Video about M.E.

Here's a video a friend has just told me about, which points up some of the problems we have to deal with as far as M.E. is concerned.



Of course, not all people with M.E. suffer the same symptoms that Bond Girl suffers from - the symptoms are many and varied, but several are shared by us all (the post-exertional malaise, overwhelming exhaustion, pain in varying degrees, sleep problems etc.).

After my busy day at the SW Disability Show yesterday I'm suffering payback today, and have spent most of the day resting, but that's OK - I'm not prepared to simply stop doing things I enjoy just because they make me worse! The secret is striking the right balance and not consistently overdoing things, which will have a serious knock-on effect - the occasional bit of rash enjoyment is always worth it!!

One day this disease (not a "syndrome") will be recognised for what it is by the medical profession and by health ministries and governments. Until then, we must continue the fight to spread correct information, to inform, and to educate. Please spread the word. We need you.

South West Disability Show

Today I went to the South West Disability Show at Westpoint, Exeter. I went last year as well. It's on a much smaller scale than Naidex, the big national one held each April at the NEC, Birmingham. Being smaller, it's easier to take on board, and there's little danger of missing anything.

As soon as I went in, someone said “I saw you last year!” This is because I'm so recognisable (once seen, never forgotten??) with my Rolls Royce wheelchair with its flowers! In fact, everywhere I went, I heard the word “flowers!” following me!

(This was taken a couple of years ago at our nephew's wedding.)

I saw several people I knew, and also met some new people. There was a super lady who was trying out a scooter - actually it was more like a boy racer motorbike! It had an evil looking front with a headlight, chrome, go-faster-stripes, and came in a snazzy dark red colour! It was her face that said it all. She had a smile that met round the back, and she zipped off in it at high speed, and the blokes on the stand said “we were told to get rid of all the scooters at the show - that one's disappeared for sure, but we were supposed to be selling them!!!” She and I then had a race, and she managed to scare a policeman! This lady had a beautiful daughter who looked after her - there was such a special bond between them that was lovely to see - a very caring, special young lady. Then came the question as to whether she could actually afford this scooter, and she said “I could always sell my husband!” - he was standing there - and I said yes, but the scooter wouldn't make you a nice cup of tea, would it!

I had a lovely chat with a couple over lunch - she was severely disabled with MS and she had a wonderful caring husband. It made me think - there are so many of us who depend on our loved ones for the support and care that we need - these are the unsung heroes of our society who care for disabled relatives day in, day out, with very little recognition, given the huge expense they are saving the nation.

The Global Leather glove man was there again, and he recognised me from last year too! We had a nice chat. I noticed a deterioration in his health since last year, and he finds many aspects of his disability to be very restricting, but he still manages to run his business. I bought a new pair of gloves to replace the ones that are now falling apart after much use! He said that some people complain that his gloves fall apart. He said if you walk long enough in shoes, they fall apart, too! Wheelchair gloves take a lot of punishment. I'd rather have gloves that eventually fall apart than hands full of blisters.

I met a lady with a prosthetic leg, and she had nail art on the toenails! Brilliant!

So many really lovely people to meet and chat with, disabled and able bodied alike.

It was a long, tiring day for me. I am now practically horizontal on the recliner, having had a cup of tea (courtesy of my wonderful hubby bless him!!!) and a sleep. It was well worth going, though, as it's an opportunity to see the latest equipment and keep up to date with what's going on.

Here's what I saw when I was leaving, as part of the display of a local firm who supply adapted vehicles. This is the very latest in ramped access vehicles, complete with the latest lightweight sporty wheelchair. (Note the nice authentic touch of the rust on the vehicle!)

Orders, anyone?

Two Get Well Cards

I have two friends who need cheering up and a bit of TLC at the moment. One is in hospital having a bowel cancer operation, and the other is a 96-year-old gentleman who is having a hip replacement. They are both very much in my thoughts and prayers at the moment, and I thought they would like to receive a hand-made card.

For Val I have made this:

I embossed a panel for the front of the card, using my Cuttlebug with the Stylized Flowers embossing folder. The embellishment was cut using two punches, one a plain circle and the other scallopped. The edges were lightly inked with Tim Holtz Distress Inks and the centre was rubber stamped. The embellishment was mounted on dimensionals. The text around the edge was written by hand, and the sentiment was a rubber stamp on a small piece of card, which was also lightly inked with Tim Holtz Distress Ink.

