Sunday, November 6, 2016

Why Me?

`When I first learned of my diagnosis a few weeks ago, there were certain promises I made to myself.  One of those was that I would fight with all my might and I would NEVER give into the "victim" mentality.  I took some words out of my vocabulary, like "I can't", "I give up", "why me".

I made it through my first Chemo treatment on Thursday with flying colors.  I kept a positive attitude, faced my fears head on, and never looked back.  The first two days after treatment were better than I expected.  Some queasiness, some tiredness, but nothing too bad.  I was grateful and optimistic.

Then the third day came.  I woke up with pain in my jaw.  It's o.k. I thought, I just won't chew on that side of my mouth.  And I successfully managed, but by last night, the pains came.  Shooting, hot, pulsating pains from my knees down into my feet.  They were horrible.  I couldn't get comfortable and I couldn't get them under control.  In a moment of weakness I began to cry, and I found myself asking "why me".  

I quickly gave myself a virtual slap across the face, pulled myself together, and took a deep breath.  Why me? I'll tell you why me!

Maybe it's me because God knows I'm a fighter, not a quitter?  Maybe it's me because I need to instill that “never give up” quality into my family?  Maybe there's no better way for my kids to learn to never give up than by watching their mother battle a horrible disease with all her might?

Maybe it's me so I can become an inspiration to others around me? If one person can use me as encouragement to battle whatever demons they are facing with determination, then this is worth it. 

Maybe it's me so I can learn to put things into perspective?  Maybe it's ok that my life, kids, finances, job, house, marriage, etc aren't perfect.  We are not put here for perfection, only God can achieve that. We are put on this earth to inspire, love, and teach each other.  My kids' rooms are a hot mess right now.  Guess what?  I don't care.  Their messy rooms are not a reflection of the wonderful, loving, intelligent people they are. As parents, aren't we supposed to raise good people?  Who cares if they are messy!  Although, I would appreciate dishes going into the dishwasher rather than the sink! :)

Maybe it's me so I could see something that few actually get to realize?  Many times we blunder through life, wrapped up in the small things.  I often found myself wondering  what my purpose in life was.  Did I really make a difference in this world?  I have been blessed a thousand fold to find out that yes, I have made a difference in the lives of others.  During the last few weeks I have been humbled by the show of love and support that has come my way.  I’ve been honored that so many people think so much of me to go out of their way to pray for me, leave me supportive messages, give me hugs, etc.  What an awesome feeling to know that maybe you have been doing this thing called life right all along!  What a true gift I’ve been given!


So, that my friends, is why it’s me!!  

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

An Update and A Plan

Yesterday I met with three of my doctors to talk about my treatment plan.  It was unnerving to say the least.  Lots of positive, some negatives, and a plan to attack this demon head on.

First I met with my breast surgeon.  My cancer is hormone positive which is a good thing.  In basic terms, it means that the cancer cells are feeding off estrogen.  After all is said and done, I will be on hormone therapy for five years. We talked about staging and she told me preliminarily mine was stage 2, but without surgery and further testing they could not give the exact staging.  Since I'm young, the cancer is considered more "aggressive".  Not the worst case scenario, but not the best either. I'm intermediate.  Ok, not good, but not bad.  I'll live with that.   

The original thought was I would have surgery first, then radiation, then Chemo.  However, once the surgeon examined my breast she was bit more concerned.  My breast was inflamed and red.  She said that made her believe the cancer was more "angry".  It didn't change the treatability and survival rates, it just changes the course of treatment.  Between that and position of the tumor, she felt it would be "cleaner" if we went ahead and started with Chemo first, then surgery.  

I met next with the medical oncologist.  We talked about chemotherapy and she agreed with the surgeon that chemo would be appropriate first.   4 treatments,  3 weeks apart.  Port placement will happen next week and my first infusion will be shortly afterwards. She said I will lose my hair and we talked about other side effects - nausea, fatigue, risk of infection.  She said I could continue to work as long as I felt ok.  I told her that I felt I needed some level of "normalcy" for my own mental well being. She said that most people feel worst the day or two after infusion.  So we talked about doing infusions on Friday so I would have the weekend to adjust and hopefully feel better by the beginning of the week. She told me 8 out of 10 women continue to work during chemo, it all depends on my body's reaction to the drugs. 

