Couldn't sleep last night!

I'll be so glad when the doctor's office calls with a date for my knee replacement surgery. Hopefully, sometime between the last week of August and the 2nd week of September. I'm having both knees done at the same time and it can't come soon enough! Last night it just felt like a red-hot poker was being held against my knee and the pain was unbearable. So, I got up and went into my craft room to take my mind off of it. Apparently pain helps MY creative process. I did three cards in about 2 hours and guess what: I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THE PAIN! YIPPEE SKIPPY!

I made a card for Shackie friend whose birthday is this month. I hope she likes it. It's Billboardabella from my ever-growing Stamping Bella collection. Did you know Billboardabella comes with about nine different sayings? I used Cool Caribbean cardstock and layered some of the gorgeous Glitter Stack, some of which is the prize in Round 2 of Bingo. Then I stamped Billboardabella onto Very Vanilla c/s and mounted it onto Cool Caribbean. I picked up some cute little MM flowers & brads and the irridescent butterflies at the Dollarama the other day, along with many other craft goodies. (BTW - all of the embellishments I purchased were $1.00, hence the name Dollarama, I guess - DUH!)

Actually, there are several Shackies with birthdays this month. Here's another card I made in the fog of pain! LOL! This time we have Bubblebella. The cardstock for this is Lovely Lilac. Once again, background paper is from the Glitter Stack (I'm loving this paper and it's perfect for "da Bellas"). The sentiment is also a wonderful embellishment from Dollarama. Bubblebella was coloured with Prismacolor Pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits and a blending stump. I used pink Perfect Pearls on some of the bubbles and Stickles on others. Of course, I did this before attaching the mounted, stamped image to the card base. So, when I turned the image over to place the adhesive, some of the glitter and pearls got smudged. But, you know what I think? Well, I'll tell you: I think it looks like there's a bit of steam rising from the tub and bubbles bursting in the air, so I left it. I don't think it looks too bad and, if anyone asks, I'll tell them I did it on purpose!

And, my final card in the middle of the night is one I made for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge 14 which you can see here. I picked up some fabulous Halloween paper at my local LSS last week and have been wanting to cut into it. You all know how that feels, to have new paper and just chomping at the bit to use it! I know you do...that's how I've been feeling and last night, I was able to give in to my desire. The black cardstock is from Bazzill and was trimmed just as you see it. No fancy cutting for me, I wouldn't have the patience. The striped paper is double-sided and is part of the Holiday Collection by KEI (I think, it's so small I can't read it, even WITH my glasses). The paper under the image is Halloween Slanted Lines by Heidi Grace. It's been a while since I used my MissyB Designs stamps, but she is perfect for Halloween, so I inked her up. Elegant Eggplant, Pumpkin Pie and Almost Artichoke was used around the edges of the stamped image and sentiment. For Halloween, the messier, the better! My final touch was this huge spider, also from Dollarama. Man, I can't wait to go back there!

Well, there you have it! BTW, when I was finished, the pain in my knees had disappeared. Maybe I should re-think the surgery as it could be a grand excuse to always be needing new supplies to 'help me forget the pain'. LOL!