Quick and Simple Mini Cards

Hey there my friendly followers! How is everyone doing? It's been a few days since I've done an update. This update will include a short medical review and some PICS of something new I made :)

I've "sorta" been busy with my crafts. I've been helping a friend with her homework, and I've had a lot of doctor's appointments and testing for the follow up from my car accident last month.
Pics coming up....

I've done a short update on my medical, pics follow that. :)

My bipolar meds have been increased in their dosages. I'm now on 600mg of lithium, 2 times a day (so 1200mg total), being raised from 300 a day. I can for sure tell the difference. I'm also now on 4 mg of risperdal (risperidone) a day. they make me super sleepy, so I've been sleeping quite a bit. I have also noticed that my tummy has been really upset since starting the new dosage. I already had tummy problems before, but now they are amplified by about 100. most of the time I don't even wanna get out of bed, but I'm running back and forth to the bathroom. I can't keep any food down, and I'm SO very thirsty all the time!
I see my psych dr. on the 4th again and I am really looking forward to this visit. I don't think the meds are working, I'm still having severe depression. I just wanna stay to myself, I don't wanna be bothered and I'm very grouchy. I "think" I'm starting to hear the voices again, but I'm not sure if that is just an illusion at this point or if it's actually happening. I'm SO very tired, so I know that could contribute to that. I feel like my depression is just getting worse, and that scares me. the last few times I've been on lithium, I ended up in the hospital, and I don't want it to get back to that point, AGAIN. I think this time I'm more aware... last time hubby found me in the shower trying to, well, just end it all. this time I'm aware of my feelings and I don't think I'm quite to that point yet, so that is good. I don't know if I'm going to have the dr. up my lithium or if I'm just going to ask for a med change. I've been on SO many meds, and some of them I can't take due to their side affects and interaction with my other health issues. the last meds I was on worked SO good, but they were causing major heart issues, enough to where I was passed out and had to be rushed to the er. So, I don't know where I'll go from here! we'll see.

On the other medical front, Earlier this week I had my appointment for my follow up MRI. I tell you, that was BRUTAL! I had to lay on a very hard table, that had NO padding (just the hard plastic table), for TWO hours!!! it really did suck. I was very stiff afterward and even though that was on monday, I'm still in a LOT of pain! My doctor is sending me to the pain management dr. which I'm not quite sure anything will come of that. He is the same dr. hubby goes to, and he doesn't do much for him. After 14 back surgeries and a LOT of pain, the dr. still will NOT give him pain medication. After his last major spinal surgery, the dr. gave him pain medication and a muscle relaxer, but only 10 pills of each and NO refills. The dr.'s here really do suck. there is such a big problem here with pain medication being abused, that it prevents the people who really  need it from getting it. They are even BANNING pain clinics in some parts of Kentucky now.
Well, anyways, I see the pain dr. next week and hopefully he can figure something out. My dr. didn't want to send me to physical therapy because they didn't have an "updated" mri and ct scan since the day of the accident, so that is one of the reasons why she sent me for new ones (in addition to the fact that on my last one, she saw something that she was worried about--I already had a slipped disc, but she said she saw something else and wanted to make sure it wasn't anything that has progressed since then, especially because my pain is continuing to get worse). She said as far as physical therapy, if she sent me without knowing what is going on with my spine and my neck, if they move me the wrong way, they can do severe damage. So, I am glad to be better safe than sorry, but I'm still really hurting and just wish someone would do something to help! I hate waiting/relying on others to get things done! That is one of my biggest pet peeves, relying on others to do what htey are supposed to do and them taking their sweet time.


Well, anyhow, enough medical stuff!!

