"Frightening Frankie"

So I found these images from the Stampin' Up "Best Friends" collection that I stamped LAST YEAR while I was visiting with Crystal as I was sorting through some supplies last night (can you say "too much stuff"?) and decided to play around with my buddy "Frankie" since we're coming up on Halloween.

I was cackling to myself (yes, SERIOUSLY) as I was colouring him in, because I was having so much fun and he was just so darn cute!


I'll take Frankie to the hospital when we go for appointments at the end of October. I sell cards to the nurses and doctors at the Hospital for Sick Children and then donate the proceeds to the Sick Kids Foundation. It's one of the ways that I give back to the hospital.

Stamps: Best Friends (main image), Michael's $1 bin (sentiment)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Bazzill/Chatterbox Dark Black
Accessories: Ribbon and Ric Rac
Punches: Ticket Corner Punch

I promise to have more of Jonathan's Journey up soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamping Mojo is BACK!

I've been doing quite a bit of stamping lately and it's been WONDERFUL!

I did the challenge over at SplitCoast Stampers today which was to use a silhouette stamp. I also used the faux embossing technique which was another challenge.


Cardstock: Wild Wasabi and Whisper White
Stamps: Penny Black Image and Warmest Regards Sentiment
Ink: White Staz-On and Wild Wasabi
From my Stash: Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by!

Wild Wasabi Christmas

Yesterday was the Sketch Challenge over at SplitCoast Stampers. The sketch was GREAT for using up all those leftover scraps of paper - WOOHOO!

I already had some stamps out for the "Leaving on a Jet Plane" gift card holder that I made, but they didn't really fit with the size of the image panel, so I needed something different. I spied my 6 X 6 DSP pack and KNEW I had scraps in that, so off I went with it. When I saw the Rose Red, I decided to pair it with Wild Wasabi and use a Christmas stamp.

I really liked how it turned out!


Cardstock: Whisper White and Wild Wasabi
DSP: Rose Red
Ink: Rose Red and Wild Wasabi
Stamp Set: Season of Joy

Thanks for stopping by!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Jonathan and Colin's godmother is going over seas to visit her mom in Portugal.

As some of you may have gathered, I spend quite a bit of time in airports and I KNOW there is nothing more annoying than having to fish around for change to buy a coffee or a muffin. And it becomes even more annoying if your flight is delayed for whatever reason.

So, as a little pick me up for her (because she has done SO MUCH for us), I bought her a Starbucks Card and made her a little card holder in which to put it.


On the inside flap (the part that folds up to hold the card) I stamped "Are we there yet?"

I'm just rediscovering this set (Travel Time), so may have to play with it a little later on.

Cardstock: Bazzill (Chatterbox coordinate) and Whisper White
DSP: From a Simply Scrappin' Kit (I think birthday but can't remember for sure)
Ink: Old Olive
Ribbon: From my stash

I'll let you know what she thinks when I come back from picking up Jonathan at the bus...and I'll share some more of Jonathan's story too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jonathan's Story

It all started with a routine ultrasound on Sept. 12th, 2002. I was just past 18 weeks along and went for my ultrasound before hopping on a plane to Nova Scotia to help celebrate my uncle's retirement/birthday. I had a GREAT time while I was there.

On Monday, Sept. 16th, I got a call from my obstetrician while I was downstairs at the bus stop picking up Colin after school. By the time I got back upstairs, the office was closed.

On Tuesday morning, after dropping Colin off at the bus stop, I came back upstairs to call the OB office and before I had a chance to pick up the phone, they called me. I was told that the technician who did my ultrasound had been unable to get a clear picture of all four chambers and that I had an appointment at Sick Kids the following afternoon.

The first thought through my head was, "Not again." Jonathan's big sister Lauren has a heart condition too and we were told that the odds of having another child with a heart condition were pretty slim and that IF we did, it would likely be another girl. Right.

Nothing at Sick Kids moves as fast as we got our appointment unless it's serious, so I already knew we were in for a ride.

Scott and I arrived at the hospital for our 2:45 p.m. appt. on Sept. 18th. There were other fetal echos ahead of us so we weren't seen until almost 4 p.m. Having seen my fair share of echos with Lauren, I knew as soon as the technician made the first the pass over the heart that something was VERY wrong. Our fears were confirmed when the echo was done and we met with the cardiologist...

