WOYWW 776

What a day it has been again.  Sunshine this morning meant I set off to clinic with just my hoodie  over my t-shirt and on the way back I went into Iceland with Chas only to hear thunderous rain, as we thought, beating down on the roof.  When we ventured outside it was hail.  So many days now we have had these hail storms and on Monday it turned to sleet as we were driving to the hospital.

Well, I got signed off at the hospital on Monday for the cutaneous horn I had removed back in December and I don't think it will be long before the clinic sign me off for the knee.  Last week there was only a tiny bit still open (over granulation) which was bleeding and today it was the same, a tiny bit bleeding, but I think it was in a different place.

Now, ages ago a lovely friend sent me some images for me to colour in.  It was fine for me at the time and now I have made some of the images into cards but I only have one to show you, do you remember me showing them to you - I had used coloured pencil crayons to colour them.  

You can see one of them on the left of my desk - a tea cup with two more images waiting to be finished and then I can make them into a set of three cards.

So this is my desk as it is at the moment.  My small guillotine, the cards, images, my coaster (thanks Jo) my favourite flower stamps with some new pockets in front as I am putting them all in pockets to keep them safe.  The rest is as it always is - ink pads mainly.

Here are two cards I made last week.  Remember the blue Bluebell looking one?  Well, I tried again with a poppy stamp.  The first one is the last one I did as it is a second generation image.

and here is the tea cup mentioned previously

I used gingham card behind the image to represent a tablecloth but now I am thinking it should be a 'posher' cloth than gingham for that classy cup.

I am hoping to get a bit more into my stamping and also do one or two other crafty things (with wool?) that I have on the back burner this next week.  I would love to get out more but as I am so slow on my feet at the moment I daren't risk it for fear of getting soaking wet if I am caught in one of the downpours we all seem to be having.

See all you WOYWW'ers next week hopefully, in the mean time, happy snooping.

Jeudi Journal - Not on Track

Hopfully I am back on track but the quote isn't.  "The pity train has just derailed at the corner of Suck It Up and Move On" is, I think, today's quote from Tim Holtz' book of Snarky comments.  Anyway, that is what I have based my journal page on.

I know I have been missing for ages and I still can't sit to craft or stand for too long so I was thrilled to see that Valerie had "Geometric Forms" as her challenge for Art Journal Journey and I knew I had seen a magazine page somewhere that had shapes on it.  Sure enough the page had rectangles and circles on it and with the addition of two figures and a few more punched out circles my page was complete.  I could easily colour in the figures whilst sat in my chair so it was a nice easy page - now to think up a story to go with it.

"Amy was feeling very down, her boyfriend of a full two weeks had dumped her.  She had thought he was 'the one'.  At seventeen she really wanted a permanent boyfriend and Billy had seemed so grown up and perfect for her.  Turned out he was as bad as the others and so poor Amy had spent the night in tears, playing love songs and crying into a pile of tissues whilst she wrote a letter to her favourite teenage agony aunt explaining how she felt.

The next day she felt a little bit brighter but there was still a big ache in her little heart as she got dressed in her prettiest dress and wandered into town.  It was there she saw her big sister, Sophie.  Sophie had left home when she was 20 and got herself a lovely little flat above a hairdressers shop in town and she was just the person Amy needed to talk to.  Surely she would understand.

And so Amy began relating all her troubles and woes about Billy her ex to her big sister.

"Amy, you know I love you and I would do anything at all to help you don't you?" asked Sophie.

"Of course" replied Amy, "You must have been there when you were younger."

Sophie grinned, she was only six years older but then being the baby of the family Amy had always seemed much younger than she actually was, probably because mum and dad gave into her so much, and always had done.  What was she to say?  Yes, she had suffered when boyfriends had come and gone but it was all part of life and you just had to accept it.  She realised that now.  The right man would come along some day.  She smiled to herself - she was still waiting.

"Look Ames" she said, this is all part of growing up and these things happen.  Besides which Billy wasn't right for you.  He hung around with the wrong crowd and I am sure mum and dad would have not been happy if they had seen you with him. Besides which, let's face it, you only knew him a couple or so weeks."

"It doesn't matter how long we had been together, I loved him" shouted Amy.  And there is nothing you can do or say to make me believe he was not the right boy for me.  I thought you would understand, you are my big sister and you should be there for me all the time."

As what Sophie said, Amy came back at her, tears of anger and frustration spilling down her face and half an hour of Amy in one of those moods was enough for anyone.  In the end Sophie had had enough.  Being nice had no effect, maybe it was time to give her little sister a bit of a shock.  And so when Sophie came out with 'the pity train has just derailed at the corner of Suck It Up and Move On' Amy was so surprised that she stopped shouting and the tears disappeared.

"What do you mean?" she asked her big sister.  

