Just Give Me Stamps...

Winter in Montana...

Good morning!  I thought I would share some photos with you that I've taken over the last couple of weeks.  Up until a couple of weeks ago, our winter had been pretty mild...very little snow and unseasonably warm (well, for our winter standards anyway).

I took this photo on a particularly cold morning (well below zero).  I loved how the sunrise made the old red barn appear so golden and warm!  :-)  This is part of the view from our back yard.

This is another photo that I took that same morning...except from our front yard.

Another sunrise photo.  :-)  This is another view form our back yard.

On my way back inside (I was freeeezing LOL) I snapped a quick photo of the icicles hanging off our roof.

Do you remember our sweet little puppy Annie (short for Annie Oakley)?  You can see her puppy photos HERE and HERE.  While she is technically still a puppy, she is much bigger now!  Don't let that peaceful expression fool you...she is a complete fireball!  I think mischief should be her middle name!  LOL!  Well, our crazy Annie LOVES the snow!  I mean, like dig in and roll around in it for hours kind of love!  :-)

And here's a photo of our youngest two boys playing in the snow (with their faithful sidekick Sisco!  Sisco is pretty old now, but whenever she sees me with my camera she runs to get in the shot!  It's hilarious!

And this photo is a picture of my washi tape jar.  Because of our freezing temps, I've been spending lots of time in my stamp room.  One morning, I was struck with how beautiful the jar looked (I mean, doesn't Washi tape ALWAYS look pretty???) with the sun shining on it!  Mmmm, happiness....

 

Well, that's all from me today!  I'll have something stampy to share with you tomorrow!
Hugs, Laurie

 

Rustic Holiday Cheer (and a Personal Update)...

Happy Monday friends!  We had a long weekend (kids were off from school on Thursday and Friday) so it feels good to get back to our routine.  Although, my kids probably don't feel the same way!  Teehehee!

I've had a lot of emails asking how Alison is doing (you all are SO sweet)!  I will update you all later in this post.  I just want you all ot know how MUCH I appreciate your kind and encouraging words...and your prayers!  (((Hugs)))

Over the weekend, I got quite a bit of stamping time in.  Oh, how good it was to get all inky again!!  Here's one of the cards that I made...

You might have noticed an absence of Paper Smooches cards on my blog this past month.  Kim was gracious to give me the month of October off as I thought I would be helping my daughter recover from her surgeries.  It worked out well (even though her surgeries got postponed until November) because I have been driving all over the state going to many, many Dr. appointments.  So it felt SOOO good to get my Paper Smooches stamps out this past weekend! 

I paper pieced the trees (from the Warm Hearts set) using papers from the Wonderland Paper Pad (Studio Calico).  I embossed the Holiday Cheer sentiment (from the Christmas Sampler set) and for a finishing touch, I stamped the little snowflake (from the Warm Hearts set) next to it using Versamark ink.  For embellishments, I added some wood snowflakes (Studio Calico) with Red Crystals in the center.  In the background, I added a piece of burlap trim and row of machine stitching.  The red fiber is some Sweater Trim (from Stampin Up!)

Update on Alison...

Her new surgery dates are approaching quickly, and they couldn't come any sooner.  This month has been very, very hard for Ali.  Her medicine has become not as effective and she started having several seizures a day again (they were being held back to one every 10 days or so).  So her Dr. added in a third medication.  These are SO hard on her.  It takes weeks to finally get to the dose they want her on and the time it takes to acclimate to it seems to get longer and longer.  She has missed so much school this month due to just not being able to even function.  Her frustration level is so high (as you can imagine) and is really starting to despair.  I think that is the part that worries me the most.  The medication stupor (that is what I call it) is temporary and is actually better than the ongoing lasting effects of the seizures, but it has been horrible for Alison to deal with.

So, we will be leaving on November 5th for Seattle.  She has several appointments that week.  Her first surgery will be Monday, November 12 and the second on the 15th.  If we (DH & I) had any lingering doubts about this being the right course for her, they are gone now.  We can't stand to see her like she is right now...it breaks our hearts.  SO, we are hopeful and praying that these surgeries are a success!!  My heart so yearns for her to have her life back.

Unfortunately, this time I will be going alone with Ali.  Urs (DH) has to stay with our boys (as we will be gone for three weeks).  Thank goodness for Face Time!  :-)

Thank you all for your kind words and prayers!!  Our family appreciates them SO much!! 

~Laurie

 

Just a Note (and some personal stuff)...

Good morning!  Well, this week my daughter started back to school.  Wow.  Where in the world did the Summer go?  This is her junior year...her JUNIOR year!  It really hit me the other day.  We don't have that much more time left with her!  Alison is such and AMAZING person and we (DH & I) have a great relationship with her.  I totally love that girl young woman!

