Hopefully I will be active here again!!!

I just want you all to know that I was able to spend an evening with Merrylene (SIL that was in the horrible accident) this past Saturday. It had been several weeks since I had seen her because Cecil and I had both been sick with chest colds and would not take a chance of passing it on to her. I have to tell you that she is looking and feeling so much better. She actually seems like her old self and that has made our family and me so happy! She is still unable to walk as the doctors don't yet want her to put weight on the leg that was broken in the accident (compound fracture), but it's coming! Once again, I want to thank everyone for their prayers and concerns for Merrylene!!!

I also want to add here that I going to get back to my cardmaking. All along, I have been doing my projects for Pazzles, as I'm on their design team, but just about all other crafting had been pushed aside, plus my creativity went way down...................but now I'm back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to wish you all a very happy 4th of July!!!!!!!!

I visited Merrylene at the rehab/hospital today………………..

Just a quick update on my SIL!!!! She seems to be doing much better now, but had a really bad night last night. It's just going to be a long hard road back! Please be sure to keep her in your prayers!!!

Hugs!!!

I have an update on Merrylene (my SIL)……….

First of all, I want to thank everyone for their prayers!!!!! Merrylene is improving and started opening her eyes this past Tuesday and started talking some on Wednesday. We were all finding it very strange that she did not ask about Tom (her DH that was killed in the accident) and I was beginning to think that she has short term memory loss, since she and Tom had just started dating a year ago and got married in October, but I just got another update from another SIL and this morning Merrylene asked her son, Harry Jr. (he was the one that introduced Merrylene and Tom) where is Tom? He immediately gathered some of her other grown children, as well as a psychiatrist to her room and informed her that Tom was dead. At first she did not believe them, as she does not have any memory of the accident!!! They finally convinced her, but I don’t think she will truly deal with this until the memory of the accident comes back to her. She is improving by small amounts each day and the family is feeling more confident that she’s going to recover from all this. I just pray that finding out that Tom is dead does not set her back!

We had Tom’s funeral this past Monday and one of her sons took some pictures in the event that she feels a need to see them. Tom’s funeral was one of the best I’ve ever attended. He was very good friends with his pastor and he’s the one that did the funeral and he told many funny stories of Tom and himself from over the years. He really helped me to celebrate Tom’s life! Tom will be missed by many people!!!

Thanks again for your concern and your prayers and please keep them coming as Merrylene still has a long road to recovery ahead of her!

Bless you all!!! Pam

I received some horrible news yesterday!!!

At around 1:15pm yesterday, I received a call from our niece saying that my husband's sister (Merrylene) had been in an accident and was at the Trauma Center in Jacksonville, FL (around an hour away). We immediately rushed to the hospital and about 30 minutes after we arrived we learned that Merrylene's husband died at the scene and Merrylene was in critical condition. I am still in shock. Merrylene and Tom just got married this past October...in fact I posted the wedding card that I made for them here on my blog! Yesterday they performed emergency exploratory surgery on her and removed her spleen as well as a piece of her colon. They could not close her up due to swelling and if the swelling has gone down enough by tomorrow afternoon, they plan on reconnecting her insides and closing the incision. She has many broken bones they have to deal with also. The doctors told us she has a long hard road ahead of her if she makes it. They have her so heavily sedated that she has a breathing tube...so it's like she's in a coma. She also does not yet know that Tom died in the accident...........it just breaks my heart. Please keep her in your prayers!!!

My friend Teri said this looks good enough to eat!

I made this little “Thinking of You” card for the Splitcoast Stampers Limited Supplies Challenge (LSC212) yesterday. I know that I wanted to use my new ($1.00 from Michaels) Hampton Arts “Tulips” stamp and since we were supposed to use soft colors, I decided to use watercolor paper and do a washed background using pastel colors. I had also used watercolor paper for the image, except instead of using watercolors for the image I used a technique with my Sharpies and alcohol. I colored on a ceramic tile using my Sharpies and then dipped my brush in alcohol and picked up pigment off of the ceramic tile! The sentiment was done using Photoshop CS3 and some digital brushes that I have. I used the Edwardian Script ITC font. The large lavender flower was designed by a lady (Doris the Crafter) at the UK Scrappers site and was cut using my Pazzles “Inspiration Creative Cutter”. I "paper sculpted" all of the flowers. I hope you like!

