Our Journey from Friday through Tuesday

Our pain management doctor is the neatest guy and has the greatest office. Because of my husband new pain and infected port, we couldn't go to Disney. We had ressies at our time share at Animal Kingdom Lodge. So, he brought AK to us...

 The lobby ceiling was awesome with flying violins, boats, and other assorted goodies.

We have met with him two Fridays in a row. The first time he had on a Captain America tee shirt with a suit coat. Last Friday he had on a Superman tee, jeans and cowboy boots and showed off his biceps! We were told we probably wouldn't like him. We went in with no preconceived notions and absolutely adore him. He is a no nonsense type of doctor and gets right to the point, no frilly foo foo talk. That's what we want. He was the only doctor who suggested an MRI of the spine for the symptoms my husband had. The MRI showed a new tumor in the lower spinal canal. It wasn't the tumor in the hip or on the femurs that was causing the pain. Once he gave us the news, he immediately called our radiation oncologist, who is one of his friends, and explained everything over the phone. Today we see that doctor and the doc is pretty hopeful he will be able to radiate. We love that doctor too. He's been with us for two other body part radiations.

Although the past two weeks have been a bumpy road, we have had many blessings along the way. I like to focus on those.

Monday was surgery to remove his 3rd port in four years. They have run out of places in his chest to place another so they used his thigh...the one that is in pain to begin with! We had a rough time with that so they kept him overnight in the hospital. These are the pics of the lobby...

They have various piano players during the day and I felt like I was at the Grand Floridian for another DVC stay. I hope we get to use our real live DVC time shares soon. Disney has been fantastic with our last minute vacation club cancellations in light of our medical emergencies.

We were given a room on the top floor (8th) of the hospital and would have had a gorgeous view if it hadn't been raining. In the distance I pretended I saw mountains! The imagination can be a wonderful thing.

Thanks for stopping by today and going on this journey with me.

Stampin' Up! Happy Birthday

I hope my desire and the time to create a card returns soon. Perhaps tomorrow...hopefully we will receive news that hubby's newest debilitating tumor can be radiated. Waiting to hear yes or no is not my strong suit. In the meantime, here's another card I made last Thursday at card group. Again, our hostess had cut the DSP and the Happy Birthday. I don't think the DSP is SU but the Happy Birthday is! So are the balloons from Balloon Bouquet Punch. The good news is that neither of those items is retiring.

Tomorrow is another long medical day so I won't be posting a card until Friday. But if you want to see pics of hubby's pain management doctor's office  and the lobby of the hospital where he was operated on this past Monday, I'll be posting those merely as a memory for me! I really appreciate your taking the time to stop by today.

Stampin' Up! Picnic With You

The past two days have not been a picnic for my husband and me so I am taking a few days off from making cards. But just because it hasn't been a picnic for us, does not mean you can't have a picnic.

I made this card last week at card group. I don't own this set but if you want to own it, you better hurry...it retires May 31.

Picnic With You

Thank you for stopping by.

Stampin' Up! Sheltering Tree

It's been a while since I have had this stamp set out. The challenges that reminded me of it were at Inkspirational Challenge 159

and

SoSS #108 - X is for Xyloid

I had the swing and bike for the "Play" part and I had the tree trunk for the "Wood" part. I then needed a 

sketch...et voila...

. 

Sketch Saturday Week #510

I hope Claire will be forgiving as my sentiment is not placed where it should be on the sketch, but it just didn't look right on top of the tree!

Now, if you visit the Snarky Sisters, you will find that Xyloid is an adjective that means something related to wood. I knew I didn't have enough wood for Edna so I added a piece of Wood Textures DSP and used the Woodland Textured TIEF. Ready to see it? Here ya go!

The sentiment is from Thoughtful Banners and punched with the Duet Banner.

I tried to stamp it and mark it so it looked like a bike path for a mountain bike...thus the cobblestones, dirt and a wee bit of grass.

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope you'll come back tomorrow.

Stampin' Up! Daisy Delight and Delightful Daisy

My card today is a CASE of Jenny Hall. You can see her video on how to create it here. I love Jenny! She is a wonderful human being and brings me such comfort with her soothing voice on You Tube. She also participates in a blog for Random Acts of Kindness, among others.  Check her out when you have time.

Here's my card...

I'm entering it at #tgifc156- Because Kindness Matters 

and I'll tell you why. It's for a couple who gave us a signed book written about himself and his first wife's journey through ovarian cancer. We offered to pay for it and he graciously refused. He just wanted to help us through our journey with my husband's Agent Orange cancer. So, for a R.A.C.K. (Random Act of Kindness), we wanted to remember him and his second wife on their 23rd anniversary. They have no idea we remember when their anniversary is! We didn't know his first wife, except through his book, but we know she was a faith-filled, Godly woman. I'm sure she was pleased with his choice for his second wife. If you would like to read his book, click here.

So, this fold is called a "U Fold" and it has become my favorite fold. It is so easy as you will see if you click on Jenny's video tutorial.

My card base is Wild Wasabi, the DSP is Delightful Daisy, the sentiments are from Dragonfly Dreams and Beautiful Bouquet, stamped in Wild Wasabi.  I stamped my daisy, from the Daisy Delight stamp set, three times in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I colored each one with my Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends. Then I punched them out with the Daisy punch, used my bone folder to curl the top leaves, adhered them together with glue dots and glued them to a piece of Delightful Daisy DSP. I added butterflies for my team's monthly challenge!

