Ties That Bind Raffle is going on!

You can visit the Ties that Bind blog
or go directly to the raffle spot by clicking on the picture button below:



Here is some of the auction info:

"It was one year ago that we began this project. Everyone pitched in with their art. Now it's time to pitch in againby donating and spreading the news!Remember this is a tax deductible donation! Give big. Give often.If we can get 500 people to donate $20 over the next 4 months we will raise $10,000.How awesome would that be???????We can do this. If everyone here gets just 6 people to donate $20.....we can go beyond that goal!
THAT IS ONLY 6 PEOPLE DONATING PER ARTIST.

Tickets are 1 for $5 or 6 for $20

We would like to announce that Scrapbook Royalty will be hosting the Ties That Bind Art Doll raffle this summer.Donating will be sweet, simple AND tax deductible! Scrapbook Royalty....It's not just for scrap booking anymore.

Scrapbook Royalty is dedicated to raising money and awareness for worthy causes. 100% of the money raised by participants, silent auctions, and raffles is donated directly to charities. Scrapbook Royalty will not collect any fees from Ties That Bind. All money raised by the Ties That Bind raffle will be sent to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund http://www.ocrf.org/ . Scrapbook Royalty is a non profit organization based in San Diego, CA and run by founder Elena Etcheverry with help from volunteers.

Scrapbook Royalty has held fundraisers, raffles and auctions for many worthy causes.

We've had a few people tell us that they would prefer not to purchase raffle tickets because *after all that is a big doll and I just don't have a place for her*....Well, you if you also feel that way you can just make a Donation ONLY.

When you click the donation button and sign into PayPal there will be a link that says:

+add special instructions to the seller

Just click on that and type in Donation Only - No tickets. That way no raffle ticket numbers will be assigned to your name and you have still contributed towards our goal of raising $10,000."


If you would like, you can see a gallery of photos of the doll. My charms are both in the picture that is used in the raffle button above. If you care to read my thought process, this is the link to where I posted about it right after finishing the charms. Here are my photos of the charms before I sent them on their way.

Sorry, I'm not been posting much

There are some posts that I want to get done, but just haven't yet due to time and computer constraints. The Ties that Bind auction is going on. Please check it out by clicking on the button at the side. I've been meaning to blog about that with pictures and links to the auction and the blog, but since the auction site has lots of photos, it was just taking a long time to try to do it at home with dialup internet speed. I can take my laptop to work and do it there, but I've been forgetting to do it once I'm at work. Think that is because when I'm at the hospital all I can think about then is the fact that I won't be working there much longer and how sad it is that the hospital is closing down entirely. That is what I am most upset about. Moving onto another job is kind of scary(ok, for me, really scary!) but the reality of this hospital no longer being in operation is hard to grasp.

To get back to the auction topic, the awesome doll that was made and being raffled off has been photographed and will be published in a Somerset publication, I think, and also in a book that is being printed to raise more money for the worthy cause of ovarian cancer research. I will do my best to get more detailed info on here soon.

I also have some pics from last weekends showers for baby Thomas that I could post, but I've not gotten around to that either. I am definitely not in the best frame of mind these days for many reasons. Father's Day has hit me harder than I thought it would. Since Dad's disease had made him not really be there as far as his mind the last few years, I thought I had probably already dealt with the Father's Day issue, but I guess not totally so.

Will be going up to train some on my "off" days from this job at the end of this week at the new job, so I'll not have much leisure time this week. So glad we got to go camping when we did. We had tentatively planned to go this week as we would not have chickens for Kerry to look after(they are catching them today), but will have to wait for a better time. It would have been really hot anyway, I guess.

Again, my apologies for lack of posting and any pictures. I will hope that better days are ahead.

Baby showers for little Thomas

Here is a still shot from the ultrasound of Thomas Jeffery, showing his sweet profile. As of a little over a week ago he already weighed approximately 4 lb. 11 oz. His measurements are ahead of where he should be in relation to the due date, August 9, so the doctor said he might be born a little earlier. All along with my pregnancies with my 2 dd's I measured bigger than I should but they were both late. They were just big babies. Emily weighed 8 lb. 13 oz, 22 1/2 inches long and Holly was 10 lb 5 oz, 23 1/2 in. long. We decided that was big enough and called it quits.

We've been busy this weekend with baby showers. Craig's family in Heflin, Alabama had a shower for them Saturday evening and then our family had one today here in West Point. They were blessed with so many lovely gifts. Thomas is going to be one well-dressed little fellow! Such cute outfits they have for boys now! Can't wait to see him! All in good and proper time. The only sad spot in the festivities was missing Holly. They filmed the showers though and Craig is supposed to be fixing it up so Holly can watch them. Emily and Craig gave Holly a webcam and hope to be able to get one themselves so Holly can watch Thomas over the internet after he gets here. That is one great thing about the internet, how it helps bring us closer together.

Now I'm praying that my work schedule will work out so I can be there. With changing new jobs, I'm going to have to swap weeks in my work rotation from what I am working now, meaning, if my schedule remains as it is now, I'll work 7 days in a row at Woodland and then immediately begin my 7 days on at Hartselle. My transfer is going through for me to work at this other hospital owned by the corporation I presently work for. It is not too much farther than I drive now, in the county just north of us. We keep hearing rumors that our corporation will be closing this hospital next, but then who knows!?! The employees will always be the last to find out, that much I know for sure. I figure at least it will buy me some time to get some bills paid off and be getting my resume updated.

