You Mean So Much

Happy Monday!!  Last day of February and thought I'd end the month with another card for the February Altenew Inspiration Challenge.  Completely inspired by this card and this card, both by the uber talented Aga.

Used Altenew Beautiful Day and a sentiment from ??? (put it away before I could write it down because I'm trying to be organized...).  Color by Tombow markers.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Happy!

Ellen Hutson February Pin-Sights Challenge

Love when a card is just paper, stamps, and ink -- so easy to mail!

As part of my stamp buying binge last week, I got Essentials by Ellen by Julie Wonky Backdrops.  This was my favorite part of the recent release and expect to use it a lot. The circles and triangle are from that set. The sentiment is from All Inside and the tiny dot from Bokeh Dots.

Used three shades of aqua ink by Altenew because I knew I wanted to participate in the February Essentials by Ellen Pin-Sights Challenge.  Here's the inspiration photo.  Gorgeous!

MOOD WHEN DONE:  Happy!

_____

Thanks for your thoughts on my previous post.  Very helpful and appreciated.

Hello Rock, Meet Hard Place (A Life Update)

Eleven days ago, I decided to make one of those cauliflower dishes that mimic mashed potatoes.  And by "mimic mashed potatoes" I mean add a bunch of high fat stuff and make believe that the dish is both healthy and tasty.  So I pulled out this mondo size cauliflower and rested it on the counter and got a couple of knives out of the drawer.

While I was standing there debating which knife to use to get the cellophane wrapper off* the cauliflower, an enormous blast erupted in my chest. Loud and painful and scary as hell. For a split second, I wondered if I was dead. Since heaven will include actual potatoes and not cauliflower, I quickly nixed that idea and realized that my ICD** (implantable cardioverter device) had gone off.  I started screaming and crying, and pretty much kept that up, on and off, for about 12 hours.

Ambulance, emergency room, and it was quickly clear that the ICD had "misfired," meaning it had tortured me by mistake as opposed to saving my life.  My heart was fine, but my head was not. Spent a night in the hospital and did not move except to go to the bathroom. I sat upright in the bed, afraid that the ICD would go off again.  I insisted that they turn off the ICD and one doc after another declined to do so.  Finally I heard from my own doc who tried his best to convince me to keep it on, but I persisted, and eventually they turned off the ICD.  (They use some type of magnet and software).

The Rock:  So now I have this thing on the inside of my body with a bunch of wires near my heart that is there for no reason at all.  Maybe I'll go into cardiac arrest, but the ICD won't save my life.  I'll never finish Stamping Destroyed My Life and we'll never learn what happened to M.  To quote my doc, "you'll die when you could have lived."  (Sounds harsh but he's been unbelievably nice about the whole thing.)

The Hard Place:  On the other hand, if I let them turn it back on, I will sit in a chair afraid to breathe, walk on the stairs, stamp, drive, take a shower, or go to sleep.  Eventually, I'll die of boredom from re-watching every episode of Law and Order and might even have to watch Law and Order Criminal Intent, which is a seriously creepy way to go.  I start to shake just thinking of turning it back on.

I have an appointment next week with my other cardiologist -- the "device doctor" -- and will try and get the courage to turn it back on, if she can explain to me why it misfired and why it is unlikely to misfire again (some folks have a series of misfires -- it goes off every 30 seconds for 5, 10, 20 times or more. I shudder.)  Not sure I can do it though.

In case you are wondering why I'm writing about this on the blog, I will tell you it is my way of processing the decision and coping with the anxiety. I do not know what I will do, but in the meantime, guess how much I spent on stamps, inks, and dies in the past eleven days?***

I'll let you know what I decide....thanks for listening!

________

* Interestingly, Mike tells me that he found the cauliflower unwrapped on the counter.  Apparently, the shock took out some brain cells.

** As I mentioned here, I have a heart condition that could cause sudden cardiac arrest.

*** A lot.

Altenew's February Inspiration Challenge

Squeezed a few drops of dye reinkers onto pieces of watercolor paper and then spritzed some water -- more on the paper on the right.  Dabbed a piece of paper towel on the paper on the left. Stamped flowers from Altenew's Adore You, making sure to leave white on the flowers.  Repeated for the leaves.  Love this variation of colors.

Removed the back layer of the watercolor paper so it was nice and thin and trimmed out the flowers and leaves.  Assembled onto a soft gray card that I had speckled with black paint.  Look closely at the top photo and you might see that the card is scored every half inch.

Was inspired by Altenew's current inspiration challenge.

Here's the inspiration photo:

And one more look at my card....  This will be hard to mail so it will be hand delivered to a friend.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Happy.  I have plenty of flowers and leaves for more cards.

Cards for Non Crafters

Mike likes to look over my shoulder while I'm browsing the internet.  He's spying on me in plain sight!  Every once in awhile I'll point out a card that I love.  First, he only likes bright colors. Second, he pretty much doesn't like anything that looks "too crafty."  So I tried this same experiment with some non crafty friends (an experiment I ran a few years ago).  Same result (except for his obsession with color).  Cards we love may leave non crafters cold.

So I decided to make a few cards that I hope my non crafty friends will love -- literally just paper and ink (my favorite kind to make!). Plus they are so easy to mail.

Used a bunch of inks (cubes make it easy to get different colors).

I used You Are My Fave, a fun set in a great font from a new company, The Stamp Market.  (Can we handle a new company? I guess so!)

MOOD WHEN DONE = Colorful!

A Cry for Help

Hero Arts Destination Washington DC and Altenew Bold Alphabet Die. 

Not sure what kind of help we need, but we need it!

MOOD WHEN DONE = Worried.  There's a lot I'd like to say, but I can't think of anything to say that would be helpful. So for now, this card.

Bed of Roses Die, Part 2

Going out on a limb here and assuming you have craft stuff that you haven't used in a while.

See? -- there are still things upon which we can all agree!

In my case, I've had this Essentials by Ellen Bed of Roses die plate since it first came out.  And there it sat, virtually untouched.  Used it last week here and decided that I really love this plate.  

So I made these two cards ...

For the first one, I was inspired by this card by Katherine Shudrova. Katherine is a fantastic stamper and I love everything she makes. 

The sentiment is from an OLD Hero Arts messages set. Hero makes a few of these assorted messages sets every year, and they are well worth the investment.  Used some black gouache paint to add a few speckles on the background.

 I like this red card a lot. The flowers go with the sentiment. However, while I like the look of the second card, something is off.  The circle of roses really doesn't connect with bravery.  On the other hand, the yellow roses are beautiful.

Whatever.  I am sending it to someone who is going through a struggle and that's what really counts.

For this card, I die cut the roses in yellow and then die cut again with a circle die.  Added a sentiment from Concord & 9th's Beautiful Words in Altenew's Sapphire ink.

Hope your week is fantastic. And if it isn't fantastic, be brave! 

MOOD WHEN DONE =  I've got no complaints over here.