Monday, December 12, 2011

Another Tilda with Koala

I was feeling well enough today to make a card. Mind you it took me all day and I'm done for.
I love this cute stamp. I colored it with Prismacolor pencils and burnished it. Usually I use odorless spirits but I do like this way of coloring. The seam binding ribbon was died with Promarkers. I added crackle paint to the edges and got carrried away a bit LOL. Dear friend Chris Dark was the inspiration for my wild flower coloring at Tilda's feet. First attempt so will improve. I am entering this in the Maggie Lovers Challenge





Thursday, December 8, 2011

A Thank you

I made this card for all you caring folk who supported Maz during her illness. She has a way to go but thanks to your prayers and well wishes she will be able to enjoy Christmas.
 Blessings from Doug (hubby of Maz)

This Tilda and Koala is a special one that can be purchased from Shopbron 
Doug has colored this Tilda with his Prismacolor pencils and odorless spirits. I think he did a super job.
I am entering this in the Maggie Lovers Challenge for Doug.

Close up view
                                                                Full view

Magnolia-Licious challenge

hi Ladies!
This is my entry for Magnolia-Licious Highlites blogspot I made this lantern from a pattern that Lena Katrine gave a tutorial for. Mine is no where near as good as hers but I did my best and that's what counts right?
I colored Tilda with Promarkers.
For those interested
I have quite a bit of pain today but am feeling much better in myself. Hopefully I am on the way to recovery.
I am not able to take strong painkillers because of having only one kidney so that is not so good. The doctors have said it will take about twelve to sixteen weeks to recover. I say 'give me another couple of weeks LOL.

Here is my Lantern....
      





Thursday, December 1, 2011

Out of Hospital and Tilda with Koala

Hi my dear Followers!
Well as you can see by my heading I am out of hospital. I came home two days ago. I coped really well with the operation. I had a nerve block put in my back to ease the pain. It is something like an epedural. Apparently the pain can be very bad when they operate on your lung so I was very happy to have this. After four days they removed the drainage tube from my lung (not the best feeling but I braved the storm LOL). I don't have the results yet and am in no hurry to get them. It is a secondary cancer from the kidney cancer of last year so I have learnt to except what will be.

Yesterday I was quite ill but after getting medication from the doctor I am feeling much better today. Good enough to put a card on. I did color this one before I went in and don't tell anyone but it is just sitting on the card not stuck together. You wouldn't know though now would you?? I did make the flower some time ago. It is a native to Australia so thought it would be perfect for this card. It is called a Banksia. Very similar to a Bottlebrush..
The stamp is a special one that can be brought from Shopbron Tilda is so cute holding that Koala.
I colored it with Promarkers.



Banksia up close


Tilda and Koala up close.

 

Completed card.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Going into hospital

Just for the record..I go into hospital tomorrow to have a tumor removed from my left lung. I may not be able to put anything on here for a little while until I have recuperated. I am confident that all will go well.
Thank you all who have prayed for me. It has been so comforting and I have appreciated it very much. Thank you also for the wonderful encouring comments I always receive.
See you in a couple of weeks or sooner.


Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Update on my health

Hi Dear Followers!
Today I had to go to the hospital to see the Surgeon about the tumor on my lung. As a lot of you know I had a biopsy that had gone very wrong and it had caused my lung to collapse. My specialist told me I didn't have to have it again as the surgeon had agreed to do the operation without knowing whether the cancer I had was a lung cancer or a secondary cancer from the kidney cancer I had last year. (metastatic disease). He said he believed it to be metastatic disease. Not the best scenario as further down the line it will turn up somewhere else.
My faith has held me together. Without it I would not cope at all. He is going to do what is called a wedge resection where they will go in and cut the tumor out and surrounding tissue. I will be in hospital for about four days. He said it will take several weeks of pain afterwards. The hospital will ring me this week with a date that will be within the next two weeks. I came home exhausted and went straight to bed and slept like a baby. It has been a stressful time. My hubby Doug and I have had our share of cancer and were hoping to have a good year this year. Maybe next year will be a good one.

On a lighter note....here is a card I made with Tilda angel on it. The flower is a one I made myself. I colored Tilda with Promarkers. My little buddy Toby loves to help me craft.






The finished article. all in one piece.




