For a GREAT Dad!

In July of 2002, I saw a puppy in the pet store window. You think I'm kidding...this is exactly how it happened! My daughter and I went into a mall and were looking in the pet store window while we waited for Victoria's Secret store to open. I saw a cute little 7 week old beagle in a glass cage who was shivering. I asked the clerk about him shivering and she said that he had just arrived and had his first bath and it was a little traumatic. I offered to hold him. Can you guess what happened next? I named him Bailey before I even held him (MISTAKE MISTAKE MISTAKE--ONCE YOU NAME THEM THEY ARE YOURS) and...well, I didn't make it to Victoria's Secret cause I ran out of money at the pet store. Sigh...and it was the best $1,100 I ever spent in my life.

I met Tim on September 25, 2005 after talking to him on-line for weeks.  The true test of our relationship, however, was the meeting of Tim and Bailey. Bailey loved Tim instantly the day they met. That little traitor...after 4 years of MY tolerance of this dog's behavior: cracking my CD cases he broke chewing on them, the family rocking chair leg he left his teeth marks on, the carpet he treated like a potty (and practically wore out being cleaned daily), the rack of barbecued ribs he stole off the kitchen table, the food he stole off the kitchen counters, the leftovers he managed to get out of the refrigerator and then even opened the Tupperware bowls...and he loved Tim instantly and I was no longer his BESTEST friend?!  And I have to admit, I was slightly relieved that Tim and Bailey hit it off as best friends since I would have had to interview more men to be Bailey's Dad and I found out there were a lot of frogs out there. In 2006 I married Tim with Bailey's approval.

In September of 2009 Bailey hurt his hip/leg. He needed to be kept under house arrest and no going on walks or running around the house and yard. We had to keep him quiet so he'd rest his tendons and muscles. We carried him upstairs at night to sleep with us, and carried him downstairs in the morning. If we went upstairs for some reason, he'd stay at the bottom of the stairs and give a little beagle aarrrooohhh to tell us: hey, come and get me. That continued for about 8 weeks. His leg got better but Bailey liked Mom and Dad carrying him up and down the stairs. He also got used to lying around the house watching tv and eating bonbons. The vet told me: he needs some inspiration to get moving again..another dog would help. In November of 2009, I found a beagle puppy through the Phoenix newspaper. Off we went that night to check her out...hahahhaa...did we really think we wouldn't bring home a 4 lb baby beagle girl? Who were we kidding?! Tim named her Lucy (because she fell asleep in his arms and collapsed and her little body was limp and loose) on our way to PetsMart to get our new little girl a collar, a bowl, puppy food and baby doggie toys. We could afford those things since she was a whole lot less expensive than Bailey, and as a matter of fact, Lucy was discounted being the last puppy of the litter to be sold. I call her my "blue light" special. Hahaha!

Today Tim and I are Mom and Dad to two beagles, Bailey and Lucy. Bailey and Lucy give their Dad a card each Father's Day. Why? Because they love him and he has opposable thumbs. These two beautiful beagles are not spoiled, they are pampered. It's hot here in Arizona and when the ground is too hot to go for a walk, Mom and Dad take them for a ride around the neighborhood in 'idle' so they can still see everyone, including their friends Sassy the orange kitty, Feather the Australian Shepherd, the 2 boxers that aren't trained to walk on a leash very well (and Bailey and Lucy love to stick their tongues out at them when the boxers are straining at their leashes and the beagles are in the car with their heads out the windows), and even the human neighbors wave to the prince and princess in the car.

Is the suspense of this year's Father's Day card getting to you yet?  Well, here's the card and the image I used this year is from Tiddly Inks. The size of this card is 5.5" x 7.5".

I used Copics to color my truck, a La-La-Land banner die (using my Cuttlebug machine), a bone stamp that I stamped and cut out a bunch of bones, and I even used rub-on letters made by Sizzix for my DAD on the banner and then used my glue pen and put some Cool Glitter Ritz on the white letters (and the heart) so they'd have a little shine. I used a Marvy corner punch that put nicks in the paper and then wrapped my blue embroidery floss around the entire image. The sentiment is an old one that I got at a convention at least 5 years ago and the 3 pretty blue jewels are from JoAnn's. My paper, I am sad to say, is one of the first pieces of paper I got at one of the local craft stores and it's lightweight scrapbook paper. It's older than as long as I've been married (almost 8 years now) and it has even faded a bit, but was perfect for this card. I have no clue who made the paper since it has absolutely no tag or markings on it.

You probably guessed...this is Tim driving the truck, Bailey sitting next to Tim and Lucy is looking out the side window. And yes, these really are their photos. The challenge making this card was getting photos down to 3/8" or about 8mm. I cut out the 'paper' windows and put in clear plastic as the windows. I then fussy cut the photos and put them in the windows and then took a piece of white paper and my lightest blue Copic pen and colored the white paper and used that as the background for their heads.

Well, that's my story about this card and for some reason I couldn't get my watermark program to work but I'm not worried about someone taking this card and claiming it as their own. If they try to do that, I'm shipping Tim, Bailey and Lucy to them...you steal the card and you get the driver and passengers along with it.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous day!

                                                                                   Hugs,
                                                                                   Gail

I'm entering this card in the following challenges thinking that even if it doesn't win, it will bring a smile to anyone who looks at this card and reads this post.

Reasonable Ribbon, Scrapping 4 Fun, Crafts 4 Eternity, Treasured Times, QKR Stampede, Sister Act, The Stamping Boutique, CCC Digi Creations, Catch the Bug, 613 Avenue Create, One Stitch at a Time, Glitter n Sparkle, Hobby Cutz, Fairies Challenges, Make My Monday, Artistic Inspirations, Paper Makeup Stamps, The Pink Elephant, Craft Your Passion, Crafting from the Heart, The Paper Girls, Love to Scrap, Pile It On, Polkadoodle, CMC Copic Challenge, Catered Crop, Ditzie Digi Designs, Cutie Pie, Ooh La La Creations, Doodle Pantry, Emerald Faeries, That Craft Place, Bearly Mine, Cards Galore, Memas Crafts, Natalie and Amy's, The Sister of Craft, Dies R Us, Crazy 4 Challenges, Crafty Bloggers Network (Tic-Tac-Toe: Row A is diecut, image, patterned paper), Country View, Ladybug Crafts, Bunny Zoe's Crafts, Sparkle n Sprinkle, C.R.A.F.T., Crafters Café, Crafty Sentiments, Sweet Stamps, Cuttlebug Mania, Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT, Oldie But a Goodie, Papertake Weekly, Tuesday Throwdown

Bailey and Lucy enjoying the warm sunshine..I think they need their sunglasses.  Hahahha!