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