This year is quite different than the other years.  Not only is she a junior, but she is starting school knowing that she has a HUGE fight ahead (more on that below).  I whipped up this card over the weekend for her.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out he bird and branch (it's a file from Echo Park).  Ali loves birds of all kinds...whimsical birds, realistic birds, majestic birds...if it's a bird, she loves it!  :-)  I thought a long time on what I wanted this card to say.  I mean, "normal" sentiments didn't feel right.  With what lies ahead for her, wishing her a great year just didn't seem right.  Don't get me wrong, I sincerely hope and pray (literally...pray often) that she will indeed have a great year, but I didn't want it to sound like a platitude.  Instead, I chose the Just a Note sentiment (from the Sentiment Sampler by Paper Smooches).  For a little extra texture, I ran the bird through my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder.  A polka dot bird.  Teeheee!

So, here's the photo I took this morning of her.  Isn't she SO beautiful?  I cannot even tell you how proud I am of her...words just fail me.

We finally heard back from Alison's neurosurgeon at Seattle Children's.  They took so long because they met several times to discuss her case.  As it stands now, the medication (two anti-seizure meds) seem to be holding them off for a week to two weeks, then she has break through seizures.  Not only that, but the medicine is starting to become toxic to her (Dr.'s words...not mine).  The bad news is that the scar tissue is located extremely close to the part that controls the left side movement.  What they (and we) have decided is that they will do two surgeries.  For the first one, they will put electrodes all around the area causing trouble.  He described it as "brain mapping".  Then, three days later, they will go in and remove as much as they can making sure to stay away from the movement parts as best they can.  So, in a nutshell, she will be having two major surgeries with some definite risks.  There is a 67% chance that the surgery will be successful (no more seizures).  Those are not as great of odds and I would have liked, but it looks a lot better than the alternative (continuing break through seizures and toxic medicine). All of this will take place in a couple of weeks.

If all things go VERY well, she will be able to return to school after 5 weeks.  Trying to make up that much work after having brain surgery will be hard to say the least.  We're not sure what will happen, but have decided that we will make decisions as we need to. Since she has already gone through brain surgery once...we definitely don't have rose colored glasses on...we know what it's like.  We know how long therapy and recovery takes.  Having said that, we are SO incredibly grateful to have an opportunity to fix this for her...AND having one of the best surgeons out there today! 

Thanks so much for "listening"!  I have found that talking/writing about it really helps me process everything. 
Hugs, Laurie

Annie Update...

^{Pssst!  This is my second post for today.  To see my first post, please scroll down or click HERE!}

Just popping in to share a photo of our sweet new puppy Annie!  We have all fallen in love with her fun and spunky personality!  Even DH is smitten with her!  :-)  My DH is definitely an animal lover, but he is not what one would call "sentimental" for lack of a better word.  To see him on all fours scratching Annie's belly talking baby talk to her, well the kids and I just try to hide our amazed looks!  LOL!  Annie has that effect on people, though!

Today she is 8 weeks old!  It's hard to believe we've only had for a week and a half!  It is still extremely hard to get a good photo of her!  95% of the time she is running around like a banshee and the other 5% of the time she is sleeping!  LOL!  I think this photo was taken just as she was getting ready to nod off.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled stamping posts...  LOL!

~Laurie

Our Newest Family Member and a Super Cute UFO...

Happy Monday!!  I hope you all had a fun and relaxing weekend! 

Did you all see the new Paper Smooches stamp sets that released yesterday??  Oh my WORD they are fun!!  If you are signed up to receive their newsletter, then you probably have already seen my card.  :-)  I thought I would share it here as well...

I used the new Space Cadet set.  Isn't that THE cutest alien??   The sentiment is from the Word Salad set.  I created the "planet" by cutting it out on my Silhouette.  The stars are just some that I punched out.  Oh, you probably can't see it in the photo, but the "glass" of the UFO is covered in Crystal Effects!  :-)

Now...for some news on the home front!  Last Friday we added to our family!  We were given a border collie mcnab cross puppy!  She's just 7 weeks old and already we are all completely head over heels for her!  :-)  How so much personality can be contained in such a small body is a true mystery!  LOL!

I took this photo today while she was napping.  I tell ya, it is HARD to get a good photo of our sweet but very playful Annie!  Oh...we named her Annie Oakley, but just call her Annie.  She is always on the move!  And the fact that she likes to sleep under things or curled up in a corner does not help get better photos!  Teeheee!

Isn't that THE sweetest face??  You can see her super cute speckled belly here!  Eeeek! She's just the cutest!  :-)  Oh, and you can also see her two favorite chew toys.  She's never too far away from them! 

Apparently, just lifting her head to look at me wore her out...  :-)

As you can imagine, our kids just adore her!  And our other dogs....  Yeah, not so much!   LOL!

