I haven't posted much since before Christmas, but the holidays tend to demand our time and energy.  I hope everyone had a nice holiday!  This time tomorrow we will be making preparations to celebrate the New Year.  I am hoping by then the cold I've been nursing will be nearly gone since I'm on day four now.  I'm not one to publicly whine so enough said about that, the world has enough tragedy in it and there are people going through things so much worse.  2013 started out rough at least in job land, but in the end it was a decent year. I made some new friends during my tumultuous time at said job as well as learned some valuable life lessons.  Even in the worst of circumstances we can take away priceless pearls of wisdom to carry with us throughout life.  Thanks to a good friend I was hired at my current job in May working as a Microbiologist for a hospital laboratory and I love my job!  I learned to use Copic markers and I'm thankful for an angel named Becky Machniewski for being my instructor from afar.  I have had the pleasure of discovering digital stamp art and getting to know some of the artists.  Some of my favorites include, but aren't limited to: Stamps by Aurorawings (http://www.etsy.com/shop/AuroraWings), 2 Cute Ink (http://www.shop.2cuteink.com/main.sc), Kenny K (http://www.kennykdownloads.com/), Hannah Lynn (http://www.hannahlynnart.com/digi-stamps.html) and there are so many more!  I am waffling on whether I should begin a Master's degree program which will take time away from my art, but may help me professionally at some stage.  I had my BRCA story published in  a book called "Pink Moon Lovelies" by Nicki Durlester as well as some of my quotes published in another book called "Letters to Doctors" by Jonathan Herman and Teri Smeija.  For those who are unfamiliar, I am BRCA 1 positive meaning I have a mutation on the genes in my body that suppress breast and/or ovarian cancer tumors.  I had risk reducing surgeries approximately four years ago, but have since had some developments in my BRCA journey, but that would be topic for a different blog on a different day and I'm not sure if I'm even ready for that commitment.  I'm more about supporting others who are going through their journey or just beginning.  This is mainly my blog for my crafting, but I'm sure it's nice to get to know a little bit about the person doing the blogging.  If you want to know more about BRCA just message me, I'm happy to share.  I love paper crafting probably more than any other craft I've tried.  Believe me when I say I've just about tried them all (save knitting).  I do still make jewelry from time to time and my family likes to receive the handmade gifts not to mention they don't have to display it in their home somewhere like some of my other crafting endeavors.  I hope that each and every one of you who read this have a very happy and safe New Year!  A new year always holds the promise of being better than the one before.  I will leave you with this wintery card I made using a Simply Gorjuss snowman stamp, colored with copics B000, R20, Y000, RV66, RV69, and BG49.  The wording is a Kaleidacolor stamp pad called Blue Breeze along with some snowflake stickers. Happy New Year and happy crafting!!