Healthy Lifestyle Change Week 5

Hello Blog World

Just a quick update on the healthy lifestyle challenge this week and I am one day late sorry.  I am on holiday’s in my home town and it’s been a BAD BAD BAD week.   I arrived on Thursday last week so it’s not even a good excuse but this week is no better so far and as I don’t go home until Sunday night so unfortunately I don’t see it getting much better.

I have had pretty much little to no exercise and the eating OH MY BOY!!! It has been bad, cakes, chocolates, Chinese banquets, copious amounts of wine etc…

However I did weigh myself this morning and  I have stayed the same I think.  I have been doing this for 5 weeks and lost 6kg in total, so not too bad.  I just pray that I can keep it off for the rest of my holidays and get back into full swing when  get back to Brisbane,

So more of this


And less of this





So as always I am hosting my link party and last week I had two entries besides mine, Natascha’s Lovely in Pink blog, she will be posting  today about her week, I hope it’s better than mine and also Ashley over at Me and My boys has a weekly feature called Motivate me Monday’s, last week it was about the importance of water and this week it’s about trying to eat healthy during the holiday season, which I think is very hard for all of us.  Anyway check them out.



So I have managed a healthy dinner today, I am about to go for a walk now the weather is cooler and I am still using this really slow and awkward laptop, I will try to post again before  I leave for home.  I am also trying my link party again so come on people I know you are out there trying to get healthier! Please give me ideas on how to stay on track when you are away from home and struggling, I look forward to what you can come up with until then Happy crafting.

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Butterfly Crochet

Hello Blog World,

As I am on holidays in Melbourne for the next week visiting my darling friend Jenny, there won’t be any new projects completed. I am also posting from a very slow and awkward laptop with no photo editing software so please bare with me if it looks a bit strange over the next week.

But late last year, I decided I wanted to learn how to crochet. I love the little flowers and doilies you can make and use on cards, scrapbook layouts, hair clips etc… and instead of buying them all the time I thought if I knew how to make them I could have some on hand in the exact colours I need.

So I made a few and they were a little bit dodgy but I found this awesome video tutorial on YouTube and made this sweet little butterfly.



Isn’t t sweet?  I haven’t put the feelers on there but I was very pleased with how it turned out.

Check out all Tina’s (Dreambiglover) video tutorials, if you are just starting out in the crochet world they are fantastic to learn by.

I need a lot more practice, but it is fun practicing and learning a new craft, I have brought some wool and hooks to Melbourne with me so on my down time I will be practicing a bit more and you may even see some on here.

Until then Happy Crafting

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Bracelet Fun

Hello Blog World,

Carrying on from my AWESOME Sunday with my daughter after we made this sign for her room.



We went and did lunch as ladies do, and to get some supplies, we needed some wire for this fantastic bracelet we found surfing the net over at another Michelle’s Blog, Mich L. in L.A, Tiana is obsessed with bracelets, friendship bracelets, those litter rubber bands you get from charities, basically anything that will go around her wrist! So she wanted to make one

Here is Michelle’s fantastic version



And after finding out we didn’t have any jeans in the rag bag we did find a pair of my husbands old work pants which are navy blue and had a nice leg seam, we fiddled around with scissors and wire (all I could get is memory wire, WOW that stuff is hard to work with) and the seam of the pants and finally got our version.





Ok so mine is a little bit scrappier than Michelle’s but Tiana is very pleased with the results, and since the pic was taken I have snipped off a few of those thready bits. 

Well she wasn’t content with one, so we found an old pair of white denim shorts in the bag, fiddled around again with the scissors, the wire, the beads and the seam and came up with this version…




I had some alphabet beads, so she had to add the T & J for Tiana Jayde, I like the personal touch she chose.



Being that this seam came from shorts and not pants it’s not as long as I would like but overall it’s still good and more importantly Tiana likes it and wears it.

So Check out Michelle’s Blog, she has some beautiful jewellery and ideas. It is well worth the visit.

Ok so I am off to the airport now, wish me luck,  you will still be seeing posts from me over the next 10 days, including my weekly update on the healthy lifestyle change and some old crafts of mine, you will be able to judge how far I have come, until then happy crafting.

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I often link up with these parties

Awesome

Hello Blog World

Spent an AWESOME Sunday with my daughter Tiana, we made bracelets, had lunch, painted our nails and made a sign for her room.
Tiana likes to have a look with me when I am perusing the link parties, she’s often going oooh, ahhhh, click that mum.  Most often at cakes, biscuits etc… so when she asked me to click this beautiful little thumb from Anna from Directions not included, who is guest posting over at The Crafty Scientist



I was very surprised.  She wanted to make one right away!  So off we went into my craft room to see if we had supplies and yes we did.  I didn’t have a rectangle board or canvas, but we did find a 10” x 10”  canvas.  I also don’t have a silhouette or wishblade or anything that extravagant but I did have these letters that we thought at the time would make great stencils.