Cody (who is pictured here with our middle son Bryan) has been pouting and sulking all weekend!  It's so funny!  We are all trying to go out of our way to let him know that he is still our favoritest Puggle ever!  :-)  Our older two dogs are a bit indifferent to Annie.  Our oldest dog, Sisco, keeps looking at me with a look that says, "Really...do I have to put up with her??"!  LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hugs to you!  ~Laurie

Home Again...

Hi!  We arrived home from Seattle this past weekend.  We are still waiting for all the test results from Ali's Hospital stay (they are trying to determine if she is a candidate for epilepsy surgery).  There is a team of doctors that meet every week to discuss unique cases just like Alison's.  It's kind of amazing really, all that they can accomplish.  In fact, Alison's neurosurgeon's dad (also a neurosurgeoun) pioneered the very epilepsy surgery they are discussing!  Anyway, I don't have any updates to share but I do have some photos from our trip!  :-)

We left a little early and stopped in Portland before driving up to Seattle.  My mom, brother, and sister-in-law all live there and I thought a little "fun" might be just the ticket for Ali.  Just before we arrived in Portland, we stopped at Multnomah Falls to take in the view and stretch our legs a bit.  I remember visiting these falls many times as a child and it was great to share this with Alison.

I didn't have my "real" camera with me...just a small point and shoot so my photos aren't as good as I would have liked.  In fact, the one below added a very weird color cast over Ali and I...not sure why.

I can't even tell you how much I miss all of the GREEN!!!  Montana does get green...a little anyway, but it only lasts a couple of months at most.  Growing up in the Northwest has completely spoiled me! 

I love this photo of Ali.  In spite of all the pretty crappy stuff she's going through she can light up a room (or a forest :-) with her smile!

How CRAZY are these blue trees??  LOL!  We stumbled upon these in downtown Seattle.  Ali thought they were the coolest thing!  I'm still trying to decide...

Scattered among the blue trees were these bronze and silver (ish) statues!

Here's another photo I took right off of the waterfront.  Not pictured...the YUMMIEST ice cream!  Mmmm!

And this photo was just for fun!  I LOVE me a big ferris wheel!  :-)  This one wasn't open yet, but it was still pretty to look at!

Thanks for stopping by!  I will be back to sharing stampy things soon!  Hugs, Laurie

 

Pip Squeaks...

Hi there!  It's Pep Rally week over at the Paper Smooches Blog!  Kim is getting ready to release three brand new sets that you are going to just love!  :-)

Today, I have a card to share with you using the new Pip Squeaks set!  :-)

I just loved so many of the images in this new set that I couldn't limit myself to just one or two...so I used five!  :-)  I paper pieced all of the images (using Simple Stories patterned paper) except for the bottle top which I colored din using my Copic markers.  The tree and owls are part of the patterned paper I used.

I went for a more shabby look, and ink distressed all of the edges as well as tore up the outer edges a bit.

Well, that's all from me today!  The sun is actually shining today so I am going to try and soak as much up as possible!  Speaking of the sun...this is why I am so excited to see it (this photo was taken this past weekend)...

This is view from our Back Porch.  You won't hear me complaining though, as we desperately needed the moisture!!  You can see all of the green willows (well, you can't tell they are green but take my word for it) bowed over from the weight of the snow.

Have a great day!  ~Laurie

Many, Many Thanks...

First off, I want to thank you all for the very sweet and encouraging comments yesterday!  You all brought tears to my eyes!  The kindness of fellow stampers never ceases to amaze me!!  I promise to do a better job of keeping you updated!  Also, several of you emailed and asked if you could continue to send cards to Alison.  I'm sure she would LOVE it!!  I {heart} you guys so much!!!  Here's the address again:

Alison Schmidlin
P.O. Box 990
Dillon, MT  59725
USA

Well, as the title of this post hints at...I have been stamping many, many thank you cards lately!!  Each of my boys will be giving a card to their teachers and bus driver.  I also made cards to give to Alison's teachers.  They have all been SO amazing and supportive of Alison this year!  I really am so impressed with just how encouraging and accommodating they have been...especially lately when she has had to be absent so much. 

Okay...this post is LONG!  Lots of photos!  :-)  Just wanted to give you a head's up in case you want to grab a cuppa...

I made two of identical cards like the one above.  I used Papertrey's Teacher Apple set combined with some yummy new Cosmo Cricket papers! 

I used the same stamp set and papers (justin different colors) as the one above.  The doily in the background as well as the apple was cut out using my Silhouette Cameo.  I LOVE this machine!  :-)

These next several cards are all the same design...just different colors.  I made several of each color.  I just get bored doing the same thing...so I like to mix it up a little.  :-)

This first card was created using Papertrey's Stitches & Swirls set and Round & Round set (for the sentiment).  The color I used here is Dark Chocolate.

