Ways to Cope with Fibromyalgia

I wanted to chat just a bit about ways that I cope with Fibromyalgia. If you're interested, head over to my personal blog @ Laura Wellinghoff Studio.

I'm also playing with a few designs this month for a Designer Challenge over @
Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking. The theme is Christmas in July.

I'm not sure how quickly I'll get things done, this month is going to be busy, and I'm pretty particular about my pieces...so time will tell.

2013 Fibromyalgia Awareness EXTRAS

Well, in the midst of all the commotion this week around the house, I still was able to find just enough time to finish off a few extras to my Fibromyalgia Awareness kit.  But I wasn't able to package them up until after my brother and his family left this morning.

So here you go, perhaps you'll be able to find just a few mins to kick back, destress, and enjoy using these as you scrap some of your happy memories.

Each item in this EXTRAS kit is included in all the colors of our palette.  I've also tagged the items in Picasa for you.  (Picasa is a free program if you need something to help you organize your photos and digital stash.)

Also just this afternoon, I was able to figure out how to give you direct download links.  So if you are interested in downloading this portion, just click the preview photo.

Fibromyalgia an auto-immune???

There is some research saying that FM is an auto-immune disease.

Many have asked what is it like with Fibromyalgia?  My response, have you ever had the flu?  I mean like my son has at times, HIGH fevers, 103+....that lays you out for several days.  Not just physically, but mentally puts you in la-la-land?

Well, I'd much rather get the flu!  Because it's then that I actually feel better!  Even if I just get a horrible head cold, it's like my immune system finally kicks in and fights something else instead of fighting myself.

Fibromyalgia Awareness Links

UPDATED 2013/07/03

There are all sorts of help and resources for Fibromyalgia now days.  Something that in the past was lacking.

FYI: Fibromyalgia is no longer under the Arthritis Foundation.
I believe this is not just because Fibromyalgia really doesn't deal with inflammation, but also it is more widely known, and the medical field has learned more about the condition.

Also with the age of information, more are becoming at least familiar with the condition as it's easier to find things on-line that discuss it.

Time for a disclaimer...I will say that I don't believe or agree with all the things mentioned or discussed at the following links.  Fibromyalgia is NOT just in their head - though there is brain fog, or Fibro Fog.  Also I've seen each case be different in how it effects or complicates things, in other words each person can be effected in different - many different ways.

The other trouble is it is a CHANGING condition...not only is it true that what works for one patient may not be effect or help another at all.  BUT within each patient the condition can change from day to day, even hour to hour.  Might be fine, ready to run a marathon, and then all of a sudden can't seem to even walk to a chair to sit down.  This not only makes things difficult for others to understand and offer help or encouragement, but this is one of the hardest things for the individual to "manage" because it's constantly changing.

I plan to share more throughout this month about managing with the condition, so please come back for a visit or two.

Laura
**************** NEW **********
If you are on Pinterest, you might be interested in my Fibromyalgia Board.
As of now, I've not got a lot pinned, but as with anything, more as time goes on.

You might also want to check out this group...

National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association

There are also on line support groups....

Good for the beginners and newly diagnosed:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flyingwithfibro/

 This group offers support for those with the chronic condition with a focus on housework and dejunking system in 15 mins increments, so that you don't over do.  Though I'm still receiving these newsletters, I only participate when I need to.  BUT I still use a 15 mins work cycle throughout my day.

A group on Facebook


Mayo Clinic articles

2013 Fibromyalgia Awareness kit

Update: Aug 1,2013 ~ WOW...I just realized that in the Word Art preview, it looks like there is a miss spelling of the text

When you lie down, 

you will not be afraid;

when you lie down, 

your sleep will be Sweet.

Let me assure you that the previews are just a taste.  There are no miss spellings, and the word art is also available in .PNG format, offering the advantages of transparencies.

*************
Yes, I've got another freebie for you this month!  WOW...it's been a lot, something I had planned NOT to do.  I told myself I'd do some every other month, but not two months in a row.  So WHY you might ask did I do another kit in the SAME MONTH?  Well, this kit is for Fibromyalgia Awareness!  Something that affects many, and so I decided in the midst of everything else going on, I'd have to climb aboard!  At least with a little bit.

This blog train is hosted by Digi Blog Train Lists, inspired by Leterati Artful Scraps

I would like to welcome everyone to my blog.  There maybe new folks here, those that are some how effected by Fibromyalgia, or you may just be digital scrappers looking for some freebies.

NOTE TO EVERYONE: We've been having troubles maintaining our internet connection, and are in the process of finding a fix.  So if you experience troubles, please hold on, I WILL get to you and help you out as soon as I can!  If you'll comment, I promise to get back to you, so leave enough information for me to do that, and a description of your troubles.

