Surgeries and Scrappy Celebrities

Hello my crafty friends!

Long time no...blog. Or craft for that matter.

Let me give you a wave:

So what happened? I hear you ask.  Well its a long story as things always seem to be with me.

Start of April I got juiced up and unlike my last infusion, this one seemed to be working well I was feeling better until...about mid month I lost feeling in my thumb, index and middle fingers combined with pain electric shock sensation etc.

I did what I always do and ignored it.  This approach worked well for 48 hours as symptoms ramped up to full intensity and had me climbing the walls.  I was pretty sure I had carpal tunnel syndrome but typically symptoms are intermittent and stop when you "shake it off shake it off shake it off" (sorry!)

Ironically it was faster and easier to get in to see my hand surgeon than my GP (who I have an indefinite referral with given all the work he has done on my left wrist).

He confirmed my suspicions, declined my request for an enormous steroid shot into the affected area and sent me off for nerve testing.

Several days later testing showed severe carpal tunnel syndrome - to the point even the neurologist looked shocked and I saw my wonderful surgeon afterwards who said surgery was the only option and "How about tomorrow?"  I could have kissed him.

The only issue with that was that this was happening the following day:

 

I reasoned that I could still go since it was a day procedure and a doddle compared to my very involved orthopaedic surgeries of years gone by.

Essendon was actually reasonably close and Not Pink Crafty Hubster was more than prepared to take me! 

Arriving there I discovered it was a (free) class and while I didnt pre-book, there were spare spots and spare kits.  I couldn't believe what was in the kit!  And free too!

I asked NPCH to be my hands and he said "Can't you do it left handed?"  I thought for minute and figured I could.  The first steps were merely stamping and watercolouring which work well messy anyway.

Here's what I started (since the class was almost finished) but you have to imagine it without all the extra uncoloured cameras stamped onto it.  I added those later at home.   Many of them will be covered up anyway.

I apologise for the terrible photo.  Apparently I cant do this either!

Of course no trip to Spotlight is complete without shopping.  NPCH was lovely about it.  (And we got to keep the stamp sets and ink pads we used in class!)

I took a couple of Project Life cards from several Dear Lizzy collections with me.  I picked ones with an image, but enough room for Lizzy to sign.

She was so lovely and chatty and friendly to everybody.  Really down-to-earth and generous with her time.

So I'm about 10 days post-op now.  I've improved since before surgery but unfortunately I still have pretty bad deficits in the most-used fingers of my dominant hand.  A problem when you want to craft.  You should see the amount of typos on this draft since I cant fully feel the computer keys.

Shimelle is starting a new class (probably within the next 12 hours) which I'm eager to do but how much I'll be able is another question.

I also haven't finished the layout I started with DL last week.  It will probably be several.  I already had her "Happy Place" paper pad at home which has the A-sides to her collection so I have plenty to work with combined with the kit and extra things I bought.  I just can't find my pack of word stickers!  It arrived a few days before my surgery and I was not in the best frame of mind so it could be anywhere. :-/

So please stay tuned - i'll do my best to get scrappy again!  I have a mountain of Glitter Girl and Shimelle challenges to catch up on and NSD is coming up!!!!

March Madness!

Argh!  So much stuff happening this month!

Firstly, Calvinball is running during all of March.  It sounds really fun!  Visit the link to go to the forums or listen to a Podcast to learn more.

Check out the cute graphic Tori Bissell made for Calvinballers!

I'm yet to make a layout but I'll get there.

The other super exciting thing is a virtual crop happening at www.shimelle.com

 

 I happened to mention to Shimelle that I'd have to excavate my desk (at a minimum) in order to take part and she helpfully provided with this inspirational video.  It's very funny and clever.

 Note Danny's face when he finds a bone.  That was totally me when I found a second piece of Love, Elsie paper!!

The timeszone being GMT combined with a very busy weekend/Monday means I wont be able to do any challenges until later, but Shimelle will keep them open for a week! 

I'm planning to count any layouts I make towards Calvinball.  I'm also hoping to catch up on my GG challenges and Shimelle's Monday challenges as my Calvinball goal.

February 30 Day Colouring Challenge

Click on the image to visit Kathy's FAQ page about the challenge

I was soooo excited for this again!  I tried last time it was on (October 2015) and that was a bit of a fail.  I had high hopes this time would be better.

It really wasn't.

I was off to a flying start when I woke up at 3am on 1 Feb and couldn't get back to sleep.  It was the first day back at school after the summer holidays and SCD was understandably a little nervous with the change in routine.

I made him this little 3x3 inch card to make him feel better.  It wasn't my best work given the hour and copious coffee consumption but he didn't mind and it did what it was supposed to do.