If Mom cries it has more impact, right?

Not that I planned it that way, but that's the way it went down.

Check out these two pictures:

Can you see something
missing here? What the heck happened?

True, I didn't write a speech...I was asked to tell Jonathan's story. And seriously, how many times have I done that? I didn't need a "speech", I know the story off by heart. The thing is, you would think after telling it hundreds of times, that I should be able to get through it without totally breaking down.

Apparently, that is not the case.

I got as far as, "Jonathan was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, which means that his left ventricle wasn't developed. We found out when I was 19 weeks pregnant. I thank God every day for Sick Kids because just a few hours after he was born..."

I tried to keep going...couldn't do it. It's a good thing Scott was able to join us because he got pushed in front of the microphone to finish telling Jonathan's story. And he wasn't ready for it either because I was supposed to be doing all the talking!

I saw these things, these globes, in the airport when I took the kids to Nova Scotia before Scott and I went to Las Vegas at the end of July. The kids were the first ones to notice the Childrens Miracle Network logo at the base. I read what was written on the globe and we figured out that all the money collected would be donated to the Childrens Miracle Network to be used locally by childrens hospitals - in this case, the Hospital for Sick Children.

When Caroline called from the Sick Kids Foundation last week to ask if we would be interested in attending this event as the Sick Kids Family, I had to say yes. The Hospital for Sick Children has given us SO MUCH in the past almost 14 years since we became parents that every opportunity we have to give back is a blessing. We don't have thousands of dollars to donate so we donate our time and our stories.

Stories of the families we meet, stories of the friends we've made, stories of the amazing doctors and nurses who save lives on a daily basis. Today we gave back.

If you have children, granchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, friends who have children...if you work with children, see children in your neighbourhood, see children at your church...I can tell you with 100% certainty that your life WILL be affected at some point by a childrens hospital. It may not be today, tomorrow or even next week or next year, but it will happen.

And because of that, these hospitals need all the help they can get in doing research that will save lives. Did you know that it was a doctor at the hospital for Sick Children who discovered that a young child could receive a heart from someone with a different blood type because their immune system was so immature that it would be less likely to reject the heart?

Sick Kids is pioneering new medicine, new research and working towards cures every day. But they can't do it without our help.

So if you're flying somewhere, remember that "EVERY BIT COUNTS" and deposit your change into the coin globes at Terminal 1 in Toronto. When it's Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queen, go have that Blizzard (the calories won't count). Keep on giving because they can't do it without us!

Tomorrow, I'll share Jonathan's story. Before I go, I'll leave you with this picture:


That's a cheque for over $5000 dollars. That amount was collected in just a few short weeks when there were only 6 globes at the airport. There are now 10 globes. Imagine the possibilities!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Sunflower

Back in May (or was it June? - I thought there was blog entry...but maybe not, oh well!), Jonathan planted a few sunflower seeds at Cooking School. We cooked something first, then because it was a spring theme, we planted sunflowers.

Only one of the little seeds grew, so it was a good thing we planted three in that little styrofoam cup. When the seed started to grow, it looked kinda pathetic (poor little thing) and started to bend over as it grew taller. I tried to straighten it out one day and and broke the stem (OOPS!) but the little plant wanted to live! So, we took it to Grandma and Poppa's house, and Poppa planted it in the garden and put some sticks next to the stem to help it stand up straight and see if it would grow bigger.

Lo and behold, it did!


And now, not only is it taller than Jonathan, it's even taller than Scott! How cool is that??? The head hasn't opened yet, so we didn't get to see the pretty sunflower colour. Scott's dad said that when it does, he'll take a pic for us to see. I can't wait!

Just to give you another idea of how big the plant is, here is Jonathan's little hand against one of the leaves:


While we were in Brantford, we celebrated MIL's birthday and I raided her cookbook collection for some new stuff to mess around with...so stay tuned for some possible baking posts this week.

As for tomorrow, Jonathan and I are off to the airport as Air Canada, the GTAA and Sick Kids launch a fund raising initiative. There should be lots of pics of that, so I can't wait!

My flip switch today was again our trip to Santa Monica...yes, I know I have a fixation problem - LOL!

Hope you all had a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!