Your Help Please

As many of my followers are aware, my husband was diagnosed and passed duhe to ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. We were very blessed to have healthcare from the VA, wo supplied us with medications, supplies,  rehabbing our house, everything he needed up until the day he died. The most important part of his care was the knowledge that the newest, latest information, medications, tests and therapy were all available to us, due to the government's funding to expand access and activities towards ALS support and research.

With the new government cutbacks depleting "overly-unnecessary" funding, research and support in agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, families of people diagnosed with ALS, as well as other terrible fatal diseases, will be unable to support new therapies, drug treatments, and medical breakthroughs for these diseases. 

I happened on a FB post from the ALS Association asking readers to fill in a form that would be sent to each congress member asking to vote down any funding cuts. All you have to do is fill out your name, city and state and they will send it. Please think about it...

A hoax? I just received a letter from my Senator. Read it below:

February 19, 2025 Mr. Pat Martin Dear Pat:            Thank you for contacting me about Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).  I appreciate hearing from you.            Every year, ALS patients and their families travel from Illinois to my office in Washington, D.C.  These inspiring individuals demonstrate courage and hope.  In 2020, I co-founded the bipartisan Senate ALS Caucus to help raise awareness about the difficulties faced by ALS patients and their families and advance policies that improve their quality of life.               Last Congress, I cosponsored the ACT for ALS Act (P.L. 117-79), which would have created new pathways for faster and broader access to medical therapies for those most in need, particularly for people diagnosed with ALS.  This legislation would have facilitated access to new therapies, drug treatments, and medical breakthroughs for ALS patients.  It also would have bolstered an ongoing mechanism to share feedback and information between patients, physicians, federal agencies, and national organizations that facilitate care services to improve quality and access to care.  On December 23, 2021, President Biden signed the ACT for ALS Act into law.             On March 23, 2024, President Biden signed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-47) into law.  This legislation raised the budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to $48.6 billion, a $300 million increase from Fiscal Year (FY) 2023.  It also included $75 million to expand access and activities authorized by the ACT for ALS Act.   The NIH is the foremost biomedical research institution in the world and offers our best hope for treating and curing ALS.   This funding represents an important victory for medical research worldwide.             I am committed to advocating on behalf of ALS patients and their families.  I will keep your thoughts in mind as relevant legislation is considered by the Senate.            Thank you again for contacting me.  Please feel free to stay in touch.
	Sincerely,       Richard J. Durbin       United States Senator

Is It Too Early to Start Christmas Crafting...

 Happy February, crafters! After an overlong break from creating cards, I am again pulling out papers, images, Copics and more (oh, my!). Today I'm showcasing a holiday card, because, let's face it, it's never too early to start stacking up those Christmas cards.

My image is from Vintage Christmas Sticker Sheet from Conjuror of Dreams. It's one of several beautiful winter scenes. I printed two and after framing and adhering the first onto my card face, I fussy-cut two trees from the second copy and used dimensional tape to add to my scene. Since I am trying to declutter, all my papers are leftovers from previous projects and remaining sheets from raided stacks.

CHALLENGES I AM ENTERING:

If Mother Goose Had a Cat

 

In my spare time (you know, waiting in the doctor's office, trying to get back to sleep at 3am, sitting on the toilet, etc.,), I like to sketch. I'm not great, but I think I have good ideas. Today I'm showing you my not-great-but-funny-idea sketch. It's an addendum on an old nursery rhyme.

Please let me know if you think the idea behind this is funny. I usually create cards that are funny, punny or have a punchline. I mostly use stamped and digital images but thought I would poke out of my creative box little, so comments appreciated...

Celebrating Halloween Throughout the Year

Today I am showcasing the fact that two cards are just as easy to create as one. I used two halves of a piece of 8.5"x11" black cardstock. After folding each in half, I added a piece of designer Halloween-themed paper to the fronts. Using a leftover strip of another Halloween-themed paper, I adhered each piece to a strip of orange ribbon. So far, the only difference between the two was the orientation. I decided one card would be more for adults, while the other for kids. I used an Ike's Art image for the card above, tearing the image out  and distressing the edges before adhering it to my card face, along with the first part of a Halloween joke (the inside holds the punchline).