I'm sure that some of you have noticed my new blog design! I'd like to thank 2 MOMS TALK from The Cutest Blog On the Block for this cute background! They have loads of free and paid (VERY CHEAP) backgrounds. I really liked this. it doesn't exactly "scream" spring, but it is a subtle representation of spring, which is great, cause the weather right now isn't exactly spring like. Sorta, but not completely. lol

Anyhow, sometimes, when I get a PIF (Pass it Forward) from one of my scrapbooking groups, often included is a "mini-card" as a thank you from the sender. So, I decided to make some mini cards of my own to include with the pifs that I send out. These are also great for including with gifts, or just sending to someone as a cute hello.

It took me just around 1 hour total to complete these cute mini cards... that included the time it took me to gather all the supplies (30 minutes just for that, because I'm SO picky!! LOL) and to make the actual card (doing the art, putting them together).

For the front, I used a butterfly stamp from the "Just Chillin, Girl" clear stamp set from Making Memories. This is part of the Blog Candy package that I won from my friend Holley when she had her month long blog candy contest! I really do like these stamps, though I'm not quite sure what to use a few of them for. Here is what they look like:

Maybe you can give me some ideas of what to use a few of these for...
the big ink splotch on the bottom left, I have no clue what I could use that for... I was thinking of making something altered, that is like "grunge" and using it as an ink spot, and then using the rim of a glass in some paper dye to make a glass ring stain. I can use some of the smaller splotches from the ink stamp to make ink drops all over. I really don't have any supplies for making something "vintage". I have a couple ink pads I could use, but as far as pics or post cards or anything, I don't have nothing "vintage". If you have something that is vintage, that I could make a "love" themed altered item out of (I wanna do something along the lines of love, vintage love note, something like that) then let me know (leave a comment and click "subscribe by email" before clicking submit of your comment, so that when I reply, you'll get the reply from me), we can work out some sort of trade or something.


I like the "e-mail me" stamp, it's really cute, but not sure how I'd use it. I guess I could put it inside the mini cards, letting my pif snagger know to e-mail me when she gets my pif?


I REALLY want a set of stamps that is something along the lines of "created by" or something like that. There is a you tube video that I saw, where a lady puts some stamped images like that on the last page of her albums that she makes. I'll show you some pics, if you happen to know where I can get something like this (or even these exact ones) PLEASE let me know! I am currently just signing the back of my items with my name and the year, but I'd like to be able to put a nice stamp on them! Here are 2 of the ones she uses:  

Aren't those cute? I'd like something like that!

Well anyhow, I guess I should just get to it, huh? I'm sorry for babbling on. LOL I'm just layin' here in bed chillin' trying to relax with my upset tummy, and keep myself company. lol here are the cute mini cards I made!

Don't these just SCREAM SPRING? for the butterfly, I used it from the Just Chillin' set I linked to above. I used my big embossy pad and some glittered embossing powder to make the butterflies. You can't see the glitter very well from the pic, but it's definitely glittered! I used an assortment of paper, I don't know all the brand names because they are a mixture of deco paper and deco cardstock that I received from pifs in my groups. I do know that the last cards shown above, the background cardstock (little rows of dots and flowers) is DCVW cardstock. I am pretty sure that the first row is DCVW cardstock as well, but I'm not positive about that. The middle cards, the background is either ADT paper or basic gray, I don't remember for sure which stack I got it from since I don't have the top and bottom covers of the stack anymore.

For the inking of the edges of the butterfly embellishment I used my colorbox stacks to just distress the edges and make them pop off the page. I used an assortment of fiber and ribbon from my STASH. Nothing was actually "purchased" to make these cards. :) 

For an hour (technically 30 minutes--since that was all the "crafting" time it took to make these) these came out really cute. I am going to make some more this weekend so I have quite a few on hand. I might even make some to list on my group for pifs to let others snag :)

Well, I hope that you've enjoyed seeing my mini cards. I have to go eat something and take my medicine, but I'll be back in about an hour or two with another post to show you some other cards I've made!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day... if you're outside somewhere enjoying some sunshine, enjoy a little extra for me! ;)

Keep on Scrappin' and please, be kind to one another.

~Melisa Marie