Yes, I Guess You Can Say I've Been a Bit Busy

 

Tis the season for showers, birthdays and all the other celebrations that this time of the year brings. I'm sharing my contribution to some deserving souls. 

I was able to complete my first C2C pattern as a Baby shower gift to one of the young ladies at my church.  It has been all over my Facebook Crochet groups and it looked so nice in every different type of yarns.

 

So sorry for the lighting this is my completed C2C baby blanket.  I used Lions Brand Homespun 

  

 

then I had to create something to give to a wonderful young lady and her future hubby-to-be I was browsing through her FB page and found this quote it was perfect as the core of this gift.  So I got a canvas and went to work. First I found a font that I liked printed them out, taped and traced onto the canvas

 

Here's the finished project I drew the heart vines

 

  Both events were a hit and my small part was definitely appreciated. Now I'm able to make something for Me which rarely happens. I'm doing the C2C that's Corner to Corner blanket. I'm finding it to be challenging due to severe numbness and pain, but it will get done. Stay tuned I hope to have it done by my birthday on the 24 of this month.

 

I just stated my birthday is this month so why not celebrate and enjoy every act of kindness that comes my way.  So I saw the Stamp by Recollections on IG and I just had to have it!!!! Will after my Dr's appointment we went to Michaels armed with the IG picture in hand well I spotted that roll of Washi that I've been eyeing for months all over Social media. And the MAMBI sticker book just was the icing on the cake.

Oh yeah, l created this card and envelope set for the surprise birthday I attended. 

So yes, I indeed have been putting in some time to be creative and caring to others while gaining a sense of achievement for myself while fighting for my new position in life since my health is failing me no it's challenging me to find other ways to stay creative and sharing my gifts with those around me and those who have yet to meet me!!!

Go and Be Great!!!!!

 

Working to Stay Inspired........Really Just to keep Smiling

So I just wanted to talk about me. I've been dealing with my failing health for the past four years and I shared a few post back that I had the privilege of having a Spinal Cord Stimulator inserted for 1 week.  The premise is you have the device to see if you can have at least a 50% decrease in your pain level and if this works you become a candidate for a permanent one .  For me this was absolutely the BEST thing I've experienced since 2012 before my nightmare began.  The first thing I realized is that by night 2 I had actually slept straight through a whole night no waking up to spasms shooting down my neck to my arms, hands and chest.  By the 6th day I was trying to figure out how not to give this technical wonder back. 

 

 

 

                         This was the remote control that I used to keep the signal going and when I stood up, sat down or layed down the signal would change.  Needless to say I felt a bit bionic (insert big smile)

                                This was the actual device that has 2 leads that were tunneled up to my neck
to stimulate the areas that cause me so much pain.  This device along with the exposed leads were taped onto my back since it was just for a 7 day trial period. Check out the last picture

 

 

So yeah this isn't my back but I was nearly completely taped and had very bad issues with itching and I still have an area that my skin was burned. 

 

 

I have spent the last few years trying to get some type of relief since having my neck fused in early 2014 and finding out that my surgery developed some complications a few months later.  Unfortunately for a person who's 48 it's hard to get any type of help and I can't work in my current condition because nerve damage doesn't come with an on and off switch.   I don't want to complain but honestly I am frustrated with this whole process of trying to find relief and go through all of the therapies, treatments, changing meds and all of the other aspects of  REAL life that never stop.  I'm thankful for my relationship with God and having the love of my family and my daughters for stepping up to help me.  This is all for now....... Please send up a prayer that my insurance will cover this device so that I can finally have some relief and feel human again.  In the mean time my meds have been increased the very thing I didn't want to have to experience.  But through it all I'm learning to trust in Jesus!!!

Before I leave you this is what I have on my Hook  and this is what's Next

Take care and stay Creative.  I will be sharing my Word of the Year in my next post and you won't want to miss how I documented it so far in my Journaling Bible.  No matter what comes and what goes God has it and us all in the palm of His hand. 

Crochet, Celebrating and other things

Happy Holidays!!!!  I pray that you had a wonderful holiday season.  I'm thankful that I was able to share my holiday with family and friends. 

Well I just wanted to share a few things with you that are really major to me and that's me finishing a crochet item for the first time in at least 6 months.  My daughter asked me if I could make a slouchy hat for my grandson and of course I'm going to give it a try.  So I checked Ravelry and found THIS Slouchy Hat The project turned out so well that after the New Year I made the grey one.  

Read my notes on Ravelry link above to learn more about this Photo Shoot of sorts (inserts smiles and giggles)

So in between Christmas and New Years I was blessed to have a Spinal Cord Stimulator Trial placed and I couldn't tell on day 1 but by day 2 I finally felt a difference.  Now what I haven't shared and you may not be aware of is Chronic pain robs you of a peaceful night of sleep so I haven't had one since the spring of 2012.  Yeah, I know right, that long? I'm so grateful and yet so upset because tomorrow the device will be removed and preparations will be made for my permanent device to be placed. 

