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Hey all! Happy Thursday to you. Today you will find me working on birth announcement designs for a client...time to flex those illustration muscles! Yesterday my chainlink cards were featured on Etsy Love. Click the link to check out the post. How exciting! It's a neat website that showcases some of the blogger's favorite Etsy finds and categorizes them. It's a great blog to peruse and possibly find that gem of an item you've been looking for! Have a great day everyone!
Hello! Happy belated Valentine's day...I'm pretty low key about the day, so I didn't feel like posting about it. For those who have been following along with my drama of trying to conceive: It was also the day that we met with our Reproductive Endocrinologist to find out the results of my seemingly thousands of blood tests. Most everything (the possible blood clotting disorders and things like that) came back normal (yay!) But they found one thing. I have a genetic mutation called the MTHFR C677T mutation. The genetic polymorphisms of MTHFR C677T are associated with unexplained recurrent early spontanous abortion. (early miscarriages). My RE believes that this is what has been causing my losses. A large percentage of the population has at least one mutation (inherited). I have 2 mutations since I inherited one from my Mom and one from my Dad. This is a lot more rare. This is also reminding me of Sophomore Biology class...
Anyway, apparently it is linked with risk for cardiovascular disease and blood clots in the veins. Grrrrreeeeaaaaaat. So, as I understand it, they have to check my homocysteine levels each year to make sure they aren't too high (thus causing clots and possible hardening of the arteries in the future). The mutation (if you have 2) is also possibly linked to episodes of depression (which I battle) and possibly to migraines. What do you do to help matters you ask? Well, I have to take a simple prescribed supplement with a TON of extra folic acid and vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. I will have to take it daily for the rest of my life. Now that I'm trying to have a child, I also have to take a prenatal vitamin along with it (just to give me even MORE of aforementioned vitamins). I've already been taking them daily, but I guess it wasn't nearly enough for me. These will supposedly keep the levels of homocysteine down. I guess the mutation causes my body not to process those particular vitamins properly and thus I need 4 times more than the normal person. Not having enough Folic acid can cause birth defects/problems with an early pregnancy hence the miscarriages.
Sorry for all the scientific talk, but I thought it would help for anyone else going through something similar. Overall, it's a simple fix that SUPPOSEDLY should help me keep a pregnancy with me in the future. We shall see. I'm always tired, so I'm happy that I'm taking tons of extra B12 now. It should give me my energy I always seem to lack (a nice side effect!) I'm happy that's all they found (well, that and my slight t-shape I mentioned in an earlier post) and that it's treatable. So, Valentine's Day brought us some much-awaited and prayed-for answers. That beats out chocolates any day. Despite a few obstacles, it looks like the future for a wee one is looking much more bright. And now, back to our regularly artsy posts...
My new favorite blog to read is Design for Mankind. It features lots of great eye candy for people like me who are thirsty for visual inspiration all the time. What I like about her blog is she features lots of great artists and creators that I might not have ever seen on my own. Each is unique and interesting and always with amazing work! Her recent endeavor was to pull together an E-Zine with inspiration as the topic. It was so fun to page through it and get a peek into the inspired world of others. Another cool thing (my favorite!) she has launched is called "The Dailies" where she features a day in the life of a favorite artist/designer. It's neat to get a "behind the scenes" view of how others work (and makes me feel better about working in my jammies sometimes). Great work and congrats to her...I will continue to be an avid reader!
Hello everyone! After meeting some major design and print deadlines, I took yesterday off to recoup (after working through 2 weekends in a row). Today I will do a small bit of work...but I will also be sure to have some relaxing time too! The other day I mentioned some freehand illustration work I did from memory to create some child-like drawings with a sea theme. After drawing several sea creatures, my client chose a starfish and a seahorse to star in her projects. Her friend threw her a baby shower and wanted the invitation to relate to the birth announcement (which was already being designed). But she didn't want to TOTALLY make it the same, so we changed up the colors. Overall, they related together but still felt different enough. I took the seahorse and put him on the baby's stationery...with a rope-pull tugging the baby's name...much like an airplane pulling a sign across the sky. In the end, we were all pleased.
These were not letterpressed...they were traditionally flat printed and ended up being quite affordable which is always a good thing! I hope you all have a great weekend! I'll be back Monday with a new notecard design!
