Paper Bouquet

Whew! It's been a busy week so far, with no end in sight. I realized rather late in the day yesterday that I had yet to make my StampinB DT sample card for this week's new challenge on Thursday. Oops! Tried to kick-start my mojo, but it wouldn't even turn over, so I had to go forward with a card that is rather, well, . . . blah. If you choose to spend any of your precious time taking it in, you'll see it tomorrow. But don't say I didn't warn you that it is underwhelming!

On Monday, my neighbor M (with whom I share elementary school a.m. carpooling/kidwalking duties) called to let me know that another of our neighbors K, a mom of two elementary school kids, had been hospitalized on Sunday. Apparently K had been working at her computer at home and the left side of her body suddenly started going numb. Her husband took her to a local urgent care center and from there she was transported by ambulance to one of the big teaching hospitals in Boston. After an endless battery of tests, doctors still don't know what has caused her symptoms. It looks like she will be kept in the hospital until the cause has been pinpointed. Very scary for her and her family. M has organized meals for the family this week (I'm taking homemade chicken and wild rice soup with a loaf of homemade bread over after school today), but I wanted to do a little something for the patient, too. So yesterday I put together a small care package to send along to K: a get well card, a book of word searches (to help fill the time), a pretty note pad and matching pen (to help keep her organized), and a little bouquet of paper flowers (to help cheer her room).
I feel bad that what I was able to scrape together wasn't much. Certainly real flowers would have been much better (but on the upside, these are easy to transport and won't require water). But I hope that it will let K know that we are thinking of her and pulling for her recovery.

I saw a tutorial for these flowers on the October Afternoon blog yesterday. I thought they were adorable and immediately knew that they would be perfect for K's care package. I wish that I'd had more time to practice them a bit first, because these first attempts were not nearly as nice as the OA samples. Now I know that I it's OK to leave gaps between the flower petals. I tried to make mine all line up so they were touching, but that left an awkward open gap that I filled as an afterthought, making them look a little dopey. Live and learn, right? Next time I'll have it all down pat. :) In the meantime, I'm entering these in this week's Florals Challenge at Tuesday Throwdown.

In other news, my dear SCS/blogging friend Brenda (aka Benzi) is sponsoring some fantastic blog candy this month over on her blog Benzi Stampz. Just take a look at the loot she has up for grabs. For details on how to enter, please see this post on her blog. Good luck!

Well, that does it for this Wednesday. I'm off to deliver kids to school and then start my chicken/wild rice soup. Have a good one!

Emily

Project Recipe:
Stamps: TAC
Paper: Crate Paper DP
Ink: Palette noir black
Accessories: EK 1.25" and 1.5" circle punches, SU large tag punch, buttons from my stash, sewing machine, Caribbean baker's twine from The Twinery, pipe cleaners