Category Archives: Riley

happy birthday, riley!

Just another quick post for today….to share a pic of our pup!  She’s 2 years old today…time sure flies!  We were so adamant for many years that we didn’t want to have a pet in the house but now we can’t imagine life without her. 

who’s that Santa?

 riley-santa-1.jpg

Hi!  It looks like it has been a whole week since I posted.  Lots going on here…and Riley has been very sick the past 5 days.  🙁  But she is finally starting to get better! 

I do have 1 or 2 projects to share so stop back tomorrow and I’ll get a pic up.  In the meantime, I thought I’d pop in and share some pics I took last week…before Riley got sick.   

Here’s the outfit she’ll wear on Christmas day…just trying it on to make sure it’ll fit!

riley-santa-2.jpg

Riley says…”Ruff! (Take a break…relax…put on some Christmas music and enjoy this holy season.)”  Have a good night!

Happy Birthday, Riley!

pink-puppy-wishes-diane-zechman.jpgWow…I can’t believe how time flies.  Yesterday Riley turned one!

In honor of her birthday, and to play along with the monthly DD/DDA challenge over at Splitcoast, I made this card. 

Well, I should say that I kinda screwed up the card!  The challenge this month was set by Jodi (Kharmagirl).  She asked us to paper piece our card.  check.  I got that part right. 

But last night as I was typing up this blog post I realized that I forgot all about the required element…to use fall or Christmas colors.  Ugh!  Do pink, brown and orange qualify?  LOL.  I guess not.  :0(

Oh well…I’ll share my card here anyway.   

When I first saw Christine’s Birthday Bash set, I knew the puppy with a cupcake would be perfect for this occasion…even though Riley could care less!  LOL.  And when I paper pieced the cupcake and party hat, I decided to paper piece the puppy too.  It had to be a pink puppy…because Riley’s favorite stuffed toy (that she even sleeps with) is a pink dog that we call “Pink Puppy”.  Original name, huh?  Pink Puppy lost her eyesight and can’t hear very well since she only has one ear now but she is still well loved.  😉

Riley must think that cupcake is mighty yummy. 

riley-bd-10-19-09.jpg

card deets:

stamps- Pixie Pets Birthday Bash by C.C. Designs; paper- White, Pink Pirhouette, Choc. Chip, Pumpkin, Regal Rose, dp- SU! Sweet Always; ink- Memento Black; accessories- Copic markers, Stickles, felt flowers, brad, ribbon.

a dog’s life

OK, here’s the Riley photos I promised…. :0)  These were actually taken a few weeks ago and as I was editing them I realized that she has grown a little more and her fur is much longer now! 

Have a great day!

Diane

It’s tough being a doggie…..

riley-new-bed-09.jpg

I ring my bell to go outside and sometimes I just want to sit on the porch and watch the deer and birds. 

Looking to the left…

riley-left-09.jpg

looking to the right…

riley-right-09.jpg

let me back in, please!

riley-let-me-in-09.jpg

I like watching from inside too and it’s safer to bark at them from here…

riley-watch-deer-birds-09.jpg

I help mom clean the shower and she lets me get a drink…

riley-drink-shower-09.jpg

here I am taking a snooze by the frig while mom cooks dinner…

riley-by-frig-09.jpg

time for me to go…mom is mad at me for digging by the porch. 

riley-siggy.jpg

puppy treats :0)

dog-treat-jars-diane-zechman.jpg

Hi all!  Today I have a “just for fun” project I made this weekend.  I decided to take a break from the DT work and do something just for fun.  And eeek…there was no stamping involved!  But I had fun anyway!

I have been wanting to bake some homemade treats for Riley and a friend’s dog, Dixie.  No special reason…just because!  So this weekend I tackled the project.  I really like how it turned out & I hope Dixie’s owners do too!

I found these glass jars at Walmart for $3…a great buy!  Then I set off to make the tags.

The tag base and red layer were cut with the Mega Curved Rectangle Nestabilities.  The “rug” was cut with the Oval Nestabilities.  And the “nameplate” was cut with the Double Ended Tags Nesties, after the names were printed on the computer.  The doggies and bones were diecut with the Sizzix Dog and Dog Toys die.  I couldn’t resist getting this CUTE die when I saw it at Jo-Ann’s on sale!  I knew it would be perfect for this project!  I cut and layered different colors of cardstock to resemble what the dogs look like.  They aren’t perfect, but close enough.  I sponged some distress ink onto various pieces and then glued them all into place.

To finish the tags off, I added some gel pen accents and attached a jumbo eyelet at the top.  Then I tied them to the jar with ribbon.  I made sure I tied it in a bow so it could be easily removed to wash the jar.

Here’s a close-up of Dixie’s tag:

dog-tag-dixie-diane-zechman.jpg

and a close-up of the tag I made for Riley:

dog-tag-riley-diane-zechman.jpg

I really enjoyed this project and I hope you like it too!  I will share the recipe for the treats sometime later…they were super easy to make.  And they seemed to be a hit with Riley.  ;0)

paper- Chocolate Chip, White, Caramel, Silver, Black, a tan, a pink, dp- Basic Grey Bittersweet; ink- Ranger Distress ink Tea Dye; accessories- Doodlebug mini brads, SU! Jumbo Pewter eyelet, Sizzix Dog & Dog Toys, gel pen, computer words, Nestabilities- Ovals, Mega Curved Rectangles, and Double Ended Tags.

flamingo kisses and hugs

flamingo-1-diane-zechman.jpgA few days ago C.C. Designs released this cute flamingo as a single digital image.  Isn’t it darling?  Christine also just released all of her previous images as digital, so go check them out!  And while you are there, check out the *sale*sale*sale* category….there’s still lots of great deals on Cuttlebug, papers, and more!

