Personal journey updated

Yesterday was long tiring day.  My husband saw the oncologist, but didn't get his chemotherapy.  He is still showing signs of fatigue and diarrhea.  An IV infusion included magnesium and potassium to avoid serious dehydration.  He'll be taking Prednisone for a week and do more tests to see if the problem can be confirmed.  He feels better today and is more alert and drinking Gatorade to maintain the electrolyte balance.  Next appointment will be July 7.  Holiday weekend will be spent quietly at home.

More cards for Veterans

I continued making the cards for veterans.  I played with the starburst design from the previous post.

 



Special Mission: Operation Thank Our Veterans

Operation Write Home has teamed up with We R Memory Keepers for a Special Mission.  OWH cardmakers will donate thank you cards for Operation Thank Our Veterans.  These cards are like Any Hero Cards for our deployed troops, only these will go to VA Hospitals to thank our veterans.  I'm working on some of these cards this weekend.

These eagle digis are from Operation Write Home and were colored with Prismacolor pencils, then cut out and mounted on black cardstock.  The starburst was done similar to this tutorial except that I cut the rectangles 1" X 4", then cut them diagonally before mounting the strips to the blue cardstock.  I rounded the top corners of both the blue and red cardstock and mounted them to the white base card.

I have several more of these cut out and just need to assemble them.  Tomorrow, I will write personal notes to the veterans inside the cards and mail them to We R Memory Keepers.

Finishing the scraps

This is the pinwheel card to use up the rest of those scraps from the starburst cards.  Scroll down to see the rest of the cards from 3 - 6"X6" sheets of designer paper from the Basic Gray recess pack.

More scrap cards

If you don't understand this post, you'll have to scroll down for the previous posts.  Basically, I made some starburst cards and cut the end pieces from the starburst and I've been using those scraps to make more cards.  These were made with the smaller end pieces.

I used more of my purchased handmade paper from a huge stack of it that I purchased years ago from Provo Craft.  The paper has flower petals and grasses embedded in the paper. 

The flowers are cut with the 3 smallest sizes of the Peony Nestibilities.  Flower attached with a flower brad, which is topped with a gem sticker from EK Success.  The leaves are cut with a McGill punch.

The sentiment is a Stampa Rosa stamp.  Ribbon slide is cut with a Spellbinders die.  Ribbon is by Offray.  It's hard to tell in the photo, but the ribbon slide and framing layer are pearlescent cardstock.

Personal Journey:  My husband is becoming more alert and eating better than he has since his chemotherapy.  I'm glad the oncologist chose to delay the second dose for another week.  He needed this recuperation time.  Hopefully, he can delay the weight loss by eating more food.

Make the most of your paper

If you read my last blog entry HERE, you will see how I made these sets of cards.  The top cards are made with left-over scraps from the lower cards.

Now, I have the trimmed off scraps from the side of card to make cards.  This is a pretty good return for 3 pieces of 6X6 designer paper.  I also have 12 - 1 1/2" squares from the same paper.  Watch for some pinwheel cards in the future.

Personal Journey:  Now for an update on my husband's liver melanoma.  We went to oncologist today expecting a second dose of chemotherapy.  The doctor decided to postpone it for a week to allow him to recover from the fatigue caused by the first dose.

Scrap cards - Tutorial

I've been having fun creating cards with a Starburst, using this TUTORIAL.  After making a nice stack of them, I had lots of scraps - the trimmed ends of the starburst.

 

These pieces are already glued to each other and arranged for color balance.



I placed the trimmed ends from the starburst onto a card, then added a ribbon and sentiment.   The ends of the ribbon will be glued to back of top layer of the card.   This sentiment frame is cut with a Spellbinder die.  Sentiment stamp is a clear stamp, but I can't remember who makes it.

I added some gem stickers by EK Success.  They are very sparkly and flat.  To get them to look even, I place the two end ones on the card, then add the middle one.  Tweezers help me to control placement.

This is my finished card.  That top layer is purchased handmade paper from Provo Craft with flower petals and grasses embedded in the paper.  I bought this years ago, so it's probably not available any more.  I layered the green top layer onto brown cardstock, then on a tan base card.

Now, I have more scraps to design some cards with.  I'm sure I will continue making the starburst cards and the scrap cards.  Watch for them.

Craft It Forward - Please Vote

Please vote for my card:

http://photos.scrapbooksetc.com/category/vote/photo/920226

I have entered this card in the Scrapbooks Etc. Craft It Forward photo contest.  Viewer's vote for their favorite project submitted each week.  Monthly winner is chosen from the weekly winners.  I have entered each week, but have not won any of the weekly contests.  A new week has begun, with very view entries.  Please vote for my card so I can be in the running to win this week.

VOTE HERE

Thinking of you scrap card

After making a bunch of these Apple Starburst cards, I had lots of scraps left over from trimming the edges.  I made this card with the left-over scraps of paper:

Now, I need to use up the rest of these scraps on my craft table!

