Arty Aspirations

Very Sad News Regarding Lyn Smith

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 01:32:00 +0000

It is with Immense sadness, that I inform all of Lyn's blog followers (my mum) that she passed away on Friday the 24th of August, 2012. She had been battling cancer for the past 3 years.
I had been trying to get into mums emails / blogs for a few days. Mum went down hill all of a sudden.
Her funeral will be 2pm Tuesday the 4th of September 2012 at Abbey funerals 238 Settlement Road, Thomastown Victoria. Australia. In lieu of flowers, there will be donation envelopes for the day oncology unit at The Northern Hospital, present at mums funeral.

Any calls or emails can be directed to Greg Smith (Lyn's huband) on 0394344470
Greg's email: zacs56@optushome.com.au
or Joanne Williams (daughter) smithjol@optushome.com.au Joanne's mobile 0403861720.
We thank you so much for being part of mums life and following her lovely blogs over the years.

Yours sincerely Joanne Williams.

Birthday Bear!

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 12:15:00 +0000

Hi there, I'm still not into a regular pattern of posting again, sorry! I'm still lacking in energy and creative mojo at the moment. Hopefully that will change soon as I only have one more chemo cycle to go and then I get a rest from it for a while - how long for I have no idea, it just depends how my CT scans go. I'm hoping it will be for a long break!

Anyway, here's a card I've made using this week's sketch from Annabelle Stamps.

The stamp is a Forever Friends bear image, I've coloured it with Prismacolor Pencils and blended with Zest-It. The greeting and the lime Sprinkles and the die I've used for the image are from Annabelle Stamps, PP is from Kaisercraft and cardstock and ribbon is Stampin' Up Purely Pomegranate.

That's it for today, hope you like it!

Finally something to post!

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 09:16:00 +0000

I can't believe I haven't had anything to post for so long, I've just not had too much energy for anything much lately, plus my chemo side-effects are really making my hands so cold that I have to wear gloves most of the time - made even worse by our colder weather here! Finally though, I've managed to have some crafty time and made two cards!

This one uses a Stamp-It dress image which was just crying out to be paper-pieced! I used some papers from Kaisercraft's Madame Boutique paper pad, I just love these colours! Finished it off with a bit of chocolate satin ribbon, some flowers and a chocolate 'Sprinkle' by Annabelle Stamps, the base card is Stampin' Up and the greeting by Sparkle N Sprinkle.

I used this week's sketch FTL195 from Clean & Simple blog and the theme from Annabelle Stamps - Say It With...... Paper Piecing.

My second card is fairly simple, I used some printed vellum as my background, die-cut a Cheery Lynn butterfly from the same vellum, dry embossed some black cardstock with an Asian design Cuttlebug folder, used a greeting by Vicky Enkoff and added a bit of bling with an Annabelle Stamps 'Sprinkle"

I'm entering this card for CAS-ual Fridays Clear as Day challenge and Less Is More challenge - Something Shiny.

Thanks for stopping by today and hopefully I'll be back soon with something new!

Dad's Birthday card.

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Thu, 31 May 2012 10:59:00 +0000

Hi there, apologies for being MIA lately, my brother and nephew were staying with us last week so I had a great time with them here. This week is chemo week, so not feeling the best right now. I needed to make a card for my Dad's birthday, which is tomorrow, so here 'tis! I've used this weeks sketch ABSC #050 from the Annabelle Stamps Blog.

I'm also entering this card for Stamp Smiles - Fathers Day/Graduation or Masculine card.

There's not a whole lot of stamping here, but the one's I have used are from Annabelle Stamps 'All Things Grow' set and I used a background stamp for stamping into the Opals (UTEE) on the bird's wing. I keep forgetting that I have a whole lot of chipboard shapes, so I fished out this bird one by Collections that I've had for ages, and covered it with Opals (UTEE). The papers are from a 6 x 6 Crate Paper pad, the branch is a die-cut by Memory Box and the bling is from Annabelle Stamps

Thanks for stopping by today, hope your day is going well!

Happy Mothers Day....a little late!

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:31:00 +0000

I hope all the Mothers out there in blogland had a wonderful Mothers Day on Sunday! My hubby took me out for breakfast and my girls and grandchildren came over with some lovely flowers and goodies after lunch, so I had a great day here!

This is the card I made for my daughter Joanne, I used a new stamp by Whimsy Stamps from the Wee Stamps range by Sylvia Zet, called Bird Swing, isn't it just so sweet! I coloured the image with Whispers Markers and a blending pen. The greeting is by Annabelle Stamps, DP by Kaisercraft and the turquoise layer is Bazzil cardstock, I used a Nestabilies die to cut out my image and greeting.

