HALLOWEEN IS OVER AND NOW THE FUN STUFF

I am glad Halloween is over.  I don't do witches and blood and guts stuff. I love fall, colored leaves, cooler temps, pumpkins, harvest stuff, and more colored leaves. We were really getting a good color in the trees this year and Sandy came along. Georgia and South Carolina and Florida are between me and the Atlantic ocean and yet we had at least 6 days of steady to gusting winds from that storm. I mean steady winds of 40 to 50 mph with gusts of 60 to 70 mph. The wind blew like west Texas and Oklahoma and Kansas without slowing down a bit. It blew most of the leaves off the trees so we don't have much color now. I guess this sounds petty. I really do feel for all those folks that now have to deal with the aftermath of that storm. I pray for them to have the strength to deal with all the heartaches that storm created. There are a lot of hurting folks from that storm. Homes and businesses destroyed.

I borrowed these pictures from their web sites, the bottom one is the Salvation Army setting up a kitchen for hot meals in Manhattan.
 If you wonder how to help  those folks, here are links to the Salvation Army https://donate.salvationarmyusa.org/disaster and Samaritans Purse
https://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/Giving/Project_Donations/ are the two best organizations I know of for direct aid to hurting people with immediate disaster relief. They have the best ratio of $$$ to people relief of any organizations including the Red Cross.  My state has had lots of contact with both organizations what with all the devastating tornadoes we have had in the last 2 years. Both can use your $$$ and prayers.
I guess that is it for today.
May God bless you and your families.
Mary

BEAUTIFUL BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY

While cruising blogland this morning I came across a beautiful blog from Australia. The lady creates some of the most beautiful scrapbook pages I have ever seen. I love elegant Shabby cottage chic and she creates it with a passion.  Her name is Stacey and you can find her here:  http://staceyeyoung.blogspot.com/2012/09/from-me-to-you.html 

She is also hosting a giveaway that ends this Thursday Oct 25.  All you have to do is become a follower of her blog and leave a comment. Simple as can be with no complicated hoops to jump thru.  If you like to create the shabby cottage chic look in scrap booking or tags or cards this is definitely a give away to enter.  And be sure and look at her scrapbook pages. They are beauty to behold and well worth the time involved just to note such beautiful details she includes in her creations.

Hope you each have a great week. Can't believe October is almost gone already.

May God Bless each of you.
Mary

OCTOBER OFF TO A FAST START!

Wow has a lot happened in the last 10 days. I had my 65th birthday last Friday.  I have been crafting again like mad. Been messing with insurance stuff since as of Oct 1, I am now on medicare. It really does feel different to know I now have some kind of health insurance even if it probably won't last for the rest of my life. When you look at how much the gov't (us) is deep in debt, a person with just the basic math skills knows it can't keep on keeping on going. But I will enjoy the security as long as it lasts.

Now to the crafting part. I don't really get into Halloween so much these days. I like the oldfashion Halloween stuff, not the blood and guts kinda sadistic stuff you see out there on the internet these days. When I was a kid we dressed up mostly in old sheets as ghosts, or old clothes as hobos or clowns and just went trick or treating in the neighborhood.  Now a days it is a huge elaborate to do with fancy costumes, fancy parties and a lot mayhem going on out there.  I am not sure I would let a child go trick or treating in the neighborhood these days. I like it where the churches and schools have parties instead. So with all that in mind I decided to try my hand at making some fancy gift or trick or treat bags for Halloween. Of course I started at Karen's blog the Graphic's Fairy and found the perfect black cat. Back to my birthday last year the cat of the hour. http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2011/10/vintage-halloween-clip-art-black-cat.html

Here is the original pic:


Here is the cropped pic:

and here is the finished gift bag:

I found some beautiful black paper doilies at our favorite Wally World  and orange paper pumpkin shaped doilies at my favorite Dollar tree Store. I had pretty silk fall leaves and raffia and chiffon ribbons in moss and tan and some fall gold, cream, and tan flowers to use and presto here are the bags. Made yellow tags with black cats to hang on the bags. These bags will be listed in my ETSY shop and with a number of linky parties this week. I hope you will check them out and also stop by the linky parties. There is some really great and very varied items out there to look at.

