I've been away from my blog for toooooo long!

I'm recovering nicely from my second jaw surgery. We're still having a few issues with my bite - my surgeon was a little worried there for awhile but now things seem to be coming together nicely. I'm back to work on Tuesday - I can't believe that the month has gone by so very quickly. However, I've had a good month. I've been getting lots of sleep and I'm gradually getting my energy back so it's all good.

All in all this surgery went much better than last one. Initially a lot of swelling but that dissipated very quickly. There is still some swelling but far less noticable than last time. Very little bruising as well. What is there is pale yellow - much better than the awful black bruising to my collarbone that I experienced last time. The toughest part has been wearing 2 sets of elastics to train the jaw to go into the new position; that was far more painful than the actual surgery. Who knew? The pain has now dissipated for the most part and any pain is minor.

The weather here on the Coast is fabulous. We had a lot of rain initially but it's been bright, sunny and warm for the last several days. It's been really nice to have been able to keep summer with us for a few more weeks.

On the art front, I'm busy getting busy for the annual Open House at the store. I'm a little behind on my samples but once I get them approved, it will be full steam ahead. I always enjoy this part as I love making Christmas cards. It helps me get into the spirit of Christmas, albeit a little early. However once I deliver the stock for the Open House it's only about 6 weeks after that until we get into the Christmas social season and all the parties and jovality. Where did the time go?

I've updated my Etsy shoppe and will be adding more goodies as I'm able to complete them. Please drop by and visit my shoppe: http://www.etsy.com/shop/stampedimpressions

Must run for now...busy, busy, busy!

Caio!

This last offering is $10. It's only been inked once or twice. Sold "AS IS", purchaser pays shipping which is extra. I'll be happy to unmount to save on shipping.

Everything on this page is sold "AS IS", Purchaser pays all shipping which is EXTRA.

I'll be happy to unmount to save on shipping cost.Stamps are $ 5 each.
Such a deal!!

Last week I mentioned that I planned to find new homes for some of my stamps. Well here they are!

Everything on this page is sold "AS IS", Purchaser pays all shipping which is EXTRA. I'll be happy to unmount to save on shipping cost.
Stamps are $ 5 each.

Such a deal!!

Last week I mentioned that I planned to find new homes for some of my stamps. Well here they are! Everything on this page is sold "AS IS", Purchaser pays all shipping which is EXTRA. I'll be happy to unmount to save on shipping cost.

Stamps are $ 5 each. Such a deal!!

This is a journal spread for a partner journal exchange I'm in with another gal in Ontario.

I'm home from the hospital and recovering from the second jaw surgery. I'm trying to get more organized and have finally got some art to post. Hope you like it.

I've been quite busy of late which explains my lack of recent posts to the blog. I've been trying to get all my tasks done, both at home and at work as I'm having a second jaw surgery. The first one didn't heal properly so yesterday I had a second surgery to re-break and re-set it. Now isn't that special ?

Surgery went well, not much pain so far and of course the swelling and bruising will be spectacular again this time. The surgeon created a new brace for me which I must now where 24/ 7. Liquid diet for 10 days, then soft foods for 7 days, then moderately soft for 21 day. Should be fun! However, on the bright side I guess I can look at it as a weight loss plan of sorts.

I'm involved in a partner journal swap with another gal in Ontario. This is my first attempt at this and I'm having some issues with my page. Hers is wonderful and now she's waiting for mine. I'm late, I'm late - does running late count as exercise? Anyway, I plan to get it out to her via XpressPost in a day or so and that will make up some time as it was supposed to go out on Sept 1st - clearly that did not happen!

Well must run and get my beauty sleep. Lord knows, I'm going to need it.

Oh, by the way. I'm "rehoming" some of my rubber stamps so check back here during the nexgt week. I guarantee there will be some major "bargoons"!

A few pictures of my garden!

My first attempt at drawing.....lots of room for improvement!

I've been busy all day making up some cards for the store. Here are a couple of new designs.

My daughter bought me an early birthday present - tickets to see Trace Atkins and Toby Keith. The concert was last night and it was fabulous! We had dinner at Applebee's first and then headed down to Roger's Place for the festivities. The crowd was a good mix, all ages and pretty well behaved. We didn't see any nonsense, although I'm sure there must have been some. Music was great and Trace Atkins is H-O-T! How hot is he? SMOKIN' H-O-T !!!

Kerry included underground parking when she purchased the tickts so we were able to park right under the stadium. It was quick, convenient and safe and we were out of there in good time, no lineups when leaving which is a huge bonus. She was the DD as I had a couple of beers - under those circumstances I will not get behind the wheel. Beverages were a little pricey - 3 beers, a bottle of water and a pop ended up costing me $33. I wasn't all the surprised as Kerry had warned me. I don't go to concerts very often and I never consume alcohol there as I'm usually the driver so it was kind of a treat to be able to have a few during the concert. It's certainly not something I do frequently so it was all good. Great time and a hightlight of my summer!

