Mixed bag

Hi guys! Sorry I haven't been around the last few weeks. It's been a bit of a mixed bag of stuff going on really. The main (only?) thing dominating my thoughts has been that we had it confirmed that my Mum's cancer has spread to her liver. She now has to go to a specialist liver cancer hospital in Basingstoke where she will hopefully have a liver resection. We are pleased if this happens as we have been told it's curative. She will then have some pretty intensive chemo. We have been waiting on edge for the past 3 weeks to hear when she would get her appointment with the surgeon at Basingstoke and it finally came through on Wednesday that her appointment is a week on Monday. We REALLY hope that she will have her surgery as soon as is humanly possible after this. We are so anxious over the timescale of things.

Because this is kinda of the calm before the storm, hubbie and I decided it would be a good time to take our holiday as I will be looking after Mum soon. It was kind of a weird holiday- lovely to spend time with my hubbie but I found it extremely hard to relax and was constantly texting my sister for news re the Basingstoke appointment. That's not to say we didn't have a good time but it's hard, you know? Anyway, I thought I'd include this photo my hubbie took of one of the hikes we did as it summed up the sheer beauty of Sedona, Arizona where we stayed.

How stunning is that???!!!! It's called Cathedral Rock.

Now those of you who've been reading my blog a while know that whenever we go to the US, I always go on a crafting hunt for cheap stash! I plan it all before I go (my hubbie is SO tolerant!!) Obviously I did the usual pilgrimage to Joann's and Michael's. I also found this scrapbook shop which was closing down and had 50% off everything!! So I thought I'd show you a few bits I bought. Above are some simple beads from Joann's. I'm going to make my Mum one of my handbag charms as a stocking filler and I'd been looking around for the right colour beads to match her bag for ages so these will be perfect.

In Michaels I managed to get all this I-top brad maker stuff. The maker itself I got at 40% off cos I took in a voucher! (yes I'm that organized!!) I can't wait to use this as I love the concept of making your own brads, especially fabric ones as well. Will demo this to you at some point! I also got some of the magnet daddies as well as I thought they'd come in handy for altered gifts.

I'm so pleased with this. I nearly bought this exact cotton reel holder on Ebay (it went for 22 quid) and I got this for 7 quid in Joann's!!! Hubbie bought me a load of cotton reels for Chrimbo last year and because I had them stored in a drawer and looked down on them, it was hard to see what colours I actually had. As you know, I'm redoing my craft room and part of this is to make it more visually attractive so this is another reason why I wanted this. I think I will wall mount it.

A bit of a surprise this one. On a day trip out we went to this little place called Cottonwood to take a railway through one of the local canyons. As we passed through to the station, I saw the words "Art Institute Glitter" on a building. Hang on, I thought, could that be the headquarters of Art Institute Glitter??!! yes, it was!! Above is a pic of the shop....

And here is a pic of the factory/distribution next door!

So of course I ventured in and met a couple of really lovely ladies, including Barbara the inventor of Art Institute Glitter!!! Here are my little purchases which I will be using on my Chrimbo cards this year!!

Well, hope you've enjoyed viewing my new stash. Hope to be back making cards next week and to pay some visits to you! Have a great weekend x