Merry Christmas!

Sending you many Christmas wishes to you this beautiful Christmas day. Our weather has been crazy but one thing is pretty steady. Christmas day is always perfect. I don't know how we managed that but I'm grateful for it. Let's hope life calms down so I can get back to some proper crafting. :D 

I hope your having a wonderful weekend. 

Katie

Test of Faith

I'm sorry I haven't written in a few days. I have to be honest I've not really been in the mood. The Holiday's are so much fun.. and my what I call my adult add likes to kick in. All those pretty lights are a distraction. :D

It's been more than that because I don't have add I really can focus. I've been kinda.. I don't want to say depressed that's not quite true.. worried. I had some major testing done on Monday.. essentially 2 MRI's and a CT Angiogram.

The nurse, Barbara, had no interest in being there. When she found out I had already had an MRA she argued with the other nurse.."What's the point? Why are we doing this?" Then she when on grilling me about pregnancy trying to find every excuse to not do the test. Woman, your a tech not a doctor do what your paid to do or find another profession. Then they, I had two nurses.. the mean one, Barbara, and the nice one who's name I don't remember start grilling me on having MS (Multiple Sclerosis). "WHAT?" I exclaimed. I then asked them does the Dr. think I have MS? .. "well he wants us to rule it out." Then they immediate shove my head into a giant doughnut:

I was left alone to my thoughts, deep down I know I didn't have MS. Heavenly Father has always prepared me for the big stuff in life he wouldn't shock me with this now. He's never said hey your gonna be in an accident today... it more like prepare yourself something... I won't tell you what...cuz where's the fun in that. lol But to lie there thinking of the burden I was about to become to my husband and family was not fun, on top of that I wasn't allowed to move. I knocked myself out of  that funk pretty quick. Mulling on negative thoughts is never a good idea. I starting thinking of how grateful I am that I have such an amazing family and Church. I would never be alone and all would be great. I felt tons better. Besides deep down I knew it wasn't true. The last couple of days I'd only discuss the idea with a handful of folks..David and our Parents. There was no need to get every one else worried.

The mean Nurse made a mess of my arm in putting in the IV (I'll spare you the pic of the bruise.) They had to inject a contrast into my blood stream in order to take photos. Well she conveniently forgot to mention how it would feel. What felt like in 2 seconds I'm burning up on the inside. I could feel this rush into everything.. ears.. toes.. lady parts and as it sat there it got hotter and hotter. Then I'm thinking perhaps that's the MS. lol  (I'm so glad I can laugh about this now) Afterwords she asked how I was doing.. fine except that I'm on fire every where.. oh yeah that's normal. Next time say something.. that's kinda important information.

The MRI was with the nice nurse, that was 40 mins in a MRI machine. DK give me a blessing (A special prayer) so that I would be calm.. it worked. lol there was one point the whole machine would shake.. as if a T-Rex was coming it took all that I had to not smile or laugh.

Anywho.. long story short I called the Dr. office today everything is normal.. I don't have MS.. nor is there a blockage/clot.. everything is honky dory. :D I will be honest, there were tears of joy. What a relief.. time to get back to crafting. I actually made stuff and took pics I think I'll post one later today. :D no promises... I'm distracted easily these days... oooo shinny....

Tree Trimming

Hello and welcome,

Only a few days left until Christmas. I adore Christmas, it's my favorite holiday. Sorry I've been gone as of late. I've been busy.. decorating the inside.. the outside.. the tree. Then there's all the other fun stuff... shopping ...wrapping... the Hero Arts 2012 catalog party. :D  (Which was a ton of fun.)

I'm sorry I don't have a craft photo to share with you. I've crafted I just haven't had a chance to finish and/or take photos. Hopefully soon. :D

I decided to add a photo of our bonsai'd tree. No it's not really bonsai'd .. that would be awesome! It would cost thousands of dollars but man would that be cool. We call it bonzi'd because well we have some large ornaments that just don't fit... so a few years ago we took some shears and pruned and trimmed to what we like. We'd cut out any dense patches trim here and there.... ta da.. this is this years creation:

Yes that is a Godzilla at the top of the tree. The tree topper has dare I say been some contention. We haven't settled on one yet. Well to be honest Dk is planning on making a death star and putting that on the top... I'm really surprised that hasn't been created yet. Until then I bought a star a few years ago as it needed something however DK helped decorate the tree this year and refused to put it on. Instead he put Godzilla, the lumber jack waving to you.