Saturday, October 29, 2011

Tilda with Hellebores Christmas card

Hi Friends!
The card I have made today is done with Distress inks on Water color paper. I have done faux stitching on it and distressed the edges with Antique Linen.
The Distress inks I used are Tattered Rose, Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, Walnut stain, Black soot, Pumice stone, Lipstick and Barn Door.
The Magnolia stamp is from the new Christmas collection. She is called Tilda with Hellebores. The corner frames are by Provocraft. The paper I used is fromThe Paper shelter and it is for the Happy ccouple collection I hope you like it as I had fun making it.


I am entering this one in the Just Magnolia Christmas challenge
and Simon Says Challenge 
I will also enter this in the Paper Shelter challenge where they have anything goes.


Thursday, October 27, 2011

Pink for Breast cancer

This card I made for Breast cancer month. Three years ago I had a double mastectomy for breast cancer. I am one of the fortunate ones to have survived.
It has been a quite tiring week with lots of visits to the hospital for tests.I will soon be having an operation on my left lung to remove a cancerous tumor that has spread from the kidney cancer I had last year. Having a strong faith has helped me a lot so I know I am in the Lord's hands.
This card I have made is colored with Promarkers. I am entering this one in the Just Magnolia challenge. Just in time I hope.
I have been having a really hard time getting a good photo lately so these are the best of a bad lot.




Saturday, October 8, 2011

Special Edition Tilda

My card today is a Special Edition Tilda from a shop in Holland. I saw her on someones blog and wanted her. It was hard to work out in Dutch but I finally did it. I have colored her with Promarkers. The doily is a Cheery Lynn one called 'English Tea party'. The frame is a Spellbinder frame. The corners are Bosskut dies. Flowers are from WOC.


A close up


Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Chess Tilda on mushroom


Today I have made a card using the mini Chess Tilda and the full size magnolia mushrooms. The papers are Stampin Up ones. (I don't know what they are called). I used Promarkers to color this card.
Sorry about the quality of my pictures. I can't seem to get them as good as I would like.




I will enter this one in the Just Magnolia and Hanglar & Stanglar challenge blog

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Just for You

At last another card. I colored this one with Promarkers...still learning.
Ihe little crochet flowers were made by my friend Tina. I won them in her blog candy. Thanks Tina. she also made the hat pin so you might say this card is a joint effort LOL. The heart DooHickey from Magnolia was a present from my dear friend Patti Jo for my birthday. I am so lucky.



I seem to be liking purple lately.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Birthday card made by my Darling


I thought I would share a birthday card that my DH Doug made for me. Now I think he is so clever. He got no help from me. In fact I didn't see it until this morning. The only thing he asked me was how to make the flowers. Yes! he also made the flowers. No brought ones for him. He wanted total handmade. I don't think I can even make them that tiny and my fingers are a lot smaller than his. I loved the way he cut around Tilda and put shading on the edges. Oh he is so clever. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it LOL.
I think he is looking for a DT post Hee hee.

Front view.


A close up of his flowers. Aren't they lovely?

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Get Well judy


Today I have made a card for a friend who is starting chemotherapy this week. She has lung cancer  that has grown very quickly. I wanted to cheer her up by making some flowers. I haven't made flowers for a long time so I really enjoyed getting back into it. These flowers were made with the Retro flower punch and stained with walnut stain. The DP is from K& Company, designer Mat pad. I also used a Spellbinder frame. I did faux stitching as I can get it straighter than the machine LOL.

Front view


Side view


Close up of flowers.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Maori girl Tilda.

Hi friends!
First of all I have an update from my disasterous failed biopsy. I saw my specialist yesterday and I have to wait until the end of October and have another CT scan. This is to see how much the tumor has grown or even if it has grown more. Then he said they would operate. In the meantime I have to lose weight. I'm not hugely overweight but he said that it is a dangerous operation and it would be worse if I don't lose weight. After becoming anerexic when I had the kidney cancer I just loved the taste of food when I got better. So now I have to lose the excess. Talk about a see saw ride. At least I don't have to suffer another biopsy. I was so happy about that. Usually they need to know what sort of cancer it is before they operate. It is either a lung cancer or a metastatic cancer (secondary kidney cancer). I am believing for a benign tumor although that is not likely.

