Happy Father's Day!

It's Father's Day once again, and a time to remember and honor the special fathers in our lives.

Although my husband and I don't have children in the traditional sense of the word, we have always been privileged to have dogs as members of our family. . . .and I guess one could call them our four-legged kids. 

Our current dog family members are Harley and and Beau, two beautiful red fawn greyhounds, both "rescues."  Harley and Beau (with a little help from good ole "mom") decided to show their two-legged dad their appreciation on Father's Day by giving him a handmade card, specially designed for him.

That's 8-year old Harley's photo on the right of the card and almost-2-year old Beau's photo on the left.

Needless to say, my husband was quite touched by Harley's and Beau's thoughtfulness today.

On that note, I'd like to wish all the special fathers out there, whether they be fathers of the two- or four-legged genre,

a Happy Father's Day!

For the Love of Greyhounds . . . .

Oh my, how the summer is flying by!  It seems like only yesterday that I posted my last Wordless Wednesday photo from Lee's and my most recent road trip, and yet it's been nearly a month.  Wow.

Between enjoying the company of traveling friends and  house guests, planning for upcoming trips, plugging away at some badly neglected yard work, and trying to get caught up on my cardmaking, I've not had (or taken) much time for my Blog these past few weeks.  But hopefully, I'll be catching up with that soon!

Today's Blog Post is on a topic near and dear to my heart:  Greyhounds.

I imagine that some of you have already heard about the recent discovery and rescue of 28 dogs from a horribly neglectful situation in Ft. Worth, Texas.  Here is a news article about the event.  At least 17 of these dogs were greyhounds, and others were greyhound and/or sighthound mixes.  I don't know (and probably don't want to know) all the details, but it's my understanding that these dogs were being kept in cages without food and water.  Most, if not all, were tick-infested.  One of these poor greyhounds has, sadly, already succumbed to his weakened condition.

The rescued greyhounds have been divided between the Greyhound Adoption League of Texas (GALT), and Greyhounds Unlimited (GU).   An online benefit auction is currently being held by Carpe Canem to raise desperately needed funds to help in the care and treatment of these greys before they are in good enough shape to be adopted.  Many of my greyhound friends over on Facebook, fellow artisans and craftspersons, and the dog and greyhound "community" in general have rallied together in order to donate hundreds of items for this auction.  Lee has donated a matted photo from his personal collection of photographic art, and I've donated a number of handmade cards.

The Emergency Carpe Canem Auction for Rescued Texas Greyhounds  is about three days into its run and will continue until Wednesday, July 28.   Please, if you have a chance, take a few minutes to visit the auction, and also to share this info with any of your friends that you think might be interested in learning more about and/or helping this cause.

Thank you, once again, for visiting my Blog.  And, please feel free to comment and share!  I love to read your comments!

Until we meet again. . . . I'd like to share one of my favorite photos of Lee's and my sweet greyhound Harley, along with one of my favorite quotes. . . .

 "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."

~ Anatole France ~

Whimsy Wednesday: Canine Edition

Wordless Woof Wednesday . . . . .

Wordless Woof Wednesday Once Again . . . . .

Gold Hydrant Award!

I can’t quite recall how I first came across the Life with Dogs blog. But I do recall that it caught my attention right away, and I’ve been a fan and regular reader ever since.

Life with Dogs is truly one of the most unique and cleverly written blogs I’ve found in my blog “travels” over the past year. And I think if you’re a dog lover and enjoy a healthy dose of humor as well, you can’t help but be entertained by this fun blog about the "antics" of a greyhound, and two labrador retrievers (a golden and a chocolate) living in Vermont.

The Life with Dogs blog has recently added a new weekly feature . . . something called the “Friday Five”. Each Friday, the writer highlights five other Blogs that have caught his interest, and to which he gives the Life with Dogs “Gold Hydrant Award.”

And guess what! ~ ~ My blog was one of those named among yesterday’s Friday Five! I’m pleased and honored to have my little blog mentioned among these other exceptional and creative blogs.

