hit the floor, he ran right back upstairs to me.  

Just like the dog in the stamp, Gunner loves to be held and he loves to give kisses.  I am more than willing to hold him as much as he wants considering all he is willing to do for me.  My favorite part of the day is when he takes an after dinner nap in my arms with his little head on my chest right near my heart.  It is the sweetest thing!  Since Gunner wants to be held several times a night, this makes it more difficult to color stamped images!  However, I am not complaining!  When you have a chance to hold a puppy, you should always hold the puppy!

With all of this in mind, it was easy to pick this image from the My Favorite Things Birdie Brown stamp set, New Best Friend, to use for my first card of the year.  One of my goals this year is to add finished cards to my stash that I have on hand so I have a variety to choose from when I need one.  That's why I picked this "pawfect birthday" sentiment.  I chose my colors for the girl's clothing from the patterned paper which came from Echo Park's Fashionista 6" x 6" paper pad.  Of course, the dog is colored to look similar to Gunner.

  

My design came from Freshly Made Sketches 320th sketch.  The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge this week is to Add a Sentiment.  I tried putting my sentiment across the bottom of my frame like it shows in the sketch, but it didn't look good at all.  So, I decided to stamp it on the black cardstock and emboss it in white inside the frame instead.   

The Pink Pirouette cardstock base by Stampin' Up looked a little plain next to the framed image.  I cut another piece of the same card stock 1/4" smaller than the base on all four sides.  Then I used my Lil' Inkers Quilted Stitched Pattern Die to cut the little stitching lines into my card stock.  This gave it a very subtle pattern that didn't overwhelm the focal point of the card.  After I adhered everything together, my card was complete.  

I was able to honor my Gunner Boy in my first post of the year and add a birthday card to my stash!  

What I learned from making the card is that my back is a lot better at sitting on the couch coloring than it is at sitting at the table putting the pieces of a card together.  As a result, be prepared to see a lot of very clean and simple cards with nice coloring on my blog in the near future!  That's better than no cards and no coloring, though, so I will be happy with that accomplishment!



I am also entering my card in the "Just Add Something New" Just Add Ink Challenge.  The Birdie Brown New Best Friends stamp set and matching dies, Quilted Stitched Pattern Die and the Our Family Frame die I used were all brand new before this card! 

I pray your New Year is off to a great start!

Happy Stamping!

I used the following products to make this card:

Birdie Brown New Best Friend Stamp Set by My Favorite Things

Birdie Brown New Best Friend Die-namics by My Favorite Things

Our Family Frame Die by Altenew

Quilted Stitched Pattern Die by Lil' Inkers

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad by Tsukineko

Copic Markers

VersaMark Ink Pad by Tsukineko

Pink Pirouette and Basic Black Card Stock by Stampin' Up

80 lb. Solar White Card Stock by Neenah

Fashionista 6" x 6" Paper Pad by Echo Park

Opaque Bright White Super Fine Embossing Powder by Wow!
MISTI by My Sweet Petunia

Heat Tool

Merry Christmas to All

Merry Christmas!

As you can see from the picture above, 

Gunner James is ready to celebrate his 

very first Christmas!

He's got his Christmas jammies on and

has been a very good boy

guaranteeing that Santa will have

visited our house by the time you read this.

I predict treats and toys and maybe 

even a new leash will be among the gifts

given to this sweet little angel 

we have living in our home!

Christmas is not important because of the presents 

we will receive in 2017, however.  

Instead, the greatest present is one we have all 

already been given.  

The greatest gift is explained in Luke 2:8-11.  

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 

John 3:17 says

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Because of this wonderful gift from God, we have reason to celebrate, not just at Christmas, but every single day of the year!

Merry Christmas

to each and every

one of you!

No Tricks This Year- Just a Very Special Treat!!!

Hello, Friends!

I have a very special surprise for you this

Happy Hallo-wiener Holiday Night!

I'd like to introduce you to our new dog,

Gunner James Walters!

I know this isn't the best picture ever, but it was taken on Gunner's first night at our house so I wanted to use it in this post.

The Story of How Gunner Came Into Our Lives

In August, we began thinking and talking about getting a Dachshund.  Our veterinarian gave us the name of Theresa, who is a dachshund breeder in our area.  About a month later, we decided to call her just to see if she had any puppies or if she was going to have any puppies anytime soon.  Theresa said that she had an 8 month old long hair miniature dachshund named Gunner who needed a home.  We weren't sure if this would work out or not, because my Dad has a lot of allergies.  Long-hair dogs make them worse than short hair dogs, but we decided we would go ahead and meet Gunner.

Even though we were going to meet Gunner, my Dad said that we couldn't just fall in love with him instantly.  We would need to see how things went before we could make a decision.  I wanted to take pictures of him, but my Mom said we should wait until we knew if he was going to be ours or not.  I know me quite well and knew that I would fall in love with Gunner and would be sad if it wasn't going to work out, so I stayed upstairs while my parents met him.  If my Dad was instantly itchy and got a stuffed up nose, we would know it wasn't going to work and I wouldn't meet Gunner.  

