Creating a Disney Scrapbook

seven months ago my family was having a blast on a week-long Disney vacation at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. you might have noticed that i haven't shared a single thing about that vacation.

why? well, the truth is......i'm overwhelmed with how exactly to record the magical-ness of it. (if magical-ness isn't a word, it is now.)

do you ever get that way with your photos and/or memories. frozen for fear of 'messing' it up? silly, isn't it?

i took thousands of photos on that trip. eeeps! we also took advantage of the Photopass system and purchased the CD of images which gave me another 600 or so photos.

gobs and gobs of photos.

this layout is the very first layout i've made that displays photos from our trip....i hope that there are many more to follow, like, real soon!

there are SO many stories to be told from this trip.so many. i can't wait to see them all unfold in the pages of my scrapbooks.

this layout in particular was created using some new products released at CHA from Little Yellow Bicycle's Just Because and Naturals collections. i've also used quite a few Fiskars tools in the mix too!

this layout also appears today on a few other blogs.  in one place i'm talking about tips for putting the layout together and in the other talking about recording vacation memories as a whole. click on over to the Little Yellow Bicycle blog and to the Fiskateers blog for more of the story.  there are also links to products and tools at the respective blogs. 

Easy Valentine Treats for the Classroom in SRM Tubes

I am so thrilled to be sharing an idea for you and your kiddos for their Valentine’s Day classroom exchange. You should know that I am totally one of those people that like to find ways to use products in ways other than their intended purpose and today’s inspiration will be no different.

With Valentine’s Day coming up, I decided to make things easy on myself and put some of the gorgeous pieces from the Little Yellow Bicycle: Just Because: Paper Crafting Kit to use to embellish a set of lightweight clear plastic tubes from SRM Press.

These tubes are BRILLIANT for packaging small candy treats and made the job of putting together sugary sweet Valentine’s for my daughter’s classmates super simple.

 What I love most about these tubes is that you can decorate them as simple or over the top as you wish and whichever way you choose they look absolutely adorable and like you fussed for hours over them. They are about 1” in diameter leaving you with tons of options for what treat to fill them with. I’ve seen yogurt covered raisins, cinnamon hearts, tart candies, chocolate coated candies, nuts, sunflower seeds, coins, messages in a bottle, rolled up stickers, etc.

To decorate them, I started simple by adding either a vellum tape strip or a pre-scored printed cardstock strip (from the Paper Crafting Kit) along the bottom of each tube. These add a visually substantial embellishment around the base of the tube and acts to ground whatever other embellishing you’re doing. Each vellum strip &/or pre-scored printed cardstock will wrap around three tubes, so you can really stretch the mileage from the set making them perfect when creating multiples!

When using the shapes from the Paper Crafting Kit, don’t feel limited by pieces that aren’t quite the right color because you can always use the reverse side that is white. Also, don’t overlook a piece that is pre-printed with a word or image that may not convey your feelings because it can also be layered with additional pieces to cover. I did exactly that using the light blue circle piece pre-printed with the word “happy”. You’ll also notice that the banner pieces are much narrower than they come in the kit. I simply cut ¼” to ½” strip off of each side so they would look more balance for the size of my tubes.

Some other tips:

• It’s a good idea to alternate the height at which you place your layered embellishments so they don’t all get tangled together at the top.
• Glue dots work best for adhering to the plastic tube. No worrying about glue drying or sticky fingers leaving marks on the tubes.
• If you like a little extra bulk to your layers add in the small flowers and hearts from the package of Chipboard Shapes.
• Use stickers from the Fresh Verse sticker sheet to add simple phrases. You can quickly turn them into a cute banner-like sticker by cutting a triangle-shaped notch in the right edge of the sticker.
• Dust the sticky portion of any stickers that overhang with baby powder so they don’t inadvertently stick to anything else.
• Consider using a tube of a different size for teachers and school administrators. Larger tubes work rather well for using the larger bows in the crafting kit.
• Don’t have a need for classroom Valentine’s? No worries. You can adapt this idea for any theme using a Paper Crafting Kit from any of the other Little Yellow Bicycle collections.
• Don’t want to use tubes? That’s okay, you can follow the same concept using glassine bags or cellophane bags too!