For the inside, I printed the text on the computer, and then sprayed with hair spray to fix the ink - not brilliant as it did bleed a little, and there is also a smell of hair spray when you open the card!! (I think I'd better get some artists' fixative, lol!) I then sprayed it with Tim Holtz DIY glimmer mist in two colours - spun sugar and forest moss distress reinker with perfect pearls. The edges were inked with distress inks using the ink tool, in forest moss and Victorian velvet, with a touch of Pummice Stone.

The paper wasn't that great quality, and it did curl quite a bit when damp. Actually I quite like the wrinkled effect, as it looks a bit like old parchment now it's been distressed! This insert has now been folded and glued to the inside of the card.

I can't remember where I got the poem about Cancer, but the words are so beautiful, and I know that they will really ring true with her. The words are probably too small to read on the photo, so here they are:

WHAT CANCER CANNOT DO
Cancer is so limited...

It cannot cripple love,
It cannot shatter hope,
It cannot corrode faith,
It cannot eat away at peace,
It cannot destroy confidence,
It cannot kill friendship,
It cannot shut out memories,
It cannot invade the soul,
It cannot reduce eternal life,
It cannot quench the spirit,
It cannot lessen the power of the Resurrection. (Anonymous)

For Eric I have made a more "manly" card.

For full details of materials and techniques, please see the video.

Ooops!

Today I've been trying, without success, to set up separate pages on my blog, to separate out the various subjects, to make it easier to browse. While I managed to do this initially, I ran into trouble when I tried to transfer the posts from their original place into the new pages. I managed to copy my first "Views from Shoshi's Settee" into a page of the same name, but of course it had today's date on it, when in fact I originally posted it back in May.

I decided to delete the page and start again. The problem is, the page has disappeared, but the copy of the post has not! It is now sitting in today's date, and I can't get rid of it. I have tried clicking on the edit button, and am informed that the post "does not exist." So I think I'm stuck with it!

I must say I'm pretty fed up with Blogger. Once I'd got it set up it hasn't been too bad, just posting away with no problems, but I had awful problems initially, setting up a new background, and had to have help (bless you Renee!) with that. Every time I try to do something new, to make it work better for me, it proves either very difficult or impossible. The whole system is totally un-user-friendly and I don't find the "help" very helpful either! A lot of knowledge is assumed.

If any of my lovely followers have any tips as to how I can get rid of this copy post I've created, I'd be very glad. Also any clear instructions as to how to transfer old posts into new pages without losing their original dates would be much appreciated too!

Grrrr. Waste of an afternoon messing about with this, and I'm no further forward - in fact it's worse.

All-in-One Box

Yesterday we were invited to a party by a couple who were celebrating 50 years of farming. They had insisted on no gifts, but would appreciate a donation to the Devon Air Ambulance - an organisation that does wonderful work locally, rescuing people from accidents and illness in inaccessible places.

I said to my hubby that a cheque in a boring envelope wasn't much fun, so I'd make something prettier to put it in! I found a tutorial and downloadable template for this "All-in-One Box" and decided to make that.

Here are some pictures.

Here is the video I made, to show the box in action:



Credits:

Wendy Weixler:
http://wickedlywonderfulcreations.blogspot.com/
SplitCoastStampers:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/

Both these sites have the downloadable pdf template and instructions to make this box.

Tim Holtz DIY Glimmer Mist

I haven't posted for a few days because I've been trying to deal with a backlog of videos I've done - loads of editing required, and not much space on my hard drive! This first one is part of an afternoon I had experimenting with my new Tim Holtz stuff. I decided to follow his Youtube tutorial on making your own glimmer mist with his distress inks and perfect pearls. I really had no idea how this would turn out - but in the end I wasn't too disappointed!

Although my first attempt is a bit blotchy, the colours are lovely, and this technique gives the most gorgeous silky feel to the cheapest of card. I tried doing some on black, which you will see on the video I've done on using Tim's masks (not yet edited) and although it's got a nice shimmery finish and again feels lovely, the colour hasn't shown in the way I wanted, unfortunately.

It seems to be pretty much trial and error, but that's exciting in itself, because you don't know what you're going to end up with!

Village Fete

I haven't posted for a few days because I've been really busy, and in between, really tired! We had our annual village fete on Saturday, and after a terrible start to the day, the whole thing was a resounding success. My hubby got a phone call at 8.30 a.m. to say that someone had set fire to the marquee, which ended up being totally destroyed, along with all the tables and chairs in it, which had been set up ready. A young man on a motorbike was seen heading away at great speed. Nobody knows who it was yet.

It was a scorching day, but fortunately there was a slight breeze. We had all the usual traditional English fete things like hoopla, coconut shy, dog show... There were also lots of stalls - bric-a-brac (I always find bargains there lol!), book stall, cake stall etc. and the tea was served in the open air since the marquee was gone.

