Gift Guide Round Up

Ever since the beginning of AGT, I have enjoyed bossing you all around when it comes to gift giving.  That is, I love giving gifts to others and I think I'm good at it.  In fact, most of the time, I'm great at it.  No apologies for truth telling.  It's almost the end of NOVEMBER!! (can you believe it?) If you haven't started thinking about Christmas, you might want to get yourself sorted.
Today, I'm sharing with you a bunch of posts from the last 8 years.. yep... 8 YEARS.. all about gifts and giving them.

Gifts for 0-5 year old kids

Gifts for 6-12 year old kids

Gifts for Mum

Gifts for the Cat!  (Shelly insisted)

Gifts for Everyone.... check out this one too.

Gifts for NO ONE! 

Gifts for Teachers


I'm really looking forward to December, when I have some fun stuff planned for all of us.    You might want to tune in for some of my suggestions for not just "surviving" the holidays, but enjoying them too!

There might even be a couple of bonus posts... we'll see!

The Patterned Paper Challenge: Part 2

A few months ago I decided I needed to use up my Paper Pattern stash.  Two weeks ago, I showed you a few cards using patterned paper.  Today, I have more for you. 

Angled Card Fronts always look so clever to me.  You really don't have to do anything much different, just stick your panel on crooked.  I do that even when I don't want to!  If you mat your panel and use the white space to add to your sentiment or for extra embellishment, you can come up with something quite special.  Check out these cards using angled card fronts.  

The sentiments are from 

My Favorite Things: Kind Thanks stamp set

"Hello" die is from 

Catherine Pooler Designs

Sentiment stamp is from the

 For Everything stamp set by Catherine Pooler. 

There are some simple ways to make your patterned paper cards look like so much more than just paper stuck on card.  On these cards, I used an ink blending tool to add colour around the edge of these cards which gives the paper more depth. Looks fancy, right?  I stacked several die cut words which I coloured using the same ink blending technique.  I love these cards and they are perfect for a gift set I am putting together for a friend.  

The Sweet die and inks were all from Catherine Pooler Designs which was part 

of the Celebrate Friends Stamp of Approval Collection, not currently available. 

Ink Colors: Party Dress (pink), Flirty Fuchsia (purple) and Tiara (yellow) 

which are all part of the Life of the Party collection.

I used the same technique on this card! 

The sentiment "painted thanks" was created by Neat and Tangled for

one of  Catherine Pooler's Stamp of Approval Collections and is available 

for purchase if you click the link.

This card uses the paper tearing technique.  Check out this video (skip to 12:20) to see how you can control which edges have the white torn part and to see the card that inspired my card.  Shout out to Desiree from Include a Thank You for inspiring me.  

The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn Chit Chat stamp set 

and I used the co-ordinating die to cut it out. 

Here are a few more that I have made in the last few weeks.  

I still have a big pile of patterned paper on my craft table, so I daresay there are even more coming before the year's end.  I really need to get cracking on some Christmas cards! 

Happy crafting!  See you next week! 

November Goals Check-in

Today we have lots of reasons to celebrate! 

During my vacation in September, I worked hard at cutting out foods that I don't need and don't really want (but often eat for emotional reasons). I cleaned up my eating.  

These foods include: 

chocolate, 

ice cream

iced bun loaf 

cake (I don't even like cake, why do I eat it?) 

cheesecake! (I love cheesecake)

I only drink tea and water. I drink a lot of water.  I eat 3 meals a day and any snacks are fruit or an occasional cracker biscuit.  When it comes to meals, I attempt to keep it to vegetables, salad, red or white meat, some bread and (because I can't live without it) cheese.  

In five weeks, I have lost 4kgs.  I am over the moon!  I know that it's a bit faster than what can be maintained, but I feel like I'm really making lifestyle changes that will last.  

In addition to changing my food choices, I have been exercising 5 days a week!  I'm still doing it, too!  Good for me! I finally came up with a plan that is realistic and therefore, achievable and I'm sticking with it!  

Last time we checked in with my goals I told you that I felt like I have turned a corner and some sort of switch has been flicked inside me.  There are a few events/ activities and a few resources I used that found the switch and got me to the corner.  However, I still needed to take the step and flick the switch. It amazes me how some words or a single event can affect so much change.  

Let me tell you what happened.

I did some reading.  Sounds simple.  I read my Bible and I completed a couple of Bible reading plans about weight loss.  One of them was the 7 Cycles to Biblical Weight Loss (available here) and the other one was on a blog.  They helped me to put "eating" and my perspectives on food into a different context.  I have had been on a long journey with weight loss, dieting, not dieting, healthy eating and self esteem linked to body image.  For a huge chunk of that journey, I did not even consider that these issues belong to God.  My body belongs to God and it's my job to care for it.

I had often remembered the Bible verse about the Christian's body as a temple of God when I talked about my choice not to smoke, drink alcohol or use recreational drugs.  I never thought about that verse in the context of food.  This shift in my mind and my heart, has results in a new way of thinking about my body.  This new way of thinking about my body has changed how I eat and how I think about food.