Thanks for stopping by and if you have questions, ask away!

Stampin' Up! Petal Palette for Happy Inkin' Thursday Blog Hop

WOW, this week is almost over...I know where it went but let's not go there! Let's go hopping!! This Thursday, Amy's team has been challenged with these colors...

Oh, I know, some of you are not fond of Lemon Lime Twist but it's sticking around for another year and that puts me in my happy place.

I chose to use the Petal Palette stamp set and the double flap fold for my card today. Again, I am entering it at #WWYS - 164

and for my card...

Here are the materials you need:

Black Card Stock for base panel: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"

Black Panel: 3 1/4" x 4 1/4"

Black Strip: 1" x 5", scored at 1"

Berry Burst: 4" x 8", scored at 5 1/4"

Fresh Floral DSP: 3" x 4"

Scrap of Lemon Lime Twist for outside sentiment

Lemon Lime Twist Ombre Ribbon: 12"

Scrap Black for scalloped circle

Whisper White Card Stock Mat: 2 7/8" x 3 7/8" for inside

Berry Burst Ink Pad

Lemon Lime Twist Ink Pad

Petal Palette Stamp Set

Dragonfly Dreams Stamp Set for inside sentiment

Layering Circles Framelits

Stitched Shapes Framelits

How to:

Burnish the Berry Burst piece and black strip as much as you can so the pieces will lay flat.

Adhere the Berry Burst panel to the black card stock base panel.

Adhere the DSP to the smaller piece of black card stock.

Adhere that piece to the right flap of Berry Burst that is folded in. Be sure to put glue on the Berry Burst and not the back of the mat because you want the left side of the mat to be free to move.

Adhere the ribbon to the black strip with a piece of Tear and Tape Adhesive and make a bow, which you can do right then and there, or cut it and then make a bow to stick on with a glue dot.

Adhere that strip by the scored "tab" to the back of the Berry Burst mat so that it makes a flapping flap!

Stamp the outside sentiment in Berry Burst ink on Lemon Lime Twist scrap.

Using the Stitched Shape Framelits, cut out the sentiment with the second largest circle die.

With the Layering Circles Framelits, cut out the black scallop with the die that is larger than the one above!

Adhere the sentiment to the black scallop with dimensionals.

Adhere the scallop to the "flapper". (I must have been a flapper back in the day! Are you old enough to know what that is?)

Stamp the sentiment from Dragonfly Dreams on the Whisper White mat.

Adhere that mat to the inside of the card with liquid glue, making sure it does not show beyond the front piece. I dry fitted it and penciled where the top left point should be placed.

Note: I glued a little black strip to the back of my "flapper" because I didn't like the ribbon showing.

Phew, I'm exhausted typing this BUT the card is VERY easy to make so I hope you'll try it. Cut all your pieces first and do a dry fit.

If you have any questions, please leave them in a comment and I'll get back to you. If you would like to purchase any of the products used, just click on the pictures at the end of the hoppers list.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you are not too tired to hop to the rest of the wonderful projects that are in store for you! We have such a fantastic, creative team. 

If you click on the "next" button, it will take you to Amy Koenders, our esteemed team leader.

If you want to go to someone's post directly, here is a list of the team members involved in the hop today:

Amy Koenders

Shelagh Freemantle

Mary Deatherage

Kristi Gray

Jaimie Babarczy

Sue Prather

Karen Finkle - you are here!

Products Used:

Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121045] $8.00	Berry Burst 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [144243] $8.00	Fresh Florals Designer Series Paper Stack [144131] $22.00
Lemon Lime Twist 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [144245] $8.00	Lemon Lime Twist 1/4" Ombre Ribbon [144234] $7.00	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730] $9.00
Berry Burst Classic Stampin' Pad [144083] $6.50	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad [144086] $6.50	Petal Palette Clear-Mount Stamp Set [145788] $35.00
Dragonfly Dreams Photopolymer Stamp Set [142924] $21.00	Layering Circle Framelits Dies [141705] $35.00	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies [145372] $30.00
Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $4.00	Glue Dots [103683] $5.25	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $4.00
Tear & Tape Adhesive [138995] $7.00	Big Shot Platform [142802] $26.00	Big Shot Magnetic Platform [130658] $40.00
Stampin' Trimmer [126889] $30.00

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Stampin' Up! Amazing You

Our card group meets on Thursday and I was unable to make it last week due to medical visits for hubby. The leader, Meg, was kind and brought me the kits for cards they made. They have come in handy this past week with 8 hr. visits to doctors/treatments. Here is another she brought. I varied it a little to be able to post it on a team challenge. The Amazing You stamp set is retired, but I will continue to use it because I LOVE it!

I stamped the leaves on the Whisper White mat in Old Olive; then I stamped the flowers and colored them with my Watercolor Pencils  in Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, and Rich Razzleberry. I stamped the flowers again on scrap Whisper White and repeated the process of coloring. Then I fussy cut them and adhered to the base flowers with Stampin' Dimensionals. I added Gold Faceted Gems to the centers. 

I matted the Whisper White panel to a Basic Black mat and adhered that to an Old Olive Cardstock base.

I added three little flowers from the stamp set and three butterflies from a retired embosslits folder.  The sentiment is from Southern Serenade.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll be back tomorrow for the Thursday hop.