Knock, Knock!

Hello Stamplings!

It's me! I've missed you and it's so great to be back! I wasn't planning on being gone so long, but when it comes to health, plans can go out the window. First of all, thank you for your notes, cards, calls, and comments sending me your best wishes and cheering me on! Mwah!

Being back in the Playhouse creating, even for short periods, has done wonders for my mental health. I have even managed a coupla cards to share! My mojo juices were running low, so I turned to challenges for the schpark I needed to get them flowing. As ever, thank you challenge teams!

Onefer

This NBUS Altenew stamp and die set is called "Book Club." I stamped the image in black, heat-embossed it in clear, and painted with watercolors. There are several fun stamps for the center circle to use in a book or a journal, but I bought it just because I loved the flowers, composition, and versatility for any card sediment. 

Wow, you might think, that's a lot of schplattering, but I know you understand that poor Hammy, after five weeks of no winking and no schplattering, had an absolute inky blast and I let him go until he tuckered himself out. 

(In case you wondered, I didn't think it was fair for Hammy to be listless and bored while I was laid up, so I arranged for him to visit all his offspring and their offspring and their offspring ... let's just say he was always on the go and I think he's quite relieved to be home. My productivity will be low for a while yet, which is just fine with him!)

Challenges

• Addicted to Stamps and More: Make your mark.
  
• Color Hues: Pink and green.
  
• HLS Watercolour: A/G.

Twofer

As I was looking through my challenge list, I happened to notice another, similar challenge in Blogland, so I stamped and heat-embossed another image to make this pink and gold Easter card. This time Hammy happily winked the flowers and then, while he was napping, I added some subtle gold schplatters to keep the card CAS.

Challenges

• Four Seasons: A/G Spring.
  
• Less is More: Pink and gold.
  
• Perfectly CAS: Die cuts.

Nurse Nellie

So what happened was, the hip replacement surgery went well, but about a week after wards, all my autoimmune maladies played up and set back my recovery. (Today's challenge: use malady in a sentence. It's such a lovely word, much nicer than disease or ailment.)

Anywhizzle, things settled down little by little and I often found myself rejoicing to have finally "turned the corner!" Then, oops, I discovered as I kept turning corners that I was actually in a maze! A maze zing! But I persevered and then wallah, I found my way out!

Part of the process of recovering is to walk, walk, walk. My doctor starts his patients out on a walker, then on to a cane, and then just your own two feet. As many of you know, before my surgery, The Mister, Nellie, and I walked between one and two miles every morning. I wish you could see how becited Nellie gets when it's time to walk! She LOVES it. So, of course, she struggled to understand the change in our daily routine.

As I did my laps around the house, I would pass through the living room where Nellie was on the coach, er, couch. One day I used the magic "walk?" word and said, "C'mon, walk with me." Well, I didn't have to ask her twice and from that point on, several times a day she followed behind me up the hall, through the main part of the house, and back down the hall. Rinse repeat. It was adorable and she helped keep me going!

I will try and get back on a schedule and make a plan in terms of crafting, blogging, and visiting little-by-little.

And then there's the fact that I'm a huge fan of spring cleaning. Do you get that bug in the spring?

I think it's something I carried over from growing up in the Midwest where winters can be long and harsh. It was just the best feeling when the weather warmed up so the windows could all be opened and everything was washed from top to bottom while the fresh air blew through! I think it will feel especially good this year. Being able to keep our own affairs and belongings in order brings a sense of calm, productivity, and accomplishment in a time when there is so much turmoil in the world.

Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

*Life is too short!

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