Thank you, Life with Dogs! I'll be proud to display the Gold Hydrant Award logo here on my Expressive Papers blog.

I hope you can take a few minutes to head on over to the Life with Dogs blog, look around a bit, and also check out the other four blogs receiving this week’s Gold Hydrant Award.

In honor of today’s doggy-themed blog post, I’ve decided to give our sweet greyhound Harley, some air time once again. . . .I’ve been saving a couple of special photos (taken by my husband Lee) for just the right blog posting occasion, and I think today is it!

Thanks, once again, for visiting my Blog. I hope you all have a LOVELY weekend!

Look What I Got for Mother's Day!

In all the months (about 9) that I've been blogging, I don't think I've EVER posted two Blog entries in one day. So, this will be a first.

But, I'm just SO thrilled by my surprise Mother's Day present today, that I couldn't help but share it with all of you!

My husband Lee and I don't have children, so I'm not a mother in the biological sense of the word. But, we have had dogs throughout our entire married life, so I suppose our dogs have always been my "surrogate" children. And over the years, it's not been at all unusual for one or more of our dogs to give me a special Mother's Day card (with a little help from Lee, of course!)

As most of you know by now, our current "dog child" is Harley, a beautiful ex-racing fawn colored greyhound. He's not only handsome, but smart and sweet too.

Well, both Lee and Harley outdid themselves this year. This is what they gave me for Mother's Day . . . .

Some of you may recognize the image of Harley, contentedly snuggling into our comforter that had fallen down over the edge of his doggie bed. I happened upon this photo opportunity a few months ago, and used the photo for one of my Wordless Wednesday posts.

Well, unbeknowst to me, Lee decided to have this image enlarged, matted and framed for me as a surprise Mother's Day present!

How greyt is that???

And as if that weren't enough, the present was accompanied by a wonderful handmade card, done by my talented husband (with a little help from Harley, who posed for the picture) . . .

Here's the outside of the card:

And the inside of the card:

Today, I'm feeling like one very lucky dog mom!

Wordless Wednesday . . . . .

Wordless Wednesday

A Wordless Wednesday

PROXIMIDADE BLOG AWARD!

I was recently surprised and delighted to find out that a fellow Etsyan and Blogger, Cindy, had selected my Blog for a PROXIMIDADE Blog Award! Thank you so much, Cindy!

Cindy’s and my paths first crossed over a year ago, when she purchased a handmade card from my Etsy Shop. And it was then that I became acquainted with Cindy’s beautiful handmade jewelry. Please check out Cindy’s Etsy Shop, to see this talented artisan’s lovely creations! And visit Cindy’s Blog too, which was also a recent and very deserving recipient of a PROXIMIDADE Blog Award!

Admittedly, before Cindy selected my blog for a PROXIMIDADE Award, I’d not heard of this particular award before. But after reading about it and what it stands for, I’m truly honored to have my blog selected!

Following is a description of what the PROXIMIDADE Blog Award represents:

"This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of their award."

For me, this PROXIMIDADE Award has special meaning. . . .Little did I know when I started blogging less than a year ago, that my blog would become such a creative outlet for me, as well as a new form of personal expression. Nor did I have any idea that through my blogging, I would “meet” so many interesting, caring and creative people, many with similar interests as mine, scattered all across the globe!

In my blogging “travels” I’ve come across some extraordinary blogs that I believe truly embody the philosophy of this PROXIMIDADE Award. So, it is with great pleasure that I’d like to pass along this PROXIMIDADE Blog Award to the following EIGHT Blogs/Bloggers:


Excerpts from the Edge

This blogger is a talented handmade card designer, and an accomplished scrapbooker. On her blog, you’ll see some of her lovely and unique card creations, links to other great scrapbooking and crafting sites, as well as family and vacation snapshots which give you a personal glimpse of life in Australia.

Girl with a Curl

This multi-talented artisan in Washington State does watercolor paintings, wonderful beadwork jewelry, and digital graphics. She has three Etsy stores representing her artistry. Her blog is always an interesting read, and she frequently features other talented artists and craftspersons.


