And I'm going to throw in one extra GIVEAWAY!! I'm going to give away a copy of the Stamping Idea book to another winner. I will select all winners from the previous blog post. Good luck!
So I had my friend's three little boys for the last 24 hours. They are the cutest little dudes. But it made me realize just how challenging little people can be. My youngest is in 2nd grade and gone to school all day. Funny how quickly you forget how the younger hooligans needs constant watching and entertainment. I'm exhausted! It's good to be reminded how awesome I find their mother. Yes, you know who you are. I don't know how you do that everyday and you even take them to run errands. GASP! So here's to all the mother's out there with young children. Kudos to you!
I wanted to point out a couple of calls from Scrapbook Trends. Here's a couple of hints to catching the eyes of our editors:
* Take a great picture of your project!
* Send in one project per e-mail.
* Send a little blurb (at least) with a tip or trick to creating your layout.
* And YES, our editors look at EVERY submission
* DON'T give up. Keep trying. And don't be afraid to resubmit a layout, card or project that did not get picked up before. It might fit a new call that we have.
Create: Quick & Easy 2011 Idea Book Call
Scrapbook Trends Magazine is currently looking for projects with the following themes for our Create: Quick & Easy 2011 Idea Book:
4 x 6" Photos
5 Ingredients - use only 5 supplies to make your card/project/layout
Cards
Celebrations
Embellishments
Family
Mini Albums
Sketches - please include your layout along with the sketch
Two-Page Layouts
***PLEASE SEND A SEPARATE EMAIL FOR EACH SUBMISSION YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE CONSIDERED FOR PUBLICATION.***
Deadline: 11:59pm (Mountain Time) on Friday October 8th, 2010.
Please send submissions to submit@northridgepublishing.com
March 2011 Call
Scrapbook Trends Magazine is currently looking for layouts with the following themes for our March 2011 issue:
Baby
Birthday Cards
Fun with Flowers
Spring
Stamping
Stitching
Two-Page Layouts
Real Life: Friends - Take a moment to celebrate the people that mean the most to you. Include your friends in a layout to record that special bond.
Challenge: Sketch - Create a layout based on your own original sketch (and please make sure to include the sketch!).
How To: Die Cuts - This new article focuses on techniques. This month, show off your favorite technique for die cutting. You may be requested to provide some items for "how to" photography or to star in your own "how to" video.
Showcase: Layouts you love that don't fit any other category. Be prepared to share the story behind the layout, why you created it, and why you love it.
***PLEASE SEND A SEPARATE EMAIL FOR EACH SUBMISSION YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE CONSIDERED FOR PUBLICATION.***
Deadline: 11:59pm (Mountain Time) on Saturday September 25th, 2010.
Please send submissions to submit@northridgepublishing.com
You can find all of our submission requests here on our website! Now go forth and CREATE! :)
I'm exhausted. Short night with a little fellow who is missing mommy. Breaks my heart to hear him crying out for his mom and dad in the night. Dad will be here later this evening to pick him up. Although it's much easier to distract kids during the daytime, I think he'll be pretty thrilled to see his Dad. What a cutie pie!
One other note . . . this fun kit is available for sale through Northridge Publishing. I really loved working with this kit!
Today I hope to get the garage sale stuff under way, get some laundry done (oooh, so exciting), and maybe work (emphasis on the "maybe"). May you have a lovely day!
I know that many of my readers are familiar with my son, Joseph, and his battle with cancer. But I wanted to tell his entire story for both those readers and those who are not familiar with his experience. I will keep this page as a permanent link for all to read.
Joseph is my first born. Even before I met my husband I always felt like there was a little spirit waiting and wanting to come down. So it did not surprise me when we became pregnant just three months after being married. He was born in the wee hours of the morning after laboring for about four hours. He was a big boy at over 8 pounds. And his little face was squished so that his eyes, nose, and mouth were all in the center of his face. After the forceps required to extract him, we were still surprised to see how funny he looked. His little head was covered in whispy dark hair, and his eyes were a dark, dark gray.
