I'm Back! :)

Hi everyone,

I'm so happy to be back on-line and spending time in my art studio.  I was humbled by the outpouring of good wishes and prayers during my time away - thank you to everyone!

This is what happened ...

In the early morning hours of Oct. 1st, my hubby had a heart attack.  Thankfully, everything since that horrific event has gone extremely well and he is now at home recovering from open heart surgery.  Everyone from the 9-1-1 operator, firemen, paramedics, doctors and nurses in ICU and the Cardiac Ward, have taken part in his amazing progress.  There's still lots of healing to do, but he is well on his way to making a full recovery!  We are blessed ...

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I have started making cards again the past couple of days ... cards that have never meant to much to me before.  I'm posting two that will be sent to people mentioned above who cared for my hubby.  Hope you like.

With hubby now home, my main focus will be looking after him, but I plan to find a little time to have fun in my studio. :)  I still have several 'thank you' cards to make - stay tuned.

Just before this happened, I became a member of the Design Team for a fairly new challenge blog called Addicted to Stamps & More!  :)

Kylie is the founder and I emailed her to let her know what happened.  She has been so supportive and I have also received encouragement from the rest of the design team.  Kylie and team ... your support and prayers are so appreciated!

Prior to Oct. 1st, I had created a card for an upcoming ATS&M challenge - Addicted to [Halloween].  The challenge is now closed, but I wanted to post the card I made ...

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I used a cute digital image from Bugaboo and paper-pieced the "Pumpkin Witch".  Before printing off the image onto my white card front, I took some time to blank-out the existing broom that the pumpkin witch was holding.  I wanted to create my own broom using a wooden skewer and twine.  Hope you like.

"Happy Halloween"

Stamps:  Pumpkin Witch (Bugaboo Digital Stamps); sentiment is computer generated
Paper:  White (Neenah); Pumpkin Pie polka-dot DP, Basic Black cardstock (SU!)
Ink:  Soft Suede (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Wooden Skewer, Hemp Twine, Black Twine (Doodlebug), Mandarin Twine (The Twinery), Crystal Effects, glue, and glue dots

I paper pieced all the layers for the image.  The hat is actually three layers (the main layer of polka-dot, another layer of plain black and then the top layer is black cardstock covered with Crystal Effects to add depth and shine).  The shiny hat layer was popped up to give more depth, using rolled glue dots.  The eyes and tooth are also covered in Crystal Effects.

I sponged the wooden skewer with Soft Suede ink and then made the broom from twine and glued to the handle.