Paper Wreath

We still haven't heard anything on our short sale purchase.

It's been almost 3 months, and while this is not unusual for a short sale, it's beginning to get very discouraging. We are in temporary housing and all our things are still in storage, so that is getting pretty old, as is not having a full kitchen.

After seeing 5 doctors in the last 5 months, I finally got a correct diagnosis for the problems I've been having. It's Interstitial Cystitis, otherwise known as painful bladder syndrome. Basically it feels like an infection, and if you've ever had one, you know what that feels like, it's horrible. I'm getting a minor surgical procedure done next month, so I'm hoping that will help, as I've been in a lot of pain, plus I've had to give up Wine, Coffee, Tea and Chocolate - yes that's right - all the things that make life worth living. It's not fun, I have to work really hard to stay positive and focused. I try to remember that my life is so blessed in many ways, and that other people have even bigger burdens to bear. As with anything some days are better than others.

The next sale at Room With A Past is this Thursday, so I've been busy getting ready. When dealing with problems, it really helps to have a creative outlet like this and I'm very grateful I have that. I'm setting up today, and that is really the fun part, staging everything out and seeing how it all looks together. I will take pictures once I'm done and post that later in the week. In the meantime, I did want to show one of my favorite things for this month, a paper wreath.

I know, I know, this has been done before, they are all over the creative blogs, but I like the way mine turned out. I used 2 round 6" craft wood circles. One was the base for the wreath. I rolled the book pages and hot glued them to the base, layering on until it was nice and full. Then I took another wood circle and applied music paper to it, using spray adhesive. I don't try to cut the music paper first, I just glue it on, flip it over and then cut out using a snap off bladed knife. Then the crown (Graphics Fairy) was applied. The final step is to use a stamp pad (Tim Holtz distressed ink in burlap) to darken the edges.