TCP123

It has been awhile since I have played along with The Cat's Pajamas's card challenges. Being paralyzed has a way of taking the fun out of a girl's life.

This weeks's challenge is hosted by Susan, who challenged us to us any TCP beverage stamp.

When I ordered the stamp set with this tea cup, I also ordered the dies for the flowers. The flowers have holes in them to make them look like buttons. I was going to thread embroidery thread through the holes, but my thread and needles are in the basement and I am upstairs and I have no way to get down the stairs. So, I punched centers for the flowers, and I think the flowers look just about as cute with centers as they do being buttons.

Stuff used:
Stamps: TCP Toni's Tea Set, A Cuppa Set
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black, Stampin' Up Gable Green and Pink Passion
Paper: Stampin' Up Gable Green, Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Yoyo Yellow (all retired), PTI white
Other: TCP Flower Buttons CutUps die, 1/4" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, corner rounder punches

Elizabeth's birthday card

This is the other card that I made on Wednesday. It is a birthday card for my niece's 21st birthday. She will be able to listen to bands in clubs where she was not able to go before (legally).

I thought that the cocktail glass was fitting, but I also wanted to remind her to not overdo it. The bear inside the card has a "hangover icepack" on his head.


A month ago, I was not able to hold an X-acto knife. This week, I am able to use one to cut paper.

A month ago, I could not use scissors in my right hand. This week, I can cut paper well enough to do some paper-piecing. I still can't cut shapes that have a lot of inward cuts. But I was able to cut around the bear's belly and the balloons to make them from patterned paper.

I wish my hands didn't shake when they get tired. But they have come a long way from being completely paralyzed 8 months ago.

Supplies used:
Stamps: All stamps by The Cat's Pajamas: A Beary Good Year, Coolvetica, You Say It's Your Birthday
Paper: Stampin Up Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Summer Sun, Whisper White; Classic Crest Solar White; patterned paper from DCWV Indian Summer Fall Matstack
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia, Prismacolor pencils
Other: Oval Nestabilities

Garth's Birthday card

Due to my paralysis, I haven't made any cards since January, except for a couple of cards at my Stampin' Up dealer's house over a month ago. I needed help with those cards since I had to do most things left-handed.

I made two cards on Wednesday. This is one of them: a birthday card for my brother-in-law, Garth. I love the radishes in this patterned paper, and when I saw it I thought of Garth. He enjoys working in his garden.

Supplies used:
Stamps: "So Many Scallops" by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Old Olive and Real Red, Solar White By Classic Crest, Offbeat 6x6 paper pad by Basic Grey
Ink: SU Real Red
Other: SU Scallop paper punch, circle Nestabilities, Cherry Devine Twine

Where have I been?

It has been over 5 months since I have posted anything to my blog. I have done only a few crafty things during that time. The last card I made was for my mom's birthday in January. I had every intention of posting a picture of it, but I landed in the hospital.

Ed took me to the local hospital, and I was taken by ambulance to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Washington. By the time I arrived, I was paralyzed from the neck down. I spent around two weeks at Sacred Heart, where I regained the use of my left hand and arm. Then I spent around 8 weeks at St. Luke's Rehabilitation Institute. There, I regained most of the use of my right arm and hand, some strength in my left leg, and there was some movement in my right foot. I learned how to use a wheelchair and I was almost independent by the time I left. My diagnosis was Viral Myelitis. I was an incomplete tetraplegic, and the paralysis was caused by some random virus. I was OK with it, and I planned to continue to work hard at getting better at home.

We were home for 3 and a half weeks, and I was getting stronger, due to physical therapy. Then I woke up one morning and I didn't know where my right arm was. Ed checked, and there was no strength in my right arm or right leg. We headed to the ER, I was admitted to the hospital, and I was given steroids. That afternoon, I lost the vision in my right eye. We then headed back to Sacred Heart. I was there for 15 days, and that was followed by 3.5 weeks in rehab. My vision is returning, my right leg has some strength, and I am able to move it a little. I still cannot feel my right arm and hand. I have to propel the wheelchair with my left arm, and to keep from going in circles, I steer with my left foot. I am still an incomplete tetraplegic but the paralysis was caused by an autoimmune disease, which we are calling Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO), also called Devic's disease/syndrome. I tested negative for the antibodies, but 30% of patients with the disease test negative. So, I now have a disease that can relapse and paralyze me again.