Joseph's battles began early with a terrible bout of colic. The boy just couldn't burp or pass gas so his feedings were difficult. He cried and cried and was always drawing up his legs in the most terrible pain. It was a challenging time for his dad and I as we struggled to know how to help him. After about 4-5 months, the colic seemed to get much better and he developed a happy personality.
At the age of 2 1/2 and almost 3 Brett and I left he and his sister with Grandma so that we could take a trip to Hawaii together. When we returned she informed us that he had been suffering from diarhea for a few of the days that we were gone.
We had not been home long, when he developed flu-like symptoms. He was throwing up and throwing up and with such violence. We took him into his pediatrician who gave him a shot of anti-nausea medicine and we took him home to wait. He did not seem to improve. We had several calls from family members who felt impressed to tell us to take him back in. Although, we felt silly for going in two times in one day, we made the trip to the after-hours pediatrician. He did not hestitate to admit Joey right into the hospital because he was extremely dehydrated.
What followed were several days in an isolated hospital room with several tests. It was finally determined that he had developed Clostridium Difficile or C. Diff. Typically most people contract this bacteria from taking too many antibiotics, but Joseph did not fit that description. This bacteria was attacking his colon and causing the diahrea.
We began meeting with a Pedatric Gastroenterologist. She was fabulous and helped us work through the process of trying to help Joey get better. Although the flu-like symptoms were abated, the diarhea continued.
We were charged with collecting stool samples from a child who was not yet potty trained. And after several months of tests, and samples, and doctor visits, we learned that his C. Diff. had turned into Ulcerative Colitis. We were scared but naieve about what the difference was and how treatment would change.
Ulcerative Colitis is an immune disease where the body begins attacking a healthy part of the body. The immune system turns on but does not turn off. Joey's immune system was attacking a particular part of the colon and there was no relief from the symptoms no matter what we tried.
In the midst of this new diagnosis, Joseph was also diagnosed with asthma. We took turns spending time in the hospital each year for either bronchitis or dehydration. We became very adept at packing up and heading to the hospital.
Joseph was a trooper through all of it. He rarely cried or complained even after days of throwing up, IV's, and test after test. He was pleasant and kind to the hospital staff and doctors no matter the situation. I was most often the one staying with him at the hospital while Brett attended school full-time and worked full-time.
During the 10 years of Joseph's disease, we never found relief for his Ulcerative Colitis. Many people have periods of relief and remission. That was not the case for Joey. Instead we made plans for him to attend school despite having 6-8 trips to the bathroom a day. Often he was not able to make it and took an extra pair of clothes with him to school in case he needed to change. He withstood ridicule from his peers, the embarassment of his situation, and the struggle with being different.
We continued to pursue his care as we moved from Utah to Savannah, Georgia. We tried tried-and-true treatments, innovative IV therapy, dietary changes, and everything we could think of yet there was no change. Joseph continued to have chronic diahrea, frequent bouts of flu-like symptoms and trips to the hospital.
In fact one of his medicines, caused kidney stones and so we ended up in the hospital again for a few days as they learned of and worked on this new development. He passed one of them and spent half the day in the Emergency Room on Christmas Eve in excruciating pain. One of them was the size of a small watermelon seed and quite sharp.
In the fall of 2005, Joseph had his typical colonoscopy. The doctor mentioned there was a hardening in the colon, but we received no information that we should be concerned or worried.
When we returned to Utah, we met back with his original doctor and continued treatment.
During the summer of 2006, Joseph seemed extra run down and tired but we attributed it to our move and starting a new school and hayfever. Joseph began to complain in the early fall of a hard spot in his intestinal area. I could not feel it. But when we went to his appointment with his gastroenterologist, we discussed it. She was concerned. She could feel it. She immediately sent us from our doctor's visit over to Primary Children's Hospital for a CT scan. We spent hours waiting for our turn and then for the diagnosis. There was something blocking his colon.
