Outside The Box

09/10/2022

Hello everyone!!! I have my table set up at Lake Latonka fall festival come visit 9-4!!

08/31/2022

Check out a few items that will be at the Lake Latonka Fall Festival! September 10th 9-4pm mark your calendar!

08/31/2022

Hello everybody! It’s time to address things and what’s been going on
My name is Madison Lontz, I’m the daughter of Michele Lontz.
Sadly Michele has passed September of last year, something about leaving this account felt wrong. How else could I have my mom “live on”? The only answer was crafts (and KISS), it took many months to realize this is what I wanted to do. At first I wanted to change the name, a clean start, but after spending $80 on thank you stickers and price tags, I decided to keep the name “Outside The Box” (haha that’s one of my many mom features, changing my mind 24/7) as of now any business cards will have Lontz Custom Crafts until I run out, I wouldn’t want to waste them. As of the business, I will do my best to be active and possibly try to do custom orders! But at last I will be working full time soon but that won’t stop me from doing this!

On September 10th, I will be attending Lake Latonka Fall Festival as a vendor. On the list, I am “Lontz Custom Crafts”, but of course after the cards are all used, I will move back to Outside The Box.

Expect new posts almost daily of everything I make! And thank you everyone who followed and supported my mom, she loved all of you. Even to the end she would work on shading her cards and gluing her die cuts on her hospital bed. You guys meant the world to her and I hope you continue to support this business as I take over.
Thank you ❤

06/17/2021

Hey there again.... just in case anyone wants to follow, this is where I blog about what is going on in the way of treatments, tests and all that fun stuff. Please come join me.

https://www.facebook.com/Iam1in5million/

The sign says it all!!! 😂🤣😂

My journey with Stage 4 Uterine Leiomyosarcoma.

Back when I 1st started my journey in 2015 I was t

06/13/2021

Oh my, haven't checked in here in a longgggggggg time. I haven't been working on anything except for a diamond painting once in awhile.

Unfortunately my cancer has spread into my bones and now I have a brain tumor plus a few small lesions they are watching up there as well. They did gamma knife surgery and my 8 week check up showed the tumor hasn't shrunk, but at least it has stopped growing. We were hoping that it would have shrunk at least a little. They may decide to operate and take it out. I go back July 13th for another mri and I am sure I will know what they decide then. Hopefully nothing happens between now and then because we are planning a graduation party for my daughter. Yay!!!

I had an infection which almost wiped me out a few months ago. It took 7 surgeries in 9 days back at the end of February into March to get it cleared up. I spent a few weeks in the hospital with a wound vac and we are still packing a small wound today. Until it closes everything is at a stand still. I have a tumor in my shoulder blade that looks like I have a golf ball stuffed in the back of my shirt. I am hoping they can address that soon. After I was discharged from the infection a few days later I was life flighted to Pittsburgh after they did a CT scan and discovered the brain tumor.

Walking is pretty tough, I can make it a little bit with my crutches or walker but anything else I need to use my power chair or the wheel chair. It makes it hard to get what I need to make something. There was always a lot of running back and forth when I could craft. But enough about that.

I doubt I will be making anything, we are going to work on clearing out the craft room and selling alot of the things I will not be using. I plan on keeping most of my scrapbook paper for my Silhouette. I have a bunch of die cuts I have either finished, almost finished or in pieces in little baggies waiting to be glued together. I have been thinking of working on those and getting what I can finished and listed on ebay again. It all depends on the beast in my head. Unless I do those there will probably not be very many posts as time goes on.

I would like to thank all of my past customers and those who liked my page. It's nice knowing that there are some things I created that are out there and being enjoyed by those who purchased them. When the day comes that I am no longer here my daughter will post that I am gone. I'm hoping that I have more time but unfortunately it's out of my hands.

Again, thank you for following me! My best to each and every one of you..... ❤❤❤

03/27/2020

03/14/2020

A little humor....

Stay well everyone. Check on your friends, elders and don’t forget we are all in this together! I will be hibernating until we see how things go. I’m not taking any chances.

God bless everyone!

02/22/2020

Hello, it’s taking me a lot longer than I thought it would to start posting. Hopefully I will snap out of it soon and get back at it. My brother’s death has really hit me hard and I have found that I am having trouble processing it all. I just miss him so much and knowing all he will miss with his sons and Grandsons as time goes on makes it even harder.

Hopefully soon I will be back in the swing of things. My daughter bought me a new Silhouette 4 for Christmas and I finally got it out of the box and partly set up.

