UGH! Pinch me! I think I’m awake.

I hope I’m not, but I’m pretty sure I am. Its another dental nightmare.

PLEASE-if you are putting off taking your kids to the dentist DON’T. I don’t care if you legs are falling off-don’t go through what I am.

OK so in one of my posts, I went on how I was FINALLY taking the kids to the dentist-that I wasn’t going to let myself feel bad for NOT taking them in 2 years because all our family had going on.

Alexa was the only one who has been before. When Noah turned of age-Alexa got cancer, and blah, blah, blah, a million excuses later, that amount to nothing.

Well now I feel like the WORST parent in the world! I wanted to die when I heard the “news”.

So we take the kids. Who ALL were totally AWESOME! The dental people ROCKED!!! OMG! I was so happy with the way they did things with them.

Amber was just so good-especially for a 3yo! I did take my camera but it died right there! That was a huge sign. A sign I would want NO documented PROOF of what a horrible parent I am.

Amber got a clean bill of health! YEAH! One kid-good. She did the x-rays like a PRO!

Alexa-only got an exam. Due to her counts and chemo tomorrow. She couldn’t get x-rays either, because in case the slides cut the inside of her mouth it could result in a serious infection. She will ahve one in 2 weeks-count dependent. She also has thrush from all the daily antibiotics she is on to fight her own germs! FUN!

She has one “possible” cavity that they want to put a Veneer on. That is HUNDREDS of dollars, out of pocket! But its a permanent tooth, and in the FRONT! So worth it in the end. Also not bad considering people with DS have little enamel, and she has had MONTHS -(yes I said months) where I could NOT brush her teeth due to severe mouth sores from her chemo-she drinks LOTS of water and doesn’t eat allot of candy, so that saved her! I have no guilt with her cause I seriously did my best, given her situation.

Oh now for the KICKER!

NOAH-

He was the cutest, sweetest, funniest kid getting his cleaning. Just awesome.

I had a inkling Noah had a cavity at the bottom right. He complained Sunday-so I immediately made an appointment.

Um yeah can you say FIVE!!! Yes FIVE CAVITIES!!!

2 being very deep! one in his front baby teeth!

Let me say before I go on, I also help the kids brush their teeth so I am just astonished by this.

WHAT!

How does a 5 yo get that many cavities?

Believe me-I make my kids brush their teeth at least twice a day. There is a very occasional morning that the bus arrives a little too early and it doesn’t get done, but first thing when they get home, those suckers are scrubbed.

Myself having dental woes never wanted my kids to.

Anyway-Noah has to go back, in 2 weeks and the the child equivalent of 2 route canals!

SHOOT ME PLEASE!! The poor kid. All because I put off taking him to the dentist till I had to.

OMG! He is going to HATE the dentist forever. Its going to cost a small fortune too. Since insurance doesn’t cover much for route canals, nor the Nitrous! Which for a kid I totally dont understand.

I’m glad I didn’t get my stuff fixed so I can pay to get him all fixed up first.

Oh look at all my ((!!!!!!)). Can you tell Im freaking out?

Anyway-I chalk it up to drinking too much juice-too many gummy candies, and now I have a TON of guilt.

I could seriously cry.

Even though I did clean their teeth, I bribe them during our tough moments with candy, and now look.

They are paying the price.

What kind of parent does that make me?

Who does that? What an awful thing I have done to Noah.

Sorry to go off, Im just at such an emotional crisis.

I know I have been through worse, but I feel like those things I had no control over, I certainly have control over letting my kids get gummy treats as a reward, AND taking them to the dentist.

They did say it could just be his system harbors more bacteria but c’mon!

OK I need to go.

If you are still reading this thanks for listening, and sorry for the endless ramble.

OK by my title you are probably thinking “WHAT on earth is Lauren blabbering about now?”

I am stepping out of the box a little (for me), trying a new technique, and doing a different style of card.

Just so you know, I AM capable of transforming my style into whatever I want, its just not often that I feel the need to mix it up! But today I mixed away.

Well, I have a NEW product to share with you all. New to me anyway.

I “showcased” the product by making my card all old, distressed, and collagey, with a REAL OLD set-Garden Collage. There is the ” old” part.