When I first printed the flamingo, I goofed a bit and it came out huge!  So I guess I’ll use that one to make a special bookmark for a flamingo lovin’ gal!  LOL.  But that’s the great thing about the digi images….you can make them any size you want!  :0)

I used some fun papers by My Mind’s Eye on this card.  I also made another card with these same papers that I’ll share on Wednesday, so be sure to check back!

Before I get to the card details, here’s another quick pic of Riley.  She loves to lay on this old sleeping bag!  LOL. 

rileys-sleeping-bag.jpg

stamps- words from Hey Cupid! by C.C. Designs; digital image- flamingo by C.C. Designs; paper- White, Black, Cranberry, dp- My Mind’s Eye; ink- Memento Black, White Craft; accessories- Copic markers, Mega Curved Rectangle Nestabilities, gel pen, SU! small oval punch, Martha Stewart mini-hearts punch, American Crafts ribbon.

a review, a challenge, and an update on Riley

snow-friends-3-diane-zechman.jpgToday All That Scraps is Review Previewing my new Snow Friends set!  Be sure to check out the ATS blog and gallery for some great samples by the ATS Design Team! 

I have 2 cards today that I made with the set.  The first one was also made for the SCS Dirty Dozen/Alumni January challenge.  This month, Jodi (Kharmagirl) issued the challenge.  Here’s the details:

This challenge is all about *feeling* the love…anything with texture will do the trick!

Challenge Focus: A Valentine’s Day/Love-y Dove-y card!!

Required Element: Texture!! Anything you can *feel*

Restricted Element: No RED!! Pink is ok…but no red.

Making a valentine card with no red is quite a challenge!  I decided to make a valentine card for a friend, rather than a “lovey-dovey” one.  And I used the image of the rabbit sharing his carrot because I was inspired by some of your comments (I love hearing your feedback!).  Tamrah said “…the image gives the extra touch=”love”.”  And Karen S.  said “…It is very endearing with the rabbit offering his food source to the snowman for his nose. Definitely depicts generosity …”.  Thank you, ladies, for these comments & all the others that were posted!  

For the required element of texture, I added dots of Stickles to the ribbon.  I also added it to his hat and scarf, a bit on the ground, the two tiny hearts and the center of the hearts on the corner piece of dp.  The corner piece was punched with a new Martha Stewart border punch, Valentine Lace.  That punch is so pretty!     snow-friends-4-diane-zechman.jpg

This second card evolved around the colors I chose.  

There were pieces left of the same dp used in the first card.  So I pulled the blue Copic marker that I used back out and looked for another one that would go well with it.  I chose one that is similar to SU!’s Cameo Coral color. 

The scrap of Cameo cardstock I found was punched with the new Martha Stewart mini-hearts border punch.  Once again I added Stickles…..gotta love Stickles!  ;0)

stamps- Snow Friends by Cookie Crumbs; paper- White, Cameo, dp- Heidi Grace; ink- Memento Black; accessories- Copic markers, Heart and Square Nestabilities, Stickles, Martha Stewart mini-hearts and Valentine Lace border punches, pop dots, Jolee’s Boutique snowflakes, ribbon.

And now for a Riley update!  I have had some requests for some new photos, so here you go.  Riley is doing great!  She is dragging off anything she can find to chew on and is just plain ol’ being a puppy.  LOL.  But we have had very few accidents!  She learned very quickly to ring her bell when she needs to go outside!  Yay! 

The first pic I took last night after I played with her.  She just wanted to lay down and sleep.  You can see her favorite toy to sleep with in the second pic….a bright pink stuffed puppy!  I took the last 2 pics in the evening too.  I found her a cute red sweater with a snowflake on it at the pet store (on Christmas clearance 75% off!).  :0)  I had to wait until she was tired, though, to put it on and take a picture.  Otherwise, she wants to chew on it.  LOL.  You can click on each of the thumbnail pics below for a larger view.

riley-1-19-09.jpg   riley-sleeping-2.jpg   riley-sweater-2.jpg   riley-sweater-3.jpg

Have a great day!

Riley and a recipe

riley-12-28-08.jpgGuess what Santa brought! 

Well, she was a bit late for Christmas, but a sweet present to ourselves anyway!  

Now if only she will train quickly….*crossing fingers*.   :0)  If you have any tips, I’d love to hear them!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family!

Ok, so below is a recipe page I did a few months ago.  One of my favorite pies is a custard pie.  I just called this Berry Custard because I use blueberries or raspberries.  And if you are short on time, it can be baked in a baking dish without the crust- still yummy!

I used the House Mouse Pumpkin Pie image and just made the pie a different color.  The fun decorative paper is by Flair Designs and I purchased it at All That Scraps.  Christine has a ton of papers to choose from!

In case it’s difficult to read from the picture, here’s the recipe:6-x-6-berry-custard-diane-zechman.jpg

4 slightly beaten eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups  milk

cinnamon

fresh or frozen blueberries or raspberries

1 T. flour 

Blend the first four ingredients.  Stir in the milk.  Pour into a baking dish or unbaked pie shell and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Shake berries in a bag with the flour and add to the custard.  Bake @ 400° for 45 minutes.  Let cool and then refrigerate.

stamps- House Mouse Pumpkin Pie and footprints by Hero Arts; paper- SU! Pumpkin and Choc. Chip, non-SU! Blue, Red, White, and Beige, dp- Flair Designs; ink- Palette Black; accessories- Stickles, Copic markers, Nestabilities, SU! Curly Label punch