{Inspiration Project Post #362}

Hello, STAMPlorations Friends! The Inspiration girls are back with a helping of projects showcasing stamps, digital stamps, dies and stencils of their choice.

We'll still randomly draw a winner from all the comments left on our Inspiration posts, have a look and leave a comment for your entry to win a $15 prize code to the STAMPlorations store in our monthly prize draw.

 

 

Maria

{Stitched Winter Landscape Die, Stitched Spring Landscape Die, Super Hero, Pocket Blooms}

Monika

{Some Snark, Hello You, Mixed Media Grunge, Radial Slimline Stencil}

Vicki

{Born To Roam}

Deepti

{A Snarky Birthday To You, Big Greetings}

Shirley

{Droplets Stencil, Bloomdala Bliss Felicity Dies, Sugar Rush Digital Stamps, Sketchy Coffee Cups}

*********

You can check out all of our current promotions, giveaway and freebies here.

{Inspiration Project Post #361}

Hello, STAMPlorations Friends! The Inspiration girls are back with a helping of projects showcasing stamps, dies, ephemera and stencils of their choice.

We'll still randomly draw a winner from all the comments left on our Inspiration posts, have a look and leave a comment for your entry to win a $15 prize code to the STAMPlorations store in our monthly prize draw.

 

 

What's up with all the delays?

Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD. - Psalm 31:24 KJV

I have been clinging to this particular Bible verse more than ever. I also hadn't planned on writing this post but I feel it needs to be out there as to why activity here on the blog hasn't been the same the past several months and why posts are either late or not published at all when they are expected, as well as why I am extremely behind in getting orders fulfilled.

On top of the health/medical diagnosis I have been dealing with since October 2021 (which I mentioned in a post in January), a second one came up towards the end of January this year. It has been 8 weeks of undergoing tests, ultrasounds, CT scan, and mammography and then waiting for results.

I came by myself, and I had been praying for weeks that the lump I had felt on the right side of my breast, right under my armpit, was nothing serious. But with a family history of breast cancer, and having a cyst (which turned out benign) removed from each breast in 2006, I needed to have it checked out. And so in late January, my doctor ordered an ultrasound. A couple of weeks later, she ordered a CT scan because the ultrasound showed three, not just one, enlarged lymph nodes. I never heard back so I thought, "No news is good news." Until I got a letter saying my doctor had ordered a second ultrasound and diagnostic mammography and that I was already scheduled for those procedures the second week of March. 

Then a week more of waiting, until finally I saw the doctor yesterday. I knew it wasn't good as soon as I saw her face and she refused to look at me for the first couple of minutes. She kept starting to talk then stop then try again only to end up clearing her throat and looking down at the stapled pages in her hands. I wanted to know so asked her to just say it straight out. And she did.

"Suspicious for malignancy", "multifocal breast carcinoma with metastatic right axillary adenopathy", "multiple right breast abnormalities", and "early pulmonary nodular metastatic disease" are words no one ever wants to hear when they go in to see their doctor. But those words I heard -- she read them from the printout she was holding. The last part -- "early pulmonary nodular metastatic disease" -- was because the CT scan showed a nodule on my lung's lower left lobe. I told her it's scarring from the valley fever I had in 2011/2012. But still, she wanted to be sure. And so she told me she is ordering 3 biopsies STAT -- 2 for the lumps in my breast and 1 for nodule in my lung.

I don't know how I managed to drive myself home, but I remember sitting in the car at the parking lot and staring at the copy of my results. I sat there for maybe 5 or 10 minutes, and I remember shaking and saying out loud, "Lord, please give me strength and give me courage. I need to get home to my family." While my MIL watched my little girls in the living room, I told David about the results and my upcoming biopsies.

And now there is more waiting. As I'm writing this, I got a second phone call from my insurance saying that my doctor's request has been approved. The other call came this morning. So now I wait for the hospital to call me and tell me when I go in for the procedures.

I am terrified. Overwhelmed. Worried for my husband and my two young children -- they are the love and light of my life. But all I can do now is "keep my panic in check" (Craftyfield's words) and she is right. 

And here we are. I know many of you are wondering and I appreciate the emails asking how I am...and I am so sorry for not replying to some. I'm afraid things are going to be even more crazy around here. I have a wonderful team and they are like family to me. They have given me so much grace these past few months considering how inconsistent I have been. Without their support and understanding, I would have shut down this blog and the store (even temporarily) altogether.

If you are the praying sort, could you please include my family -- most especially my girls, Kathryn and Winter -- in your prayers? 

Thank you for reading this far.