Here is a close-up of my coloring:

Finished Card Size: A2/4.25”x5.5”

Supplies

Papers: GA Pacific White CS, Darice Paper Crafter CS and Bienfang Watercolor Paper
Stamps: Hampton Art designed for Studio G
Ink: Brilliance “Graphite Black”, “Pearlescent Purple” & “Pearlescent Yellow”
Tools: Pazzles “Inspiration Creative Cutter, Quickutz “Revolution”, Fiskars “Sunburst Border Punch”, Fiskars “Flowers” Corner Punch, and EK Success Flower Punch

Accessories: Spellbinders “Standard Circles & Standard Scalloped Circles SM” Nestabilities, Offray “Sheer Petit Dot Orchid” & “Lavender” Ribbons, “Crystal” Stickles, “Petal Pink” Liquid Pearls, Sharpie Ultra Fine Point Permanent Markers and Daler Rowney Watercolors

I’ve been practicing with my Prismacolors………….

and Goo Gone. I have the OMS but I think it’s probably safer with the Goo Gone and it works just fine. I also used a paint brush with some alcohol and the ink from one of my Sharpies to add a little shadowing type background color. The image I used was not a stamp….I guess you could say that I made a digital stamp using the“Red Rose” Plate 28 in my “The Language of Flowers" Coloring Book by Dover. I just printed it using my Canon Pixma MP530 All-in-One inkjet printer and then heat set it with my heat gun. I then decided to use it to make a birthday card for my “adopted” daughter, Cathy. Her birthday is next month……..I sure hope that she will like it!

Oh, and I just have to mention this. Do you notice the beautiful designer paper? I love it……I purchased it from Michaels a few weeks ago when they had the “get 7 sheets of 12x12 paper for $1.00” sale! I wound up buying ten sheets of this particular paper for only $1.40…..WOW, what a bargain!!!
Finished Card Size: A7/5”x7”

Supplies

Papers: GA Pacific White CS, DP from The Paper Co. [Michaels], Bazzill Bling and “Best Occasions” Metallic Paper Pack gold metallic CS.

Tools: Pazzles “Inspiration Creative Cutter”, Provo Craft “Cuttlebug and Ranger “Heat It”

Accessories: Provo Craft Cuttlebug “Textile” embossing folder, Spellbinders “Ribbon Tags Trio” and “Small & Large Petite Scalloped Ovals”, Prismacolor Pencils, Goo Gone, “Gold Photo Corner” Peel-Off Stickers by the Paper Studio, Edwardian Script ITC font and Offray ribbon

I guess you could say that I "got bugged' today.......

Actually, today’s Limited Supplies Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers was entitled “Go Ahead and Bug Me” and we had to make a card with any kind of a bug on it, with no more than four layers and NO patterned papers! Well, I just happened to remember this really cool bug that I had used on a digital scrapbook page that I designed four years ago, so I located the image on my Hemera Big Box of Art CD collection and tuned it into a “digital stamp” so that I could color him with my Prismas and some Goo Gone…..here you can see the scrapbook page and the darling little bug!

I also decided that since I could not use pattered paper, I would create my own background using ink pads and a cloud stencil. I designed the “picket fence” using my Pazzles “Inspiration Studio” software and then cut it out using my Pazzles “Inspiration Creative Cutter”. The “Always take time out to smell the flowers” was done using the "FreehandBT 591" font and Photoshop CS3 and then printed on my Canon Pixma MP530 All-in-One inkjet printer. In addition to using Prisma Watercolor pencils, I added the shadowing using watercolor and an aqua brush. I placed a clear Dew Drop over his eye instead of using a googly eye! I also used some iridescent paper to make an extra layer of the wings that I covered with “Crystal” Stickles.

If you would like to participate in this challenge, you can find all the information here! Trust me you will have a lot of fun with it and I usually learn something new from doing their challenges!
Finished Card Size: A2/4.25”x5.5”

Supplies

Papers: GA Pacific White CS, “Majestic Blue”, “Plum Iridescent” and “Gold Leaf” Effect Papercraft by Canson
Inks: Memories “Soft Stone” and “Antique Linen” Distress Ink by Tim Holtz
Tools: Pazzles “Inspiration Creative Cutter
Accessories: “Crystal” and “Black Diamond” Stickles, The Robins Nest “Clear” Dew Drops, Prismacolor Colored Pencils and Daler Rowney Watercolours