Both of our family's are ornament collectors so we came into the marriage with a solid collection. Plus we have bought our own ornaments on special occasions..when we got engaged, decorations from the wedding.... honeymoon that kind of thing.

As an FYI I have my MRI and CT Angiogram today. Hopefully we will find some answers.

I hope your have a great Holiday Season!

Katie

Happy Thursday!

Not only is it payday :) but I'm the featured guest designer over at lilypad cards.. What an honor! They have spot lighted some serious talent over there. I'm excited and humbled to be added to the list.

Here's a sneak peek of what I created:

Hop on over to see the full cards with info and what not. Thanks for stopping buy!

Katie

Our 8 cow woman

A little background... Dk's little brother... Devan has been dating an awesome young woman Jennifer. We adore her and it seems things are heading the right direction for them. They have joked they are getting married in 2013 however we've been pushing for 2012... I digress.. Anywho. I have to get her a gift.. cuz she's really cool and as of course were trying to capture her with our bribes... er I mean gifts.

So come to find out her favorite animal is a cow... why that is I don't know. I love the food they give us but that's about it. Course there are some cultures that adore cows so she's not alone. The second I heard she loved cows I had to get the critters on the farm set from Lawn Fawn... it is a cute cow. 

   

More background. I am LDS and happy to admit it. Our church created an awesome video in the late 60's focusing on building self worth in others.  Quick summation it takes place in the south pacific and the local man to be had buys a wife for 8 cows...which has never happened before and not just any woman Mahanna the local shy girl who spends most of her time in the trees. It's a great flick and thankfully I found the full video for you. It's 23 mins long but so worth it. 

Here's the video link:  Johnny Lingo It's got little pop-up of info since a few of you have already seen it. :D 

Knowing Jenn loves cows I made her a tag.. with 8 cows of course. Here's the tag:

I think I'll address it to: Mrs. 2012

Copic's and Memento black ink were used. Nice and simple.


Katie

An excited state or condition...

What has me so excited you ask. Why it's the 2012 Hero Arts catalog:

I love Hero Arts, they have great products with a great selection. The 2012 catalog sneak peak starts tomorrow!!! ahhhhhh I'm really excited.. it's my first catalog release so I'm allowed to be excited this one time right?

For a few weeks now they have been promoting their catalog partys. How awesome.. to see what's in store for the next year.. happy days. The best part is my home store is having a party ...the downside is it's next week :( The catolog comes out tomorrow but we have to wait a week. There are some good reasons why that is and I'm not trying to argue those. But after the phenomenal blog hop Hero Arts put on today I can't wait another week. I've not been one to handle anticipation to well.

With that said.... I'm sorry Stamp Fever.. I'm going to another store.

As my husband is working and this is my free Saturday.(I get one each month).. I'm taking a mini road trip (30 min drive) to Monrovia. The owner of Pages from the Heart is allowing me to check out her catalog. 'First one's free' she said (lol jk).

I love you Stamp Fever, I really really really do.. your my home. Your everything I want in a store but I have to get a fix...er I mean look. I hope this doesn't ruin our relationship. I promise I will continue to order everything though you... at least with everything you can get.  I'll still use Simon Says Stamp for all the things you don't sell.

Hi my name is Katie and I have a stamping addiction.

Girls sample #1

Uber quick post.. 

The other day I talked about making some cards for the girls at church. This is one we made. I let them pick out their own colors with the inks flower... so they were all different very cool. The best part was non of them wanted to be the same. They had a great time and adored the distress inks. Here's my sample:

It was quick and simple :D Everything is Hero Arts with the exception of the sentiment.. that's Close to my Heart. It's hard to find proper scripture verses.

lol I didn't ink the edges.. the girls are 7-10 I wanted to keep it simple. I keep looking at it and notice how naked it is. I have to ink them. I'll remake it and ink it just for you Gina. :D


