Introducing...

Introducing, Oliver!  You may have noticed that for the last little while I've had a "Countdown until Oliver comes" at the bottom of the right hand column.  The time has come to introduce him.

He's my new baby!  We just got him on Friday night.  He's a 9 week old Chocolate Cocker Spaniel and he's and super sweet!  The boys adore him and so far Bailey (our 12 year old Cocker) is tolerating him!  Here's what he looks like after playing...

I also have some stamping to share!   My brother and his wife recently got a puppy too.  They got a Chocolate Lab and named her Kona.  My mom decided that we needed to have a family "chocolate puppy party" to celebrate the arrival of our two new family members.  We, of course, had gifts for Kona!  Here's what we gave her. 

I literally made this about 20 minutes before we left on Friday, so it fits perfectly with the Simple Card Sunday thing.  Here's a closer look at the card...

Because I procrastinated and only had a small amount of time to get this made, I turned to my beloved Note Cards with Envelopes!  I stamped a puppy from a retired set (I really now need to invest in a current dog set!) with StazOn ink on Watercolor Paper.  I watercolored it with Chocolate Chip ink, made the little shadow with Creamy Caramel ink and colored the nose with my Basic Black marker.  I mounted the watercolored piece on some So Saffron cardstock and then onto some Chocolate Chip cardstock.  I finished it off with a piece of Apricot Appeal Grosgrain Ribbon (which, when paired with So Saffron, looks like So Saffron!).  This whole piece is attached to the card with Stampin' Dimensionals.  The "congrats" is from the Fundamental Phrases set, and was stamped with Chocolate Chip ink.

I can totally see this card done with so many different images, color and words for lots of different occasions!

The box is also super easy.  The lid is a 12x12 piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock, scored at 2 3/4" on all four sides.  Make some cuts, fold it up and glue it and you have a box lid.  The bottom is made the same way, but the cardstock is 11 7/8 x 11 7/8 and I made it with So Saffron cardstock.  I kept the box really simple so Amanda cound use it again for another gift and just put a piece of retired So Saffrom ribbon around it.

The bow was super simple.  It's a loop of ribbon with the ends glued down in the middle.  Then you wrap another small loop of ribbon around the middle, where the ends of your first loop meet.  It's attached with a Pop-Up Glue Dot.

So, do you want to know what was inside the box?  First a funny story!  I took the kids to the pet store last week to let them pick out some toys for Oliver.  Sawyer chose a pack of tennis balls.  When we got home, Taylor and Carter noticed that there was a pink and a purple ball in the pack when they were showing Kevin what we got.  Here's how that conversation went...

Taylor:  Our puppy CAN NOT play with a pink ball.  He'a a boy!

Kevin:  Bailey is a girl, she can play with it.

Taylor:  Bailey doesn't play dad.

Kevin:  Throw it and see.

Taylor throws the ball across the room, Bailey runs after it, sniffs it and turns away.

Taylor:  See dad, Bailey doesn't play.  Hello (that hello was said with a lot of sarcasm!).

So, Taylor and Carter decided that we could give the pink and purple balls to Kona since she's a girl.  I suggested that we put them in a Ziploc with Kona's name on it.  Carter looked at me like I was from another planet and said that we had to have a nice box, with a card not a Ziploc bag.

So, here's what we ended up giving her.

And, of course no puppy gift is complete without a treat, so I put some milk bones in a medium cello bag and tied it shut with a piece of striped So Saffron ribbon.

That's what I've been up to for the last few days!  I'll be back tomorrow with a great card to share.

Have an inspired day!