I'm entering this card for CAS-ual Fridays CFC52 Feathered Friends challenge. Hope you like it!

Groovy Gingham Baby!

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Sat, 12 May 2012 12:16:00 +0000

Hi there! Here's a card I've created for Moxie Fab World's Gingham Challenge. I used a Stamping Bella image, she has a bit of a '70's feel with her flared trousers, hence my title!

I stamped the gingham design using Annabelle Stamps Background By Design 7 borders using Distress inks and paper pieced them onto the Stamping Bella image. I coloured the rest of her with Copic Markers and sponged the background with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. I stamped the background for the card with the larger gingham border from the same Annabelle Stamp set on the diagonal. The pink layer is just white cardstock sponged with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink.

So, who is the recipient of this card? Well here's a snippet of news I haven't shared here yet! My daughter Hayley is pregnant, yes more grandbabies on the way! Yes, I did say grandbabies.......she is having twins!! She is into the 2nd trimester and so far so good! She and her hubby have chosen not to know the sex of the babies, so it will be a surprise for everyone.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you're having a great day!

ps. Just in case you think my punctuation is bad, for some strange reason my full-stops are not showing up in my post, another Blogger anomaly!

Bird card.

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

I'm back again with another yellow card! I know, I said I don't like yellow, but since I had my Scattered Straw Distress Ink out from yesterday's card I decided to make a card for Less Is More's Week 66 Colour Challenge - Yellow.

I used a solid background stamp with the Scattered Straw ink and overstamped the birds on a branch image (Grace Taylor) with Brilliance Starlite Black ink. I watercoloured the flowers with some more Scattered Straw ink just to accentuate them a little. The Stamp-It greeting uses the same Starlite Black ink.

I'm also entering this card for The Pink Elephant - TPE #147 All About Mom
and
Critter Sketch Challenge #114 - Mom

Thanks for stopping by today!

A flower for you!

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:00:00 +0000

Hi there, here's a card I made for Annabelle Stamps 'Say It In..........Kraft, Lemon and White' Challenge. I've said it before, I'm not a big fan of using yellow tones - I used Scattered Straw Distress Ink, which is more of a yellow/orangey tone and kept it to a minimum LOL!

I used the faux silk technique for my main images, stamping the Annabelle Stamps Fanciful Flowers images with Stampin' Up white ink onto kraft coloured tissue paper - which I received as the wrapping with my last order to Annabelle Stamps - recycling at it's best, thanks Andrea!

The greeting is from Annabelle Stamps Flowers For You stamp set, I've stamped it onto a Cuttlebug tag die-cut and threaded some twine through it and added some Kaisercraft half pearls. That's it, nice and simple!

I'm also entering this card for CAS-ual Fridays CFC51 Birthday Challenge.

CAS flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Thu, 03 May 2012 01:55:00 +0000

Hi there, I had a bit of creative time this week and used one of the sketches from Less is More blog and the theme from CAS-ual Fridays blog (CFC50: Spring is here so show us your Clean And Simple creations with flowers or trees) to create a set of flower cards. I had already stamped the flowers from the Hero Arts set Peeking Posies onto some watercolour paper so they were sitting on my desk ready to use.

I water-coloured this first one with Tim Holtz distress inks, the greeting is from Annabelle Stamps Fanciful Flowers stamp set.

This one is water-coloured with Francheville watercolour pencils, greeting is by Stamp-It.

This one and the following one are coloured with Prismacolor pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits, both greetings are by Stamp-It.

It's a very cold and wet day here in Melbourne today, a good day for staying indoors with the heating on! For those interested in my CT scan results, they were kind of mixed, there are indications that the chemo is having an effect on some of my cancerous nodes, but a large node has continued to grow - not great news as it may indicate a resistance to the chemo. At this stage my oncologist wants to continue as is and do a repeat CT scan in 6 weeks time.

Thanks for visiting today and I'd love to read your comments on my cards!

ps. Did you notice I've changed my blog template again, I was getting a bit tired of the last one!

Mojo Monday Sketch 238

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 11:26:00 +0000

I liked this week's sketch from Mojo Monday and decided to play along!

