Pull the Udder One, You’re How Old?

August 12, 2012 by 7 Comments

What a stressful weekend — and we found out the hard way that stress can have an adverse effect on dogs too.  About two weeks ago we found an abandoned kitten in our backyard, and it had a cold.  We started feeding it and even got antibiotics from the vet to give it.  We also started contacting every cat rescue organization in our area and always got the same answer — they could not take in any more cats.

Yesterday around noon we took Fifi, our 10 year old rescue Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix, outside.  She does not like cats but we thought she had been tolerating the kitten being in the yard.  The kitten was becoming tame and yesterday it came up to Fifi and started wrapping itself around her.  I could instantly see that Fifi was stressing out.

We knew something was amiss because Fifi had been having some digestive issues.  Seeing her reaction to the cat, I was sure it was coming from stress.  After that incident, Fifi refused to go back in the backyard.  She would only go out in the front yard, which requires us taking her out on a leash.

When it came time for Fifi to eat, she did not finish her dinner.  We started keeping a close eye on her.  About an hour later she threw up.  Around 1 a.m. we knew something was seriously wrong so we took her to an emergency animal clinic.  Fifi had intestinal bleeding and a temperature of 105 (normal for dogs can be up to 102).   They started her on an IV, antibiotics and gave her some medication for her stomach.

The dr. said it is not uncommon for small dogs to get so stressed out that it causes intestinal bleeding.  We were able to talk to our regular vet today (even though it is Sunday) and she suggested we have the cat out of the yard when Fifi comes home.  We are hoping we get to bring her home around 7 p.m. tonight.

Luckily the animal shelter is open today and we planned on loading up the poor kitten and taking it in.  Steve called a rescue lady that he had talked with yesterday (before Fifi got so bad) and when she found out we were taking it to a shelter she came over and picked up the kitten.

So the kitten stressor is gone and we hope Fifi will come home and be able to recover completely.  I will be taking her to see her own vet tomorrow and hopefully gain some insight to keep this from happening again.  This has been such a huge ordeal on the whole family — we were trying so hard to find the kitten a home.  I had no idea we were harming our dog in the process.  I so wish everyone would spay and neuter their pets.

OK, now on to my card.  I was able to put this together but wasn’t sure I would get it posted in time for the challenge I am entering it in.  Luckily I made it with a few hours to spare.

I made this birthday card for the On the Farm Challenge at Bitten by the Bug 2, which requires you to use any farm animal cut from any Cricut cartridge.  I selected the girl milking the cow from the Country Life cartridge.   My main reason for choosing this cut was that I had a sentiment stamp that I thought would be perfect with it.  The sentiment is from a set by Elzybell, who sadly is no longer making them.

I printed the checked background paper on my Imagine, using the Best Friends cartridge.  The fence and sun are from Pooh & Friends.  I printed the wood design on the fence, again with my Imagine, using the Snapshot: Nature cartridge. The girl milking the cow and the sunflowers are from the Country Life cartridge.  The thought balloon with the sentiment is from Cuttin’ Up.  All cuts, with the exception of those printed on the Imagine, were made using scrap cardstock. The girl and cow, sentiment and the flowers are popped up using foam dots.

And to show I learned something from this challenge, let me tell you about my cow.  She is a Brown Swiss.  The breed originated in the mountains of northeast Switzerland and was declared a dairy breed in the United States in 1906.  I’m not sure that the dark brown marking on her back is accurate, but if not then my Brown Swiss has a dark chocolate beauty mark on her.

After seeing the card assembled, it makes me wonder if there are many women working around cows who wear pink boots!  Well, my milk maid likes her stylish pink boots.

For the inside of the card, I printed another square of checked paper on my Imagine and added some sunflowers to the lower corner.

  • Cricut cartridges:  Best Friends (Imagine), Country Life, Cuttin’ Up, Pooh & Friends, Snapshot: Nature (Imagine)
  • Elzybells stamps
Filed Under: Best Friends, Bitten by the Bug 2, Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Country Life, Cricut, Cuttin' Up, Pooh & Friends, Rubber Stamps, Snapshot: Nature Tagged With: , ,

Cricut Circle Magazine Challenge for November – Little Deer Shaker Ornament

November 19, 2010 by 5 Comments

 

The first thing I have to say is how excited I am again — my penguin shaker ornament card was one of the winners at the Fantabulous Cricut Challeng Blog.  Thank you so much FCCB!!

Now on to the Cricut Circle magazine challenge, which I forgot all about when I made my penguin shaker ornament last week.  I posted my ornament card on the Cricut message board, and a fellow Circlet asked me if I was going to enter my card in the Circle magazine challenge.  She was even kind enough to give me the link.  I went to the website and reviewed the rules and saw that the project must be newly created, so I figured my penguin card would not qualify — especially since it had just won a challenge.  With time running out on the magazine challenge, I decided to create a new shaker ornament card especially for it. 

For this challenge, which is only open to Circle members, the project has to have at least four Cricut cuts and also use one other Provo Craft product — like the Cuttlebug, Yudu, etc. 

I made another shaker ornament card, only this time I put a deer inside.  I used Core’dinations Core Couture cardstock for the ornament — I like it’s glittery look.  I used the ornament from Joys of the Season cartridge.  I used Cricut Design Studio to weld two ornaments together to make the card.  I also welded a rectangle from George and Basic Shapes to the bottom so that the card can also stand alone if it is not hanging on the tree.

The deer is one of my favorite cuts and he is from the Cindy Loo cartridge.  The snowy hills are from Country Life, the trees from Christmas Cheer, the poinsettias from Winter Woodland, and the tag is from Very Merry Tags.  I cut the poinsettias from white cardstock and inked them blue.  I edged them using a Krylon Silver Leafing Pen and added silver Stickles to the centers.   

I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the background cardstock in the shaker using the Snowflakes embossing folder.  I also embossed the tops of the ornament, which I cut from silver metallic cardstock, using the Herringbone embossing folder. 

I used a Martha Stewart border punch to make the snowflakes that shake around in the card, using the negative cuts from the punch. 

As I did on the penguin ornament card, I put the silver tops on the insides and back of the card.

  • Core’dinations Core Couture cardstock
  • Cricut cartridges:  Christmas Cheer, Cindy Loo, Country Life, George and Basic Shapes Joys of the Season, Very Merry Tags and Winter Woodland
  • Cuttlebug embossing folders:  Herringbone and Snowflakes
  • Martha Stewart snowflake border punch
  • Silver Stickles
  • Krylon Silver Leafing Pen
Filed Under: Card Challenges, Christmas Cheer, Cindy Loo, Circle Challenge, Country Life, Cuttlebug, Joys of the Season, Martha Stewart Punches, Very Merry Tags, Winter Woodland Tagged With: ,