"I mean it's about time you pulled yourself together and stopped spoiling that pretty face of yours and listened to me.  There's plenty more fish in the sea and you are only seventeen.  Let's go to mine and put the kettle on and then we can get your face washed and sit and talk like two sensible young women.  How about that Ames?"

Amy agreed, and grabbing her sister by the arm she said 'sorry' and the two of them went on their way.

WOYWW 775

 Another Wednesday morning when this is out for you all to see but in truth done yesterday on a very very wet afternoon.  In fact I got soaked going just from the car to the clinic Tuesday morning.  It rained so hard when we were coming out and it hasn't stopped since.  I really think we are all going to end up with webbed feet!

Well, nothing much to show you but good news on the knee front.  It is doing so well that next week I will be ditching all this padding and be reduced to a dressing and a 'toe to thigh' stocking.  That will make bending so much better as at the moment, although I can bend my knee, it is restricted because of all the bandaging (first gauze, then two layers of foam on the cut area, then a pad before a stocking, a cotton wool full length bandage, another bandage and then a full length stockinette stocking type thing). All this behind my knee only lets it bend so far but I am walking much better and bending my knee now as I walk.

On Saturday I had signed up for a workshop on the internet and managed to do one of the techniques, not very successfully, but at least I did it so it was a real sense of achievement.  Next day I did another one.  Oh dear, really not very good.  Maybe another week when I can sit properly I will manage.  Anyway, here they are - the bluebell one is a first and second generation and the one I did in the workshop.  The second generation I did a bit of a sketch around the shapes with a black liner.  The other one, done on Sunday, I think my watercolour paper is too thick and the embossing does not show up enough.  Others didn't have the problem, and some lovely work was produced, maybe I should get some decent paper.  I need to try the other two techniques, and redo these, maybe I will have more success.

See, you can't see the embossed flowers on the yellow ones.  The first blue one is the second generation, the last one is a first stamping and then overstamped with black ink.

Well, that's it for this week, maybe I will have more to show as time goes on.  In the meantime enjoy snooping around the WOYWW desks, hopefully more interesting than mine which I am sharing below.

On the left is my box with my most used floral stamps from Lavinia in, then a background which I did in readiness for some stamping and my printed list of Lavinia stamps which I have on a database.  That's my cleaning cloth on top of the list.  Behind are some Elements ink pads, my tin which contains some tiny stamped images, an empty Memento reinker a lid with some brads in and my lovely coaster gifted by dear  Jo.  Told you, nothing interesting here this week but next week I have some new stamps arriving, not many, just four or five.  I need to stamp out the stamps I have bought whilst being incapacitated - maybe another week I can show them to you - and get using them!

WOYWW 774

 Don't collapse, I have a card to show you.  Should have been two but I only just sent one of them so I can't show it until next week.  Hopefully by then I might have another for you to see.  The weather is so poor here that there is nothing else to do but stay in and craft although I don't do much of that yet.  Saying that it won't be long before I can sit at a table and do a bit, I hope.  

Here's my desk after making the bare bones of the card

Paul might recognise the two boxes at the back of my desk (top left) next to my blending tops.  The yellow card is the waterfall card before the actual mechanism was stuck on.  Inside there was a story about the birthday boy and his travels through the dark jungle in Ababongo Land and the green card is all the bits, left over and cut out wrongly for this birthday card.  

You can just see my carousel peeking in at the left hand side of the photo and there is a piece of kitchen roll on a bit of craft mat by the side of it.  The only other things are my computer and a pair of scissors, a Tim Holtz Clock waiting to be decorated (been waiting for years) and the wires and things for my computer.

Now for the waterfall card.  I do hope that this uploads ok which is why I am publishing my post early so I can check the video.  Apologies for my voice, it's been like that since I had pneumonia a year ago and it disappears altogether if I talk too much.  It was the only way I could think of showing you without too many photos.  

Ignore the "thank you" at the end, I didn't know if Chas had stopped filming or not so I just said 'Thank You" to make him stop.  Hopefully next time I want to do one I can do it myself with the gadget Jayne once bought me whilst sitting at my desk as usual.

See you next week at Julia's for another week of WOYWW.

WOYWW 773

 At last, it has happened, well nearly ...  I can share my desk with you all on WOYWW and there is something craftwise on it.  I am trying to make a birthday card for my niece's six year old who wants 'monkeys' for the theme for his party this time.  I have at least one drawer full of animal stamps.  Dogs, cats, horses, tigers, lions, mice, otters, badgers, even a sloth or two.  No Monkeys!

Despite all the ooh aah about altering Janet Klein's figures I have put a boy's head on a girl's body. Only problem is the set of stamps had bears and not monkeys so I have had to draw some of my own, cartoon style.  Called in Google for a bit of help.  Gosh, my copying skills have taken a dive.  I am sure a six year old will be ok with it, well, little Theo will, he is a lovely little boy.