1)Brag Monday at the Graphics Fairy

http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com

2)Market Monday at Common Ground

http://www.commonground-do.com

5)Pretty Things for You ~ Whatever you want Wednesday  http://www.freeprettythingsforyou.com/2012/10/whatever-you-want-wednesday-93/

 I hope every one has a great week. I will be working on more crafts, trying to get some things ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

May God bless each of you.
Mary

TEACUPS AND TEAPOT BANNER FINALLY FINISHED

Well as my mama used to say "one down and many more to go"!!  Designing can be an interesting project when you plan to many more items in a variation on a theme. I have made ever so many different sized templates (each one cut out by hand!! since this old dog has learned a thing or two about crashing computers). Not only do I have digital patterns I can pull up and print but I also have the real deal hold in my grubby little ole hands cardboard patterns that may burn but WILL NOT evaporate into cyber space.

Now to the finished project : a tea themed banner that I have just listed in my ETSY shop 
http://www.etsy.com/listing/110793965/teacups-and-teapot-banner-bunting 

 

I am not quite sure how I did the double pic above (who understands this NEW blogger ~I sure don't) I loaded 2 pics and it turned into 1 ~ Ho Hum

Anyway I have been playing with my favorite teapot and teacups from Karen at the Graphics Fairy ~ http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2012/02/vintage-graphics-3-pretty-teacups-with.html 
These tea babies have the best vibrant colors that I just love. I wish there were even more of them in different colors. Any way I have more tea things coming and angels and Christmas tags and banners that are in various stages of work. Stay tuned as the old radio announcers used to say. (Oh how I miss old time radio ~ I have stacks of tapes I bought at the Cracker Barrel that I listen to all the time ~ so much more entertaining than trashy TV) But I get off track here.

I am also linking to Home and Garden Thursday http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/2012/10/home-and-garden-thursday.html on Oct 4th and also at Fabric bows and More linky party ~ http://fabricbowsandmore.blogspot.com/2012/10/link-party-no76-will-see-it-wednesday.html  Beautiful blogs ~ be sure to check them out!!

I hope you all have a great weekend ~ Roll Tide!!!

May God bless each of you.
Mary

BUSY LITTLE BEE HERE WITH TEAPOTS AND TEACUPS

Well I have been a busy little bee this past week. I have been making tags to list on my Etsy store https://www.etsy.com/listing/110228988/teapot-tea-tyme-gift-tags-shower-tags These teapots come from the Graphics Fairy  http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2011/05/vintage-clip-art-best-teapot-ever.html

and have fishished a special order for a sweet and patient lady in Canada.
It has been fun to actually accomplish something for a change between dr visits and regular life stuff.
Here are some pics of my goodies. I hope you will like them.

These teacups came from the Graphics Fairy. Karen just keeps on finding such beautiful graphics.
http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2012/02/vintage-graphics-3-pretty-teacups-with.html

Lots of stuff going on around blogland. Folks working on Christmas and Fall and Halloween things. Such beautiful eye candy.

I am linking up with the following blogs:
http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2012/09/brag-monday-kitchen-witch-towel-and.html

http://www.commonground-do.com/2012/09/lets-shop-monday-marketplace-31.html
Come on over and enjoy all the fun and see the pretties at these blogs.

Well that about does it for now, I am working on a teaparty banner so maybe I will get it finished today and then maybe not.