The butterfly stamp is from Darkroom Door, I stamped it on watercolour paper and watercoloured it with Twinkling H2O's, then fussy cut it out. The swirly vine die is a new acquisition from Fancy That and the Design Papers are from Kaisercraft's Madame Boutique 6 1/2" and 6 1/2" pad. The greeting is by Stamp-It, rhinestones by Kaisercraft and also used Nestabilities dies and a Stampin' Up oval scallop punch.

Just a quick update on my chemo - I've hit the halfway mark of this course and had a CT scan last Monday, I get the results when I see my Oncologist this coming Monday. Keep your fingers crossed for me that the chemo is doing it's job!

Ribbon Flower card.

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:47:00 +0000

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post and what happens....Blogger changes everything, AGAIN! Do they keep doing this just to annoy us? Well, I hope I can figure out the changes without too many dramas! Anyhoo, I've finally made a card to show here! I just don't seem to have enough crafting time lately, or else my inspiration just goes MIA when I do have the time! I've made my card for this week's Annabelle Stamps challenge - Say it with a Background.

I've used a diamond patterned background stamp from Annabelle Stamps Background by Design 3 stamp set for the background on my cream card, stamped with TH Old Paper Distress Ink. The gingham pattern background stamp is from Annabelle Stamps Background by Design 7 stamp set - I used Stampin' Up Pretty in Pink ink on Pretty in Pink cardstock. The flower stem and greeting is from Annabelle Stamps Fanciful Flowers stamp set. The border punch is Fiskars Lacy Days of Summer, bling is Kaisercraft, all cardstock is Stampin' Up and the ribbon flower is made with pink satin ribbon and I added a vintage button.

Today is Anzac Day here in Australia, a day to remember those who lost their lives fighting for our country.....Lest We Forget.

I made some Anzac Biscuits today in keeping with tradition, I'd forgotten how nice they are too! Very cold, wet and Wintry weather here today, a good day for staying indoors with the heating on!

Hope you are having a great day today and thanks for your visit!

Blogger seems to be ignoring my formatting....grrr! I hope this looks OK when I post, as the preview doesn't look how I want it to! Hmm, I think I fixed it now, so I'll publish now before it decides to do something else I don't want it to!

Happy Easter!

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 13:08:00 +0000

Hi there, hope you are enjoying the Easter break with your families! I'll be heading down the coast tomorrow to visit my daughter and son-in-law at Torquay, but before we go we'll be going over to visit my other daughter, SIL and the grandkids to give them some Easter goodies!

Here's a couple of Easter cards I've made using more of the Kaisercraft Bubblegum Hills range.

I kind of got bogged down making this one for the grandkids, I wasn't quite sure how to make the banner look right, it sat on my desk half-finished for over a week or two, but I think it came out OK! I used some old Making Memories rub-ons for the letters, the banner is just some strips of PP and I used my Fiskars arrow squeeze punch to get the notch at the end. The grass is made from paper string, just stuck down random lengths and trimmed at the bottom. The Easter eggs are made with a balloon punch.

This was originally going to be for Annabelle Stamps Twine challenge, but I finished it way too late, LOL!

This next card uses Annabelle Stamps current Bling Sketch Challenge - lucky for me this challenge runs for two weeks, so I've made it in time!

Pretty simple card as I was running out of time, only stamp is the greeting (Stampin' Up - All Year Cheer)! The butterfly is a rub-on and I've used some lime Sprinkles from Annabelle Stamps for the bling.

Quick Easter card.

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:27:00 +0000

Hi there, this is a quick post today as I have to go and have chemo this morning. My card is a very quick one using punches, a die cut, a rub-on and a stamped greeting. All of the papers, the die-cut and rub-on are from Kaisercraft Bubblegum Hills range, the greeting is from Annabelle Stamps, the two border punches are from Fiskarcraft.

I used this week's sketch FTL184 from the Clean & Simple blog.

I don't seem to have been in my craft room much lately, I've been busy with other things! I bought a new lens for my DSLR camera so I've been having a play with that. I've also had a cooking bug, I made a yummy zucchini cake yesterday! Footy season has started, but my team had a bad loss first up :(

Thanks for visiting here today, and thanks so much for leaving any comments!

Anniversary Card.

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 06:39:00 +0000

Hi there, just a quick post today with a card I've made for my daughter and son-in-law's wedding anniversary.

Supplies used:
Inks - Brilliance Starlite Black, Versafine Black Onyx, Tumbled Glass Distress Ink (for sponging)
Stamps - Justrite Stampers alphabets, American Crafts (birds on a branch), Kaisercraft (background)
Other - Kaisercraft (Patterned Paper and rhinestones), Stampin' Up and Pedigree Paper (cardstock), Nestabilities Label (something!), ribbon from my stash.