If you are new, please check out my TOU here, or in the zip files.  Also I've got instructions on how to download from Google Drive here, if you need some help.  I break up my downloads into several pieces, to keep them small, so hopefully Google Drive will scan them for you.  Though I'm "virus free", I practice cautious downloading myself, so I would expect those interested in my designs to do the same thing.  So be sure to get all the parts you want!

ALSO: Please Come back, as I hope to put up more items for this kit soon.
1) Mainly because of the internet troubles we have been having, it's caused me to run out of time before the go live date!
2) I also plan on adding some info on Fibromyalgia, and how to manage.  This condition has effected and complicate life for many, including myself.  My mother leads a local support group in southern Missouri as well.  So if you or someone you care for needs some good tips, or links to places on-line that we've found helpful, be sure to visit again.

We are also busy helping some friends with a "Backyard Bible Club" this week, so like I said before, I'll get back to you as soon as I can.  Don't worry, I'll continue to work with you until you've been successful in getting all the parts of the kit that you are interested in.

Thanks for coming by, you might also want to jump over to browse my other blog.  AND Thanks for the interest in my designs.

This is the preview that was shared, but as you'll see, I've given you other previews showing more items.  There are several pieces, so let me walk you through them, and you can choose one or all if you like.

Now on to the kit pieces!

*********************

Elements and Word Art Combined into one file.

LPW~2013-06-Fibromyalgia-DBTL~Elements&Wordart-S4O.zip

LPW~2013-06-Fibromyalgia-DBTL~Tags1_Preview-S4O.zip

LPW~2013-06-Fibromyalgia-DBTL~Tags2_Preview-S4O.zip

LPW~2013-06-Fibromyalgia-DBTL~Papers1_Preview-S4O.zip

LPW~2013-06-Fibromyalgia-DBTL~Papers2_Preview-S4O.zip

Because I needed more downloads, for the virus scanning, I've NOT made the photo's clickable.
Here's my links again.
LPW~2013-06-Fibromyalgia-DBTL~Elements&Wordart-S4O.zip

LPW~2013-06-Fibromyalgia-DBTL~Tags1_Preview-S4O.zip

LPW~2013-06-Fibromyalgia-DBTL~Tags2_Preview-S4O.zip

LPW~2013-06-Fibromyalgia-DBTL~Papers1_Preview-S4O.zip

LPW~2013-06-Fibromyalgia-DBTL~Papers2_Preview-S4O.zip

Come again soon, and I'd love to hear from you if you enjoyed the kit.

UPDATE:  I just realized in my rush to get this post ready for the launch, I didn't include the color palette in my zip files.  So if you are interested, I do know that there are a few others that HAVE included it in their portions, or you can go June Blog Train details...
*********************
If you get lost, here's the entire list.

Patty B Scraps
Mama’s Designz
Becky’s Creations
Dakota Winds Graphics
Shuckclod’s Stuff
Xelax Scrap Free
Touched By A Butterfly
Sugarbutt Designs
Kreations By Sparky
Jenny’s Designz
Marniejo’s House Of Scraps  ***Link fixed
Star Creationz
CL Graphics
FB Queen JJ Creations
Aprilthescrapaholic
Leterati Artful Scraps
Caroline B.
Made By Keuntje
Speyegull Designs
Callaluna Creations
Misplaced Mermaid
Crazy Tiffs
Designed By Laura Wellinghoff  ***** YOU ARE HERE*******
Jody M Designs
Dezines2Amaze

Anniversary 2013

Well, today 26 years ago, my husband & I were married.  God blended two into 1.  I'm so thankful, God knew us, and how we would be there for each other.  He does a lot for me, and cares for me well...I pray that I can continue to find ways to lift him up and easy his daily burdens now.  Praying too that he can find another more flexible job so that he can again get back to ministry and his passion.  We have been praying about starting a small group, and are excited to see how God will move in the near future.

PSJune13 Pond Life

Well, I'm calling it a wrap on the Pond Life Kit.

I've broken things up into 3 packages, as last time I learned that I can only have a zip file of somewhere just under 20 mg, or it won't virus scan the file for you.  So be sure you get all 3.

ELEMENTS 1:

Also, I've included the Library Pocket two ways, as two pngs and as a Gimp file.  (This is what was so large.)  If you stack the pngs, with their original sizes, aligning them together you should be able to tuck another item into the pocket.  Just make the top layer
1) the major pocket, then
2) the item you want in the pocket as a middle layer, and
3) the bottom layer is for the smaller higher back of the pocket.

