Monday, June 14, 2010

DP2 & funny gift for a friend

This week DP2 had a challenge to make an easel card using one of Mo's images. I actually made a gift set, of sorts, for a dear friend who was recently diagnosed with endometrial cancer and is having a hysterectomy tomorrow (Tuesday). This set was rather fitting for the occasion. If you aren't giggling yet about the set, you probably will be soon. Here is the card by itself:

This is the front with the card closed.

And here it is open. I feel like I'm teaching elementary school again. Closed. Open. These are opposites children. LOL!My friend LOVES cats. When I saw this image on Mo's freebie list, I immediately thought of this friend. The kitty really doesn't fit the card's front, but inside I said that I'd be praying for God's PURR-fect peace for her. It was a stretch, but a kitty is just SO fitting for my friend. She happened to have the first ever cat used in a nursing home for therapy. The papers are all from a DCWV stack---last year's spring stack. That may be my favorite all time stack with all different colors that can be used in so many different ways. The coral colors were close enough to peach and I had some coral colored card stock. The words were from a 12x12 sheet full of different sayings. I cut out the ones that I thought were fitting for this card. I love the inside sentiment about living out loud! One thing that popped into my head with Kathy's cancer was the commercial for Cancer Treatment Centers of America that says, "The doctor told me there was no expiration date stamped on my foot." As long as God gives us breath, we are here to LIVE. I used a sizzix die to cut the little flowers out of different pages, then added a button from Papertreyink to each bow and the inside to hold up the easel. The punch I used around the outside is one Kathy gave me, so I guess there's a bit of each of us in this card!

If you weren't laughing earlier at my picture, then you must think me cruel to be laughing when my friend is facing such a serious problem. Most of you know that my friend Kathy has breast cancer (though we are believing that is HAD cancer) and had a mastectomy in May. Just a couple of weeks after her surgery we found out our friend had this endometrial cancer. One of the things Kathy told her is that we were going to use a LOT of humor to get through this, because it was helping her get through her cancer. Of course prayer and faith in our Lord's goodness to us first, but laughter has sustained us often.

This may be a bit too much for some of you, so if it is, please feel free to stop reading (it isn't graphic, I promise! Just kind of "personal" type stuff). It is easy to make jokes about, well, breasts! One of my favorite stamps (which I have yet to own) is in one of Gina K. Design's sets called, "You know you're old when..." and the stamp I love ends with, "your bra size is a 38 long." Kathy said she is now a 40 half-long. Just a taste of how silly we've been when we can. We've discovered, though, that finding humor about a uterus, well, it's just not the same. However, I did a little word play & decided since the ovaries were coming out, I could find a bunch of EGG jokes & made our other friend giggle. I also asked her if the doctor would consider doing a 2-fer job & let me get rid of the parts while he was at it. I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm done using them for making babies! LOL!

Well, last week as I was thinking of ways to cheer up our friend something came to mind: Maxi-pad slippers! A couple of years ago I saw these in an e-mail or something about clever uses for pads. As an aside, I still remember when my dd was about 3 & discovered some of my "supplies" in a box. She came out & said, "Mama, I found some white hot dogs in this box!" Then there was the time she decided to wall-paper with pads. Here's the story: the color of Endometrial or Uterine cancer is peach. Peach isn't that easy to find, but I found enough coral/peachy items to make a card and these fashionable slippers. Notice, they have an "awareness ribbon" on them. Plus "diamonds." A girl must have some bling on her maxi-pad slippers. I put some coral cardstock on the bottom to really make the colors pop.

So, now you know what I've been up to. Let me know if you are having a hysterectomy or if you've finally post menopausal. I'll be sure to whip you up a pair of pretty slippers! Bwahahahahahaha!

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. When I was looking at the Awareness Ribbon pages, I saw some of the ones that we are pretty familiar with: Pink for Breast Cancer, Red for heart health, Yellow to support the troops, Multi-colored puzzle pieces for autism. Some of the colors are used for more than one type of issue or illness. For example, red is also used by MADD (mothers against drunk drivers) and DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). My FIL passed away in 2008 after a battle with bladder cancer. I was curious to find out what color ribbon stood for this type of cancer. I started laughing when I saw it. Sadly (or humorously) my entire family also finds it funny. The color for bladder cancer is: YELLOW! Okay, I'll stop now.

6 comments:

BethH said...

What a riot! You are such a nut but a good designer of all things feminine! LOL! She is gonna LOVE it!

Elaine L. said...

Your card is wonderful, and I'm sure your friend will love it! Good thoughts going out to her. Thanks for joining us in Mo's Challenge this week.

Lisa Lara said...

Laughter is the best medicine. These Maxi pad slippers are perfect. Hee. Made me giggle. What a friend you are. You crack me up.

The Wired Angel said...

Those slippers are hysterical...
Thanks so much for creating such a fab card for our challenge at Mo's this week. And, best wishes to your friend for a very successful surgery. Peggy x

Dawn B. said...

Great slippers.. I know she is going to love this.. Thanks for joining us at Mo's this week.

peggysue said...

You know I was just reading a story about how people's fear of cancer is worse than for other health conditions and it doesn't help them to be fearful, especially when the recovery expectations improve all the time. Anyway, I should be commenting on your card and not writing a book. Cute card! Funny slippers!