Completely Unbelievable!!!!!

I really don't expect any of you to believe this, even in your wildest dreams, but 

guess where I spent part of the Christmas break??? What clever little clogs you 

all are, you guessed correctly...hospital. I very stupidly thought our lives had made 

a turn for the better, but 2015 and 2016 have not finished with us yet...right up to

the finishing line.

That brief post that appeared on my blog on Christmas Day was a scheduled one, 

thank goodness

.

The cute dragon nurse was on a card I made several years ago. I cannot remember the

brand of the digi image, but will edit this post when I improve.
Edited: Bugaboo - 'Clyde Get Well'

The CT scan and x-rays show that I have 4 herniated discs in my neck, and 2 in my 

upper back. Several of them are compressing nerves. I have had a very sore and 

stiff neck for some time, but was functioning okay. However, I lifted and 

dragged several very heavy items at the Fort last Thursday, and struggled to bring 

down our 3 metre long flag in gale force wind. One of the guides, younger and 

fitter than me, was laughing, and commented how funny I looked 'fighting' the 

wind. He is well known for doing as little as possible. I may have to have 

surgery in the future, but as the Doctors explained, it is very high risk, 

so I want to avoid that option if I can.

I am extremely 'woozy' because of all the heavy-duty medication I am on, so

heaven knows what errors this post will contain when I hit 'publish'.

Although I was rather 'sore' on Thursday night, I thought I would be okay on

Friday. Now I know all you crafters out there will understand my excitement, 

followed by disappointment, when I read an generic email on Thursday night 

from my favourite scrapbooking/papercraft store to say that on Friday they were

having a 60% off EVERYTHING in the store from 9-5! I put my clothes out, 

set my alarm for the 2 hour drive, so I could be there when they opened. 

The only drive I went on though was in the early hours in an ambulance.

 I don't know what was worse, missing the sale or the excruciating pain.

I want to say a BIG thank you to those of you who have left comments on my

blog, welcoming me back...hopefully I will get to you personally very soon.

Must say goodnight, as the last medication I took is 'hitting home', and I 

am struggling to stay upright, and can hardly see the screen. 

What a way to spend my birthday...yes, its today.

Here's hoping you all had a lovely Christmas, and I wish you a happy New Year.

Hugs,

Jennifer. x

Christmas Greetings

Well the big day is finally here, so I would like to wish you all, and your

loved ones a very happy Christmas.

The utterly adorable image is a freebie from Altered HeART Works. 

Thank you so much, Debra.

Big Christmas Hugs,

Jennifer. x

Glittered Bauble

Hello fellow crafters. I hope your preparations for the big day are well

in hand, and you are not feeling too stressed.

Several years ago, I was asked by a large scrapbooking/paperart store in Sydney

to demonstrate at a 4 day craft show. One of the techniques was using black

peel-off stickers, d/sided adhesive paper, ultrafine glitter, and Promarkers.

I decided to revive the technique for 2 of my Christmas cards, and this is

one of them. It is such a fun technique, and the resulting shimmer is 

amazing, but it does not photograph very well.

The red borders, I promise, are perfectly straight, but the card was

lying on an uneven surface when I photographed it.

A close-up view of the coloured bauble. It is so much prettier IRL.

The snowflake and sentiment were die cut from a sheet of 

glittered fun-foam.

Challenges I Would Like To Enter

Cards In Envy - 'Celebrate The Season' 

Glitter 'N' Sparkle #219 - 'Christmas In Glitter'

Passion For Promarkers #375 - 'Use Your Dies/Punches'

Peel-off Sticker - Elizabeth Craft Designs

Loose Glitter - Martha Stewart

Colouring - Promarkers

Dies - Sizzix, Tim Holtz Alterations Holiday Words:Script; Marianne LR 0125

Embossing Folder - Snowflakes (unknown brand)

Thank you for your visit, I must 'crash' into bed as I have been on my feet all day at the Fort. Also, now that we have moved, I have an 80km drive each way on the 2-3 days per week that I am on duty.

