Lily P. Winthrop

For Peanut Kitty

We earned a free bag of catnip from Petco.  We don't have kitties.  

I sewed up a little pillow (put the nip inside), painted a P on it and now it's off to Peanut Kitty. I know she'll love it.

The Man Cave

My men built this igloo last week.

 

Here's Jack inside.

As you can tell, they had  a lot of fun that day!

Now it's Noah's turn!  

 Teeth, starting to chatter.....

Didn't you say something about hot chocolate, Mom? 

Ladoo-FBRN Frenchie of the Week

Here's Ladoo's story from the foster Dad that knows him best.  He lives in Ontario and he's always smiling, probably because he knows he's handsome.  Ladoo is a former show dog!

If you'd like to help him out, please click on his link (above) then click on his picture at FBRN.  Thank you!

Lola Bear-FBRN Frenchie of the Week

Oh, what a face!  We think she's adorable and she needs some help.

This is Lola Bear, here's her story from the people that know her best, her foster family.  She has allergies so Hugo wants you to think of her, as he suffers from them himself.  

If you'd like to help her out this Christmas, please click on her link (above) then click on her picture at FBRN.  Thank you.

Gift Tags

I made some gift tags today.  Here they are, nothing fancy, just mittens.

I made a mitten out of chipboard and used it to trace with on Christmas scrapbook paper.  Then, I cut them out and edged around the outside of them with a little ink pad.  

 

They're called 'Dew Drops' and they're wonderful.  You can find them at any good scrapbook store. 

Here's another gift tag I made.  It's fairly simple but prettier than a sticker or a store bought tag.

 

I added some rhinestones and then Stickled the sticker ornament (from BasicGrey) using the colors 'diamond' and 'holly'.  I punched a hole in the corner then added the organza ribbon.  
 

Hugo's ear is healing nicely.  Here it is, the fur is filling in.

It's a little crumply but it's not flopping over or anything.  I didn't care what it did, I just didn't want him to be uncomfortable.  It had the potential of going down into his ear canal which wouldn't have been good.

Here's another picture of my sweetheart.  See how loving he is? 

I love you too, Hugo.

  

The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Well, all I can say is that this woman is fantastic!  I love this cookbook.  It's been the source of 5 keeper recipes that I've made and that's saying a lot with my picky eaters.  Well, one, and he shall remain nameless.  

The chicken spaghetti and comfort meatballs were big hits here!  All gone.  The chocolate sheet cake is simply to die for (a tired phrase but I can't think of anything else to describe it) along with the tres leches cake.  We love them all (I won't mess up the blackberry cobbler again!).  I haven't gotten through the book yet but it's my favorite cookbook and I have a ton of cookbooks.

Her website is incredible, you can check it out here.  My friend, Sharon, told me about it about a year ago.  Thanks, Sharon! 
 

Limber Luna

She's a limber Frenchie.  Hugo can't do this.  Noah lovingly calls her 'Moon Slice' and 'Crescent Roll'.

 

Cute, eh?  Here's another.

 

Quiet time. I'd just taken her out for a walk.

I've been organizing the pink room.  It's been quite a job, finding a home for everything in here.  I think I've managed quite nicely though.

 

All of my scrapbooking tape runners go in the little fabric basket and of course, I went through every book in my little bookcase and weeded out old magazines and have some books to donate to the library.

I love all of the pen holders and pots the boys have made for me through the years.

 

Love the rabbit.  The Frenchie pen holder was given to me by an old college friend named Doree.  The turquoise pot holds my chalk, the monster pot holds the white pens, Frenchie holds some sketching pencils (the rest go in my ArtBin), the rabbit holds the Sharpies and black markers, and the flower pot holds my craft brushes.  The floral bin behind them holds my mini scrapbook albums I've put together.  Most of them are blank because they were for classes I taught.  I think it's time to use them.

  
Ahh, books!  I love them.  The rest of them are in the walk in closet.  I've had some of those Martha Stewart books since high school, the book on Costume History and Style was for a college course.  

I was fascinated with retail illustration.  You don't see much of it anymore though, it's mostly photographs and when you see a retail ad, it's usually a cartoon-some kind of dorky anime.  

I have a lot of sewing books that I need to put to use. I will sew something next week.  Yes, that's what I'll do.  Right. 

This is the last of the mess I have to clean up.  The stuff that wasn't organized was loaded onto the guest bed that I've since put in the proper place.  Everything has a home now and the rest will be donated to Goodwill.  

I made The Pioneer Woman's Blackberry Cobbler .  It was good, but if you make it, don't bake it too terribly long.  It'll wind up as hard as a rock. 

Like this one.  

I'm a good baker but not every single time.  If it does get this brown, simply eat it while it's warm.  If you let it cool, it will break your teeth. You've been warned.  

Stick with the Tres Leches cake.   It's incredible, everyone loves it here and that's saying a lot.  Seriously, go to her site, go to the grocery store (you might have the ingredients already, you don't need the cherries, ick!) then come back home and make it for the people you love (including yourself, of course).  They'll love it, promise.  

 
 

Dari

Meet Dari.  She's a beautiful (brindle) Frenchie girl.  Her Mother adores her.  I liked to read her stories about their walks in the big apple, so I decided to sketch her because I'm a bit out of practice.  

I hope I've captured some of the spirit I've read about in Fran's posts.  I worked for a long time on her eyes and her nose.  The Frenchie nose has some fascinating muscles under there, I hope you can almost hear her sniffing the air!

 

I'm working.

I'm working on a portrait.  Her name begins with a D.  I'll be back in a couple of days.

                   

This is an old rough.   

The Muppets Rock

Noah, Jack and Mr. French.

 

Noah has a funny sense of humor.  As you can see, Hugo no longer needs the Comfy Cone.  His stitches came out on Wednesday and his ear is standing up again.  

 Here's Jack, getting geared up to go out and ride his bike on Thanksgiving.  A little bad weather doesn't bother him at all.  He's outside right now, he has a ton of energy!

We hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful.  We had a beautiful turkey and had a lot left over so it looks like I'll be delving into some cookbooks for turkey this-and-that for a couple of days.  Jack picked out a Carvel cake with a turkey on it for dessert at Wegman's (an awesome new grocery store out here) and that wound up being a huge hit with the men.  It was too sweet for me but I don't need it anyway.  I'm sweet enough as it is.  

Groans.  I can hear them as I type this....