Fe-Fe's World Of Craft, Creations and Kids.

This blog was started mainly for my crafting, however I also find myself writing about my family life too and in particular about my son Josh. Josh is just Josh to us and we're used to his quirky behaviour. As I don't want to have to mention Josh's autism every time I post about him, I thought I'd mention it here. Hopefully you will bear this in mind as you read and it may give you a little insight into the wonderful world of the autisic child in a very gentle way!

Thursday, 1 January 2009

The Sugar Bowl Challenge

This year sees another challenge blog starting up and this one is using a particular favourite brand of stamps of mine, Sugar Nellies! The first challenge over on "The Sugar Bowl" is a sketch by the ever talented Tiets.

Here is my card for the challenge.

The papers are all by Hot Off The Press. The stamp is the lovely Sugar Nellie coloured with Twinkling H2O's and the sentiment and eyelet are from K&Co. I also Cuttlebugged the blue bit but it doesn't show up very well on the photo.

P.S the British Gas man is here and he thinks he knows what the problem is! Here's hoping we shall have heating again very soon because I'm cold and it's so hard typing with my fingers crossed! Lol!

P.P.S. The Gas man has saved the day - we have heat again!!!!! Hurray! The problem? A frozen pipe would you believe. I can feel my toes again, bliss. :-)

21 comments:

Cathy said...: Lovely card. Love your colouring of Nellie and the papers.
Happy New Year.
Hugs
Cathy xx; 1 January 2009 at 17:11
Rach said...: what a brilliant card, love what you have done with the sketch. hugs rachxx; 1 January 2009 at 17:18
Tiets said...: your card is lovely!; 1 January 2009 at 17:46
pescbrico said...: I'm glad you have some heat again!!!; 1 January 2009 at 18:01
Sugar Mama said...: Hi there
I'm so glad you have heat again!
What a gorgeously sweet card!
Thanks so much for joining the first challenge from The Sugar Bowl!
Happy New Year
Sugar Mama x; 1 January 2009 at 19:39
simplyfairies said...: Oh nooo nothing worse than being cold, ours went up the wall three weeks back, no hot water, but at least we were warm...
Loving your card, very pretty...; 1 January 2009 at 20:19
Suzanne said...: This is gorgeous I love the image and your papers are gorgeous. Three cheers for the gas man!!! Sue :o); 1 January 2009 at 20:34
ScrapMomOf2 said...: Your card is so pretty! Yeah, for Mr. Gas Man! I'm so glad it's fixed!! Happy New Year! I hope this year is wonderful for you and your entire family!!; 2 January 2009 at 01:57
Kathy said...: Fab interpretation of the sketch!! Pretty colors and adorable image!! Glad to hear your problem is fixed!! Stay warm! Thanks for joining in on the challenge!
:)kathy; 2 January 2009 at 15:55
Sue said...: Great card luv the image, and lovely colours, sue.x; 2 January 2009 at 16:34
Dawn said...: Beautiful card Fe - gorgeous image and colours!
I have an award for you on my blog!

Hugs
Dawn
x; 2 January 2009 at 18:48
Lilian said...: Lovely card! That image is just so cute!! Thank you for joining the challenge :) Have a great day!; 3 January 2009 at 01:12
Kim Dellow said...: glad you have heat again :) lovely card. kim; 3 January 2009 at 09:12
Dee said...: Love your take on the Challenge Fe.. I will get around to doing it when my social life has calmed down a bit LOL

Love Mum XXX; 3 January 2009 at 10:35
Bev said...: Wonderful card, love the colours and papers.

hugs Bev x; 3 January 2009 at 14:35
Jilli said...: Gorgeous card, pretty papers and fab image. Glad you have heat again ... there's nothing worse than being cold! Jillix; 4 January 2009 at 09:54
Lorraine Robertson said...: What a super card & so glad to hear you're heating is back in working order. Can't have those fingers freezing up with all the new year challenges kicking off.

Happy crafting
Lorraine xxx; 4 January 2009 at 13:15
Ali Watson said...: Great card, fab image and papers.; 4 January 2009 at 16:34
Crafting Queen said...: Great card, love the colours you used.; 7 January 2009 at 19:48
Paula said...: Gorgeous card..great take on the sketch..
Paula xx; 8 January 2009 at 13:46
DillyDilly said...: Like the colours & the image works really well. Glad you got the heat back on its way too cold without it"; 11 January 2009 at 00:34

Ode to Special Mums

Ode to Special Moms(by Erma Bombeck)

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit. This year, nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how mothers of handicapped children are chosen?

Somehow I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger.
"Armstrong, Beth, son, patron saint, Matthew.
Forrest, Marjorie, daughter, patron saint, Cecilia.
"Rudledge, Carrie, twins, patron saint, give her Gerard. He's used to profanity."
Finally, he passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a handicapped child."

The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."

"Exactly," says God. "Could I give a handicapped child to a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel."

"But has she patience?" asks the angel.

"I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she'll handle it.
"I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I'm going to give her has his own world. She has to make it live in her world, and that's not going to be easy."

"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."

God smiles. "No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness."

The angel gasps, "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"

God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child less than perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a 'spoken word.' She will never consider a 'step' ordinary. When her child says 'Momma' for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it! When she describes a tree or a sunset to her child, she will see it as few people ever see my creations."I will permit her to see clearly the things I see...ignorance, cruelty, prejudice...and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life, because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side."

"And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, pen poised midair.

God smiles. "A mirror will suffice."

"Welcome to Holland"

"Welcome to Holland" By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.