And even my cat Donkey had to get in on the action when sorting out what letters we needed.



So we wanted to make sure they would all fit on the canvas, so before painting, we got the trusty ruler and grey lead, did some measurements and did a rough draft.



Seeing that they were all going to fit, off Tiana went and painted the whole canvas black



Once dried, out came the trusty white pencil and we re-sketched the lines very lightly and started painting with the stencils.  Now because they are chipboard and not flat like normal stencils the bright aqua paint we originally planned on using didn’t like it and smeared and smudged a lot under the stencil.  So we scrapped that idea and because of my husband’s clever idea we chose to spray paint.  Unfortunately we only had silver paint on hand, but the effect is still good and it took a lot longer than originally anticipated.



We had to touch up a bit in between lines as we had to spray letter by letter using plastic protector sheets to protect the rest of the canvas, as well get rid of our white sketch lines. It took a lot longer than originally anticipated.

All in all we are very happy with the result and we both love how quirky the letters are and that some of them are even a bit off centre.  It gives the whole piece character.



So check out The Crafty Scientist and Anna at Directions not Included, they are both great blogs with fantastic ideas, and thank you Anna for the wonderful inspiration!

Now I have to go and pack as I am flying off to Melbourne for 10 days tomorrow and it’s gonna be absolutely great!!!

Until then happy crafting

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I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas…

Hello Blog World,

How I wish we had white Christmases' here in Australia, but ALAS!! it isn’t to be, it’s usually very hot so we tend to have salads and barbecues for lunches, this year we are thinking of having a picnic, we can’t decide between the lake or the beach… still have a few weeks left to decide.

Anyway to at least make me feel cooler with all this heat around I took the recent Clean and Simple Sketch FTL167



Combined it with Crafty Catz Challenge 109 – Snowflakes,  played around with some old basic grey papers and came up with this…



I love the big snowflake, and you can’t really see it but I have kindy glitzed (glittered) the whole snowflake so it’s very blingy!!

I can’t decide whether to take this to the market next month or to give away at Christmas this year, I might take it and if it doesn’t sell then give it away.

So here’s to a white Christmas in my mind only, one day we will head to the other side of the globe to experience it, but not this year.  So we will still enjoy our picnic and have a great day and try not to get too sunburned down under in Sunny Queensland.

I am off to do aerobics now, have had a few slack days and with my trip coming up I can’t afford to slack off too much. So until later happy crafting

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Linking up to these great parties and don’t forget my own link party…MOTIVATE me people!!

Healthy Lifestyle Change Week 4

Hello Blog World,

Week 3 was a bit of a disappointment, no weight lost and a few bad days. What will this week bring?

Only had one other entry in my linky party so the award for entering goes to Natascha from No Pain No Gain Tuesday, she lost 3.5 pounds last week, which is fantastic, I wonder how she goes this week.  Check it out tomorrow for her latest update!

I am putting the party up again so please, please, please people I need recipes, exercise tips, stories, motivation, basically anything goes!!

Firstly my motivation for this week!

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^{(src: http://www.kindovermatter.com/2011/01/freebie-alert-free-positive-thoughts.html, Click for the free printable, and don’t forget to say thanks!)}

Monday
The weekend was terrible, bad food and not much exercise and today was the same. I had a Microsoft excel training course in the city and while I learnt lots they provided lunch!

Highs

• Healthy Breakfast achieved – protein shake
• Over 3 litres of water consumed

Lows

• Spinach and Ricotta cannelloni for lunch with a lemonade
• 3 Biscuits (or cookies) consumed
• Went to the pub with my friend after the training course and shared a bowl of wedges with sour cream and had 2 bourbons and diet coke
• No exercise

Tuesday
A pretty good day today, didn’t get on the treadmill but feel I am getting back on track.

Highs

• Healthy Breakfast achieved – Protein Shake
• Healthy Morning Tea achieved – 2 cinnamon flavoured rice cakes
• Healthy Lunch achieved – Tomato soup with 2 slices of bread, unbuttered
• Healthy Dinner achieved – Chicken Balls with couscous salad
• Over 3 litres of water consumed
• 40 minutes of aerobics

Lows

• No Treadmill

Wednesday
Ok today was not so good! No exercise and ice cream!