Katie

The First Tags of Christmas

Woo hoo Christmas.. I love giving.. the planning.. the shopping.. the conspiring. I love it all. This year is no exception. The difference this year is I've been working on my crafting skills.. which then leads to the.. where's my amazing card? I've not been one for sending out Christmas cards lol ironic isn't it. I've thought about doing the here's what every one's been up to kind of letter, but that's what Facebook is for.  When the kids come I'm sure I'll feel differently. I do love getting all the photos form the extended family. Perhaps next year we'll do that. lol course I said that last year. (last year's excuse was I didn't want/couldn't to pay postage) 

Anywho, I wanted to make something cool for people however cards wasn't a realistic option. I decided to create gift tags.Sticking to our budget we would choose an item off their wish list. In my Mother in Law's case we will end up wrapping 3 gifts for her. (I'd tell you what were getting her but she does read this periodically so you'll have to wait until after Christmas.) We ended up going slightly over budget for her but that's ok mom's are worth it. 

Kathy (Mother in law) is in love with the Hawaiian islands. She defiantly has a Polynesian heart. When I saw the new Graphic 45 new paper/stamp set I had to get it for her.  Here's her tags:

You'll notice I haven't filled in the name as of yet.. you see Dk's family doesn't just put to Kathy from Katie. They put things like To: The Polynesian at heart From: The ink lover. What's even better is when we can't figure out who it's to so we'll ask her and she'll say that's Dk's but he'll open it to find something clearly meant for his sister. Needless to say I'll be enlisting Dk's help to fill these out.

The Paper is from Graphic45 Tropical Travelogue the larger to/from is from Lawn Fawn  the others are hand written. The top one has three strips of washi tap. The middle one with the red boarder is from the matching stamp set. They were fairly easy to make as I let the paper do the work for me. :D

Katie

Eye Update

I saw a neurologist today. Quite a character he was in army green scrubs with boots to match. An older guy, I could easily picture him at a 60's protest. He's asking if I smoked, drank or do drugs.. nope.. "that's the problem your board" he said. lol  We're gonna hit it off just fine. :D

He agreed with the eye doc and my primary doc.. it's blah blah blah blah.. (I have yet to learn the term. I'm usually really good at learning the medical stuff to.) For those of you who haven't read my previous post's 4 times now I've woken up to temporary blindness in one eye. Essentially I'm having mini strokes in that eye.. he's really surprised though that it only happens at night. Anywho, I've been charged with creating a journal and to taking my blood pressure until the tests are done and the results in. I'll be having an angiogram and a "proper MRI".

He prescribed baby aspirin. So come to find out there can be an allergic reaction with aspirin and people with asthma.. so if i start itching I need to call him immediately. lol now I keep thinking ever single itch... is that the reaction or am I just itchy? You know like when people start talking about lice then all of a sudden your head itches... like that. We've been having horrible winds here to, which makes everything dry and itchy already.

That's the latest.

In card news I've been asked to do a "card class" for the young girls at our church. That's tomorrow night. It should be fun. 2 cards in 1 hour, there should only be 6 girls it will make for a great time... hopefully. Now to create 2 cards that will take some time putting together but are not to hard. :D

Happy Monday,

Katie

The eye thing is: Amaurosis Fugax-Loss of vision in one eye due to a temporary lack of blood flow to the retina.

Procrastination

Sympathy cards :(

What got me started on this journey of card making was a family activity. The ladies get together and made some cards for Aunt Janet. {Side note... I saw one of the cards I made from last year... om goodness it was awful.. man have I come along way.} The plan this year is to pull from my stash and we'll sit around and only make Christmas cards for her. In order to make sure she has a complete set I asked what she needed... sympathy cards.. I've been putting off doing them. Here's my first.. I have a few more to make in the next few weeks. 

I was excited to try sticky back canvas.. very cool... I used alcohol ink on it. I colored it then frayed it.. not a good idea.. fray it first then color it. This is an atc canvas, they are cheaper then the larger pieces. Cheaper is good when I'm trying something new. :D  

Jennifer McGuire did some great video's about sticky back canvas and paint:

Thinking Inking Canvas Part 1

Thinking Inking Canvas Part 2

Thinking Inking Canvas Part 3

And here is a great video she did using alcohol inks:

Thinking Inking Week 5 - Alcohol Ink

The middle card in the video is what I was aiming for. Not bad for a first try.. not to self... review the video before trying lol. 

