Despite this face, he loves it and I love that I’ve increased the things that  he can do on our balcony.

St. Patrick’s day is pretty special to me because it’s the day after my birthday, so I’m glad that I was able to come up with something fun and easy to celebrate with.

Taped together some toilet paper rolls  that had been cut in half to make a shamrock shape

Let him have his way with it

It made a really lovely print but I felt like I wanted something more on the paper so..

I cut up some toilet paper rolls into small strips and had rand paint them green

And then glued them to the paper to make a shamrock

My finished project.  I wish I was better at scrapbooky stuff so that I could make something fancier, but I still love it and it’s going on Rand’s kid art wall regardless =]

Being a spoiled American, growing up in fairly affluent areas, I tend to think that I’m entitled to a lot of things.

I think that’s why it’s been so hard for me to deal with MS.  Before this, it was my right to do whatever I wanted, go wherever I wanted.  Because of MS, it’s no longer my right to drive to work every morning when I wake up — it’s now my privilege to work from home.   It’s not longer my right to drive to the store to buy a pair of shoes — it’s now my privilege to be driven there.  It’s no longer my right to feel normal — it’s now my privilege to have a day with minimal dizziness and fatigue.

Sure, I should be happy.  I should be grateful that the MS was found before I started to lose my vision… Thankful, that I’m not paralyzed… But a huge part of me is not.  That huge part feels like I should just be able to live life normally without having to choose between not being able to drive right now or paralysis in ten years.  It should have been my right to be able to play with my baby for longer than half an hour at a time without feeling fatigue.  I should have the right to go to work, the right to pick up dinner, the right to run errands, but these stupid brain lesions have stolen that right from me.

The question I have to ask is this:  can I deal with freedom from and let go of my need to have freedom to?  Right now, I have freedom from responsibility, freedom from driving, freedom from blindness, freedom from paralysis.  If I think of it that way it seems pretty great.  What I’ve lost is the freedom to choose, the freedom to drive, the freedom to do strenuous activity.

In conclusion, all in all, despite the list of benefits I listed before, I probably wouldn’t recommend developing multiple sclerosis to anyone.

1. I’ve lost 17 lbs. Nuff said.
2. Since my feet are really numb, I can wear any kind of shoe that I want, even 6 inch heels for an entire day at a convention without feeling even a tiny bit of pain afterwards.
3. I have a Dr’s note that says I can work from home whenever I feel dizzy – which is pretty much all the time in the summer since heat aggravates my symptoms.
4. I have medication that I have inject weekly — and while that sucks,for the month before I got the injection pen Brent had to inject me in the butt which made a great story.
5. After my spinal tap I was ordered by the Dr to drink coffee and tea for a week.  This might not be a big deal to you, but I’m a converted Mormon so drinking that expresso felt dangerous to my salvation, but oh-so-delicious.
6. Since heat aggravates my symptoms I can justify keeping the air condition blasting all the time in this huge house during a heatwave.
7. I’m participating in a study, so one day I’ll be a part of one of those medical journal articles that say “in a study of X people along the course of 10 years…”
8. Numb fingers mean that if I one day get diabetes I can check my blood sugar all day without worries.
9. I got to see the inside of my brain and have 2 CD-roms full of pictures of my insides.
10. I can blame any stupidity that falls out of my mouth and into the air on brain lesions and not my actual thoughts.

“It’s probably gas.”

Now, I’m not bragging or anything, but I’m pretty well acquainted with gas, and I knew that this was definitely not gas, it was a cellphone in my belly. This continued for a few weeks. I kept trying to feel my stomach when the sensations came to see if I could feel my insides actually vibrating like a GameBoy Motion Pack to no avail. There was even one scary moment where I thought the feeling had moved to my butt as well, but then I realized I had inadvertently sat on my nephew’s Playstation controller.

After a few months I became so used to the vibrating feeling that it no longer freaked me out. I think humans can get used to pretty much anything as long as long as it doesn’t interfere with the things they want to do every day. This has become the story of my life.

Then, one day, the day we were preparing for our fourth move in a week of being nomads, I noticed something strange. The left side of my torso was gone. If I looked down it was still there — but when I tried to ‘feel’ it with my mind I couldn’t place it. Similarly when I touched it with my hands I could feel my torso with my hands but I couldn’t feel my hands with my torso. That was when Brent told me to go to the doctor.

I went to my internal medicine doctor who told me it might be gas but referred me to a neurologist. The neurologist ordered some MRI’s but he didn’t seem to think there would be anything serious going on and told me that it might gas. So, like an idiot, I decided to not get the MRI’s done.