WhippetSnippets

As a dog lover, this is truly one of my favorite blogs. There are eyecatching photos and wonderfully written and entertaining ”snippets” about the most adorable whippets you’ll ever see, Ribsy and Mirabel, who reside with “Boy” and “Girl” (AKA owners) in Ontario, Canada


Life with Dogs

Once again, this is a blog for dog lovers! It is without a doubt one of the most cleverly written blogs (much of it from a dog’s point of view) that I’ve experienced. Check it out and read about the daily challenges and adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Author, Nigel, Sola and Truffles, and their lives in Vermont.


The Seasonal Cottage

This blogger is also a talented craftsperson, and indeed her interests and talents are so broad that she actually has SIX Etsy stores! Even so, she manages to update her blog daily and has regular blog features which never fail to disappoint. I also “follow” her daily tweets on Twitter, and she is a tireless Tweeter! It must be all that coastal Maine air that energizes her!


On Ruby’s Hill

Once you read a couple of posts on this wonderfully written blog, I think you’ll be hooked! Residing in Juneau, Alaska, this blogger creates unique and unusual handmade jewelry, and works with several types of media including copper etching, sterling silver and soldered pendants. Although her blog does occasionally feature her beautiful handcrafted creations, this blogger also writes about a variety of other topics, ranging from featured Etsy artisans to her own personal musings and “snapshots” of her life in Alaska.


Ann Ranlett’s Blog

Ann is a wonderful artist and illustrator of animals and nature subjects. I’m particularly fond of her dog portraits. Ann’s and my paths have crossed through our blogging as well as on Twitter, and it is clear that she and I share a deep and enduring love of animals and nature. She creates her art from her California home/studio, but it is offered through a variety of marketplaces and venues. Please visit her blog and take a look!

SassyGlass Designs

I love to visit this crisp and cheerful blog! There’s always a new posting of interest, be it about the this blogger-artisan’s wonderfully handcrafted jewelry and lampwork beads, the featured work of fellow craftpersons, or photos of captured scenes from the blogger’s local Arkansas countryside.


Please do take a little time to check out all these wonderful blogs, and watch to see what eight blogs each of these bloggers select, to pass along the PROXIMIDADE Blog Award!



Until we meet again . . . . .Happy Blog Reading!

A Bump in the Road for a Special Greyhound . . .

It's been less than a week since I posted Part 1 of "For the Love of Dogs" . . . .a tribute to the various dogs that my husband Lee and I have been honored to own and care for over the past 20+ years.


I had been planning that last post for a while, letting it take shape it in my mind over several weeks. And, I'm so glad that I posted it when I did. . . . ..


Because, as it turns out, just a few days ago, our eldest and very special greyhound, Ride, with whom Lee and I have shared the past 10 years, began to show troubling signs of significant illness.

I took Ride into our veterinarian yesterday to be checked, and it appears that she has a tumor of one of her mammary glands, which is likely malignant.

We are awaiting biopsy results, which should come in by tomorrow or the next day. We will then need to decide, in consultation with our vet, what treatment options are possible. In the meantime, the vet put Ride on an antibiotic, an anti-inflammatory medication, and a pain medication.

It's clear that poor Ride is not feeling well, and we're trying our best to get her to eat nutritious foods. Since she's been refusing her regular food we've begun to cook "people" food for her . . . chicken and hamburger with rice, bacon, scrambled eggs, etc. Sometimes she eats it, sometimes not.

Both Lee and I are very saddened by this turn of events. But, we also realize that Ride is approaching 13 years of age, which is somewhat elderly for a greyhound. So, we're trying to prepare ourselves for whatever may come.

Please keep our sweet little greyhound girl in your thoughts and prayers.

For the LOVE of DOGS: Part 1 . . . . . . .

It’s no secret to those of you who know me, or who have been following my Blog, that I’m a “dog person”. I love animals of all kinds (well, perhaps with a few exceptions), but I’m particularly fond of dogs.