I've still not gotten my head around the fact that the hospital is going to be closed down. It just seems surreal. I mean if I had left my job there in normal circumstances, the hospital itself would still have been there to go back to. Some coworkers would remain to visit. Going through this process is like waiting on a death that you know is inevitable and just as difficult. Each time one of my coworkers leaves it is like we've cut off a part of the body. Then we are going to reach the moment where, as in a code, the end is pronounced and those of us left have to accept the death and walk away.

I've been mad and sad, sometimes within just a few minutes of each other. Some of the literature that was handed to us the day we were told of the hospital's sale and closing was supposed to be about helping you deal with all the emotions to come. An "expert" who had written it warned that you might find yourself blaming your family, coworkers, or supervisors and offered suggestions for coping. I find this sadly laughable. I think we all know where blame can be placed and I know exactly where to direct my anger. I'm just going to have to learn how to let it go. It will not do me any good nor change the course of events. Greed and the love of money will remain as the root of evil that is feeding our corporations. Lots more I can say along this subject, but perhaps it is best left for another day.

I know this post has been up and then down, but that is my life right now. I have so much to be thankful for and am richly blessed in so many ways. Then there are the difficult and sad times that have come my way, some happening right along side the happy. Such is life I suppose.

Post #2-remainder of art deck cards

King hearts-windows theme


Queen hearts-Alice in Wonderland theme


Jack hearts-furry friends theme


Ten hearts-ocean theme


Nine hearts-sewing theme


Eight hearts-use ribbon


Seven hearts-use colors orange, lime, raspberry

Here are the remainder of the cards. Sorry some of the scans are not the best, but the cards and the holder are still in the possession of the publishing company. Not sure when they will find their way home again.

I want to also post sometimes the art project I tried while on our camping trip. Needless to say I've not been in the mood to do any art this week with the upcoming closing of the hospital.

Post #1-my art deck cards

Six hearts-Vision theme


Five Hearts-Numbers theme


Four hearts-Birds theme


Three hearts-Specimen theme


2 Hearts-Journey theme


Ace hearts-Time theme

These are part of the cards I made and sent in for the collaborative book. I only have the hearts suite done so far. I do plan to try to do all the others just for the fun of it and already have the folders laid out to make to hold them. As I mentioned last post, each card had a theme. I'll show part of them in this post and do another for the others. I couldn't share any of them until the book was published. As it turned out, the main focus of the book was not on the individual art, but the project itself and how it was done. Since you could only see the first card, I thought I'd show you the others.

Publication pictures and tentative good news

These are scans of the book by L.K. Ludwig, the cover shown above, in which some of my work was published. My first time in print, yay! The book is about collaborative art projects and mine was part of a group effort, Magpie Arts, whose work is shown below. The objective of our project was to complete 5x7" cards representing each of a deck of playing cards with each card being assigned a theme. These were not for a swap, but to keep for yourself. The idea being to see what each person came up with for the theme and to share the art online. I joined the group late so I was behind most of them. At the time the work was submitted for publication, I had only the hearts suite done. We were to make some type of holder for either the entire deck of cards or, as in my case, something for each suite. I decided on making a box whose top would have some type of roof shape to it, each different. Of course, I've not finished any of the others yet, but hope to one day. I have the cardboard cut out and ready to assemble for each "house". For the house of hearts, the roof is arched. It is in the scan at the bottom. My work ended up being featured in a different section of the book than the group art. As a matter of fact,my name is not even mentioned in the write-up about the group's project or even, unfortunately, by the picture of my house of hearts book with the cards inside. I contacted the publisher and heard back from them that hopefully this will be corrected in future printings of the book, the next of which will be done very soon. But I have to say I was bummed out that my copy does not have my name.

Overall the book is very lovely. Lots of wonderful art of all kinds is included. My piece was moved from the group pages to a section near the front about different ways art projects can be presented. L.K. seemed to think that was when my name was left off the caption.

In the good news department and in reference to my last post, I think I have a job position secured at Hartselle Hospital working the same shift that I am here. This will be a transfer, so that I will be able to maintain my benefits, vacation and sick days. I've nothing in writing yet, so it's not for sure and certain. Please continue praying that this will work out and that all employees here will be able to find other jobs.

In shock this morning

I just got calls from friends at work that our hospital is being closed next month, July 15th. I'm off work right now, but there are employee meetings being held today, so I'll be going in at 3pm for one to find out more. I'm posting here so that those of you who believe in prayer will be praying for the employees losing their jobs to be able to find new ones. Most of the nurses will probably be ok, as there are more nursing jobs, just maybe not as close to home, but other departments will be more hard-pressed to find jobs, especially in this economy. Lab jobs are not easy to come by so those of us who are left in the lab may not all find work in our field anyway.

I've had suspicions from some things that have been happening, but there have always been rumors surrounding our hospital and it's closing since it is the smaller of 2 hospitals in our county, so it was hard to know whether to believe them or not. As a matter of fact, we've been bought by the other hospital, thus eliminating any choices as far as hospital care in this area. There are rumors that it may be opened up later as a rehab center or something like that, but immediate plans are just for our hospital to be closed.

Again, just be praying for all those involved to be able to find jobs. I will have to have one, as my dh is self-employed, and so we need my income as well as the health insurance. I've been at this hospital for 28 years so it has been a long time since I've looked for a job.