Spring 2019 Update

Posting for the beginning of 2019 - - maybe some day I'll look back and remember these days with more fondness - right now they're fraught with stress ... and a little bit of relief through crafting.

First - Dan and I started taking Chantix on Jan 5 - and our Quit Date was Jan 12 -
and we haven't smoked since!  I've gained more weight than i want to own up to - my doctor is all "you lost is once you can do it again" and encouraging the quit over fretting the weight.  She did us both a solid, however, when she prescribed Nexium  We've slept better and been more comfortable the past few days that we have in the past 2 months!  the acid stomach and horrible gas from the Chantix were complicating the stress - and now that has resolved.  I highly recommend anyone on Chantix pick up Nexium and start taking them immediately - and plan to continue as long as you're taking Chantix.

My Father-In-Law passed at the beginning of February - We has his Internment Ceremony Saturday, followed by a 'reception' over at Evalyne's place.  She is proving a challenge.  Dan is there daily - every single day since the beginning of February.  We've had to take over her bills and checkbook - othewise she wouldn't have water or electricity - or insurance.  Dan stepped in and consolidated the paperwork he found stacked all over 3 rooms and put it all in totes and brought it to our place.  We spent 2 weeks sifting and sorting and reviewing and ripping - lots of ripping.  But we found out who all she pays, if not how much, and we found the life insurance policies, and homeowners insurance, and health insurance, and have done everything we can to get her essential records straightened out.  We got the Life Insurance claims filed, her bills caught up, and I've got access to her banking records electronically so i can pay her bills - on time. She handed it all over to us...she wants nothing to do with paying bills any more. Then we have to figure out how much trouble she's in financially - cuz we're thinking her outgo will exceed her income....and we gotta figure out how to manage that!

In between we went on a cruise - and decided we will NEVER cruise on MSC again.  It was horrible! I won't belabor it here - suffice to say they have no idea of customer service - and we have no idea how they're going to survive on the American Market that way!!!  We've got our 30th Anniversary Cruise scheduled already - went back to Royal Caribbean - we know them and enjoy them.  Maybe next after that will be Celebrity - since they're rating really well these days.

And still I've managed to find time at my beloved craft table.  I'm finding I really am enjoying creating Watercolor cards 'the Art Impressions way' ...and am exploring more and more the benefits of embossing with glittery embossing powder.  Below are pictures of some of my more recent creations in support of the 2 Swaps i still participate in.  Both are hosted at SplitCoast Stampers - one for RonaldMcDonald House and the other Cards for a Cause, which changes the charity supported every month.  These pictures are all posted in my gallery at SplitCoast Stampers: 

Flowers from Heartfelt Creations, sentiment from StampinUp	Multi-layered Stamp set from EBay wholesale provider, sentiment embossed in silver
Hand colored, stamp set from EBay wholesale provider	ArtImpressions window was 2018 Expo Exclusive, and the rest of the stamps used come from various sets.
Stamp set from EBay wholesale provider	Altenew Hyacinth Build-A-Flower set, with embossed highlights
Altenew Cherished Memories stamp, watercolored, and overlaid with clear embossing	So I seem to gravitate to the Beach scene - i live in Florida - Go Figure!
The palm trees are from a 2019 Art Impressions Release!	Palm trees here are 'vintage' Art Impressions, manufacturer of chair and umbrella unknown.

Additionally, I am still creating 'fun' stuff - mostly for mom right now.  This is a piece i made for my mom. Mamma's in late stages Alzheimers in a Memory Care facility, and it's very difficult to buy anything for her. Mamma kept Orchids for decades, moved with them from Maryland to Florida, through 3 retirement/assisted living facilities, and they finally died when her Alzheimers got so bad she forgot to, or overwatered them.

So for her 88th Birthday this year i gave her some orchids she couldn't kill - it's about 2Ft high by 18in wide.  All in metallic papers, which shimmer and look great, accented by Red jewels.  It started out on the wall above her bed - then moved to the bathroom door - and is now missing.  I'm planning my next creation for next month's visit.

She loved it, and was gazing and it and smiling at it through most of our visit...The Orchids are from a LiaGriffith pattern, and the Happy Birthday sentiment is my own creation...modeled after something i saw on Google.