You can see how I tucked a pussy willow branch into the one on the preview.  If you stack the png's in this order, you'll have a shadow cast on the back portion of the pocket and any items that you place inside.  I've left the major shadows off again, so the ones you see are just for the previews.  There are slight slivers of a shadow around the tags, so that I could place the twine through the golden eyelet and show the depth of the twine.  I've tested the tags with shadows going several different ways, so I think you will still be pleased with their look no matter which direction you choose to place your shadows.

Concerning the Gimp file, with the library pocket as layers...but I'm not sure what other programs might read the Gimp file.  But the good news, if you don't have Gimp and want to work in layers, GIMP is free.  If you can't make use of that part, simple delete it, and save your drive space.

There are two slightly different pussy willow branches that I painted.  I hope you enjoy them, I sure had a blast creating them.  Never lived near a pond, but I have always loved pussy willows!

************* #1 PSJune13_LPW-Pond Life_Elements 1.zip *************

*******************************************************************

ELEMENTS 2:

In the second elements packet, I've brought back the swan from my PS April 13 Birds and Bees kit.  So if you didn't get it before those links expired, here's your chance!

Not all the items from the second elements kit are shown.  I've given you a dark and light WORDArt, both with and without the deer, so that things are visible on different backgrounds.  Also all the items in this packet have been scaled down to allow for placement in the preview.  So if you need the larger item you can leave as is, or shrink them for more room on your pages.  The tags are around 4 x 6 in size.

************* #2 PSJune13_LPW-Pond Life_Elements 2.zip *************

*******************************************************************

PAPERS:

I'm only sharing 2 pages this time around...I don't think I've gotten the hang of creating pages yet for others, as I've not been happy with the ones I've played with for both blog trains.  lol

The two I settled on are full size 12x12 in and both have the pussy willows all along the bottom of your page.

************* #3 PSJune13_LPW-Pond Life_Papers.zip *************

*******************************************************************

Here's a link back to the PSJune13 Pond Life blog train at  Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking .

You can also leave comments for the designers on this thread in the forums.

Also come back the middle of June, as I'm starting to work on a kit for Fibromyalgia Awareness, with Digi Blog Train List.  And yes I know that the National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day was May 12th, but just consider us early for next year!  Even if you don't suffer from FM, or know someone who does, please come back, as I hope to offer items that cross-over to general scrapbooking as well.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition that can complicate the lives it affects.  My mother, who used to be a nurse, runs a local support group.  I've also got many friends, surprisingly from the medical fields that have this condition as well.  Probably more than 75% of the women I've known over the last 27+ years with the condition have worked somewhere in the medical fields.

I'm also going to attempt to place some helpful links for FM on my other blog, so be sure to check it out soon.

Happy downloading, and come back soon.

NOTE: Sorry, somehow the file default was changed and permission for access was listed wrong.  I've updated the settings and everyone should be able to get at the files now.  If you can't, please let me know, and I'll check things out again.  Worse comes to worse, I'm willing to work with folks until they get them somehow, so please comment if you are still having troubles.

Hello, All.

I'm hoping to have just a few items to contribute to another Blog Hop sponsored by Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking.

Our theme this time is "Pond Life".

It's been a busy month, moving our daughter back home for most of the summer, trying to make sure she is ready for her Mission Trip to Honduras.  Trying to get our son through the last month of school.  I think he's had testing all month long.  He's been so busy with work, and then trying to complete assignments and test, from early finals to several AP courses, and their 3 hour tests.

Stay tuned for just a few items to help you scrap those Pond photos.

Been on a College Bound Trip

Well, it's been a very busy week.  Getting things done, trying to get things ready.  My Son for a College Bound Trip, and my daughter for an international foreign Mission Trip.

They are both the finishing they junior years, one in High School and one @ University.  Both are spying out where they will be continuing their education after graduations.  My daughter for her where to get her Masters and my son for where to start, and then continue to his Masters.  What a busy time!  Walking the campuses again, I'm glad to say that I'm past this time in life.  I just can't walk that much, especially on a hilly campus!  But I know they both have exciting days ahead!

On our travels I've found that my old laptop, is working much faster on the hotel internet then on the high speed at our home.  May have to call our service provider and have them check out WHY!

One of the glitches I found the other day, but didn't realize...kit items WERE there, I just needed to scroll over to the left, even in a wide screen browser.  I'm confident that Jordan will have things tweeked in no time though, and if you scroll over to the right, the items are still there to browse through.  Check out the website, and consider SUPPORTING them.  I've not found any other digital scrapping site that has their high level of quality items and variety AND you get a caring, and connected community as well!