His doctor once again discussed with us the back-of-the mind thought we had all known: that we might need to remove his colon. It was much earlier than we had planned to do this, but it needed to come out. We were scheduled for the following Monday.
We were not more worried than any other procedure. The doctors and nurses were kind and reassuring. Joseph was a typical trooper and remained calm and jovial. When he came out of the procedure, the nurses commented on how polite he was. I was proud of him and happy to see his sweet little face recovering well.
"It's cancer," he said. I felt instantly light-headed. I need to lay down, sit down, pass out, something. "I need to sit down," I said. He reached for the nearest wheelchair. I sat while he continued to explain. "It appears that it has been touching the liver so I scraped off what I could see on the exterior of the liver," he said. He went out to explain some details with me. He was shocked and saddened for us.
I returned to Joey's room. He could tell something was wrong, but I remained calm and tried to appear fine. He did not need to hear the news yet.
I left his room to call Brett. As there is no privacy in a busy hospital, I sat in the foyer of that hospital floor and sobbed as I gave Brett the news. He was shocked and upset as well. We were heartbroken. Our worst and yet impossible fears had come true.
Joey recovered well and was sent home to recover while we waited for the next step in his treatment.
Within a few weeks we returned to the hospital to begin chemotherapy. The oncologist discussed with us a treatment plan. We were clueless and confused and lost, but we listened and tried to research and tried to trust that this doctor would know best how to treat our son. I look back now I have so many questions I would have asked then. But I am not a doctor. I could not even think of all the things to ask or wonder about. No one ever said what stage of cancer it was or what the outlook would be. But we definitely could tell it was serious.
Joseph's chemo required that he have a three day hospital stay each treatment. He was thrilled to learn that the oncology floor had X-box's in every room. He sat in his hospital bed and received his treatment. I stayed at his side as much as possible. On some days his dad would come and stay and work from his hospital room. We were blessed to always have one of us at his side.
After several bouts of treatment, and several scans it was determined that the cancer had spread to his liver. In another agonizing surgery, they removed half of his liver. This scar stretched from his sternum past his belly button, forming the shape of a saber sword, which he actually thought was quite cool but scared his father and I. The doctor called us back to the lab where she actually showed us how much cancer the liver contained. The spots were each the size of a 50 cent piece. I was sickened and devastated.
They transported him from his bed in Primary Children's to the LDS hospital for radiation treatments on top of chemotherapy. I had to pick up my little boy and move him from one wheelchair to another. We took a terribly bumpy ride from one hospital to another in the back of a hospital van. Joseph moaned in pain and we carried a throw up bowl with us everywhere. I was angry that he had to be transported at all. I wavered between anger and frustration and exhaustion. Why couldn't this be easier on him?
There came a time when they asked us if we wished to care for him at home. Joseph wanted to be at home so he actually rest. We learned we could continue radiation treatments at the cancer center at a closer hospital. We were thrilled. Brett and I were trained on giving him daily shots, changing his central line and IV, taking his blood pressure, and administering his medicine. Although I have been queasy over blood most of my life, the mother bear in me kicked in. I tracked his dosages, stayed up with him through the night, and cared for all his basic needs.
He stopped eating almost immediately upon coming home. We had nutrition through his IV. He could not leave his bed to urinate. He could not stand to be touched. We increased his morphine and administered Benadryl ever four hours. He lived for the Benadryl. He hardly talked. He slept all day and all night and woke only for short bouts of labored conversation. He contracted pneumonia and struggled with coughing. I sat the doctors down and asked them the hard questions, "Would he recover?" Their answer was "no." "What is the time table for this then," I asked. "Soon. Within a couple of months most likely," was their reply. I was shocked, disbelieving, and unprepared. We made the decision to tell him the outcome because we didn't feel it was our right to keep that from him. That was the hardest conversation I have ever had in my life and I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy. It was devastating and he could hardly fathom the news. I wonder sometimes if we made the right decision telling him, but at his age I felt he had the right to know, to prepare, to be aware. No parent should EVER have to tell their child that they are dying. It was awful, horrible and excruciatingly painful. I still feel deep hurt over that conversation and that diagnosis.
