Pink and Polka Dots...

       Pink and Polka Dots seems to be the theme of my cards for today, which were inspired by the latest challenge over at the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Blog, where the theme this week is "Going Dotty".    

     It's been another fun day of coloring and creating in my craft room.   All three cards above were created with digi images and colored with Copic Markers.   
     And I have one more created and inspired by this week's Challenge over at "Cas(E) This Sketch".

     Thanks for stopping by and special thanks for the kind comments.  You are all so sweet and caring and I truly appreciate your kindness and support.

    

A touch of pink...

   "A Hint of Pink" is the name of the current challenge over at the "Simon Says Stamp" Wednesday Challenge blog and also was the inspiration in the three new cards that I created today.           Today, I broke out my "Copic Markers" and colored up these sweet images which are some oldies from my "Digi Image Stash".   The first one I have owned for several years and to be honest, I'm sorry to say I don't recall where I bought it or the artist's name.  If you happen to know, please share and I'll be happy to add those details.  

        Just about the time I first started cardmaking, digi images were the "newest" thing and I loved that I could instantly go online, buy an image and be able to print it and color it the same day.  It was also right about the time that Copic Markers were becoming very popular and that's also when I started building my collection, which took me many years.   They are a prized possession and something I've never been able to part with --- depsite all my de-stash sales, I'm not sure I can ever give them up.   Today, it was really fun to color again and it brought back memories of just how much I do love to color and how relaxing it can be.    I am not very happy that I never sold my Copic and do hope to continue to color and create.   I feel very much a beginner again, but do hope in time that I'll get back to where I was before!!        This second card turned out to be my favorite and this digi image is one I know is from Bugaboo Stamps.   I literally own hundreds of Bugaboo images and they have always been some of my favorite.

      This is the card that I am entering into the SSS "Touch of Pink" Challenge.  It also has lots of "Purple" which I'm sure you know is my favorite color and I think that's why I think this is my favorite card for the days.   Again, very much as CAS card and one that I had fun creating.          My final card is another one where I used my Copics along with another cute little digi by Bugaboo.  

        Another thing I have realized is that I need to set-up a new place to take "pictures" of my cards.  I took this using my cell phone and the lighting is not great, so I need to work on that.  Hopefully, if I can continue to get back into card-making, I can work on that and dig out my nice camera.   In the meantime, I'm in practice mode and just playing around and seeing what I can come up with.          I wanted to say thanks to everyone who has stopped by and been so encouraging.  I really do HOPE I can continue to slowly improve my skills and may eventually get back to making cards like I did before the Cancer came into my life.    I really do miss it, but I remember now, just how much time and work it takes to create each card, then photograph them, edit, watermark and upload -- Not to mention then writing a blog post!  Kudos to all of you who are doing it daily and even more so to those who make create videos -- You ROCK!   Just doing this took me almost all day--and I am now exhausted.           And now it's time to take my Pups out for a little walk before dinner time is here!  Hope you all are having a great week and thank you all again for your support and encouragement.         I really do feel like a "Newbie" in the card-making world -- but I'm also enjoying time in my craft room and fee happy and happy times are what life is all about!!

Guess what?

    It's been well over a year, probably closer to 18 months, since I have created anything in my craft room.  WOW!!   But, lately, I have started to realize how much I miss making cards, especially this week, after spending $10 on two cars that I didn't even like!  Yikes!!    I had so many cards on hand a one time, and loved sending them to my family and friends -- my supply is pretty much gone.            I've also really missing creating, but had lost all my Mojo and also was often too exhausted to be able to focus well on making cards.  But, I'm going to give it a  try and see how I can do with what i still have left in my stash.         I was very happy to create these two cards and I admit, the are both very simple and basic.  I also do not have any "current" or "new" stamps or supplies, so I am using favorites that I just was never able to give up.   Luckily, I still have quite a bit and it feels nice to put some of my "goodies" to use again.          I decided to start by looking for a Challenge as my inspiration and hopped on over to the a2z Scrapbooking Blog, where I found the challenge for May is "Sentiment Focus" which as just the inspiration I needed to make two Birthday Cards.   I knew that I wanted to use one of my favorite "Hero Arts Stamps", so this challenge was perfect for me.   

     Hope to be back more and more and to slowly build up my skill again and also a nice supply for cards for my friends and family.

     Before I go, I also want to share a new picture of my little "Harper Leigh" who is such a LOVE in my life.    I hope to start babysitting for her from time to time, once Acacia returns to work.  This picture was taken last weekend, while she was "playing" in her new activity center.  She is such a sweetie and I love and savor every moment I have with her!   

      

   Hope to see you all more often and really hope I can continue to create and once again enjoy the hobby I so loved!!!  Wish me luck!!

 PS:  As for my Cancer Battle -- my latest CT Scan in March showed that I am currently NED (No Evidence of Disease) which was awesome news.   I will be re-scanned at the end of June and for now remain "Off Treatment".   It is very exciting to be NED once again, however, I have been here before and found it to be very short lived (my lung tumor was back only three months later, and was even more aggressive).  This time, I hope the Immunotherapy treatments will give me a much better and longer chance of staying NED for the long term.   As always I still HOPE we will find a cure for Stage IV Metastatic Cancer!  Until that day, I'm taking One Day at Time!! 

