Blog Giveaway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have just noticed that I have been blogging now for 1 year. So in celebration I am having a blog give away. I have been designing and working on something new. Annie Dolls!!!!!

So I am giving away this cute little "I love puppies" Annie. She is 12" tall and is wearing a red dress with paw prints on it. Her little pin is a black and white puppy button. She has brown eyes and brown hair. She is made from tea dyed muslin.



So Please leave a comment below and I will be drawing the winners name on October 25th. Which happens to be my Birthday as well.

Good luck!!!!

Puppy kisses and bear hugs

Sheryl

PS I have listed more Annie dolls on ebay. Please take a peek.

Shame on me......

for not posting for so long.

There has been quit a lot going around here. First off I was let go from my job at the end of May due to down sizing. So all kinds of emotions have been going through my head. I know a lot of you are out there going through the same thing so you understand what I mean. I know things happen for a reason and God has a plan in mind for me. I do know that he will see me through this and it will all work out for the best.

I have been and still am looking for a new job. It has not been an easy task, but I know that I will get another one. While I am looking for a job I decided to do those little projects around my house that I have been putting off for some time now. As you all know from past post, my wonderful neighbor passed away over a year ago so I have been digging up (with family's permission) some of her flowers for my garden. I am here to tell you I am still digging up flowers. I know I will have to get what I want and soon. It is getting a little chilly here at night and they will soon be fading away for winter. Also her family has put her house on the market so if it sells I will not be able to get any more.
I have also put some lattice around the bottom of my deck so Kayla ( my basset/beagle) wont be able to get under it anymore. Well right......... The little stinker has already broke it and is able to get under the deck. It only took her a week to figure that one out. I did a temporary fix, but guess who figured that out as well. So now I have to redo one whole side again and then try and figure out how to keep her from breaking it again. She is such a stinker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I also have been wanting to take out my small pond for over 2 years. Well I did that too.
So I have been moving right along with outdoor projects. Mainly to keep my mind busy while looking for work. As for indoor projects I did some major cleaning out inside my house and had a garage sale. After the sale I painted and fixed one of my spare bedrooms up very nicely. I should have taken a before picture, let me tell you it was a mess. It looks great. I still have a few items left to find new homes for. Now I need to clean up and get rid of more stuff in my other spare room. I think the time is coming up shortly. I am getting really tired of not being able to find anything. It is also my studio and computer room. (even though I work in my living room).

I also got my mojo back for making something. So I made 2 bears and 5 little primitive Annie dolls. They are going to have there debut at the first of October. I think what sparked that was my Mom found a 1928 singer sewing machine at an estate sale for a very good price. (I will post photos of the machine later) So I just had to try that gem out. It worked very well until last weekend. Now I have to figure out what is wrong with it. So in the mean time I have a little hand work to do on my new designed Annie's.
Who knows I might have to make a couple more of them. They are wonderful to design from the pattern to the clothes.

Kayla and I had our dog walk last weekend so I will post a couple of photos from the event. It really was not a good walk this year. Little miss thing (Kayla) had an attitude. I will have that story in a later post.

Well I think I have caught you all up on what has been going on around my little part of the world.

Please keep me in your prayers as I will do for others.

Lots of puppy kisses and bear hugs.

Sheryl

Updates, Updates, Updates !!!!!!!!!!

Well I thought I had better pop in and give everyone a few updates

Kayla update:

Kayla is doing fine. We went to her regular Vets last week for a I am feeling fine chest x-ray and the shocker was that it looked just like all of her other ones when she was sick. How strange is that. Now I am thinking that her lungs are normal too. So now we are back to square one on trying to figure out why she is having the breathing spells. The Vets tell me she is a medical mystery dog. :) I say she is my special little girl!!!!!

Flower update:

Well we have all of the flowers out of the front flower bed of my neighbors yard. Her son has seeded it and it is looking good. Grass is now starting to come up and the front has a bigger yard.
I have started as of this past weekend digging flowers in the back yard. I really don't have to much more to dig up but it should give them a bigger back yard as well. I will post photos of my flower beds later.

My neighbors Estate sale started today which is a little depressing, but I know it has to be done. I did get to go over this past Monday with the family to pick up a few things I saw I wanted. I did get two old trunks and a chest for storing my bear material and needle felting supplies. They are really cool and old. I love antique stuff like that and have been wanting a trunk for storage. Now I have my neighbors which is more sentimental to me. I will have to post photos at a later date.

Computer update:

Well the old saying is all things good or bad comes in threes. Well it did. First I was sick a couple of weeks ago than Kalya got sick and now my computer is sick. It is still being worked on. I will answer all emails from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm at my day job from Monday thru Friday until my computer is well and back home.

I will be posting here on my blog but I am unable to update my website at this time.

I think and hope I have caught everyone up on what is going on in my corner of the world.