Today I got my new printer. It's an Epson 3800 and I finally have a reliable way to print professionally on my own (when flat printing is needed). Now I just need my husband to come home so he can help me lift it onto my desk. I've just removed lots of clutter to make room for it and am excited to try it out! Not much new going on to report as I've been very busy with wedding mania. It's a busy flurry of activity, which is good. I've noticed it is hard to keep track of and remember everyone's little details. I keep a folder for each client and put all the notes and emails for their project in there and somehow I still manage to feel overwhelmed by information. One tip that helps is a list (whether on a chalk board or notepad) that breaks projects down by chunks. It shows what I need to be working on NOW (not the things I need to do later). Taking things one bite at a time can really help keep confusion to a minimum and keep things more organized. I check in with myself a few times a day to keep things updated and moving. And then, that night, I make a new list for tomorrow! For fun, here's a picture of Maren as she waits outside of my office one evening. She wanted so badly to come in...just peering in at me with a sad face. She kept glancing up at the door handle knowing it may have well been a mile over her head. She's so small she can barely see in the first lowest window pane. hee hee...
Not much new going on here! Just working and the same ol' stuff. We've been cleaning up the house as we prepare for a friend to visit; I can't wait! I found out that I will be finding out the results from all my blood tests, etc. on Valentine's Day. So, I'll be really excited to know if anything is going on or not within my blood/chromosomes. So, I'll be sure to let you all know then what we find out. As I write this, Maren is running around with a new little fleece stuffed dog toy that is a mini slipper. She's in love with it and I'm happy that it's keeping her busy. She keeps proudly trotting around the house as she makes it squeak...then she violently shakes it...then she lays down lovingly with it to snuggle. This dog is too cute. I hope you all have a great weekend and I'll be sure to show some more recent work next week. Be well!
I'm sick! I've got the killer cold that's going around. Blaaahhhhhhh. So, things are on hold today while I hack and cough and sneeze... I hope everyone is doing well today; I'll be back soon with some more design stuff. Today's pic is of Maren as she patiently looks at me from my office door.
Hello everyone! Things are still busy over here. For the past while I've been working on some exciting projects. A major stationery/card company had approached me and asked me to do some freelance design work for them. Of course, I jumped at the chance. So, I've spent lots of time brainstorming, sketching, and trying to articulate what my brain sees into actual designs. This has always been my dream and its actually happening. I keep having to pinch myself. Sometimes I worry that a lot of what I like, the company might not want since it may not be right for their brand. But I know that all I can do is my best and just see what happens. In the meantime, I'm loving it! I've also got work of my own in regards to birth announcements and weddings so I find I'm having to juggle lots of little things...and that's a great way to keep my mind focused and off the roller-coaster of my journey to have a child. One thing I've learned though: never let work become your respite or focus of distraction. It turns work into more stress than it already is. And soon, you wonder where the fun in your life went. This is particularly true for those who work for themselves doing their passion. While it is ok to have fun with your job or hobby, remember to take time out for just plain non-hobby or non-job-related fun. (sledding, movies, shopping, dancing, dinner, sewing lessons, singing lessons just for fun...whatever...)It will revive you and refresh you when it matters...and keeps life from becoming the same ol' thing day in and day out. I need to remember this all the time, and want to make this concept a bigger priority this year (once I get through these deadlines I have).
For today's pic I thought I'd show you a few inspiration wires that hang in the corner of my office. I'm making use of a little corner behind a chair...thought it would be more interesting than just hanging one framed picture. And this way, I get to easily change it whenever I want. Hope everyone is having a great day...I'll be back tomorrow with some more design-y things I've been up to.
Hello! Well, the doctor who did the procedure on me yesterday called me back. He couldn't give me specifics since he's not officially MY doctor. But, here's some quotes of what he said:
1. "generally speaking, women with a t-shaped uterus have poor pregnancy outcomes"
2. "many women with the t-shape go on to eventually have a healthy viable baby
3. "many miscarriages before 10 weeks aren't because of the t-shape...the t-shape tends to cause later miscarriages" (this did not feel good to hear at all!!)
4. "looking at YOUR x-rays, I would say you have a slight t-shape. It's there, but not bad. I've seen much worse cases. I would guess that you should have a positive outcome at some point. Of all the t-shapes, this one is a better one to have."So, I guess it's not all bad news. It's possible. I will find out more details in a few weeks when I get to meet with my actual RE to go over all the numerous results from all my testing. The bottom line is: I have to keep trying. And there's nothing I can do to control the outcome except for trying to relax and not obsess (that's a knee-slapper).
This next project was for a client as a gift to his wife for Christmas. They were small folded notecards using his requested scallop shell as a motif with her name on the bottom. Very simple, printed with blue ink on 100% cotton Crane's Lettra letterpress paper. He emailed me to say that the cards were a hit, so I'm glad it worked out! The simple designs seem to be a bit in fashion right now. I am currently working on some designs for generic folded notecards that have more interesting designs on them as a change of pace and more fun for me. But I'm buried with work lately (a good problem!) so my personal projects for sale have been a bit on hold. I'll talk more about that tomorrow! Have a great day everyone!
