Good news...finally!

Well, actually first some bad news. On Monday, Andrew's mom was taken by ambulance to the ER. She's been in CCU and we almost lost her. Mickey and I were there for over six hours yesterday and Andrew and I went tonight. Yesterday, she was soooo bad. She wasn't coherent and she had a litany of issues...she's septic, has pneumonia, had a mild heart attack, infections in both lungs and renal failure. Very scary. But, today she is so much better!!! She's talking to us and looks like a real person again. Such a relief!

It looks like my cousin will only have to have some cells frozen or burned off. We'll know more about that on Friday.

My mom is doing better too. She did have a bit of a "wave" of something last night but thinks it was because she was pulling weeds and sweeping the driveway. So, she's just resting now. Her appointments are tomorrow with both her GP and her neurologist. Hopefully they have some info for us. Or at least, a blood thinner that doesn't make her sick.

Thank you all for your kind words. It really helped me...so much more than you all know!

Thank you!
Erica
:D

My Not-So-Healthy Family

I've been a little MIA lately. We've had some bad luck health-wise.

My mom had a mini-stroke or a TIA at my house on Friday and I just found out that my cousin has cervical cancer.

I'll post again when I have some good news, okay?

Erica

Cody's New York Mini Book

This mini book I made for my little brother. It's pictures from his going away party/BBQ. I bought the acrylic album (it's about 4x5 with 4x4 interior pages) in Lincoln City. The two covers are about 4x5, with two tabbed interior pages about 4x4 1/4 and two plain 4x4 interior pages. I used mainly Scenic Route Chipboard elements and stickers.

Sorry about the photo quality. I took these on a piece of white paper on my lap in the car at 7:45 pm. Not the best lighting at all! :D

Prepare yourself for lots of pictures! Here we go!
The cover. :D The letters are Thickers, love them!!! You can't really tell from the photo but, the Hambly transparancy is cut so that the clear parts are behind the "destination" and the green is behind the NYC so it shows up better over the photo a few pages back.
I covered the back of the "enjoy the journey" piece before I adhered it. (I used mainly Craft Glue Dots to stick stuff to the acrylic.) I love Scenic Route because lots of the pieces are the same size. Perfect for acrylic albums!
Here's that Hambly transparancy, I cut this one and the one in front of the back cover to the same size as the covers. The rest of them are 4x4 as are all the photos.
Oh, and the clear spots also highlight the words "loving" and "celebrate" on the back.
Right after the cover are just two general party pics.

Next we have another Hambly over the divider page and the first pic in the "family" section. Note my Grannie's thrilled look! (She hates it when I take her picture!) :D

And, there's Co again, perfectly (well, almost) inside the circle. It actually wasn't that hard to get those right. They worked out fairly well most of the time.

And, the first divider page. I handwrote (ugh, I hate my writing) "family" on Scenic Route label stickers. Oh, I doodled the swirls, too. I just thought it needed that space filled. :)

Oh, and I missed a page! :( The first of the 4x4 interior pages. I used some Creative Imaginations chipboard letters "NYC" that were cream with type and swirls, painted them with sheer coat of lime green so you could still see the pattern. I also painted the top and bottom of the back sides with the same green paint. On the other side of the page is a large, rectangular chipboard sticker and I cannot for the life of me remember what it said. I stuck the sticker down, cut a piece of patterned paper to size and then adhered that to the other side of the page. Then, I glued down the letters. The tops and bottoms that I painted green showed up above and below the sticker almost like a scalloped border. Gosh! I wish I had a picture! Anyway, it's about halfway through the family pictures. Oh, and my pictures are all just cut to 4x4 and adhered back to back.

This is the last page of the family section. To cover the back of the label sticker I cut a piece of SR paper to size and adhered it on the opposite side of the tab.

This is the other 4x4 page (the one I DID get a pic of!). It's a SR chipboard circle glued to a scalloped piece of cream colored cardstock. The green is the back of the element on the other side, I just painted what wouldn't be covered by the scallop. :D

And, here's the back. These pages were just about me telling Co how proud I am of him and how much he's loved without me having to try to find the words. I'm not so good at that. So, I craft it! :D

Another transparancy page. These don't really serve any purpose but decorative and I really liked how they carried the green from the piece on the chipboard throughout the book. Disclaimer: I didn't think that when I bought it, I just thought, hey that's the same green as some of the stuff I want to use in Co's book!

This one for some reason went under the tabbed page! Ha!

The first page of friend photos...

...and the last page of friend photos.

This is the larger transparancy in front of the back cover. I'm holding it funny but it lines up perfect with the chipboard.

And, convieniently, it also frames Mary's face quite nicely!

The inside of the back cover. The chipboard is more SR with another cream scallop behind and the "Limited Edition" sticker is 7Gypsies. Oh, and I painted the edges of the back of the chipboard on the other side of the cover that same green. :D It works really nicely to cover up the raw side!

And, the back! SR chipboard and another 7Gypsies sticker.

Thanks for sticking with me though this! It was one of the fastest things I've ever made! Here's the timeline. Co's BBQ was on Saturday, I ordered the pics Sunday, picked them up Monday, made the book Tuesday afternoon! I pulled my stuff from my stash (papers, mini book options, etc) on Sunday and the only thing I bought for this project was the Hambly transparancy...I picked it up on Monday. Anyway, I had to wait for some paint to dry and so we were 5 minutes late to dinner...and I still had paint on my fingers!!! LOL!!!

Thanks again for looking! (Oh, and I haven't forgotten to post about some of my new favorite things. Just haven't taken the pics yet.) :D

Me and Co-co!!

Or Co-co-mo-jo or Cody-wody-doo-dah-day or Co-co Krispies or Co or just Cody!