Happy Crafting!

Fiskars: Techniques for Altering A Canvas

stretching yourself creatively by trying new skills beyond your comfort zone of traditional paper crafting is good exercise and can be very liberating as you experiment in using some of your Fiskars tools beyond their typical scope.

that's exactly what i did with one of my latest project tutorials created for Fiskars.

i have to admit that it was super fun adding layer upon layer of paint and texture until i finally stepped back, admired my design, and called it complete.

if you've never altered a canvas before, you'll quickly learn that the beauty of altering a canvas is that once you start with the initial paint layers, you never really know quite how it will look in the end.

afterall, this canvas started out like this:

and then ended up like this:

to see the transformation and learn how to put your tools to work for you in a new way, visit my tutorial over on Fiskars.com: Spread Your Wings and Fly Altered Canvas by Tania Willis

Team T-Shirt Pillow Tutorial

hello, friends! i know it's been a while....nearly 2 months, in fact. i'm sorry for that. things get a little crazy around here during the holidays along with the Craft & Hobby trade show that immediately follows.  but i'm getting reacquainted with my pre-holiday schedule and hope to bring more to this internet space of mine soon.

in the meantime....it's a good time to show your team spirit!  i challenge you to spruce up your husband's (or son's) man cave or just make some fun conversation pieces for that Superbowl Party you're planning this weekend. i happen to think these would also be quite popular with the college crowd to add a little fun to their dorm room decor.

anywho. these pillows are made with upcycled team t-shirts and whip up super quick. and guess what?  i have a tutorial to show you exactly how to get from start to finish over Fiskars.com: Team T-Shirt Pillow Tutorial
 
not a sports fan?  no worries. you can use any t-shirt, it doesn't have to be sports themed! 

this is especially perfect for those shirts you fall in love with on the clearance rack or at the thrift store, but inevitably aren't your size. :)  buy it anyway and turn it into a pillow!

t-shirt pillows are especially perfect for decorating a child's playroom or bedroom since they are easily washable.

happy creating & be sure to show me your finished pillows!

eight.

yesterday, my always spunky, sometimes sassy, but mostly sweet Emma Grace (aka: Spidergirl), turned 8. i love her so very much and i can't believe she's already EIGHT!

at eight she:

• isn't too thrilled with Spiderman....or any sort of 'boy' toys.
• still wakes up at the butt-crack of dawn ready to tackle the day with the most amazing amount of energy.
• still falls asleep by 8:30 most every night (hmmm, maybe that's her secret!).
• is quite obsessed with eating popcicles....still.
• is in the process of growing out her bangs so she can be just like her big sister.
• is very sensitive and emotional these days.
• is a social butterfly and knows just what to say and do to make people feel welcome.
• loves her bacon, eggs and biscuit breakfasts made by daddy every saturday & sunday.
• still takes way too much medicine to control both allergies and acid reflux.
• hasn't yet graduated beyond the once-a-week allergy shots (but we're making progress).
• is in second grade and we're told she's at the top of her class...a very good student, indeed.
• loves dill pickles. (that's my girl!)
• writes sweet notes of encouragement on post it notes and leaves them all over the house.
• is still trying to find a way to convince me that she'll do fine with a puppy.
• is really into fashion and looking cute. anything with fuzzy or a cute puppy on it is a total winner.
• can't get enough popcorn from the whirlypop in her belly.
• is totally enthralled with watching eduational videos on sharks, snakes, polar bears and manatees.
• giggles the biggest belly laughs you've ever heard from a child her size and age.
• invited 30 classmates (her entire class) to her birthday party so no-one felt left out.

we pretty much adore her and her shenanigans and are so very blessed to call her ours!  wish us luck as we prepare to host a room full of energetic kids this weekend for her celebration.

Blog Hop: May Arts + Little Yellow Bicycle

hello all my Little Yellow Bicycle fans! this week, LYB has been sharing ideas for how to use May Arts ribbons along with their Once Upon A Christmas collection. and to finish off the week with an abundance of inspiration, today, a few of the other LYB designers are treating you to a mini blog hop!

