My first She Art girl

I am truly blessed. In so many ways. I am thankful for this every single day.
I have been on a streak of good luck as far as winning a lot of scrappy goodies lately, and I am fortunate to have won a free spot in The She Art workshop by Christy Tomlinson class. After a chaotic start to the month, I finally got around to focusing on the class and really digging into it. I am so excited about having created my first She Art girl (in fact I created 3, but I am only going to share one today)! I love how she turned out, and I love even more the fact that I was able to free my mind and create a piece of art I have until now simply admired. I never thought I could create something quite like this, although now that I have it seems so silly to think that, because it's not the difficult process that I had imagined it would be. It is just a matter of letting go, and just doing. Let the canvas be your guide. It really is that simple. I still have two more weeks to go in the class, and so much more to learn, but I am incredibly inspired by what I have learned thus far. This class has reached the inner artist in me that has been screaming to expand her artistic abilities. :)

Here she is:

Thanks for stopping by! :) I hope you have some joy in your heart today.

Happy Me! Petaloo Guest Designer!

This post is well overdue- I have been sick for the past 11 days- something sinus related- probably something I should have seen a Dr. for and picked up some antibiotics to get it knocked out, but sadly I did not and I so I fight it daily (and curse myself- lol). I am pretty sure Ashlyn and I picked it up at the same time, and since she was on antibiotics she kicked it much quicker. Oh well, such is life and I will be well soon enough, at least I can function so that's good.

GREAT news for Ashlyn- her calprotectin levels are down into the 70's, which is almost normal. (Calprotectin measures the amount of inflmmation in the GI tract- 6 weeks ago hers were extremely high at 1227.) This means that the medications are working for the inflammation. Unfortunately, she still has a lot of pain and some bleeding from the ulcers, so when we go back to Seattle on Thursday, we'll have to ask for something else to get her some relief. Once that pain is managed, it will be much easier to tackle the eating issue. She hasn't eaten solid food in months, and she associates food with pain/feeling bad, so we have to ease back into this. But, that's something we'll deal with in a week or so I am not going to worry about that today.

I was asked to be a Guest Designer for Petaloo this month, and lucky me- they just so happened to team up with Lily Bee this month as well. Double fun and such an honor! Here are the projects I created:

I dressed up this wooden birdhouse I picked up at Michael's a few months ago- the flowers and paper were the perfect inspiration to make something happy. The Petaloo Honeysuckle and Trumpet Vines really brought this to life along wih the bright colors from the Lily Bee papers; a perfect combination! 

Products used:

Canterbury Collection

Canterbury Roses x 6 (Lemon)

Canterbury Roses x 6 (Pink)

Mini Canterbury Asst. x 9 (Lemon)

Mini Canterbury Asst. x 9 (Teal)

Honeysuckle Vine (Yellow)

Trumpet Vine Spray (Teal)

Devon Collection

Petites Mini Rose Clusters (Fuschia)

Glitter Critters Butterflies Dragonflies (White/Pink)

  

I also have a quick and easy butterfly garland that only took minutes to create. I used some cork butterfly pieces from Michael's as the base, and then added a butterfly punch using the cheerful patterns from the Lily Bee Happily Lost collection, and then finished with the gorgeous flowers from the Canterbury Collection.

 Products used:

Canterbury Collection
Canterbury Roses x 6 (Lemon)
Canterbury Roses x 6 (Pink)
Canterbury Roses x 6 (Teal)

Lastly, I have a layout. I know I have scrapped this photo time and time again, but I just love it! I wanted to keep it light and airy and happy. The Lily Bee Papers and Petaloo flowers made it so easy to do so.

Products used:


Canterbury Collection
Canterbury Roses x 6 (Lemon)
Canterbury Roses x 6 (Pink)
Canterbury Roses x 6 (Teal)
Mini Canterbury Asst. x 9 (Lemon)
Mini Canterbury Asst. x 9 (Teal)

Devon Collection
Petites Mini Rose Clusters (Fuschia)


One more thing- My Scraps and More is having a Sketch Crop this weekend! You have until Wednesday, May 25th to get all your entries in, so there is still plenty of time to join in. Head on over and jump in on the fun! You could win an Echo Park 'Splash' collection pack.
Have a beautiful day!

beautiful sunshine and some layouts

Hello! We've finally been blessed with some beautiful Spring weather- sunshine and temps hitting 70' are wonderful for the body and soul. :)

Ashlyn is hanging in there. Sunday was a rough day, she threw up on me (happy Mother's Day to me! lol) and had to have her NG tube replaced. Yesterday she pretty much slept the day away- taking a 6 hour nap from 11AM-5:15PM and then falling right back to sleep around 9. I am sure her little body is fighting hard and that extra rest should do her well. I think we'll do some school outside today since it's so beautiful.

Here are a few more layouts I have to share. They were all created using the daily challenges at My Scraps and More. You REALLY should go check it out if you haven't yet. We've got a fun crop coming up as well as My Sraps Got Talent contest and other fun things, along with the daily challenges. Come on over, sign up on the forum, and tell them Raechelle sent you. :)

I'll be back Friday with an extra special blog post!!!

  PS- One of my layouts was selected by Echo Park Paper as their Friday Favorite last Friday! Woot! 
Have a beautiful day!