Highs

• Healthy Breakfast achieved – Protein Shake
• Healthy Morning Tea achieved – low fat yogurt
• Healthy Lunch achieved – left over chicken balls and couscous salad
• Over 3 litres of water consumed
• 40 minutes of aerobics

Lows

• French Toast for Dinner
• No exercise
• Peppermint Choc Top Ice-cream at the movies

Thursday
Ok need to get motivated today!!!

Highs

• Healthy Breakfast achieved – Protein Shake
• Healthy Morning Tea achieved – low fat yogurt
• Healthy Lunch achieved – More of my left over chicken balls
• Healthy Dinner achieved – grilled chicken, garden salad and low fat tzatziki
• Over 2 litres of water consumed
• 45 minutes of aerobics

Lows

• No treadmill

Friday
Busy busy day today…but not for my challenge. Spent all day at my sister in laws and got nothing else achieved

Highs

• Healthy Breakfast achieved – Protein Shake
• Healthy Morning Tea achieved - low fat yogurt
• Healthy Lunch achieved – Chicken and salad bread roll
• Over 3 litres of water consumed

Lows

• Dinner consisted of 3 party pies and 3 sausage rolls
• No exercise

Saturday
OK Market day finally arrives!!! Had to get up at 4am and be there at 5:30 to set up for opening to the public at 8am – 2pm, this is after getting to bed at around 12:30am as I was helping Kel prepare for her market. It was a great day, Kel sold lots and I sold 4 cards! But unfortunately it didn’t leave time for anything else.

Highs

• Healthy Breakfast achieved – Protein Shake
• Healthy Lunch achieved – Ham and salad sandwich
• Over 3 litres of water consumed

Lows
Terrible morning tea – plate of mini pancakes with maple syrup
It was also very hot today over 35 degrees Celsius so I gave in and bought an ice cold can of normal lemonade
By the time I got home I was starving, so I had spread out over the afternoon 6 pieces of toast with butter and vegemite!! (this constituted my dinner)
I also dozed on and off all afternoon as I had a killer headache from the heat and lack of sleep, therefore no exercise

Sunday
OK Michelle, 2 really bad days in a row!! Need to get back on track have a weigh in tomorrow!

Highs

• Healthy Breakfast achieved – Protein Shake
• Healthy Dinner achieved – Grilled chicken, garden salad and low fat tzatziki
• Over 3 litres of water consumed

Lows

• Quiche and Low Fat Iced Coffee for lunch
• No Exercise

Ok so I am a little embarrassed by this week, after having 3 really good weeks, I have seemed to slackened off a little, it’s a bit disappointing, but I still got on the scales this morning and low and behold I had lost 1/2 kg (which is over 1 pound)!  So it’s better than nothing and does show even with a bad week I can still have some positives, so to anyone out there reading this (this includes you Natascha) don’t be discouraged by a bad week. Look at the positives!!!
Anyway Check out my link party below, it’s another scorcher here today and I have to prepare for my trip to Melbourne later in the week so until then Happy Healthy Crafting.

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Market Day

Hello Blog World.

So market day has finally arrived.  I was soooo excited for Kel and it wasn’t even my own stall, I can’t imagine how she felt.  We were up til after 12am the night before preparing all the last minute preparations and had to get up at 4am to be there by 5:30 to set up for opening to the public at 8am!!! Wow what a morning!
I should mention the name of the market is The Handmade Expo, and it’s on once a month here where I live.  If you live in SE QLD go, check them out.

Kel set up everything beautifully…



Look there are my little cards and 2 of my photo pegs. Also check out that fab owl material she has used for a nappy clutch!



There’s more my pegs and the pink box has all my cards in there



Look at the material on that hard clutch! So divine, unfortunately it sold.



Some beautiful boys clothes, I love the cars material…very cute.



And some pretty girls clothes.  The strawberry short cake material takes me back to my childhood and I wanted to steal some of that black and aqua fabric for a handbag but Kel wouldn't let me.



And that’s everything all set up!  It was a great day and we had some lovely ladies either side of us.  2 sisters that made handmade soaps, the yummy smells were wafting over all day and a very talented young lady who is into millinery.  Beautiful hats, hairclips, fascinators etc…

Of course being a market I had to spend some money too… This is what I scored



A beautiful one off girls dress for my friend in Melbourne.  This is one of Kel's designs.

And then hubby popped by after work and bought me this…



It’s a silver ring with a tanzanite gems shaped as a flower.  Gotta love him.
I also bought something for my daughter as a stocking filler for Christmas but 13 year olds read so I can’t say what that was…not yet anyway.

So I still have all of Sunday left before heading back to work, I want to get some crafting in today, not sure what yet, but until then happy crafting.

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Linking up with these fab parties