Hugs,

Jennifer. x

Joy To The World

It is several years since I have made a card using the serviette and cling wrap 

technique, but when I saw a pack of serviettes with this gorgeous cardinal, I

knew I had to revisit it. If you have never seen this technique, I am

sure you would find many tutorials on the internet.

I added a dot of glossy accents to the cardinals eye, and a few dots of platinum

Stickles on the background and in the centre of the poinsettia. The sentiment 

was a freebie that came with a magazine.

A closer look at my handmade poinsettia and assorted greenery.

Challenges I would like to enter

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 'Pick A Previous 2016 Challenge' (#49 foliage; #55 critters)

Alphabet - ''U' for Use Something Red'

Animal Friends #45 - 'Anything Goes' (must have at least one animal) 

Image - Serviette (unnamed brand from $2 store)

Dies - Spellbinder Layered Poinsettia; Cheery Lynn Holly Leaves & Wreath Strip
Punch - Martha Stewart Branch

Sentiment - Freebie from a magazine Simply Cards and Papercraft

Ranger - Distress Ink Gathered Twigs, Platinum Stickles and Glossy Accents 

Thank you for visiting, and hopefully I will have another card to show you in a day or 2.

Hugs,

Jennifer. x

Seasons Greetings

My goodness, in less than a week it will be a year since I last wrote a post in my blog.

2016 has been one of the most tumultuous years of my life, preceded by a significantly

traumatic 2015. The 3 preceding posts will explain quite a bit of why our lives
have changed so much.

John has aged considerably, and we are involved in a lengthy legal case which our

solicitor told us last month, will still take another 10-12 months to finalise.

As for our sons dreadful accident, it has taken him almost a year to recover. After he was

discharged from hospital, he could not cope...partly because of the physical injuries, but

mostly because of the brain injury. He was confused and had serious memory loss. I could

not travel to London, as John was too ill, so as soon as our sons Neurologist said it was

safe for him to fly, he came to Australia to recover. He was with us for several months

while his memory and cognitive skills returned. Our doctor was wonderful, liaising with

the doctors in London to continue our sons treatment. He has since returned to London,

and has even been able to return to his old career. We are so grateful that his position

 was kept open for him for a year.

Life in the retirement village is hugely different from living on our farm, which I miss

much more than I ever thought possible. Most of the differences are positive (e.g. no

maintenance), but there is virtually no privacy. I guess we will eventually adjust.

I have only just set up my craft room a few weeks ago, and I feel like a beginner.

I have made a few Christmas cards, and today I have spent hours, with Johns 

help, trying to remember how to crop and watermark my photos, complete a

post, and hopefully even enter a couple of challenges.

The cardstock is a lovely off-white Bazzil bling. Its rich sheen 

does not show in the photos.

I adore this greeting die, and since it came to live with me almost 2 years ago,
I have not had the opportunity to use it until now.

I cut the bauble from the main card stock, removed the negative pieces,

then reset it in the aperture with the gold mirror card behind. 

The bow is cut from a 'mittens' die.

I would like to try my luck with these challenges

Cardz 4 Guyz #150 - 'CAS Christmas'

Corrosive #12 - 'Gold or Silver Christmas'

Inkspirational #124 - 'Neutrals Only'

Polkadoodles Week 50 - 'Anything Goes'

Dies - Creative Expressions: Sue Wilson Seasons Greetings; Memory Box Snowflake Ornament; Memory Box Precious Mittens

I have made a number of Christmas cards, so hopefully I will be now be able to continue blogging, and also to visit your blogs to see your lovely creations.

Hugs,

Jennifer x

Happy Christmas

Warmest Christmas greetings at all.

2015 continues to be a year of some highs, and some very deep lows.

If you read 2 previous posts here and here, you will understand why I have not been 

blogging for several months. John is slowly recovering, but will probably never be 

at the level of health that he had before 'things' went so dreadfully wrong. 

He had his 4th (and hopefully last) operation in early November. 

