I realize that a lot of people don’t have animals, so probably can’t relate to this letter.  We euthanized Aggie today.  She was almost sixteen years old, and our story is important for me to share.  Much like with people, I felt Aggie deserved a eulogy of sorts, so here it is.

Rich and I had a yellow lab, named Noel.  She’s featured with me in all of the photos on my YouTube page.  Noel had separation anxiety when we went to work, and barked almost non-stop when we were away.  We had been told that she would do better if we had another dog, and I had always wanted a golden retriever.  I had a friend who worked in a vet’s office, and she said her friend’s retriever was due to have puppies, but they weren’t sure if they were 100% golden retriever, as there were other breeds of dogs that could have been the father.  I was excited about it regardless, so after the puppies were born, Rich and I went to see them.   It was clear to us that they were all golden retriever, and we didn’t care if they were AKC or not.  The owner put a crocheted peach colored collar on her to determine which puppy was ours.  She put a light pink collar on the other female, which ultimately, turned out to be a small hiccup.

The day came for us to bring our puppy home…They were now being kept in a barn in a big hay filled enclosure.  Rich picked up our puppy and we started walking toward our car.  The owner said she needed to check something, and took the puppy and went back into the house with it.  She came back with a puppy whose eyes were swollen shut, apparently allergic to hay.  She said that this was our dog, but she couldn’t tell the difference in the color of the collar, so if we didn’t want the dog, she would understand.  I snapped that puppy out of her hands so quickly, her head was spinning.  I was never a mother, but my motherly instincts kicked in, and my puppy needed medical care and needed it immediately.  The owner, who was a farmer, had treated the puppy with some medications she’d had laying around the house that she’d used on other dogs in the past.  We called the vet as we were driving away, and made sure Aggie would be seen that morning.  The vet confirmed that she was allergic to hay, and that her eyes would heal with time, but they were completely swollen shut for the first few days we had her.  Once we got home with her, Noel took one look at the new puppy, and the bond was instant.  We put a baby gate in the kitchen so that Aggie couldn’t run through the house, as she was quite the destroyer as a puppy.  Noel laid beside her on the other side of the fence, so she was never alone.  Aggie found ways to break into our family room, and gutted both couches by lifting the cushions and pulling all of the stuffing out from under them.  The couches were completely destroyed, but you could never tell, because as soon as Aggie stepped away, the cushions fell back into place and the couches looked perfect again.  She was that smart and sneaky.

Until she was five, Aggie didn’t like attention and had no interest in either Rich or me.  Then I stopped working and Aggie and Noel had me with them all day every day, and things started to change.  If I left a room, Aggie followed, I had an office in the basement, and if I went there, Aggie would crawl under my desk and snuggle in, until I was finished, then we would go back upstairs.

She loved the snow, and would bury her head in it so she looked like a huge bear.  And in the fall, she loved pears, and would lay under our pear trees eating pears to her heart’s content.  Aggie loved wearing collars,  the more collars, the better.  If you let her, Aggie would wear as many collars as you would put on her neck.  She was jealous if she thought one of the other dogs was wearing more than her.

She wasn’t a huge fan of toys, but found one that was really thin rubber, and when it squeaked, Aggie thought she was hurting it, so she carried it like it was precious cargo, and if it squeaked, Aggie would whine.

She loved the rotating fan in our sun room, and I’d turn it on so it faced her and rotated back and forth so she was always getting a cool breeze on her.  You could almost hear her sigh of contentment when she laid there.

Aggie and Noel couldn’t bear to be separated, and the vet told us there was a good chance that they would pass away shortly after each other, because their bond was so close.  So we bought Aggie her own puppy, Bella.  Aggie gave Bella lots of attention, but still spent her time with Noel whenever possible.  Noel passed away and two weeks later in the middle of the night, Aggie let out this heart breaking howl, that made me cry for hours.  You knew she had lost her other half, and she was destroyed by that loss.

In the last couple of years of her life, Aggie started sleeping on a dog bed beside me, and would put her head under the bed so it was hidden by the bedspread.  I’m not sure if it shaded the light, or if she just enjoyed the feeling of being in her own little world, but she liked to hide her hear there.  In the evening, if I watched television in bed, Aggie wanted to lay beside me on the bed.  In the last year of her life, she couldn’t make that leap, so Rich would lift her up and she would lay there as long as we’d let her.  She just wanted to be with her family.  If we watched television in the basement, Aggie, used to lay on the couch with me, always with me.

She was my shadow, never letting me out of her sight.  In the last couple of months, Aggie hadn’t been coming out of our bedroom very much, so hasn’t been by my side and it’s a loss I’ve felt deeply.  I think, in a way, it was her way of disconnecting from us to ease the burden when we finally lost her.

