All of my cutting file shares are free. Please do not redistribute or sell what I freely share. These cutting file shares are for personal use only.

Please be fair and give credit where credit is due, in turn, I will always make an effort to give credit to my resources and link them appropriately. Thank you for your consideration.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

What A Year

For those who have been trying to reach me by email; I apologize for the lack of response. I just got out of the hospital. All I can say is; "What a year!"

My dear husband and daughter both had appointments. My husband was scheduled for surgery this past Friday and of course, as many might recall my dear daughter, Jennifer had her appointment in Ohio regarding her diagnosis of Chiari on Thursday. On Tuesday of this week I began having horrible left flank pain. I went to work, but the pain became almost unbearable so I made an appointment to see my doctor. He thought I had diverticulitis, pancreatitis, or cholectytis since my appendix had already been removed. He sent me to the hospital for a CAT scan which revealed I have a rare condition named; "Epliotic Appendagitis".

The morning I learned my diagnosis the pain had become more severe, my doctor was ill and had to leave work so I went to "Dr. Google" since the nurse could not explain what was going on and told me my doctor wanted me to go the Emergency Room to be admitted. As I read the information on this condition I learned it was self-eliminating with time, pain meds, and anti-biotics. He had already prescribed me two anti-biotics so I tried taking Ibuprofen for pain, used a heating pad, and of course took my anti-biotics. I had no appetite, but forced myself to eat some chicken noodle soup. Obviously, I had decided to try this first. I should have went to the ER. By morning I was so very sick to my stomach and in pain beyond words. My husband took me to the ER and they admitted me to give me IV anti-biotics, and pain medication. The surgeon wanted me to have yet another CAT scan. It was so horrible since I was (please excuse the graphic wording) projectile vomiting. My husband was beyond upset with the state I was in. I was so sick, drugged up on Dilaudid and yet I was awaiting news from my daughter who was now in Ohio and waiting for her test results and second consultation.

I asked them to please not give me anymore Dialudid until after I spoke to my daughter. Finally, I heard from Jennifer and the news was what we expected. She will have surgery on November 7th. They will make a one inch incision behind the base of her skull, through the Dura and place a patch that will expand the skull area so her brain will no longer lie on her C2 vertebrae. She'll be in the hospital for about 5 days. The recovery time will be about eight weeks and the hospital will be sending out a visiting nurse and social worker two days a week. We are all going to pitch in to help her recover and take care of all the home and family things she would normally be doing.Please keep her in your prayers.

Back to the other part of this story. After I heard from my daughter, she offered to take my husband to the hospital at 5:30 in the morning so he could have the surgery on his foot. She is the sweetest, kindest, and thoughtful child/person. We hated asking her to do this, but our other daughter who lives in town has a three year old and college classes so after classes she picked up Jennifer's children from daycare and took care of them while Jennifer went with my husband and came up to check on me. Our grandchildren were out of school on Friday. Can you believe the timing of everything.

The doctor wanted me to stay in the hospital one more day.I practically begged to be released so he told me if  I could keep lunch down he would let me go home. Before this I had not had anything to eat or drink for 48 hours. I ate a small lunch (admittedly, I had to fight my body and brain to keep this lunch down) I made it home before I was sick again. The good news is, my husband is in pain, but doing well for a man who just had his foot cut open, a screw placed in it and stapled back together, my pain scale went from w big 10 to a 5 and I know each day will bring us all to better health.

There is no true reason for "Epliotic Appendagitis". I'm not obese, so the surgeon believes it may have been brought on by all of the physical work we've been doing around our home since the remodel. The best way to explain this is: our bodies have adipose (fat pockets) that protect the peritoneum (lining of our colons) each of these pockets have a blood supply with veins and arteries. These veins and arteries attach to the peritoneum and provide a blood supply. The ones in my body suddenly became twisted and turned creating bulges, inflammation, and infection. Thus the excruciating pain, The surgeon will not do any surgery unless I have a recurrence. I'm thankful for this and now am praying to have a quick turn around. This can last anywhere from 10 days to 4 weeks. Since even the nurses at my doctor's office and in the hospital had never heard of this I thought I would draw up a picture I hope explains it better. I sure am glad this is rare. I hate to think of anyone getting this.

