Ticket for Two

I am loving these new Kenny K Stamps. They are so much fun to color. This is Biker Girl. She is colored with Copic markers. The paper used is Fanfare from Close to My Heart. The ticket stubs are Just the Ticket, also from CTMH.

A Hop

I made this cute Easter card using the stamp set "A Hop" from CTMH. This little bunny reminds me of the chocolate ones that I used to get in my Easter basket as a kid. His ear looks yummy enough to take a bight out of. The patterned paper is from the Mayberry paper pack.

Easter Layouts with Miracle

These are the layouts that my Scrappin' Ladies will be making this month. My good friend Lori has been so gracious to lead my workshops while I recover. I used the beautiful Miracle paper pack with the stamp set Sensational Season. The bunnies were colored with ink and a blending pen. I love the soft watercolor effect of this method.

Sensational

I am finally off of my pain meds and can spend a few hours in my craft room. If feels so good to start feeling normal again. I think my name should be Rip Van Winkle, because I slept the month away. Lol. For this card I used the March Stamp of The Month, called Sensational, from Close to My Heart. I paper pieced Mrs. Rabbit's dress and made the card with the Sophia Paper Pack. The flowers were made with the Sophia stamp set. The little picket fence is made from a Martha Stewart punch and the sketch is from last week's Mojo Monday Sketch. Mrs. Rabbit is watercolored using a blending pen and ink. Time is running out to get this stamp set. After March 31, it will no longer be available. If you are interested, please let me know, and I can get you one.

Happy St. Patricks Day

Happy St. Patricks Day everyone. Hope you have a blessed day! For my card I used Mo Manning's Little Irish Dancer Digi Stamp. While I am laid up, these little Digi Stamps have come in handy. There is no stamping involved. All that I have to do is download them and print. I have a table set up next to my home hospital bed and on it I have my copic markers. So, I lay in bed and spend my time coloring images.

My Ski Accident

To all of my blog friends, I just wanted to let you know where I have been. A couple of weeks ago, my family and I went up to Lake Tahoe for a ski vacation. There was new fallen snow and Lexi was so excited to go to ski school.

On Monday, February 28, which is also our anniversary, we went up to our favorite ski resort, Sierra at Tahoe. We got Lexi in ski school and Jennifer and Ryan took a class. Bill and I went off on our own to ski.

The snow conditions were perfect and there weren't many people out skiing on a Monday. At around 11:00 we skied down to the children's area to watch Lexi ski. While down at the bottom, I called Ryan. He and Jennifer were having lunch at the lodge. I was anxious to meet up with them and hear about their class. The easiest way to get down to the lodge was to go back up the lift and ski down.

When we got off the lift, Bill asked me if I would be okay going down a certain run. It would be fine. I had been skiing steep runs that day and there was no one on that freshly groomed white hill but me. I had it all to myself. I am a careful skier, ski at an even pace and stay in control. But, I was anxious to see Jennifer and I wanted to get down fast, so I picked up my speed, stumbled and lost my balance. I knew that I was going to fall, that I would have the wind knocked out of me, get up, put my skis back on and continue skiing. But, this time when I fell, the binding on my left ski didn't release and the ski stayed on. I flipped over and over again, about 5 to 6 times and was wondering when I was going to stop. When I finally came to a stop, my upper leg flopped over to the side and I knew it was broken.

Bill had skied on ahead of me and didn't know that I was injured. I was all alone in excruciating pain and fear. I knew that I had to scream for help and hoped that someone would hear me. Fortunately, someone did hear my cry. Two people showed up to help me and they happened to be ICU nurses, a man and a woman. What are the chances of that on that quiet day? They knew to not move me and were very comforting. The woman was able to reach into my jacket and get my phone. She called Bill and told him to get the Ski Patrol.

When the ski patrol arrived, my head was facing down hill and they had to turn me around. My leg hurt so bad to be moved. They asked me if anything else hurt, my head, my back but I told them that nothing else had hit the ground.The lady nurse was so comforting and was able to speak for me when the paramedics were hurting me. Holding my head she told me that my leg had to be put into traction and that it was going to hurt. She told me to go to my happy place and scream if I had to. At that moment I let out the loudest scream ever. The paramedics had placed a metal bar up against my leg, turned a crank and pulled my bones apart. It was torture and all I could do was scream. It hurt so bad. They had to do this because of the jagged overlapping bones that could do damage to the major artery in my leg. Next they slid a board under me and put me on a sled. The ski patrol skied down hill while pulling me behind. He had to go down the steep hill, and fast.

When I got to the bottom, Bill, Jennifer and Ryan were waiting for me in the medical center. An x-ray was taken and then I was put me into a waiting ambulance. On the way to the hospital they gave me Morphine to ease the pain. I was taken to Barton Memorial Hospital, which is the best Orthopedic Hospital in the country and where Olympic athletes go.

When I arrived in the OR, I still had on my ski boot and asked them to remove it when I was put out. I was concerned about the pain that I would feel when they pulled that tight boot off. But, amazingly, they slid it off like butter. I guess they are quite experienced at this. And, then they took me in for surgery.