The paper is one of those super cheap deals from the craft store as is the twine. The flowers and sentiment is from Hero Arts With Sympathy. 

Katie

December Flowers

Happy Flowers for a wonderful boss:

Her birthday is soon and I wanted to make a nice bright card for her. Birthdays should be bright, lol course I think everything should be bright. 

InLinkz.com


The stamp is from Close to my Heart, the buttons are from my stash. The flowers were to "texty" so I added some ink to them to tone them down. In this case pattern on top of pattern wasn't a good thing. I love how that banner hung off the card however I have to mail this so I cut off the tips. It looks pretty cool.

Have a great weekend :D

Life is a Highway

You may have noticed all the crazy posts earlier today we were testing the scheduling post thingy. I could never get it to work so I brought an expert in to help me. For those of you who follow by email.. sorry about that. It's working now now's theres no excuse for me 

I finally got to really sit down and truly craft last night. I had a great time of it to. It ended early with a run to buy a gift for my Mother in Law. 

One of our emeritus board members birthday is coming up. Masculine cards are hard to do regardless. I wasn't to sure what to do. He adores driving around the state so I pulled out some patterned paper and created this:

The paper is from a craft store as is the ribbon. My awesome Mom got me the spellbinders hexagon die's a couple of weeks ago. The Sentiment is from Lawn Fawn hats off to you. It is a little crooked however it's home made so I left it alone. It's the free spirit in me. I used distress inks to color the smaller hexagon. It's simple but he's a simple guy. 

The weeks almost over and it the first of December woo hoo!

Katie 

Butterflies

Hello,

Another quick post. I've been having fun shopping for everyone. I love giving gifts. I've also been getting my house back in order. Lol just in time to get the Christmas decorations out. :D

I'm happy to report I'm a finalist in two categories for Karen's blog awards. Your welcome to vote to do so click here.

Anywho ages ago.. well it feels like ages ago... I sent off a card to a publisher. I wasn't chosen, I wasn't expecting to be, it was my first time.. that and they have 1000+ people sending in pic's. It was just fun to push myself. The theme I choose to go with was butterfly's.

I really like how it turned out. Those butterflies are amazing in person. Here is a complete (for once) list of everything I used:

Cardstock: Neenah solor white, Echo park delightful doilies (from the Victoria garden series)

Other paper: Staedtler vellum

Stamps: Flower dot pattern by Hero Arts, Antique Engravings Butterflies by Hero arts, and Find joy also by Hero arts

Copic's used:

Red Butterfly: R20, R22, R24, R27, C0, C1, C2

Blue Butterfly: B04, B02, B00, Y08, Y00, Y02, Y04

Purple Butterfly: V12, V15, V17, RV00, RV02, RV04

Bodies colored with N1, N3, N5

Antenna hand drawn with .5 multiliner

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black by Tsukineko, Tumbled Glass distress by Ranger, Broken China distress by Ranger

Ribbon: Essentials

Gems: Sparkle Gems by Hero arts (Flower)

Center Stone by Zva Creative

I am very pleased with the results. I'll definitely submit in the future, once things calm down of course. First I have to get a few other things done.

Time to get back to life.

Katie

Peace On Earth

I hope all of ya's had a wonderful weekend! For those of us here in the states this weekend was the best food holiday ever.. Thanksgiving. Which is super yummy. I even cooked. I made the stuffing and yams. (My moms recipe) I did a decent job of it to. Plus I prepped everything for Dk. (He had to work at his awesome job at Whole Foods). It was a big success.

Friday for lunch we went to the German deli. We then stopped at the Vietnamese market on the way home and Saturday for Breakfast Dim Sum (Chinese) I love living here in so cal. Such a great verity. I'm sure I gained a couple of pounds but it was worth it. I'll get back to exercising as soon as the doc clears me.

I was making cards for an up coming surprise... :D This was the first card I made, however I wasn't as happy with the results so I set it aside and made some others. I'll tell you more of the surprise when that day comes.

Here's my card:

Stamps: Sentiment Close to my heart Everlasting Life, Hero arts - Flourish Ornament

I gold embossed it with Judikins egyptian powder. The paper is from Echo Park - Winter Park .

It's missing something. Not to sure what but at some point I have to move on.