Fast-forward to a few months later, I suddenly started having another odd sensation. Every time I bent my head down (ok, I’ll admit it, i noticed it while texting and driving at the same time), there was a weird feeling that went down my back and my hands and feet went numb. Now I was definitely freaking out. I called Brent again, and he told me I had to go to the neurologist again since my symptoms had changed.

Three days before the day that I had my second neurology appointment, my feet went numb. As the day progressed the numbness spread upwards and by the time I went to the doctor I was numb up to my ribcage. When I reported these symptoms to my doctor he said that these were classic signs of MS and that he definitely wanted me to get some scans of my back done.

I got the scans done and sure enough there were lesions on my neck and in my torso. The one on my torso was leaning to the left, explaining why I had lost my left side for some time. After these results the doctor told me that he was 90% sure that I had MS but he wanted to get a spinal tap and some brain scans to be certain.

This entire time my symptoms had been getting worse. By the time that I got my spinal tap, I hadn’t been able to feel my fingers for a few weeks. I still can’t right now, which makes typing somewhat problematic sometimes since I can’t feel the indicator nubs on the keyboard. I’ve gotten used to it, though.

The spinal tap came back positive for MS markers. The brain scan showed many lesions — they looked like little flames lighting up my brain. I couldn’t believe how many there were… How long had my body been trying to kill my brain, I wondered.

The next step for me is medication to try to stop the progress. I start tomorrow. Let’s hope that it works because I’m tired of being tired and numb and sick all the time. All I can do is be positive and believe in the doctors and Brent when they say things will get better with time.

This week’s ornament: Pug

Sadly, I recently changed computers so I’ve lost almost all of the photos i had of the actual mascots once they were made, but hopefully you can imagine all the mascots from the few pictures that I do have

Supplies Needed (all the supplies can be used for multiple mascots):

• 4 Pieces craft felt in different colors (I used tan for the body, brown for the accents, white and black for the eyes and nose)
• 1 Tube crazy glue
• 1 Spool of coordinating thred
• 1 Package of stuffing

Step 1: Download & Print PDF Instruction Sheet

Step 2: Cut out the shapes of the paper pattern

Step 3: Use the paper shapes to cut out your shapes in felt.  I like to tape the shape onto the felt with scotch tape  so that it’s easier to cut.

Step 4: Follow the instructions on the guide:

1. Glue tail (3) to back for 1a.
2. Sandwich tail between 1a,b. BS & stuff 1a,b. Set aside.
3. Glue ears (6a,b) to back of 4a.
4. Sandwich ears between 4a,b. BS & stuff 4a,b.
5. Glue muzzle (5) and eye bags (9a,b) to front of 4a.
6. Glue 7a,b (eye whites) to front of 4a.
7. Glue 8a,b to front of 4a on top of eye whites.
8. Attach head to body

Download:

PDF Instruction Sheet

This week’s ornament: Elephant

Sadly, I recently changed computers so I’ve lost almost all of the photos i had of the actual mascots once they were made, but hopefully you can imagine all the mascots from the few pictures that I do have

Supplies Needed (all the supplies can be used for multiple mascots):

• 3 Pieces craft felt in different colors (I used grey for the body, pink for the inside of the ears, and black for the eyes)
• 1 Tube crazy glue
• 1 Spool of coordinating thred
• 1 Package of stuffing

Step 1: Download & Print PDF Instruction Sheet

Step 2: Cut out the shapes of the paper pattern

Step 3: Use the paper shapes to cut out your shapes in felt.  I like to tape the shape onto the felt with scotch tape  so that it’s easier to cut.

Step 4: Follow the instructions on the guide:

1. BS & stuff 1a and 1b together. Set aside.
2. Glue 2a to 3a and 2b to 3b and then temporarly affix to 4a.
3. Make a sandwich with 4a and 4b with ears in the middle.
4. BS & stuff around the head.
5. Glue eyes (5a,b) to face.
6. Attach body to head.

Download:

PDF Instruction Sheet

This week’s ornament: Squirrel

Sadly, I recently changed computers so I’ve lost almost all of the photos i had of the actual mascots once they were made, but hopefully you can imagine all the mascots from the few pictures that I do have

Supplies Needed (all the supplies can be used for multiple mascots):

• 4 Pieces craft felt in different colors (I used cream for the markings, tan for the body, brown for the acorn and nose and black for the eyes)
• 1 Tube crazy glue
• 1 Spool of coordinating thred
• 1 Package of stuffing

Step 1: Download & Print PDF Instruction Sheet

Step 2: Cut out the shapes of the paper pattern

Step 3: Use the paper shapes to cut out your shapes in felt.  I like to tape the shape onto the felt with scotch tape  so that it’s easier to cut.

