Lots of Random Things

Its been a crazy few weeks lately. Most difficult is the passing of my PawPaw on August 7th (just shy of the anniversary of my grandmother's passing in August 11th). He was 88 and fought a long battle with throat cancer and the heartbreaking loss of my grandmother. I have so many fond memories of many summers spent in Florida with my grandparents. We spen Friday and Saturday nights running the dog books to the area gas stations for the local race track. Nights bowling, playing cards and marbles, eating at Friendly's and Stavro's Pizza. He was a WWII veteran, a great husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. I suppose I get my love of animals and absolute stubborness from him. I'll miss him dearly, but I am so thankful he is finally at peace and reunited with Grandmother, the love of his life, once again.

PawPaw at my wedding

On a lighter note, Summer birding trips are winding down.  I went on the biggest trips BAS has which is the annual trips to see the Mississippi and Swallow-tailed Kites in the black belt of Alabama.  I'll post some pictures and trip reports later.  But they were a lot of fun as all BAS trips are.

We've been preparing for some incoming primates into the collection at the Zoo.  We're also getting a Mississippi Kite and 2 Golden Eagles in the near future! Super stoked to care for some native raptors.

And the biggest news of all, I am preparing to begin Veterinary Tech school! I will be taking an online courses through San Juan College starting in January.  Along with that, a volunteer helped me get a job with a veterinary dermatologist who sees patients at an emergency clinic on Wednesday nights.  I'm very excited to finally be starting this next chapter of my life.  I've wanted to do this since I worked at the wildlife rehabilitation center.

And I have one card to share.  This was a birthday card I created for my mother-in-law.

Inspiration came from user Reddyisco on Splitcoast Stampers.

Another Stencil Card

I was so proud of my last stencil card I wanted to do another one.  Our chapter of American Association of Zookeepers (AAZK) held their annual Bowling for Rhinos recently.  Chapters all around the country raise money that goes directly towards Rhino Conservation.  Along with donated door prizes and raffle items participants are supposed to get sponsors to increase the amount that the chapter  gives to conserving Rhinos.  I asked friends and family to sponsor me and was able to raise $295! So as a Thank You, I made a stencil card to send to them.  

I also added some heat embossing to the inside to add an extra touch.  

Thanks again to those that supported me and I encourage anyone to support Rhino Conservation!

Stencil Card

Excited that I finally had my Zing up and running, I knew I wanted to use it to make a birthday card for a coworker.  So many people on the Make The Cut! forum were posting pictures of their "homework" from the June 5th webinar which was to create a stencil card.  Since my coworker likes sea turtles, I decided to try my hand at it. After hours of downloading the video (thanks to ATT's crappy internet service) and searching for just the right sea turtle, I came up with this:

I didn't have my settings quite right and I was on my last sheet of green paper, so there are a few spots that are off.  I learned a lot about the software and my Zing.