After that I didn't really do any colour related stuff for another week and that was merely stamping a bunch of images to colour during my infusion.  I think doing all the back-to-school mum stuff was a bigger shock to MY system!

Some were stamped on watercolour paper since I wanted to use my Inktense pencils.  They're probably the least mess and most portable method of watercolouring.

The rest I stamped on X-Press Blending Card which I use with Copic markers.  I love the cat stamps by Newton's Nook and I wanted to figure out how I could colour CC.  She is a Torbie so there are both stripes and random patches.  It's also really hard to capture her colouring.

I managed to colour quite a lot at the hospital and some images I'm happy enough with to cut out and use!

Both life and post-infusion malaise kept me not only from colouring, but crafting anything really.  I think I hit rock bottom when I was too tired to even contemplate pulling papers for Shimelle's monochromatic challenge.  Since the only colour option for a monochromatic challenge is PINK, you can see how bad it really got! Lol

Around this time, poor NPCH had a rough week and I made him a tiny card (about 2.5 x 4 inches maybe?).  The sentiment on the front is custom stamped to the situation in question (nothing rude, I promise) so I can only show you a snippet.

You have to admire any company that makes a stamp of a cat in a litterbox, right? ;-p

I realised I need to work on my shading and blending of side profiles of my critters.  I'm happy enough with the face. The box needed more work too, but I was racing against the clock to have I ready before NPCH came home.

Eventually I decided to have another go at my Copic kitties.  I wasn't feeling it, but it was bugging me that I still hadn't got to the point of being happy with stripes and some angles of shading.

It's just for practice I tell myself and each time I do it, I will hopefully improve.

Now I just hope to feel better.  3 weeks out from my infusion I should be, but not enough.  Well...to quote Dory from Finding Nemo: "Just keep swimming".

Did you take part in the challenge?

Thank You Card Marathon Part IV

 It has been a while since I brought you lovely readers another instalment of The Great Thank You Card Marathon of 2015.  Today I felt an explosion of flower power was in order.  Nothing like flowers to brighten a gloomy day, right?

This batch of cards used the Flower Patch stamp set and dies which I was looking forward to trying.  They really give a strong pop of colour, but it really took me such a long time which I didn't expect.

It probably is faster for others, but Arthur makes things a challenge at times despite having a MISTI which makes stamping much easier.  With more frequent use, I'm sure I'll find ways of speeding up the process of stamping these lovelies.

I loved the background paper which looks like newspaper articles about tea so I had to leave a little showing, but not so much as to distract from the fact that it is a thank you card not something related to a kitchen tea or other such event.

 I also love placing the flowers so the petals and leaves extend beyond the card base.  I made sure (using an envelope) that it wasn't to such a large degree that the cards would be considered larger than standard size

 
 
I didn't layer the flowers with as much dimension as I would have liked, but it was important to remember that many of the cards would be going through the post and if they're too fat they'll incur extra postage or risk damage.

I am also not thrilled with the shade of brown ink I used for the flowers.  Maybe something a bit darker...and being less heavy handed with it!
 

 

Despite having to stamp layers of petals on to of each other rather than cutting a new layer, the different parts of each flower in the stamp set still really added an interest to the flowers and the ability to mix and match means unique blooms.

 I look forward to trying more combination with this stamp set and using a lot more layers.  I was surprised at how versatile it was - I have seem both modern and vintagey cards with the same flowers and it seems to work almost every time.

Layout Challenge Inspired by Glitter Girl Episode #125 and Shimelle's Selfie Challenge

Well things did not go well for me with these layouts, but that in itself isn't a bad thing.

If Im not pleased with something, I try to figure out and analyse what that is.  I also try to do more than one layout for each challenge so I have a chance to experiment and change something using the same design or sketch to see whether that was indeed the problem.

This particular challenge was about using up stickers.  I loved Shimelle's example.  She used papers which were mostly neutral (except the vertical stripe) with bits of colour from her colour scheme and I think this is where things went wrong for me...at least with the first layout.

When Boys Are Left Unsupervised

The thing is I really REALLY wanted to use that acid yellow/green background paper from Glitz Design.  Its kinda ugly and looks as though someone naughty painted over a more demure black polka dot which suited the story.

The other issue I had was finding just the right layering papers.  They should have been more neutral and while I have a sticker stash rivalling a rather decent sized scrapbook store, I simply couldn't find exactly what I wanted in terms of size, shape and wording.

I also really wanted to use those blue rubbery thickers for the title.  They really looked and felt like Godzilla's skin!  Unfortunately they were not the easiest to arrange on the page.

I was a bit happier after adding some dimensionals/pop dots behind some of the stickers and the chipboard elements, but it isn my best work.  Still, I'm really happy to have my story told and in my album...and I used a patterned paper I would normally not choose.