May Arts provided me with a gorgeous selection of ribbons to complete this project.  there were so many that coordinated with this collection that i had a really hard time narrowing down which ones would actually get used. do you ever have that problem?

i ended up choosing those that had a sweater-like texture to help mimic the texture of the sweater & yarn appearing in the photos. i'm completely smitten with the white lace ribbon trimmed with pompoms on one edge.  *swoon*  the new alphabet sticker from deja views have the perfect burlap texture, as well. just wait until you see what Vicki did with that same ribbon! oh my heavens, it's so cute!

anywho. for this little accent, i layered two of the fabric snowflake stickers together and tied them off with ribbon before embellishing with adhesive-backed jewel stickers and a stick pin loaded with small beads.

my daughter is hoping that Santa brings her a new Raggedy Ann baby doll like he's done every year since she was a baby.  it's her bestest friend and keeps her feeling safe and secure when her world feels unsteady. such a sweet thing to see how special this doll is to her.

okay. so are you ready to hop along? here's the hop list. now go forth, and be inspired!

Tania Willis  (you are here)

Liz Qualman

Vicki Boutin

Heather Leopard

Jen Chesnick

the bonus of this little hop is that May Arts is also treating you to the same inspiration. so, be sure to visit the Little Yellow Bicycle designers' blogs listed above and the May Arts blog for their list and leave a comment at each one for your chance to win gorgeous products to use on your own projects. (psst....LYB is giving away Once Upon a Christmas)

Once Upon A Christmas Fabric Stickers	Once Upon A Christmas Stick Pins	Once Upon a Christmas 6x6 Paper Pad	Once Upon A Christmas Chipboard Shapes
Once Upon A Christmas Clear Stickers	Once Upon A Christmas Favorite Pieces	Once Upon A Christmas Fresh Verse	Once Upon A Christmas Tags & String
Fancy Pants Home For Christmas Glittered Alphabet	Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment Border Punch	Fiskars Threading Water Border Punch	Fiskars XXXLarge Pretty Scallops
Fiskars 12" Portable Trimmer	Fiskars One Fourth Inch Circle Hand Punch	Fiskars Softouch Microtip Scissors

InLinkz.com

new plan of attack on RA

several of you have asked how my doctor's appointment went and what the new plan is moving forward with this battle against RA and the pain/inflammation that has a stronghold on my body.

i'm in the middle of the worst flare i've had yet. so it's time to grab this bull by the horns and get it under control before it does more permanent damage to my joints.

so, here it is....i have a new medicine added to my fistful of pills. an anti-inflammtory to take twice a day starting just as soon as i pick it up from the pharmacy.

we also decided on Orencia infusions every 4 weeks. in fact, within hours of my appointment, i got the call saying insurance approved the pre-authorization and my first infusion will be december 20. i have to do what's called a loading dose meaning three infusions close together--for this drug--every 2 weeks, but after those three are done i will only get the infusion once every 4 weeks. i'm very excited that it only takes 1 hour and not 2 to 3 like the Remicade did.

only downfall? i won't necessarily notice positive effects from the infusions immediately. bummeroonie.

being a papercrafts designer, where i make my living from the use of my hands, which at times lately is near impossible, i asked what else can i try to alleviate the pain and reduce the swelling. of course, i already knew: wrist splints or hand braces, ice, etc.

BUT...what i'm most excited about is the option to use a compounded ointment. they are having it made for me with 5 different medications compounded together that i can apply to my hands that will help keep me designing with less pain. cant remember the name of it right now. but am looking forward to the day that arrives on my doorstep.  i'm hoping the texture of it doesn't skeeve me out, because i have issues with the way lotions in general feel on my hands. it makes them feel dirty and i don't like the feeling at all. (yes, i weird. i own it.)

advances in medicine are such a beautiful thing. that, and being blessed to have good insurance to be able to take advantage of these treatment options.

so that's that.

thanks for asking, friends.