Throughout most of my adulthood, I’ve always had one or two dogs. And in all honesty, I can’t imagine my life without a dog! I’ve often commented to friends over the years that having dogs adds another dimension to one’s life. Of course, I recognize that having dogs is not the same as having children. But for my husband Lee and me, our dogs have always been an integral part of our lives, and we consider them members of our family. To us, they are indeed very much like children.

So, on that introductory note, I’m dedicating today’s Blog post to DOGS and those who LOVE them. This will be the first of several related posts on this topic, which I’m entitling, “For the LOVE of DOGS . . . .”

Although one of Lee’s and my current “passions” is greyhound adoption, and we currently have two wonderful greyhounds, we haven’t always been greyhound owners. In fact our first two dogs were mixed breed dogs that came into our lives rather accidentally.


Lucky was a Gordon Setter and Black Lab mix, whose owner was one of Lee’s co-workers. As it turns out, the co-worker was moving to a place where he could no longer have a dog, and was looking for a new home for Lucky. So, Lee and I decided to meet her.

It was love at first sight, and we were both struck by her friendly and exuberant personality, her wonderful lustrous black fur, and the way she ran like the wind. So, we took her home. Lucky always kept us on our toes . . .she’s the only dog we ever had who took a flying leap and slid along the top of my baby grand piano to get a glimpse out the adjacent window, AND she’s the only dog that I’ve ever had who caught mice! She was a handful, but a delight.

Less than a year later, Lee and I came home after work to find a second dog in our back yard. . . .a timid and rather scraggly-looking terrier mix with long off-white fur, mostly matted! Later we found the place where she had dug her way under the fence into our yard to visit Lucky. She wore no tags, and she had apparently been through some rough treatment, because every time we tried to approach her (Lee more than I), she nearly cowered.

But eventually we managed to befriend this little waif, feed her, give her a bath and trim her matted coat. We couldn’t bring ourselves to take her to the local animal shelter, fearful that she wouldn’t be adopted. SO. . . . .. we named her and decided to keep her. That was a decision we never for one moment regretted over the years Mutt-Mutt was with us. She never got over her timidity with men, but she was one of the most affectionate dogs I’ve ever known. She was a gift.

For 16 years, Lucky and Mutt-Mutt were each others and Lee’s and my sweet and loyal companions. Early in 1997, both dogs passed away within one month of each other. Lucky died on Lee's birthday.

It was shortly after we lost Lucky and Mutt-Mutt that we adopted our first two ex-racing greyhounds.

Having grown up in Abilene, Kansas (home of the National Greyhound Association), I was somewhat familiar with greyhounds, but only from a distance. And Lee and I had talked about the possibility of adopting an ex-racing greyhound. So we started doing some online research about greyhound adoption in Utah.

We found out about a greyhound adoption group in southern Utah (then the only greyhound adoption group in the state), and contacted them to inquire about the availability of ex-racing greyhounds for placement. And one month later, having successfully completed the adoption “application process”, we were making the 5 hour trip from Salt Lake City to Kanab, Utah to pick up our first two greyhounds, Cody and Cassie.

Cassie was a beautiful brindle girl. She was a small and very shy greyhound whom we loved dearly, but who had a number of mysterious but serious health issues over the short time that we had her.

A little over a year after we brought her home, she succumbed to a bizarre illness. (We never did have a final diagnosis.)

Cody was all black, with a white chest and four white-tipped paws. Weighing in at around 87 lbs., he was the largest dog we’d ever had, and it took a little while for us to get used to his size! But he was one of the quietest, most gentle dogs I’ve ever known (except around cats!).

We called Cody our “gentle giant”. Cody was with us for 8 years, until he developed bone cancer and passed away a few months later. He was almost 10.

We adopted Ride (racing name: Emotional Ride) in 1999, shortly after Cassie’s passing.

This is a photo of Ride, not long after we adopted her. She was around 3 years old.

(I'd forgotten how dark her face was way back then . . .she hadn't started to turn gray yet!)