Until next time,

Puppy kisses and bear hugs,

Sheryl

My little pup Kayla is sick

Well my little dumpling Kayla was sick last Thursday. I had heard her at 12:30 in the morning sick so I got up to check on her and to clean up when I noticed she was having a hard time breathing. So off to the Emergency Vets we went. Now if you have been following in the past she has done this before and as you all know that the Vets have been saying something is wrong with her heart. In which I keep replying no she is to active and young to have heart problems. I feel in my gut that there is nothing wrong with her Heart. Anyway again he took an x-ray and said that she had an enlarged heart and water on her lungs and gave her a shot and some medicine. I brought her back home and thinking this is going to be a long night. She also has other problems that go along with being able not to breath. They are almost like fainting spells but not. The medicine did not start working until around 4:00 A.M. so I decided to take her to her regular Vet at 7:30. I watched after her until then but seeing my poor little one having these strange attacks is really scary when you do not know what is causing them and know what to do for her to make her comfy. By the time we needed to leave she was doing a little better, but I still wanted her Vet to watch her for the day to see what she was doing. When we got to see him he pretty much said take her to the Heart specialist he could not do anything else for her. Well I was none to happy about that due to the fact that it was about a 45 min drive and she is known for almost passing out and it was raining to boot. So off we went to gather up x-rays and her records for me to take. We left there and of course about 10 minutes away from the place she started to have a spell. I am holding on to her with one hand kind of shaking her and talking to her so she could come out of it. Again very scary!!!!!!!!!

We made it there so her and I checked in and was told if she had another spell to let them know. Of course she did and they came up and took her to the back ASAP. I know it was much better for them to have her back there where they can keep an eye on her. I had spoke to the nurse a couple of times letting me know Kayla was doing fine and she was resting. Finally about 1:00 in the afternoon I got to see the Cardiology Doctor. He had good news and bad of course, but what the good news was that my little Kayla had nothing wrong with her Heart It was NORMAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (To be honest that was really all I heard him say) She also did not have any fluid in her lungs on any of her past x-rays but it was inflammation of some form. That was the bad news he did not know why her lungs were inflamed. He also said that if she was a Cat she would be considered to have Asthma. Well now what........He wants us to run more tests to eliminate any other form of disease.
I have second thoughts about that, because I do believe deep down inside and in my Heart that there is nothing wrong with her. I know she has inflammation in her lungs and I think even though she is a dog she does have some form of Asthma and yes there is something causing it. The Heart doctor gave me some prednisone for when she has another episode. Which again it comes on with out warning at any time of the year. What is very strange is that she now has the Heart Doctor stupped as well as her regular Vet. (I have to laugh inside and say I told you so)

These wonderful doctors do not know Kayla and how she is being what I call her normal, but they are going by what I say and what they see. She is a very active little 3 yr old Basset/Beagle always looking for things to get into too, back talking her Mom (me) very vocal, playing with big Bro Shadow, cruising around the yard, eating anything that she finds inside or out. She even goes non-stop when she is sleeping dreaming away with her legs and feet twitching as if she is running after a squirrel or rabbit.

She is back to her normal now for sure doing all the things I just mentioned above. I really consider her my very Special little one and am not looking at her as being sick or has any crazy disease she is just Kayla!!!!!! Oh don't worry I will have the additional tests done but the Doctor says that she should be OK and we can do them at our leisure. He does want an x-ray of her lungs in her normal state which is a great idea because they would have something to compare to and it might answer a few questions about the inflammation on whether it is always present or not. In the mean time I have checked on the Internet and I have found a few things saying that dogs do get Asthma but it is not common. Anyway I will have to talk to her Vet and see where we go from here. I am also looking around at home and in the yard for anything possible that might trigger her attacks. I am going to start a little journal as well to keep track of what she eats and what I do such as cleaning house and what I use to clean with and so on.... Maybe and hopefully I can find that trigger.

In the mean time she is back to her old self and her Heart is normal in every way!!!!!!!!!!!! I am doing that big old happy dance now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will keep you all posted!!!

Until next time

Puppy kisses and bear hugs,

Sheryl

Flowers, Flowers and more Flowers

Well I have been the busy little bee lately. As from my last post I have been digging and planting flowers from my neighbors yard for the past 4 weeks in between the tons of ran we have been getting. I have now filled up 3 of my flower beds (that did not have much in them to start with) in the front yard and still have lots more to dig up and plant. I still have the whole backyard to put them in but it is a wet, muddy mess so I can't do to much with it right now. We are still in for more rain this week (like every other day) UGH!!
There really is not a whole lot left in the one flower bed in the front that my neighbors son wants to get rid of. He wants to plant grass seed and let it go back to being a yard. That is better than what I had thought he wanted to do (like get ride of all of the flowers his Mom had). Believe me she has tons of flowers in the front and back yard. I still have a big bed of Daylilies to dig up and plant that are going in my backyard, but I still have time to get that done before they sell the house.
I do want to say that since my neighbor passed away a year ago that me digging and planting her flowers in my yard gives it very special meaning to me. A sort of a healing process since she has been gone. I look over there every morning as I am leaving for work hoping to see her smiling and waving to me as I leave, but she is not there. I do feel that she is smiling and waving and watching out for me from above and knowing that her lovely flowers will remain in my yard and hers for all to see.
Now if I can be able to keep the dogs from eating and digging up the flowers in the back yard when I get them planted I should have a really good start to a very pretty flower garden around my house.