Catching up - Showing Off Crafty Stuff!

soo... i've not posted in a while. Here's a quick update...


We lost dad last year - he finally gave up in May - Mother's Day in fact - 2017.  He took a lot of mamma with him, as she has deteriorated rapidly since.  I miss him terribly. Mamma's under my sister's care now.  She's in a full-time Alzheimers center, and is pretty much wheelchair bound, barely having enough strength in her legs to stand.  She took several falls in a cupla months, and i think there's some permanent damage we've not been told about.  She's lost weight - and although she remembered me when we went in May for Mother's Day - she didn't remember Dan.  This time, going for her Birthday, she remembered Dan and it took a bit till she remembered me. Both Trips were made bearing gifts, which is a challenge for someone who is in an institution...so I am putting things on the wall.


So ima going to show off some of the stuff I've done recently.  For Mother's Day I made for mamma a 12X12 paperscape under glass.... the Floral Heart Paper Sculpture pattern from Dreaming Tree.  All done in shinny and metallic papers, with my first attempt at vinyl overlaying the glass. .  It has pride of placement on the wall by the foot of her bed.


For her Birthday I decided on Orchids, as she had soooo loved her garden, and especially her orchids.  I made my own version of the Orchid Plant from Lia Griffith.  This is done in 70# Text weight metallics and stands a bit over 2ft tall.  This is attached to the wall above her bed.  She was thrilled, and sat gazing at it while we were talking....

I think for Christmas i'll do something for her window - maybe a set of "stained glass" nativity....

I'm still making cards for 2 charities a month - Ronald McDonald House and Cards for a Cause.  I've have even stepped up and been the Hostess twice for Cause for a Cause, Once for the Veterans Hospital in Miami, and the other for Martha's House in Okeechobee.

 In April this year I finally got to the Scrapbook Expo in Orlando.  I took a handful of classes, a couple each in Watercoloring with Stamps (Art Impressions) and coloring with Alcohol Markers.  And I took a couple of Heartfelt Creations classes, learning a bit more about building 3D Cards.  I thoroughly enjoyed all, but the watercoloring with stamps was the one that stuck the most, and I've been doing all kinds of cards using those techniques...
In fact - the Arbor card was selected and highlighted as one of the "Favorites of the Week" at SplitCoastStampers.com.


And kinda lastly on my tour of "cool stuff" I've kept busy with - I had created a special card for my HEA for our Anniversary.  Again using a pattern from DreamingTree, this time the King of the Castle Cascade Card, but in a color scheme liked better....that of white and champagne and gold, with touches of Red.


So keeping an eye on Mom - and working with crafty stuff is how i keep busy when not at my full time job...and it's keeping me all happy.  We're looking towards the future - I'm on the downhill slide towards retirement - and Dan's just a year away from cresting that peak himself.  We're talking a lot about what to do in retirement - and where to live...
I'm pretty convinced I'm going to find a way to continue with my crafty stuff - maybe teaching classes. My heart's desire would be to be picked up by Art Impressions, or Heartfelt Creations, or someone like that and be able to teach classes for them...but I'm nowhere near ready for that yet!  My artwork is passable...but I'm not ready for prime-time!

I'm shipping my 'due by the 20th of the month' cards today - 

gotta hate it when work interferes with  your life!! 

This month's CardsForACause (CFC) were a bit of a challenge for me, in that I found I'm not so comfortable with Sympathy cards - and that was what was requested.  and Thank You - which i'm fine with!  Ronald McDonald House (RMD) was fine - and again this month I 'shared' my creations between the 2 groups.  Although no sympathy cards went to RMD there were no birthday cards to CFC!!  

As usual, the cards are mostly done on StampinUp CardStock bases, with the silver sympathy card the one exception - it's on DCWV shimmer cardstock.  I used a variety of papers for stamping on - from StampinUp, Recollections and Crafters Companion.  And several of the stamps used are obviously StampinUp, but i couldn't tell you where the rest came from.  Almost all background papers used were StampinUp, and the cardstock for layers was shimmer cardstock from either DCWV or Crafters Companion.   Everything was stamped with Tsukineko Memento or Brilliance (metallic) ink.  There are a few cards that were stamped with Multi-Part stamps form KitchenSinkStamps, which would have been impossible without my MISTI stampin tool, from My Sweet Petunia!!   Lotsa diecut butterflies on holographic origami paper glued down to cheap white cardstock and then diecut.  The various white and mottled vellums were from an old cache of supplies from years ago, so i have no idea where they're from.  Mulberry Flowers are from a vendor in China and painstakingly stacked together here.  Markers used for hand coloring from LetraSet.  