I am home again, and I hope to stay here. Through drugs, we hope to prevent relapses. Meanwhile, I will adapt to being left-handed. I hope to be able to craft again.

March of the Penguins

I have decided I like my local hardware store. Unlike Home Depot and Lowes (which we don't have in town anyway), the store carries some exotic woods in the warehouse out back. I bought a 15 inch piece teak so I could make a gift for my sister and her husband and for my cat sitter. I bought enough so I could make one for us too.

These penguin puzzles are a bit less complicated that he cat puzzle I made for my parents. But they also took me less time to sand!



Working with teak was a new experience. I can see why it is used for outside furniture, since it is very oily. I sealed the wood before coating it with varnish. I used no stain, since the wood is so lovely in its natural state.

Here is one penguin pair. This set has been sent to my sister and her husband.

Note cards

My niece will traveling abroad during the spring semester. Her Christmas wish list is short. She only wants money so she spend it on her travels to Brazil.

Bleah. I hate giving money for Christmas. Half the fun of choosing a gift for someone is wrapping it in pretty paper. Wrapping a check is boring! I put her check in a stamped card from my stash. I wasn't even motivated to make her a new card. If I had something Brazilian-themed, I may have been inspired.

I still wanted to give her something she could unwrap. So, I decided to make her a set of "Note" cards. My niece loves music, so I searched through my stamps for music-themed stamps. I settled on 4 designs and made 3 of each. If she has 3 of each, maybe she will use them instead of save them?

Two of the cards have cats on them. My niece isn't into cats. (The poor dear has never experienced the joy of living with one.) But since I like cats I have cat stamps, and I am sure that some of her friends like cats so she can send the cat note cards to them.

They are all one-layer cards. Here are the four different cards:





I put them in a clear box with some envelopes and decorated a belly band with one of my music stamps which I didn't use on the cards.



Stuff used:

Pink note cards:
Stamp: Stampin Up Notable Notes
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White (looks off-white in picture)
Ink: Palette Noir, Stampin Up Pixie Pink
Other: Stencil made with an oval Nestablilties die, sponge

Yellow singing cat cards:
Stamps: Cat Song by Cornish Heritage Farms, sentiment from Studio G
Paper: Stampin Up So Saffron
Ink: Palette Noir, Zig Millennium marker Prismacolor pencil
Other: Acrylic block for drawing the square

Blue guitar cards:
Stamps: Geetar by Stampola, Swirls by Autumn Leaves, More Great Greetings by Stampin Up
Paper: Stampin Up Bashful Blue
Ink: Palette Noir, Versamark, Prismacolor pencil

Lavender sax cards:
Stamps: Blues by Rubber Cottage, sentiment from Studio G
Paper: Stampin Up Almost Amethyst
Ink: Palette Noir, prismacolor pencil
Other: Gold stickls for saxophone, Scor-Pal to score lines

Belly band and box:
Stamp: Cats on Treble Clef by PFY
Paper: computer paper, Papertrey white, Stampin Up Pixie Pink and Almost Amethyst
Other: Nestabilities dies, box from Papertrey, plain envelopes from Staples

Christmas cards

I haven't blogged in almost a month! I guess I have been busy.

Before Thanksgiving, I had my Christmas cards stamped and done. Or, so I thought. When I got them out to sign them this week, I realized I had not stamped the sentiments inside. Taking care of that did not take long though, and all the cards were put in the mail yesterday. I am sending out only 15 Christmas cards this year.



The photo doesn't really show the sparkle and the depth of color that these cards have. The base card is shimmery, as well as the mat behind the tree layer. The tree and sentiment are embossed with silver, and the ribbon adds another silver element with another texture. I had planned on stamping the tree on the shimmery paper, but it didn't make the tree pop. The Handsome Hunter paper was the perfect match to the shimmery green paper. I had a half sheet of the hunter paper left in my stash, which was not enough. My Stampin Up demonstrator was willing to loan me some sheets so I could work on my cards. (I will order more, with my next order!) Her husband was a sweetheart and even delivered it to me at work, since my demonstrator was out of town when I figured out I needed the paper!

While Ed was signing the cards, his comment was that the cards were "kinda pretty". That means that he thinks they are very nice.

Stuff used:
Stamps: Snow Swirled set by StampinUp!
Paper: Stardream Emerald, Curious Metallics Galvanized, and StampinUp Handsome Hunter
Ink: Versamark, embossed with Silver Ranger Super Fine detail embossing powder
Other: Ribbon from Michaels