May God Bless each of you.
Mary

CUTTLEBUG GIVEAWAY FROM IN MY MINDS EYE BLOG

Believe it or not, I am still amongst the living.  Sometimes I feel better and then again sometimes I don't.  I have actually been working on goodies for my ETSY shops.  More on that in a day or two.  I'm photographing stuff now.
I came across a really neat giveaway today while visiting Georgie over at (visit her because she has a neat blog)  http://georgie-hornpuddinnpie.blogspot.com/ . On her side bar she had a pic of a cuttlebug. I am soooo far behind the times in paper crafts that I wasn't even sure what a 'cuttlebug' was or is and what it will do.  So in my quest to learn more I clicked on the pic and it took me to http://mymindseyecreations.blogspot.com/2012/08/cuttlebug-candy.html . Now this blog seems to mostly be about card making and has frequent postings of card sketches (which I find a really good teaching aid for someone trying to learn how to make really beautiful cards (and tags) without having to spend big $$$$ taking classes on line or in site. Anywhoo she (Kadie) is giving away a cuttlebug.

So I went to several web sites selling the little green machine and did some reading. This device seems to be a neat machine with a variety of dies and embossing thingies to turn out some great embellishments for card making and tag creations. The drawing will be held Oct. 1, 2012 so you need to check it out and register before Sept. 30th.  She is also giving away a second prize of a SEW EASY tool, 6x6 papers, ink and other bits and pieces.  Looks like a great giveaway at least if you are like me and don't have $$ to spend on this type of equipment for your crafts.  If nothing else just visiting her blog is worth the trip for all the beautiful eye candy and inspiration.
I hope all of you are doing well.  Please pray for our country and its citizens in these troubled time. Reading the news these days is just plain scary.
May God Bless each and every one of you.
Mary

