It's been a while...

I haven't posted in what seems like forever. My creativity level is about zero right now. The only creative thing that I have done is made a few layouts to sell on Etsy but I haven't scanned them yet.

In January my personal life came crashing down around me, everything changed in a matter of a few short days. What I thought was my life was really just a fairytale/nightmare depending on how you look at it. Now, I am struggling to slowly pick up the pieces. The soonest I could expect to return to a "normal" life would be about three months. But even then my life will never be the same, I have to create a whole new "normal" life for myself.

I've been struggling with my fibro and arthritis and will be glad when winter is over. The cold really makes my bones ache. I am still having lots of sleep problems and finally going to have a sleep study done. I've started doing Weight Watchers again and this time I will succeed. It would be so much easier to deal with my fibro and arthritis if I could loose the excess weight. I've been doing it for two weeks and have lost three pounds. I know that isn't a great loss but at least it is a loss. My doctor is finally going to test me to try to find out why I can't loose weight. I've had my thyroid tested so many times I can't remember but it always comes back normal. Now I am going to have a free cortisol test done. Maybe that will provide us with some answers.

That is about all I have to say for now. Until next time God bless.

Altered book

I finally finished my first altered book. I've been working on it off and on for a couple months. Last night I worked on it at my weekly crop then I finished it this afternoon. I used a kids board book from the Dollar Tree. First I peeled off the shiny pages and I was left with a rough board book. I glued the pages together in groups of two for the cover, first page and back cover. Then I cut an ATC size hole through the remaining pages except the last one to make a niche, gluing them after they were all cut. I collaged all the pages then used lots of distress ink on them. I made two pockets that hold tags and one that holds an old letter I cut from a clip art book and aged. I used photos from my personal collection, collage kits and the web. For the embellishments I used buttons, stickers, a poker chip, brads, photo turns, beads, fibers, a metal key, Grungeboard, a tea bag and micro beads. Click on the pictures for a better look.


Here are the tags


Here is a close up of the beaded sticker from page three.

I made a bunch of ATCs last weekend and with the Christmas preparations, I didn't get a chance to upload them.








We had a good Christmas, I cooked a big dinner and Bob's dad came over to eat with us. I got a laser printer and can't wait until I get it set up. I need to make room for it first and get a USB cord. I'll probably do that tomorrow after church. My birthday was Thursday and Jessica took me out for lunch then Chris took me out for dinner. Chris's girlfriend, Liz, got me An Officer and A Gentleman - my all time favorite movie! So my birthday went pretty good too except that Bob didn't get me anything. Well, it is getting late and I'd better go try to get some sleep so I can make it to church tomorrow. Until next time, God bless.

My first inchies and lots of new ATCs

I've been wanting to try making inchies for a while and finally signed up for a swap. Here are my Christmas inchies.
They were super simple to do because I used images from ArtChix, all I had to do was cut them out and mount on cardstock. I added a word and rubbed on some Stickles. Here are my newest ATCs all of them are for swaps on Swap-bot.

I used magazine pictures, Tim Holtz words and gold stickers on these. Next are some made using stickers. I've had these floral stickers for quite some time. But never thought of a way to use them. I also rubbed a little Stickles on these.
These were made using Tim Holtz stamps, gold stickers and a script background stamp.
The last four cards are for a 5 partner swap. I need 10 cards and have 5 ready.

ATCs and lots of rambling...

Here are a few ATCs that I made last week. They are all pocket ATCs for Swap-bot. The first one is a pocket watch ATC.
I stamped and embossed the watch image then added a page pebble for the face. I used an old necklace and some jump rings to make the chain. I used the sewing machine around the pocket and added some snaps. The next two are lovely ladies. In the pockets are tags that say something I made up about the lady.



This past weekend was no fun at all! Saturday I decided to get ready for the Christmas tree. Our living room is pretty full of furniture so I have to re-arrange to make room. I had to move a chair and small bookcase. Then I decided as long as I was moving things around, I should really do some detailed dusting. The bookcase is home to part of my Liberty Falls collection. There is about twenty houses and lots of tiny people on two of the shelves. So I took them all off and gave them a good cleaning. I only do that about one or two times a year because it is such a pain. So I got the stuff moved then decided to sort/organize Allison's toys a little - they take over the room if I don't try to control them once in a while. Next I decided I needed to do something with my yarn. It was kind of out of control too. I put some in a big basket and the rest in an old hatbox so now it looks lots nicer. Last I decided to do the rest of the weekly cleaning that I didn't do on Friday. That includes dusting, vaccumming, and cleaning the bathroom. By the time I was done, it was pretty late and I was of course in lots of pain even though I took lots of breaks and sat down to work when I could. I didn't get any sleep Saturday night. I had taken my sleeping pill and was still up until some time between four and five. Then of course, I couldn't get up for church. I tried but my body just didn't cooperate. I got up around noon and was still pretty sore and had a good head ache. We went a got a tree and Bob put it up.

Now Bob and Chris go deer hunting every year but haven't managed to shoot anything for quite a few years. Saturday, Bob shot a deer. I thought no big deal, he always takes it somewhere to be proccessed. Not this year, he decided we could do it - wonderful. I was already feeling crappy from over-doing Saturday I sure didn't need this. He decided he wanted to can some of it. I haven't canned anything since I started working full time twelve years ago. I could not find the seal for the pressure canner, and he got mad about that. I also couldn't find the cord for the grinder. I ordered a new seal and it should be in the mail tomorrow - I hope. Any way, I told him we could cut the meat up and freeze it and when the seal comes I will can it (just what I really want to do, oh yeah). He cut the meat from the bones and I chunked it. We did part of it then I went to WalMart to pick up a new grinder (the other one was ancient anyway)and some sausage to mix with the ground meat. When I got back we finished up. By the time we were done, my hands were so numb I could not feel the knife any more. I didn't go to Bible study for two reasons, one we weren't done yet and that wouldn't have went over well and two I was just hurting too bad any way. Another wonderful day of pain and another sleepless night.