{Throwback Thursday} Thinking Out of the Box with Dies

    

Hey, STAMPlorations friends! Throwback Thursday is back and oh boy, you're all in for some serious inspiration from our very own Craftyfield! 

    

{Spotlight Project} Monika Tries Spotlight Stencilling

Hi STAMPlorations Friends! Having been musing what to do for this month's post, I wondered how it might be possible to adapt the spotlight colouring technique for stamped images to stencilled images and patterns. Have a look at what I came up with.

The Kitty slimline stencil seemed to be a good one to colour in grey and try to spotlight the face with brighter colours. That was the plan.

Before starting applying colour, I decided to dry emboss kitty first. Below is the sandwich I used for my big shot: platform without shims - clear cutting plate - black rubber mat - piece of card to emboss - Kitty stencil - a piece of plain card to avoid my worn plate imprinting on my embossed stencil image - clear cutting plate

Leaving the stencil aligned with my embossed kitty, I picked the smallest ring from the Circles Flexi-Template, attached it in place with repositionable double sided tape and applied Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo inks within the circle only.

I used the circle from the template as mask and started applying grey ink. I had to go with the darker Basic Gray, the Smoky Slate was simply too light. Originally I had planned to use a mix of both.

This is how it turned out after the stencil and template mask were removed. The small brushes are the makeup brushes I used for applying the colour.

I could have used kitty just like that and maybe added a few splatters, but I wanted to see how it would turn out with the circle completed. The circle mask went back on and I blended a bit of Tempting Turquoise for added colour. A bit of stamping was added around the edge using stamps from the Art Marks 3 set before finishing off with a die-cut sentiment and a couple of sequins.

I rather liked how my experiment turned out. It will certainly be a technique to add to my toolbox.

***************

These are the products I used from the STAMPlorations Shop to make my card.

Kitty Slimline Stencil, Circles Flexi-Template, Art Marks 3 Smile Word Die

 

That's it from me for today. Wishing you a lovely week.
hugs
Monika ❤

{Inspiration Project Post #360}

Hello, STAMPlorations Friends! The Inspiration girls are back with a helping of projects showcasing stamps, dies, ephemera and stickers of their choice.
We'll still randomly draw a winner from all the comments left on our Inspiration posts, have a look and leave a comment for your entry to win a $15 prize code to the STAMPlorations store in our monthly prize draw.

 

Monika

{Hot Mess, Always Tea Time, Layered Citrus, Bloomdala Bliss Felicity Dies}

Vicki

{Newsprint Autumn Tiles, Coffee Feel Good}

*********

You can check out all of our current promotions, giveaway and freebies here.

{Spotlight Project} Maria Revisits Scrap Strips

I'm back again this month still talking about scrap strips. This time I took some scrap paper I'd used when swiping ink pads directly onto my ink swatches. In the past I'd always stamped a solid image onto my swatches but I've decided I like the color swiped onto the swatch so I've been updating them. I have a lot of inks. A lot. All that yummy color? I just had to make something with the prettiness.

STEP 1

Gather supplies - I grabbed the swatching scrap papers with all their prettiness, a piece of scrap paper to glue them onto, a glue stick and a tag die. I also wanted to add some texture paste through a stencil onto the cardbase. The rest I figured out as I went along...

STEP 2

Tore some strips in ROYGBIV order and glued them onto my scrap paper. Notice I'd traced the die onto the scrap to give me a good idea of where to place the strips.

STEP 3

When the glue was dry I die cut the tag. TIP: Rather than throwing all of the negative piece away, I trimmed off a strip of it to adorn the inside of my card ;)
I also die cut three tags from scrap cardstock to stack before adhering the tag to my card front.

STEP 4

I snazzed up my card front with some shimmery paste through this fun stencil. I did not cover the entire front, just three random areas. TIP: Be careful not to place your stencil in the wet paste when you move it around.

Here's the finished card again. I gussied it up with a couple feather leftovers from my scrap drawer. Rainbows. Aren't they the best?

Tearing up scraps or backgrounds you've made is another great way to put them to use in your cardmaking. As always, if I inspire you to place an order in the shop, I'd love it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA code for an additional 20% off at no extra cost to you.

Feathery

Tags #1 Nesting Dies

Painted Scales Square Stencil

{Inspiration Project Post #359}

Hello, STAMPlorations Friends! The Inspiration girls are back with a helping of projects showcasing  stamps, dies and stencils of their choice.

We'll still randomly draw a winner from all the comments left on our Inspiration posts, have a look and leave a comment for your entry to win a $15 prize code to the STAMPlorations store in our monthly prize draw.