I'm excited for the holiday's I have a lot of crafting to get to. Here's to having it all done shortly. :D

Travels

Yeah I have a card for you :D

But first I am happy to report I have been nominated in two category's in the.. "Your favorite blogs of 2011" being hosted by my friend Karen. Feel free to check out the voting here. What a surprise.. who knew this blog thing would be such a big hit. Wow thanks to whom ever nominated me and to all those who vote.

My card is a birthday card for one of the coolest people I've ever met, my sister in law Kellee. She lives on the other side of the country so we don't get to see her to often. :( Although this year we've seen her 3 or 4 times... and she'll be flying in less than a month. Woo Hoo!

Seriously Kellee is amazing. A few months ago she said "I expect to get an amazing birthday card". Oh my how to live up to that statement. Of course I want to give her the coolest card ever. I don't know if this is that card however it fits her personally perfectly. You see Kellee is a cartographer. She makes maps for a non profit group. Maps of sea turtle migrations, deforestation that sort of thing. Plus she has traveled the world and I mean the world. She's been just about every where except for South America. With that in mind this is what I created:

I hope she likes it and it lives up to her expectations. Here is some what I used:

InLinkz.com

The Happy Birthday stamp is from a set I won from Simon Says Stamp. I'll see if I can find which set it came from.

Happy Birthday Kellee! Your gift will be in the mail shortly.

Katie

Entering Back into Society

I'm alive! Oh wow I forgot how much our annual meeting sucks the life out of me. I worked some serious overtime to. Everything went great and all is well. It's over and I expect the next few weeks to calm down. :D

Good news for you but bad news for the previous winner she didn't contact me. Let's find hope the next winner contacts me or is someone I know. Spinning the great wheel....

The winner is... #15 Jenn.. Woo Hoo!

Jenn said...

Nice! Love the burned edging. And I would LOVE to win something from Lawn Fawn! =)

I'm excited for you Jenn, and thankfully I have your phone number. As a matter of fact I'm gonna call you right now... ring ... ring.. Jenn you didn't answer your phone. I did leave a you crazy message. Hey... I know your coming out in a few months but the Discovery Center's cube has the biggest Darth Vader on it I've ever seen. I'll try and snap a picture of it for you. Perhaps that will entice your Dad to come down.

In other news the MRA results came back normal.. there was something on the ..insert technical term here... left side vessel was fuzzy it could the picture or the equipment however they can't rule it out blah blah blah. My Dr. is planning on calling a neurologist today. We'll see. I'm thinking it was a fluke thing that's over now.

I have been able to craft and it felt great. I went to take some photos however a light bulb went out. lol just my luck. I'll pick up some light bulbs on the way home.

Hope your having a great Monday!

Katie

Checked Out

Hello!

As you can tell I haven't been around in the blog world. My work has the best of me. Once a year we have an annual meeting and dinner and it's always the week before Thanksgiving. I've been busying working on that. I haven't worked over time.... yet. However when I am home I'm so spent that I haven't been to excited to craft. Things will calm down and I'll get back into the swing of things.

I did manage to take Gina's class last night and the best news is I got Sarah to join me. To top it off she actually had fun and wants to do it again. :D

In other news....

The Doctor ordered two tests, the MRA, which I told you about, and an ultrasound on my neck to check my arteries. (I don't recall if I told you about that.) The Ultrasound came back normal. :D Were still waiting for the results to the MRA. Hopefully that will be good news.

It's been a good news day so far. I was "forced" to go to Disneyland this morning. (Our dinner will be there this weekend and I had to get some info for the Board). The parking folks were handing out free give away's (air fresheners). Then on my way into the office I stopped to get breakfast.. this little voice kept saying go to Carl's Jr. I pull up to find they are giving away free breakfast bisquets. Very cool.

Lastly...

The winner from my give away, Nichol Tran, has yet to contact me. As I said before If she doesn't by Friday I'll pick someone else. Only a couple of days left!

All in all a good day so far. Hopefully yours is going well.

Katie

We have a winner!

Woo hoo! It's that time to spin the big wheel....

Random.org choose number..... 15

Anonymous said...

What a great idea to burn the edges!

Nichol Tran

Congratulations! Nichol please email me [catherine (dot) koenig (at) gmail (dot) com] by 11/18 with your shipping information. Also let me know which Lawn Fawn stamp set you want. I'll order that for ya promptly.