She was the most beautiful golden retriever I’ve ever seen.  Large, majestic, magnificent.  Eighty-five pounds of purse muscle and a heart of solid gold.

My last story is one of loss.  Aggie and Noel and I were playing in the back yard, and I lost track of Aggie.  I kept calling for her and of course, I was panicked.  So I put Noel in the house and got into our car and drove around the block.  There’s a house that’s on a major highway that has a fence between their yard and the next house.  Our house is one more house past the fence on a dead end street..  Somehow, Aggie had gotten on the other side of the fence, but couldn’t figure out how to get to the other side where she’d come from and was frantically trying to get home.  When I drove past that house, I saw the fence on the back of the property and Aggie frantically pacing the fence line.  I pulled into their driveway and called her name.  It was summer and the windows of our car were open.  As soon as she heard me call her, she ran as hard as she could, and leaped through the passenger window.  Never hesitated, just jumped through it.  I think she was more scared at being lost than I was of losing her, and she never ventured away from me again.  I’ve never seen a big dog do anything like that, and don’t even know if she knew if the window was open before leaping through it.

I could tell you a million things about Aggie, but the most important is this.  She was wholly and completely loved, and will be greatly missed.  Life will go on, but there will always be a small hole in our hearts that Aggie has taken with her.,

 

My friend Becky, has a beach house on Lake Erie near a beach called Walnut Beach, in Ashtabula County, Ohio, which is considered one of the top ten beach or sea glass beaches by Martha Stewart Living.

To make these ornaments, use a minimal amount of sand in comparison to the amount of other embellishements you include in your ornament.

To make sea glass, it takes 10 years, but normally 50 years to create sea glass, also called beach glass. Sea glass is made from items being tossed off of ships into deep water, then the glass being beat around on the sandy bottom of the lake/ocean.
The different colors of sea glass come from different glass objects.
Brown glass comes from beer bottles.
Green glass comes from Rolling Rock Beer as well as old medicine bottles.
White comes from medicine bottles, glasses and china.
The most rare color is red, and that comes from the lens from the ship.
I’m not sure where the bluer colors that Becky gave me came from.

Sand is available from Walmart, and it’s white sand with glitter. You can also buy a variety of colors of sand in crafts stores and you won’t need a lot of sand for this project. I bought my small ornaments in garland and the bigger ornaments you can buy really inexpensively now.
In 1994, we were in Bermuda, and I wanted to see the pink sand beaches there. A taxi driver drove us to the beach, but told us I wouldn’t be able to navigate it. He took a baggie with him and brought back a small baggie with pink sand. I don’t recommend you bringing sand back, as it has a lot of live organisms in it and will start to smell. It’s much better to buy your sand as it’s already clean and doesn’t smell.
I added a lot of small beads in a variety of colors in my ornaments. This project is perfect for a vacation keepsake that you can make with the ornaments you buy after Christmas and fill with the sea shells and sea glass that you find on your vacation this upcoming year. I hope you give it a try, as it’s a terrific way to remember vacations.
To fill the ornaments, use a funnel and only fill your sand about 1/2″ from the bottom (at the most), and add a variety of colorful beads, sea shells and sea glass to the sand. Don’t shake the ornament as the sand will act as quicksand, and your items will sink to the bottom. If your items do sink, tilt it back and forth until you get your items back to the surface. Once you like the amount of color in your ornament, (with the large ornament) put some hot glue under the lid to keep it closed and so your sand doesn’t leak out. Put a dollop of glue in the opening at the top where your hanger is, to close the opening, again so the sand doesn’t leak out.
Chose a length of thinner ribbon that is about 6-8″ long and loop it through the circle and tie a knot at the top and your project is done.
I like showing this idea now, because it’s a great time to buy your ornaments, as they will never be cheaper than after Christmas, and then next Christmas you’ll have the reminders of your summer vacation to fill your ornament. It’s a great way to make a keepsake that your family can reminisce about in the years to come.

I finally finished mailing all of my Christmas projects today.  I chose three viewers that have been writing a lot of comments on videos, and thought they’d appreciate a surprise.  It’s always nice to get something unexpected at the holidays.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned that our oldest dog Aggie, has been struggling lately.  At almost sixteen, she’s been an amazing dog, and especially amazing as she’s a large golden retriever, weighing around 80-85 pounds.  Dogs of that size, normally don’t live past age ten.  Aggie has always been by my side and if I leave a room, Aggie leaves.  She used to walk ahead of me down our hall, but keep glancing back to make sure I didn’t turn into one of the rooms on the way to our bedroom.  If I stopped, she would double back and lay outside that room until I left.  She would lay outside the craft room door and I couldn’t close it, as it made her extremely agitated if she couldn’t see me.  In recent months, Aggie’s eye sight has gone, as has her hearing.  The vet assured us that it wasn’t a big deal, and that dogs adjust well to these things, as they happen slowly over time.  Since dogs know their own environment, they can still navigate their homes without much issue.  But lately, it’s been so different.  Aggie sleeps at least twenty hours a day and it takes a lot to get her to get up and eat and go to the restroom.  We put her dog food in a bowl on the floor and using a wooden spoon, feed her from it, as she can’t figure out what is food, and what is the metal bowl, so she tries to chew her bowl.  As I write this, I know that it’s time to euthanize her, but even thinking of life without her, is heartbreaking.  I know we’ve thought somehow she might rebound, but in our hearts, we know that she can’t, she’s just too old to do that.  Rich and I have had a long discussion today..one of so many we’ve had lately…  Today’s was different, though, because we both finally have decided that it’s time.  It’s not fair for her and she deserves better than the life she’s not leading.  I know this isn’t the kind of blog I normally write, but it’s with a sad heart that I tell you this.  She’s been a wonderful companion for me and I’ll miss her greatly.

