More Quilled Shapes

Ok, Here are more shapes I have done!

The pictures aren't the best quality, but this was also my first attempt at taking a picture of something so tiny! I am enjoying this new found craft of mine. I am interested in making some miniatures eventually, but for now I need more practice. I've made a few flowers too but not anything quite ready to show yet. I also found that Elmer's Glue works better. The tacky glue I was using was, well, um, too tacky. You can kind of see it in the pics but those are practice and not going on anything for Etsy. The card has some quilled leaves on but those were made with bigger strips of paper and it was easier to not make a big mess! :)

Quilling

It's been a long time since I updated. Ha, and I thought I would do better updating. Oh well. Hubby has been to the dr after his most recent MRI and we got some good news so far. His tumor has shrunk 25% but he still needs chemo. We were both scared of what he was going to say but at least that's good news that's it's responding! I know he has a long way to go, but we're hoping he stays on this path! He's eating better too now and I guess his taste has come back too.

Anyway, I am still running my shop on Etsy. I've been thinking of new things to make and I suddenly have bitten by the quilling bug. Quilling is an ancient form of making shapes using rolled strips of paper. So far, I've learned some basic techniques and have been trying some more complicated shapes.

I took some pictures of the things I've been working on. The Happy Birthday card I made has a flower on it that was made by sarascrapping.etsy.com. She is a GREAT seller with a lot of talent!

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I made 2 more of the wreaths and I am going to make one more before the end of the night!

Just wanted to say that I have a goal. I wanted to get to 100 sales by December 31. I need 9 more. Just 9 little more sales. Anyone out there that would love a lovely card, or scrapbook album or even some die cuts?

I am planning on doing some different things coming up this year. I hope I can focus on my Etsy shop a little more, but the hubby will be starting radiation and chemo January 5, and we won't know how it will affect him. I might be very busy, but we'll see how it goes. I am just thankful that he's going to be okay.

Snowman wreath With Slice Design Cards!

Some of you who might read my blog and scrapbook may know that I am a HUGE fan of Making Memories' Slice, which is a digital die cut machine. It was released last year and it was the first digital die cut machine I ever wanted. My hubby got it for me for Christmas last year and I've thoroughly enjoyed using it. Why? Because the graphics are adorable and classic. There is GREAT value for what you pay for, and the possibilities are endless.

A week or so ago, Making Memories sent me an email and an idea for using some of the Design cards. They showed a picture of the most beautiful wreath of flowers and I was smitten to say the least. I told my hubby that I wanted to make it, and I had all the materials on hand. All I needed was the wreath forms, which I purchased at Michaels.

I used the Wedding Design Card, Mistletoe, and the FaLaLa Cards.Instead of full flowers, I decided to try it with snowflakes and the snowmen. It came out beautiful! I wanted to share it with you. I loved it so much that I am making a few more with Christmas paper!
Materials used:
Paper-light blue, navy blue, white, and precious metal white paper (Recollections, Hobby Lobby)
Glue Gun
Glue Stick (about 1 1/2 was enough)
Slice Die Cut Machine
Wedding, Mistletoe, and FaLaLa Design Cards. Noteworthy and Basics 2 also have a lot of flowers; my preference was for the Wedding Design Cards flowers, but I am trying out the other ones too!)
Obviously, the glass mat and adhesive.
Gemstones (rhinestones in clear and blue)
brads in blue and clear rhinestones, and blue brads
flower gemstone for snowgirl's hat
White Acrylic paint, optional--to paint the wreath form

I cut several 2, 2 1/2, and a few 3 inch flowers and snowflakes from each of the cards. I layered some of the snowflakes and many of the flowers. I used glue to adhere the layers and then used a glue gun, as recommended in the email, to adhere the flowers, snowflakes to the wreath form. Before I glued everything together, I painted the wreath form with white acrylic paint.

At the bottom of the wreath, I added 2 snowmen that I cut from the Mistletoe card. I added a hat for the boy, and the girl has a hat too. I also cut out a scarf for each snowman. I used an archival black marker to draw the faces on the snowmen.
Altogether, it took me probably 6 hours to cut and layer all the flowers and probably about an hour to adhere them. It sounds like a lot of time, but I also was multi-tasking--updating my Etsy shop and chatting with friends! :)

Here is a few pictures to show you!

Good News! and Cuteness too!

YAY! Something good finally came out of Dh's diagnosis. He got admitted on Friday(that's not the good part) for having an allergic reaction to one of his seizure meds. He developed a rash so hot you could almost cook an egg on it. Poor guy, but he's home now and feeling MUCH better. Anyway, they finally told us what he has. He has anaplastic astrocytoma. I don't know a whole lot about it, but I am sure we'll know more tomorrow when we see the oncologist. The dr. said it's a Grade III, BUT, with treatment he should live a long, and great life. So that's AWESOME.

We are so relieved and happy, of course!

Anyway, I was doing a photo shoot for my Etsy shop. Miss Princess Nosy Pants had to be nosy and get a few shoots in there too. I like how many of them came out-the lighting, the cuteness on her face (even though I know she's thinking of her next plan to destroy something) and the way she is laying. She drives me bananas sometimes but her cuteness takes the cake! :)

Gratitude and Cancer

The past year has been a huge roller coaster of emotions, ranging from frustration, fear, sadness, anger, hope, and I don't even know what else.

