Wednesday, 1 March 2017

Recovering at Home, and WOYWW 404

There’s actually something on my desk this week!

More later.

Health Update

I am sorry for my lack of response to all your many kind comments over the past couple of weeks – I do thank you for them – they cheered me greatly! It was all I could do just to get a post up, reporting on my progress. It is now nearly a fortnight since I came home from hospital. I am making slow progress with my recovery but I have to be patient and realise that it will take as long as it takes. I am having regular visits from the district nurse to check and re-dress my wound which has been weeping and is not completely healing yet, but there is no evidence of infection and I have been reassured that all will be well in time. The nurses all tell me that recovery from major emergency surgery is very different from the planned variety, and it is bound to take longer in my case because of my existing ME and the fact I had so much chemo. This whole experience has been a major assault on my system.

I have now written a full blow-by-blow of my hospital experience on my Gutless Bag Lady blog if anyone feels up to reading it! It doesn’t make particularly pleasant reading as I’ve left in all the gory details and it’s really for my own benefit so I remember what happened, and it will remind me just how much I had to recover from when I look back at the ordeal!

I have received so many wonderful visits, cards and flowers from our many friends. Here is a picture of our miniature Chelsea Flower Show.

In the centre is a beautiful bowl of flowering plants that will be planted out in the garden once the flowers are over. This was from all our friends at St. Luke’s Church – the beautiful painted Victorian Gothic Revival church I wrote about in my blog a while back. I was so thrilled with this, and sad that I wasn’t well enough to join them on Sunday, that I made a card for them on the computer – easy to edit the photo I took of the flowers, and play around with my photo editor and desk top publisher while relaxing on the recliner, and run it off the printer – minimal effort required! My hubby gave it to them on Sunday and they were thrilled.

This is the inside.

That’s the only creative thing I’ve done since being taken ill!!

Stocking Up on New Stash

Feeling a bit better over the past few days, I’ve been indulging in a bit of Internet shopping. I’ve been watching quite a few Youtube videos and I must be feeling better because I can feel my creative mojo stirring again with lots of ideas I want to get going on in my studio.

Over the past months I’ve been intrigued by a few WOYWW-ers mentioning a mysterious thing called a Misti and I had no idea what that was so decided to investigate. I realised that although I have a love-hate (more hate really!) relationship with card making and don’t want to spend too much time doing it, anything that makes it quicker and more fun has to be a bonus, and I thought I could mass-produce some cards fairly quickly for my stash which is rapidly running near empty. I was about to order a Misti when I came across a Tim Holtz video showcasing the new stamp platform made to his design by Tonic, which looked even better than the Misti and I think less expensive. It won’t be launched until April but I’ve put in a pre-order at a pretty good price. It looks quite brilliant.

Then I decided to find out more about his new Distress Oxide inks which I’d been hearing about, and have found a set on Joanna Sheen’s site at a very competitive price – out of stock for now, and waiting to hear when they are available again. I found the effects you could get with these absolutely stunning and they got my creative juices really flowing! A real mixed media look and very versatile. Have a look for them on Youtube if you haven’t come across them.

I’ve been waiting for a while for the 2017 set of new colours of Infusions to be available and was thrilled to be able to order them, and they arrived yesterday – photo above. There are loads of brilliant Youtube videos on using these extremely versatile paints and the new colours are fabulous. You can also see them in action on the Paperartsy blog. I’ve already had a lot of fun with the original set – these sheets were done with them, using my “mask and spray” technique:

which enabled me to produce lots of leaves and flowers in the process, many of which got used in my Mamhead album project.

Here are the backgrounds used as endpapers in the album:


and on the front cover, with some of the leaves.

See what a cheat I am. I haven’t got much to show because there’s nothing on my desk except my new Infusions, so I’m showing you old stuff!!

Happy WOYWW everyone, and hopefully soon I will be fully back in the swing with something real to show you.