The Eagles have landed!

It's an exciting day for those watching the Decorah, Iowa Eagle Cam on UStream.  All three eaglets left the nest and moved to a branch - known as branching.  Here's a screen capture of the whole eagle family out on a limb of the cottonwood tree.

I know there are smudges on the lens and the sun is setting, but I assure you that Mom, Dad and the three eaglets are sitting there on that branch.  Excitement for all today.

Apple Starburst

The OWH Stars & Stamps blog has a tutorial on making a starburst.  This is a good way to use up some of those scrap papers lying around your craft space.  Here is one that I made today.

This paper is from a Basic Gray Recess paper pad.  The apple is cut with an Ellison Window Cuts die.  I distressed the apple with Memento bamboo leaves ink pad.  Other papers are distressed with a Palette Nude ink pad.  The gems are stickers from EK Success.

Happy Birthday

I'm still having problems concentrating on making cards.  I needed to get this one made because 3 year old great granddaughters don't understand illness and loss of mojo.

When she was here to visit recently, she really enjoyed playing with my dachshund, Tex.  I ordered some new Doxiestamps from Cowtown so I could use some on her birthday card. 

I colored the doxie and package with Prismacolor pencils.  I cut them out with Nestibilities.  The sentiment is an old unmounted, unlabeled stamp.  I also used Doxiestamps on the inside of card.  The sentiment is also theirs.  They have lots of cute ones.

I decorated the back of the card with a 1988 dachshund stamp from All Night Media.

I always sign the back of my cards.  Do you?  Hallmark does!



Craft It Forward - Please Vote

It is a new week in the Scrapbooks Etc. 'Craft It Forward' photo contest.  The winner of this contest for the month wins $500 for themselves and another $500 for their chosen charity.  My chosen charity is Operation Write Home.  Here is my card for this week, so you can identify it easily.



I embossed the blue cardstock in my Cuttlebug stars embossing folder.  The eagle is stamped and embossed in Ranger Queen's Gold embossing powder.  It is cut out with a circle Nestibility and framed with a circle cut from the red cardstock.  The edge of blue embossed cardstock was dipped in Versamark ink, then in the same gold embossing powder and heated.  The ribbon is from Michaels Celebrate It - American Collection.

The sentiment is a digi from Operation Write Home, printed on white cardstock, then framed in red cardstock and gold paper.  Base card is white.  I will write a message of encouragement to our deployed heroes and send it to Operation Write Home as an Any Hero card.

If you like my card, you can vote for it once a day for the rest of this week.  You'll have to go to this LINK and look through the other entries to find my card, since they are rearranged daily.

Craft It Forward

I'm trying to understand the voting process in the Craft It Forward contest.  We can enter a card once a week and viewers can vote daily.  You can vote for more than one card, but not the same card twice.  They keep moving the cards depending on number of votes.  You then have a convoluted process for voting.  You'll have to try it to see what I mean.  Here's the link to the first place card:  http://photos.scrapbooksetc.com/craft-it-forward/23/2011

Currently, my card is in 5th place, so you'll have to look for it.  Here's what my card looks like:

I'm working on another card to enter for next week's voting, so we'll start the process over again on Monday of each week.  I'd love to earn the $500 for Operation Write Home, but I'm not the only one in the running, so time will tell.

At the end of the month, they pick the winner from each week and judge those cards to determine who gets the prize.

Personal Journey:  Today, my husband will go to oncologist for lab tests and exam to see the effects of his first dose of chemo.  My observations are that he's showing a lot of fatigue, but no other noticeable side effects.  More later on this subject.

Craft It Forward - Please Vote

Scrapbooks, etc. is having a contest called Craft It Forward.  I submitted a card in this contest to try to win $500 for me and $500 for Operation Write Home.  You can vote once daily for the rest of this week at this link:  Craft It Forward

I'd appreciate you vote.

Thank you stars card

I have been enjoying looking at a bloghop by Scrapbooks Etc.   They are featuring patriotic cards in this hop.  There are some very nice cards in the hop.  You can check it out HERE. 
This card was inspired by this bloghop:

I embossed the light blue with a Sizzix embossing folder with dots.  I don't remember what it's called.  I added these star stickers by EK Success onto cardstock and cut out stars slightly bigger than the stickers.  The sentiment is computer generated.  This was my first card.  I entered the second card I made in their contest.  You can see it HERE.  There will be an opportunity to vote for your favorites, beginning June 6.  I'll post a link at that time.

Personal Journey:

My husband has had no noticeable effects from his chemotherapy.  He's tired, but he was before he got the treatment.  He rests a lot, but eats and sleeps well.



More on health

My husband seems to be doing well after his first dose of chemo 2 days ago.  He's sleeping well and eating well.  He's still resting a lot and trying to allow the body to heal.  We have 5 days to wait before seeing the doctor again.

I'm hoping to get back to making cards soon.  I've been trying to catch up on laundry, etc.