Flowers for a Friend (long good post)

I know I am like many womem out there that appreciate a beautiful flower and was so excited when Melanie drew a Year of Flowers for Gina K Designs because of their beauty, variety & versatility.  Here are a few offerings from my craft studio (albeit messy) that I have made since I got her set.  The card is off in the mail to a special friend and even though I don't know what her favorite flower is, I decided to send her mine.  I love the double delight hybrid roses, which commonly come in pinks and reds but here is a picture of an orange one I used for inspiration for coloring my rose.   I used a combination of Prismacolor & Koh-I-Noor pencils blended with baby oil/stumps and then rubbed a gold metallic rub-on paste around it to make the oval frame stand out.  
This next card I made for DH's co-worker who is dealing with the sudden death of her dad, which brings up sad memories of the death of mine when I was just 9 yrs old.  One thing I don't like to say to someone whose loved one dies is, "I'm sorry" - an apology in my opinion is unnecessary although I understand the feeling you want to convey.  However, usually one is at a loss for words during this time and it's common for flowers to speak for you.  That's why this sentiment in Melanie's Say it With Flowers set is perfect for a 'sympathy' card which is also another sentiment I don't care to use.  

I remember after my dad died & I returned to school no one said anything to me; they didn't know what to say, finally I asked my bf how come she didn't say anything to me about what happened and she told me our teacher told everyone to NOT say anything about it because it would upset me.  Little did she know it was more upsetting to not talk about it.  Although I understand, sometimes the way to walk through the healing process you do need to talk about it. I wanted to talk about my dad because I was hurting and I wanted to remember all the fun times I had with him & how much I loved him to anyone who would listen!  9 yrs is NOT enough time to have a parent and I felt robbed.  I'm glad John's co-workers had her dad for much longer but I know it's still going to be difficult for her to deal with because it's just plain hard to have to & get on with life because there are going to be so many times she will want/need her dad to talk to, laugh with hold her and tell her everything's going to be o.k.  Edited to add: this card was made by stamping the images with white craft ink on vellum cardstock (which is thick) and on the outline the images with your stylus on top of the soft mat pack (or a mouse pad) being very careful not to push too hard or you can poke through the cardstock, which is what I did underneath the bow (you'd never know that unless I told you though).  

Now it's time to talk about what personal issue I was going through that I mentioned recently, because it's time to rejoice!  A month ago a routine mammogram showed a mass on my left breast.  I went to have an ultrasound & they discovered there were 3, a general surgeon could not feel them so he didn't subject me to the biopsy - he said it could be a recurrence of a phyllodes (benign) tumor which I had removed from the same breast 10 yrs ago OR Cancer - whoa that was weird to hear but of course my God is bigger than that so I refused to think or dwell on that.  I just knew I needed to tell people to pray and agree everything would be o.k. all the while dreading having to go through this process of the unknown and the possibility of it slowing me down {I have a big To Do list, after all} and the inconvenience of it all.  

My spiritual mom Pam is the beautiful blond woman behind me (who brought me the gorgeous mixed bouquet of flowers on the left on Wednesday after my procedure, in the vase that Carolina's white daisies came in on Oct 1 after my appt with the general surgeon).  Pam is a prayer warrior who John and I have been blessed with her friendship since meeting her at a church we both attended about 5 yrs ago - she is old enough to be our mom too and treats us like one!  Well she heard from God early on that everything was going to be o.k. and this was just a distraction.  Vanessa is on the right she looks so pretty with her hair pulled back, she brought me the gorgeous orange roses on the right on Thursday evening at stamp club.  Geez, this story is long - sorry.  She was so sweet to do my stamping (thanks again Vanessa) for me since I was still hurting from the procedure on Weds.  

The procedure was an ultrasound guided breast biopsy (well 3) which was about 20 mins long {but about 2 that John had to wait for me with pre-op and post-op stuff).  He ws so sweet to take the whole day off work and take me and I'm glad because my legs were weak after the procedure - won't go into the details, those of you who are afraid of needles will get queasy. Afterward (since I was a big girl & didn't cry) he took me to get my favorite donuts at Mrs. Johnson's bakery-yum then went to the store to get tylenol & an ice pack.  He took care of me the rest of the day & evening - even sorting my stamp club orders.  DMIL & he also got dinner that evening so I could rest.  Thank you, Honey...I appreciate you taking care of me, holding me & telling me everything was going to be o.k. when I got the call something was found.  

On Thursday afternoon I got a call from the radiologist & the results were negative for malignancy!  woo - hoo! Yesterday morning the Dr. called to tell me they are fibroadenomas, and I would not have to have additional surgery!  Praise God!!  I am relieved and now I have to get to work on 2 new releases - Taylored Expressions & Gina K Designs so I will be BUSY for a while but still posting, no worries.  

However my most important thing now is that I can visit my family in CA without stress - 12 more days until I go and can really enjoy my visit.  Gabby is so excited, we are going to bake cupcakes & play oh how fun!!  Thank you to everyone for their support during this time and even to the ladies who commented they were going to pray & have me in their thoughts even when they didn't know what I was going through.  That touches my heart and now you know - thank you everyone for your concern & friendship!  

P.S. One more thing and I promise I will go away for a little while - Gina K, Emily from Stamping Bella & Nichole with Papertrey are heading out to cruise tomorrow (lucky) along with hundreds of other lucky women to stamp all week.  However, for those of us stuck on dry land - Gina K is going to be having a Land-Cruise party in their forum complete with challenges (I'm going to issue one too) prizes, and specials announced that evening!  If you can join us, I'm sure you will have fun & NOT regret it!  It's this Wednesday October 22 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. CST.  All the details are on this thread 

But wait - one lucky person could win the WHOLE LOT of new GINA K stamps specifically desgined for the water-cruise.  Details are here - good luck!!