Next card is decorated with cute ghosts looking out from a cracked pumpkin (a Halloween decoration leftover from a previous year). I also used my metal alphabet circles to spell out my Halloween greeting. 

Making these two cards was easy since I made the bases the same, saving me time and materials My crafting girlfriend, Linda, was the one who turned me onto the idea that two cards are just as easy to make than one. Thanks, Linda!!

And thank you all for stopping by to see what I did today. My cards are being featured on the Halloween Crafts All Year 'round. The blog offers many different cards for each month's occasions, and the extra bonus of at least one Halloween card as well. Hope you get inspired this month!!

CHALLENGES I AM ENTERING:

Creative Fingers - CAS/anything Goes

On the 23rd Day of Christmas Crafting...

 

I think I've finally pulled myself of my card-making rut. I've made seven cards this month alone. There were two last month, and I made a wedding card in May. I haven't been making cards for quite a while now, but Pat got her groove back (mostly because she recovered all her hundreds of digital images that were backed up in the Cloud but couldn't access until recently).

This holiday card uses designer paper, two die cuts and a few snowflake stickers on dimensional dots.  I just reached my hand into my magic bag of die cuts for the holidays (eyes closed) and pulled him out. This time I matched the papers and embellishments to the snowman die cut...

Do you draw out or plan your cards ahead of time?  Do you base them on the images, the papers, the embellishments, or does it just come together as you're playing with your crafting supplies? I have to admit when I make a card I have no plan, no diagram, no sample to work off of. Often, an image will inspire a greeting or quote (usually funny or punny). Other times, I will search for the right image for a particular quote. Unless  I'm challenged to create something with specific parameters, it's like trying to catch a fish in your hands at the local creek. Whatever I catch shows me how to cook it.

Now that the craft fairs are a thing of the past (month), I'm tapering off new crafts so that I can pack away items to sell at next year's fairs. I'm also planning on decluttering my stash, in order reclaim my basement as a family area (mostly for entertainment). Once it's clean, organized and uncluttered, I plan on hosting a brunch for neighbors and friends. Maybe make the theme a "Board Meeting", as in everybody bring their favorite Charcuterie board to share. There are plenty of Pinterest posts to inspire a few friends to try something new...

On the 22nd Day of Christmas Crafting...

 

Still finishing up my outdoor decorations in the frozen tundra we call Chicagoland. Today I wrapped a couple cardboard boxes, wrapped them in colorful plastic tablecloth sand added bows to them both. Next I took some leftover plastic bowls( from my Halloween crafting) bought from my local Dollar store, glued them together and created ornaments out of them. The ornament holder is made rom sample-sized cups I snagged from a thrift store eons ago (I use them when I paint).The hooks are over-sized jump rings.

I decorated each with a White Posca marker and adhesive bling. They sit gracefully at Santa's feet in my lamp post garden in front of the house. And if the weather doesn't warm up, they will be the last decor I put outside before Christmas!! Yikes, it's cold...Note in the photo below, the grass, though frozen, is still green. The weather went from mild to freezing that fast. I am so glad I stuck those metal candy canes into my grass last week...

On the 21st Day of Christmas Crafting...

 Good morning, crafters! Today I added some new holiday decorations to my front deck. I have a ramp that extends from one end of the front of ,my house to the other, ,and this is where I put my string of Christmas lights and my new candy cane hearts.

 I made three of these large hearts using Dollar Tree candy canes and good old-fashioned hot glue. They are hanging from the posts between those that have thicker red & white candy canes attached. I added a small accent to each cane: a  sprig of pine, a red bow and a poinsettia.

At first I was going to join several "hearts" that I put together to create a huge wreath, but I was short on canes AND room to hang it!! I had enough problems hanging my crystal 8"snowflakes off the gutter as hubby had put leaf guards on all the gutters before he passed. Nothing worked to hang my lights so 

 I bought some industrial-strength Velcro and attached the strings of lights to the window frames on the deck. They won't be coming off come snow or high winds (hopefully I can bring them down before Spring).

I'm so glad I did most of my holiday outdoor decorating last week! The temps went from a balmy 50s to a frigid 20s!! Ho, ho, ho, Chicagoland!