I wrote the last post about my hubby's and his illness. We finally got a diagnosis. When the neurosurgeon came out of the operating room on November 18, it never occurred to me that he *really* did have cancer. It was in the back of my mind that it might be a reality, but never it *being* a reality. It frightened me and shocked me to hear the diagnosis. It was incredibly devastating to hear.

It's certainly NOT something I wanted to have to tell my husband that night. He wanted to know, and he doesn't want things to be sugar coated. So I did. I said it. It took nearly 4-5 more days before I could say it while he was fully awake. It's in our vocabulary now.

This experience and something else that has happened has led me to want to relay this message.

The word cancer has turned my world upside down. It's an incredibly frightening word because there are so many unknowns about it. Where does cancer come from? Why does it happen? What's the prognosis? What's the treatment like? Will it hurt? Will it make him as sick as I have read? Why are there so many unknowns? How long will it take? Is it safe? I could go on forever, but I think you get the picture.

To those of you who complain on a daily basis that you have no control over your life, or you can't find a job, or you can't buy something you want right now, or that someone is doing something you don't like or whatever minor transgression has been placed on you, take a second look. Take a second look at the things that you take for granted.

Be grateful for what you do have and for the ability to have that choice. I feel like we have no control. We didn't ask for cancer, we can't control the fact that it's here. But what we can do is control how we think about life now. Regardless of the prognosis, NOTHING is more important than the time you spend with your family.


I lost my mom suddenly in 2007. It was very traumatic for me, and obviously very heartbreaking. I miss her terribly. But, since her death, my perspective has changed tremendously on the idea of gift giving on Christmas. It just doesn't matter to me. Sure, I cherish the gifts hubby or family have given me, but when I think about the gifts, what's behind it matters to me. The hospital where hubby has had his surgery is very close to the college my mom and I went to, and it brings up so many fond memories. The things hubby has given me have also brought fond memories. Whoever stated that kids don't remember the gifts they receive for Christmas or their birthday is right on the money.

I remember a few of the gifts my mom bought me, but I have far, far more memories of the places we went, things she did with us and just silly, random things. The same goes for my hubby. He always gives me a gift, but there is a story to it. Now that our life has changed, something just is different.

I told him that I didn't want anything for Christmas this year b/c I already got it. I wanted him to survive the surgery and more than that, to be able to still walk and talk. I got it. That's what matters to me. We can't control that he does have cancer but I can control how I view it.

We don't what's going to happen, but I intend on looking for things to be grateful for. I intend on spending as much quality time as I can with him. Right now? I am grateful that he is recovering from the surgery so well. I am grateful that he can give me a hug. I am grateful that he loves me despite all of my faults, especially having a hard time NOT sweating the small stuff. I am grateful that I have so many family members who are supporting me through this ordeal and the incredible kindness, and support from Internet friends too.

In short: Be grateful and cherish what you do have. The material things aren't important. The people around you and the memories that you create with those you love are what matter.

Can we please have time off for good behavior?

I remember watching a movie on Lifetime a few years ago. Lori Loughlin played a young woman with 2 young children who divorced her cheating husband. Her husband in the movie failed to pay child support. She ended up with various things happening to her and I remember the one line in that movie, "Do I get time off for good behavior?" (to that effect, anyway!)

Anyway, I kind of feel that way. I was talking with my husband and we discussed me posting the situation he is in at the moment and he said I could write about it here. He is generally very private about his life, and like I said, I don't really like discussing personal details online, but today I am feeling stressed and freaked out.

About a year ago, he started having these issues with numbness and tingling and was admitted to the hospital for evaluation. It was found through a CT scan that he had a stroke. Without going into too many details, there was a debate as to whether he really had a stroke. A week later he was hospitalized again.

Anyway, fast forward to last week. He was feeling miserable and having a terrible headache, so he decided to go to the ER to see what is going on. Seems he has a tumor in his brain, near a blood vessel. They don't know what kind of tumor it is, but they need to do a biopsy to see what it is.

We are both scared, and needless to say, stressed out. We are confused, and frustrated by all the talk of whether it was a migraine, a stroke, a tumor, an infection or what. He got terrific care from the last hospital--everyone was thorough, and explained things well. The dr. were AWESOME there.

He got admitted somewhere else due to issues I'd rather not discuss here. He's having the biopsy on Thursday and tomorrow we will speak with the neurosurgeon to discuss options and outcomes.

Since we have been married, it's been either me or him that has had some sort of major health issue. It was almost expected from me though b/c since I was little, I've had numerous health issues to deal with.

I've had numerous flare-ups from a back issue, surgeries to correct congenital defects in my ears (and numerous ear infections that turned into mastoiditis) to a knee injury that led to the diagnosis of fibromyalgia, to now an 11 month battle with tendinitis that has me in tears some nights.

My hubby has had his fair share of issues too--he tore the rotator cuff in his arm, some "normal" routine illnesses like kidney stones and pneumonia to now a brain tumor that we have no idea what's causing it.

To some extent I can accept *some* crazy issues with our health, but could it PLEASE stop for a couple of years and let us enjoy some happiness?