Feeling schroomy!

Hi everyone, Sandee here today bringing you a little schroomy birthday greeting.

I have a new quest in life...to make paper casts from everything I possibly can lay my hands on! I've been looking at stamps in a whole new way lately. Did you know you can make a mold from a stamp?...and please note, not all stamps make for good molds. I found that the mushroom stamps from What's Up Gnomey work great!

After I had made the paper casts from the molds, (go to the Arnold Grummer website to learn how to make a paper cast) I then began to work on the background of my card. Knowing I was going to get a little messy I decided to first tape off the edges of my base cardstock with some washi tape and then I went to town stamping the Splatter It background with Ranger's Mowed lawn Distress In.  ( I stamped some fern leaves but they didn't show up like I wanted them to, so I washed the surface with some water and added some splatters of Lindy's Starburst Tiffany Lou Blue. ) After I finished with the inks I simply removed the tape which gave me a nice clean edge.

You can see the background details a little better in this picture and you also see that I stamped the fern leaves on some of my handmade paper and then fussy cut them out and adhered them right on top of the stamped images that I began with. I love how it turned out!

Here's a close up of the mushrooms too ♥

Now go check out your stamps and see if you can take some to a whole new level! 

You know you want to!!

Each Day is Such a Blessing!

I have been SOOOO bad at blogging the last little bit. I have to admit it is because this new journey that I started after I was diagnosed with Cancer in December has been one of the most challenging things that I have ever done. It is not only physically challenging, but it is mentally and emotionally challenging too. I had my first surgery on January the sixth. And to be honest with you the day after the surgery I felt AWESOME! So awesome in fact that I was looking for flights to go Anaheim for CHA! Yes, I must has lost my mind for a bit there. I did a lot around the house and studio and I felt SO guilty that friends and members of our church were dropping off meals for us. After all, I thought I felt perfect. Well, about seventy –two hours later ‘it’ hit me. Not only did my body hurt from surgery, but I was hit with a horrible flu and a really bad infection from the surgery its self which is never fun. Well, that forced me to be good whether I wanted to or not. I went through 4 rounds of antibiotics and likely should have been in the hospital but when I am sick I am really good at convincing my poor hubbie, Marcus, that I shouldn't be in the hospital at all.  So I laid in my bed for quite a while as more poor qirlies played movies for their mom to watch. Yup, I watched a LOT of Sponge Bob, and really, it didn’t matter. Being fevered I had some strange dreams and thoughts. Life looks quite different when you are laying on your bed and you are feeling so achy and hot with fever and the doctors words , “cancer…. blah, blah, blah….for the rest of your life…. CANCER….. icky tests….blah,blah,BLAH”,  are swirling around in your poor head! I like to think that I am a positive person, but Oh My Goodness, when you are feeling SO horrible and it is 3 o’clock in the morning, you cant sleep, the house is quiet as you are sitting is the washroom trying to keep down the only thing that you have eaten all day; one cracker, and the tears are silently falling down my cheeks…. it can be SO hard to be POSITIVE! I would say a little prayer and would start to quietly, or so quietly, sing I Am A Child of God to myself, just to make myself smile and to give myself a little inner strength.

BUT, you know what, I have been SO Blessed! Every time I thought I couldn't go any further. I mean really, I am just one rather short Ukrainian girl, how much does Heavenly Father expect me to take on in one life time!? Well, apparently, HE knows me better then I know me and oh boy, am I grateful for that!

When the specialist called me and told me that I had Cancer, I felt like I had been literally punched in the stomach and I couldn't breathe. I didn’t know what to say. So, I joked with him, telling him that he could have just sent me a Christmas Card instead. The weeks that followed… I don't know how many times I wished I could talk to my parents and tell them or just hug them. But, I couldn’t. They are gone from this world. And really I am glad that aren't here for this because it would have been so hard on them. One of the hardest things about this whole event is having to tell my children and my family.  I never ever wanted to hurt them, and you know what, in the past Cancer has hurt them. They lost grandparents and family to Cancer. So, yes, they are scared and that breaks my heart because no mom wants to cause hurt or pain to their children, do they?

But, like I mentioned I feel SO blessed. Every time I have felt alone, hurt, sad, or just can’t get of the silly couch…. my IPhone goes *DING* and guess what, its a message, comment, or email from you!!!! Or my doorbell goes *DING-DONG* and it the mailman dropping off a beautiful letter, card , handmade gift or package. Amazing people from all over the globe. People I know & people I don't know. I cant tell you the times that I have been on my knees and thanked Heavenly Father for your kindness, your amazing BIG hearts to think of this little Ukrainian Girl living on the Alberta Prairies. Your thoughtful has been SO healing and helpful not only for me, but for my family that sees your amazing thoughtfulness. I can’t ever thank-you enough. Please just know that you are always in our prayers and your artworks and crafts are forever in our home!

So, for now, my life will just revolve around doctors I guess. I am still on antibiotics and I am scheduled for more tests next week for my liver, pancreas and all those lovelies. Right after that we just go right into the procedures that I have to have every three months for the rest of my life, you know scopes, biopsies, and medicines that make you feel really icky and make you feel like you are a lab experiment.