15 comments:

  1. Happy WOYWW. Lovely 'old' and new photos. Glad to hear that you are thinking about crafty stuff, and watching YouTube videos is always a good way to spend time. Ali x #31

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  2. Morning Shoshi. And why not cheat a bit?? Sounds like you are beginning to get your strength back anfd feel more like yourself. Hospital visits and stays, and especially surgery, do take time to get over - just keep a note of all the great ideas you are getting, so that when you are up to it, you can forge ahead!! Goodness, we will be kept busy then, reading about all that you will have done.
    Take care both of you. I love the Chelsea flower show!! God bless.
    Margaret #9

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  3. Glad you continue to recover, and that you are up to spending time putting an archive together, and pretty soon those new inks on your desk will tempt you into doing a page, a card, something that you can do in a few minute that is not too taxing.. dxxx#28

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  4. I'm unconvinced about the Oxides, so far I haven't seen anything that can't be achieved with the regular DI and a technique or two. I accept I might be missing something, but I'm really not going to engage with the buying frenzy that's broken out! Glad to read of slow recovery...so much better than no recovery!

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  5. I am SO glad you are home and slowly recovering. Glad you feel up to doing some shopping. You'll have some great new products to play around with when you are feeling up to creating art again. Wow - you got a lot of flowers. Lots of people were thinking of you when you were in hospital - including a lot of us WOYWW people.

    So glad to see you posting!
    Take care
    Sharon K #34

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  6. sounds like you're on the mend now ... must be if you're feeling guilty for not crafting!!!
    Love your experimentations with fusions, I am still not sure yet. I have Brushos but hardly ever use them. I want to try them on a Gelliplate but finding time is the problem.
    Take care and have a good week
    Christine #25

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  7. Don't worry about having little on your desk. That digital card is gorgeous and so apt. It looks as if the infusions are similar to Brushos, although I think they all have a Sepia element to them if I remember correctly. It's worth looking to see when oyster stamps have the distress oxides back in stock as they are only £3.50 there (I have the whole set coming to me and have also pre ordered the Tim Holtz/Tonic stamp helper. Hope you are feeling a little stronger every day. Hugs. Sarah #24

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  8. Hi Shoshi, when you mentioned Misti, I was going to say to have a look at thge Tim Holtz version, due soon. It looks very good I think, and I am waiting for that too. Susan at Countryview Crafts has the Oxides in, I had mine last week, Not had a play yet, but will soon. Love those Infusions colours, I think they may be my next investment. Love to you both, Shaz( still having naps on the recliner, lol) XxXx

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  9. Lovely gifts from loving friends :)
    New art supplies are always a very fun addition to any artists desk . . . have fun, while you are recovering.

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  10. Wow, gorgeous flowers! They're almost worth going through the agony - but just almost! Love your infusions and you're the third person to mention the Oxides. I will have to find out what all the hype is about! It's always good to share some old projects in case someone might have missed them and remind those of us who have already seen them just how wonderful they are! Loving all those rich colours and texture anew! Hope you are getting better every day! I might have a look at the gory details when I feel up to it, but thanks for the warning. I'm not proud of it, but I'm a bit squeamish when it comes to graphic descriptions. Happy WOYWW Shoshi - glad you found the strength to take part and thank you for visiting my previous post. zsuzsa #26

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  11. Glad you are slowly feeling better, and starting to think of crafting again! Looking forward to see what you do with your new Infusions. I looked up the Stamp Platform - great price! I just hope it will work with my unmounted just rubber stamps. Keep up the great work! Thanks for sharing, Lindart #40

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  12. Hi Shoshi, pleased to see you are getting your Mojo back. I have the Misti and though they were expensive I have to say they are brilliant if you stamp. On those occasions when the stamp doesn't give you a good image for whatever reason, you just apply the stamp again and because everything remains in the same place you get another perfect registration whereas if you tried to do this without this piece of equipment it is unlikely that you would get this. The Craft Barn are also selling another make too but the Tim Holtz one looks interesting as it's slightly different. If you want to stamp you can't go wrong but buy one of these pieces of equipment. Take care and happy crafty woyww, Angela x 21

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  13. glad you are enjoying the Infusions (is that my fault? sorry!) I am waiting for my Oxides, I think they look quite fun... we'll see (I just ordered 4) Love all your flowers, they put on a fantastic display. sorry I'm late, was too tired to move from sofa last night and I can't do WOYWW from my phone. Helen #5

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  14. I visited the Paperartsy blog to read about those Infusions. They do look fun! I don't understand how they differ from powder watercolor like Ken Oliver's Powder Bursts. Do you know? Sending prayers for your recover to speed up some and give you much needed energy.

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  15. Glad you are feeling a little better and I love your idea of making a thank you card with a picture fo the actual flowers. Love the papers you made very pretty. Tracy #27

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