Bits & Pieces

 Happy Friday!!!

What a great day to stay home, warm and cosy, and get some loose ends all tied up!  I'm finally getting on top of all the things I have to do!

I can't believe it's Friday already - the week has FLOWN by! 

You'll recall last week had me completely overwhelmed and stressed out.  This week didn't start off much better :(  Remember I was on top of the world thinking I finally had my daughter's "issues" figured out?  Yep.  I was 99% sure that she was crashing due to being lactose intolerant.  By Sunday my certainty had dropped to about 5%.  Rebecca spent the weekend at my Mom's (Alicia and I were supposed to be at Brownie camp all weekend so she was heading to grandma's for a fun weekend and to give Craig the house to himself ... but camp was cancelled due to the nasty storm that blew through).  Mom was careful not to give Rebecca any dairy products.  It really didn't seem to help at all.  I was discouraged.  Mom said she ate like a horse Saturday ... but Sunday, after having half a bacon sandwich (on "skinny" bread) she didn't feel well.  OK!  Bingo!  Let's move off of lactose intolerance and move swiftly along onto gluten intolerance!  It had to be the bread!  So off I trotted to the store and spend $56 on potato bread (for $6.29 a loaf!!!), coconut icecream $7.50 for a small container), rice cereal and more Almond milk (just in case it WAS dairy).  When I got home Rebecca announced "I love those ginger cookies you made!" ... oh!  those would be the cookies made with 2 cups of flour and a cup of butter!  @#%@$#%  So much for no gluten or dairy in her diet *lol*.  She said she felt fine afterwards.  Great.  Back to the drawing board.  While I'm still trying to keep her dairy and gluten down in her diet she DID have Fettucini Alfredo for dinner the other night.  Yup - whole wheat pasta, cream, butter and cheese.  She felt fine.  Sigh.  I'm now back to thinking that what threw her into a tail spin was stress ... although I'm not certain what she was stressed about.  I know Sunday, Monday and Tuesday she was VERY stressed over me going for my colonoscopy.  Poor lamb.  She's too young to be so worried all the time!  Luckily I managed to get us in to see a new psychologist - Craig and I see her Wednesday and Rebecca sees her the following Thursday.  I've heard really great things about this lady and I'm hopeful that she can help us find more tools for Rebecca in dealing with stress.  Meanwhile I plod along trying to stay positive, encourage her and hold things together.

Monday.  Monday was about as much fun a I expected.  MAN that 4 litres of nastiness you have to drink is brutal!  I had to drink 1 cup of it every 10 minutes ... for almost 3 HOURS!!!  About every 3rd glass I would gag on it.  Absolutely the worst thing EVER to have to drink.  I'm really not sure I can do it again 5 years from now.  Ugh!  ... of course I'm sure I will ... I need to go every 5 years as my maternal grandfather died from colon cancer and 10 years ago I had a polyp removed ... so I gotta do it.  LEt me tell ya - 5 years is too soon for my liking!

Tuesday.  Tuesday was quite lovely, really.  Oh sure, having a camera shoved up your pooper isn't the nicest thing to have to have done ... but the resulting 13 hours of sleep is almost worth it!  *lol*  I slept all afternoon and went to bed early.  I had a lovely sleep for once and woke up with energy!  I got so much done it was insane!  I highly recommend 13 hours of sleep to anyone!

The rest of the week has gone fairly well.  While Rebecca still doesn't feel well in the mornings I attribute that to the stress of having to go to school ... and at least she does eat her little cup of peaches.  Summer break can't come fast enough for me.  For 2 months she doesn't have to go to school and she is a much happier little girl ... as it should be.

So!  Enough about my soap opera of a life!  Let's get to some projects!  Now I gotta start off by saying these projects certainly won't set the crafting world on fire ... but I'm throwin' 'em out there anyway ... and I have 3 more that I will post over the next 3 days that are a little more interesting .. so keep coming back!

First up is a rediculously quick and simple card.  We made this one at my last Technique Class ... not so much for the wonderful design, but more so that my gals could use the new Photopolymer Stamp Set.  I was actually pleasantly surprised by it.  The set itself doesn't blow my hair back but it is a "keeper" as it lets you spell out whatever you want to say, for those rare occasions you can't find an appropriate sentiment or if you want to spell the recipient's name.  Here is what we made:

 

I warned you! *lol*.  Very clean and simple.  The stamp set Typeset Alphabet Photopolymere set ($17.95) stamps a very clean, crisp image indeed.  I was surprised at how firm the rubber is!  It's great in that you can see right through the stamp so placement is that much easier than with the clear or wood sets.  I did find placing the little letters fiddly ... especially when I dropped the "H" and it took 15 minutes to find it!  The stamps are super sticky and they DO hold onto the block for dear life ... wich is a good thing ... unless you drop one ... then it could be stuck to anything *lol*.  The card above is a great card to mail out when you forget someone's birthday ... which I have done more than once.  I better start mass producing this one!

Next up is a card I cased from a fellow demonstrator Maureen Merritt

 - you can check out her other projects here: http://www.mamamostamps.com/2012_10_01_archive.html

I changed her card slightly, but the premise was the same:

I love the Lacy & Lovely set (page 99 - $21.95 clear; $30.95 wood).  I primarily use it for the sentiments but Maureen's card shows just how great the lacy images are as well!  I used Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight,Tangerine Tango and Pacific Point inks.  I popped up the Tangerine circle by punching out a second image with my 1 3/8" circle punch and popping it up on a dimensional.  I added a number of brads and, although you can't see it very well, I also spritzed the top layer of whisper white with a spritz I made with alcohol and Frost White Shimmer paint.  Oh - and I also rounded the corners using the corner rounder punch.  I popped the whole layer of ww up on dimensionals as well.  Agreat, quick, pretty card for most occasions!

Next up is a re-do of my Dapper Dad watch card, posted a while back.  I was planning to use this card for an upcoming Teacher's Assistant PD Day gig ... but I had some constructive criticism about it being very mono-chromatic ... and I had to agree.  I like to have (3) colors in most cards and this one only has two.  Here is the original card:

... and here is my do-over card:

 OK ... so the ligting isn't great but it really is a lot better than the original in person.  The addition of the black really makes it look sharp!  I simply changed the grey mat for black, stamped the watch in grey but then used my black marker to color the edges of the watch and then stamped the watch a second time on a scrap piece of ww using black Staz-on and punched the watch face out using the 1" circle punch ... and popped the face up on a dimensional.  Perfect!  I like it a LOT better :)

So that's it for today!  I'm heading down to the craft room to work on my "treats" for my club gals ... and I love them!  I won't post them until I've given them out about a week from now, though ... on the bright side, I'll have a picture tutorial to go with it :)  I also need to work on a baby card for my lovely friend Helen who just had her 5th beautiful little baby, Matthew 11 days ago.  Yes, I knew she was pregnant ... and have known for about 5 months now ... but of course I never quite got around to making her a card!  Ack!  If I don't do it this weekend the wee one will be a year old before he gets it! ... so I better get cracking.

Thanks for dropping in and catching up on my life.  Until tomorrow ... have a stampy day :)

Tam