Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Christmas Peace ... and a health update

First I want to share this final card we made at this month's card camp - it was our Christmas card.  We used two amazing sets from the SU Holiday Catalog - Watercolor Winter and Greetings of the Season.  I love both of these sets and highly recommend them as they are so versatile - you'll be seeing  more samples with these sets in the weeks to come. 
The top layer is stamped and sponged with Espresso and Artichoke inks on our Craft card stock.  The seam binding ribbon is Cherry Cobbler and really pops on the natural background.  We used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder on the second layer and sponged that also to bring out that embossed image.  Then layer those all on a craft base.
Close-up of branches with snow :)
But the best part was the sparkle - we took our two way glue pen and dazzling diamonds glitter and added a bit of snow like sparkle to the tops of our branches and pine cones.  Guess that comes from my days of growing up in Wisconsin - I love the look of snow on pine branches.  Brings back wonderful memories.  Hope you enjoyed!!

HEALTH UPDATE:
For those of you who have been asking about my health - read on - for those that don't care :)  - see you tomorrow.  For six years this past September I have been battling an autoimmune disease - I have seen many, many specialists - mostly infectious medicine and rheumatologists.  They are pretty much all in agreement I have an auto-immune (or two) and that it is in the rheumatology family - but cannot actually give me a for certain diagnosis.  I've had surgeries, several years of testing different meds, treatment for a rare tick bite disease and more - but nothing has helped and they still don't really know.  Right now (for a couple months, but especially bad the last couple weeks) I am doing very poorly and would appreciate any prayers.  I see a new RA doctor tomorrow for muscle biopsies, and I am calling USC today to try and get into a Dr. that was referred to me.  So my prayer is just for an accurate diagnosis, whatever it is, so at least we know what we're fighting.  Thank you so much to all my friends and family who are concerned, and encouraging and praying for me - you have no ideas how much you all mean to me.  Love, Maureen

1 comment:

Penny Hanuszak said...

Maureen I'm hoping that tomorrow's visit will be the answer to your prayers or at least put you on the right track to wellness. My sister has been battling a type of RA inflamatory disease for a few years now and it's so sad to see her on her bad days. It just takes a bite out of her and it sounds like yours is on a larger scale, so I can't imagine the effects. I'll be saying a pray for you and you'll be in my thoughts! Take care.