Gift Giving on A Budget: How to Make Birdseed Ornaments

it's time to put your hands to use to craft thoughtful gifts for family, friends and service workers this holiday season.

gifting something small to your nature-loving friends really couldn’t be easier than these little ornamental birdseed feeders! you can quickly mix up a batch of ornaments in 15 minutes, and craft the adorable feathered friend bird tags to adorn your gift wrap while the ornaments are set aside to dry.

while this craft doesn't take much time at all to pull together, be warned that dry time does take 24 – 48 hours depending on the humidity in your area, so be sure to plan accordingly for that part of the project.

it’s a very economical craft and perfect to give as favors during the holidays or your next celebration. it's also a super easy project for children to assist with. imagine the joy on their faces as they present them to grandparents &/or teachers telling them that they made them. :)

you can learn how to create your own from start to finish, including the gift wrap portion by visiting my tutorial on the Fiskars website: Birdseed Ornaments by Tania Willis

Fiskars Fuse Creativity System	Fiskars Fuse Die Cut Expansion Pack - Bird	Fiskars Cuts 'N More Scissors
Colorbox Petal Point Dye Ink	Colorbox Chalk Ink - Artic Deep	Colorbox Chalk Ink - Sea Crystal
Fiskars Softouch Microtip Scissors	Fiskars One Fourth Inch Circle Hand Punch	Lawn Fawn Hemp Cord

InLinkz.com

i have RA.

there. i said it.

i have RA.

what's RA, you ask? it's medical abbreviation for Rheumatoid Arthritis.

most of my close friends know this, some of my family knows this, and those that follow my updates on facebook may have caught the mention of it, especially over the past several months as i've been getting infusions of Remicade to battle this disease process.

of course, those of you who have been here to the blog for some time know i've been dealing with chronic pain for many years now. you might even know that they suspected RA after some bloodwork and x-rays were done during a second opinion appointment i had scheduled before committing fully to having a 3-level spinal fusion surgery.

well, they suspect no more. it's official. (has been for a year now)

to be honest, it feels weird that i've always been so willing to talk about medical struggles in hopes to help someone else through. because i really do believe that we are given situations in life to live through them, learn from them, and then share the victories in them--even though sometimes those victories might be hard to find. i can't tell you how many times i've been able to help another mom going through sensory struggles with their child or help them deal with a child with allergies, ear infections, childhood surgeries, etc. makes our experience and struggles worth it knowing we can make someone else's struggle easier to navigate.

but this? it's kinda been the elephant in the room every time i sit down to blog. you may have noticed that my blogging took a huge shift this year as i found myself only blogging about the creative side of my life, holding everything else back. why? i'm not sure exactly. thinking about it now though, i'm pretty sure it's because i've been guarding my spoons closely...and my emotions.

yes, those spoons. the spoons talked about in the essay "The Spoon Theory."

well, guarding spoons AND freaking out.

i wake up in pain, i wake up with stiffness and sometimes i wake up not even able to get out of bed without downing a fistful of medicines first and waiting for them to kick in. so i've guarded my time and energy *ahem* spoon expediture very, very closely this year and because i'm a busy mom who also works part-time outside the home AND freelances full-time from within the home, well, blogging just kinda fell to the bottom of the 'must accomplish' list.

so why am i freaking out along with guarding spoons? well. you see, i'm quite proficient in the use of google to help me find information and have always used it to feed my inquisitive mind....except for researching about rheumatoid arthritis. for some reason, i thought burying my head in the sand would make it all go away. ha. let me tell you.....it doesn't quite work that way. (uh, duh, tania)

so, one night, while battling insomnia, instead of looking for information to educate myself on RA (booooooring), i decided to try to find other bloggers, blogging about RA. i was looking for someone to give me humor through the pain. someone to help me know that i'm not the only thirty-something dealing with this level of pain day in and day out.

and i found that. i found double...no, triple that!

i quickly bookmarked them on my kindle and spent the next week reading, and laughing, and crying over entry after entry. these people know exactly how i live and they articulate it so very clearly. awesomesauce.

that's until i realized that two of them hadn't updated in some time. somehow i missed that detail when i first discovered their blogs. it didn't take many clicks through other blogs in the RA community of sufferers to realize why.