The entertainments this year included the usual children's fancy dress competition, and we had a Scottish pipe band which was great! We also had Elphick the juggler, who we've had several times before. He was trained as an industrial chemist, but now he does juggling full time! He said to me "There's nothing I'd rather be doing." That's so nice to hear, in an age where so many people are unhappy in their jobs.

Some friends from the Brainfog M.E. forum were down in Devon for the weekend, so they joined us for the afternoon - it was such fun spending the time together!

Here are some photos of the day.

This one is of the children enjoying Elphick:

Here are my friends from Brainfog:

and finally, one of the four of us together:

As you can see, we all had a lovely day!

Folders for ATCs–Video

When I said in my last post that I'd embed the video "tomorrow" I really meant "today" lol - I keep such weird hours that it's always "tomorrow" already by the time I get to bed!!!

Anyway, it's today now. (Or is that just toooo Alice in Wonderland??) so I'm going to embed the video! Here goes.

ATCs–Grunge Flowers

I've just discovered the wonderful world of ATCs - Artist Trading Cards. These small cards are swapped and traded like the cigarette cards of old - the convention is that they are not bought and sold. There is only one rule, really, and that is that they must be 2.5 x 3.5 inches in size.

Having to work to a very specific, and very small, size, is quite a discipline, and something new to me. I can see that this will be a lot of fun (I have been warned of the seriously addictive nature of the pursuit!), even if I don't get into the swapping - they will make lovely gifts, and also embellishments on cards and other things.

A couple of nights ago, I decided to try my hand at making one, and ended up making 3 the same (of course, being hand-made, they are not identical) - another convention is that if you make more than one, you mark on the back which number it is, e.g. 1/3, as with art prints.

This one is called "Grunge Flowers."

Since making them, I decided to send one to a friend on the Brainfog M.E. forum who is very poorly at the moment, and severely in need of cheering up and encouraging. However, on its own it's rather small, and I was trying to think of a way of presenting it, when it occurred to me that the cards that Ikki makes (see her blog: Ikki's Cuttlebug Cupboard: http://ikkiscuttlebugcupboard.blogspot.com
- she embosses part of the front of a card, and leaves the bottom part blank for a stamped or written sentiment - would be ideal to be adapted into a sort of folder for ATCs. I have made several, using different Cuttlebug embossing folders, all in plain white, and I have cut a slit just above the plain part, into which you slot the ATC.

It occurred to me that this would be a very useful thing to have, if you ever have to produce a special card in a hurry and you haven't got much time to do it (haven't we all been in that situation!) - if you build up a collection of ATCs and make quite a few folders to have in reserve, the only thing you need to do is select an appropriate ATC and then stamp or write your sentiment on the bottom of the folder, in a co-ordinating colour to go with the ATC. Because the ATC is not fixed to the card, the recipient can remove it and do what they like with it - and even swap it on if they want to.

Here's what I've done.

These are some of the folders, ready for use - unfortunately despite my best efforts, the card looks pink in these pictures, when it is in fact white.

and here they are with the three ATCs in the slots:

I have made a video of the process of making the folders, which is being uploaded to Youtube at the moment. I'll embed it tomorrow.

I have also made a video of the making of the ATC, but because it was so experimental, and I'm still finding my way in all these processes, and getting used to the equipment and materials too, the video is very long and shows me making lots of mistakes - so it's going to take a long time to edit it down to 10 mins max! My hard drive is also nearly full, so I shall have to try and do some housekeeping on the laptop before I can tackle that project! I've got some more blank DVDs arriving in the next day or so, so I should be able to offload some of my thousands of photographs to make a bit more room. (Always something to do, isn't there!)

Card Making Equipment - Videos

Edit: 5 years on: This blog post shows my very limited beginnings. I have left it in to show how much I have developed and grown since that time. I have now moved on from a collection of boxes of basic equipment, via a room in our old house which was combined studio and office, to a fully-equipped studio dedicated to all my creative endeavours. My videoing skills have improved a great deal, too. I hope this blog post encourages others on their own journeys and helps them realise that everyone has to start somewhere!

I've now finished making the video of my equipment - it's in 3 parts so it would go on Youtube. This is probably pretty basic stuff for a lot of seasoned card-makers and papercrafters out there, but I'm just getting started with this lovely new equipment, and there are probably plenty of beginners like me who might benefit from them! I hope they will suffice as an introduction to the sort of equipment and materials that are available.

Hopefully as time goes on I shall make more videos, which will show this stuff in action.







Hope you enjoy them.