Step 4: Follow the instructions on the guide:

1. Glue ears (7a,b) to back of 8a.
2. Sandwich ears with 8a,b. BS & stuff. Set aside.
3. BS & stuff 5a,b.
4. Attach 4a to front 5a,b (leg to front). Attach 4b to back (leg to back).
5. Attach 10 to front of body above legs.
6. Glue 9 to 11 and add 3 to top to create acorn. Affix to body where arm (10) is.
7. Attach (stich or glue) tail to back of 5a,b.
8. Sew body to head.
9. Glue on facial elements (1a,b; 2; 6a,b,c)

A sample of what a completed mascot looks like (Bear)

Click here to view bear instructions 

Download:

PDF Instruction Sheet

I think this clutch would be even cuter if it was made with a red bow and white felt — it’d be totally Hello Kitty chic!

Supplies needed:

• 1 piece of thick wool felt (i dont suggest craft felt)
• 1 piece of 1/8 in elastic 1-2 inches
• 1 button
• 1 piece of  coordinating fleece or felt (optional)

First, cut yourself a rectangle. My dimensions were 22"x14", but you can make it any size you'd like.

Next, fold your felt in half (I folded it along the 14" edge) and then fold it one more time along the same edge but not all the way to see how your clutch will essentially look like closed. I like to try the button on, just to make sure it looks the way I want.

If you're like me and can't cut straight, here's where you can trim the edges of the opening of your clutch so they match. Set this aside.

Cut two pieces of felt about 3/4" thick and 14" long (Or, however long you want your strap to be x2. I like my strap long, so I can loop it anywhere on my arm). Sew along the long edge of the strap on either side to make a thick, sturdy strap. You can skip this step and just use one piece of felt if you don't care about how sturdy your strap is.

Once your sides are matched and your strap is ready, pin them together to prepare for sewing. Take your strap, fold it in half and pin it with the loop part facing the inside and the ends facing the outside, like so.

Sew along the two edges of your felt starting from the fold. Make sure to backstitch at the top and the bottom for more strength. I also like to backstitch a few times where the strap is to make sure it doesn't break off.

Snip off a triangle at the end of the square where your fold is to make your corners pointier when you turn it inside out. Turn your bag inside out.

Determine where you want your elastic to go and pin it to the edge the side you want to be the upper part of your clutch flap.Stitch on your elastic, making sure that the loop fits snugly around your button.

Hand-stitch your button.

Decorate your clutch any way you want! I used the ruffles and stuff tutorial linked at the beginning of this post made from a piece of fleece to decorate mine.

This week’s ornament: Ciao Ciao

Adios & Ciao Ciao are characters from the brand line Tokidoki. You can read a little more about the two characters here. These are in no way my own characters and all rights/etc go to Simone Legno. Consider these fanart and a tribute to the original brand. This pattern is distributed for personal usage only and should not be sold.

Sadly, I recently changed computers so I’ve lost almost all of the photos i had of the actual mascots once they were made, but hopefully you can imagine all the mascots from the few pictures that I do have, sent to me by nice friends who had received them.

Supplies Needed (all the supplies can be used for multiple mascots):

• 4 Pieces craft felt in pink, fuchsia, black and white
• 1 Tube crazy glue
• 1 Spool of coordinating thred
• 1 Package of stuffing

Step 1: Download & Print PDF Instruction Sheet

Step 2: Cut out the shapes of the paper pattern

Step 3: Use the paper shapes to cut out your shapes in felt.  I like to tape the shape onto the felt with scotch tape  so that it’s easier to cut.

Step 4: Follow the instructions on the guide:

1. Glue arms (3a,b) and legs (2a,b) to back of 6a.
2. Sandwich arms & legs with 6b. BS & stuff 6a,b.
3. Add 4 extra-large stitches to bottom of 7 to create teeth. Glue 7 to front of 1a.
4. BS & stuff 1a,b.
5. Attach head to body. 6. Glue on eyes (4a,b) and nose (5).

Download:

PDF Instruction Sheet

Click to view full instructions

Get origami paper ready

Fold paper horizontally with back side facing outwards

Open paper and fold the paper horizontally the other way

Open paper and fold on the diagonal with print side facing outwards. Do this for both diagonals.

Now open your paper. Your pre-folding is all done and it should look like this!

Squish the edges of the diagonal corners together and the paper should just fall into place like this.