Love you, Co-co!!

Ek

Plum Tuckered Out!

Emotionally that is. My little brother, Cody left us for New York City today. We had a dinner today just us and our parents, Andrew, little man and Grannie. I gave Cody a mini book I made (this afternoon!!!) about his going away BBQ on Saturday. It turned out pretty cool and I think he liked it. Afterwards, I was the one who drove him to the airport.

We went to our uncle Doug's house first. Cody drove so I could photograph his mini album, I'll post the pics tomorrow. :D Co picked up his stuff and said goodbye to our awesome uncle. Uncle Doug has let Cody live in his basement for minimal rent for the last two or three years. So, it was an emotional goodbye.

Co and I talked the whole way to the airport about non-New York stuff. Once we got there, I got out to help him get his stuff and then I had to say goodbye. I held up pretty well through the hug and then lost it when I got back in the truck and he walked away. I cried and sobbed and when I wasn't calming down, I called Andrew. A few minutes later, I was okay. Well, sort of.

Anyway, that's how I am right now. Just emotionally wrung out.

Oh! And, I think we found our house! We have to see if they will come down in price, with this market I think they'll have to, but it's a great house. Well, for us at least. The roof is shake which will need replacing and the two full baths are dated and need remodeling. The kitchen and laundry room have the 70's dark cabinets with the thin edges and both rooms will need remodeling as well.

But, there are four bedrooms, another half bath and enough outbuildings for us. It would be a great 30 year home for us.

So, we are hoping that he is flexible and not too emotionally attached to the home. He actually has it rented right now, so hopefully that's not an issue. Then, we have to sell our house. Yipes! I hope it sells quickly. We need the extra room for when my brother comes home to visit!

Cody, I miss you already!
Love,
Ek

Mother's Day Cards (Mom, Don't Look!!!)

I finished my cards for Mother's Day last night. It's so fun to be able to make girly stuff and I love how they turned out.

The first one is for my mother-in-law, Dorothy. Her favorite color is turquoise, so I figured some of the glittery diecuts from Making Memories Noteworthy line would be perfect. I also used a Studio G stamp here! Oh, yeah baby! Justifiing buying a ton of the dollar stamps by using one of them!!! Hahahahaha! :D I used a few other really cool things on it as well but, I forgot to take a close up. I'll have to do another post about those things anyway. Gotta enable my girls, don't you know!

And this is the inside of the card where my hubby will write something meaningful and witty. He is so good at that. I am terrible at expressing my feelings in writing. I think that's why I love to make the people I love cards, it's how I show I care. :)

This next card is for my mom. I have a love/hate relationship, not with my mom, but with making stuff for my mom. I love making stuff for her but, I hate having to wait for her to see it!! LOL!!!

I used my newly won Revolution to make this shaped card. The green flower and the button center (it's actually an epoxy shape) are both Making Memories. The flower is from their Garden Party line and the button is 5th Avenue. Oh! The swirls are Studio G Series 11 stamps! (And I added a little extra something...can't wait for that next post, can ya?)

I used another of my new favorite tools on the inside of this card. (I'll show you that in my next post. Are you getting excited yet?)

OK, last card. This one is for my Granny. It's a card/gift all in one!

Where's the gift, you ask? Well, the flower comes off and....

...it's a clip! I stacked two Imaginesce flowers, attached them with a brad, glued the clip onto a green felt flower and covered the back of the brad with the felt. I had wanted to make a broach for my granny but as she is 89 11/12 and has arthritis, it's hard for her to work those little clasps. So...a clip!!! :D

Oh, and the paper is Making Memories Chelsea's Place, you know, that line that was at Mike's? And...it's glittered! Just on the flowers so it's not overwhelming. I really hope she likes it.

Have a great Saturday!!!

ARGH! I missed a day! :D

I didn't take a picture for Cinco de Mayo. But, I think I made up for it yesterday. I took Mickey to the zoo today for the first time. We met my little brother, Cody and spent the afternoon with him. Co-co is moving to New York a week from today. :( Anyway, at the zoo, I took a lot of pictures. I filled a 2GB card and then took 75 more pics on another card!!! I haven't uploaded them yet because I need to go through and delete the really blurry/bad/repetitive ones. But, I do have pics for the 3rd and 4th of May.

This is my photo for the 3rd, Mickey asleep on the way to my Uncle Joe's memorial. He only slept for about 15 minutes before we stopped and he woke up. Then, he didn't get to sleep again that day until 9:30 that night!

This is my photo for the 4th. It's my Aunt Linda (Joe's wife) on the left and my Aunt Toyia (Joe's sister) on the right. We were at the Abby's in Sutherlin for a family breakfast.

Now, I just need to make sure I take a picture for today.vAndrew’s father is in the hospital right now. It's not immediately life threatening but it is very serious. We are going to visit him in the ICU this afternoon.

I got to see my college roommate Yvonne's little man yesterday for the first time. Mickey and I showed up about an hour and a half late because we totally lost track of time at the zoo. Connor is such a cutie! He even smiled at me! And, those dimples...don't get me started on them! Adorable! I wish I had a pic of him but, I didn't bring in my camera because I was afraid we'd have to leave quickly, in case the news about Andrew's dad turned out worse than we thought.

May 1st Picture

Here's yesterday's pic. It's my cousin Joe's son, Austin. He's "playing" video games that's why he looks blue. ;)

Handsome little devil, isn't he? He is also ridiculously tall! He, and my cousin and his wife, Shari got into town yesterday and they stayed the night at my dad's. So, we met them and Shari's folks and brother at Abby's pizza in Woodburn for dinner. Yum!!! :D