How've You Been?

I was sorting through some old files and I came across the address of a friend from nursing school who I haven't heard from in a long time. She stopped using Facebook a while ago so I lost track of her. When I was in school I was always seen with a large cup of coffee. In fact, I was sometimes seen in class with 2 large cups of coffee on my desk and during the break I would run out and get a third! This friend and some other fellow students said they were going to have an intervention and send me to coffee rehab after graduation. Well since school my addiction to coffee has improved...a little ;-) I'm hoping this card will get a least a chuckle from my old nursing school pal.

The inspiration for the style came from this card by Daisyfreak. She is this week's featured stamper for SCS FS235 challenge.

Recipe:

Stamps: Fiskars

Paper: Early Espresso, VV, Craft, DP-SU

Ink: Early Espresso

Accessories: Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, Brads, MS Punch, Colored Pencils, Goo-Gone

Butterfly & Pearls

Hurray! I am no longer a student nurse but now a Graduate Nurse! Despite what my graduation cap says, I will be a Registered Nurse when I pass the NCLEX. I am so glad that I finally completed nursing school. It was the hardest 2 years of my life. Now that school is over and done with, I can get back into crafting.

I want to say "thank you" to all of you who wished me well and prayed for me while I was going through the program. And a "thank you" to all of you congratulated me upon completion!

It has felt like an eternity since I last made a card. This one is for the Mojo Week 88 Sketch. I found this pretty lace with pearls on it at Wal-Mart a while ago and thought it would go great with this card. I embossed the butterfly and the Barely Banana background.

Recipe:

Stamps: none

Ink: none

Paper: Garden Green, Barely Banana, Pretty In Pink, and SU DP

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Die, Embossing Folder, Nestabilities, Corner Rounder, Pearls, and Lace with Pearls

Tomorrow's the Day!

I graduate from Nursing School tomorrow, YAY! I just ended a 4-day long NCLEX prep course that was grueling. It was absolute torture to sit for 8 hours each day to review all that we learned over the last 2 years. This morning I have a little bit of time to relax before I go to take my exit exam. So I decided to do something a little crafty...

Some of my fellow RN classmates and I decided we wanted to stand out at graduation so we decorated our graduation caps. We all have "RN" on our caps but chose different designs and colors.

Right now I feel as though I could sleep for a week! After tomorrow I will take a break and do nothing for a couple days and then get back into making cards. Oh, and I will also be studying hard for the NCLEX.

I'm a Soon-To-Be ICU RN!

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to share some great news and answers to a lot of prayers. I got an offer and accepted the ICU position that have been interviewing for! I have gone on a series of 3 interviews for the this position and I am so grateful to God and blessed by Him to have been selected!

It is are really great hospital just a few minutes from my home. There is a great benefits package and opportunities for advancement and to further my education. Excellent patient care is a high priority and many people I know have excellent things to say about the care they have received at this facility.

So after I graduate and take the NCLEX I will be studying up on critical care and practicing the skills at my schools lab. I would be extremely grateful to any and all advice from all you experienced RNs out there!

One more course to go!

Just one more course left and then I am done with my RN degree! I just finished up psych/mental health nursing, and there was a point during the course that I thought I wouldn't pass. There was so much work involved with this course:
* 12 hours of manadatory community service
* a health promotion project to be presented to the community service agency
* another presentation to the class and all the instructors
* a research paper
* clinicals every other weekend
* patient assessments
* patient teaching plans
* and 2 exams

Last night I took the final exam for this course and got a high B. However I did extremely well on my first exam and very well on my research paper and health promotion project that I ended up getting an A for the course! I am also happy to report that all of my fellow classmates were successful in passing this course.

I am exhausted now and plan to spend the weekend in intensive card-making therapy before I start my next and final course, "Advanced Concepts in Nursing", next week.

If you know a nursing student please shower her or him with kindness. Nursing school and studying for the NCLEX is very stressful on us.

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8 (New King James Version)

Just a little over 3 more months...

And then I'm done with nursing school!

I am so tired of school, but I am so happy I am coming near the end. For my final semester, one the instructors let us students know that "there is no place for senioritis in nursing school." Boy was she right! We are swamped papers, and projects, and community services hours, and clinicals, and reading thousands of pages of text, and exams. I feel like I am going to collapse from exhaustion some times, but I know God is going to see me through this!

I am so happy that I will have a 3 day weekend. The past 2 weeks have been gruelling. I will sleep in a little, make a few cards, and of course STUDY!

Yesterday I had an interview for a very prestigious graduate nurse internship. I think I did well answering the questions. I have all of my friends praying that I will be selected for one of the 6 placements. So, I will be making thank you cards for all of the interviewers. I will probably post each card on a different day, since it may be a while before I can sneak a break from studying to make more.

Have a blessed day!

Valentine for Christ

I am technically back in school now because I have to take a mandatory course over the winter break (boooo!). I took a little break from my boring reading assignments to make a card with some of my new toys. I treated myself to some new stamps from Verve and paper from Papertrey Inc. Since the next card giving season coming is Valentine's Day I made a card with hearts. However I don't have any to give valentines to except for Sweepie, who will say "preetty, preetty" and kiss it then take it apart. There is also April Kitty, who at first would give me "what do you expect me to do with this?" look and then will bat around the floor until it gets stuck under a piece of furniture. So I gave some thought and realized I could make a card to express my love and gratitude to Jesus Christ! I used to the Proverbs 3:5 Plain Jane stamp from Verve on the heart. It is a reminder to me to always trust my Lord for everything and not make decisions just on my own perceptions. I experimented by embossing acetate with one of my cuttlebug heart folders and then cut it out with the heart die. I think it turned out well. The sketch is from Mojo 58.

I noticed that most bloggers include recipes for the cards they post and I haven't been doing that except on SCS. Please forgive my laziness! So, I will start now by including a recipie for my cards.

Recipe:
Paper: Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet - PTI; Very Vanilla, Parisian Summer DP -SU
Stamps: Proverbs 3:5 and Grateful Elegance - Verve
Accessories: Cuttlebug, heart embossing folder and die, Vanilla HPH, Acetate, Heart Punches

Silver Bells

The semester is over for me and so it is time for some fun. I decided to try the 3D stamping technique and it worked really well with this stamp. I went over the bells with a versamarker and then used glittered EP. The snowflake is from a small Dollar Tree ornament. I find a lot neat little things to use as embellishments at Dollar Tree.

Pretty in Chocolate Onesie

Wow, I made 2 cards on 2 consecutive days during the semester! Well if I don't do well on my next exam we will all know why. I made this card because my sister reminded me that a friend of ours is having a baby girl soon. The colors for the shower are brown and pink.
Well April Kitty is giving me that "look" again so I better get back to studying. I told April that if I study real hard to become a RN and get a good job I would buy better tasting cat food and more treats.

Hang in There!

This card is could be for myself from just thinking about my upcoming final year of nursing school (well at least to get my RN). Each lifesaver could be labeled "clinicals", "careplans", "exams", "reading", "assessments", "study, study, study", "projects", "skills evaluations", etc. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Think about Lifesavers, I heard that they were created by someone who's small child choked to death on a hard candy, thus the reason for the hole in the middle and the name. I don't know if that is true, maybe I will look it up on snopes at some point. Anyway, my thought is that working full time and going to school full time makes me feel like I am going to choke. However, I guess it won't kill me and I may save some lives from all my hard work. Afterwards, I can enjoy the sweet reward of a job well done (eat the Lifesavers!).