Finally I met the radiologist.  He said I won't see him again until months down the line, but he reiterated what the others had said.  It's curable and I will be ok.

When I got home I told my kids the treatment plan.  We talked about how we will need to become germophobes and that they will have to pitch in more.  The holidays are going to suck around here, but as a family we will get through it.

So last night I sat down and cried.  I'm scared.  I'm determined to beat it, but I'm still scared.   Deep breath.  I got this!

Early and treatable…early and treatable.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

A New Journey

"The news is not good."  

Those words put the cap on what was a whirlwind few weeks.  It began with finding the lump, which led to denying the lump existed, and then finally accepting the lump and visiting my primary care doctor.  "I don't like it." she said to me.  In a few hours I was sitting at the Women's Breast Health Center, undergoing Mammography and Ultrasound and ultimately being ushered into a darkened room with the images of my breasts on the wall.  There, in the image of my left breast was a noticeable white spot. In my mind it looked as if it was lit up like a neon sign. I tried to focus on the words the Radiologist was saying.  I heard words like "small", "early", and "hopefully it hasn't spread".  I was ushered from that room to the nurse's office where I was asked about my medical history and my family's medical history and an appointment was made for a biopsy two days later.  I received a copy of the Radiologist’s report and I saw the words "highly suspicious of malignancy".  The words scared me, but oddly didn’t surprise me. 

The biopsy procedure went better than I expected.  Thankfully the nurses and doctor were professional and compassionate. More importantly they indulged the best coping mechanism I have – my humor.  “You’re not even going to buy me a drink first?” I asked the doctor before he began the procedure.  The nurses chuckled when I asked who was going to keep my husband “abreast” of the situation.  I appreciated them keeping it lighthearted with me – but they really had no choice, it was the only way to keep my blood pressure down so they could do the procedure!

The biopsy was  last Friday.  I spent a long weekend crying, denying, crying some more.  I just wanted to know what I was up against and move forward.  I tried to distract myself as best I could, mostly I was unsuccessful.  Thankfully, I was not sore from the biopsy. 

Tuesday at 2:30 they called me.  Results were in - did I want to come at 4:00?  Of course I did.  I grabbed one of my dearest friends for support.  The drive to the Breast Center was one of the longest drives of my life.  My heart was racing, my stomach was churning.  I just wanted to get this part over with.

I was escorted into the same darkened room.  The doctor introduced herself to me.  “We have your results, and the news is not good”.  I remember crying - not so much because the news wasn’t good, I already knew deep down that they weren’t going to be.  I think I cried because in that sentence I knew my life was changing.  I tried to listen and take in everything she was telling me.  I focused on the words “early” and “treatable”.  She repeated those words several times.  I could feel myself calming as I let the words soak in.  “Early” and “treatable”.  I took a deep breath and asked what’s next.  The doctor gave me a hug, wished me luck and I was whisked off to another office where I met who is about to become my new best friend, the Nurse Navigator for the cancer center where I would be treated.  She gave me a quick education on breast cancer.  I had the most common form - Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.   We talked about receptors and cancer feeders and a myriad of other topics.  It was very educational, but surreal that we were talking about me and my breast.  She reiterated the words I heard from the doctor “early” and “treatable”.  She helped assuage the guilt I felt from missing my mammogram last year and told me there was no guarantee it would have even been visible a year ago.  We talked about stages, grades, treatments options, etc. She gave me lots of reading material, but most importantly, she gave me hope.  Early and treatable has become my mantra.  I left the breast center after 90 minutes and I was amazed at what I was feeling – relief.  I knew what I was up against and I had a good idea of what it was going to take to beat it.

The next step of my journey begins on Tuesday when I meet with “my” team. I know surgery is my first step.  I’m going to take it day by day and meet each obstacle head on.  On October 11, 2016, I may have become a statistic, but I refuse to be a victim, I refuse to feel sorry for myself. 

Bring it on cancer.  I got this shit. You  messed with the wrong person!  Cancer may be a bitch, but I’m a bigger bitch, and I’m a fighter, with a strong will and an Italian stubborn attitude! Cancer ain't got a chance against me. 

"Early" and "treatable".  "Early" and 'treatable".

I look forward to next year when I can call myself a “survivor”.  I will get there, there is no doubt!    