It’s been another crafty day preparing for Christmas.  I had dinner with my college girlfriends last night, and delivered the decorated picture frames and a few of the book marks for Mary to share with the patients at the assisted living facility where she works.  She was kind of overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the frames, but I hope she finds people to share them with.  She asked if I would make a planner for an elderly lady, so today I made one for 2018…It’s something you can do before the new year, or in the first week or two of the year.  I made it really frilly (something I’m not usually accustomed to doing), and I hope the lady likes it.  I guess I just assumed an elderly lady would like something that looks frilly…maybe she won’t, YIKES!

I had a few small gift cards I needed to make, so got those done and wrapped some packages that still need to go in the mail.  Last minute?  Sure, that’s me.  I was never this late, but somehow, the year just slipped away from me.  I guess these things happen.  At least they happen to me.

I did get an email from one of the ladies from Puerto Rico.  She got her boxes..Her group is going to have a small get together to open their boxes, but I’m not sure how soon that will be, as her mother-in-law passed away unexpectedly this week.  As if her year wasn’t already bad enough, now she’s lost a very close relative and friend.  I can’t imagine the heart ache and pain that these ladies have endured.  I hope you’ll keep them in your thoughts and prayers.  I really hope that things start to look up for everyone in Puerto Rico.  It’s been a long hard year for them without electricity.

If you need a last minute stocking, here’s an easy and fast way to decorate one. I bought mine from K-Mart, but you can find stockings anywhere very inexpensive. I made mine for dogs so I could shove toys in them for the dogs and I don’t have to wrap anything. I used Dollar Tree diamond wrap in silver and some pre-glued ribbon from Michaels. I also used small ornaments that were originally garland.and I just cut it apart. I used white braided ribbon and hot glued it below the white fuzzy part of the stocking. Next, I added a different color ribbon below the first, then added a third ribbon below the second. It adds color and makes the stocking more appealing to the eye. I used hot glue. If you are making more than one stocking, you need to keep track of where the hanger is. If you make your stocking so the hanger is on the right side, you’ll need to make all of your stockings with the hanger on the right side, or they won’t hang properly in a row.
After gluing down the ribbons, I glued a row of the small ornaments, then used the diamond wrap to make the first letter of the dog’s names. I found the rounded letters more difficult to cut out, and found if I cut out a couple of rows of the “diamonds” and it made the wrap a lot easier to maneuver. The stockings took maybe ten minutes to make (each), and I highly recommend you using stockings instead of wrapping a bunch of presents. And yes, I know it’s weird to make stockings for dogs, but I don’t have children, so spoiling my animals is one way to really make Christmas more fun. I hope you’ll give this a try.

I made a couple more videos last night, including the one for Christmas crackers.  I’m not sure if my prototype will work, but I did explode one on video, so that was lots of fun.

We’re having dinner with my college friends tonight, and I’m going to deliver all of the framed art that I made.  It’s a great excuse to see my girlfriends and to have a really nice meal.

I still haven’t made my Christmas cards, and need to get serious about them.  I think that will be a project for tomorrow.  I’ll probably do one or two videos of certain cards, and then I’ll be done with my Christmas series.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m starting to get tired of seeing the elf on the shelf in the photos for my Christmas videos.  It is definitely a great way to determine immediately, if it’s a Christmas video, so in that respect it was a great plan.  I kind of wonder if mothers get really sick of waiting for their kids to go to bed before they can move their elves around…or is it Santa that moves them?  Regardless, I’d be ready to chuck that thing back in the box if it was me, if I’d have moved it over thirty times…OK, I’d probably have forgotten to move it, and then the whole idea would be destroyed…or maybe I’d tell my kids that Santa or the elf were too tired to hide the elf that night.  I’d be a terrible mother.

I can say this with certainty….I’ll be happy to be over the whole Christmas crafting experience and put all of my boxes of Christmas craftiness away for the year.  And sadly, you still haven’t seen all of my crafty Christmas videos…there’s lots more left and only seven days until Christmas.

