Another Holiday Card

The current challenge on the "Cut it Up" Challenge is "Out With the Old" and you need to create a project with an item from your house that you wouldn't normally use for papercrafting. I saw the challenge earlier in the week and was going to let the deadline slide by without a project, but I had a little time this afternoon so I took a stroll around the house opening drawers and cabinets to find items I could use. 

I spotted my round cotton pads and immediately saw a full moon. I cut the trees on my Cameo with a file from the Silhouette Online store. I did something I never do...I hand lettered the "Peace on Earth Banner". In all I completed the project in less than an half an hour and am pleased with the results. It was fun to think outside the box!

Christmas is 12 Months Away!

This year I decided to join along with the Jingle Belles challenge. They have a new Christmas Card challenge every week and by the end of November you have 48 Christmas Cards ready to hand out.  How fun is that...48 unique Christmas Cards!

This challenge is to use a new crafting item you received as a gift to make your card. I didn't actually receive any crafting items (I'll have to make a better list next year!) but an acquaintance of mine called me right after to Christmas to see if wanted to go through some of her crafting stuff before she took it to Goodwill. That received a resounding YES! from me and I came home with some nice papers and several new stamps, including the simple Christmas tree that I used for this card.

If you want to have Christmas Fun all year long, join along with Jingle Belles!

I'm Back!

Phew...I just went through a 5 month adventure with breast cancer, which culminated with a bilateral mastectomy in the middle of November. The excellent news is the cancer was non invasive and therefore wasn't in my lymph nodes. By choosing the mastectomy route I avoided radiation and possible chemotherapy. The choice turned out to be a good one because the post-op pathology of the tissue from both breasts showed several masses of precancerous cells. I bounced back very fast from my surgery and now that the holidays are over I am itching to get back to my regular life. I have two messages for you:  get your mammos (I couldn't feel my lump and the cancerous mass was found in my routine mammo) and if this happens to you, keep a positive mental attitude. A negative attitude won't change your situation and a positive one will help you heal better.

During this ordeal my friends provided an amazing amount of support. I was flooded with cards and flowers, home cooked meals and received numerous rides for follow-up doctor visits. I received two beautiful handmade quilts from friends (I am a quilter myself) and several pink stuffed animals plus one sock monkey who stood watch over me. So, I used my enforced sofa time happily writing many, many thank you notes. And no matter how effusive I am in my thanks I simply can not thank everyone enough for the support that my husband (who was also amazing!) and I received during this time. It brings tears to my eyes just to think and write about it.

Fortunately, I foresaw the need for thank you cards and made some up ahead of time.  But once I was able to get in to my craft room a again I made a few more.  Here's one that contains the breast cancer ribbon:

And here are pictures of the two quilts I received. Thank you to my Sew Sistas and to Carol Webb of Bear Cabin Inn in Show Low for showing me the love: I enjoyed being wrapped up in their love, as did both my husband and my cat, Savannah.