Thursday, July 21, 2016

Summer Fun!

Getting on some summer fun and joining in on the Summer Fun challenge over at Tiddly Inks.  If you've followed my ramblings you know I LOVE me some Tiddly Inks.

For this challenge, I stamped this cute Fairy Sunny Day Stamp onto some white cardstock.  And then I got masking!  I used Inkadinkado masking paper and created a mask for the stamp, a circle mask so I could mask off the "sun" area while I did the blue "sky" and then a piece of 51/2 x 4 1/4 inch with the cirlcle cut out of the middle to protect the "sky" area while did did the sun.  I used Tim Holtz distress inks for all my blending, and I colored this little cutie with my Spectrum Noir color pencils.   The sequins add the appropriate bling for this summery card!




Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Could it be?

Could it be that it's been almost two months since I last posted?  Shame on me!  

I have had a serious problem with mojo, or the lack of it! So, in an attempt to get the creativity flowing again, I'm participating in Kathy Racoosin's Thirty Day Color Challenge.   Kathy's challenge, coupled with this cute little image from Tiddly Inks certainly helped.

I colored the image with my Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers since that's the medium I find most challenging, especially when it comes to coloring hair.  Thankfully, no hair on this image!




As you can see, once I finished coloring it with my markers, I added some details with my Signo Uni-Ball White Gel Pen. A few Glossy Accent "dew drops" on the flowers added a nice touch.  The greeting is from Newton's Nook Design's Versatile Vases stamp set.

I had some woodgrain textured cardstock that I cut to 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 and inked the edges with some Gathered Twigs Distress Ink by Tim Hotlz.  I think that cardstock is the perfect backdrop for this card!!  I mounted it on my cardbase and I was done!


In the end I'm very happy with the results and I think it may mark the return of my mojo!  Let's hope!


Saturday, May 21, 2016

Me Again

Wow.  Less than 24 hours and I'm posting again.

I made a quick CAS card for this week's CAS(E) this sketch challenge using Catherine Pooler's Stamp of Approval Beautiful World set.



I use the Geo Builder stamp set to create the focal point in some Hero Arts Ombre Inks.  Then I cut out the "You" with the die cut that came in the collection and colored it with my Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen and heat embossed the rest of the sentiment on black cardstock with Close to My Heart white embossing powder.  I so struggle with CAS cards.  But I kind of like how this one turned out!


Friday, May 20, 2016

Throwing Down Some Color

Just a quick post today. I've been super busy lately between work and the end of the school year stuff for the kids.  Well, not kids, but my 14 year old Freshman is getting ready for finals and I had to take a trip to Rochester, NY to pick up my son.  Summer can't come fast enough.  More flexible schedule and more down time, which means more time to play!!

Decided to play with this week's Color Throwdown Challenge.  The colors were an interesting combination, and I kind of wanted to water color.


So I got out my Tim Holtz distress inks and this large flower image from Close to My Heart.  I heat embossed the flower on watercolor cardstock with white embossing powder, then watercolored it with the inks. Love the color combo and the kind of rustic feel to this card.


Monday, May 9, 2016

Spring Flowers

There were lots of bright, happy colors to play with in this week's Color Throwdown Challenge.  So bright, so cheery, so "springy".


Of course I'm still playing with Catherine Pooler's "Beautiful World" Stamp of Approval Collection, and the stamp set and dies were perfect for this challenge.  I first stamped the floral images onto watercolor paper and spent and evening painting them with my watercolors.  It was very relaxing and therapeutic to say the least!  LOL.

Once they dried, I went back and die cut them all out and then die cut the white cardstock for this frame.  I popped up the frame on dimensional adhesive and then adhered the flowers around the frame. I added a sentiment which is also from the same Beautiful World Collection and some Wink of Stella and glossy accents for the flowers.  So soft, so pretty, so "springy".  




Sunday, May 1, 2016

It's a Beautiful World

After some tears and despair, I was able to get my hands on Catherine Pooler's newest Stamp of Approval Collection called A Beautiful World.  OMG!  This collection is SOOOOOO inspirational. Once I finished drooling and fonlding the contents of the collection, I got to work.  First creation from these yummy stamps is a card I made for this week's Color Throwdown challenge!



I love the rich navy with the bright yellow, and the flower stamps and dies were PERFECT to make a simple, yet pretty card!



