Friday 31 January 2014

Valentines for Vets

This week the local library in Cold Lake Alberta (which is home to the largest air force base in Canada), put out a call: Isn't Valentine's Day a wonderful way to make a fuss and let Veterans know we will never forget what they have done for us. Show Veterans your gratitude for their sacrifices and achievements in serving our country. Create a hand-made valentine and help bring joy to a Canadian Veteran this Valentine's Day. If you have a card, drop it by the Library by Feb. 2nd and we will mail it.

I thought this was a wonderful cause and decided since I was feeling okay tonight that I would make a couple of cards and would drop them off when we go into Cold Lake tomorrow.

The patterned paper is all stuff I have had in my stash forever. The cardstock is DCWV 8.5x11. The washi tape and bling is from the dollar store. The puffy stickers are again from my stash. The regular stickers are from the Sweet Things collection from Doodlebug Design and the twine is American Craft. I also used my cuttlebug and sizzix embossing folder to dry emboss some cardstock.







A couple of more layouts this month (layouts 10-13)

I know I haven't been updating very often since i injured my back but I am happy to announce that I started physio this week and my therapist was pleasantly surprised at how strong I am and I was even able to do some stage 2 exercises. I'm still not able to carry or pick-up my son but my therapist is hoping that by next week I will be able to pick him up (insert happy dance here).  

Last Friday my pain was at about a 2 and Saturday I was still at a 2 so I scrapped the following layouts. I know I should have listened to the doctor when he said to stop as soon as I feel pain, but I figured, if I just finish this one layout then I will take a break. So I would take a break and then go and start another layout. Well I was on such a roll and was using the same stack (DCWV Evergreen Stack that I got for Christmas) and everything was coming together so nicely that I kept going.

Well I woke up Sunday morning and could barely move and my pain was a 5 :(

Since then I have started physio and have been taking it easy but am still quite tired easily so by the time my little one goes to bed I take my meds and go to sleep. Luckily my mom is still here (love how moms just drop everything when you need them) and she takes care of my son during the day, although my son has been sitting with me and beside me (since it finally doesn't hurt when he does) he is going through withdrawl and as a result has been acting out. Atleast I am not the only one who is sad I am injured.





Saturday 25 January 2014

Love this moment - A2Z scraplet January Challenge (layout 9)

This month's challenge at A2Z was to do something new, something that you have never done before. Coinsidently, this was one of my new years resolutions and here I thought I would have most of the year to procrastinate but apparently not.

My new is using gesso. I have seen so many talented crafters using this medium and decided that that would be my something new. But while I was creating, I actually did two new things because not only did I used gesso (which I made myself), I also blended two distress inks to colour my texture paste (which I also made).

Here is my entry:





















To start I spread gesso in multiple directions and then added paper and then more gesso. I then used my brick A2Z chipboard and added home-made texture paste and then blended distress ink (tattered rose & picked raspberry). I then used a droplet to drop tattered angels (cupid) and perfect pearls mist (pink gumball) around the page.

Other supplies:
papers: DCWV (luxe & glitter stacks)
fancy pants design title
k&company (b&w flora and fauna)
7gypsies
making memories (just chillin' girl)
webster's pages (polka dots)
kaisercraft (porcelain rose)
distress stain (picked raspberry)
american crafts twine
studio 112 (vellum family and friends)

Thank you for stopping by, hope you play along at A2Z this month: http://networkedblogs.com/SrZiJ

Wednesday 22 January 2014

Love all these things about my cousin - Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine January Sketchy Challenge (layout 8)

Here is the 2nd layout I did since I injured my back, again took longer than it should have since I needed multiple breaks (and a nap) before I could complete it.

Here is another fabulous sketch from the very talented Sue Sykes:
Jan 2014 Sketch
Here is my take:





















These pictures are from this past summer of my son with his cousin Sadie while they played on grandma. Kyle loves Sadie so much and every time they see each other they are just full of hugs and kisses for each other. They only get to see each other 2 or 3 times a year since we live in Northern Alberta and they live on Vancouver Island. Thank goodness for skype so even though they don't physically get to see each other they get to watch each other grow.

Papers: DCWV (blossom song stack)
inks: tattered angels (cupid); tim holtz distress stain (raspberry)
banner/word: heidi swapp
flowers: k&company, dollar store
words: my mind's eye
alphas/heart doily/washi tape/bling: dollar store
heart brads: recollections

thank you for stopping by and hope you play along this month at Canadian Scrapbook Magazine: http://canadianscrapbooker.ca/sketchy/showphoto.php?photo=809&title=jan-2014-sketch&cat=531

Bubbles - WW1 January Challenge (layout 7)

This is the very first layout I did since I injured my back and this layout took all day to complete; mostly since I had to continuously stop and take breaks cause I was in pain.