Hopefully next week I will show you a completed card using these characters.  I can only stand for a short length of time as my leg starts to ache then and I can't bend it enough to sit at a table yet.

So what has brought about this change in my day?  It happened on Monday when I went in my craftroom to have a look around and jog my memory as to what I had.  Gosh, I have forgotten so much.  I've been trying to bend my knee a little over the weekend, just now and then and only a little.  The nurse said it was probably not going to split any more now so I thought it about time I tried a bit of exercise or I won't be bending in the future.  Going tomorrow so will see what had happened when they take the dressing off.  Last time I went it was still bleeding.  Strange but it trickles blood from one end just as it did when I was in hospital, but then it was both ends.  Any idea why Annie?

Well, we will see what I have for you next week.  I do have a card made over the weekend but I can't show it until it has been received.  See you next week then!

WOYWW 772

Still not got any craftwork I've done so nothing to show you, my WOYWW friends.  Haven't a clue what I have been doing to pass the time (sleeping maybe), but here are some lovely cards handmade by friends for my birthday.  Lots of talent and different techniques here

I really tried to get them nice and straight, guess I should have gone to Specsavers (actually I did  LOL). Aren't I a lucky lady, some beautiful cards and there'd be more if I showed you the commercial ones.

We had a visitor in the front garden the other day.  It was around noon on Saturday, and the next day he was there again, same time, but this time on the back lawn.  Chas went to open the bedroom window when he startled him and Foxy ran off through the garden.  Shows how hungry he must be visiting at the height of the day.  Chas took a little video of hi in the front garden but I can't upload it to here.

Another week has gone by and the weather up north has actually improved.  Yesterday was a lovely sunny day, I had to take my coat off so it must have been warm, when I went to the clinic.  Good news, more improvement on the wound.  I cannot thank Katie enough as she was the nurse who first recommended using the 1% hydrocortisone cream.  I've not shared my knee before but now that it is well on its way here is a photo taken yesterday:

Still a bit of swelling but the peas are helping and it really is so much better as one or two of you who saw it weeks ago will testify.  I feel better in myself so maybe, just maybe, I will get something started later today when my new stamps arrive.

WOYWW 771

 Well, what a fabulous weekend - it was my birthday and what a lovely day I had on Sunday.  My friend Jayne came around with her daughter, Alicia, and we had a little party.

The day before Jayne had been to the Extravaganza at Lavinia's and next door there is a lovely little bakery.  They had some boxes made up for Mother's Day and Jayne decided they would be the perfect way to celebrate my special day.  Sadly they had all been ordered but she got them to just make up another four.

Here they are

Inside were four different sandwiches. quiche, salad, sausage roll, a fresh cream meringue, three tiny cupcakes, a chocolate brownie, a scone with jam, cream and strawberry and a chocolate.  Everything was delicious and I could not eat all of mine so had some later for supper and finished off the cupcakes the next day.

She also brought a lemon drizzle cake complete with candles and they sang 'Happy Birthday' to me.

I had flowers, chocolates, toiletries, a pot plant, money and a new 'bee' necklace to replace the one I seem to have lost.  Now it won't get taken off, but if it has to it will be put back straight away,  Not to forget a lovely Facetime with my little sister and her hubby in Oz, and loads of messages from family and friends.

I must show you a rose that was in some of my flowers, it is so beautiful

isn't it a beauty.

I will share my cards next week when I take them down.  Here they are for now but you can't see them all

It's good news on the knee front.  Today we saw that the open wound had really started to shrink and the nurse said it was looking much better.  The new treatment is obviously working and I am walking around like a mummy.  Last week Katie decided that it needed some 1% hydrocortisone cream on the open wound and some felt to compress it all.  So here I am - a gauze dressing over the hydrocortisone, then two layers of felt, next a large waterproof dressing and then a stocking.  Not finished yet - then a cottonwool bandage, then another bandage, then another and finally another stocking.  Don't think I will be cold if my leg comes out of bed!  Today's nurse made a lovely job of it and tucked it all in around my toes and stuck some tape on so that it stands more chance of not moving.

She also put some barrier cream around the wound in case it leaks so it doesn't burn my skin, and then E45 all over my leg because the skin is so dry.  The lengths these District Nurses go to to look after their patients.  I didn't know until the other week that they provide the service 7 days a week, 365 days a year.  I certainly cannot say anything but praise for the NHS and they way they have looked after me with this injury.  Can't thank them enough.

So it's positive news all around and today the nurse does. not think it will tear any more now so I can start to bend my knee a little more but if I sit I must keep it up.  Hopefully I can do a bit of papercrafting in the week ahead and make some "thank you" cards ready to give out.  Watch this space!