Wednesday 18 April 2018

Cupcake Pop-Up Card for Olivia.

Good morning friends

Today's share is a special one. Amazingly special. It's the Birthday card I made for Olivia's SEVENTH Birthday. Considering her advanced Pulmonary Hypertension diagnosis came when she was three and the doctor's didn't expect her to see four - well you can see why Olivia's 7th birthday is a very special one indeed. I'll update you on her condition at the end of the post.

We were visiting them last month and I spied this pretty pink sparkly paper in their craft bin. Olivia said I could have it so of course I wanted to use it for her Birthday Card. It's super sparkly and very hard to photograph! 


The cute unicorn peeking stamp is one of my Mesa Rubber Stamp Show purchases from the Pink & Main booth. In fact, my friend Betty spied this set and grabbed it for me as I was making my way to the booth with my walker.

Why a unicorn? Never mind that most 7 year old girls love unicorns, Olivia's Cardiologist and PH Specialist call her a Unicorn because of the unexpected and impossible ways she reacts to the PH meds. Olivia never reacts as they think she will and the side effects are unfortunately far more severe than they hope. Even the way the disease progresses for her stumps the specialists and everyone agrees Olivia is a PH Unicorn.


It was fun to use the streamer Cover Plate for my background, and I added some coloured dots with markers to the white background so it wasn't so stark. The word SPARKLE was heat embossed with clear sparkle embossing powder. And I added sequins for more girlie sparkle.


Inside I used Karen Burniston's Cupcake Pop-Up with a couple more of those cute Unicorn Peekers. The Number dies are very handy for personalizing a card so I used the #7 here on the base of the Pop-Up.



I call Olivia "Sweetness" - that has been my nickname for her since she was just a few hours old and I was rocking her at the hospital. Funny that I never really had nicknames for the grandsons - I think I called Ethan 'Boo' for the first few months, but it didn't really stick. Then when Alma was born, I said "hello Sunshine" and just like that, Sunshine became what I call her. Sweetness and Sunshine - my Granddaughters. I am such a lucky Gramma!!


Finally, here is a side view so you can see the Pop-Up a little better. Olivia loves Pop-Up cards so I know she will love this one.


Olivia's Pulmonary Hyptertension is progressing, but she is quite a fighter. She is able to attend school - in a wheelchair, with oxygen and an amazing Teachers Aid - half days. Heather home schools her in the afternoons. She loves school and her teachers and her aid. Miss F is truly an angel. Olivia gets to go to Birthday party's which she loves. Her friends parents make sure to arrange the parties so Olivia can join the other kids for cake and gift opening after the activities. Not a big thing for the birthday kids parents but a HUGE thing for Olivia. She gets so excited when she has a Birthday Party to attend!

The medication site 'goes bad' far more often than it should. Ideally they should get 6 weeks out of a site but she barely gets two weeks. When they have to move it to her stomach, they are in for days and days of terrible pain where Olivia can't get out of bed as she can't bend at the waist, or walk. Even morphine barely touches the pain. It's brutal - but by day 5 she has bounced back and is her happy cheerful self until the site goes bad again.

There is talk of putting in a direct line so they wouldn't have to deal with any of the site issues - but that comes with it's own problems. It's all still in the discussion stage. As a Grandma, I have no say and I don't give my opinion unless I'm asked for it. My job is to support my daughter and husband in how they choose to parent and that includes how they want to handle illness. I also choose not to get too involved in the details of the disease, symptoms and progression - as that affects how well I can be supportive.

Olivia is growing, happy and we continue to enjoy every minute we can with her. She has lost baby teeth and has enough adult teeth growing in that she can eat and talk again. :-) My Sweetness.





Supplies:
Curly Q (streamer)  Cover Plate - Taylored Expressions
Sparkly paper - Olivia's stash from Poland (other Grandma)
Xyron
White and black card stocks
Unicorn Peeker stamp - Pink & Main
Spectrum Noir glitter pen
ArtStix markers
Stickles
Stitched Fishtail banner dies - Elizabeth Craft Designs
Rainbow stripes patterned paper - Lawn Fawn
Sparkle stamps - MFT Stamps
Sparkle embossing powder
MISTI - My Sweet Petunia
Sequins
Glossy Accents

Thanks for stopping by today

2 comments:

  1. A beautiful card for a beautiful girl ... so glad she is a fighter ... keep fighter Olivia!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy Birthday Olivia. Maybe she got some of those purple velveteen zebras? She's a trooper and a true warrior.
    Great card.

    ReplyDelete

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