I'm entering this card for Mojo Monday Sketch 232

I most likely won't be around blogland for the next few days as it's chemo day tomorrow - 2 weeks comes around awfully fast! At least I'm feeling good at the moment, and a big thank you to all my readers who are following my progress!

Flowers and Script

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 06:05:00 +0000

Hi there! I wanted to make a card for the Less Is More blog challenge 58 of a one layered card using a script stamp plus a sentiment, I couldn't make up my mind whether to use a separate script stamp and flower stamp or an all in one collage type stamp...in the end I chose to do it both ways and made three cards.

I used a Collections script stamp using Broken China Distress Ink and stamped over it with assorted silhouette flowers and a butterfly from Darkroom Door Wildflowers set using Ranger Archival Cobalt ink - stamped twice to get a shadow effect. The greeting is by Heidi Grace.

This one uses the one stamp, an oldy I've had for a long time by Penny Black called 'Letter and Daisy'. I masked off the outline and sponged on some Old Paper Distress Ink then coloured the flowers using Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. The greeting is by Stampin' Up.

Not sure that I like how this one turned out, I used the same Collections script stamp, but used the Ranger Archival Cobalt ink for all the stamping - the script kind of got lost amongst all those flowers (Hero Arts) and the textured cardstock! I stamped the flowers a second time for a shadow effect again, the greeting is by Stampin' Up.

I'm also entering the 2 blue and white cards for this weeks Splitcoast Stampers Monday CAS challenge - White with shades of blue.

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you're having a great day!

What's Cooking!

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:47:00 +0000

Hi everyone! It looks like summer has not completely deserted us just yet, it's a glorious day here and getting warmer by the minute!

I had a little creative time yesterday so here's my card!

This week's theme at Annabelle Stamps is Say it With.....Chocolate! Mmm, my favourite food group! I went with a cooking theme as well as the colour chocolate for my card. I couldn't resist using this cute retro lady, one of the first clear stamps I ever bought, by Studio Astarte, a company now sadly no longer as it's owner Stacey Apeitos has passed away. The gingham and grid backgrounds are both stamps from Annabelle Stamps Background by Design 7 stamp set and the oven mitt and greeting are from Justrite Stampers What's Cookin' stamp set.

Other stuff used include Stampin' Up cardstock, some aqua velvet ric rac, Making Memories flower, SEI button, embroidery floss and the staples were coloured with a Copic Marker.

That's all folks! Enjoy your day!

Autumn Leaves

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 01:30:00 +0000

Seems like the summer weather has deserted us, the last few days have been much cooler. With that in mind my card today features an Autumn theme.

My main image is one of Fred Mullet's fabulous Nature Prints stamps. I've stamped it twice, first with Brilliance Starlite Black and then with Brilliance Pearescent Beige - both inks are really shimmery, but you might not be able to see it in the photo. Before I stamped the image I sponged on some Shabby Shutters and Crushed Olive Distress Inks. The greeting is from Annabelle Stamps Fanciful Flowers set and it's stamped with Versafine Vintage Sepia Ink.

The brown panel is stamped with a background from Annabelle Stamps Background by Design 3 set using the Pearlescent Beige ink again, and the small decal in the middle of each diamond is from the same set and stamped with the Vintage Sepia ink. I used a white folded card and sponged it with Wild Honey Distress ink and used a ribbon to match the colour.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:-

Annabelle Stamps

Clean & Simple FTL 180

I finished my card on Sunday as I had chemo yesterday. I'm feeling not too bad today, I've even managed a short walk on both days - something I haven't been able to do for a while. Nausea is under control with meds, although I think the cooler weather is making some unwanted side effects appear more pronouced - pins and needles in my hands and feet and difficulty in swallowing. My feet are OK now they are nice and warm and I'll put my gloves in if my hands get too cold. Too funny getting stuff out of the fridge - if hubby isn't around I use pot holders, then wait for it to warm up a bit before I handle it! My vision is a little blurred today too, not sure if that's a side effect too, but I hope it doesn't last.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Distressed Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:07:00 +0000

Hi there, I decided to buy myself a birthday present from Annabelle Stamps so here's a couple of quick CAS cards I made using the Fanciful Flowers set and distress inks. BTW, Andrea's service is so good my order was here the next morning.....on my birthday! Love this set, the sentiments are a lovely script font too!

I used the sketch from Clean & Simple blog FTL179 for both cards.