No time to write more!  The ideas are flowing and I need to get back to my craft desk!  Thanks for visiting!



Tuesday, April 26, 2016

If Friends were flowers

I made a quick card last night with some simple stamping and coloring to enter into this week's CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge.


Using the Crafter's Companion Floral and Party Stamp Kit  I made this card.  I colored three of the flowers with my Spectrum Noir Markers to highlight them and added the sentiment with some vellum.  Simple, yet pretty!


Sunday, April 24, 2016

Changes

I've spent the last couple of weeks re-doing my craft area.  It's still a work in progress, but I would say I'm about 80% done!  Yay me!  I've got a much larger work area and some more storage.  Now if I could just bring myself to PURGE, I'd be set.

So once I got some of my stuff put away and organized, I felt like creating!  So I grabbed my Spectrum Noir Color pencils and pulled out colors that were perfect for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge, namely, shades of orange, pink, and green.


It seems like I reach for this Crafter's Companion Iris image a lot.  But it's such a versatile image!  Here I paired it with a sentiment from Cather Pooler's Young at Heart Stamp of Approval collection.  Perfect card for just about any occasion!




Thursday, April 7, 2016

Yearning for Spring

Here in the Northeast, we had a lovely spring this past winter!  It was glorious, temp remained above average and we had very little snow fall.

Then we changed the clocks and winter decided to come back!  For the past few weeks it's been cold, wet and miserable.  Where is the warm sun that's supposed to be warming the cockles of our heart?

A little extreme I know, but yearning for spring is what attracted me to this weeks 'Color Throwdown Challenge.  The colors are bright, cheery, and happy.  They lifted my dreary mood and inspired me to create!



Looking at the design team examples, I was complete inspired by Amy R's interpretation of the card, which can  be found here.

So I grabbed a stencil I had in my stash from Simon Says stamps that had a large tear drop design on it.  I can't find it on the SSS site anymore, so it must have retired.  Anyway, like in Amy's card, I used my texture paste with the stencil, first coloring it with some Hero Arts dye ink to make it the aqua color I wanted.  Then I watercolored this gorgeous Floral Delight stamp from Crafter's Companion using Tim Holtz distress inks.  Once dry, I colored the whole thing with my Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen to give it that ymmy shimmer, cut the image out and assembled the card.

Bring on Spring!!



Thursday, March 31, 2016

How many?

I'm about to show my age here, but how many people remember the Tootsie Pop commercial with the little kid asking "Mr Owl how many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?"  I'm sure there are some of you out there who remember that classic commercial.

So, the question for today is, how many stamp sets does it take to make a simple birthday card?  Well, in this case...FOUR!




Which sets?

Tiddly Inks - Hang in There

Isn't it great when you can utilize all your stamps?  What a great way to stretch what you have!!


Sunday, March 20, 2016

I'm back!

It's been a while since I have posted.  Sometimes life just has a way of killing the creative mojo. Hopefully now that spring has come and the days are getting longer the creativity will find its way back!

This week I'm playing with some Tim Holtz Crazy Birds and Catherine Pooler's Stamp of Approval Young at Heart collections while using the awesome color palette from this week's Color Throwdown Challenge! 

Here is the yummy swatch:


And here is my take on it.....


This bird just cracks me up.  Kind of reminds me of me...like, I want to be in a good mood, but life...BLEH!  LOL.

I did another card in this palette, and in person I LOVE how it came out, but I am challenged when it comes to photographing cards with foil!!



Thanks for looking!


Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Mojo Risin'

Yes, I am still playing with the Stamp of Approval collection.  But today's card is inspired by this week's Mojo Monday card sketch.



When I saw the sketch I knew the circles had to be little shaker elements.   I really didn't start out intending to use the Stamp of Approval Young at Heart collection, but the little images contained in one of the stamp sets were a perfect fit for the circles.  While my card doesn't match the sketch exactly, it was definitely inspired by it!


Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

More Birthday Cards

I think I need a 12 step program for Catherine Pooler's Stamp of Approval collection!  This Young at Heart Collection has kept my Mojo in high gear and now I've got quite the collection of birthday cards in my collection!

Here's my latest that was inspired by this week's CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.