 Beautiful Butterfly Collage

This was a SU! Sell-A-Bration set at least 2 years ago. So ANCIENT to me! LOL! I got it not long after I started stamping. It had a butterfly so I fell in love with it.

I heated my gold ribbon, to make it curl. I stamped the main image in vellum, and layered onto patterned paper by Prima. I used my sewing machine to stitch around the edges. I sponged the edges, and added some gold cardstock as well.

It picks up the gold in the butterfly.

Notice my GORGEOUS-POP OFF THE PAGE-GLIMMERY-3D butterfly of beauty?

How could you not right? The butterfly is popped off the page.

But what makes it have that special look?

Well I made the butterfly using a product called Fantasy Film.

It’s the coolest thing ever.

It was bought in place of what my friend thought was Bling paper. Can’t blame them, its very close looking.

After getting it I found I didn’t have the correct things to use it :C BUMMER! So off to the store I went, to get what I needed.

Here is what you need to do to use Fantasy Film

A stamp 😀

You need the Fantasy Film-DUH! It cost $7.00 for the roll you see here. Comes in several colors like clear iridescent white, pinkish, greenish—-and thats all they had. May come in other colors-not sure.

NOTE: You need to cut and layer the film over the stamped image, 3 times. (see the 3 pieces)

A permanent ink such as StazOn or Pallette ink.

A Iron. I use Heidi Swapp’s ribbon iron-works like a charm 😀

Most importantly, a nonstick layer! I got the non stick craft mat-shown in photo. It was $10. has many uses, especially if you use your heat gun frequently.

Here is what you do:

1) Ink your stamp with permanent ink. Place stamp ink side up.

2) Cut/layer film over stamped image 3-4 times.

3) Place non stick parchment paper or Craft mat over film that covers stamp.

4) Place iron on mat, and rub in circles for about 30+ seconds. Depending on your iron.

5) Take iron off image, remove mat, and now you have your inked/melted fantasy film image!

6) Trim out image, and design card as desired.

COOL huh?

The process is actually very fast-after you get it down.

The more solid the lines  the image has the better the look you get.

I have a butterfly from a set, (not used yet) and it looks great.

AND I tested it on Acrylic stamps! Oh I was petrified!!!! But it worked. I am not saying I endorse YOU doing it, nor am I going to claim responsibility if it doesn’t work for you, but I personally had no problem using it with a Papertrey Ink set. You will see that sample soon.

Also the film mets, and morphs into a variety of colors. The more it mels the more it morph’s. Pretty cool look!

I hope you give me your feedback on this product if you get a chance!

Till tomorrow.

to your nearest Michaels.

On a shopping excursion to M’s, I was browsing the dollar spot, and-right next to it, found these babies!

Look familiar?

Well, if you are saying DUH! Its says right on the package Decorative Accents-that obviously go in your candle holder/vase’s then you are SO WRONG!

These are JUST like the Robin’s Nest Dew Drops! I mean EXACTLY! same size and everything. Only for an entire bag of these you will only pay $3.99!!

I was tipped off to these during my blog browsing (which is not very often :C), so if you know who originally made this find-post it here!

I had to see for myself. YUP! They are exactly the same.

You see I got the pink/purple variety, green variety, and clear-so I can use my Copic marker’s to color them whatever color I want 😀 They also had a blue variety. No need for that.

Now the bag was rather big, and was NOT with the plant/vase stuff. It was near where you buy decorative home greenery, on an end cap!

So I wondered  HOW I could store these.

As you can see in the above photo, I used a old SU! plastic stamp case. I didn’t want to mix them up, so I did this

I simply measured my case size. Then cut cardstock a bit longer (about 4 inches longer) in length. Scored it, with my Scor-Pal, to make divider’s that fit it inside!

The dividers are scored at (for example) 2-3-4 then again at 6-7-8. This gives you the mountain you need to support the weight of the beads, and keep them separate! Your measurements will vary depending on case size and how many packages of bead thingy’s you purchase.

Just put a bit on adhesive on the bottom of the divider before you place it in. Add beads-DONE!

Cool huh?

I have an INSANELY busy day today, so hope to post some eye candy later.

I have alot to share this week, so stay tuned 😀

INCLUDING a cool product I NEVER heard of before. You are going to want to see it.

HINT-its shines, and changes color.

 Now I know you want to know what it is 😀

Till then.