Christmas Items for Dialysis Nurses and special cards......

Hello everyone!

Welcome back to WOYWW. I've missed quite a few but am hoping to catch up now! 😃

 Sorry I've not been here but lots of things have stopped me from catching up with you all.  It's a really strange thing going from manic every day to catch up to then doing nothing!  Really odd!

Anyway I thought I'd share some of my recent makes with you. This one is for some special monkeys who make me laugh every day! Thanks guys!

This next purple card is for a special Dialysis Nurse, you know who you are!  He always makes me laugh and believe me, anything that makes dialysis better/easier is good in my book!!! He always mentions that I like purple, so it had to be a purple card didn't it. The last of my special purple card too!

 

Here's what took me a lifetime to do, well it seemed like it.  I wanted to make the Nurses something special rather than give the standard chocolates or cans of beer!  I hand made each and every one of them. 

I cooked some caramelised nuts, added in some sweets, some chocolate Brussels Sprouts, and chocolate Orange Clementine's along with some special chocolate truffles.  I also made some coconut snowballs too which seemed to go down very well.  Some Nurses said it reminded them of home so much which was a lovely thing to say and I'm pleased it gave them some special memories too.

 I also made some little matchboxes and filled them with chocolate Brussels sprouts.  I've had some wonderful comments from the Nurses saying how special it was and they enjoyed them. They also said it must've taken me a while to do them and they don't know how long it actually took me to do.

Just putting the contents in and adding the ribbons took me nearly most of my Sunday before dialysis. I liked doing them though but didn't realise how long it would take to do 20 of them! Worth it in the end though! Although one of the Nurses said I've now got to top it in 2015. John said that to me but I said it was a one off for the first special one. However now I'm going to have to start thinking in about September to get them all done. I don't mind, as I said I really enjoyed it. As they're keeping me alive I really am grateful and appreciate each and every one of them.

For my special friends I also made some Handmade Sugar Scrub. It took me a while to get the contents as I've really slowed down since dialysis started but I was determined to do it all.  I just made it before Christmas so phew...!!

Here's all the little matchboxes I made, 22 in total as I had to make extras in case my memory of names let me down. You can just see the chocolate Brussels Sprouts in them too! They are so cute.

The sugar scrubs all done ready for distribution with my purple Santa hat on!!

In between my Aunt asked me to make a Peppa Pig card for her great grandson who was two.  I had in my head that he was one the same as my friends little girl and yes, my memory le me down again and I had to quickly make one with 2 on it!

Here's another special purple one for my Dialysis Nurse. He's a great laugh and has cheered up the dialysis sessions no end!

Well that's enough of catching up for me. My hands are freezing (another side effect of dialysis) and I've not quite recovered from my awful session yesterday, so I'm going to take it easy and have a decaf coffee now.

Take care everyone and have a fantastic 2015!!!!

Happy New Year!!! XX

It's been a while...sorry....!

Hello Everyone

Thanks SO much for not leaving me whilst I've been AWOL.

Yet again, kidney dialysis has taken it's toll.  I really didn't know how exhausted this would leave me. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy did the same but there was an end date to treatment with that. With kidney dialysis there is no end date.....

Anyway enough of that, let's show you some cards I've been working on.

 It's a selection of some I've made recently but just not had the time or energy to blog them for you.

I found some of these beautiful flowers in my stash so decided to use up some of them on these to sell for the hospital where I've had all my operations and my initial dialysis sessions.  I gave the cheque for £100 to them and it was really appreciated which is nice.

They offered to give me a guided tour around the Laboratory when I'm next there which is fantastic.  I had a tour around our local Hospital when I was helping out Macmillan Cancer. It's very interesting to see what is being done to help us poor patients with these awful diseases.

The card above was made using Vellum with plain white card. I used to same colour to add the background to the sentiment with Promarkers.  It isn't crooked either, but looks it in the photograph, sorry!

 Some of a free kit that came with a magazine and some new bargains from Hobbycraft!! Along with some beautiful diecuts from my good friend Gill.  Thanks Gill!

Some old embossing folders came into use again and also some of the freebies from the magazine kit and some extra bits like the bows came from Gill. Thanks again Gill...!!!

Well that's another small update from me. Sorry it's so short but it's not easy at the moment.  I'll be back again soon hopefully.

WOYWW 277 - yay, back again!

Thanks everyone on WOYWW and others for being so patient whilst I've been AWOL....!!!  I've had quite a few problems on dialysis and not much energy to catch up or the inclination to be honest. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but boy, this has totally knocked me for six.