Some screen shots to help a few of us navigate around a couple of kits what seems to have a glitch.  When looking to download the kit, You can see the individual below the kit preview.  The SEE MORE button takes you to a screen with individual downloads.  But temporarily, a few kits might have what seemed to this sleep deprived mom to...be missing the individual pictures....BUT NO...after a good nights rest and a fun day of campus tours...I found the scroll right bar at the bottom and low and BEHOLD ....there they were! ...

Larger pictures, that you can click through to see the individual items.  But Why not download the ENTIRE KIT....and come and join the community!  It really is a top notch site!  http://www.pixelscrapper.com/

And please just choke up any typos or grammatical mistakes to one sleepy, time-zone challenged, college searching MOM!  (And yes that goes for my always proof-reading parents...lol ;) ...but you can notice that I got all my links working properly!)

ENJOY!

UPDATE: Jordan's got this fixed, early this morning!

Shortened zip file names of PSApril13_LPW_Birds&Bees

Hello again.  I've not been able to watch for troubles as diligently as I would have liked to recently.  We have been busy with "college bound" trips, last weekend and another coming up.  I've also been working to learn a few new programs for creating fonts.  Hopefully more to come along those lines.  ;)

Some have had troubles with the long file names, and I'm assuming it's those of us with the older operating systems.  So I've shorten file names and am uploading some zip files that have the same papers and elements, but have shorter file names.  Hopefully if you've had troubles these will work for you.

I apologize to any that have had problems.  Please let me know if you had troubles with the older files, but these new shortened files are working for you.  Also if you could let me know what type of a system you are running on, so that hopefully I can find a fix for the future.

~Sorry Links have expired~

Enjoy your scrapping, and if you'd like to share anything you've made with my elements, give a holler!  I'd love to see it.

River Boats

Another older painting...

This one was a watercolor.  It reminds me of reading Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.  It would be years after reading these works of Samuel Clemens, before I took brush in hand to paint these river boats.

Sunset and Waterskiing

I wanted to share another airbrushing from the past.  

I remember taking a series of photos, used in the study for this project.  It was a fun time, visiting my brother and his wife.  The BSU group went to this lake for waterskiing  most summers.  Unfortunately, the week before, I had my wisdom teeth taken out and was on orders from the oral surgeon NOT to get on the boards.  For that matter, NOT to participate in any other contact sports - including volleyball, for at least 6 months.  Despite that, I had a wonderful time, from snapping a few photos to visiting around the camp fire enjoying some excellent marshmallows that seemed roasted to perfection!

I also remember the joy of taking the rubber cement masking off of the sunset reflections.  It was a great feeling to see something that looked dark and muddy, turn into a focal point in the project!

Ballerina airbrushed

This is a detailed airbrushing that I did, way back in the Fall '85.  I just recently photographed it. I wasn't able to get a good photo of it matted, so I cropped out the mat, and added one within Gimp.

Added another download option with dropbox for PSApril13 Birds & Bees.

Just wanted to make sure everyone notices that I've added another download option in addition to the Google Drive downloads.  The same 3 files have been added to a public folder at Dropbox.com, because someone commented that they had troubles getting the pages at Google Drive to fully load.  I thought about having a second option available, but thought I'd monitor how things went first, and I wanted to be up and ready April 1.  So I'm now offering another avenue for those who can't get the first ones to work.

Please scroll down the blog to find them or go directly to the blog post @ PSApril13 Birds and Bees Blog Hop IF you need them. They are listed at the bottom of that post.  I've been told that Dropbox.com can reach a limit on bandwidth though, so I orginally only went with the Google Drive for downloading.

Sorry for any inconvience this might have caused people.  I have had troubles with others downloads during the last few months, so I know it happens.  Actually I still can't get "Box" pages to load properly.  I get the download buttons but they aren't clickable.  I figure if one took the time to mention it, it's probably happened to several others as well.  Again sorry.  Please if you have troubles, downloading or with the files when you unzip them, let me know.

Feed back on Birds and Bees Kit

Thanks so much to those that have already left comments on the website about my kit.  It's always nice to know what folks like and are drawn to.

I've been busy trying to go around and process through all the other kits in the Blog Train....so I've not done much yet in commenting on their kits yet.

I did want to post about the journal cards and the swan though.  I lean towards realistic art, Norman Rockwell was one of the artists that I enjoyed studying. So as I was getting ready and thinking on the theme, I was surfing the net looking for inspiration.  I came across some neat photos, and since I don't like bees, BUT love their honey, I knew that I didn't want to study them long enough to draw them in GIMP.  So when I found royalty free photos, I knew they would be a great option for me to add bees to my portion.  Muting their look with monotone was a plus, so journaling cards were a great fit.  I'm big on telling a story, even if short in any scrapbooking or artwork.