Joseph celebrated his 13th birthday on April 14, 2007 with Make-A-Wish. They went all out with a Clone Trooper costume. Darth Vadar and a storm trooper attended. They spoiled my other two children with so many toys. Although he was grateful, he lay on the couch and begged to be taken back to his room almost before the festivities began. He had no energy to give other people--let alone us. We did see one smile as he received his gifts from his siblings and us the morning of, but he was past the point of caring any more. It was simply too much.
It was chaos. Doctors were rushing around him. They had already taken a chest x-ray. The life flight pilots arrived, and they discussed transporting Joseph up to the children's hospital. They intibated him. Brett and I wept in each other's arms as we watched our little boy be put under. They wheeled him out onto the helicopter. I couldn't help thinking that he would have loved knowing he was going on a helicopter ride. They asked us questions about resuscitation. Despite knowing his diagnosis it was unnatural to suggest that we would ever "let" our child go. We begged them to perform whatever lifesaving measures were necessary.
Joseph continued on the breathing tube with in the ICU. We were encouraged to say our good-byes. We notified our extended family and they made the treck up to the hospital. They allowed us to escort two family members in at a time to say their good-byes. They sedated Joseph just a bit so the people would not overwhelm him. I sat in the rocking chair and I watched those he loved whisper their good-byes and hear them thank him for the kind of boy he had been in their lives. It was a beautiful glimpse into the life he had lived and how many people he had touched. To see my heartache mirrored in their own faces was so difficult.
April 28 was the most difficult day of my life. We knew what was coming. We cried. We each spent individual time with him trying to say a lifetime of loving messages. I won't share the details of his passing. It is personal, private, and painful. It was horrible. It was devastating and agonizing and filled with more pain than I knew was possible for human beings to suffer through. My beautiful son passed away in the evening and we had to return to a home without him. I will never forget the details of the day even though part of me wants to.
Returning home to tell our other two children and my Mother was agonizing. They were heart broken, and we all spent most of the night weeping. For days we wept. Our children wept. We wept. Jimmy, Joey's younger brother, worried over our reactions. He would flash a huge smile at us every time we cried in an effort to cheer us. It worked. And we tried for their sakes to be strong.
Joseph's funeral was beautiful. So many friends and family from his and our past attended. We felt loved and blessed. It wasn't a sad day for me. It was a tribute and honor to Joey's life, and I was proud of my little son. We selected a casket to match his love of Star Wars: shiny silver and unadorned. We covered his casket with beautiful flowers and gardenias, which were his favorite flower from our life in Savannah. It was a beautiful day.
I love you, my sweet boy Joseph!
I have created a special post containing Joseph's story, which I will also post today.
How can you help in the fight against cancer?
You can make donations to charities that fund research or that give proceeds to hospitals that treat cancer. You can assist in making a child's wish come true. You can devote your time and talents by serving as a volunteer at a local cancer center. You send uplifting and light-hearted cards to a person in need. You can offer to babysit siblings, take in a meal, clean their home. You can offer a shoulder to cry on and a listening ear. And you can offer a prayer or positive thoughts.
Just knowing that someone else values your pain and your struggle can make a bad day better.
My profuse thanks goes out to all those who sustained us in any way during and in the years since our son's passing. I will never be able to fully thank all those that touched our lives, but I love you all!
I wanted to show you how I've begun (and I'm emphasize "begun") using Copic markers with my stamped images.
First I HIGHLY recommend that you purchase Neenah's Solar White paper. It allows the Copic color to seep into the paper and yet spread. It's so much easier to blend with this paper. Not absolutely necessary, but if you really want to play I suggest getting it.
Secondly, I suggest purchasing Memento's Tuxedo Black stamping ink. It does not bleed as you are blending and works in perfect harmony with the Neenah paper.
