Stamped Sophisticates

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Best Christmas Present ever - Merry Christmas 2012

Best Christmas Present . . . ever
Christmas Lodge Christmas Card
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

Here's a quick card template from My Digital Studio design software that I reworked a bit to accommodate a photo of our 11-year old Sheltie, Rascal. We're so fortunate to have him with us. A couple weeks ago we weren't sure if he would make it home for Christmas.

Rascal just stopped eating one Monday morning shortly after Thanksgiving. We were able to get a little bit of food in him each day, but by Friday I was really alarmed and took him to the vet on Saturday. The vet told us it was probably a bad tooth and sent him home with some pain meds until we could get him back to the vet for teeth cleaning a week later.

On Sunday, Rascal started throwing up and still wouldn't eat. Monday we took Rascal back to the vet and found that his blood work showed very high liver chemistry numbers. We went for an ultrasound at an animal hospital the following morning. The new vet told us they would like to do exploratory surgery because the abdominal ultrasound revealed a distension of the gall bladder and a mottled liver. I learned more about the importance of a dogs liver and gall bladder over the next few days than I ever thought possible. However, I was really concerned what major surgery and a long recovery period would do to an older dog with hip problems.

We opted not to do the surgery, which would have required a 10-day stay in the animal hospital and the results wouldn't be back for 3-4 weeks. Instead we decided to try a variety of heavy drugs because they couldn't pinpoint if this was a bacteria, fungal, gall stone blockage or what.

We're happy to say that after a couple of days he started eating again--a little bit more each day--and two weeks after we started the drugs he's more active, alert and his eating is back to normal. His liver chemistries are improving, with bilirubin now normal. He will remain on Clavamox, Baytril, Ursodiol, Denamarin for whatever is causing his liver and gall bladder problems, Cerenia (for nausea, if needed) and Tramadol for his hip pain for another couple of weeks to be sure we got it all.

The return to health of our beloved companion is the best Christmas present ever!

Here's what I used on Rascal's scrapbook page. My Digital Studio recipe:
Stamps
    Designer Kits/More Merry Messages/More Merry Messages - merry christmas, Stamp Color: SUMMER STARFRUIT
    Designer Kits/More Merry Messages/More Merry Messages - do not open, Color: I color matched a piece of fur in his coat.
Background Color: CHERRY COBBLER
Punches
    1.25 Square Punch, Fill Color: CHERRY COBBLER     1.25 Square Punch, Fill Color: I color matched a piece of fur in his coat.
My Digital Studio Design Software: 30-day free trial available. (Try it today with your Christmas photos!)

Last Christmas Card of the season

Here's my last Christmas Card of the season. Now I can start playing with all of the new pre-order products from the Spring Catalog merchandise! As much as I love to play with new stamps and merchandise, I love making Chrtmas cards and gift wrapping the most. I wish we could use all of the sparkel, big fluffy bows, and festive papers all year round...love, love, love it and hate to put away the Christmas fun at the end of every year.

I love the Christmas Lodge stamp set. This is the second Christmas in a row that I've used it on my main Christmas Card...even though I have every new Christmas stamp from this year's catalog...this one is my all-time favorite. Also, check out the Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details (125585). You're going to want a bottle of this for your Valentine cards.

This card uses:

Stamps: Christmas Lodge (123769), More Merry Messages (inside verse, which I forgot to photograph - 126402)

Inks: Soft Suede

Papers: Soft Suede, Cherry cobbler, Very Vanilla, Champaign Glimmer Paper

Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details, Labels Collection Framelit (125598), Big Shot & Cutting pads

Here's wishing you a Very Merry Christmas, with a final word (Christmas song) from Rascal...