KitchenSinkStamps multipart lily on white and silver. Learning how to do Sympathy cards.	Simple and clean - using new Crafters Companion cardstock  Awesome...Thanks!!!
2 More Sympathy Cards, each with Spellbinders Crosses on the front.	More KitchenSinkStamps - poppy this time!  Very Bright!
Actually using leftover diecuts -  simple ThankYou Cards	I do like the Stained Glass effect!  and shimmer Cardstock accents!
This came out much better than expected - it was something I thought i'd try - and it worked well.	Another Sympathy card - stained glass effect - and the die cut rose.  I actually enjoyed making these ones.
Bright and Shiney!  Great for a ThankYou!!!	Happy Birthday!  with holographic accents!  Very Pretty!

And as a new era of card making begins (POST OWH), I find myself split between 2 organizations, both who are receiving cards this month.  SplitCoastStampers is kinda a mecca of swaps and challenges and learning in the papercrafts world, and logically hosts several swaps and challenges.  That's where I originally found OperationWriteHome, so I went back to them to find alternatives. I may yet find a home with a military-centric organization, but for now i've decided to play along with 2 groups

• Cards For A Cause (24 cards)
• Ronald McDonald House (20 cards)

Ronald McDonald House strikes because my daughter spent a few days at the one in Tampa almost 11 years ago following the birth of her daughter - my granddaughter!  Turns out my granddaughter spent the first 8 days of her life in the ICU - 6 of them on a ventilator - 5 before the hospital let Mom & Dad name her.  Born on Saturday, she fought and fought, and late Tuesday night/Wednesday morning she finally made a turn around, and on Wednesday she was named Clarissa Dawn.  I am pleased to say that she is FINE!! well - for the most part!  Precocious, stubborn, bright, energetic, loves to read and is generally a joy to be around.  And they kept mom close after she was discharged from a rather difficult childbirth by putting her up in the Ronald McDonald House attached to the hospital.  And it was a VERY good thing!

Cards For A Cause  - well - that kinda says it all!  I've been making cards for a cause for a while - so it seemed logical to continue to do so.  They change up every month with different causes, and some of the past ones are open all the time - for 'spares' if you will... Right now I'm on-board with them too.

I took pictures of the cards being packaged for July's Cards for a Cause, but as it turns out, both charities got almost all the same cards, as i work best in multiples, with variations on a theme.  They're all with envelopes, and 'tucked' in the finest OWH style.   Unlike anything I've done before, I've 'banked' some cards this time, just in case i hit a 'dry spell' where i can't make cards for work commitments but still want to send some off. Most cards were made in sets of 6 - 2-3 for Cards for a Cause, 1-2 for Ronald McDonald House and 1-2 for the bank. 

DieCut Fans in Silver and Gold Shimmer from Michaels, ombre ribbon on a lovely Victorian floral print background paper matted on shimmy white and pink cardstock.	Stary Sky background on a nice shiny finished paper, silver border on the Reach for the Moon sentiment, with a couple of diecut stars on each.
One of the specific requests for this month's cause was to make cards appropriate for kids - teens specifically.  The funky color scheme, foiled paper, and fun sentiment seemed apporopriate.	Thank You cards in various combinations - the butterfly on the left card is DieCut and backed with white vellum - the ballons are gold to go with the gold stamped sentiment.
Inspirational cards - something also requested for July's Cards for a Cause - and this seemed appropriate.  The bows and mat on the inchies are shimmer cardstock.	Foil paper accents kinda pop on the neutral almost dark background, and pick up the colors in the mat on the sentiment.
Another inspiration - or permission i suppose - to have fun!  maroons and various prints and bows.  There were actually 3 of these in the shipment.	This may be a Northwoods stamp, with just the lighthouse and sunrise colored in - and the image elevated from the framing.
Again with the funky foiled paper - probably great for teens! Happy Birthday is a generic sentiment and the mulberry flowers help do justice to the overall fun on the card.	July Cards for A Cause