So what cards have I made? Well I've done a few and will post them for you all to see. I can't show you my Workdesk, as it's my bed and I've put it all away before realising I'd not taken any photos. So for now, I will show you some of the cards I've made.

This one was a special request for a friend of mine. I made the little vegetables myself drawn freehand and then coloured with PM's and then used glossy accents on them. I used paper which looked like the skin of vegetables but you can't see it very well from the photo.

This one is a little blurred but it's used up some of my 'Sale Bargains' in my stash.  I've been trying to use up as much as I can to make space for new stash!!!

I made this from some of the leftovers from a kit I purchased for one item for someone special.  I'll be showing you what I made soon so you can see.  I had lots leftover, so decided to use it with an easel card and the last of my adhesive borders.

 I just love these embossing folders (free in a cardmaking magazine a while back).  I used Cor-dinations and distressed them with an old nail file someone gave me at a Cancer Conference I went to. I had some flowers in my stash so used them with co-ordinating gems too.  The Happy Birthday was from a Justrite set I had for Christmas last year I think. (Don't rely on my memory, but if you need to know I can check for you!).

Another little kit for someone special who loves cats. Underneath the topper it has a gorgeous poem. Sadly there's only a couple left.

Another kit from a magazine and used up some of the backing papers in it too. The lovely die cut is from my good friend Gill so I'm not sure of the make etc. I just added the gems to it!

I'm really pleased to let you all know that I've now raised over £100 for charity in the last few months with my cardmaking. I donate 100% to the charity and this time I'm sending it to the South West Thames Institute for Renal Research and St Helier and Surrey Kidney Patients Association (SHAK).

It's too late for me I think, but it might save others going through dialysis after having chemotherapy and radiotherapy.  Even if it helps just a couple of people it will be worth it.  To save someone else going through this is what the researchers are working hard for.

If you go past a collection box for Kidney Research, please donate generously! It all helps as they say!

WOYWW 266 - catching up again......

Hi Everyone and welcome to WOYWW again.  I'm still playing catch up here with dialysis being sometimes OK and sometimes definitely not OK......!!!

You can see some of my latest cards in the blog post below this one. 

So what has been on my workdesk then? Well it's a special box card made from A3 size card!!!! Biggest one I've made so far,  but it was for a special friends daughter so I really went to town for her.

The photo is not brilliant but you can get the idea of the card and what was one it, cats, flowers, singing, fish, pawprints, more flowers, bows, letters - I really got my little grey cell working on this one!

 

Hope you like it and I'm now going to have a quick nosey at all your workdesks.

 

Keep smiling and keep crafting!

Just catching up a bit.....

I'm just catching up in between dialysis and have over time made these cards. Some are new styles for me, I wanted to try new things. The above is one of them! I had these stamps for Christmas but this is the first inking they've had. I've done more since, but they are still to be made up!

 A wedding invitation reply card. The whole card is covered in Mica Powder and looked really sparkly but you can't see much of it on the photo! 

These two cards are similar, but just different colour schemes!  I added on some flowers to the grass after the photo was taken but they've gone to the charity now so I can't re-photograph them for you, sorry!

This is a gorgeous stamp I got in a sale at a Papercraft Fair last year. It's great for anything baby related!

I'm just putting together a few birthday cards for friends of my Aunt who want more of my cards after buying all I had of the "Thank You" and "Get Well Soon" ones in my charity box. I'm trying to make unusual shaped ones instead of the normal, fold in half type!

So look out for many more coming soon - if I have the energy after dialysis that is!

Keep smiling and keep crafting!

WOYWW 260, still catching up...!!!

Welcome to WOYWW 260!!!

Hello to everyone who is staying with me during my adjustment to dialysis :-) 

I've been told it can take anything from 1-2 years, perhaps longer. So this is going  to be one helluva adjustment time!  As long as I can still do some card making, that keeps me sane so here's what I've been working on lately!

I've made a few of these for the lovely Nurses who have been looking after me on dialysis.  I like to say thanks and I also gave out a few tins of chocolates for them too.  They all work so hard and deserve a treat! Also not forgetting the ambulance drivers who get me to dialysis, without them I wouldn't get there at all. I don't think they get many cards as they were really chuffed to get mine and it's been up in the ambulance ever since! Nice to be appreciated!

I was asked by a friend of my Aunt's if I could make a selection of "Thanks" and "Get Well" cards, and here are a selection of the ones I've made for her to choose from. I will put the rest into my charity cardmaking box to raise money for them.

