Whole30 Update!

Whole30 Update:

Thursday, I finished my first #whole30. I say "first" because I've already got another one planned and considering doing #whole30forlife. We'll see how that plays out.

Yesterday, I could have eaten literally ANYTHING I wanted. There's a reintroduction plan, but I hadn't decided what exactly to reintroduce first!

So I went to work with Whole30 compliant food in my lunch bag. And I ate dinner at work and it was Whole30 too. And when I came home, I made pizza (well, Delissio made it, I just put it in the oven) for the kids. And I had a sliver (like literally 1/24th of the pizza) and it was gross. It didn't affect me adversely in any way, it just didn't seem "right".

I think tonight we'll have burgers...I'll skip the bun. It's AMAZING what you can get used to in 30 days.

I can now drink black coffee. It's not awesome, but I can do it. I can drink black tea too...I prefer the stuff from David's though. A little Electric Lemonade with the added punch of maté is fabulous in the morning.

I started back to the gym - CONSISTENTLY. I'm aiming for 21 days straight (that's how long it takes to form a habit), so as soon as I'm done my tea and this update, I'm outta here! Today is day 6.

As for the NSV (non-scale victories), I have more energy, my pants are looser, I sleep better at night and I just generally feel better! Oh! And I had to get one of my rings resized from a size 5 to a 3.75!!! Crazy, right??

In the picture, you can see the progress I made. It wasn't huge, but it was progress in the right direction. I'm not ready to share the "whole story" which is why there's post it notes covering the "scary stuff".

As of this morning, I'm down another 3 lbs. And I PROMISE you all again that I am NOT starving myself! I'm eating healthy food, making good choices, moving my body (way more than I was!) and just doing what feels RIGHT.

My friend Caroline and I are staring a Whole30 on November 7th (yeah, I outed her...but she's already told lots of people, so it's all good) and would be thrilled if you'd like to join us.

Go to the library, read the books, find the info online. It'll change your life.

Happy Saturday!

Birthday Part 2! Except Not....

October has SO many birthdays in it in our family and two of them are celebrated in our house! But...this weeks sketch just SCREAMED Christmas at me, so the birthday card will have to wait till next week.

Here's the sketch:

I never did get around to making my son a birthday card - OOPS! But he had a GREAT birthday with his favourite meal (maple-glazed ham) and favourite dessert (chocolate roll cake) and he got all the things he asked for, so it all worked out. :)

The part of the sketch that screamed Christmas is the striped element on the left hand side. As soon as I saw it, all I could see was Christmas Washi tape!

So here's what I did:

This is a single layer card (ish) which means that there are no additional layers of Cardstock or Designer Series Paper beyond the base. This "ish" is because on a TRUE single layer card, I would have stamped the image directly on the base. Close enough, right??

The image in the circle is from Jar of Cheer and I stamped it in Basic Black Archival Ink and then coloured it in using my Cherry Cobbler and Garden Green markers. The sentiment is from Tin of Tags - you can get just the sentiment set or order the Tin of Tags Project Kit and have THIRTY tags for your gifts this year and then use the sentiments on your greeting cards as well. WIN-WIN!

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the crew have been up to HERE.


What do you think?

STAMPS: Jar of Cheer, Tin of Tags
INK: Basic Black Archival, Garden Green
PAPERS: Thick Whisper White and Whisper White Cardstock; Candy Cane Lane DSP
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Dies, Washi Tape, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

Hey Foxy!!!

This set is just too adorable for words...it's a good thing there's a video. :)



Happy Stampin'!

Boxes, Bags and Tags...oh my!

The gift bag punch board is perfect for creating little bags to use for small gifts over the holiday season. Why not make one today?

Carrie will show you how:



Happy Stampin'!

Merry Monday Gingerbread!

I'm coming to you a little later than normal today, because yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my husband's family and things were a little hectic, so I didn't get the chance to set my post up for today.

No matter! I'm here now! :)

Today's post is a card we created at my Christmas Boot Camp a couple weeks ago, and while I *know* I'm totally biased, it's my absolute favourite!

Check it out:

Stinkin' cute, right? That cookie cutter punch was the first thing I ordered from the new Occasions catalogue when it came out - I pretty much ordered the WHOLE Candy Cane Suite because it was JUST. SO. ADORABLE.

First off, I sponged EVERYTHING and then I started off with a Crumb Cake base and added a layer of Early Espresso. I used the Envelope Punch Board to create the little tab element and stamped the sentiment in Real Red.

I love the Real Red Baker's Twine in the Holiday Catalogue! It comes as a TWO pack with Whisper White/Real Red sparkly twine too!

And how seriously adorable is this bow tie?? I mean REALLY!

And last but not least, the inside of the card with more sponging.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Cookie Cutter Christmas
INK: Early Espresso and Real Red
PAPERS: Whisper White, Crumb Cake and Early Espresso Cardstock; Candy Cane Lane and Neutrals DSP
ACCESSORIES: Punch, Envelope Punch Board, Bakers Twine, Markers, Sponges
Happy Stampin'!

Why Whole30?

On September 28th, I started the Whole30 Program. I chose this particular program based on the recommendation of several other people in the Bullet Journal community, but also because it's FREE. You don't have to buy any of the books, though I do recommend the one with all the recipes in it (and you can probably get that at your local library). You don't have to go to meetings or pay a fee. You don't have to buy any "special" food. All the information you could possibly need is available, for FREE, on line. The VERY basic idea is that you eliminate dairy, grains, alcohol, sugar, legumes and certain preservatives from your diet ENTIRELY for 30 days.