With the help of several tradesmen, and a group of wonderful friends, we prepared

our farm for sale, and were thrown into total shock and quite a bit of panic, when 

we sold on the 8th day it was advertised!! Part of the panic was because there were

 no homes for sale at the retirement village we chose to move into...our buyers want

to move in a.s.a.p., so we feared we may become 'homeless'. A few months earlier 

we fell in love with a beautiful house at the village, but someone beat us to 

putting a deposit down, as we were not ready to put our farm on the market.

Imagine our joy when the day after we exchanged contracts, the manager at the 

village phoned to say that the people had backed out of buying the house

we loved, and it was ours if we still wanted it. There was a huge 

"YES PLEASE" from us!!

HOWEVER, Fate had not finished with us!!!....the very next day  (3 weeks 

ago), we received a phone call that every parent dreads. Our son who has

lived in London for 18 years, had been hit by a car (for several years we

have been estranged from him, but John's near death brought him

back into our lives).

He had his right ear torn off, his left eye damaged, several broken bones

(he requires more surgery on his knee), cuts, and severe bruising. Much more 

serious though is the brain damage, caused by a 2cm tear to his frontal lobe.

He is very confused about everything, and it is so distressing when he 

sometimes doesn't know who we are when they put him on the phone to us. 

The doctors are hopeful that when all the cerebral swelling and bruising 

subsides, and the blood clot dissolves, he will regain his memory and  

most (if not all) his cognitive skills.

I so desparately want to fly to London, but John is not well enough to travel,

nor well enough to leave alone. Besides, we have to be out of here in 3 weeks,

and I have barely begun packing. We have to put our belongings into storage 

and stay in a B. & B. for 1 week, as the house in the village won't be available

for that time. Once we are basically unpacked, I will then probably fly to

London, as John will have people around him, and there are emergency

alarms in all the houses. The manager has said that staff will 'keep an eye

out' for John while I am away.

With that rather depressing news, I will say "bye for now", and wish you all a

happy and safe Christmas. Treasure your loved ones, because we never

know when our lives can be turned upside down in an instant.

Hopefully, in a few months, I will be able to set up my craft room and return

 to creating cards and mixed media projects...I am really having 'withdrawals'.

Love and hugs,

Jennifer xx

The lovely image is a freebie from The Feathered Nest..."Thank You", Dawn.

BIG Changes!

Hello to all my patient crafting friends in blogland.

It is now a month since I last posted anything on my blog, so I thought I had better put

you all in the picture, so as to speak. If you read my post (here), you will know that we

have been having an awful time with John's health, following what was supposed to

be a simple procedure in hospital, but which turned into a case of medical negligence.
 Since that post, we have continued to lurch from one medical crisis to another, 

with John having several urgent admissions to hospital. He has to have 

another operation next Friday, and another in early November.

John has lost 11kgs in total (I would love to lose that much weight, but definitely NOT

how he has lost it!), and is still very weak. All this medical trauma has accelerated the

symptoms of his Parkinson's Disease, and one of the medications they commenced him

on, caused problems with his already unstable heart. Sooo, we have made the very sad 

decision to sell our farm and move into a retirement village. When we moved here more

than 35 years ago, our 26 acres had a very 'ordinary' house on it, with one cactus near

the front door. We have done massive improvements on the house, built lots of farm

buildings, created several paddocks, and landscaped huge gardens.

It will break our hearts to leave, but I guess we have to face the fact that we are no

longer the young, fit, healthy couple we were in January, 1980. It will be a huge 

adjustment for us, from having all this lovely space around us, to living in very 

close proximity to lots of people. However, we are trying to look at it as being 

a big adventure in much the same way as when we moved here.

Because we have to get my poor darling John back on his feet to a reasonable

degree, and we have to get our home and farm ready for sale (with the help
of a lot of lovely friends), then move, I have decided to put my blog
 'in suspended animation' for a few months. 

I have reluctantly stepped down from the DT at Winter Wonderland, but the

lovely ladies there have very kindly said I am welcome to rejoin the team when 

my life settles down. They are a fabulous DT, and I look forward to being 

part of them again in the future.

Until we meet again, I shall wish you all "happy crafting".

Hugs, Jennifer. xxx