A Sad Goodbye To Our Sweet Gentle Giant, Cookie

Hello everyone.  Sorry that I haven't been around for a few days. But our family have been trying to come to terms with the loss of our beautiful sweet gentle giant, Cookie.
She started to be ill on Saturday afternoon, sickness and losing blood. We phoned our vet and they told us to monitor the situation, as it could be something that had upset her tummy.  We sat up with her all night. But by 3.00 am Sunday morning she had become much worse, she didn't even have the strength to stand.  Michael and Ross had to carry her to the car. She weighed 120lbs!! We rushed her to the vet, and they said her vital signs were very bad. After watching her go down hill fast, and with no positive results from any treatment, we couldn't bare to see her suffer any longer, we had to say good bye.  Fortunately, being that time in the morning, we were the only ones in the surgery, so we had some quiet time to lay with her, gently hug her and tell her how much we loved her. It was absolutely heartbreaking.  It upset us even more when the vet couldn't find a vein to insert the cannula, her pulse was so weak.  It took 30 minutes of poking and prodding before they finally managed it.  But, Cookie being the beautiful girl she was, didn't make any fuss.  She just let them get on with it...Bless her! She finally went to sleep at 6.00 am.
I'm still feeling very weepy and even finding one of her hairs in the carpet sets me off. I know some people may think it's stupid when she was a dog.  But to us she was a big part of our family and we all loved her and miss her so very much.
She's free of pain and suffering now, and in my mind she will be running and playing in beautiful green fields, with sweet smelling flowers, which she loved, and I know we will meet her again one day.
Here is our beautiful girl Cookie in happier times...

Fun in the park!

Patiently waiting to go for walkies.

Her favourite place in our garden, sleepy in the warm sunshine.

And finally...with our son, Ross...they adored one another!

Please forgive me if I don't get around to visiting you all in the next few days. 

Thank you for stopping by

Lots of love, Sasha xx

Flourishes March Beautiful World Tour - Bookmark

Good morning everyone and welcome to another Beautiful World Tour.  It's my turn to host the challenge this month, and I challenged the Beautiful World Team to create a bookmark.
Once again it's time to join in with us and travel the world to see how each DT member created their bookmark using Flourishes stamps.
As always, to join in with us, you will need to leave a comment on each designers blog by 31st March, to be in with a chance of winning a FREE FLOURISHES STAMP SET!!!
If you arrived here from Iwona's blog, then you're in the right place.  If not, you need to hop back to the Flourishes blog and start your tour from there.
Here is my bookmark...

For my bookmark I used Flourishes 'Botanical Bookplates Vol.1' stamp set, along with the coordinating 'Taylor-Made Classic Bookplate' die. I also cut two slightly larger layers by hand and coloured them to coordinate. I then layered my bookplate on top.

Finally, I topped my bookmark with a butterfly from Spellbinders Les Papillions Two.  I coloured my violets with markers and distress inked my butterfly.

Thanks for visiting me today. It's now time for you to fasten your seat belts and jet off to your next destination, which is Aleksandra in beautiful Slovenia.

Pretty Little Ribbon Shop March Challenge - Happy Birthday!

Good morning everyone. Hello, and a warm welcome to my new followers. Hope everyone is well.
Today brings us a new challenge at the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop where the theme is 'Happy Birthday'. A nice and easy challenge, as we all need to make birthday cards, and projects for birthdays.
Here is my first card...

I embossed my background onto Whitewash cardstock and sanded. I used JustRite 'Ooh  La La French Frills' stamps with 'French Frills' Spellbinders, and coloured with ProMarkers.

I also used Spellbinders Borderbilities at the bottom of my card and overlaid them onto 25mm Salmon Pink ribbon. I used the same ribbon to make my flower and to trim, along with the black cotton lace. I coloured some 3mm clear rhinestones with PM's to coordinate. All from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop.
Here is my second card...

This card was made with Spellbinders Labels One, and Decorative Labels One. Sponged with Tumbled Glass distress ink. I embellished with Saxe Blue Ribbon and 3mm pearls from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop.

Do stop by the blog and see the beautiful creations by my team mates. Then why not join in with us for the chance to win something pretty.

Thank you for stopping by

Hugs, Sasha x