At first, we were a little nervous about how Cody would adjust to sharing the house again with another grey.

But mellow fellow that he was, Cody did fine, and it didn’t take long before he and Ride were best friends, which they remained until Cody’s passing in 2004.

Ride was our only greyhound for a couple of years. Both Lee and I were so saddened by the loss of Cody, we weren’t sure we were ready to attach to yet another greyhound right away, so we thought we’d wait a while to decide.

I was recently retired from my job by then, and since I was home all day, Ride and I became inseparable. She LOVED to take jaunts in the car with me, and I would often take her with me for short errands when the weather was nice.

Around November 2006, Lee and I decided that we were ready to adopt another greyhound, and as fate would have it . . . along came Harley!

It so happened that right about the time Lee and I decided to seek out another greyhound, Harley was “returned” to a local greyhound adoption group, where we know the kennel owner. Harley had been placed in an adoptive home a year before, but unfortunately the placement hadn’t worked out as well as expected. And when Harley was returned to the adoption group, he was not in very good shape physically OR emotionally, so he needed quite a bit of tender loving care and attention.

Once we brought Harley home, it was a difficult couple of months, in that Harley had moderate to severe separation anxiety, and somewhat aggressive food behavior. Thankfully, with a lot of patience, love, and consistency, Harley is now well-adjusted and happy as the newest member of our family.

And this beautiful fawn boy with amber eyes has turned out to be another one of the greyt joys of our lives.

Although it took Ride a while to warm up to Harley, they have become good companions to each other. And coincidentally, even though they are 7 years apart in age, their birthdays are only one day apart! Ride will turn 13 on March 28th and Harley will turn 6 on March 27th.

I am so grateful to have dogs in my life. Not only have our dogs always provided Lee and me with unconditional love, they have also brought us joy and laughter.

Our dogs help prevent Lee and me from being TOO introspective, TOO self-absorbed, and TOO serious. And, they provide us with special memories and “Kodak moments” that have helped to inspire us in our own creative endeavors.

I hope you’ll stay tuned for my next Blog post, “For the LOVE of DOGS: Part 2”, in which I will focus on how our greyhounds and dogs in general have provided inspiration for my handmade cards, scrapbook layouts, and other paper creations.

Tweaking.....Tweaking.....The BLOG goes on!

Good Evening, My Friends!

Well, you wouldn't know it, but I've spent HOURS today working on (tweaking) my BLOG! Admittedly, this little Blog o' Mine has quickly become an addiction! (Can any of you Bloggers out there relate?)

As most of you know, I'm very new to the World of Blogging (remember, my Blog is only two weeks old), but I'm still trying to learn, despite a rather steep learning curve!

Nevertheless, what I DID accomplish today was to figure out how to create a "badge" on Flickr, and with that, I was able to upload a few photos of some of my previous card creations onto my new Blog (scroll down vertically along the right side).....

I also decided that, after the last five days of listening to the same music when I logged into my Blog, it was time for a change! So, I switched out some of the music.....let me know what you think.

And now.....this moment......I'm TIRED of blogging. ("Enough, she cried!)

BUT, tomorrow's another day, and already I'm pondering new topics to post....I think I'm going to focus the rest of this week on topics related to CARDMAKING!

So do please stay tuned.....

Here are Ride and me, posing for holiday photos. Reindeer antlers were not Ride's favorite head gear, but she tolerated them long enough for a photo!

A Little About Me . . . . .

My husband and I are the proud owners of two ex-racing greyhounds, Harley and Ride. This is Harley, in his "Snoopy" pose at the top of our stairs. Harley is four years old (still a "puppy" really), weighs in at 90 lbs, and is full of energy and affection.

And this is Ride (racing name: Emotional Ride).....her name is fitting for two reasons......even at age 12, she's VERY "emotional" AND she loves to "ride" in the car! This brindle beauty weighs a mere 70 lbs.

Ride is pictured here with her favorite soft squeaky toy, a giant spider.