I’ve seen full-size wreaths made out of pom-poms at our local Cracker Barrel, and thought, “How hard could it be?” So I made one out of a 3″ styrofoam wreath form. I used red craft paint and painted the styrofoam wreath to ensure you wouldn’t see white, if I missed a small section of pom-poms. I tied a 12″ length of red organza ribbon around the top, then using hot glue, started gluing the pom-poms on the inside of the wreath form first. I used different sizes and colors of red pom-poms, and staggered the larger size first, then pushed the smaller ones in between. I didn’t put any on the back, but instead, took a piece of matching colored card stock and two circle dies that would match the size of the inner and outer circle of the wreath, then cut the paper with my die cutter and glued the donut-looking piece of card stock to the back of the wreath with hot glue.
I added small green bell brads to the ornament by shoving them between the pom-poms, then tied the ribbon into a bow, and the ornament is done.
I bought my pom-poms at a garage sale, but you can find them in any big craft store in every size and color you can imagine, usually with kids crafts. I chose a monotone look because that’s the look of the wreath in Cracker Barrel.

I made 3 x 3″ gift cards from scrap paper that I made from a project I’ll show at the end of the video. I used 2 7/8″ x 2 7/8″ scrap to line my card base that was white Recollections heavyweight card stock. Then I added die cuts from pine dies I bought at Aliexpress, and here’s the link to the die. http://tinyurl.com/yc6fno8f I used two different colors of Touch 5 markers to make the branches look like they are varied in color. I used Art Glitter Glue to adhere the branches to the card front. I bought some cute resin pieces, and in this case, I used the Santa, and glued it onto the branches. The link to the Santa is, https://tinyurl.com/ybau5qg5 I bought the Season’s Greeting die from Peachy Cheap, a site that sends you an email every day for one item that they sell for that day only. Here’s the link to it. https://www.peachycheap.com/ I attached the Season’s Greeting in red foil above my Santa and used an old Stampin’ Up stamp inside the card. I showed the rest of the cards I’d made to send to the ladies in Puerto Rico that we had adopted to send crafty things to for Christmas. I also wanted to show the projects I’ve made to give to a friend who works at an assisted living facility and I wanted her to be able to decorate the doors of residents who don’t have any family to visit them. I have a video where I show making the frames and will attach it at the end of the video.

I went shopping today with my girlfriend, and we finished most of her shopping.  Since I have very few people to shop for, my work is pretty much done.  I am decorating a couple of stockings I bought for the dogs, since we don’t have kids, our dogs get as much doggy toys and treats as we can shove in their stockings.  It’s not that I think they are kids and deserve a stocking, it’s just easier to shove unwrapped toys/treats into a stocking, than anything else I can think of.

I’m also going to make the video on Christmas crackers.  If I didn’t mention it already, my girlfriend and I perfected our own Christmas cracker system yesterday, but I was too tired to complete the video.  It’s important the I don’t waste the opportunity to show how to make the traditional Christmas cracker, as others have made them on video, but don’t show the cracker or the other components that make them like the English do.  I wanted to actually make mine crack, because the videos I’ve seen, only show either how to make the cracker (without exploding it), or how to make the cracker without including the explosive device.  No, it doesn’t actually explode, but it does make a loud popping noise…at least the ones we tested yesterday did.  Of course that wasn’t on video..once I’m on video, you never know what could happen.  I might not get any popping, or I might burn down the house–it’s really a toss up.  I guess you’ll have to watch the video to decide what happens.  I’m seriously hoping it won’t be an ugly experience, but I have had so many fails, that I don’t want to get my hopes up for a positive outcome…

I’ve made so many different crafty videos for Christmas this year, that I’m not sure if Rich will be able to put all of the videos up before Christmas.  I guess I should take a break, but I really haven’t made my Christmas cards yet.  That’s the crazy part about doing YouTube videos, there are so many ideas, but timing is everything.  I know a lot of crafters do a Christmas in July theme, but I just can’t make myself do that.  I admire and respect people that can plan that far ahead. but I’m just not one of them.  I am great at shopping early, and if I find something in March that I think someone would like for their birthday or Christmas, I buy it.  But decorating and card making, I just can’t bring myself to make anything Christmasy while the sun is shining.  Our summers are so short, that I really don’t like to bring on the inevitable snowy season, and that’s probably the main reason I put off my projects for Christmas.  I love making Halloween and fall inspired projects and can’t make Christmas things before I make those, so it pushes back my Christmas season until November.  If you think about making two or three videos per week, it really doesn’t give me a ton of time to fit in a lot of Christmas videos.  Maybe next year I’ll plan differently, but I really doubt it…we’ll be having this same discussion mid December, 2018..you can look forward to it..darn.