Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Attaboy!!

I have wanted to use the cute dogs in the set The Gang by The Alley Way Stamps (TAWS) in some kind of "attaboy" card that I could have on hand when (or if!) any of my boys did something worthy of an "attaboy".  (FYI: "attaboy" isn't in The Gang, but TAWS does have an alphabet set!)

attaboy
I also wanted to play along with CAS - Colours and Sketches.  This week is sketch week.

I love the card that I came up with but, in retrospect, it probably won't work.  We are big dog people.  The kids barely remember our original fur-family.  We had two Great Pyrenees - all white, gentle giants.  Our male was 170 pounds.  When he stood on his hind legs, he could put his paws on my 6'4" husband's shoulders and stare him in the eyes!!  We have early pictures of my oldest son crawling on them as if they were jungle gyms and their thought bubbles clearly said "seriously??"  They are bred to guard sheep - just sit on a hillside and survey their territory so they aren't particularly active - and, with my son as their only little lamb, they were quite protective.

A very soft climbing toy!

Here's our girl at 7 mos. in her preferred
environment - a mountainside!

This is the smaller of the two (only 120 pounds) helping
me study over 20 years ago!

Then another puppy came along - he's only 3 months old here
(and I'm only 30!)

They loved the mountains!

We lost both of them within a few weeks of each other a long time ago (the younger to cancer, then the oldest just quit), but we will never forget them.  We did not replace them with another Pyrenees.  At that point, we had human babies and we had realized that baby equipment and really big dogs simply didn't fit in cars - even in our big Suburban!

Anyway, the point of that whole story is that my husband is such a big dog person, that he always refers to little dogs as "hors d'oeuvres"!  That's the attitude that my kids grew up with.  So the cute little dog on this card would get nothing but snickers - sort of negating the whole concept of an "attaboy" card!!

Case in point - my husband walked by as I was typing this, he saw the original card and asked, "Is that a dog or a mouse?"

  • Stamps:The Alley Way Stamps The Gang, Alphabet Soup
  • Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, Queen & Co Pet Hearts dsp
  • Ink: Memento black and Copics
  • Accessories: Stampin' Up heart embosslit, ribbon

14 comments:

  1. Beautiful card, Kim! Love the little dog - I am going to get this set soon as I have so many uses for it.

    Your Great Pyrs were gorgeous!

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  2. I love your card Kim and the cute little dog. I'm sure you'll find a recipient for it even if it does cause a snigger. Your pyrenees look gorgeous and huge!! x

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  3. Really sweet...love that chihuahua!! Love your pics too!! Lee-Ann :)

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  4. I loved your card with the little dog and the sentiment, but most of all I loved your story/pics of your dogs! Thanks for using our sketch to make your gorgeous card.

    Louise from CAS Colours and Sketches

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  5. I caught myself smiling away whilst reading your post! And to make things more amusing (to me anyway!) I just had a new set of stamps arrive with lots of dogs on them and I am about to make a birthday card with them!
    So your adorable card with the dog/mouse is a real inspiration!!
    Thanks for joining us at CAS-Colour and Sketches.

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  6. What a cute card Kim, those little 'handbag' dogs are so popular now but your 'big babies' are absolutely adorable, they must have taken some brushing! TFS x

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  7. He's a cute little doggy! I love that paper with the little bitty hearts! Great colors too!

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  8. Adorable card and those dogs soooo big! Looks like you guys have so much fun with them too.

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  9. Loved seeing the family pics! Those dogs are so gorgeous! And you made me giggle with the description of why this wouldn't be a good card for any of your boys. Cute cute card! I hope you find an appreciative home for this one! Hugs xxx

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  10. Cute card! I also enjoyed your pictures and story.

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  11. Oh my - your husband's comment is hilarious. This card is so adorable! I love the pattern paper in the background and the natural ribbon bow. Thanks for joining us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

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  12. LOVE this post!!! Your doggies were so beautiful...you must miss them <3
    We are "big dog" people too....although not "huge" dogs like your GP's... we've has Labs for many many years. A few months ago, we lost the last of three Labs that were pals for 10-13 years... It was tough. Before that there were others...and it's never easy to say goodbye, is it?
    We're now dogless for the first time in 25 yrs! Giving ourselves a little break, and plan to get sisters from the same litter, maybe in the Fall. We're thinking "Millie & Molly" maybe :-)
    Loved the pics, thanx for listening <3

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  13. Adorable card! Love all the hearts on the bg with the adorable dog!

    WOW! Your dogs are so huge and yet so adorable - TFS!

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  14. Hee hee! I'm with hubby - I like super sized dogs! (Although at 95lbs Atticus is puny compared to your gorgeous duo!) The card is super sweet - even with a purse dog! :D

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