I chose it because I want to feel better. I chose it because I want to have more energy. I chose it because I want to be a better version of myself.

And I started on September 28th, so it's been 12 days. So far, it hasn't been too bad. I learned that there is SUGAR in pretty much EVERYTHING (even stuff you wouldn't think had sugar in it), so that part has been a HUGE adjustment and I've been doing a lot more "from scratch" cooking than I did before - which isn't a bad thing.

Above is my basic Whole30 layout in my Bullet Journal - I've become ridiculously attached to that thing in the past six weeks and I LOVE IT!

These next pages hold everything I've eaten for the past 11 days and I'll continue to fill them out for the rest of the month.

Yesterday, I made mayonnaise and I'm not gonna lie...it wasn't great. I used light tasting olive oil (NOT extra virgin olive oil - that would have made it downright NASTY) as recommended and I didn't like it. Now...that may well be because I'm just used to commercial mayo, but I think next time I'll seek out a more neutral oil, like avocado and see how that goes. As for last night's batch, I used a bit of it to make coleslaw dressing and that turned out pretty good! I think I'll add some garlic to the leftovers and see what that does for it. :)

Tonight will be a HUGE test! It's Thanksgiving weekend in Canada and we're having dinner at the in-laws. I'll check in next week and let you know how it went.

Eat healthy! Be well!

And come back tomorrow for Merry Monday! :)

Back to work you slacker!

My Christmas Boot Camp class this past weekend was a HUGE success - everyone had a great day and came away with SEVENTEEN cards!

But...that doesn't mean I can rest on my laurels! I still have TWO more classes before Christmas as well as TWO upcoming craft fairs...so, back to work!

I though this week's sketch would be perfect for a Christmas Card:

And I was right!

I started off with a base of Cherry Cobbler and added a layer of the Specialty Christmas Designer Series Paper. Then I added a small piece of from the same paper pack and on top of that I layered my image and sentiment.

I coloured in the scarf and hat on my little snowman using my Cherry Cobbler Marker.

This card will likely be part of my Ready for Christmas Class in December, so there's no bling. The cards in this class are meant to be quick and easy!

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the crew has been up to HERE.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Jar of Cheer, Tin of Tags

INK: Basic Black Archival, Garden Green

PAPERS: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler and Garden Green Cardstock; This Christmas DSP

ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Dies, Sponges, Glue Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

Home for the Holidays

...with Home Sweet Home!



You're going to LOVE this one and you can use it for the WHOLE Fall Season!

Happy Stampin'!

Merry Monday to you!

Hello and welcome to Merry Monday! A new feature on the blog where Monday = Christmas!

Don't groan because it's not even Halloween! You'll thank me later when it's December 10th and you're scrambling for ideas.

The plan is to continue this into the New Year, so that you'll have 52 Christmas ideas (tags, boxes, bags, cards) ready to go when you want to start creating for MY favourite holiday! :)

Check these out:

Aren't they ADORABLE!! And since they're 3" x 3", you can 16 (!!!) out of ONE sheet of Designer Series Paper. With 12 pieces of paper in each of packs, that's 192 tags!

I made a stack of 24 in just under 90 minutes.

The base of the tags was created using the Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper and the images were stamped/punched using Whisper White Cardstock and my 2" circle punch. Now...if you stamp CAREFULLY you should be able to get 16 circles out of one piece of 8 ½" x 11" cardstock.

I added some Real Red Bakers Twine from the 2 pack available in the Holiday Catalogue.

And that was it! 24 tags - DONE! That'll make things easier when it's time to wrap gifts in another 10 weeks!

What do you think?

STAMPS: Candy Cane Christmas
INK: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Real Red
PAPERS: Whisper White Cardstock; Candy Cane Lane DSP
ACCESSORIES: Bakers Twine, Hole Punch, Washi Tape

Happy Stampin'!

A look at the week ahead...

This post is a little different than what you normally see on my blog...



Recently, I discovered the Bullet Journal and let me tell you! In the short time I've been a "bullet journaller", it has CHANGED. MY. LIFE.

You might think thats's a little crazy, but it's true. I've already "met" lots of like minded people online - the community is SO welcoming and I've already done some experimenting and I have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't work for me.

SO, what the heck is a bullet journal?? Bullet journalling was started a few years ago by Ryder Carroll. At it's core, it's a method of rapid logging the things you need to get done. Sort of like a big to-do list. You can check out Ryder's video HERE.

But it's also a journal. And a place to keep lists. And a place to keep things you'd like to read/see/do. It can be anything you want it to be really.

Here's a peek at my October month-at-a-glance. It's not a 100% perfect (and doesn't have to be), but I LOVE the way it turned out!

As a Stampin' UP! Demonstrator, I love that I can use my stamps and other things in my journal - washi is VERY popular!

Another section that people like to incorporate into their journals is a monthly tracker. This is used to form good habits (who doesn't like the reward of having all the squares coloured in on a chart - gold star for you!) or eliminate bad ones. You can also use it as a reminder. I have some squares boxed (but not yet coloured) because I have some special plants in my house that only need to be watered every 10 days. The squares are my reminder to get it done on that day. :)

While I was experimenting in September, I tried a time tracker to see where I was spending my time/what I was doing. I found it tedious and time consuming, so October doesn't have a time tracker. Instead, it has a list of accomplishments that I'll fill in as the month progresses:

Yesterday was World Card Making Day - I taught a class (and International Coffee Day too WIN-WIN!!). Did you do anything to celebrate??

See you next week!

World Card Making Day!

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