It was a loooong 40 minutes, while Theresa and Gunner got to know my Mom and Dad better.  Finally, my mom came upstairs with pictures on her phone, to show me Gunner.  She told me how beautiful Gunner was and what sweet and wonderful personality he had.  She also said I had to come down and meet Gunner!  I didn't have to hear that twice before I headed downstairs!  

I remember holding Gunner for the first time as clear as a bell.  

He gave me kisses!  

Theresa said how rare this was for Gunner.  He is very shy and timid.

He was even more gorgeous in person than he was in the pictures on my Mom's phone.  In fact, the three of us told him over and over during that first meeting how beautiful he was!

Gunner is an English Cream Miniature Dachshund.  This kind of Dachshund is much more rare than the red or black and tan dogs that most people thing of when they think of Doxies.  Gunner's family is quite distinguished.  His relatives lived in Canada before they were adopted by Theresa in the United States.  

His Great-Great-Great-Great Grandpa was the Grand Champion at a dog show in Canada that is similar to our Westminster Dog Show in the US.  Gunner definitely has show dog blood in him!  He walks with the same gate as the dogs in the dog shows walk!  He also holds his tail out to a point just like show dogs!  I always wondered how they trained dogs to do that!  Now I know some of them are born that way!  

Dogs like Gunner are not cheap if you have purchase one.  It would be a bargain to get a Cream for $3,000.  Most of them cost at least $5,000.  Thankfully for us, Theresa was willing to give Gunner to us as long as we were willing to give him a good home!  I had seen cream doxies on Pinterest and always thought they were gorgeous, but knew how costly they were and figured I would never be able to own one.  Thanks to Theresa, we now have this gorgeous dog as our family pet.  (I'm only telling you this so you know I have not recently won the lottery to be able to afford this dog!)  While Gunner is gorgeous, his wonderful personality far outshines his looks.  

Needless to say, our first visit went well!  We set up more visits with Theresa and Gunner throughout September to see how he liked us and how my Dad's allergies handled a long-hair puppy.  My Dad does get a little itchy with Gunner, but decided it was worth it to have this wonderful dog in our family!

Remember when my Dad said that we couldn't just fall in love with Gunner instantly?  After our first meeting, it was obvious that my Dad was smitten with this little puppy so I asked him, "When did you fall in love with Gunner?"

"When I saw him on the front porch."

was his answer.

It's clearly much easier to be reasonable before 

you've met that wonderful little ball of joy than after!

On Monday, September 25th, Gunner came for what was supposed to be a three or four day visit.  Those first few days were pretty hard for Gunner.  He obviously missed Theresa and all the other dachshunds that he lived with, including his sister Lilee (pronounced Lily).  We all decided that it would be too hard on him to go back and forth between homes a few more times like we had originally planned.  We didn't know it at the time, but on that Monday night, Gunner had found a forever home and a life with another wiener dog began.  

Gunner is his own dog.  He is not a replacement for Frankfurter.  Frankfurter was one-of-a-kind and can never be replaced.  We all still miss Frank every moment of every day.  We still shed tears when we remember Frank because he was so special to each of us.  With Gunner, our hearts have grown to love another dog.  Our love has not changed for Frank, except possibly that we continue to love him and appreciate him more and more each day.  

You may be wondering why I didn't tell you about Gunner a month ago!  Because of my Dad's allergies, I've been very afraid during this whole time that something was going to happen and we would have to give him back to Theresa.  As hard as that was going to be, I knew it would be even more heartbreaking to have to post that Gunner was not going to get to be our dog after all.  So, I waited until after we were sure my Dad would be okay with him and his first vet visit to make sure he was okay before I made the big announcement.  Please don't have your feelings hurt that I kept this a secret for so long.  I just wanted to be absolutely, positively sure that this was all going to work out.   

Because this post is already soooo long, I'll end for now and tell you more about Gunner soon.  I'll share more pictures with you then, too!

Now you know why I haven't been posting many cards, though!  One of the few things better than stamping is holding a puppy!

Happy Stamping from Gunner and I!


I used the following products to make Gunner's Adoption Announcement:

Critters at the Dog Park, Happy Howloween and Little Bundle Stamp Sets by Lawn Fawn
Happy Howloween Lawn Cuts Dies by Lawn Fawn
Skinny Mini Party Borders Dies by Taylored Expressions
Blueprints 27 Die-namics by My Favorite Things
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad by Tsukineko
Copic Markers
Cornflower Dye Ink Pad by My Favorite Things
Solar White Card Stock by Neenah
Real Red, Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight Card Stock by Stampin' Up
Blue Breeze and Cornflower Card Stock by My Favorite Things
Scotch Foam Tape by 3M
MISTI by My Sweet Petunia