This is the stamp set "The Magic of Christmas" that I used on today's project:
And then because I only a few Copic Markers, I pulled out my Stampin' Up! markers to color in the smaller ornaments. Although these markers are not good for blending, they have rich colors and work perfectly fine, especially when there are not large areas to shade and color.
The next step was to stamp the medium ornament onto a square of the Neenah paper and color it in.
I then decided where I wanted this image to be placed on the branch and stamped it again. I also added shading to the right and slight bottom of each ornament with a gray marker. I also cut out the original ornament (minus the hook at the top of the ornament):
I decided that the stamped image looked kind of plain and empty so I cut down the image, distressed the sides and ran the entire piece through my Cuttlebug using an embossing folder. (NOTE: I also drew a line from the medium-sized ornament up to the branch with a black marker.)
Finally I assembled the card with some coordinating patterned paper, a silver bow, and grey photo corners. I added pearl gems to the center of the medium ornament and used adhesive squares to pop the colored ornament on top of the plain ornament. The sentiment is stamped with Versamark ink and then embossed with silver embossing powder.
Supplies:
* Green dot patterned paper (Little Yellow Bicycle)
* Red striped patterned paper (My Little Shoebox)
* Photo corners (Heidi Swapp)
* Embossing folder (Quickutz)
* Markers (Copic, Stampin' Up, Inque Boutique)
* Pearls (Zva Creative)
* Ribbon (Offray & Sons)
* Scallop Sentiment border punch (Fiskars)
* The Magic of Christmas clear stamp (Hero Arts)
* Stamping ink (Memento, Versamark)
* Embossing powder (American Crafts)
Today is a typical Saturday for us here in the Gallacher household: laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc. Brett is running a Relay Race this weekend and will be back this early afternoon. He has three sections of the race. I believe a 6 mile, a 6 mile, and a 4 mile. He thought at least two of them woud be in the middle of the night. Man, he's dedicated!
Sorry for neglecting my blog for a few days. But I did want to give you a quick update.
My brother's stones grew in his bladder (of all places). They were each the size of a pea. He's still struggling with his pneumonia and some bleeding from his procedure to remove the stones. My Mom is a trooper and as a single Mom is both working full time and trying to play nurse. I am going over today to help some more. Please continue to keep them in your thoughts. I'm worried about both of them.
I have one layout to share with you from the June Scrapbook Trends issue. You can download or purchase the issue here.
This was a layout for the "Father's" section. I really love the conversation my son and Brett have with each other. It's important for kids to know that you love them and to hear it. Apparently my son hears it enough because he already knows what Brett is going to say before he says it. That makes me happy!
I went to a Stampin' Up! class last night. Have you seen their new catalog? Holy cow! Um, total eye candy and beautifully done. They've redone some of their colors, including bringing back some of their "In Color" tones from past years. Can you say "Wasabi!" I am in no way associated with them, but I always buy their catalog each year. It's one of the best stamping idea books out there.
Now I want to rethink my scrapbooking budget. Ha, ha. When it rains it pours. I am going to have to get my rear in gear and start getting my scrapbook garage sale organized, priced and DONE!! This will be a good motivation. At this point, I just want some stamp pads. I LOVE their stamp pads. I get a true, rich color every time and they seem juicy forever!!
I see that my order from 2Peas should arrive some time today. Oooh. I am so excited. Makes me want to design something!!
Speaking of 2Peas. Come and chat with me TONIGHT!! Here are the details. And there WILL be challenges and prizes involved. You can also chat with some of the other Garden Girls, as well. I hope you'll peek your head in!
I have one layout to share with you from May's Scrapbook Trends. It's an "All About Me" page. I just stamped on some cardstock circles on which I had first printed some little blurbs about myself. It's hard for me to do pages like this, but I recognize it's also important.
If you want a copy of the issue, you can order a hard copy or download a digital copy here!
And now I'm off to work on some "for fun" projects after all the stamping inspiration I received last night! (I spent well over an hour drinking up the gorgeousness in the new catalog.)