complications of RA had taken their life. *insert holy freak-out moments here*

the reality of the disease hit me like a ton of bricks. ever since my mom died unexpectedly at age 50 it's been a sometimes crippling fear of mine.....dying young, that is. anywho. it was then that i got angry at anything and everything. every day i'd tell myself to pull my crap together and add the smile and just keep plugging along.

ever heard the phrase "fake it, until you make it?"  oh, let me tell you. i got good at faking it. real good.

i didn't even let on to my discovery turned disappointment to friends or family, but it didn't feel right to be hiding something that was affecting me so very deeply. so i confessed my heartache to them. explaining how "i am just having a hard time dealing with daily chronic pain and being only 35 years old but feeling like i'm 65. it's ripping me apart leaving a big gaping hole in my soul and affecting every part of my life. depressing, discouraging, blah, blah, blah."

i spent the next several months avoiding blogs about RA altogether, but still can't bring myself to delete them from my reader. someday soon, i'll need that humor again.

anywho. all that to say. this disease is NOT who i am. BUT, it's made me into somebody i don't even recognize somedays.

the reality is, it's my 'new normal'. it's a chronic condition where i know my limitations, but my brain just hasn't caught the memo yet and i often get frustrated with myself because of those limitations. hello, brain. pick up the pace and join me, would ya?

honestly, i just keep teeter-tottering between anger/self-hate/denial and acceptance.

i have bad days. whether that be emotionally or physically.

and that's all it is....just a bad day. i'm learning to realize that a bad day doesn't make me a bad person.

i've struggled with letting myself be vulnerable through this disease. i'm highly aware that there are many eyes watching me and i wouldn't want my shortcomings with this crutch in my life to taint anyone's perception of who i am and what i can and can't do because of my disability.  but i also realize that i am not my own savior and God's grace is a beautiful thing, whether the world decides to bestow grace on me or not.

some days, balancing all my responsibilities feels like i'm trying to balance on a unicycle, peddling with only one foot, while holding a towering stack of fine-china on my head. somehow, it all gets done---sometimes with more pain (and medication) than others. oftentimes with my husband picking up more of the slack than others.  (he's my superhero, always saving the day.)

i'm not ready to give up or give in to grip this disease currently has on my body. if there is one thing that i am, it's STUBBORN...and determined.

like i said, i used to talk a lot about my pain, but have just felt it best to be silent lately. but, as the flares get more intense and the medication changes continue to happen, it's becoming the norm in my life and is making itself clear that it isn't going anywhere any time soon so i might as well start talking about it and letting others see the beauty that can come out of a pile of rubbish.

truth is...i want to blog again, uninhibited by this thing that never got talked about, ya know.

if you've made it this far, bless your heart!  thank you for reading. thank you for encouraging me. thank you for the messages checking on me. and thank you for your prayers.

(painfully swollen RA hands)

i know, that i know, that i know this could be SO very much worse.

• yes i live in pain all day every day, BUT i can still get out of bed every day.
• yes the joints in my hands swell up like balloons, BUT i can still use them to make a living.
• yes i have to use a handicap parking sticker to make shopping trips a little easier, BUT i can still drive myself and shop without a mobility device. 
• yes, crafting isn't as easy as it used to be, BUT i can still craft. (so very thankful for that!)
• yes, it feels like my life has taken an unexpected detour, BUT i'm not on permanently disability.

i could go on for days about how much worse i could be, but that doesn't make the reality of the struggle easier.

anywho. many of you that have known about my infusions have offered prayers and entertainment during those times i was sitting through hours of treatment.  i appreciate that. 

after 7 infusions with no problems, i suddenly starting having infusion reactions the last two times i was infused with Remicade, so it's no longer an option. i'm super disapointed because it was giving me my life back in so many ways. so tomorrow's hurdle, when i meet with the Rheumatologist, is to discuss alternative options....primarily to decide between Orencia (infusions) and Humira (injections).

phew.
now that i got all that off my chest..........let the mixture of everyday life blogging and creative blogging resume! :)