The break in my femur was a lot worse than they thought. It was broken in two pieces and the piece in the middle had broken off and wedged in sideways. They had to open up my leg on the side and reposition the bone. Then they went through the knee and put a rod in the bone. The rod is held in place by two screws in the knee and one at the top of my bone. I have 31 staples on the outside of my leg, upper leg and knee. I had lost so much blood from the broken bone, that I was severely anemic and my blood pressure had dropped to 60/30. Fortunately, I was able to avoid a blood transfusion.

While I was in the hospital, I couldn't stop thinking about God's hand in all of this. I wondered about the the two people he had sent to me. Were they angels in human form? And, was something so much worse suppose to happen, like paralysis but instead He took my leg? Why didn't anything else hit the ground. Why didn't the ski come off with all of that tumbling? Is it a miracle that Bill had skied on ahead of me instead of staying with me and possibly moving me? If he had, I might have died if the broken bones had sliced open the artery. I couldn't stop praising God in the hospital for breaking my leg.

I had the best care and was there for five days and have had to learn to walk with a walker.

I am at home recovering. We have a hospital bed downstairs in the family room and the bathroom is about 10 feet away from me. The sad thing for me, is that making it to the bathroom and back is about the only thing that I can do. And, it is very exhausting. This is my reality for now and I have to accept it and realize that it is not always going to be this way.

Simply Scallops

Check out this awesome video from Close to My Heart and learn how to add darling scallop circles to your artwork using our innovative 2" scallop circle punch. Pairs perfectly with round stamp images!

Lexi's Valentine Pops

Lexi and I had fun today making her Valentines. She had the bright idea of punching out a heart, cutting around the inside and popping out a little nose.
We attached the face to the pop with a glue dot.

On the back side, we punched another heart and using a stamp with her name on it, embossed with white daisy pigment ink and embossing powder.And, finally we have 24 Valentines made.

Sweetheart Marci

This morning while going through my favorite blogs, I noticed a common theme....lots of Valentines. That put me in the mood to break out my new Close to My Heart paper pack called "Sweetheart" and pair it with this adorable image of "Sweetheart Marci" from La la Land Crafts. A few days ago, Lexi and I had fun making these cute little rosettes using the My Favorite Things "Mini Rolled Roses" die cut. They were so easy to make. The hearts were cut with Nestabillities. And, Marci is colored with Copic Markers.
As usual, my "Mini-Me" Lexi had to follow me into the craft room and make herself a card too. She put a little kiss on Marci's face and cut out the hearts and popped them up with Pop Dots.

Magnifique Layout

I love this paper with the peacock on it and was saving it for something special. This picture of Lexi with her violin is so precious to me and perfect for this layout. I used blue and green sparkles on the feathers and Mocha Opaque pearls around the bird. All supplies are from Close to My Heart.

Spring/Summer 2011 New Idea Book Blog Hop

Welcome to the Close To My Heart new product Sneek Peek Blog Hop. Many Consultants are celebrating the upcoming release of the new Spring/Summer Idea Book that comes out on February 1. Be sure to check all the blogs at the bottom of this post!!!

I am highlighting a new paper pack called Mayberry. My layout uses the Workshop on the Go for this paper pack.

Just look at this beautiful paper. I am also showing some of the yummy ribbon and buttons that are in this catalog.This is the stamp set that comes with the paper pack.Take a look at the scallop at the top of my layout. To make this scallop, I stamped the pear several times. Then I took a 1 1/4 inch punch and punched circles out of the pear image. I then cut them in half and they made the scallop. Creative huh? I learned to do that from this workshop. Keep checking back to see the new posts that keep being added.

Have a SUPER day!!!

Last weekend I took a class with Irina from Everything Papercrafts. We had so much fun and made so many projects that I didn't have a chance to finish the cards that I started. Since, I am having a Super Day, I thought this would be a fun card to make. I hope you are having a Super Day too!!!


For my card, I used Supercupcake Marci, and Super Heros Window set. They are both from Irina's company, La-La Land Crafts. The DP is from Basic Grey.

The Scrappin' Ladies Layout

One of the things that bring great joy to my life is my CTMH Business. Through CTMH I have made such wonderful friendships and love having them over for my monthly Scrapbook Workshops. We always have so much fun together and the group keeps growing. This layout uses the new "Wings" paper pack and a couple of new stamps sets that will be available in the new catalog that comes out in February. They are "Dreams Come True" and "Take a Picture". I have also used some of the new embelishments. Notice the pleated ribbon and black courdoroy buttons, brads and black ribbon.

January Workshop

For my workshop this month we will make these layouts that I learned how to make at Convention this pas summer. We will be using the "Magnifique" paper pack and "Flip Flaps."
These layouts are interactive, as they open to show more photos. This picture shows the layout closed.

When you open the flip flaps, this is what it looks like on the inside.This is the second layout that we will make. Here it is closed.And, then open. I love that it can hold so many photos. I was able to scrapbook most of my vacation photos in these two layouts.This is the paper that comes in the "Magnifique" paper pack. I have got to come up with something really special for the peacock page.

O' Christmas Tree

I had fun with this layout of Lexi decorating the tree and my favorite ornaments. The Cricut cartridges used are Plantin SchoolBook and Winter Frolic. I love my Cricut and wish that I used it more. The little figures just add so much to a layout.