That's it from me, hope you're having a great day!

Something different!

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

I'm always on the lookout for storage ideas for my craft room and when I saw this letter rack at a local flea market I snapped it up to alter into something a little more crafty. The project stalled somewhat after I gave it a coat of gesso and it languished on my craft room floor until recently. I couldn't believe when I actually found the BEFORE photo that I had taken it in 2008! Well, better late than never I finally finished it!

I gave it a coat of mauve acrylic paint then painted on some white acrylic paint here and there, then gave it a light sanding for a distressed shabby look. For the decorating I used a Stampington butterfly stamp on the middle section. For the top and bottom section I used two of the wonderful French typography images from Karen, The Graphics Fairy. I used an inkject printer transfer method which turned out a little distressed, but it was the look I was after so it worked well for me.

I'll be using this to store my ready to use card blanks or maybe even my spare envelopes. I like the hooks at the bottom too, extra storage! Now, I just need someone to hang it for me!

I'm entering this for Brag Monday at The Graphics Fairy.

and Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie

Thanks for visiting today! It's my off-chemo week and I've felt pretty good since yesterday....hope that continues all week..........especially since tomorrow is my birthday (shhh!)

Notecard Set

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:22:00 +0000

I've had these background papers made with Distress Inks using a Technique Junkies Newsletter technique for a while and decided to use them with a Penny Black background stamp to make a set of notecards. I used Brilliance Starlite Black Pearlescent ink for the background stamp and just layered each piece onto a piece of cardstock in a contrasting colour, then added a punchy or die-cut to finish. The finished card measures 3 and 7/8" square and used Pedigree Paper textured white cardstock.

I'm entering these cards for the following challenges :- Annabelle Stamps - Say It With......Background Stamps.

and Less Is More - Week 55 Theme - Punches or Die-Cuts.

That's it for today, gotta go, dinner's almost ready!

40th Birthday Card

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:12:00 +0000

Hi everyone, just a quick post today from me. I had my 2nd chemo treatment yesterday and thank goodness my Oncologist juggled my meds - slightly reduced dose plus an extra anti-nausea med. It seems to have worked as I haven't had any bad nausea and no vomiting. Just feeling a little 'blah' and tired.

Here's a card that I made for my son-in-law's 40th birthday a couple of weeks ago that I hadn't got around to posting here yet. A very simple CAS design using a stamp called 'Mosaic Tiles' by an Aussie company, Eclectic Images - I've had this stamp for years and I think this is the first time I've used it! I stamped it used Faded Jeans Distress Ink directly onto a textured cream card base. The greeting is by Stamp-It, stamped using Versafine Black Onyx ink. I painted the raw chipboard numbers with black acrylic paint and adhered over the mosaic background.

I'm entering this card for this week's Annabelle Stamps challenge - Say It With.......Background Stamps.

OK, that's all folks!

With Love

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:47:00 +0000

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Well, what a difference a week makes! Last week I couldn't have felt any worse after having chemo, but this is my week off it, thank goodness, and I feel 1000% better! I started to feel a little better by late Saturday, but yesterday I actually felt good....better than I have done in weeks! Not sure if it's the acupuncture I had on Saturday or if it's the chemo doing it's stuff, (it had want to be knocking out the bad guys after how it made me feel!) but I could actually walk pain free yesterday. I still can't walk too freely, but it's a hell of a lot better than I've been doing lately, Hubby and I even went shopping for a little while yesterday without any problems and my back still feels OK this morning too!

Here's a card I made when I started to feel a little better.

Heat embossing is what first got me hooked on stamping, but I got very lazy and just couldn't be bothered doing it for quite a long time. I picked up some nice glittery embossing powder at a craft show last year though and thought I'd give it a go with this card. I heat embossed the heart and the greeting, though you may have to click on the photo to see this properly, it does look nice and glittery in real life though. The background is stamped with a Darkroom Door floral background stamp in Fired Brick Distress Ink, the heart (Stampin' Up) also uses the same ink, the glitter EP is clear. The (Stamp-It) greeting is stamped with Versafine Black Onyx ink. I also used a Cheery Lynn doily die, ribbon and buttons from my stash. The twine threaded through the buttons is something that has been hanging around the house for years, it was originally from a kite my kids had when they were little......recycling at it's best, it's fabulous twine too!

I've entered my card in the following challenges:-

Daring Cardmakers - Hearts and Doilies.

Annabelle Stamps - Say it in......Red, black and white.