Until next time,

Sheryl

I've been AWOL

Well I thought it was time to catch you up on what has been going on in my neck of the woods.

First off let me start by saying both dogs Shadow and Kayla and my pretty kitty Lucky are all doing great "knock on wood". Shadow's mouth is all healed up and all medicines are all gone. Kayla has been her little stinker self. You know getting into things like steeling my socks, taking trash out of the trash can and tearing it up. Now days she is dragging things that are under the bed like paper stickers and toys that my niece and nephew when they were younger dropped under there. OK that might tell you that I have not cleaned under that bed in years since my niece is now 15 and my nephew is now 11. LOL I guess with Kayla around who needs to clean it out when she is doing such a great job herself. The only thing is that she keeps getting stuck under there, it is not a very high bed and she well lets just say she does not have that little girlish figure that she should. I mean after all she is a Basset/Beagle mix. So I have to grab them back legs and pull her back out. It is really funning to see!!!!!!!!!! Just get this mental picture in your head of Kayla baying away under the bed trying to reach what ever she is after. Then Mom comes to the rescue and pulls her out just to find out that she is back under there again 10 minutes later doing the same thing. She is a hoot let me tell you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been cleaning a little here and there, but was side tracked when I needed to get over to my neighbors to dig up her plants so I could plant them in my yard. My neighbor was a great older lady who I really looked up to. She passed away a year ago this past January and I have dearly missed her so. Her kids have been cleaning and going through the house and her son wants to clean up the yard. I mean he wants to mow everything down and turn it back into grass. That is fine but .......... let me start by saying she has a great flower garden. I mean flowers from Spring to fall all over her yard. So the family took the plants that they wanted and gave me permission to dig what I want, but I only have a couple of more weeks "I hope" before they are toast. The weather has not been to great it is either raining or even snowing the past couple of weeks so it has been to wet and cold to dig. Just the thought of all of those flowers that my neighbor has put all that hard work and love into just go by the way side tears me up. I have lived at my house for 15 years and have watched her take so much pride in her flower garden.
I know as soon as it is a little warmer I will start digging again. I will get what I can and hope they will do great in my yard. I know I will have an angel from heaven watching out for them in my new flower gardens.

Back to my Bears:
Here is my newest little bear. Her name is Breena a little fairy bear. She is the smallest bear I have made to date at a height of 9". She is still available at the moment through me so if any one is interested please email me and I will email more photos.



I took a short break from my bears and clay dogs and signed up for a doll class:
This sweet little girl is my first Cloth and Clay doll I made in Jane DesRosier's class on Cloth and Clay dolls.ning.com. I have a link to the site on the right side of my blog.
She is made with paper clay and cloth. I had a great time making her and plan on making a couple more. Also I plan on making a few other different types of dolls in the future so keep checking my blog and website. I might even offer them for sale at a later date. But if anyone is interested in one please contact me.

I think I am caught up for now. I am sure I have more to say but I just can't think of anything at this time.

Please stop by as more fun and exciting things happen on a daily basses in my neck of the woods.

Until next time.

Bear hugs and puppy kisses,

Sheryl

Spring is in the air!!!!!!!!!

and so is Spring Cleaning time.

I have made a very big decision that it is time for some major Spring cleaning. I have so much stuff that I can not find anything I am looking for so in the next couple of weeks or even may be months (LOL) I will be cleaning my house from top to bottom inside and out.

Now this is going to benefit you all as well.

I will be listing a few of my polymer clay items that I made in clay class years ago on ebay at a very low price. I am also going to be listing a few more of my polymer clay dogs too. Again at a very low price. Now don't get to excited I am not retiring from my polymer clay dog sculptures or my Bear and dog soft sculptures I will still work on them in between the cleaning up. Who knows what kind of ideas I might come up with in the process of cleaning. Now with that said. I will start listing items on ebay this Sunday evening so please stop by and see what is for sale on ebay. I will also be listing a few bears in my Artfire studio at the first of April and even a few other surprises too. Now all of the other things that I will not be needing will be put into a Garage sale or the trash. (Maybe I just need to rent a big dumpster and save the trouble of cleaning)LOL

Oh my I do have my work cut out for me don't I. Well it needs to be done and now is as good as time as any.

A major overhaul is coming down and I am very excited to get started. I plan to organize and do a little decorating as well. Of course after the cleaning up is down. Then I get to make a new mess. Oh Boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well until next time if I am not buried under a pile of whatever in my house.

Bear hugs and puppy kisses,

Sheryl