I loved all the lines in this sketch and I thought the stencil that was included in the Stamp of Approval collection was perfect for this! I stenciled the background with Broken China and Shabby Shutters distress inks, then stamped the fun streamer stamp included in the collection with Wild Honey! I used the dies in the collection for the sentiment.  Such a fun card, perfect for anyone!


Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Color Throwdown

I'm so honored this week to be the Guest Star Stamper at the Color Throwdown.    I'd like to thank the Academy and all who voted for me....

Oh, wait, wrong red carpet I guess.

But RED was part of this week's challenge!  I LOVE the luscious color combo, and as soon as I saw the color swatch, I knew exactly which stamp set I was going to reach for!


If you follow my blog, then you know that cardinals are important to me.  If you don't know the story you can check it out here.  I'll warn you though, you may want to grab a tissue first.

Anway, back to my card!  I pulled out my Altenew Winter Cardinal stamp set and stamped it on some watercolor paper with Altenew's Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, and Ruby Red inks from the Red Cosmos mini inks set.  I wanted the image to have a water color feel to it, so these inks worked perfectly!  I water colored the background with some grey, to give it that "winter feel".  Plus, grey was part of the color scheme!

Once it dried, I die cut the cardinal with a circle die cut, making sure I first cut around the tail so it would stick out.  I mounted the circle on some Crafter's Companion smooth white cardstock that I first embossed with a Tim Holtz Woodgrain Embossing Folder.I mounted that on red cardstock which I then mounted onto a grey card base.  Some red shiny ribbon and a grey canvas flower from Blossoms by Nicole  were the perfect accents for this card.


Thanks for looking, and make sure you head on over to the Color Throwdown blog to join in the fun!
  

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Happy Birthday!

Yup, I'm wishing myself a Happy Birthday!  LOL.  Not only that, I made my own card!!


Just look at that cake??  Isn't it to die for? Of course it's part of Catherine Pooler's Stamp of Approval Young at Heart Collection.  I love this collection and if you haven't gotten one, you should.  I think they are just about sold out, so hurry!  The only complaint I have about this collection is that there are not enough hours in the day for me to play with it!!  



Sunday, February 7, 2016

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, Tuesday is really my birthday, but you can never start celebrating too early.

And celebrate is what I did on Friday when my Stamp of Approval collection from Catherine Pooler arrived.  This was the present I bought for myself!  And after waiting for two whole days for it's arrival (lol), I eagerly tore into it.  WOW.  What a collection of yummy goodness.  My head was spinning and I didn't even know where to start.

So I decided to start simple, clean and simple as a matter of fact, and whipped something up for this week's challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch.  



It's the first of MANY cards I'm sure I'll make with this collection!

Friday, February 5, 2016

February Fun!

We are only in the first week of February and already it rocks!

First off, Kathy Racoosin's 30 day coloring challenge started on Monday!  I have participated in all the prior ones, so I was excited for this one to begin.  Love forcing myself to spend some time coloring every day.  It usually gets my creative mojo rolling.

So if that wasn't enough, on Wednesday the new Stamp of Approval box from Catherine Pooler whent on sale!  I was so impressed by the goodies in the last box,I just HAD to order this one!  The sneak peeks were enough to make me drool...so I can't WAIT until the box comes!

Now I have new goodies coming and an excuse to play all month!  What more could I ask for?

Here's a card a created for the Color Throwdown Challenge.


I started by coloring the cute little image from Tiddly Inks called With All My Heart with my Spectrum Noir Pencils.   I paired it with papers from my stash that coordinated with the colors in this challenge and the end result is cuteness overload!!





Thursday, January 28, 2016

Me again!

So we're still stenciling away at StampNation.  My head is seriously going to explode from all the inspiration!!  Catherine Pooler and the rest of the Dream Team are fantastic and sooo  inspirational!

So now we are playing with texture paste.  I LOVE texture paste.  I've played with it before, so I was excited to pull it out of my stash and use it with my new Jenni Bowlin Pointed Star Stencil.  Rather than stars, the stencil kind of reminded me of little flowers, so that's what I went with.  I mixed my texture paste with some Yellow Rose Silks Acrylic Glaze.  Love the shimmer in these glazes!  This picture really doesn't show off the shimmer, but it's there!


