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Paint Chip Crafting: Tags & an IVF update on Egg Retrieval and Transfer

Welp, despite my lack of crafting over the summer, my addiction to supplies is still going strong... Unfortunately, buying stuff can still occur from the comfort of my couch. One of the things was buying 2 lbs of random unmounted rubber from Viva Las Vegastamps when they had a 40% off sale. That's a lot of stamps, btw, and I like VLVstamps because they're kind of weird and random. So I made these last week from some of the images I got. I had to work on these over several days, whereas under usual circumstances (more info on that mess at the end of the post), I could've popped these out over an hour or so.
 I decided to start with tags because they're easy... Nothing 3d for me... YET. We'll work back up to that. I was planning on making the tags out of kraft cardstock, but then spotted a big stack of Benjamin Moore paint chips that a friend sent to me a while back that have been mouldering in my stash fuh-ev-ah. Everyone needs paint chip crafts, right? I mean, all those free colorful papers? So hopefully, these will provide a wee bit of inspiration.
 They'll be good for putting on gifts... or I can pop one onto the front of a blank card. Instant card. It's nice to have extra crap like this lying around, so you'll have a handmade card when you need one.
 I think tags will be a good thing for me to keep crafting while I'm in my funk. I've already got a nice little box of them handy... I can always use more and they don't take up space.
 OH, BTW. All of the main images are random ones from VLVStamps, BUT all the background stamping is my "Owl Tree" from my line for Stampotique. It's a good one for fall.
The one with the piggy is probably my favorite. It says whee.

Anyway, here comes the part of my post where I share about my personal life. Whoopee! 

Last Wednesday, we had the egg retrieval for IVF and it was loco. We had to drive 3.5 hours up to Birmingham earrrrrrrly in the morning to get there at 7:30 AM. Having lived in the southern part of Alabama for over 4 years, we, of course, didn't consider "city traffic" (if you can call it that....Birmingham, lol) Anyway, we were a half hour late. 

Oh well. It was fine. they put me like...half-way under for the procedure. Prep for it takes a long time, but the actual egg retrieval takes about 5 minutes, so they don't do a complete anesthesia because it would be more trouble to put in breathing tubes, etc. So, I remember a LITTLE bit of it. The nurse told Bobby I was laughing and laughing and laughing at first. I don't remember that part, but I do remember that it HURT. Yep, I sure did feel it, even though I was loopy as flip. It was over in no time, though. then we got to go home. I had 19 follicles total, but only 7 of them had eggs in them, and out of 7, 6 eggs were mature, all 6 fertilized and in excellent quality. 

So we made the drive home, and I felt okay, so we went to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions, and Bobby bought me a delicious burrito which I ate at the restaurant. That night was a different story, however. IT. HURT. SO. BAD. I thought my ovaries were going to explode. I guess all the follicles (19!) fill back up with fluid after the retrieval procedure, so it sucks. Think tennis ball-sized ovaries. Oh snap. That night was really painful, the next day, Thursday, was a little better, then next day a little better, etc. But Sunday was bad again on my right ovary.

Monday morning (yesterday), we drove baaaaack up to Birmingham for the EMBRYO TRANSFER! A five-day transfer...  I asked the nurse about my right ovary and told her it was hurting like crazy. She looked at it with the ultrasound and said it's still about 6 cm, about the size of one of those yummy little mandarin oranges and that it would take a few weeks to go back down to normal size. I can expect ovary pain for a while. Anyhoo, they put in two tiny, healthy circle babies into my uterus (I say that because they showed us a picture, and they're pretty much cute little spheres right now). The process was really fast, then I had to lay there for 15 minutes to let em sink in, or something to that effect. Then I ate another burrito. 

Today, 1 day past transfer, I feel like I've been hit by a sleepy-truck. I think my body is just catching up after all the crazy stuff it's been through over the last couple months. I. am. so. tired. Good thing I don't have much to do. Gotta fill some orders. Gotta do some chores. But mostly, I can rest and recover. The waiting BEGINS! I won't find out if the little embryos stuck and if I'm really pregnant until Sept. 25th, which isn't too far away... But you know, I can't help but worry. 

Anyway, I'm going to go collapse now. Until next time :)

Slumpity Slump... And some old felted birds

Both my blog and Facebook page have been sorely neglected this summer... I feel kinda bad, but then again, not tooooo bad. There are just too many things going on. I've been in the slump of all slumps and I feel like I've been making nothing! Feels like a big hole in my life! I think after the fail IVF cycle, I've been a little depressed and have been spending a LOT of time out in the chicken run, fawning over my feathery friends. They cheer me up, even if they're stinky.

Anyway, we're trying again... and I've been feeling pretty horribly sick from medications... so again, barely any making stuff. But I realized that I have a couple of unshared projects from months ago, so I could do a post with pictures at least! Even if they're not new projects. 
 I made these needle felted birdies for Leslie's Happy Heart in that same swap where I sent the kitties banner. So that will give you an idea as to how old this project is :)
They're hanging ornaments with real feathers and no feet. Some day I'll make 20 of them at once and hang them all over my kitchen or something.

Anyway, send prayers and happy thoughts my way if you feel so inclined... and creative vibes! Love you guys. Until next post...

New Stampotique Release Blog Hop

Hey Everybody! There's a new batch of Stampotique Stamps coming out and we're celebrating with a blog hop!

I used some of the new images to make a pile of little tags. I've got 7 new images of my own in this release :) Six of them are below, including 4 new monsters :) The backgrounds of all of these tags are made using the new image "Stacked Love"

So here are Rootie Toot, Artichoke Monster, Owlseeyou, Feathery Monster, Henny Penny, and Kitty Monster. All new stamps available from Stampotique.com :) Please hop along!


HOP TEXT! Some of you may have already heard, but Stampotique Originals has got some fabulous new designs being released today.  Wait until you see these!!!  

We know we say that every time, but each release seems to come with such great new stamps it's hard not to find a favorite with each new release.  We've been bursting at the seams to share these with you.

This month, we also are introducing a brand new artist.  Her name is Linda Peterson and we think a lot of you are going to love her line of stamps, they are darling.

So hop along with the design team and some special guests to see the new stamps the team has been working with.  The more blogs you comment on, the better your chances of winning some goodies are.

Let us know what your favorite ones were and we'll pick a few random winners from the blog comments (this includes the design team blogs) to win a grab bag of the new stamps.  You will have until 9/10/13 to comment and our winners will be announced with the new challenge on 9/11/13.

You will want to hop on over to Kim Howard's blog from here, if you are just coming across my blog you may want to begin at the Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog:

Kira Nichols (you are here!)

Hope you enjoy hopping along with the designers and we can't wait to see what you create using your new stamps.