I hope all who follow me are doing well and life has been kind to you. Hopefully I will see you soon....

My brother Mike and I protecting our brains from the aliens during the The Great American Total Eclipse. 😂😂😂

01/09/2020

Hello, can you believe it’s 2020? December got away from me with all the changes for me in mobility, trying to find options for the pain from the tumor in my pelvic bone and then my world came crashing down as we lost my big brother unexpectedly on Christmas morning. So of course everything has been put on the back burner.

I will still be posting all of the die cuts I have been working on, I just need to take a break to try to process everything. My brother was one of my biggest supporters helping me along as I fight this beast. From shaving his head with me each time I had to and cheering me on as I have gone thru all my treatments. I’m going to miss him so much and we are all trying to figure out how to go on without him. He was the best brother, son, father, uncle and friend anyone could ever ask for and he will be deeply missed.

My daughter surprised me with a new Silhouette Cameo 4 that I will be sitting down with hopefully soon and I still have a lot of sets I will be piecing together. There will be a mixture of everything. All holidays, some just because... I just need to get back on track. I can’t work unfortunately because of the cancer and the progression of it in the pelvis. I have to be very careful I don’t fracture or break any bones. I’m walking with a cane now and the doctor said that all I have been thru in the past 4 plus years is going to catch up with me. The cane is the 1st step. But with all the medical bills I needed to do something so that is why I have been making the scrapbook sets. It’s fun and easy for me to do and I used to sell kits all the time on eBay. I figured why not try again? Plus it makes me smile when I know that someone is enjoying something I have made with memories they treasure. It all comes down to memories in the end, they are all we will have left one day.

I will be starting chemo again soon so that will play into everything also. It’s so hard to plan ahead since we never know what is around the corner. But, I am working on getting ready to start the fight again after a break from treatment to give my body a chance to rest and try to get built back up. It’s going to be hard moving forward without my brother behind me telling me I’ve got this. I know he still has my back and he will be watching over me. And I will eventually be back at crafting again.

As I have already said thank you for sticking around with me. When I started this page I had no clue what was to come. It has been life changing that’s for sure.

Make sure you always tell those special to them how much you love them and how much you appreciate them. Hug them every chance you get because you never know when they will be gone. ❤️❤️❤️

12/02/2019

They are coming along! I need to put some finishing touches on them and I will be posting finished die cuts ready to use in scrap books or cards!

11/25/2019

If I would quit watching tv.... I might get somewhere. But slowly they are coming together!!! Penguins, penguins and more penguins!

11/24/2019

What do you do when your team is losing and you are trying not to lose your ......

You chalk and glue little pieces of paper to stay distracted!

I love working with Treasure Box designs!

11/13/2019

Isn’t he cute????

11/05/2019

Believe it or not, I’ve been busy working on some die cuts! I need to put the finishing touches on some and get to gluing for some others but they will be coming soon!!!

Here is a sneak peek! I love Treasure Box Designs as you will see when you go thru the pictures.

Some are just prints of the designs because the pieces I’ve cut to put them together are in baggies waiting to be highlighted and chalked! Don’t mind the mess, crafty people are rarely neat! I’m getting there.... slowly but surely!

There will be lots of stuff for you to use in scrapbooks or even greeting cards! And yes, I did a lot when I was in the hospital the last time.... that explains the hospital bed in some of the pictures. The nurses would come in and call it my Kindergarten Class! 🤣😂🤣

Stay tuned!

09/23/2019

So what do you do when it hurts to move and walking is a chore because of a pain the butt tumor (I’m being literal here!) that is pushing on a nerve in your pelvis? Why you make a mess on your favorite blanket by chalking and glueing die cuts!!!

I have been working on some different things to help keep me busy, mostly in the way of die cuts for scrapbooking and I will be back to listing on eBay soon like I did once upon a time.

I’ve made mermaids and little ocean plant pieces, all kind of Princesses, and I’ve been working on all kind of other themes too. Plus, I have boxes of die cuts I made before the fun part of stage 4 cancer kicked in. But I am still here and going!

I am hoping to get some glass blocks made in the future, I’m waiting on radiation to start hopefully soon for some pain relief and then maybe I can get a couple more things started. I also have a case of wine glasses that can be decorated and some Christmas ornaments. It won’t be on the scale that I did in the past as doing craft shows are out of the question for me now. Once my supplies dwindle down I will be sticking to paper. It seems to be the easiest for me.

So Happy 1st Day of Fall y’all and see you soon!