Merry Christmas....a quick look at the journey

So this week I will be focusing on the reason for the season with my family!  But before the festivities begin, I wanted to give you a quick update.

This past week was a struggle.  Too many holiday gatherings that had food.  The result?  I lost only 1 pound.  Figured I would gain this week, but thankfully didn't.

Now this week I don't have as many gatherings...only one with my staff so I hope the week I will hit my 2 lb a week goal.  We'll see.

So I hope to see everyone after Christmas day.  I pray you will have safe and wonderful Christmas.  

Merry Christmas!
-Samantha

Those Dreaded Men Cards Part 2

Here is another card I am going to be sending on my swap.  Isn't this so cute?  I was inspired by this pin on Pinterest.  I modified it a bit.  But I love this card.  The monocle, mustache, and the sentiment were all created by my Cricut using design space images.  I added the googly eyes.  The patterned paper is from the same paper pad I used before by Recollections.

This literally took me about 2 minutes to make once the images were cut.

Very simple!

I am entering this card into:
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper December 2016 Challenge

The Journey Continues

Another 4 lbs lighter!  Woot, woot!!!

Now I am down to 217lbs.  This was a really good week.  Only one unplanned meal.  I still didn't choose wisely for that unplanned meal.  What made the difference though is I had lots of bonus points left.  I had a couple of days I stayed within my daily points value without using any of my bonus points.  I am also for the most part, not getting hungry between meals which is always good.  I make sure I take a few healthy snacks in case that does happen.  Usually a fruit and a veggie so that I am not racking up the points but I am taking care of the need for something.

Goals for this week is still to work on the water.  I know this one will be better with a change at work coming up in the New Year, but still want to make sure I am getting in some water everyday.  (I really don't like water..)  Also, I want to make sure I walk at least once this week.  I am feeling better so want to start slowly increasing some activity as well.

How is your goals going?  Have you started planning your goals for next year?

Those Dreaded Cards for Men

So I have joined quite a few swap groups via Facebook.  It has been loads of fun trying my hand a new things like pocket letters, flip books, loaded flip bags.  I love getting to know a little bit about my fellow crafters out there.  It also gives me the flexibility of joining as many or as few swaps as I think I can handle each month.  Not to mention the inspiration....there are some amazing talents out there.

I am currently taking a break from all that.  With the Christmas coming, I knew there would be some handmade projects I would want to tackle so I decided to take a break.

That being said, there was one personal swap that kept getting bumped.  Since somethings in my life have been a bit stressful I just kept putting it off.  There was no actual date so it finally worked out where I had a moment to breathe and put something together for this person.

She will be sending me some, I am sure amazing embellishments, while I am sending her 6 cards that would be perfect for men.  

Now, I don't know about you but if you are a papercrafter, this is the area that a lot of us struggle with.  Bring on the flowers and the You go for it girl sentiments...we are in our element.  Trying to come up with something handmade a man would enjoy in a card form though can seem daunting...heck it is daunting.  I struggle each year for Father's day as well as my husband's birthday.  I get it ....cards for men are hard.

But, I was up for the challenge.  I went to my favorite place for inspiration...Pintrest.  How did you guess?

So over the next bit I will be sharing with you these 6 cards I made just for this swap.  It was fun.  I loved how they turned out.  So get out your die cutting machines, paper, stamps, etc.  Dive in, I know you can do it too!

Here is card #1.  I got out my trusty Cricut machine to put this one together.  I started out with a A2 card base in creme.  I then added some super cute patterned paper by Recollections.  This 6 x 6 paper pad I used throughout these cards.  The paper has a travel theme, but are the perfect shades for cards for men.

The vest and tie was from Cricut's design space.  I layered on the tie, buttons, and the pocket.  To make sure I had the correct color scheme I printed this as a print and cut.  The Happy Birthday sentiment was written by my Cricut using the font babycakes.  I then in the lower left just added a enamel dot I made with those perler beads you see everywhere.

Didn't take too long...the biggest obstacle is getting the computer for a few minutes from my 7 year old because he was playing on it.

I am entering this into CAS(E) this Sketch's #201 sketch as it was the inspiration for the sketch.  I love that challenge blog because the sketch's are really my style, simple.  You can see the other entry's for this challenge here.

Here is a copy of the sketch:

Hope you all have a great week!

Snowy Scene....

 So I have been doing random crafty projects instead of getting my Christmas cards done.  Procrastination at its finest.  I  don't know why I am not into the Christmas cards, but so far they aren't getting done.

Instead a couple of cute things I came up with on my own did happen.  This cute snowy scene being one of them.  