Harper Leigh, Cali and Craft Goodies...

  I am so happy and excited to share a new picture of Harper Leigh who is now one month old.  Time is flying by and she is growing so fast.  Many of her sweet little newborn outfits are already too small.

   I really missed her while I was in Cali, but I also had a great trip and had a lot of fun with Brian. The weather was wonderful and it was so nice to be out in the warm sunshine.  Of course, I flew home the night before the "Blizzard", which thankfully was pretty much a bust.   I also was wiped out for a few days and am now just getting back to feeling okay.

   This precious baby makes me so happy and I'm totally in love with her.  Being a Mom has always been so special to me, now being a Grand Mom is even better!!   Pure LOVE!

   Not much new -- One of these days I need to figure out a good and easy way to try and sell the rest of my craft supplies.  It has now been months since I have created and I no longer have the energy or time.   I just also don't know how to easily do this?   I guess maybe go back to packing up the Priority Mail packages?  If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, PLEASE let me know.  And if there are ANY craft supplies, machines, IKEA furniture etc., that you are looking for -- I'm sure I might have it and will be happy to sell it for very reasonable prices.

  We are thinking (hoping) to put our house on the market sometime in the next couple of months, so I really need to finally purge this all!!    I still have one full room of stuff, not to mention all the things packed in closets -- oh my!  It's a pretty overwhelming job, but something I must do.

   As for my cancer battle  --  it seems almost impossible to believe that it will be two years this coming Monday (March 27th) since the dreadful day I learned that I had a brain tumor, which was ultimately a metastasis from Stage IV Lung Cancer.  I'm a very lucky to still be fighting and taking each day as they come.   I don't fell at that well most days and the hardest part is the relentless fatigue and a general feeling of being sick.  It's not fun -- and not easy!   But, I'm still trying hard to remain positive -- I adore Harper and want to be in her life as long as I possible can.   Next week, I'll be back at the hospital for my new round of labs and also Head to Toe CT Scans and at this point the "Scanxiety" is setting in.  I hope and pray that the scans will be okay?   

   Wishing you all a wonderful Spring and hope you are all enjoying LIFE!   Treasure and cherish every moment!!

   XOXO,

     Lisa

Happiness is a Grandbaby....

.....And I am delighted to let you all know that my sweet Grand-daughter made her arrival on February 21st a few days after her original due date.  She's a healthly happy baby and weighed 9 lbs. 6 oz. at birth.   Mom had a very long and hard labor and after almost 32 hours, Harper was safely and happily delivered by C-Section.   Needless to say, none of us had much sleep that Monday night and we all expected her to be born on Monday, but she just was too big and not ready to come out on her own!    We are all so thankful that she was never under and stress and was born perfectly healthy the following morning.  It was not so easy on her Mom, but's she is healing well from the procedure.   The kids are in LOVE with their little girl and they are both wonderful new parents, it all seems very natural to them -- they are such a sweet little family.  

   She is an angel and has been a really good baby.  She sleeps and eats well and when she is up, she's very content and happy, they are blessed.   This picture was taken the day she was born the very first time I held her -- Instant LOVE!! 

  She is now almost two weeks old -- it's amazing at how fast the times flies by.  I am so in love with her -- it reminds me very much of the same wonderful bond I had when my boys were born.   The love is something you truly can't describe, it's the best!!   This little dress is so sweet, too bad she's pretty much already outgrown it, as she has with many of her "newborn" size clothes.  Thankfully, we did not buy a lot of tiny sizes and she still has lots of of wonderful outfits to wear.   The first week she was home we had some fabulous Spring weather with record-breaking temps...it was wonderful.

   

   

  Sorry I am behind in posting about her arrival.  I've been visiting often and am now preparing for my trip to San Diego to visit Brian.   I'm leaving bright and early Tuesday morning and can't wait to be there, although I know I am going to miss this sweet little one.  I'll be checking in on her all the time and asked the kids to be sure to keep texting me new pictures, while I am away.   This is not a very long trip (just a week), but that's probably good for me, as I'm really exhausted more and more every day., the cancer battle continues and I'm sure for my next round of CT Scans at the end the of month.   Amazingly it's been almost two years since the day I was diagnosed.  I'm happy to be stable and HOPE these next scans will all be good ones.    I really need a nice little vacation before I have them and may need to re-start treatments soon! UGH!    For now, I'm focusing only on "Happy" things --  this sweet little baby and spending some time with Brain in the warm California sun!  After that wonderful "Spring Fever" weather we went right back to winter and have actually now had "unseasonably" cold weather...the wind chill last night was below zero!   Brrrr!  Thankfully it's already back up in the high 30's today and will get warmer each day, but I'm sure it's going to be a whole lot warmer in California and that's my favorite kind of weather!!   I can't wait to be in that nice warm sun!!  

   Thanks for stopping by -- I am thrilled to finally have my very own Grandchild -- she's the newest LOVE in my life.