Clean & Simple - sketch FTL 177

That's it from me, hope you're having a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Aqua Hearts.

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:18:00 +0000

Hi again, I must say that my week has been pretty horrendous so far. My 1st cycle of chemo started on Monday, and the nausea and vomiting has still got a hold of me! I ended up back at the hospital on Tuesday and Wednesday to try and sort out some more anti-nausea meds and a drip to top up my fluid levels..........not nice I can tell you!

Fortunately I got my card finished on the weekend as I sure haven't felt doing anything since then!

I stamped a Hero Arts Aged Background stamp with Versamagic Sea Breeze Ink onto some white cardstock and used a Stampin' Up punch to punch out the 3 hearts. The flower panel uses the same ink - the stamp is a 4 sided Stampington one. Thought it needed a littled lift so I added some aqua half pearls to the flower centres. I scored a line above and underneath the flower panel and added the Vicky Enkoff greeting underneath in Brilliance Starlite Black Pearlescent Ink. The white card is textured by Pedigree Paper and I popped the hearts onto dimensional dots.

My card qualifies for the 2 challenges below :-

Annabelle Stamps - Say it With.......... Hearts.

Less Is More's birthday challenge Week 53 - using the colour Aqua!

Apologies if I cant get around to visiting your blogs this week, today is the first day I've even been able to drag myself out of bed for any length of time. I hope I feel better soon! Thanks for your visit today!

Name plaques.

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:10:00 +0000

Hi again! First of all a big thank you for those who left such lovely supportive comments on my last post, it means a lot to have such lovely blog friends from all over the world......a big cyber-hug to you all! I've been up since 5am this morning, it's been way too hot to sleep and then of course I started to get pain in my hip which killed any notion of going back to sleep again! Anyway here's a couple of off the page projects that I've been working on lately for my grandchildren - some name plaques for their bedrooms.

Most of the products used are from Kaisercraft - the wooden letters and backplates, patterned papers and acrylic paints, oh and the rhinestones.

Also used some Disney Winnie the Pooh diecuts on Ben's plaque, ribbons and buttons from my stash. Not sure who makes the ladybugs, my daughter gave me those. The chipboard heart on Annika's plaque is from Collections, not sure about the flower die-cut - might be a cheapie from the Reject Shop. The wired flower is from a $2 shop and I've had the butterflies for ages and forget where they came from.

I seem to be in a painting mood lately, I decided to renovate the doll's house I had when I was a girl for Annika to play with when she visits here. Somehow we forgot to keep the furniture too, so I've been buying bits and pieces and adding them for her.

That's all for now, hope you have a great day in your part of the world and thanks for visiting mine!

An overdue update.

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn S) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:16:00 +0000

Hi everyone, where did January go? I cant believe I haven't been here for over a month! I've done a few crafty things since Christmas which I'll post here soon.

I think it's been quite a while since I shared any of my personal life here, a lot has happened over the last few months, not much of it is good news. If you've been following me for a while you'll know that I have had bowel cancer for nearly two and a half years. I had chemo for the first year then a long break since November 2010, which for the most part I've been feeling quite well. However things began to change from about November 2011, I started getting quite a lot of back and hip pain, and the CT scan I had in December showed that my already enlarged lymph nodes are getting bigger, I also discovered further enlarged lymph nodes in my neck a while before that. My oncologist told me that I would have to start chemo again and this will commence next Monday. My back and hip pain has been getting worse by the day and pain killers are not really working well, unless I use the heavy duty stuff which just knocks me out and makes me nauseous. I've started having acupuncture for the pain and after 3 sessions the signs are encouraging with some pain relief for a few days, I'm told this should improve with further treatment. Unfortunately the pain has severely restricted my movements, I can no longer just go for a walk or practice Tai Chi, even going to the supermarket is a bit of an ordeal which I can't do on my own.

I really hope that this new lot of chemo will reduce the enlarged lymph nodes so that I can start to enjoy the things that I can't do at the moment. I've been told that the main side effects from this new chemo apart from the usual nausea, tiredness, hair thinning etc. is pins and needles in the hands and feet. Fingers crossed that I'll still be able to do some craftwork. My acupuncturist tells me that she can help with some of the side effects so I hope she can deliver there.

Sorry to be full of doom and gloom, but I'm not feeling sorry for myself I've known that this would be happening sooner or later and it's just another roadblock in life. The Monty Python song, I think from 'The Life of Brian', 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' comes to mind.....I know only too well that there are others who are much worse off than I am!