February Rudolph Days Challenge

I am posting the February Rudolph Days Challenge early as I want to see it up on my blog before I leave on my cruise. This way I can sort out any problems with it posting, before I leave.  I would prefer you wait until Feb 25 to enter, as that is the date that the coordinating posts  will show on the design teams blogs. If you forget and enter early, you will be forgiven! hahaha

Here is a perusal of the rules for this challenge.

1. The Rudolph Days Challenge will start each month (January to November) on the 25th, and will close at midnight PST, on the last day of that month.
2. The theme is always Anything Goes, as long as it is Christmas.
3. One entry per person and you just need to enter one Christmas card or Christmas project.
4. You may combine your entry with other challenges (maximum of 10 in total).
5. Your card (or Christmas project) should not have been previously posted to your blog. It should be posted to your blog during the current months Rudolph Days Challenge, (between the 25th and last day of the current month)
6. Please link back to or at least mention, the Rudolph Days Challenge.
7. Please leave a comment on the challenge post.
8. The winner will be selected by random draw and announced on the first day of the following month. Prizes will be mailed anywhere in the world.

9. A special draw will be held at the end of the year, in December,  for all those who submitted a card or project every month that year, January to November.

First up is Sam at Whispers Cards.
Sam has made this gorgeous gnome slider card. Now I have noticed that gnomes are very on trend at the moment. I was thinking of looking for some gnome stamps for my own use and as I was going through my stamps recently, I was shocked to find that I already own some. Mine are really old, from before they became so in style...just like me!!!

Sam has coloured up her gnomes so cute and I am loving that snowy sky and textured snow featured here.

I think the slider aspect of Sam's card is really sweet. Here is a photo of it. I can see a young fellow like my grandson would have so much fun opening and closing it back up again. Well done, Sam!

Sam has made us a second lovely card this month! This pretty angel sits on a gorgeous vintage looking DP background. The burgundy sheer  ribbon and what looks to me like a velvet ribbon overlay is so, so pretty.

Next up is Jenny at Cardsarus.
Jenny has been having home reno's  done and made us this card when she was well in the midst of all the work. Not only was her kitchen worked on and we all know how hard that is to deal with, but her craft room had to be refitted with a new heater! She has had to replace her desk and valuable drawer space, so has been very busy redesigning her room and cataloging everything as she puts it away.
I am honoured that she took the time to make us this beautiful vintage style card featuring a gorgeous hand made tag. I love the sumptuous look of this card. The tag is so lovely on its own...and even more so on this lovely card.

Linda at Snails Space has made this sweet card with a surprise pop up interior. As always her colouring is so delicate and pretty.

Here is the inside... I love the way the tree and presents pop up. It looks so good and makes for a lovely surprise!  I think I just have to get some of these dies. How about you?

Prizes this month are a choice of this Penny Black Bird and Twigs stamp

or this Darice large snowflake cut and emboss die 2014-34

Please remember that I am away till March 1st (see previous post).  So if you enter twice in error, or have any other problems, I will fix them once I am home. The prize draw will not happen till very late in the evening on March 1st...could be March 2nd overseas, due to the time difference!

I will not get round to commenting until I am home, as I do not have an internet package on the cruise.  I will get round to all of you in early March, it just will take me till then as have you may have noticed, I have not been round visiting much lately as my knee does not like to be kept bent when I sit to type. I will visit about in same increments to keep my knee happy.

Update on my knee

It seems hard to believe it has only been a month since my last post! So much has happened.

You may remember I was to have my knee replaced Jan 21st. We did so much preparation for the recovery at home. We moved clothes, toiletries, groceries etc to our  ground level basement suite as it has the least stairs in our house. You walk up only two stairs from the garage and then everything is ground level. There is a walk in shower, as well as my craft room just across the hallway on our side of the dividing wall.

The morning of the surgery I got a phone call that the doctor was not able to operate on the person ahead of me and could we drive straight to hospital. Upon arrival at the surgery ward, I showed the nurse that I had a miniscule cut on my foot from a rough edge to the antiseptic sponge I used that morning. I had no problems with the two scrubs the night before and the day before that, but just my luck to get this teensy, sort of paper cut looking cut on my foot. I think it was the last swipe of the sponge that caused it! I also mentioned that my skin was a bit raw on my groin from the strength of the antiseptic.

They brushed it aside and I got the same response when I went up to the operating room. They gave me something to make me relax and just after that the anesthetist arrived. After a few questions, he happened to notice my foot and after examining it with a light, he asked when I sustained the "wound" on my foot! He was already shaking his head and mentioning that it would be up to the surgeon and then asked if I had any other areas of exposed skin. As I showed him the raw area on my groin, I pretty much knew what was about to happen...

My surgeon arrived and after a quick look at both areas and an even quicker consult, he advised that they could not operate on me with  exposed skin above and below my affected knee and would be sending me home!!!

Al had already driven home and was so shocked to get the call to come and pick me up. All in all, I was there about 4 hours!

So, I am now rebooked for March 29th and have been given a prescription for a weaker strength of solution to bathe with beforehand.  I think I will have to cease making cards about ten days before that surgery as they stressed that I can not have any "wounds" on my hands either (I always seem to get teensy paper cuts when I work with paper).

I believe this is all because I contracted MRSA in that same hospital two years ago when I was in for ten days for another matter.  They are uber conscious of the risk of MRSA with me again and are being very cautious!

We were both so down about the cancellation as I am in quite a bit of pain now and my knee is very stiff. It is hard to get up and down from the couch or a chair. We were looking forward to getting this surgery so I could recover, finished physio etc and we could move back into having fun again and planning holidays.

So, to that end, we have booked a last minute special for a 10 day  cruise to Mexico and leave this weekend.  I will still have the February Rudolph Days Challenge running as of Feb 25th, but will not be able to comment on your entries till my return on March 1st!

Sorry that I did not advise all of this sooner but frankly, this knocked us for a loop. We have both been quite down about the cancellation...my husband even more than me. He does so much to help me and hates to see me in pain. We had a hard time adjusting to it all and I just did not feel like talking about it much. Now that we have processed it all, we can accept it.