The weather here on the coast has been fabulous. We're into our third straight week of fabulous weather - finally! My garden is doing well, except for my green onions which are pretty much non-existent. I think I over-watered my red lettuce - it seems to have gone into decline although it is finally starting to perk up again. I have 2 tomatoes on my plants, small and green, but tomatoes none the less. I gave them some fertilizer, and also fertilized by flowers so they're doing pretty well all things considered. I'm looking forward to the time when I can finally eat some homegrown lettuce.

Well must run. I'm still in catchup mode. I need to finish up a few things so I can deliver them to the store today. Caio!

The past two weeks have just flown by. So much going on at work and so much to do. Last week I was busy - this week I'm crazy busy! My boss is on vacation so I'm acting for her this week. I had a ton of things I want to get done and luckily for me, I've managed to get a quite a bit accomplished. However, where progress is made in one area, things fall behind in the other.

The re-organization is still on-going. Things have kind of ground to a halt until we could meet with the Union rep again. We finally did this today and he answered our questions - very straightforward and knowledgeable. Anyway I had been waffling on what I will do but I think I have now made a decision. Hopefully everyone will be on board to make a decision now.

Looking forward to this weekend. K and I are going to see Toby Keith and Trace Atkins on Sunday night. Wooooohooo! Trace Atkins is H-O-T! how hot is he? SMOKIN' HOT!!! K bought me the tickets for my birthday and then the gal I was supposed to go with had to cancel. So K and I are going to do the "country thing". K says she doesn't like country music but I think she might be surprised and actually enjoy herself. Plan is to do dinner before and then go see my boys.

I have some new art to post - will do that this weekend. Until then, gotta' run so I can get my beauty sleep. Tomorrow is my short day so it will go quickly. Caio!

Summer has arrived on the coast with a vengence. It's been between 30 and 35 degrees celscius most days this week. It 's made it a little difficult to sleep. Don't get me wrong - I love warm weather which is why I go to Palm Springs every year. I thrive in the heat and it just sucks all the stress and nastiness (well most of the nastiness) right out of me. So I'm not complaining just commenting that it would be nice if it hadn't been so darn cold and then suddenly turn so darn hot. No happy medium there.

I've been out working in the yard all day and just came in for a quick bite and a little reprieve from the heat. I put some top soil down in my front yard and then some grass seed. Hopefully the grass seed will germinate quickly and I'll have some nice grass soon. The "stuff "I have there right now - I hesitate to call it grass - is pretty darn sad looking !! I've treated my roses and watered my garden and now hope to put in some border material that I bought last year but never got around to putting in. I'm hoping it will perk up the yard a bit. A couple of weeks ago I purchased a little bench with two kids sitting on it and I put it on the slate in behind the water feature and it really looks good. They look like they're pointing at the hummingbird feeder! Very cute. Should probably take some pictures and post them.

Well must run. Need to finish the yard work and then clean up. By then it will be 4 o'clock and time for an adult bevvie. Steaks for the barbie and I will be putting my feet up and relaxing.

If I'm not too tired, I may also get some work done in my studio. It's a huge mess because I'm having problems putting up the shelving. But that's a story for another time. Will post some pix of the studio when it's finally liveable.

Caio!

Here are a couple of new wedding cards. They came together quickly and I like the variation in colour. I made several and none of them are exactly the same.

Most of my wedding stuff is very beige or white. While it sells really well, I felt I needed a change and these designs were well received. As well, this design can be used for many occasions - birthday, anniversary, get well soon - well you get the idea!

Well the move to the new art room is about 75 % complete. We moved the cabinets up last weekend and got them placed where I wanted them. Today I plan to take the shelving down from the walls downstairs and install it on one wall upstairs. That's fairly easy just requires that we move some stuff first. I don't think I'll need to move all the shelving upstairs at this point, at least I'm hoping I won't. Being down in the basement I wanted everything up off the floor in case we had another flood. I was totally panicked that my paper and stuff would get wet. Now that I'm on the third floor, that isn't a concern any more so I can stack stuff on the floor under my work tables.

The room is lovely - it's bright and clean and it doesn't feel claustrophobic at all. It does get a little warm up there so I'll need to set up a fan, however it's lovely being able to open a window and enjoy the sunshine and the birdsong.

Unfortunately I haven't done a lot of creating the last couple of weeks. I did manage to design some new wedding cards that my guy at the store really liked so that's next on the list. He also wants me to make up some birthday cards for him. Right after DH died, I was feeling a little overwhelmed so I cut back on the variety I was making. I had decided to just do wedding, valentine and christmas. Well that never really happened and I still made Fathers day and Mothers day cards. Anyway we're finding that the trend seems to have moved away from Valentines, at least last year the sales were poor, so he's asked me to give him some birthday cards. They tend to sell well and are fairly generic so they don't take as long to come up with a design. Heaven knows that the designing part is what takes up so much time!

Well must run. I hope to get a few things accomplished today. I don't want to sit around too long or the urge to work will pass. Caio!

And here are a couple of more designs.