Reality check

Last night was a big reality check for me, thanks to an incredibly caring and thoughful ER Dr. who took the time to talk to me amid the chaos of the ER. Ashlyn awoke yesterday with a high fever, and by 4PM her fever was over 103' and she was not able to keep her meds down. So I took her to the clinic, thinking it would be a simple in and out in a hour or so type thing, but no- it ended up with them sending her to the ER and the process took 7 hours.
In the two weeks since Ashlyn's diagnosis I have been in this bubble so to speak. I figured since we have a diagnosis, she'd take the meds and we'd move forward, some days being better than others. Life would be full of rainbows and sunshine from here on out. There might be a few blips, but everyone has those days. Boy was I wrong. I have done some reading, but nothing I have read has truly prepared me for having a child with Crohn's. How waking up with a high fever isn't something I can let her sleep off. It means going to the ER for bloodwork, IV, x-rays, etc. How quite often bacteria invade the raw areas of the intestine and wreak havoc in the digestive tract. How even having a runny nose can cause irritation that can lead to problems. I have been trying to focus on the positive aspects of this disease, but I am finding more and more that the positive stories are few and far between. Most experiences with this disease are far from positive. People are quick to say how sorry they are for her, and happy to speak the truth about the negative experiences they have witnessed by having a loved one with this disease, which I am OK with. At first I would just tuck them into a file in my brain marked, "surely this will not be the case with Ashlyn", and thank them for their honestly. But as I sit here, that tucked away file has blown up and  all these "horror" stories, I will call them, are invading the rainbow and sunshine places. Filling my head with all the bad that comes along with Crohn's.
I have shed some tears this morning. I have looked into the eyes of my sweet baby girl and felt her pain and suffering. I have prayed to God to take it from her. I have felt my heart drop as I cannot tell her that she is going to feel better soon, because that is what I have been telling her everyday. And she is not. I know this is going to take a toll on her, as it is all of us who love and care for her, and do not want to see her suffer. Today I will walk on the dark side of this disease. I will got to the pharmacy and get more pills for her to take. I will buy more Tylenol to fight the fever. I will look at my daughter and my heart will ache as I have to watch her endure whatever it is her body is fighting. I will pray with all my heart that she will get well. That this will be the worst this disease will have to offer. But I will know that at just two weeks into this, I need to face reality. This is now our life. We need to continue to live day to day, hour to hour. Prepare for the unexpected and roll with it. But more importantly, we need to continue to seek and embrace the positive, because there is a rainbow and sunshine out there.

Great news and some layouts

I have some great news to share! Ashlyn had a CT-E on Monday to see the extent of the Crohn's Disease in the portion of her small intestine that was not visible via scoping, and overall the results came back normal! yay!!!! I am SO grateful that she is still in the early stages of this disease and that hopefully she will be able to start being an 11 yo girl again. :) There are some areas that are "non-specific" (oh how I loathe those words) that will need to be monitored, but I am going to keep the focus on the positive.

This disease has a mind of it's own and we are going to take it day by day and deal with what may come today and not worry about tomorrow. The new formula she is on, as well as the medications are also slowly starting to work. I can see pieces of "Ashlyn" emerging, and it makes this momma's heart full with joy! She has been laughing. A lot. Smiling more. Playing with her iPod touch. (you know a kid is sick when they get an iPod Touch for a Christmas gift from her brother, and then barely touch it for months on end.) She's not lying in bed alone, but instead has been camped out on the sofa in the living room to be among family. She doesn't complain as much when I tell her we are taking our daily walk around the block, however she is grateful for all the rain we've had lately because then we don't go. We took her to the park for three hours the other day, and although she spent most of the time lying on a blanket on the grass, she did walk around and let me take a few photos of her. :)

She takes long naps throughout the day. She cannot walk for long periods of time or her legs get wobbly and give out. She still walks hunched over in as much of a fetal position as she can to help ease the pain. She carries a bucket with her everywhere "just in case" she has to vomit. She complains 3 times a day when I give her her medication. The thought of food does nothing to appeal to her senses. We still have a loooooong way to go, but in time, we'll get to a place where she's feeling good again and will eat and play and be happy again.

In some other good news, I was asked to be a design team member for My Scraps and More! yay! Along with three other super-talented ladies. Be sure to check it out, there is a fun contest happening soon.

I leave you with two layouts today: both created from challenges at My Scraps and More.

My Minds Eye papers, doodlebug and pink paislee stickers, Daisy D's punch out alphas, twine, Jillibean Soup Correguated Shapes and paint.

Echo Park paper- LOVE it!

some layouts and a fun contest at My Scraps and More!

I have been on a creative roll lately and I have to give a lot of credit to the daily challenges over at My Scraps and More. They have provided me with endless mojo and it's fun to see how many I can do. I managed to get 13 of the 26 challenges done last month, which wasn't too bad. :) Here are a few: I will share more during the week. 

really old school papers here- I have a huge stash of Chatterbox! lol

There is a super fun contest that is coming up over on My Scraps and More! Here are the details:

Please join us for 8 fun weeks of challenges and games, looking for the first "My Scraps" talent star! Starting June 3rd, and each Friday thereafter, a challenge will be issued. You will have until the following Thursday at midnight eastern time, to upload your challenge into the appropriate thread on the forum to continue on in the My Scraps talent search. At the end of the eight weeks, A My Scraps and More Talent star will be rewarded with a box of scrap goodies for sharing their talents! Along with the grand prize winner, someone will be randomly chosen each week among the participants of the challenge, to win a prize as well!

points: challenges 10 pts each
games 5 pts each
referrals 2 pts each

The first challenge will be issued June 3rd and the last one will be issued on July 29th. (we will take a week break from July 22nd-28th) My Scraps & More's talent star will be announced on August 5th!!

This is a non-elimination contest. All are invited and WELCOME to play! There is no right or wrong way to scrapbook. As long as you are recording your memories for years to enjoy, that is all that matters!! I look forward to be inspired by all of your talent!!


Read more: http://myscrapsandmore.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=info&action=display&thread=264#ixzz1L9WfYjGJ

 

head on over and sign up! It's a wonderful new website. :)

 

Tomorrow Ashlyn has her CT-E. I am praying that she does not have any more sign of disease in her small intestine.