I still have a little air in my lung but he said that would come right by itself. Thank goodness for that because I didn't want another tube in my back. 

On to my card....
This card is for my nephews girlfriend who happens to be a lovely Maori girl from New Zealand. I tried to make Tilda's skin dark. I probably need a little practice with the skin tone. The purple flowers I made and the white ones I brought.
I have colored Tilda with Promarkers.



The color is not quite right on this card as I quickly took it at night before I gave it to Daina.

The picture of the flowers are the right color.



Saturday, August 20, 2011

Lung Biopsy

This is long....read at your leisure.
As a lot of you have wanted to know how my lung biopsy went so I thought I would write about it here on my blog. Unfortunately things didn't go to plan. The doctor did explain to me before he started that it was a very tricky procedure and he may not be able to get a sample of the tumor because of where it is. The tumor is situated at the bottom of my left lung on the inside. This part of the lung flaps around a bit with the breathing. He said it would be like hitting a moving target.

Firstly the nurse had to put a needle in my arm. Well that seems easy enough..not. Because I have no lymph nodes in my right arm they have to do it in my left arm. You guessed it!! they can never find the vein so it has to be done by ultrasound. Still he couldn't find it...duh! After sticking me umteen dozen times I said just put it in my right arm and don't tighten the band around my arm. Ah! relief. finally I'm ready. Well as ready as I could feel. I was terrified of having this done. (I'm so brave).

I had to lay on my stomach so that he could go through my back.
First he gave me a needle to numb the area and the flesh that goes to the lung.

Then there was another instrument that had to go into that same place to nip some of the tumor. Each time he put it in a little it had to be inspected on the CT scan to see that it was going in the right place. I had to stop breathing each time for a short period and the breath had to be exactly the same each time. (quite hard to do). After about four times of doing this he let me know that my lung had collapsed and he had missed the tumor. By this time my breathing was very laboured and I think I was going a nice shade of purple.

Now the worsed bit..he said he had to put a tube into my lung to get the air out. He gave me another needle of pain relief and started putting the tube in. Honestly I thought I was going to die. By this time I was screaming with the pain....God help me, please help me. He said that as it is paining me so much he would take it out and hope that it had done it's job. He removed it and I was left on the bed still crying out asking for more pain relief. After awhile I got another injection. Still no relief. None that I could feel anyway.
They wheeled me around to have an x-ray. I prayed all the way. Please dear Lord I pray I don't have to have it put back. ahh! prayers answered.

I then had to go back to recovery and wait another four hours for another x-ray. My blood pressure was that low I was almost passing out. No more pain killer until my blood pressure had gone up a little. 2 pm I could have more pain relief. Slowly the pain subsided. A little relief at last. Not good when you feel like going to the toilet and you aren't allowed to walk. Not good when you miss the little potty they put under you and everything has to get changed.

Doug arrived back at the hospital just in time to miss all the fun. Thank the Lord he wasn't there when I was screaming out or they would of had to admit him.

Another x-ray and all is clear. My temperature is still a little high, and blood pressure starting to get better.
Doctor informs me I will probably have to go the hard way and have an operation to remove it. The hard way...what is he talking about? I don't think anything could feel any worse than that.

 So there is my story. I have to see my Specialist on the 1st of September to find out what is going to take place. I forgot to mention that the doctor wanted to have another go and put the needle in another place. You can guess what I said...yep! I said no way am I having that again. He did say that he didn't blame me. Thank you for all those prayers and well wishes. Without them I think I would of had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana skin. chuckle.

i finally went home from the hospital at 4.30 pm. At least I didn't have to stay there.

I am now going to go and do some craft as I am so much better except for an awful cough. At least I didn't cough when he was sticking me...ugh!

edit....my sister Sheryl has just read this and said how come I didn't mention that she had to get up from her sick bed to see me....poor thing has the flu.


Sunday, August 14, 2011

Tilda in Red


Today my sweet Tilda is colored in red. I have been practicing still with my Promarkers and finding out what colors go with what. I still haven't got a huge collection but am working on it.
This card is very plain and just two colors...red and white.
On Wednesday I have a lung biopsy. Not the most pleasantest of things but something that has to be done.
Anyway here is my card.





I entered this in the Magnolia-licious monochrome challenge blog.