The women who contribute to these blogs explain it very well and I don't want to try and go deeper into it and mess it up.  Please check these links below.

Equipping Godly Women
Grace Filled Plate

I will probably talk more about my eating and my new perspective in the future.  However, for now I'm going to leave it at this.

I haven't lost 30kg (again), had surgery, changed religion, started an extreme workout or an eating regime and I didn't go to a fat farm or counselling.  I am just thinking differently about my body, food, eating, exercising and my health.  That's all I'm saying.

Until Next Week....

The Patterned Paper Challenge

I have A LOT of patterned paper.

Although I have less than some people, I have more than I need.  You see, being a stamper now, I can make my own backgrounds for cards and I can even create patterned paper if I want to.  So,  I don't really need any patterned paper.  In fact, this year, I have used very little of my patterned paper.  Until now!

I have set myself a challenge.  I don't really need all that patterned paper, but I can't bring myself to throw it away and  have already shared some of my extras with friends.  I still have a big pile of the stuff.  So, here is the challenge... Use ALL the patterned paper!

I was telling myself I was not allowed to buy anymore patterned paper until I had used all the paper I have.  That was helping my bank balance but it wasn't really enough motivation to use it all up.  You might remember, I did a post earlier this year showing you some ways that I have used patterned paper on my cards.  I know we are all looking for more ways to use it.  Now, I'm beginning my card making with a patterned paper.  Instead of designing a card and then using patterned paper as an afterthought, I have been going about it the other way.  I choose a sheet of paper and then I design the card to suit the paper.  There are lots of ways to use patterned paper on cards and for now, I have only barely scratched the surface.  While I have made more than 20 cards since setting myself this challenge, I still have loads of paper left so never fear, there are heaps more cards coming!

Check these out!

This design is brilliant and was a CASE from two videos I watched. One by Catherine Pooler and one by The Crazy Paper Chick.  Click the links to view the videos and see the cards that these talented ladies made.  Here are the cards I made.

I made a similar card using a stitched rectangle die too. 

I paired this pink and yellow butterfly paper with Party Dress ink 

from Catherine Pooler and her gorgeous Simply the Best stamp set.  

These cards were so simple because all I had to do was add a sentiment using the Young at Heart Stamp Set by Casual Fridays or the Prayers stamp set  with co-ordinating die from Memory box. 

There are more cards that I want to share with you, so come back in a few weeks to see more.  There will be some more Clean and Simple card designs and a few that are a bit more busy.  The great thing about patterned paper is that it can make for quick and easy cards if you're in a pinch.

Dig into that patterned paper, and get creating!  I would love to see what you make.  :)

See you next time.

Goal Check In for October...

When we last "checked in" with the goals, I told you that I was struggling with everything. School was super busy (you know the cape thing) and I was dragging myself toward the 2 week semester break.  I was even eating ice cream again! I resolved to use my holidays to get back on track.  I didn't travel or leave the house unless I had to, so it was nice to just 'reset'.  

I went to a birthday party for a one year old little girl, met up with a couple of friends and I went to the city to see my specialist.  In between all of that, I slept and made cards and just chilled out.  I also did some great decluttering - like therapeutic levels of decluttering - and watched quite a few youtube.com videos. I will tell you more about that another time. 

Back to the goals... Let's Review

1. Prioritise my Evening Routine.

2. Eliminate Soft Drink from my diet.

3. Complete a Bible Activity and Pray Everyday.

4. Stretch- Daily

These were 4 specific actions that I wanted to work on to eventually reach my overarching goal (one which I think will be ongoing). 

In 2018 I will be the healthiest and happiest version of myself by making good choices for my body, my soul, my mind and my relationships. I will do my best with what I have and be grateful for abundant blessings. 

To be perfectly honest.  I think that I have not been the healthiest version of myself this year.  I would say that a huge chunk of this year I have been quite unhappy.  I have been really tired.  Medication changes and huge changes in my workplace have made it difficult to be the happiest and healthiest version of myself.  Hence, the struggle! 

Over the two week 'vacation' I reviewed my routines and worked on developing new ones which I have practiced and I'm working on them.  This includes my evening and bedtime routine.  It's on the right track.  One day, I might be able to tell you that I've got it down! 

I'm stretching everyday!  I use  the CocoLime Fitness YouTube Channel and choose one of the stretch videos OR I do some basic stretches on my own in between activities.  Click here to see what I have written about this channel before.  Sometimes, at work, a quick stretch for my shoulders and neck are exactly what I need. On the upside, my recent visit to the physio showed that my stretching is really helping my joints and my muscle strength.  FINALLY! Something is working! 

I feel like I have turned a corner. Some kind of switch has been flicked inside my head, inside my body, inside my heart. I will tell you more about that another day.  I might not be the happiest and healthiest version of myself yet... but I finally feel like I'm on the way!  

Hang in there... Keep going!