November 9, 2019

  I can't believe we are in November already. We have switched to daylight savings time and now it's dark just after 5 now. I do not like it. And I am not fond of the cold either. But I do love the beauty of winter and the wonder of Christmas. I have been making Christmas ornaments in the past few weeks. Last year I wanted to make ornaments for our two newest nieces, but my head didn't get there in time! So this year, I have made 4 for Lillyanna (she's 4) and 2 for Aurora who will be 3 in March. I plan to (or hope) make one every year for Christmas. And now that I think of it, I should make some for 2 other nieces who are 9 and 7. They joined our family 3 years ago by way of a nephew I hadn't seen for 30 years. We didn't know we lived close to each other, about 3 1/2 hours away, until his father passed away suddenly in 2016 and he came for the wake and funeral. I am so glad he is in our lives again. Plus he and his wife (since Spring) had a baby boy 2 weeks ago; Seamus Alexander!! We would have been to see him but I have got a sinus cold that will not stay away. The first time I had it, about 2 weeks ago, it came with horrible sinus headaches and this time it's coughing and laryngitis. But it hasn't stopped me from crafting, and that's very good! So here are the ornaments...

 

Fall is here

October 7, 2019
  We have had a good summer, but I wasn't ready to say good bye just yet. Oh well, you can't stop time. My hubby and son built a small deck on the front of our house this summer and my in-laws gave us their old but comfy swing which was awesome for having morning and evening coffee, until Mother Nature threw the switch from warm and bright to damp and chilly.  Since then, I have been starting days with coffee in my craft room. It is a much better habit than sitting in front of the laptop on my end of the Lazyboy couch for hours which also adds to my winter insulation, that I do not need!

I started walking again a few weeks after our little vacay in New Orleans. My hubby had a conference there for 4 days at the end of August so I went along and we stayed a few extra days. There were a 3 men and 2 women who also came down from the company he works for. We had free time from mid afternoon and hung out together exploring Bourbon, Canal and other streets. Food was amazing and the Hurricanes were  huge! We had a great time.

Because of my habit of coffee in my craft room, I have been doing quite a few crafts per week. Mainly cards, tags, ATC's and Rolodex cards with a few challenges and Skype crafting thrown in. Today I made a Jack Skellington wreath, quite different than the usual wreaths we see in décor. I have been "percolating" on what to do for décor with Nightmare Before Christmas for a few years and have only done some acrylic painting to use as a tote bag, but haven't made the bag yet! Hopefully in a week or two!

The current  challenge over at DoubleTroublePapercrafting blog is Kids/Babies birthday/Special occasion so I made a tag as an entry. Head over and check them out, you may win something!! 

Since my illness, Guillain Barre Syndrome took my ability to work away, I have been challenged by my identity. Before GBS, I was a self-employed Financial Planning Advisor.  I really enjoyed the scheduled life and being able to help others thru the financial pitfalls. After GBS, I couldn't handle scheduled appointments because I would often not be able to keep them, be it counselling, volunteering or other outings, with family or friends. The other thing GBS left me was anxiety attacks. I did not even know what it was when it happened! Luckily I only have a few a year, but I am still not able to count on how my body will feel from one minute to the next. I look "normal", but have so many strange residuals that even I am surprised by them. I was one of those who believed mind over matter and if I didn't have GBS I could not imagine the strange sensations I can feel! 

Prayerful hugs to all.

This is a card I made today, for a challenge over at DoubleTroublePapercrafting blog, that I thought ended July 31, 2019, but actually ended July 21.  These goils seem to have a lot of fun and have all kinds of different challenges!
(My short term memory has really been affected badly since I had Guillain Barre Syndrome in 2000. GBS is a rare autoimmune illness that isn't well known and can act differently from patient to patient. It can be fatal and is hard to diagnose because the symptoms present as other illnesses, and Dr.s aren't familiar with GBS. Unfortunately, most patients are not believed even if they are unable to stand! I was lucky; I ended up paralyzed from the waist down within 3 days of pins and needles in my legs and feeling disconnected to my limbs like a marionette doll! 24 hours later, I was paralyzed from the neck down. A Dr. 2 hours away knew it was GBS and started treatment right away, after telling us that if I left the hospital I would die because the other hospital wouldn't know what to do when I stopped breathing. More in another post!)
I hope you like the card, the challenge was Santa on the Beach. I enjoyed making it, once I had my percolating hat on!

My next post is for the actual current challenge on Double Trouble Papercrafting

Christmas card Watercolor  for the challenge over at CASChristmas challenge

Christmas card Anything Goes

Christmas Tree card

Here are 3 cards made for a challenge...one had to be Christmas Free for All and the next one had to be watercolour and the last had to be Christmas trees.

Holy moly, time goes by so fast!! It's almost mid July.  Our winter was the longest and most snow for decades. Now we didn't even have a Spring, it went from "Hey, the snow is almost gone" to 30 Celcius (86 F) from June!! I didn't even get into my flower beds because it has been too hot. But after this winter, I am definitely not complaining! I finally got my tomato and Jalapeno peppers in my raised bed yesterday! We had a really big rain storm with thunder and lightening on Friday afternoon and overnight, but the garden was dry as a bone. We watered it this afternoon, Sat.

I have been busy crafting my heart out since winter and I usually do 2 or 3 swaps with one of the online groups, so it gives me many ideas! I really enjoy being on the DTs of Angie's Digital Stamps groups; Getcreativechallenge blog and Simplycreatetoo blog.

I have been chronically ill from Guillain Barre Syndrome since August 2000, and one of the worst symptoms is how my brain works, it does not always remember how to do things. That is the main reason I play Candy Crush Saga, but it still can't figure out more than one move!! I have a hard time remembering how to get the images from the pages for the DT's.

Here are a few more things I have made since my last post...I hope that my creations give you the crafting bug, whether it's paper, material, wood or anything else your heart desires.

June 3, 2019.   We had such a long, cold winter. Finally the trees are green and the iris's are almost ready to bloom. But there was an inch of snow just 20 minutes away overnight and a tornado 1 1/2 hour away last evening. Crazy weather! Oh, and it has rained almost every day for the past month. I want to get into my gardens to clean the grass away, but it is so wet from all of the rain!
   During winter I started walking with our dogs. We have a trail in our bush of 1 kilometer and I began doing just one lap for a few weeks. We finished walking 3 times around. When the weather melted the puddles, I couldn't go in the bush anymore. Anyway, eventually I will get into the yard work.
   But as for crafting, I have been doing a lot over winter. My habit of sitting in my Lazygirl spot in the living room has changed to having my morning coffee or tea in my craft room and setting up my laptop right away beside my desk.
   Had to interrupt to watch "How to Train Your Dragon  The Hidden World", the latest one.  (spoiler alert; get the Kleenex!)  I am a big softie for all of the kids' movies! I have all of the HP discs and watch the movies every year, at least once.
   Here are some of the things I have been creating...

These were gifts or for swaps up to and including December.