Some are variations of each other, depending on what paper/card combinations I had left. I don't like to waste any bits of paper/card as you can tell. My pockets aren't never ending so I use them all up to help the charities.

 

All of the cards are definitely straight (says Mrs OCD!) it's just the camera has shown them at odd angles! Sorry about that.

On the following two cards I had a go at making the envelopes out of paper too! Not bad for a first attempt!  They weren't standard sizes so I made them an approximate size.

The following cards are special ones I made for my best friend, she died from cancer at only 45 years of age. These are for her Mum and Dad and her Aunt. It's my friends birthday soon and I want to let them know I haven't forgotten her. I never will.

I do hope they like them and I'd love to know what you think too if you have a moment.

 

Well that's it for now. I hope it won't be so long next time before a posting, but it all depends on how dialysis makes me feel.  It's just a case of taking it one day at a time at the moment as I never know how it's going to make me feel.

 

Take care everyone and hope you managed to get some crafting done on this grey, cold, wet Bank Holiday Monday!

 

Enjoy! Keep smiling and keep crafting everyone!



WOYWW 254 - Still here.....!!!

Well as it's WOYWW I thought I'd best post some of the Easter cards I've been making. I must admit this dialysis has slowed me down and made me very tired....zzzzzzz.....zzzzz but I just HAD to make some cards.

I can watch Craft TV whilst on dialysis and it's given me loads of ideas, I just haven't had the energy to do them.

However I really wanted to make some Easter cards and was determined to do it, so got everything ready and had a marathon session with lots of rest breaks too.

I wasn't prepared for the tiredness of dialysis, and it's going to take some adjusting to the good/bad days, but hey, I'm still here after cancer, diabetes, two DVT's and everything else thrown in to the mix, so I'm gonna make the most of it! As Darnell says, LITS!!!!

Have fun everyone, and have a great Easter break too!!!

Keep smiling :-)))

WOYWW 247 -- popping by again..!

Another WOYWW and I was determined to make this one!

Well here I am in between dialysis again! Phew it's certainly life changing and sure does take some getting used to. One minute you feel fine, the next really rough. I think I felt better before I started dialysis as I didn't realise how bad it was getting, my body just kept on adapting to the changes of failing kidneys without me realising.

So what have I been up to then? Well I've been doing some paper piecing and made a Get Well Card for a friend of mine who is having a tough time.

I've also got some Birthday cards to make, and here's one of the toppers I've just created, waiting for the Glossy Accents to dry in this cold weather. At least the floods are going down now which is a good sign as long as we have no more rain.

I've also got some Thank You cards to make, but am just deciding on the design. I've got to get a conveyor belt going as I need quite a few! Any ideas for some 'quick makes' would be appreciated!

Talking of "Thank You" I'd just like to say a BIG THANK YOU to Gill (and your friend who did the knitting!) and Lunch Lady Jan who have sent me these gorgeous wrist warmers. I mentioned after my operation my left hand/arm is sooooooo cold all the time. It's one of the side effects apparently. My hands go very cold then numb and I have to try to get the feeling back in them before I can do anything!

Hope you all have a lovely day and keep on crafting!!

WOYWW 243 - I'm back...kind of.....

Well after a long absence, which included two operations and numerous dialysis treatments, I'm now starting to get into a sort of routine. It's life changing having dialysis, but I'm getting used to it I suppose.

 

The main thing I missed was crafting and my crafting buddies on WOYWW, but I'm trying to get back into doing some small items. Mainly colouring as I'm not allowed to lift anything with my Fistula arm after my operation on Wednesday.

 

It didn't go well as the regional block didn't work and I felt every cut until they knocked me out with a general...phew....thank heavens for that!!!

 

So here's one of my efforts, a little elephant, stamped twice and decoupaged with some glitter. Boy do I miss our little old lady kitty Domi when using glitter. She usually ended up with more on her than I did and that's saying something!!! We miss her every day.....

Here's a completed card I made for a friend who is also running a charity and I make crochet blankets for her. I'm hoping to start doing some when on dialysis, should get loads done with just sitting for hours on end, unless the machine gets set off by the movement I suppose. Will have to try it and see, have a test run!

 

Another question, does anyone have a pattern for lacy wrist warmers? My hand is so cold after the fistula operation and it might get worse so anything to keep them warm and stop them going numb would help! Thanks!

 

It'd be great to hear from anyone who remembers me after all this time!

 

Happy Crafting everyone! :-)