If I wasn't the one living this past year I would not believe all of this could be going on in one family. Thank you all for your love, thoughts, and prayers,






Monday, October 6, 2014

More Card Shares - Geo and Braided Cards

Some time ago I shared a lot of  "Geo" shapes on the Silhouette Plus Forum. In my efforts to organize the member file shares, I lost or deleted them. One of our members posted a challenge on braided cards which reminded me of past shares and had me searching for the Geo shapes. After I couldn't locate them on the forum I searched in my files. Sure enough, right there in a folder with its own name, "Geo Shapes" were the files. I took the files and made card files of them so I could share them here with all of you and on the Silhouette Plus forum.

You can decorate/ embellish these cards in all sorts of fun ways. I cut all of these out them without placing any time to embellishing them. I just wanted to be able to show a sample of the various card styles so you all could see if you wanted to give them a try.

Three of the four Geo and Braided card file is in one file. I forgot to share the "Heart Geo" card file so I went back to the drawing board to make it. Both sets of files are in Studio V2 and V3 formats. I hope you all find lots of fun and creative things to do with these card files.

Oh, I almost forgot to explain how easy they are to make. Once you cut the card file, all you have to do is go counter clockwise tucking the larger of the cuts under the smaller cuts. On the braided card you do the same except you start at the top, fold down the triangular cut and tuck it into the smaller cut below it. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. Have a wonderful, crafty day.

One more little note; if you have never visited the Silhouette Plus forum, please sign up and stop in for a visit. You'll find loads of helpful information, inspirations, and free cutting files.

Here is the link to download the Geo.Braided, and Heart Geo card cutting files: Download Here







Sunday, October 5, 2014

Pop Out- Not Pop Up Card, Update, and Silhouette Mat Tip

Hi Everyone, I hope all have been doing well. Today, I want to blog about a couple of things and share a fun card and instructions.

First, I want to update everyone about my daughter. Sadly, we still have no conclusive news or updates. After my daughter's trip to the Mayfield Clinic in Ohio they decided she needed two more tests ran because of some of their findings from her MRI. She will return to the Mayfield Clinic this week. I'll let everyone know what we learn. Many thanks to all of you who have kept my dear daughter, Jennifer in your thoughts and prayers.

Now for the Silhouette mat tip. I've been so busy and end up squeezing in time for crafting and creating. While I was trying to make some Print and Cut cards my mat was becoming less and less sticky. I didn't want to stop to spray it with some repositionable spray so I grabbed my blue Painter's tape, tore off some small pieces and placed them on the four corners of my mat. I made sure not to cover any part of the registration marks. It worked like a charm and I proceeded to cut all of the rest of the Print and Cuts in this manner. The nice thing about using the tape is that it can be re-used. I just placed it on the edges of my craft table.


At last, the card. I saw an adorable birthday "Pop-Out" card on Creation by Patti Blog. She makes the most wonderful cards and crafts. I loved to visit her blog. After I saw her adorable birthday "Pop-Out" card I decided to make my own cutting file and make a couple of Halloween cards. Patti didn't have any instructions on her blog, but I remembered doing one like this some time ago. It can be tricky to get just right. If you make the angles of the folds correctly, your images will pop out to the left and right. For those new to this technique I would recommend making a sample card with scraps first. It is important to follow the instructions to a tee. Make sure to tuck a small piece of the upper corner under the "band" that holds the "center card in place. Make sure you don't glue the slits at the top portion of the card. It's where the images will pop out to the side.

I've created a template of the Halloween Pop- Out Card with the face of Frankie I used for my boxes. I'm sorry but, I couldn't share the card front image it's copyrighted. I'm sure all of you have some fun Halloween images to use for the front of your cards.

When you pull up on the center "message" or "Image" part of the card Up and Out! goes the arms or any image you choose.

The instructions are included inside the zipped file. It also contains Studio V3 and V2 cutting files. If you would like to give this card a try; you can download it here ---> Halloween Pop-Out Card

Here's some pics. Please make sure to hop over to Patti's blog to see her adorable Birthday Cake Pop -Out card.