The color I used on this card is Blushing Bride (from Stampin' Up!) for the cardstock and Victorian Velvet Distress Ink.  I used a darker pink ink because the lighter one just didn't show up well enough.

My next card was created using the Enchanted Evening colors from Papertrey.  I think this one might be my favorite.  :-)



Last but not least (of this design anyway) is the one I created using Lemon Tart cardstock (from Papertrey) and So Saffron ink (from Stampin Up!).

My final design is one I made for all the high school male teachers (as well as Ali's bus driver)!  I used an file from the Silhouette store as the focal image of the card and Stampin' Up!'s woodgrain background stamp.  The sentiment is from Verve's Celebration of Thanks stamp set.  I made about 15 of these cards.

Phew!  I think that about covers it!  :-)  I will be back tomorrow with a fun post and a giveaway!!

Hugs,
Laurie

A Card and an Update on Alison...

Hi there!  Long time, no post.  It's been a little overwhelming here in our household, and updating my blog has fallen pretty low on the to-do list.  In between all the doctor appointments, allergies (my oldest son has them bad), sickness, and all the end of the year stuff I have been trying to just spend time with my family.  I'm sure many of you can relate!  :-)

So how about I share a card with you?  :-)

I used the Alfresco stamp set from Paper Smooches!  I embossed the background layer using a brick embossing folder from Tim Holtz.  The patterned paper is from Authentique, and the BBQ grill is a shape I cut out using my Silhouette.  I colored the steak using my Copic markers. 

I know I keep saying that I will update you all on Ali and then never seem to.  I keep wanting to take photos of all the fabulous cards she received for her birthday...and I will...but there just doesn't seem to ever be time.  This is the last week of school for my boys so I will have quite a bit more time soon!  But for now, I will update a bit on Alison.  They have her on two different anti-seizure medicines as well as something for the nausea.  The medicine does seem to be helping.  She is having them less frequently and not always as severe.  She used to have several a day, and now she will go two to three days in between them.  That is very helpful because she has time to "recover" and the side effects (memory loss, extreme fatigue, vision problems, & decreased use of her left side) have time to go away before her next one.  That being said, her neurologist called her neurosurgeon from Seattle Children's Hospital to update him.  Well, he is pretty concerned and has scheduled a week's worth of testing.  Soooooooooo, it looks like we are headed back to Seattle.  We don't leave until next month so Ali can finish out her school year.

So that is all the technical stuff...  Emotionally, she is still having a hard time.  In fact, just going back to Seattle is going to be hard for her.  She's trying so hard to come to terms with it all again.  I think it's been so hard partly because we're not sure of the outcome.  I am really hoping that after our time in Seattle we will not only have more answers, but a treatment plan.  Another thing that makes it so hard, is that she has excruciating headaches almost constantly.  That definitely gets old. But like I said, she really is trying her best to come to terms with it all and works hard to get through each day.

Well, thanks for "listening"!  Hugs, Laurie

 

Mother's Day Rose...

Good morning!  Our winter this year has been very, very mild.  Living in Montana, we are not used to mild winters!  LOL!  Not only have we had a mild winter, but our spring was starting to come early!  Normally, things don't green up around here until late May but the way our weather has been, I was expecting to see some green in a few weeks!  Although the mild weather has been nice for us (there hasn't been the normal 20 below zero temps), the lack of snow was starting to become a concern for DH.  The snow pack in the mountains is vital to the summer irrigation.  So when we got a snowstorm this past weekend, instead of the usual grumblings...everyone was very happy!  Snow to DH means water for the fields, but snow to our boys means hours and hours of FUN!  :-)

I took this photo not long after the storm started.  You can even see D's latest missing tooth!  :-)

I can't believe I'm going to say this,but.....HOOORAY for snow!!!  :-)

And now, how about something stampy?

When I sat down to stamp this card, I was definitely in the mood for softer, spring like colors.  I started by stamping the background (I used the new Heirloom Patterns set).

To create the rose, I stamped the largest rose (from Waltzingmouse's Roses in Bloom set) three times, colored them with Copic markers, and then cut them out (choosing various parts to create a three dimensional flower).  To finish the card, I stamped the sentiment (also from the Roses in Bloom set), added rhinestones, and tied on some pink string.

 

Thanks for dropping by!  ~Laurie

 

Waltzingmouse Heirloom Patterns Stamp Set	Waltzingmouse Roses in Bloom Stamp Set	EK Success Lg Corner Rounder Punch	Spun Sugar Distress Ink	Tuxedo Black
Copic Sketch Markers	Kaisercraft Soft Pink Rhinestones	Stardust Stickles

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