My hubby got something in this cute little tin.  After he used up the product, he gave it to me saying this looked like something I would store something in or make something.  He was right.  😜  Do you have friends/loved ones that save this type of thing for you because they know you craft?  Isn't it the best feeling when they do?  

So the inspiration came for this once I bought the wooden trees out of the Target dollar spot.  I thought wouldn't it be cool to make a scene in this container?  The trees and the snowflake sequins I also got out of the Target dollar spot really made this come together.  I printed out the background from my printer and had the Cricut cut out the perfect 2 1/2 inch circle.  I then used some shapes from Design Space along with the slice/weld application to create the house with snow banks.  The best part is I did this and it fit the container on the first try!  That like never happens.  Of course, measuring first is what made that work.  I hate measuring...I am more of a wing it type of person.

It turned out pretty good right?  I did add a magnet to the back of this to hang on my refrigerator because I wanted to be able to see it all season.

Now my next project was inspired by the multiple cool projects I see Brittnay Pochick.  Here is where you can see her channel.  She makes the coolest badge holders for her craft fairs.  I saw the ones from Halloween and thought they were super cute.  Being a nurse you can never have too many badge holders.  So since I had a package of plain ones I got from the dollar tree last year I decided to bling one up for the Holiday.

 Here is the one i completed last night.  I used some gem ribbon from Dollar Tree in gold.  I glued that around the outside edge.  I then used some of those wooden trees and a snowflake sequin again and glued that to the front.  Very simple and easy to make.  I plan on wearing this throughout the holiday season.  

What are you up to this Holiday crafting season?

Slow and Steady

Let's do a review of the week.  I lost 1lb!  Woohoo!  I will take it.  

This last week was a struggle for several reasons.  The main reason would be I didn't do a lot of my own cooking.  When going out for a meal whether it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner means I don't do as well with my points.  If it's a meal I have planned to eat out, I do much better.  When that happens, I have the place picked out as well as the meal.  Then I stay within my point system.

So there were several days where counting points went out the window by the evening meal because we ate out, I was not prepared, and wasn't sure what kind of points I was eating due to that.  But the good news is was I didn't eat till I was full like I used to.  If i ate till I felt full, that means I over ate because about 20 minutes after I stop I would be miserable.  I did when eating out looked at the serving.  I then made a conscious effort to make it a real serving not an oversized one.  Though that means I threw food away, I am glad I didn't eat like I used to till the plate was cleaned.

My water intake still isn't where it needs to be, so I will still work on that.  My other goal for the week is to plan my meals.  Also, stick to those planned meals.  

Craft related goals is getting those Christmas cards made.  I know what I want to do but still haven't gotten started on getting those cards.  I hope this doesn't end up being another year with no Christmas cards.  

What goals do you have set this week?

Your Kindness Warms my Heart

Searching through card challenges...to keep from working on those Christmas cards I need to do.  I found the Sweet Curtain Call Challenge.   

I was inspired by that cute drink with the yummy marshmallow gingerbread man.  See the picture to the right.

See?  Adorable.  So I set out to see what I could come up with.  

Now I have periods of wonderful inspiration that brings a card sketch to mind and off  I go.  Not so much this time.  Instead, I turn to Pintrest.  I think I am the only one who actually tries out some of their pins.  Now I have more pins than I will actually ever get to this lifetime in reality, but I do actually try some of those recipes, those cute cards or crafts, and in this case I did use a card sketch.  Here it is if you are dying to see.

I began with the coffee cup with the steam in the shape of a heart.  This is a digital stamp from Prettygrafik design I believe.  I colored it in with my copics.  I cut out the digital stamp and the window over it with my Cricut.  The patterned paper for the Polaroid looking square cut is from Polkadoodles Baked with Love digital collection.  Both of these were purchased from Etsy.  The kraft paper with gold snowflakes I cut from the pad I got from Target's Dollar Spot by American Crafts.  I then set my Cricut to write out the sentiment.  I added a bit of green twine, then set it all on a A2 card made with Neena white cardstock.

Here's another view of the card: 

I am linking this to the Curtain Call Challenge "Sweet".

Advent Needed....Cricut to the Rescue

Well, with moving several times since my son has been born means you loose things.  Like the advent calendar.  It has been a tradition to countdown the days to Christmas.

To the rescue comes Pinterest and my Cricut.  Here is the pin that was the inspiration.  So I started by looking through Cricut Design Space till I found this cute little guy. 

It was very simple to put together.  I cut the layers out.  Glued those layer together.  Then,I just cut out 24 circles that were about a half inch.  I wrote the numbers on.  Bam! Done in about 30 minutes.   Now every night a cotton ball will be added to his beard.  

Problem solved.