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Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Copics (and a Blogger) Going a Little Crazy

Normally minimalist in my tendencies, I got a tad carried away with coloring these beautiful old PSX images, using a ridiculous number of Copics here, but the results...well, they are satisfying.


There are two shell stamps on this card: a two-inch-wide border stamp and a trio of shells. My preferred color scheme for beachy cards is pale blues and greens and browns. This card got much more colorful.

In fact, several shells went through color changes. If the purplish shell below looks odd, it's because it started in warm grays and went pinkish and turned out (finally) purple.


Indecision may or may not be my problem.

Still, it's enormously satisfying to finish a card like this. It has me longing for gentle waves and sea birds and salty air.

Did I ever tell the story of my Lamaze class? Pretty sure I have, but what the hay, let's tell it again.

Our teacher told us to practice our "hee, hee, hee" breathing while imagining our happy place.The happy place I settled on was a gentle, white-sand North Carolina beach as the sun rose. To complete the scene, a bagpiper in full Highland dress, standing on a boardwalk, played to the rising sun.

I'd experienced this incredible scene years before and ne'er forgot what peace it brought me. All through the Lamaze practice sessions, I envisioned this scene and felt immediately peaceful and relaxed.

What they don't tell you in Lamaze is that contractions really involve your whole uterus, which at nine months gestation is roughly the size of a giant beach ball. As many of you already know, the whole giant thing contracts to push that baby out.

Seriously. The whole. dang. thing!

That's a b-i-g pain. Much bigger than my feeble imagination, aided by weeks of feeble little Braxton Hicks contractions, could handle. In actual labor, I couldn't picture my piper on the beach with gentle waves. Oh, no. I pictured the Pacific coast, south of Stinson, where jagged rocks shoot up and waves crash violently against them.

Highland piper, where were you when I needed you?

In the midst of violent waves crashing into my abdomen, I met the very nice epidural man, for whom I would gladly have named my firstborn son had we not already decided he would be Nicholas. Nick for short. Yeah, Nick. Nick's a real name. Nick's your buddy. Nick's the kind of guy you can trust, the kind of guy you can drink a beer with, the kind of guy who doesn't mind if you puke in his car, Nick!

Name that movie.

Anyway, this story may or may not have become embellished over the years since that terrible realization that Lamaze is inadequate to the task of childbirth (at least for wimpy me), and that my OB had been correct. The best pain management during childbirth is "hee, hee, epidural."

All hail the Epidural Man! 

By the way, the sea shells and sand dollars on my card would have been pulverized into mulch on that rocky Pacific shore. 

Perhaps I should stop now.  

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: PSX (shells), Papertrey Sign Language (sentiment) 

ink: Memento black
paper: Gina K deluxe white, StampinUp black
accessories: copious Copic markers, craft foam, glue
And I did tell the epidural story seven years ago. Gosh, it can't have been that long!

16 comments:

  1. Thanks for bring a huge smile to my face. I must've missed the story the first time around. GOR-JUSS use of copious Copic markers!

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  2. I loved your story and it helped me start my day with a big smile and appreciation for your humor and Copic skills, OH my! I send up prayers of gratitude for you

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    1. Aww. Thanks, Trish. You're so kind, and I'm so grateful for the prayers.

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  3. Your card is just wonderful. Really striking colors against the white. Well done, Susan.

    Nope, I don't think you told the OB story before. Wonderful outcome, right?

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  4. Those Lamaze memories sure brought back those days for me too. first born I did it, but a definite epidural for # 2. So much easier! Memories for more than 44 and 40 years!

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    1. My OB couldn't understand why any woman wouldn't opt for better living through chemistry. Not three cm dilated, and I totally agreed with him, LOL!

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  5. First time commenting but I have been a huge fan for quite some time! Love the card, the story, and the epidural man! Also, as a trivia buff/jeopardy contestant wannabe, I felt compelled to answer that the movie in question is "The Sure Thing" which I'm pretty "sure" is the right answer.

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    1. Why, thank you so much! Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! The Sure Thing is, indeed, the source of the quotation.

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  6. Love the card AND the story!!! Gotta love the Epidural Man! :-)

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  7. Wow! beautiful coloring and design with the line of shells behind the large panel. I like your gray-pink-purple result and all the color variety you created. And a great story too!

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  8. Personally I LOVE the bagpipes; but I think there are those that would say the sound they make is huge and loud. Kind of like that uterus and the noise you may have made while waiting for your epidural.

    I pushed out a 10 1/4 pounder without an epidural. I don't think it was available 32 years ago. I think I made more noise during the episiotomy stitching than I did during labor though.

    As always, your card is just lovely.

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  9. Love this card.Oddly enough, I have a shell colored like that pinky-purpley one on the shelf in my bedroom! And more in a vase that are every color combination you could want, so you're spot on with your colors.
    Never had the Lamaze classes and couldn't have thought of a peaceful place in the midst of labor anyway. First baby I had a saddle block, so didn't even know when she was born. Second baby was very impatient, she was almost born in the hall between my room and the delivery room. The DR. didn't even have time to gown up. And she's been full speed forward ever since!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!