CARDMAKING: From CONCEPT to REALITY Article 4

Happy Friday, My Friends!

Today, I am offering one more article along my current Blog theme: CARDMAKING: From CONCEPT to REALITY.

Bear with me as I provide a little background for today’s post…..

Those of you who’ve been following my Blog have probably recognized that my husband Lee and I are the proud owners of two ex-racing greyhounds. Our current greyhounds are Harley, 4, and Ride, 12, and they are, indeed, part of our family.

Lee and I have been dog owners/lovers all of our lives, but it was only 12 years ago that we “adopted” our first two ex-racing greyhounds…….a strikingly handsome black boy greyhound whom we named Cody, and a timid little brindle girl greyhound we named Cassie.

A little over a year from the time we brought these first two greyhounds into our home, our shy, sweet Cassie developed a bizarre unknown illness and passed away soon after. Our gentle giant, Cody, spent another nine cherished years with us before he developed osteosarcoma. We lost Cody in June 2006.

I think that I can honestly say that for both Lee and me, our experience with greyhounds……first learning about the breed, then meeting up with and eventually bringing some of these wonderful dogs into our home, has been truly one of the greatest rewards of our lives.

Over the past six years, since I started making scrapbook layouts and handmade greeting cards, my greyhounds have provided some of my best inspiration…. So I’m dedicating today’s article to them……

This is our (dearly departed) Cody:




Greyhounds were one of the very first "models" in my early attempts at developing paper piecing patterns . . . . . . .and I did quite a few greyhound paper piecing sets and scrapbook layouts before I ventured into greyhound cards. I think I've probably improved my original greyhound paper piecing patterns as time has passed.

Here is one of my more recent handmade cards featuring a paper pieced greyhound.....looks a bit like Cody, don't you think?





And, below is Harley, one of our current greyhound family members......isn't he handsome? At four years old, he is a full of energy and affection, and a constant source of surprise to both Lee and me.

This paper pieced greyhound card was inspired by Harley.

Then, here we have Little Miss Ride.....who has been the reigning queen of our house since March 1999. I've not yet been able to capture this brindle beauty's "essence", whimsical or otherwise, in one of my paper piecings, but I continue to try. . . . . . .

This will be my last Blog post for at least a few days, since Lee and I are soon to be off for a trip to the wonderful Oregon Coast, where we had our honeymoon 24 years ago!

I do hope to be able to check in, and even to post a few photos while we're on our trip. I'm not sure what access to the Internet we will have while we're enroute, but you can bet that I'll do my best to connect if I can!

Until we meet again . . . . . . . May your days be filled with greyt moments and greyt memories.