A HEART ATTACK AND SURVIVAL BY THE GRACE OF GOD

Today I am writing to you by the Grace of God. I had a heart attack last week and almost died.  Those of you who are sweet enough to read my blog all the time, know I have not felt well for months now.  Apparently I had a ticking time bomb in my chest for a good long time now.  From what the Docs found I had a heart attack in the last 5 to 7 yrs from one of my main coronary arteries being blocked 100%. It was long enough ago that small capularies have grown to bridge the gap in the artery blockage.  For the last last 3-4 months I have barely been able to get around to do housework or crafts or anything. I would do a little, cook a meal, put a load of dishes to washing or a load of clothes and then have to sit or lay down and rest. Last week it got the worse it has been.  Friday I could hardly to anything.  Saturday morning I got up around 5 am because I just couldn't stay in the bed I hurt so much.  About 6 am it started thundering and I checked to weather on line and sure enough a big storm was headed straight at us.  Friday nite Don had cut a lot of grass (and because it WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO RAIN!!) he left the lawn mower uncovered to finish cutting Sat.  I went outside and rolled it under the tarp and got it ready for the storm. I walked back in the house and barely made it in. I sat down and felt like a huge weight was sitting across my collar bones, like a huge fist was buried between my shoulder blades in the back, and a tingling down my left arm this time all the way to my finger tips. I felt like I was going to throw up and felt some pains shooting up thru both sides of my neck. I could barely breath. I sat there for several minutes ~mostly because I couldn't do anything else. Move or breathe or anything. just holding on to the chair. Then it started to ease a little and finally I was able to stand up and moved several feet to my recliner. I guess you are wondering why I didn't call my husband and have him get me to the hospital. I don't have any insurance to cover anything.  I have not gone to the dr because I couldn't pay him. I knew if i went to the ER I would run up a bill of thousands of dollars in just a few hours if I lived or not. Honestly a funeral is cheaper than a hospital. I do have a little life insurance. Since the pain backed off a little I decided to stick it out a little longer and see what happened. When Don got up he was very angry because I didn't call him.  The truth is I don't think I had the strength to call him anyway. I stuck it out a little longer during the day and about mid afternoon I tried again to lay down and rest and hurt worse laying down than sitting up and I gave in to Don to go to the hospital.  The irony is my Medicare will start in just 6 weeks.
Thus started an adventure. The folks in the ER were sweet. I told them I didn't have any insurance and frankly do not have the means to ever pay the the bill in this life time. The folks at Shelby Baptist Medical Center treated my like any other patient. They slapped me on a stretcher and wired me up like the Space Shuttle. I couldn't have run away if I felt like it.  I think they were moinitering everything but my thoughts and they might have been checking those out ~ who knows with that many wires and screens. Of course the vampires decended to draw all my blood out to play with. Then the 'hurry up and wait' began as we waited for all the results to be read, debated, discussed and voted on.  They shot me up with Morphine and I was floating somewhere up in the ceiling tiles watching everything without a whole lot of interest. Just watching. Every 5 min someone would come in a ask how I felt, poke and push a little and go back out. Meanwhile all the screens were shooting out numbers and graphs and such except the only one my husband understood ~ the TV. Believe it or not for a long time the only thing he could get on it was the cartoon channel and I think it was Daffy Duck. Like I said I was floating up in the ceiling tiles.  If I answered any of their question by telling them I hurt even a little bit they stuck that needle back in the IV line and I floated a little higher.
Finally they came in and said the heart Dr (or rather his assistant ) was coming and it was decided to ship me to the floor and admit me. That 'yes sir indeed, Mrs Albrethsen You have had a heart attack and you will be spending some sighnificant bonding time with us.' Those are my words not theirs. LOL but you have laugh a little bit.  And that was the gist of what they said. I slept pretty much the next day except when the vampires came to draw any of my blood they might have missed. I will say this for them one and all they didn't hurt. And of course that nurse kept shooting me up with morphine ~ I asked her if they didn't have something between morphine and an asperine that I could take because to be honest I just don't like floating like that and she said NO we want to keep you a pain free as possible so you won't make the heart attack worse from the stress of hurting. So I floated til Monday morning and I got my guided tour of the cath lab from flat of my back. I know what cath labs look like ~ my brother installs and services them and has for about 20 plus years. I have worked in a hospital and my job was to pick up the cath charts for medical records each nite and I could talk to the guys and got to watch a little of some caths. But let me tell you it is different when you are the patient and they have strapped down to make sure you don't float off. It didn't hurt, they kept giving me a little more Versed every few minutes and finally I lost interest in watching the screen of my heart and closed my eyes. Next thing I knew they were sliding me off the table and on to my bed to go back to my room. Now I have to tell you about the new backboard they used to move me from the bed to the table and from the table to the bed again. Everyone has seen the backboards that paramedics use ~thick and strong ~ well this one was about the thinkness of the plastic cutting board you buy at the dollar stores. It was full size but paper thin.  They took the sheet I was laying on and kinda rolled me up in it and over a little to one side and slid that thing under me and this one guy (that weighed about 170 and looked EXACTLY like Johnny Depp in Pirates etc) pulled a little toward him and I slid over to the table like greased lightening and he kinda pulled the board up and I slid off and I was on that table with NO EFFORT OR STRAINING OR ANYTHING!! on my part. I am not a small woman I weigh well over 250 (only my Dr knows exactly how much) and am 5'7". That board must be teflon coated or something ~ it was slick as glass and as flexible as paper.
Anyway the Docs say I am in pretty good shape to go now and if I take care of myself and stay in touch with the Docs and let them do their thing to keep me going I should keep on going for a while.  They are going to watch the artery that is still 100% blocked and decide later whether to do any thing about it since my body is doing its own patch up by growing capularies around the blockage. I really do feel much much better. I still have a twinge every now and then and when the Doc asked today how I felt, I told him I am going to have to figure out what my NEW NORMAL feeling is. It has been so long since I have times that I didn't hurt at all that it is hard to decide whether a pain means nothing or something.
I received a lot of prayers this week end from my church and family and close friends. I still need prayers. 
The reason I went into so much detail about how I felt before and during the heart attack is women don't have the same pains men do, I mean who would think that pain between your back shoulder blades could mean a heart attack.
I thank God for being with me and guiding my doctors and nurses. May God's blessings be on each of you.
Hugs and Love
Mary