The Teta Touch

I'm not overly pleased with this one either.  The photos are portrait orientation so that in itself makes it a bit harder to work with, but they ended up quite a bit smaller than 4x6 because I printed thewm with borders.  Not sure whether this helped or hindered.

I was getting tired and despairing by this stage.  I wasn't as determined to find the perfect stickers.  I pretty much used what I had around me.  Maybe there is too much turquoise?  Too pastel?  Does it need some darker colours for contrast?

I just dont know.  At least the softness of the colour (and gentle fuzziness of the thickers til I ruined them with glue) evokes a soft, gentle, sleepy baby feel.

Speaking of the title...the adhesive of the thickers wasn't holding, so I went to glue them down and got the positioning wrong.  Which left small tears on the page.  Which had to be hidden under sequins.  UGH!

Selfie Under Duress

In addition to the weekly Glitter Girl series, Shimelle has a weekly challenge on her blog at Shimelle.com.  Each Monday, Shimelle and guest designers present work based around a specific theme or challenge.

The first challenge was to scrap a selfie.  Photos I rarely take (mainly due to how I look).  I did find a selfie...an actual selfie even!  Not a photo snapped by someone else.

I used the same layout Shimelle created for this challenge.  Partly because she used a 5x7 photo and I rarely work with anything larger than 4x6 and I wanted to get more comfortable with larger sized photos.

I have been waiting for the right photo and layout to use that gorgeous bold floral from Shimelle's second collection - True Stories.  The photo itself doesn't have much detail so I thought it would work.  It's busy, but it did I think.  I used a lot more from True Stories and also Shimelle's first collection because I knew I would get something that matched well.

I really wanted to use pink and aqua as accents since they feature in that background paper but only in small amounts (And I always want to use more pink!).  Navy ended up playing a larger role than I expected, but probably for the best since it needed something darker I think.

I tried to make choices based on the story even if not directly told or seen in the photo.  Shimelle's layout featured coffee cups but I used tea cups because after dinner, I plop on the bed and watch catch up TV on the laptop or mobile device and drink tea.

The small strip of grey paper from October Afternoon's Saturday Morning collection has TV themed words on it to reflect this.

This particular black kitty: Other Crafty Cat (Fossett) plops on my lap but he tries to climb up onto my chest if he can.  At some point in the evening, my gorgeous NotPinkCraftyHubster brings me a cup of tea. Ahhhh!

So please...tell me what you think.  What went wrong?  What could have I done differently?

Layout Challenge Inspired by Glitter Girl Episode #124

Glitter Girl's second challenge was indeed that!

She used a very striking patterned paper from her new collection and very minimal embellishment.

I tried to find a similar chevron among my stash.  I thought I had quite a few with a chevron down the centre, but as it happened I had a few with the chevron on the third like GG.

 The Monster Under the Sofa 

I chose to use one with the central chevron and chop it down to get it to sit on the third, adding other patterned papers on the other side.

The first time I took off too little then I took off too much.  This layout just wasn't going the way I hoped.  I used about half a bottle of Un-Du for major pulling apart and reshuffling of papers and embellishments.

I really really struggled using just a few tiny embellishments.  I love lots of stuff on the page so I ended up with a lot more than I planned.

I wouldn't have added any of the wood sequins had I not had tiny tears in the paper to disguise. 

I included a map or globe in each cluster inspired by the first mat under the photo frame.  Seems like an odd choice, but we  don't travel and Phipha's adventuring under the couch was almost like venturing into another world.

Resignation

I had better luck with this layout.  It was probably the closest of the three to GG's.  I think it's because the chevron pattern was the most striking of the three.

I had to mirror the sketch if I was to have the chevron pointing towards the photo.  I succeeded in using far fewer embellishments than I normally would, but still more than GG did.

This one was rather therapeutic because I was trying to put a positive, happy vibe to what was otherwise a slightly traumatic event.

The journalling card had a small red heart which I felt would look better covered with a matching yellow flower...and the highlighted word?   Itś what you do when your handwriting goes a little bit more wrong than usual!

 Totally Under The Paw  

 

This layout was probably in between the previous two in terms of how successful I was.  I needed to have the photo on the right given the direction of it (I didn't want it pointing off the page) so the chevron had to point up, and the patterned paper was far more insipid and subtle than GG's one and didn't really lend itself to such a design.

 

The first thing I did to overcome this was to add some fussy cut flowers from another paper in the same line.  This added more weight to the photo/journalling block.

 

 

This time, I wasn't going to try to be overly restrained with the embellishment and it turned out a bit better than I hoped.

I don hate any of the layouts even if they didn't turn out quite the way I imagined.  It was still really useful to try a layout so different from anything I make and out of my comfort zone.

Should I come across a piece of paper like the one in Glitter Girl's video, I may just give this another try.

What do you think?