Left Knee, Right Knee, Whi-knee!?

Hello everyone in Bloggy Land! Sorry I've been under the radar of late. It's been so crazy, as you know I've been going on about. For those that don't know me I'm not the skinniest of Minnies in the world and from my running and running around I ended up with a torn medial meniscus to my left knee a few years ago. I'd never really had any surgery before and have not had kids, so when it comes to pain, I'm not the best in dealing with it. Needless to say, did I feel pain in 2006 when I was at a CKU and tore it when I was getting up to get someone some ribbon (real rigorous task!). Subsequently arthroscopic surgery in October 2006, with wonderful results.

Thus, after the insanity of last week, when my RIGHT knee started up, I didn't take any chances. I kept it elevated and iced for a few days...boy did that make the difference. Also had to deal with insurance and finding in-network doctors v. out-of-network doctors. Don't get me started on that. You really have to be of a certain patience and mentality (and possible sainthood) to try to decipher all of the insurance gobbledy-gook. In the end, I saw a very good orthopedist, have an MRI on Tuesday and follow up appointment on Thursday. In the interim, I still have lots to do, but in better moderation, right? Famous last words.

I figured I'd give everyone at least one sneak peek at a card that I made. It's not the most squared off photo in the world, but you get the picture. I love this "Ornate Circle" stamp from B Line Designs. Bev and Bob Seymour are just the nicest couple and as I've said before, make the most beautiful stamps. I hear they're going to have a bunch of new ones out at the CHA Show. Yeeha! I made some masks and used the various colors of Archival to create the look of a bunch of circles! The key to creating a mask is to cut the image just a touch smaller than the image is. By cutting outside of the border of an image and trying to mask it, a "halo" will still be there. By undercutting just a small amount, when you mask it, it will truly look like these were dropped into a pile. Years ago I created a sample that I wish I still had. I took a large Kodachrome slide image with various different images inside of them and masked them for a card. I was going crazy with the mask in a mask, but when it was done, it was worth it! I can't remember off the top of my head who the quote belongs to, but isn't it a great one!?

Well, I've got to finish up a bunch of photography, and tomorrow is Brian's Birthday-Happy Birthday, Brian! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Robin