Who am I going to blame this time?

We had our Zoom session on digital cutters, and just when you think there is not much more to learn—oh, who am I kidding? I've only scratched the surface. But here is something that I made a while ago. Now that the recipient has received it and the group has seen it, I can share it with you. 

I have several digital cutters and used the Singer Momento to make this one. I found a project on the mySewnet website and modified it slightly to suit my needs. 

I hate giving a gift card. Well, it's not that I hate gift cards - I love them, but it's not original or fun to open. So, using the cutter, I spelled out the gift onto individual tags. The digital cutter did all the writing. You have to love that since my handwriting sucks! 

Printing and cutting out the gift tags

Then, I created an envelope for each one. See what I mean by not knowing what supplies I have? I would have preferred for all that to be coordinated, but I thought the pack of paper was all brown, but it was not. I must get that paper organized. The envelopes were scored and cut on the digital cutter as well. I inserted a small ribbon through the end of each tag since the envelope was a bit deep. 

The envelopes with their tags

Then I made a bigger envelope and printed their name on it using different paper. I had fun with my glue stick and need to find my other ones. They are all in one container, but where?

The front of the envelope

The envelope even has a liner. All of this was super simple to do, and while it's technically not my first paper project on the digital cutter, it's my first "complex" one. I grabbed ideas from several projects, added my personal touch, and had loads of fun!

The lined envelope

Then, how do I seal the envelopes? I happened to check out the dollar store and found these cute stickers, so I used those to seal the envelopes. 

Stickers to seal the envelopes

I wrapped it all up with raffia, and it was done! 

The final gift - front

Back

Then I bundled it into a box, along with some other odds and ends we had for them. They loved opening the gift and had so much fun with it. I loved making it. Now, what else can I do? 

I can see myself making more paper crafts with the digital cutter, and I have the paper to make it happen!

So, my girls, especially Murphy, are pretty excited about their walks. I swear it is the highlight of their day, even though they both have free rein in the backyard. I think they prefer their walk to the dog park, which is partially why we no longer go. 

This is a picture of the two of them after our walk. Lexi is alert and sitting down, watching the outdoors. 

Mom - cool stuff outside!

Murphy is lying down. She gets so hot that she has to cool herself off on the tile floor. 

Mom - I need to cool down

I felt bad the day before when I was leaving for my walk, and they were in the house. I can't take both together, as they are so different that walking them together is frustrating. Lexi was sleeping in the family room, so I thought I could sneak Murphy out of the house. Apparently NOT. The second the door was closed, Miss Lexi was at the window watching us.  

But Murphy loves to jump up on things, and she was at the library jumping up on the big stone seats. 

MOM - I can see so far away!

Then this happened. Yes, this is the same leash that broke before. Her leash, which she came to us with, is a fabulous leash. It has a clasp at one end to attach to the dog, and the other end also has a clasp with several holes, so you can make a loop to tie the dog up or use it as a handle. 

The metal clasp broke from the dog end of the leash several years ago, and I've been meaning to get it fixed. Instead, I turned the leash around and used the handle side to attach it to Murphy's collar. Both ends have broken, as the metal clasp just wore down and slipped out of the bracket. 

MOM - My leash is broken!

Thankfully, we were in the library park area when it broke, so it was easy to get her to stop. It didn't happen when she was attempting to bark her head off at some dog! One small loop at the end attaches to the dog, so I looped that through her collar, and away we went. 

This is NOT a shoddy leash. It has happened because of the constant pulling on it, and she literally wore the metal down by slowly grinding it away. I have new clasps, which I'm going to have the shoemaker attach. It is getting harder and harder to find a shoemaker, though!! And I wonder about the quality of those new clasps. 

Then, when we walked through the school park, she never forgets that bench. I really think she would have benefited from agility, but there is no place close enough to us to make it work. 

MOM - I love jumping on this bench

When I got home, Lexi was standing at the door waiting for me to take her. I had not planned to take her, so I didn't—not at first. But how could I not also take the sweet thing for a walk? So I caved later and took her out! 

MOM - what about me? 

We pass this interesting stump in the forest. It's from a recently cut-down tree. You wonder what happened to this tree to cause it so much trauma? It's in the forest, so it's likely never been hit by a car, like some of the other trees in our neighborhood. 

An interesting stump

Now, let's fast-forward to yesterday's walk. I have a leather leash that I'm using until I can get the other one fixed. I'm not a fan because it also needs the loop restitched on the end, but it works. So Murphy got walked, and then Lexi got walked. 

When I arrived back in the house, I saw this on Murphy. What the heck? 

Murphy - what did you do?

NOOOOOOOOOO --- when I came back into the house from her walk, I forgot to take the harness off. I always take her harness off, but that different leash threw me, and I only removed the leash and not the harness. She distracted me with all her shenanigans as we arrived at the house. 

So, yep --- she doesn't like the harness, so she chewed it off! But only one of the three straps, the other two, were still hooked around her belly and neck. I bet she was in a tizzy over that! 

Goodbye harness

For the record, this is the THIRD harness that she has destroyed. The first one was within a week of arriving at our house when she had her harness on in the back of the car coming back from the dog park and chewed it off. Hmm, this must be the FOURTH harness that she's broken. I don't remember the second one, but the third one was bigger, and some parts came undone. I didn't like it anyway, so we went to the skinny strap ones. And now that is gone!

I can't even blame her since I was the one that left it on her! Sigh!

On my walk yesterday, I stopped at the local pet store and got her a new harness. There was not a lot of choice, and I couldn't figure out how to unbuckle it, but let's see how long this one lasts! The clip is on her back, not under her chin, so now she's going to think she's a working dog and pull more? We'll have to wait and see, but she hates her harness. 

I also bought her a fish toy that she could play with outside! Lexi gets nothing as she will not play with toys and hates chewy bones. 

The girls enjoying the nice day

I spent part of the afternoon in the gazebo as it was such a beautiful day. I was doing hand work, so it's not like I was just napping!

And now I'm off to spin class. 

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!