A new year and a new month means a new challenge over at White with 1. This month is tangerine, this is not usually a colour that I use very often, so this month was quite challenging since I don't have very much of this colour in my stash.

I was pleasantly surprised when I won a challenge at scrapbook.com and got my box of goodies in the mail and there was lots of halloween papers and other fun goodies that I could use for this challenge.

Here is my take on tangerine:





















To start I splattered some deco art paint in pumpkin spice. I then used October afternoon (witch hazel) papers and added photos. The chipboard (prima) and larger flower (petaloo) were also in my box of goodies from scrapbook.com. The eyelet (making memories), I have had in my stash forever. The ribbon (maya road), I won a while back.

Other supplies:
alphas: thickers
buttons: dollar store
twine: american craft

thank you for stopping by, hope you play along at WW1 this month: http://whitewith1.blogspot.ca/2014/01/january-challenge.html

Tis the season - DCWV January Stack-a-holic challenge (layout 6)

Here is another layout I did before I injured my back. I got a couple of stacks for Christmas including the Evergreen Stack so when I saw DCWV's january challenge I knew I just wanted to use my new stack. Here is the sketch:


And my take:






















Papers: DCWV (evergreen stack)
borders/tag/flower/flourish/pinecone/bling: recollections
journalling block: this was actually a Christmas tag from my brother and sister-in-law that was on one of my presents from them

There is still time to play along this month: http://dcwvinc.blogspot.ca/2014/01/january-stack-holic-challenge.html

There is also a card sketch challenge but with my back still acting up i'm pretty sure I'm not going to get to it this month

Vacation - Flourish with a Bling January Challenge (layout 5)

Another fabulous challenge, a colour challenge:
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And here is my take:


















Papers: martha stewart
ribbon: ospray
flowers: dollar store
title: me and my big ideas
leaves: martha stewart punch
the middle of the flowers are fourish with a bling pearls in pink

Layouts done before I injured my back (layouts 1-4)

1) Happy Holidays:

2) Family: 

3) Logan: 


 4) Family

Monday 20 January 2014

MIA with a back injury

So back on January 4th I was sitting on the couch beside my son putting his boots on so we could go into town (I was turned towards him). He was helping putting his boot on and as such he dropped his boot, as I went to bend down to pick up the boot, my son also went to pick up the boot. To stop him from falling off the couch, I quickly swung upwards to pick him up and heard a snap in my back. I yelled for my husband (since I was stuck in the bent over position) and he was in the bathroom. He came out and did a check that i could move my head, arms, fingers, toes and legs. With his help I moved to a standing position and started walking around the house (very slowly).

From Saturday to Tuesday I was trying home remedies (tylenol 3, robax, ice, heat, aleeve) and nothing was working so Tuesday (Jan 7th) night my husband finally convinced me to go to the hospital (i could no longer turn my head so could not drive myself during the day. My husband dropped me off at the er while he and my son went to Tim Hortons for something to eat. I walked to the counter and told them what was going on and then waited for the next hour in the waiting room. The chairs were hard and I could not sit in them so was standing, but couldnt stand for long periods of time either so the longer i waited, the more pain i was in.

I was finally taken into an examination room to wait for a doctor, I waited another 20 minutes and the doctor finally came in and did a check. He wanted xrays and told me to lay in the bed until the xray tech could come reach me. A minute later a nurse came in and gave me a shot of morphine. I waited a couple of minutes (literally two minutes) and a woman came and got me and we walked down to xrays. She took a couple of pictures and then asked me to stand so she could get a straight on xray. She then asked how long my back had been bothering me - a couple of days. She then showed me my xray. My lower back looked like a C. I looked at it and said it is not supposto look like that is it - no not at all. She ordered me back to my examination room and the doctor would be there shortly to check on me.

I went back to the examination room and laid on the bed. The doctor came in and said that he had spoken with the doctor at the university hospital in Edmonton (3 hours away) and that he wants to see me that night for a CT scan. I asked if I needed to drive there since my husband had to work in the morning and I was not able to drive. He told me the ambulance would be taking me. I phoned my husband and told him what was going on. I convinced him I was okay and that I would call as soon as I knew what was going on. I then phoned my parents (who live on Vancouver Island) and asked my mom if i needed her could she come to me to watch my son (if I was going to be in the hospital for some time) - she said yes.

Two nurses came in and strapped me to a board explaining that I was to wait on this board until the ambulance got there. Ten minutes later the ambulance attendents came (seriously the two nicest ladies ever) and strapped me to another board as that was the board requested by the team in edmonton. We were on our way to edmonton.

I fell asleep on the way (morphine finally kicked in, there was another drug they gave me too for nausea but i do not remember its name).