Hello! Well, holy hell... today's test hurt so badly. UGH! It seemed like it was ok during the procedure...just very uncomfortable. But the pain I felt afterward had me in some tears and a bit of writhing and gnashing of teeth ensued. I feel much better now and am happy it's done. The doc there at the hospital said my tubes are free-flowing and clear! No blockages or issues there. But (of course there's a "but") my uterus is "a bit T-shaped." (his words). He went on to say "But it shouldn't be too much of a problem." Well, I hadn't realized it COULD be a problem. So, of course I got home and googled it...and didn't see much by way of good news for the condition. It seems, though, to explain the ectopic pregnancy and miscarriages. So after a lot of tears and stress, I've left a message with my RE hoping she would call me back once she gets the official results from the hospital...rather than me waiting a few weeks to see her in person. I'd like to be able to, you know, SLEEP tonight knowing what she thinks in terms of MY situation. Googling OTHER people's situations doesn't help because their "T" might be more "T-like" than mine. Or perhaps their uterus looked more like some other letter of the alphabet...or a wingding symbol you get when you hit lots of key combinations together on the computer. I know I shouldn't panic when I don't know the details. But that's why I panic. And I can't help it. So that's that. We'll see what happens!
The pics above are of some stationery I made for my Mom for Christmas. Growing up her nickname in her family was "queen bee" since she was the only little girl amongst many boy cousins her same general age. So her stationery has a bee at the top. I know it's obvious, but only to her I think. I'll be back tomorrow with more design fun!
Hello! Sorry I've been so absent! It's been hard finding the time to update while watching a wild puppy and get my work done. I just took a bunch of pictures of some recent work so I can use them through the week and update more regularly. We are having a Nor'easter snow storm right now and we are absolutely buried! Again! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine had a little bit of work and a little bit of fun mixed in. My husband and I went to see Juno...I loved it. He thought it was ok. I found it to be touching and funny...though not quite as funny as I thought it would be. I also went out with friends Saturday night into Boston for dinner, drinks, and some dancing. It's been so long since I've been to a club...and I had a lot of fun. Definitely not something I could do several times a week like back when. I have no idea where I got the energy for going out all the time back then. It must have come from some secret energy reserve I don't know about...if only I could tap into it now and fuel my car for much less money. I spent Sunday recuperating from Saturday night and I also spent the day catching up on a bunch of work I had intended to do on Saturday. The pics above are from some flat notecard stationery I made for my mother-in-law for Christmas. I know she wanted an Irish theme to the card and something simple, so that's what I did for her.
Tomorrow I have the HSG test with a reproductive endocrinologist (I mentioned in the previous post). They are injecting dye into me and checking out my uterus and tubes via an xray to make sure there is no damage or cysts, etc. that might be causing my miscarriages. It is supposed to be quite painful during the procedure, so I'm nervous. But I am happy that I'm getting so thoroughly checked out. Soon I will have a complete picture of what may or may not be happening with me and that's a good feeling. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. And, of course, show some more letterpress fun. See you soon and wish me luck!
Hello! It's the weekend! Too bad I'm working through most of it...but I'll be sure to take lots of time to read some new favorite magazines and watch some tv. We watched the movie "Superbad" last night...I thought it was hysterical. Just something fun to get lost in while having the puppy sleep in our laps. I'm proud I made it through yesterday...it would have been my due date from my pregnancy back in April
I was sort of dreading how I would feel at this time ever since it happened and it wasn't as bad as I thought. Of course, running around watching the puppy and working for much of the day kept me good and distracted. I can say I feel much more at peace now about the whole event and am excited for the future. We visited a reproductive endocrinologist a few weeks ago after my latest miscarriage and they ran tons of tests on my blood looking for clotting disorders and chromosomal abnormalities. I have more tests coming up this month and am hoping to get to the bottom of what has been going on. It feels good to take action rather than wait around for bad things to just happen TO me. Even if they find out nothing is wrong...I will feel good knowing that it's just up to nature and that's all there is to it. And if there IS something wrong...well...we can work to fix it and hope for the best. It's all we can do with anything, right? So, that's that. It's hard to feel sad anyway when you get to look at this:
She loves to sleep on my husband's legs and nestle right in there. Happy weekend everyone! I'm off to pray for some wedding design magic. I'll see you soon with some more recent projects....thanks everyone for your kind words on my last posts. It feels good to know I have such a great group of people out there who support me and my work. It's so encouraging...so thanks!! You make my day much brighter!