Monday, Allison was here at about 6:30 and of course I didn't want to get up. Luckily Chris was home and he kept an eye on her until I was able to get up and moving around. Well not exactly moving around much, my hands were swollen and sore and I ached all over and all I wanted to do was sleep all day. Tuesday morning wasn't much better but as the day went on I didn't feel too bad then...

Since I was feeling somewhat better I figured I should do something with the naked tree. I got the lights on but then I dropped four/broke three ornaments and decided to quit. I spent Wednesday shopping about an hour from home. I really dislike shopping. With fibro and arthritis it is just not fun any more. The drive is awful, my hands and some times feet go numb from driving and I usually get fatigued after about half hour or so. But, locally we don't have much to choose from so off we went - Chris and I. First we went to the mall and had some lunch. Then walked around a little looked at where Santa sits and decided that Allison would like their "North Pole" way more than the one at our mall. We only shopped at one store. I was hurting pretty bad so that was it for the mall and the main reason we were there was for Toys R Us. It isn't in the mall so I needed to save some walking strength for there. I managed to walk around and pick up her toys. The pain was getting pretty bad but I still had two more stops to make. I needed some gifts for my scrapping friends so I had to stop at a scrapbook store. There isn't one where I live so I need to visit them as I see them. Luckily it was a small store but that made it difficult to find nice gifts that I could afford. I managed to choose something for each one. There was one more store that I really wanted to go to, I only go that way once or twice a year so I had to stop there too. It is a craft store and I really should have stayed out of it! I spent way too much, all on myself too. So now here I am, not asleep when I should be and in pain again. I guess that is about all the rambling I have in me for tonight. I need to get some meds. and try to sleep. Hopefully I will be able to finish the tree and other decorating today.

Until next time, God bless.

ATCs...

I made a few new ATCs Friday night. There was one more vintage Santa. A second card in the elephant series. I used the same elephants and just placed them a little differently.
And last is a bird ATC. For this one the background was downloaded from Lisa Vollrath's holiday countdown last year. I spritzed it with some watered down CTMH sand re-inker mixed Perfect Pearls. The bird is from a magazine. The last thing that I had ready to scan is a piece of embossed Pepsi can. I stamped on the back with Staz-on then embossed it. I coated it with black paint, let dry then rubbed some off. I also made eight tags but they all need just a little more work before I scan them.


I spent Saturday cleaning and getting ready to decorate for Christmas. Our living room is pretty full of furniture and Allison's toys so I had to do some re-arranging for the tree. I also decided to get my yarn stash organized. Most of the skeins were in a box behind a chair. I put some in a large basket and I found a big hatbox that I put the rest in. It looks lots better than it did. I am hurting pretty bad now from all the moving and cleaning. I took frequent breaks but still overdid it for the day. I hope I have the energy to get the decorating done.I hope to get started after church. I want to put up a real tree in the living room and an 6' artificial in the dining room. I also have two 4', one for the living room on the radiator and one for the kitchen radiator. Then I have a 3' for at the top of the stairs. The smaller trees are already decorated. Last year I hot glued everything on. I got that idea when I was working at Michaels from the floral designers. I just tied a garbage bag over them and took them to the attic. What a nifty idea! If it gets warm again, I think I'll try to hang some lights outside. I haven't had any up for several years but Allison will like to see them so I'll give it a try.

Well, I guess I'd better try to get some sleep or I won't want to get up for church or do any of the decorating later. Until next time, God bless.

lost ATCs :(

Apparently a set of my vintage Christmas ATCs got lost in the mail. Now my perfect rating at Swap-bot is tarnished :( I mailed the swap to several partners all in the same day in mid November and all but one received them. I just finished a replacement set and am sending them along with the blue tag I made yesterday in hopes that she will accept them and change the rating. This is the first time I've ever had a swap get lost in the mail. Actually it is only the second thing that I have ever mailed that was not received. The other thing was a set of stamps that I sold on EBay. I mailed two sets out the same day and only one was received. That was an expensive lesson for me - always get delivery confirmation on EBay sales. Funny thing, I had my return address on both items and nothing came back to me. Well, here are the two replacement ATCs.
I sure hope she likes them. Oh, I tried the technique on Tim's blog for the background on these. I liked it but I think too much embossing powder stuck to the paper. I will be working on this technique more.

One more for tonight

I should have been in bed long ago but it is another sleepless night. I took my sleeping pill about an hour ago and I think it is starting to kick in. While I was waiting, I decided to catch up on my tags for The Artist Circle group. I used an acrylic wash for the first set.
The next set was done with distress ink. I rubbed the green inkpad on waxed paper and dropped some water on it. Then I smooshed the tag over the ink. The Blue tag was done direct to paper, I just rubbed the ink pad over the tag. And the red was done with a foam brush - my favorite wat to use distress ink. I also added some soot ink to the edges.
The last set was marbled using the shaving cream technique. Was that ever a fun technique! I went on a mini marbling spree. I also did some tags that were not coffee dyed, and ten ATC backgrounds. I could have done more if I wasn't getting tired. Here they are. That really is all for tonight, I am off to lullaby land - or nighmare land as is more common for me. Until next time, God bless.