Once I made the technique piece I was at a loss as to what to do with it.  I had an idea, but when I put it together, it just wasn't doing it for me.  So I searched through my stamps and found the Newton's Day Dream set from Newton's Nook Designs.  I thought the image was perfect for this card, and well, the rest just fell into place.  

Such a happy card!  Thanks for visiting!



Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Flirty Fun

Wow, am I really posting again?   I must have too much time on my hands.

I decided to try my hand at Newton's Nook Designs Inky Paw Challenge # 28 which was to create a love themed card.  Anyone who knows me, knows I am not a sappy, lovey-dovey type person, but I decided to give it a try.

So I searched through my stash of Newton's Nook Designs stamps (I do have many). and I decided to play with this Flirty Flamingo set. And, since I'm smack dab in the middle of a stencil class at StampNation, I paired these fun flamingos with Simon Says Stamp's Mosaic Heart Stencil.  I inked up the stencil with three inks from Altenew's Red Cosmos Ink Pad Set - Ruby Red, Coral Berry and Frost Pink in order to give the heart an 'ombre" effect.  I did some simple coloring of the flamingos with my Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers, and added clear Wink of Stella to the mosaic heart.






Such a cute card - and it doesn't have to be used for Valentine's Day.  In fact, I think I may use this as a wedding card!

Thanks for looking!


Sunday, January 24, 2016

Clean and Simple

Decided to take a break from the stencils and decided to try my hand at this week's CAS(E) this sketch challenge.  I haven't played along in quite some time, and I was looking for some inspiration.  Plus, I wanted to get in some coloring in anticipation of Kathy Racoosin's 30 Day Color Challenge that's starting on February 1,  This is her fourth, and I've participated in some way in the last three.  Looking forward to participating in the next one.  Maybe it will make the month of February go quickly!

Here is the sketch we were playing with this week.



I used Newton's Nook Designs Versatile Vases stamp set and my Spectrum Noir color pencils.  Clean, simple and easy!

Thanks for looking!

Saturday, January 23, 2016

More Stencil Fun!

Still playing along with the stencil class at StampNation.  Class #10 was heat embossing with a stencil, so I chose to play with this stencil by Dylusions (Checkered Dots).  The checkered part of the stencil kind of reminded me of a snowbank.  And since I was home today because there were blizzard conditions outside, it seemed fitting to pair it with this fun image from Art Impressions.

I used the checkered part of the stencil on the bottom of the card as the snow drift, and decided to use the dots as "snow".  I also splattered some white acrylic paint on the background as well, to really make it look snowy, or at least close to the snow I was experiencing today!  It's a pretty graphic looking card, but in the end, I think I like it!


Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Stencil Fun

So over at StampNation us sistahs are being treated to a Creative Stencil Class.  So much inspiration coming from these classes!  My creative head is going to explode!

Lesson 8 was a watercolored stencils.  I loved the examples that the design team showed.  Such creativity and such an awesome look.  So I decided I had to give this one a try!

I am pretty limited on stencils, but I did have this Heidi Swapp stencils with a bunch of circles on it, so I decided to play with it.  It kind of reminded me of bubbles, so I got some blue watercolor paint out and gave it a try!  It was messy, my fingers were blue, but I loved the end result.  I paired the background with this fun birthday stamp from Art Impressions.  Perfection.

On to the next stencil technique!


Sunday, January 17, 2016

Love is....

I wrote awhile ago how I was inspired by Mike Deakin to begin art journaling, and if you follow my blog, you've seen my first few attempts at it.

So Mike started an art journaling Facebook page called Mission Inspiration.   The premise of this page is that each month he would give us a "mission" or certain prompts and elements to get our creative mojo going to create a page. The first mission was a doozie, but a lot of fun, and very inspiring!

First Mission went as follows:



So, it was a little daunting for me to follow this since I'm fairly new to art journaling and I'm a little limited on supplies.  But I was able to pull this one off!

For the tissue, I just used some red tissue paper with white polka dots I found at ACMoore.  The black hearts that appear on my page were from a pretty old Close to My Heart stamp set called You and Me.  I also had a border heart stamp that I had in my stash (think it may have been from Stampin' Up), so I used that around the border of my pages.  The other hearts where digital hearts I found on ETSY and I used them as my collage elements.  My three colors were black, red, and white.  I think the rest is pretty self explanatory.


Mission accomplished. Yeah Me!