Whimsical Creations: HI...I'm functioning!

Hi friends - I really have missed blogging and sharing cards; I've mainly been sharing anything I have created on Instagram; definitely my favorite way to share...but sometimes details are important to some.

But first, let's go backwards in time! I had some dental work done in August and have NEVER experienced pain as bad as that (and I've had 7 bodily surgeries, so I have some room for comparison)...and it never ever stopped. Nothing over the counter worked; switched to opioids, developed a reaction to those which actually intensified the pain - TRUTH! After 5 weeks, I reached out to the #1 pain specialist where we live and they were able to provide some immediate medication for relief. For the next several weeks, we continued to tweak medication to try to bring me additional relief; I would go to my son's football games and not remember ANYTHING. He's a senior, NOT how I wanted to live this season of my life. I would go to work with zero makeup on, didn't care; just tried to survive, couldn't do anything at home, felt like a nightmare! Oh...I failed to mention, I had a total of 3 oral surgeries in about a month timeframe - yep, tis true.

Anyway, I won't take you through the entire nightmare but at the 11 or 13 week mark (I can't remember and don't want to scroll through all the notes in my phone about this situation...), I was granted an appointment with an orofacial pain dentist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. I was ultimately diagnosed with Central Mediate Pain...basically mixed wiring of my central nervous system; sending pain messages that are inaccurate. The doctor was pleased with the medication being used to treat this and recommended we find a dosage that allowed me to live my life at the same level I was before this occurred; which to me meant attending my kid's activities and remembering them (duh, slight detail), functioning at home, exercising, crafting, etc. After 6 months and thousands of doctor's bills (oh, I forgot to mention I saw 7 different specialists where we live before going to Mayo - none had a clue), we have finally found a level of pain medication that allows me to pretty much enjoy life. Lack of sleep and increased stress exacerbates the pain, but I'm doing all I can to manage those two items.

We are wrapping up 2018 with a 6-day hospital stay for our youngest daughter which began Thanksgiving Day; then last week my hubby and our son both had surgery. WHEE; I don't mean to wish away time, but I'm ready to say 'see ya later 2018, don't let the door hit you in the you know what' and here's hoping 2019 is a GREAT year!!

So let's move on to why you actually stopped by!! I created an entire card - HA! I have lots of semi-finished projects going but was delighted to have a real reason to finish a card. This is one of Suzy's Snowmen Prints colored with Copics and colored pencils. I cut the panel with this SSS die; layered the focal point on fun foam, used a piece of Reverse Confetti designer paper (Winter Solstice) - which was the inspiration for the colors - and then I added these insanely adorable bulbs from Honey Bee FA LA LA die set. I cut the bulb from vellum so it wouldn't hide any of the image or words and the base from MFT silver shine card stock. The base card is Aqua Mist from PTI.

And sorry; but for now I'm not able to take pictures where I normally do, so the quality isn't quite as good!!