Fold the top corner down by about 1/2 an inch or so (I guess its arbitrary depending on the size of your paper). This will determine the proportion of the middle of your bow, so judge it that way.

Open your paper back up. Now you have this nice little square in the middle.

Crease the edges of the square all upwards and then squeeze the edges of the little square inwards at the horizontal folds until it collapses. See next picture for a visual explanation.

Your squeezed inner little square will look like this.

Flatten your square.

Fold the top edges of your square towards the middle like so.

Fold the top edges down for both sides. Then grab the bottom corner and pull upwards.

Here's what it should look like partially open.

Flatten out your paper and make your little square nice and crisp.

Cut along the edge of the upper squares towards the middle.

Here are where the cuts are going to be.

Tip: If you're like me and you're fully incapable of cutting a piece of paper while it's folded you can do what I do and just undo the whole thing, cut to the tips of the little square and then re-fold the paper. I think it's kind of a personal preference, though.

Fold the top flap down.

Here's what it will look like.

Fold the edges of the "bow" part like so. In this step it is very important that your edges line up properly and your folds are nice and neat. The line where the edges of the paper meet is actually visible in the final bow form.

Cut the bottom square up to the folded apex.

Fold the edges of the top of the bottom square down like so. This will determine how wide your bow is, so it's also arbitrary. I like to do it about 1/2 inch.

Fold the inside edges (where you cut) of the bottom square upwards. I like to make the upper edge parallel with the edge of the piece i just folded.

Tuck the corner of the pointy bow parts under the little square. The bow stays fine on its own, but if you're doing this as a gift or a card, I suggest putting a glue dot or a bit of glue under the little square just to keep it in place. Then, cut the bottom part to however you like your bow to look. Sometimes I only cut the little edge that's floating off to make a straight slanted line, but most of the time I cut where the orange lines are to form a "v" on the edge

Your finished bow will look like this

Now, you may be wondering… What am i supposed to do with the bow now?!… Well, here are some examples:

Have your bow join other bows and make a bow army.

Stick your bow to a card

Use your bow to jazz up a gift when you're too lazy to wrap it.

You can even decorate your bow by adding a button or bead to the middle

A ton more examples can be found here.  My personal favorite is this one:

This week’s ornament: Adios

Adios & Ciao Ciao are characters from the brand line Tokidoki. You can read a little more about the two characters here. These are in no way my own characters and all rights/etc go to Simone Legno. Consider these fanart and a tribute to the original brand. This pattern is distributed for personal usage only and should not be sold.

Sadly, I recently changed computers so I’ve lost almost all of the photos i had of the actual mascots once they were made, but hopefully you can imagine all the mascots from the few pictures that I do have, sent to me by nice friends who had received them.

Supplies Needed (all the supplies can be used for multiple mascots):

• 2 Pieces craft felt in black and white
• 1 Tube crazy glue
• 1 Spool of coordinating thred
• 1 Package of stuffing

Step 1: Download & Print PDF Instruction Sheet

Step 2: Cut out the shapes of the paper pattern

Step 3: Use the paper shapes to cut out your shapes in felt.  I like to tape the shape onto the felt with scotch tape  so that it’s easier to cut.

Step 4: Follow the instructions on the guide:

1. Add 4 extra-large stitches to bottom of 2 to create teeth. Glue 2 to front of 1a.
2. BS & stuff 1a,b. 2 – BS & stuff 6a,b.
3. Attach head to body. 4 – Glue on eyes (3a,b) and nose (4).
4. Sew cape to back (5)

Download:

PDF Instruction Sheet

Basic Backpack Tutorials & Patterns

1. Backpack in Yummy Oilcloth – by U-Handbag (free)

2. String Backpack – by Mama Urchin (free)

3. The City Backpack – by Heart of Mary (free)

Another cute backpack
Link

Designer Backpacks Tutorials & Patterns

These patterns are not the traditional backpack! So stylish

4. The Bustle Backpack – by Me Sew Crazy (free)

5. Shrunken Sweater Backpack – by bofthem @ instructables (free)

6. Petite Pack – by Sew to Speak (free)

Creative Backpacks Tutorials & Pattens

7. Domo-kun Backpack by Doctor What @ instructables (free)

8. Fish Backpack by Gerbera Designs (free)

9. Macpack by imanalchemist @ instructables (free)

Adorable Paid Patterns

10. Mommy and Me Backpack by Sew Spoiled @ Etsy ($12.95)

So cute for people with little girls who want to be just like mommy!

11. Zippered Backpack by Chris W Designs @ Etsy ($9.95)

This backpack is practical and pretty.