 

This is me the first night and the contraption is my remote control.  Please keep me in your prayers that they hurry up with this process and I can get my permanent device installed.  I do have one confession.....My back is taped up because it holds the device and the leads that are stitched in place but OMG it's itching so bad and sponge baths are for the birds....LOL

So because I have restrictions my daughters thought it would be good to get me a Clipboard and a few other crafty Planner goodies for Christmas 

I have some health issues that over the past 3 years have caused me to have trouble writing yes to the point that I can't make a straight line because my hand won't move.  As a girl that loves Social Media I see so many beautiful things and Brush Lettering really caught my attention so of course, I retreated

to Pinterest and found Llama Lettering FREE printables  My youngest daughter is an artist and told me that it might be a good idea to try the Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens to help me get the hang of Brush Lettering for myself.  To your right you see me trying to figure out the right angles and where the weight needs to be.

Needless to say the Holiday Season has been a blessing to me not for the things that I received BUT for the chance at relief from my Chronic pain.  Please come back and find out what has unfolded for me and also to see how I'm adapting to my Happy Planner 

Ravelry, Planning and other Random Things

Well as much as I think that my new sedentary life will yeild me more time to stay up on my set blog schedule my only constant is daily Devotional and Prayer time.  When you give your Will over to God's Will the day can go any kind of way as long as you are being kind and helpful along the way.

Let's jump right in and I will share my latest SWAP package that I recieved from Paisley Spirit on Ravelry from the Cowl Swap group I'm in.  Needless to say I love everything and look forward to knitting/crocheting and getting lots of compliments from wearing my wonderful cowl she created for me.

Here it is my Erin Condren Life Planner in a Day Runner Binder. Ask me how you can get $10 off your very first order.  I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about taking my planner and ripping it out of the coil and cutting off the side just to 

put it into a Binder.  Turns out I love it.  I did just 1 month and after a week went ahead 

and did all the way up to March 2015.  

The next thing I did was pull out my Cricut Expression and figure out how to make my own dividers with ornate tabs just because I could kinda thing.  It took me a while because I use the Cricut Craftroom software and for some reason I could not get both shapes to weld into one shape for cutting.  I had to walk away and then since I find everything on Socail Media I figure the fastest way after searching the site for help was to try Facebook and YES I hit the jackpot.  I found the answer I needed and proceeded to make these babies.

                                                   That line is the problem I tried to fix.

Here's my cute Top Tabbed Dividers cut, laminated and punched

                                                                         FRONT

                                                                           BACK

MY DAY RUNNER BINDER

                                                                     
                                               MY LABELED TOP TABBED DIVIDERS

Well that's it for now hope you enjoyed my little post and I pray all is well if not know that God is able to do whatever you stand in the need of.  I will be posting several videos here in the next few weeks until then Be Blessed, Be Encouraged and always Be Creative.  

                                                     

Got My Hook and I've been Busy

If you are new to my blog I love to knit, sew, quilt, make cards but I was looking for some instant gradification and decided to get the hooks out and search Ravelry for some fun projects to work on and came across a few that I've been working away on.  I found some Sugar n Cream 100% cotton yarn and worked on the Diagonal Dishcloths and love how quick they work up made at least 20 of them since I completed the first one.

Then I wanted to do a crochet cowl and found this Brigette's Mobius Cowl because I was using Malabrigo Silky Merino which, by the way, is a wonderful fiber to work with and turned out so wonderful that I'm on my third one already and I just found this pattern 2 days ago.  

then I did one using chunky Malabrigo but I can't remember the colorway cause I've had the yarn for a few years but it turned out nice also.......what do you think??????

So while I was making things I had a few fat quarters, some fleece remnants so I decided to make a lap quilt that I'm call Hypnotic. I hadn't quilt in a while and I'm trying to get rid of some old stash so I can justify getting some new items.  

Well this is all I have for now I hope you enjoyed my little projects and it would be so nice to hear from you when you have a chance.  Hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season.  

Been busy with Life.............But Yet Productive

Hello so it's been a while since my last blog post. There's so much going on personally for me as those that follow me know my family is in different stages of recovery from their Oct.2, 2011 accident. I'm very thankful that God has kept them here. We were so happy to have my Aunt come to church with us yesterday and for our fellowship afterwards.

L-R: My daughter Carmen, cousin Shay My daughter Camille,  Aunt Juanita and cousin Niecy

I have also sat back at the machine and made a dress for church yesterday. I used Simplicity pattern 6807.......yes I know it's a top pattern but you can always make them as a dress by adding  length. I had this stretch knit fabric for a few years and finally used it. Let me just say this I improvised a little with this but I was pleased with the results. I did have to seek out a tutorial on how to sew on a neck band using this type of material and I was very pleased with the results. The YouTube video was posted by Willtrainman.How to sew neck band for stretch knits



                                                             Front View

My Modification with the 3 pleats 

Cap Sleeves

the Back View 

Here's a blanket I'm working on With double crochet. It's a part of my Stash Buster endeavor for the year my goal is to use the majority of my Stash for different charities in my area. I'm using Red Heart yarns in black and white. No specific pattern just winging it.

There has also been some card making and even a few scrapbook pages for my lil Nephew

Here are the Scrapbook pages