If I don't hear back from Nichol by the November 18th (noon PST) I will draw another winner. I'm sorry everyone couldn't win.

Thank you all again for supporting my efforts. Let's hope work calms down soon I can get back to crafting.

Katie

On day left!

Tomorrow's the "big" drawing day. I'll do the drawing around noon pst. For the post with all the information concerning the give away click here. It's not to late.

We keep hanging out with friends. Crazy.. this socializing stuff. I hope it calms down soon cuz it's cutting into my craft time.

I do have a card to share with you. I was asked to make it for Stamp Fever. They have been selling Lockheart stamps (great for coloring with copic's) and the sample card sent wasn't quite christmas-y enough so Linda gave me a new candy wreath to make a new card. This is what I created:

A close up:

I tried to keep it simple the goal is to sell more Lockheart stamps not everything else. Everything else is from Hero Arts :D The ribbon I have tons and tons of.. the spool is from Michael's.

Good luck with the drawing tomorrow. I wish every one could win.

Katie

Lawnscaping Challenge #21

Sorry for all the quick posts. Work has me super busy. I was hoping to get lots of crafting done last night however it took me awhile to put everything away. I had to have 35 card kits ready this past Saturday. That was crazy.. You can read about that in this post here. I made quite the mess. Then I decided to reorganized my distress inks. I'll do a post about that another day.

I did manage to make a card for the Lawnscaping challenge I will enter it into the Lily pad texture challenge as well.

Here's my card:

InLinkz.com

I colored with Copic's.. I wrote the list down however I didn't bring that with me today. Sorry about that. Let me know if you want the list I'll be happy to send it to you.

I thought I'd let you know my MRA has been scheduled for next Tuesday afternoon. I'll keep you posted. My break is over. Time to get back to work.

Katie

Quick Post

Wow in 3 days I went from 25 followers to 40.... thank you so much. You guys are awesome. Who knew a give away would be so productive. (For more info concerning my first giveaway see this post.)

I wanted to clarify in case anyone was wondering. As you may have noticed Decay, my awesome hubby, was the first to comment. He nor our roommate, Karen, will be entered into the drawing. Sorry Karen but your welcome to play with all my stamps any time. (If either of you are that disappointed I'll get you a set for Christmas) All other family and friends will be in the drawing just not the ones that live with me.

I knew I would get some new followers I didn't expect so many so fast. That's awesome. My second milestone I had in my mind was 50 followers. If I reach 50 before Friday I will pick 2 winners. :D

In other happy news.... for my new friends my post last month talked about this weird health issue I've had. I'm happy to say the blood tests came and everything is normal with the exception of my good cholesterol. To raise that I need to get back to exercising... That I already knew.

Now to find the motivation.

Combustion

Willkommen.. Bienvenida.. 歡迎

Welcome to my first blog hop. :D If your hopping in from Karin's blog your in the right place. First with the "legal" stuff. This hop is being brought you buy:

With generous donations by:

Simon Says Stamp and Paper Smooches

Masculine cards... I don't usually do them. My man isn't a big fan. As soon as I heard the theme I asked Dk... what do you think of when I say masculine? His response... fire.. ok.. here you go fire man:

Most of what I used (I say most because I usually forget something)

InLinkz.com

and of course fire. I burned the edges.. over the kitchen sink of course. Funny ha ha.. so I had the window open since I'm asthmatic.. the last thing I need is smoke inhalation. Yeah that breeze helped make those unintentional smoke marks on the white paper. It was quite funny. For once I didn't have inky hands.. they were ashy.

For more information and/or the beginning of the hop click here.

Next up is Maria Stanley. I love how she "tied" in the theme with layers.

Now I've only been doing this new found hobby about 10 months now and this blogging stuff even less. I am so very thankful for my followers. Your all awesome people. In honor of you I have decided to do a give away. What will you be giving away you might ask? Why one Lawn Fawn stamp set of your choice.

To enter all you have to do is: a.. follow my blog and 2. leave a comment on this post. It's that easy. I will choose a winner via random.org on Friday November 10th. Yes all my foreign friends are welcome to join in.

Good luck!

Do have a wonderful weekend... Happy Hopping!

Katie