Walk in the Wild

Every once in a while, my body demands for a time-out. Last Friday morning, I could not get up. I slept for ten hours the night before and I did not have the strength to get out of bed all day Friday. I had a headache, felt achy all over and my throat was hurting so badly. I have been feeling weary the past few weeks, but I had to keep pushing myself because I have a ton of things to do. My check list is long and it seems that each time I check a task a new one gets added to it. I can't seem to get ahead. I was extremely exhausted. And in as much as I HATE calling in sick, I did. I slept all day. I was a lazy bum and I did not like that at all. What a waste of a perfectly good day off! I suppose my body knew it needed a break and it was going to have it whether I wanted to or not. Sleep to me has always been a necessary evil. I feel guilty when I sleep too much (to me, like 6 hours) because I know there are things to be done. However, as I am getting older realizing that not sleeping enough makes the engine to force shut down. 

Oh well, I want to share a masculine card in honor Father's Day. This is the card I sent my dad. I got this idea from Kay Kalthoff. She is such an amazing lady and very talented. I met her at Convention a couple of years ago and she was very kind and down to earth. I hope to bump into her again next month at Convention. 

The stamp set I used is called Walk in the Wild and has been retired. I find it so challenging to create masculine cards. Perhaps because they usually have to be plain and kind of boring. Clean & simple cards without bling or glitters. Blech! Haha. This turned out really nice though. I just love this Designer Series Paper called Sweater Weather, reminds me of a Burberry pattern, right? 

Oh well, happy Father's Day to all of you wonderful fathers out there. Thank you for stopping by. 

Retired BNF Friday #29

I am really looking forward to this weekend. I've had quite a week. I just want to drop by and share one of the cards we made in our Fancy Fold Cards class last month. I have been pretty obsessed with black and yellow lately. One of my new favorite stores is Charming Charlie. I just love that place. I enjoy walking in there and just be enveloped with all the beautiful colors and textures. I always get really good ideas from that store. All the more I have to visit it frequently, right? Haha. This card is actually inspired by a scarf I bought from there a few weeks ago. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make a card with the same color combo. Isn't it lovely? The contrast of bright sunshine yellow and matte black just balance each other. The card was a little laborious to put together, but it turned out awesome. So, I am very happy with it. 

I used a retired stamp set called Another Great Year

I CASED this card from a swap I received from Convention a couple of years ago.

That's all for now. Thank you for stopping by. Enjoy your weekend, everyone. It has been very hot here in San Joaquin Valley. We need rain badly! 

RIP Bama Johnson

My paternal grandfather who raised me was a sepulturero in the Philippines aka gravedigger aka undertaker. Grim as it sounds, the cemetery was my playground when I was a little girl. Grandpa used to always say that death had a smell. He could always smell death on people and on places. I was not sure there was any truth to this until last night when I visited our family dog, Bama. Like I wrote in a recent post, she was not doing well. I understood last night what my grandfather meant. I smelled death on Bama and felt certain that she did not have very long. I even told my brother-in-law that Bama was ready to go. I sat with her for a little bit and while I was stroking her head I whispered to her ear to go and be with Daddy Russell. I told her it was okay to go. I told her that we are going to miss her so much, but she did such a great job taking care of everybody that we will be just fine. It was the oddest thing, she looked at me then closed her eyes and put her head down as if she nodded in agreement. All night, I was restless. You know that feeling when you have butterflies in your tummy, as if you're anticipating something that's about to happen but you are not sure what it is? I had that feeling of anxiety. So, when my baby sister called me this morning that Bama has passed on, I was not shocked. Yet, it did not stop me from sobbing uncontrollably while I reached for my car keys and drove off to our mom's house. I found Bama lying on the floor in the garage, lifeless. I patted her, closed her eyes and said my goodbye. She was still very warm. I phoned the pet clinic immediately and they told me what to do. My sister and I cleaned Bama up some and then wrapped her up in an old rug the whole time crying our eyes out. My sister's friend who has a truck came to help us transport Bama's body to the pet clinic to be cremated. Before I left, I went back, took out her collar and pet her one last time. I slowly walked away and just like that, she was gone. How quickly life slips away, doesn't it?

For something that is supposed to be final, death is remarkably exhausting. How can something that cause so much ache leave you numb at the same time? Rest in Peace, Bama. Until we meet again. You gave us ten years of your life. You've earned a fast pass to Rainbow Bridge. 

This is how I want to always remember you, Bama. You're a Super Dog!

Bama, I think you are AMAZING, I just want to let you know.

This is called Joy Fold card. The stamp set is called Lovely Romance (recently retired)

Inside of the Joy Fold card

Well, that is all for now. Thank you for stopping by. Have a good and relaxing weekend, everyone.