Ahhh….. it is all good. It could be worse. Mind you some days I feel like I am turning into a purple dinosaur or like I could grow an extra head leg or eyeball! The kiddos might think that is cool! *grin*

I am alive. A little slower. But, I am alive. Every single day is a blessing! No matter how I look at it I am BLESSED!

Enjoy life! Enjoy every single minute of it. If it is sunny; smile. If it is rainy, and the rain drops are falling put on your rain boots and dance outside in a puddle. If the skies are grey, take out your paint brushes and paint your self a giant rainbow! It doesn't matter if you can can run, crawl or just lay still on days during this journey because all it takes is a smile, a hug, or shooting star to make you realize how important you are and how precious life is. There is beauty all around us in everything from the smallest detail of leaf  to  the finest colours of  morning sunrise. Beauty...life is everywhere. Just take a moment to slow down, breathe, and enjoy every single moment of your journey. Your really deserve it! 

Yesterday my hubbie and I celebrated our 25 anniversary! Holy Crow! I know I cant believe because I really can’t be old enough for this to be happening but everyone keeps telling me that I am. What do they know!?! huh! You know what I have realized? It really, REALLY is important to LOVE everything about your spouse and IGNORE everything that you don't love! If he does something you cant stand…just ignore it because LIFE IS TOO SHORT! Boy, I have sure learnt that one. But, it took me almost 25 years to learn it! haha!

So I made a Ukrainian Chocolate Cake for my hubbie on our anniversary.

A lot of people asked for the recipe. My mom used to make this cake for us for birthdays. This cook book has been in our family for awhile. The funny thing is that my Baba used to make the cake and then my mom found a cookbook in 1980 that actually had the recipe in it.

 So here you go. Enjoy!

Have a SUPER AWESOME Day!

Make sure you take a moment and o something to make yourself smile because you are SO worth it!

Hugs,

Susan xo

Technorati Tags: recipe,#inthekitchen,Susan K. Weckesser,©Susank.Weckesser

A LITTLE GRUNGE LOVE

Hello!  I am so excited to share these 2 cards I made using Susan K. Weckesser's "A Little Grunge Love" stamps.  They are both in the current issue of "The Stampers' Sampler"!  How exciting is that??

I love these hearts!!  They are total grungey goodness! 

Have you started your Valentine's Day Cards?  Maybe you should try making hearts of a different color too??

Thanks for visiting!

xxDaniella

Sweetheart Card

Hi! Dana here today sharing a card that I created for the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday. I paired a vintage inspired handmade tag given to me by a friend with Canvas Corp and Susan K. Weckesser patterned papers in red and pink.

I used the Susan K. Weckesser A Little Grunge Love Stamp Set to add this red heart to the card. I'm  mailing this card to someone special. How are you planning on spreading love this month? We'd love to see what you create with Susan K. Weckesser products! Please share your creations on the Susan K. Weckesser facebook page or remember to tag Susan on Instagram or Twitter.

Thanks for stopping by today!
~Dana Tatar - Susan K. Weckesser Creative Contributor

Lost art?

The lost art of letter-writing — "an art robbed of romance and even basic courtesy in the age of rapid-fire, efficiency-obsessed, typed-with-one-thumb-on-a-tiny-keyboard communication." 

How To Write Letters: A Vintage Guide to the Lost Art of Epistolary Etiquette from 1876

Dear Reader,
I first began by making my own stationary using the Arnold Grummer Papermill Kit because nothing says you are special more than handmade paper!

Then I wanted to add some special touches to the design of the paper before stamping so I got out a couple of Lindy's Stamp Gang spray inks and spritzed some on a sheet of parchment paper that had been laying in the bottom of my spray box.

(I created a spray box for all my mixed media projects. I learned early on that by keeping a piece of wax paper in the bottom of the box does 2 things: 1. Keeps the box from being too messy looking and 2. Preserves all my liquid ink over sprays for future use.) You can see in the picture below that I can easily remove the wax paper and reactivate the dried ink by either spraying water on it or by spraying more ink on top of it. Then I can lightly lay a sheet of paper, in this case, my envelope, on top of it to get a wonderful soft mottled look. Frankly, I much prefer this method to directly spraying onto the paper. I used the butterfly stamp from What's up Gnomey? to decorate the front of the envelopes.

Getting a letter in the mailbox beats seeing a text on a phone screen any day!

I also used the fern stamp from the same What's up Gnomey? stamp set to decorate the front of the cards. I used my ColourArte Silk Acrylic Glaze in African Jade and the Twinkling H20 in Copper Penny to color in the image.

Writing letters doesn't require anything special but by adding your own touches and the effort of making your own paper, you sure can make the recipient feel special.

 You can touch and treasure a letter, which has far more personality than words on a screen.

I also love the romance and elegance of using a special writing tool like my fountain pen from Jet Pens, it makes me feel special when I use it. I also think that treasuring a pen has become a lost art too. So many of us (myself included) grab a cheap ballpoint pen for everyday writing ( like paying bills, grocery lists, etc.) so why not keep a special pen for for those moments when you sit down to write a heartfelt letter?

Celebrate letter-writing rather than lament it's decline, send someone a letter today.
yours truly,

Sandee