The swan, I decided it might be fast if I sketched on "old-fashioned" paper.  I then scanned it in, and isolated it within GIMP.  I actually made a few version of it, toying around with just the out-lining, and then a few texturing techniques.

I knew some of GIMP before starting the work on this kit, but I've learned a lot more.  Look for more from me, hopefully in the near future.

Downloading Zip Files from Google Drive

Hello.  I've had some folks saying that they don't see how to download a Zip file from Google Drive.  Since I'm using Google Drive I thought I'd make a pictoral tutorial to help anyone out.

If you are taken to a page that looks like this, with the File name.ZIP then the area below listing the files inside the zip, but you want to download the ENTIRE ZIP file.

(To get the green highlighted area you need to have clicked on the File at the top.)
This SHOULD download the entire ZIP file.

If you'd like help with this problem, and this is NOT what you are seeing, please Shift>Print Screen while on the window.  This will capture your screen onto your clipboard, and you should be able to paste it into whatever program you use.  Crtl-V if you are on a PC will paste.  You could send me a picture of it, and I'll try to help figure out how you can get the entire zip file.

PSApril13 Birds and Bees Blog Hop

Welcome.  I pray you enjoy.

I'm trying my hand at sharing my digital graphics for scrapbooking.  It is a lot of work, especially on my old laptop, and with the free software GIMP.  My daughter regularly complains about how slow my computer is.  It's around 9 years old, so I just keep babying it.  But slowly, I've been able to make some items I wanted to share with you.

I've been involved with Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking for several months now, and have actually gotten some digital scrapbooking done, because of encouragement and their challenges there.  It is a community for both those starting out in digital scrapping and those that are designers, or want-to-be's.  It's run by a wonderful, giving couple, Marisa and Jordan.

I thought about participating in their February Blog Train; Retro Kitchen, but wasn't really ready yet.  So I've been playing with designing more, and have made a few designs I'll share with you, during their April Blog Train; the Birds and the Bees.

I'm still learning how to do all of this, from the digital designing to the composing and working with a Blog, setting up e-mail accounts, and sites to host the files....so please be patient with me.  I've also tried to separate the elements and papers so that Google Drive will allow the files to be scanned for you before you download...hopefully this all has worked.

Well, I've continued to battle with my computer this week, trying to get things ready for April 1.  I experienced all sorts of trouble when zipping the files, like having the names truncated.  But I think I've gotten at least most of the bugs out.

I've tried to tag my files in Picasa for you as well, but apparently it isn't working on the main 12x12 paper's zip.

Don't miss any of the pieces, be sure you get all 3, either from the photos or the links below.

To download click on the photos, and if you are directed to another page it should have the NAME of the ZIP file, on the new page.  Just under that name, you should find FILE...click
FILE > DOWNLOAD, if you don't get a direct download.

*************

*************
 

If clicking on the photos above doesn't take you to the download page, you can click on these links.  In my testing it was asking for the user to log into Google...if this happens and you don't have an account, please let me know and I'll try adjusting things again.


~Sorry Links have expired~

Since it's my first time designing for others, I'd love it if you would please leave a comment here or in Pixel Scrapper forums, about what you enjoyed about them, or anything that you had trouble with.

The Blog Train can be found here.  There are many others with some wonderful contributions, so you'll end up with a MEGA kit!  You don't need to join the community there to enjoy the blog train contributions, but we'd love to have you.  So browse a little after collecting from the other blog trains.

You might also enjoy my other blog.  I have some tutorials and other musings there.  Enjoy your goodies!
***************
Editted: April 4, 2013 @ 6pm US Central time zone to include dropbox downloads for those that can't get the above links to work.

~Sorry Links have expired~

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Just a preview

For those coming early here's a preview of my files that will be available for download in April during the Birds & Bees Blog Train hosted by Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking.

Come back again!

I'm working on some files for a blog hop in April.

The theme is the Birds and the Bees, and there are several from  Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking that will be offering goodies for you to enjoy.

I've been working hard on the logistics lately of learning how to work with zip files and tagging in Picasa, running probably way to many test, trying to be sure that things go smoothly for you.  A big task with my old system.

So stay tuned.

Welcome to our studio!

My designs are inspired by THE CREATOR, and my skills are meant to GLORIFY My Heavenly Father.  If you need to talk, or have questions on how to have a personal relationship with the ONE who creatively and magnificently designed you, please contact me at plavnickwellinghoffstudios@gmail.com.