Friday, May 17, 2013

New member of the family

We miss our Maltese dog Buttons a lot, and didn't plan on adopting another dog until late in the summer, but Cricket (in photo) had other plans.

Cricket is our new family member. She was rescued by a very nice Michigan group called WAG. The man who used her for breeding in a puppy mill had planned to drown her. Thank goodness she ended up with us.

This little Maltese has been in a foster home since late March and her foster mother knew that the attention we could give the 5.4 lb. dog would be just what she needed.

We have some work to do, but it was nice to see her soundly sleeping tonight while we were nearby yet not holding her. She is skittish and cringes as if she is going to be hit when we reach to pet or pick her up....so sad to see that. We'll get a schedule that works well for all of us. She does have a howl/cry when she misses us....sounds like a mini fire truck LOL!

I highly recommend opening your home to the pet who needs you, and works well with your lifestyle.

So, my studio time has taken a backseat to Cricket, but I will find a place where she can hang out there too. Someday soon I will find the top of my work table and maybe she'll want to sit there and take her chances on getting paint, ink, glitter on her white coat! 😳
Enjoy the weekend!
CBS......



Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Saying Goodbye

Today was our time to say goodbye to our precious 11 yr. old Maltese dog Buttons. Her health wasn't good and then she dislocated her hip. Yesterday and this morning were not pleasant for her.

She was such a sweet dog and especially close to my husband.

This evening it's been amazing how we expect her to be at our feet, or following us across the room, or running to the kitchen when she heard one of us chopping salad vegetables. She loved lettuce, but carrots were her special treat!

She's traveled all over the United States with me as we joined my husband wherever his current assignment took him. Buttons would sit patiently in the back seat while I harnessed her and then attached the seatbelt. She'd sleep unless she heard me eating something, then she'd sit up and wait for her nibble.

Hotels became part of her life. She knew about elevators, hallways with other dog smells, and she didn't mind taking the stairs sometimes. She knew right where her travel bag was and where to find the refrigerator in any hotel that would become our temporary home. She could watch television contentedly but didn't like basketball, black and white shows, or line drawings in advertising.

Her only babysitter was a neighbor friend who not only loved and spoiled Buttons, but watched TV with her too.

Our granddaughter says Buttons is in heaven with Jesus and we should get another dog like her and call her Buttons. :-)

Our dogs know us, love us, try to please us, and appreciate whatever routine we can give them.
We loved and knew Buttons very well too.
Her shadow now lingers throughout our home.
We are grateful she was here.
Goodbye Buttons.

Introducing myself to Ice Resin

I decided to try Susan Lenart Kasmer's Ice Resin product (jeweler's grade). She has developed a plunger system that dispenses the two ingredients needed at the same time so you get the correct measurement. Stir it thoroughly, pour into bezels and wait for it to set up, then cure. That's a very simplified description and I made a couple of errors as you may be able to see from the two images on the left. You get the glass effect over your image. Be sure to read more about it on her blog.

Various shades of pearls were added to the two of the bezels. I used her Paper Saver product on the photo and didn't wait for it to dry thoroughly so the first pour didn't work well at all. (Ok, so one of these days I will get patient about art things.....usually I'm a patient person!) So, I repeated the process, adding the same image to the hardened surface and poured another batch of Ice Resin on top without using the Paper Saver and it worked fine.

The image is of my granddaughter Emmalee, who is 4 this week. I dressed her in one of my t-shirts after I braided her hair out of the way so that we could do some painting together. She turned and caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror. I was lucky enough to snap this photo. Needless to say, it's become my go-to photo lately.

I've ordered some more product and round bezels - we'll see how I do with them.

OH, by the way, I had leftover product and used a couple of other products to fill with the Ice Resin. I overfilled some of these - one is a metal label holder from Close to My Heart® - the other two are metal belt loops. Glass beads and glitter were added to the resin immediately after pouring. I just trimmed the overfilled-excess Ice Resin from the edges with scissors.

Try it! Lots of possibilities and the easy dispenser takes away the nervousness about precise measuring. I know I'll be figuring out lots of way to use this product!