A little pick me up...

Good afternoon, Blog Friends. I don't know about you, but when I am feeling happy, I like to celebrate by treating myself to a little somethin' special. On the other hand, when I am feeling low, I like to indulge my self pity with a little pick me up. Either way, it all boils down to going shopping. This past week was quite a challenge for me and needless to say, I was feeling lower than low, so when I got a call from Nancy at China Phoenix 2, telling me that the new Tim Holtz Alterations Dies were in, I figured, why the heck not. So, I headed to the store for a bit of consumer therapy and some much needed artistic comraderie. While there, visiting with all of the talented and super nice folks that hang out there, I managed to snag 3 of the new TH dies. At the time, I wasn't even sure they would work in my CuttleBug, but one of the CP2 regulars assured me they would, so I took my chances.

Yesterday I played and it felt great. I managed to figure out how to run the dies through the CuttleBug and even whipped up a quick 10-minute card in the process, which you see in the above pictures. If you're interested, here's the "sandwich recipe" for using these dies in the CB:

Starting from the bottom and going up.

1. "B" plate
2. Cardstock
3. Die (face down)
4. "B" plate

Run this sandwich through your CuttleBug like you normally would and, voila, you have beautiful TH die cuts.

I'm going to share another quick story with you before I log off. As you know, I was devastated over the death of my dear feline companion, Hunter on Wednesday. I was wracked with grief and I felt physically ill on and off most of the day. That afternoon was when Nancy called to tell me about the new TH dies. I thought it would be good for me to get of out of the house the next day, because it just seemed very empty without Hunter's personality to fill it up. I have two other cats, Max and Charlie, whom I love to pieces, but they are exceptionally adept at sleeping most of the day, only perking up to eat and poop. I really need to review their "kitty contracts" and see if they are living up to their feline obligations ;D They have taken the term "lazy fat cats" to a whole new level.

Anyway, back to my story...I used to call Hunter my little "monkey", because even at the grand ol' age of 19 he was still jumping up on things and getting into all sorts of mischief. His favorite day of the week was "grocery day" because he loved to take inventory of my purchases and assist in seeing that everything was put away properly by checking bags, cabinets, countertops, etc. Because of antics such as this, he earned the nickname "monkey" and I constantly referred to him that way. So, Thursday I packed up a few things to work on while I was at the store and with my hands full, headed out to the driveway to get in my truck. I glanced down and on the cement right where I'm standing by the driver's side door I see something laying on the ground. I opened the truck door and unloaded my stuff, then I bent down to pick up this tiny item that caught my eye, only to find a little plastic monkey. It was about 2 inches tall and appeared to be new. It didn't look like it had been played with and didn't look like it had been laying around outside for a few days. There was no other debris in our yard. Just that teeny tiny monkey laying in my driveway by the driver's side door of my truck, as if it was waiting for me to find it. I know maybe I read too much into things of this nature, but it made me smile and that felt good. And truth be told, I feel like maybe Hunter was trying to comfort me by telling me that "my little monkey" was fine.

There you go. A card and a ghost story, what other blog gives you that ;)