Happy Anniversary!

This post was originally written some time ago but in dedication to my mom who recently passed over to live her new life with God.  It has been fifteen years that she spent loving the people in her life.  I loved my mom she was so talented and has done so much for us, my brother, sister and I.  I am the eldest and I also live nearby.   I have always called her the original Betty Crocker or Martha . . . . she has always been great with money and shopping, decorating, sewing and party planner, bargain hunter! If she was just able to type I could have put her to work, working on her own blog she would have a knack for this . .  I know . . . .

So this year it was my hope to be a more dedicated writer, of my creative life . . .  My love of life and all that is creative and inspiring.  To be more open and to focus on the creative themes that I have begun.  So this entry was written about a time . . . when (my husband and my) were celebrating our 28th anniversary.  It was a Sunday and I was at my mom's house when she began having symptoms of a stroke. I called 911 and got her to the hospital before any damage had occurred.   They said she should stay for further observation, so we checked her in . . . It was Super Bowl Sunday and we had a nice evening joking and all seemed good. I was so relieved.  So we left the hospital had our unremarkable dinner and just prayed all would be well.   The next morning I got up early to get to the hospital because the Dr made rounds early, plus more tests were to be run.  I was too late - I arrived and she was not in her room.  I asked at the nurses station and the two nurses exchanged looks . . . my first clue that something was not right.  One of them finally said she is down in the basement being scanned, so off I dashed rather panicked and as soon as I walked in the room, the mom that I had known all those years was gone.  The whole left side of her face was now drooped.   Later I was told her left arm and leg also had been affected.

I guess there is a reason we cannot see into the future because if I had known it was going to be fifteen years . . . .  because the naive daughter I was at the time was thinking, ok in a year she will be back to her old self, and I worked with her diligently.  Showering her, blow drying her hair, dressing her yes she was in a facility for the first two months but I was there everyday to start her day.  My brother came and we moved her to a different rehab facility, but still I kept coming each morning decorating her room with cards and  grooming her.  I know the staff thought I was annoying and I am sure I was but the truth was when I did step out they left her sitting on the pot for more than an hour.  So that was not acceptable to me . . . .   One day I arrived to shower her and she was already in the shower with a male nurse's aid showering her.  Yes I flipped out . . . .  my mom's comment shocked me, "Anne you are just taking all the fun away!"  Ha Ha . . . .  yea I guess in away I was . . . . she was 78 at the time and that probably was the most excitement she had had in a long time . . . so much for my helpful hands.

 Looking back I took everything so seriously only because I wanted more than anything for her to get better.  I hosted her birthday party there that year and tried so hard to make this time for her as enjoyable as possible.   We moved home after two months.  I learned to transfer her to a car and we were able to go to lunch and short jaunts.  We hired caregivers and most of those we have had were great in taking care of my mom.  It is hard though having someone in your family home and learning how your family does things . . . I could go on and on.   We had my mom go to all kinds of therapies and Stroke Camps, water therapy and lunches with the girls.  Holidays were all the family pitching in and making favorite dishes she used to make.  Memories . . . twelve years of memories I will treasure.  She did not regain the use of her left hand or leg.  But we look at the bright side and are so grateful that she can speak and has her funny sense of humor.  We just celebrated our 42nd Wedding Anniversary, Mike has been so supportive of all the times I was gone and the dinners he cooks himself.  We have a tradition that I make a card every year.  This year it has been raining all week so I had this idea . . . . from another Blog of course putting crayons through a cheap glue gun!
Yes it works, but they are very liquid-y, very . . . . I actually want to try it on something larger like a canvas but here is my card~ Happy Anniversary Mike and Mom, we celebrate your life too!  Here is to many more years being the best we can be!

Remember:

LIFE ISN'T ABOUT WAITING FOR THE STORM TO 

PASS......IT'S LEARNING HOW TO DANCE IN THE RAIN!

 [Unknown]

We're Going to Disneyland!!!

You know the old saying after a huge success . . .We're Going to Disneyland!!!

We actually are ready to go again!  These pictures were five years ago but so cute . . . I had just gotten my first silhouette sd and Making their outfits were my obsession.  Truth be told that these were harder that is looked in the pinterest pages . . . .

So my daughter and son in law live is Southern CA and their two children are the perfect age for our first outing to Disneyland.  It was inspired by the adorable shirts I bought from Haley Rice @ Matchin Me.  She has been my inspiration for making my own shirts for all of us to wear.

I started out with their theme: Happiest Place on EARTH!  I used my  Silhouette
to cut out the letters and the Mickey Ears . . . . I have had my Silhouette a year now and the learning curve is ongoing.  This machine does so much but learning to draw my own designs has taken patients and a few calls and emails to their help line.  I was having trouble with the overlapping circles cutting through each other so by clicking on the end points as they suggested I was able to adjust them to the outer larger circle. Making them all one design.

For the Mickey Ears I could not find the famous polk a dots black and white that I wanted so settled on this music note fabric I found I ironed WonderUnder fabric fusible lining to the back and then cut them out using the silhouette. I had previously pre washed all the fabric, the shirts I removed the pockets that were on them, and after the washing you could not tell there was a pocket.  One of the shirts must have been sewn with industrial strength thread and as careful as I was I created a hole so off-set Mickey's Head in a different design (can you tell which one??)  After ironing on the Heads . . . I then went to my sewing machine and zig zagged all around the Mickey design to make sure they were attached and would withstand the ruff tough play of children.

Creating the lettering for the shirt I arranged the "Happiest Place On "
around a circle. From the Silhouette tool bar I drew a circle larger than Mickeys Ear
then selecting the Font tool and setting the font to Apple Chancery I typed one letter at a time arranging them around the circle . . . then spelt out EARTH below using BLACKOAK . . .  I really wish I would have put an EXCLAMATION POINT!  Darn it! Learn by doing . . . .

Then once you have the lettering the way you want it - click on the circle and hit the delete key so the circle is gone but your letters are still rounded (see example) then with the selection tool, and draw a big square around  all the letters, remember all the letters around your circle are individual so the entire design must be grouped.  So after selecting all, it will be highlighted then the menu at the top that says OBJECT pull down and click on Group  once this is done click on it again and the whole design will be highlighted, then you will see a green dot handle on the top center by grabbing this you can rotate the design around and as you see below.  After you rotate the design grab a corner point and resize to fit the new direction.  Still keeping the design highlighted copy / paste to create two designs. Now you can cut two at a time saving you wasted Heat Transfer material.  Waste not want not!  Ok, there is one more step if you look closely at the photo below you can tell I reversed the image. This is done by going to you Object Menu at the top again and the first choice is Transform > and then >
 Flip Horizontally. This reverses the type so when you iron it on it will come out readable. Yikes this is vitally important . . . .

The heat transfer lettering I bought as a starter kit from silhouette and it was a great way to begin because they give you a plethora of colors to start with so you know how to order next time.  Basically Heat Transfer Material tutorial will give you an idea how this material works.

So here are the results of my shirts . . . Have fun trying this yourselves!

 So it was fun to see all the outfits people wear  . . . . there were a lot of princesses too!  Here are some captured moments:

                   Happy creating . . . .  it will make your next trip so much fun!


                                                               ~ Anne ~