January RAK at Paperthreads

For those of you who aren't aware, some of the folks at Paperthreads have been sending cards as a RAK for those in need of a little pick me up! You may have heard about this one from Shirley already, but if not...

I'm so glad I get to share the person chosen for the January feature with you! I've known Aidan for many years, but have been separated by geography. I had the great opportunity to meet back up with him this fall.

I met Aidan when he was about 4 months old. Both his parents, Don & Darii, were in the Air Force with me in Alaska. Aidan had some "birthmarks" that became more noticable over time, and was finally diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1). NF-1 is a tumor disorder caused by a gene malfunction. It is associated with bone problems, cafe au lait spots (or "birthmarks"), and occassionally causes cancer.

Aidan started having problems using the bathroom when he was about 2 1/2 years old and was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma in February 2005. The bathroom problems were because his tumor was blocking his bladder. His family had to move urgently, as they didn't have the treatment centers needed for chemotherapy in Alaska. Don & Darii also found out that the baby they were carrying (Seth) had congenital heart disease and would need multiple surgeries shortly after birth, so the move needed to be somewhere with cardiothoracic surgical specialists as well. Aidan went through a year of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery and was tumor free for almost 3 years.

He had a local recurrence of the rhabdomyosarcoma in July 2008, again making it difficult to use the bathroom. This time the surgery involved removing his bladder and forming an ostomy, then he started another series of chemotherapy which ran from July 2008 to July 2009.



Through it all, Aidan, his brother and sister (Seth & Rachel), and Don & Darii have been troopers (I guess Aidan might say "Storm Troopers", since he is obsessed with Star Wars). Their faith has remained steadfast and they have served as an inspiration for others, sharing their experience (and struggles) on his Caring Bridge site.

I am told by Don & Darii that Aidan LOVES to get mail (don't all 7 year olds?), so I can't wait to hear about his reaction when he gets all these cards.

Shirley Clark has all the details on her blog HERE. You can also email her at shirley_clark@paperthreads.com to find out where to send your cards. She does ask that they be postmarked before January 29th!

If you have someone you would like featured for February, please send Shirley an email! A feature needs to be someone who needs cheering up. Maybe the person has lost a spouse, lost a loved pet, been in an accident, best friend moved away, found out they have a disease, etc.

Let's get organized!

Okay, so I admit it! (that's the first step, right?) My scrap room is disorganized! I am trying to get back on track so I can use my things again...and first of, I wanted to get the ends of my Copic ciao markers labeled. I created a pdf with the numbers of each marker (in pretty tiny font - about 8 pt) and tried playing around with what media to print it out onto.
My first try was on the Georgia Pacific Cardstock I plan to use for stamping...but the cap on the markers has a little bit of a "domed" shape to it and the cardstock just couldn't mold correctly.
Take two was a sheet of waterproof polyester label designed for the laser printer. Ugggh! First of all it left "shadows" all the way down the printout even with the printer set to "label" so the fuser would be hot. I figured I'd try punching them out anyway...well, that was strike two for the label...it didn't punch evenly, in fact it "stretched" and tore around the edges.
I decided to settle for plain ole printer paper. Punched out the 144 circles, and used tacky glue to apply to the ends of the caps. Now I tried to be consistent and glue to the cap at the chisel end of every marker...but nobody's perfect...I think I have 3 or 4 on the brush ends, oh well! I swiped across the paper circle with the marker itself, so I have a little bit of an idea what the color actually looks like. Not as perfect a match as on cardstock, but good enough for me!
Here's a close-up of the yummy Copic goodness...


I think I'll try storing the markers in this Magpie cabinet that I picked up earlier this year at Big Lots for $3. I found that cutting a sheet of 8.5 inch chipboard in half fit nicely at a diagonal to divide the box into two halves for different color families.


How about you? What's your first mini goal for the New Year?

I'm finally playing with my Copics!

I got the Copic Ciao markers for Christmas and finally had a chance to get them out and play. I was coloring the Swiss Pixies Santa Birgitta stamp by CC Designs.

I tried two different ways of coloring using the same recipe...(btw...that's one of my next projects, to label the ends of the Ciao markers themselves!)


Here's my first take...

And then another version...

I think I like the second one best...it reminds me of my DD's round little tummy (especially after Christmas dinner!) What do you think?