Relapse

Well I found out on friday why I've been feeling so awful.  I'm having a relapse.

Its a small one so I should (hopefully) come out of it non the worse for wear.  I have to go to the hospital tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday for high dose steroids by infusion.  I'm just a day patient and will only be there for the infusion and then come home.  I much prefer being at home when I feel yuk anyway!

I had another craft day with Jo on Friday, a good way to take your mind off the way you're feeling.  I struggled a little but managed to finish the journal pages for Lou.  And here they are

Roll on the sleepless nights and munchies caused by the steroids!  But if they work, its a small price to pay!

Jackson Pollock style

On Monday Jo and I had a craft day.  Not really had one for ages due to her working and me not being too well.  So Monday was a complete 'blow out' day where we blew away all of the cobwebs from our muses!

We both worked on 6" x 12" Stampbord blocks, but both did completely different things.  I had decided the night before that I wanted to use some Claybord inks that I had gotten in a random stash box from Graphicus a couple of Christmas's ago.

I coloured the Stambord block with Pumice Stone DI and then dropped the Claybord inks on one at a time and blew them with an air duster (compressed air in a tin which is used for cleaning computers).  I had tried early with a straw, but the effect was sooo much better with the air duster.  I used a heat tool between each colour to stop it going muddy.

I then used one of Sir Tim's saying stamps on an ATC sized piece of Stampbord, already coloured with the DI, and scratched into it before colouring the lettering with Promarkers.  I've always known that I wanted to use this stamp but just didn't know what on.  I think its perfect here!

I then used an Elusive Images (EI) stamp from the Artistic Affirmations theme plate with part of the message being raised up on a domino sized piece of Stampbord, coloured with the same DI again.  Again I scratched into it (I love doing that!!).

The base looked a bit bare in the middle but I didn't really want to detract too much from the background so I used a coaster sized piece of Stampbord, coloured with the DI and blew the inks around again.  I scratched into it (of course!), edged it with black ink and stamped another EI stamp in the middle.

All that was left to do was sort the background as it looked a bit plain.  I used a speckle stamp of Sir Tim, inked with London Fog Memento and stamped it all over the base.  I decorated 3 Stampbord inchies with the inks and scratched a border round them so they'd stand out.  And here is the finshed piece.

And look what I was given yesterday

My Mam and I were both given a rose to mark International Women's Daywhich was yesterday, by a Polish friend called Pawel. He used to be a neighbour of my parents and they always got on well with him.

Apparently yesterday is observed in Poland and he just wanted to mark it with us. You can read about it here.

How sweet.

Pedicure

I try to have a pedicure once every 2 months to try to keep my feet in good order and also cos I can't paint my own nails now.  My Mam paints them for me in between, but I really look forward to having the treatment.  Plus the fact I'm having to have canulas in my feet again for my treatment and a girl needs to make sure her tootsies look good for that LOL!!

I had my latest treatment last Thursday.  My Mam found the number of a mobile manicure / pedicurist on the back of a local carers magazine.  She also does nail art and spray tans and will come to you, which is Just Perfect which incidentally is the name of her business!  Julie has only been in business less than a year, but she is simply wonderful!  She makes sure that the treatments suit me and is totally understanding of my needs. 

Please stop by her website and if you live in an area she covers, please book an appointment.  You won't be disappointed!!

I like to have unusual and bright colours on my toe nails and this time I asked her if she would do a french style polish but with 2 colours rather than normal naturals and white and look at the results!!  She even did a little nail art for me too!

I'm almost looking forward to going to the hospital on Thursday so I can show my feet off!!!