12. Toddler Backpack by Made by Rae ($6.00 personal, $10 license to sell)

Perfect for little backs!

This project was very easy and could probably be used for an iPad as well! If there’s any interest, I can probably put up a tutorial, just let me know.

Tablet cover closed, nice and snug

Inside view

Pocket included for screen wiper

This week’s ornament: Bear

One of the few photos I have of a completed mascot

Sadly, I recently changed computers so I’ve lost almost all of the photos i had of the actual mascots once they were made, but hopefully you can imagine all the mascots from the few pictures that I do have

Supplies Needed (all the supplies can be used for multiple mascots):

• 3 Pieces craft felt in different colors (I used brown for the body, black for the eyes and nose, and tan for the muzzle and belly)
• 1 Tube crazy glue
• 1 Spool of coordinating thred
• 1 Package of stuffing

Step 1: Download & Print PDF Instruction Sheet

Step 2: Cut out the shapes of the paper pattern

Step 3: Use the paper shapes to cut out your shapes in felt.  I like to tape the shape onto the felt with scotch tape  so that it’s easier to cut.

Step 4: Follow the instructions on the guide:

1. Glue ears (7a,b) to back of 1a. Sanwich ears with 1b. BS & stuff. Set aside.
2. Glue arms (2a,b) and legs (4a,b) to back of 5a.
3. Glue 6 to front of 5a. Optional: embroider small x on tummy for belly button.
4. Sandwich arms, legs with 5b. BS & stuff.
5. Attach head to body. 6 – Glue on eyes (9a,b), muzzle (8) and nose (3).

Downloads:

PDF Instruction Sheet

Supplies Needed (links to Amazon provided in case you want to buy online):

• 1  Knit newborn that has has a folded brim
• 1 Sheet of white craft felt or small piece of white fleece
• 1 Solid colored sleep n play (one piece sleeper)

Horizontal version

This is the vertical photo version.

This collage can be used with any set of 12 pictures — and I think it might even look cool with just one picture in the background.  Nevertheless, I’ll be showing you how to make the single version today.

Step 1: Click here to download the PSD

Step 2: First, I suggest you separate the 12 photos that you want to use into a separate folder.  It will make things even easier if you rename all of the files into the order that you would like them to show in the collage.  I personally don’t have any real preference for how to organize the photos — i just move them around until there’s a progression that makes sense.

Click for bigger view

Step 3: Open the PSD and click the eye to make visible the version you would like to make (horizontal or vertical) and hide the other version.

Click for bigger view

Step 4:  Disable visibility of the sample folder and create a new folder to hold your 12 photos.

Disable the sample folder

Add a new folder, name it whatever you want

Step 5: Open your photo and change it to 200(width) x 150(height)

Resize your photo

Step 6: Copy your resized photo into the PSD file into your folder and move it to the square you want it to be in.  Make sure you have snap to guides turned on, and centering will be a cinch (View->Snap to->Guides).

Paste your photo in

Move photo to correct spot

Step 7: Repeat steps 5 and 6 until you have all the squares filled.

Step 8: Select the text layer in the name folder, change the color to one that matches your collage and then modify the text to whatever you’d like.

Step 9: Save your file as a jpg (File->Save As and then select JPG in the file type area)

Click here to download the PSD

Square photo curly border usage:

Here's what you can create with this border.

Here’s what the border looks like:

DOWNLOADS:
Download the PNG by clicking here
Download the PSD (and modify this border however you would like) by clicking here

Here’s a sample of a page using the above image:

A scrapbook page

If you do use this please post your creations and let me know! I’d love to see what you come up with! Also, do you think I should make a tutorials on how to do simple digital scrapbooking?

I love looking at color stories on the web, so I thought I’d start compiling some of my own.  One of my favorites right now is the fresh feeling of red/pink/coral (any red tone really) with aqua/teal.  I love that it can look modern and retro at the same time.

Here is a color palate I came up with on colourlovers.com (my favorite place for color inspiration):

Pretty, right? Here it is at work in a couple of patterns:

A quick search on the internet brings up tons of photos of of these colors in action:

Courtesy of Paring Down (http://www.paringdown.com)

Courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings (www.marthastewartweddings.com)

Courtesy of Amber & Jeff Wedding (http://amberandjeff.com/wedding/)

Courtesy of A Dream Soiree (adreamsoiree.blogspot.com)

Courtesy of Wedding Times (http://www.weddingtimes.com)

Courtesy of Hooked on Needles (http://www.hookedonneedles.com)