We got to the hospital at 1am and waited until 230 to go to the CT (apparently while we were on our way there was a car accident which required ct scans). As I was wheeled into the room there were four nurses, two doctors, a surgeon, and an anesthesiologist. I commented on how this is a lot of people for a CT scan. One of the nurses explained how they were my surgery team - WHAT!!!!!!!!!! What my doctor did not mention is that he thought i had either fractured or broken my back and I needed to go to edmonton for back surgery!!!!

They unstrapped me from the board on the stretcher and transferred me to another table and removed my clothes for more xrays. I then waited 45 minutes for the surgeon to come back. The surgeon explained how he had good news and bad news. He explained how my back was neither fractured nor broken; however my 1 2 and 3 vertebrae were twisted together into a knot but I did not need surgery. He told me the next two weeks would really suck especially since the only thing I could do was take medicine and do my normal daily actitities (on a very slow pace and stop as soon as it hurts). I got up and got back into my clothes while I waited for my prescriptions. I felt nauseous and dizzy, one of the nurses caught me and he and the ambulance attendants helped me back onto the stretcher for our ride home. The other ambulance attendant went to the tim hortons in the hospital and got me a water and donut (since one of my meds i needed to take with food). The doctor then gave me a bunch of prescriptions as well as some meds to take right then and there. We were then discharged and sent home.

We left the hospital at 4am. We got back to bonnyville at 650am. I called my husband and since my son was still sleeping he called his friend to come pick me up and bring me home. I got home and went straight to bed.

When I woke up I could not get out of bed or roll over, I was in so much pain. My husband called the hospital but they would not or could not give him any advice except to call an ambulance to bring me back into the hospital. My husband gave me a percaset (which he had from a previous injury) and I got out of bed while he and my son went into town to fill my prescriptions. I was on T3, naproxen, and valium. . .the downside is that they only worked when I took them all together. The worst downside was that they made me sleepy which is not an option when I am a stay at home mom of a two year old. My husband took wednesday off. . .by wednesday evening he called my mom to come up and help. My mom got the only seat available for thursday. She did not get here until Friday morning at 2am (my husband picked her up after work). . .my poor husband had to leave for work at 5am :(

The first couple of days my mom was here I was completely worthless. All I did was sleep. Last friday I still was not feeling well so i went back to the doctors (as I was almost out of medicine). Good news, my vertebraes are not in a complete knot which means i can start physio therapy. Bad news, still on meds, still can not do anything, still on bed rest.

My mom is still here, probably for atleast another two weeks, since I still cannot pick-up my son.  I am getting to the point where I am so frustrated because I feel completely useless. I have a very hard time asking for help so I am doing more than I should (which makes my husband and mom mad) and that is also making my healing take longer.

I am going into SERIOUS craft withdrawl. I have received a bunch of crafting supplies in the mail (which I won from challenges) and cannot wait to start them. And there are still lots of challenges for January that I want to get at and have such great ideas for them but cant because I can't stand for longer than 10 minutes without being in pain and I can't scrap sitting down.

So for now I am bedridden with sporatic bouts of cleaning and cooking but besides that I spend my time laying on the couch and sleeping. I am also sleeping on the sofabed since our bed is too soft.

Please bear with me as I heal, I promise as soon as I am able to scrap I will be at it!!!! until then stay safe and warm :)

Thursday 2 January 2014

Vacation - Flourish with a Bling January Challenge (layout #1)

I am happy to announce that my entry "Holiday Hugs" for December's Flourish with a Bling won and I am super uber excited to get my prize in the mail!!!!!!!!

This month's FWAB challenge is a colour challenge. These are always difficult for me I usually only work with 1-3 colours on a layout, so when I have to work with 6 colours I am much more challenged. . .but hey that's why it's call a challenge :)

Here is this month's inspiration:
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And here is my take:





















supplies used:
paper: martha stewart (vintage girl), momenta
ribbon: unknown
title: soft spoken (picture perfect)
flowers: unknown dollar store
punches: martha stewart (leaf & flower)
flourish with a bling: pearls (copper)
ink: tattered rose
pen: memory maker (lavendar)

thanks for stopping by and hope you can come play at FWAB: http://www.flourishwithabling.com.au/blog/happy-new-year-and-welcome-to-2014/

New Year - new goal

Last year I set out a goal to scrap a page a day or 365 layouts in a year. I was pleasantly surprised when I not only met but greatly exceeded my goal and did 420 layouts.

This year my goal is to do 425 layouts. I think this will be a harder goal to accomplish since I do not have any weddings or babies being born (that I know of) so it will be mostly layouts of me and my family. . .well really lets be honest, it will mostly be of my son since I don't like having my picture taken (although that is another resolution is to take more pictures of myself).  I hope you follow along on my journey :)