“Sweet” Shaker Card for Summer

“Sweet” Shaker Card for Summer

shaker card

Winter still has a grip on our little part of the Midwest, so I spent a couple of hours this afternoon dreaming of sweet treats and summer skies as I put together a little something for this week’s Freshly Made Sketches.

shaker cardThis is my first solo shaker card, so I was working without a net. Other than a few too many beads (rookie mistake) I think this “Sweet” card turned out pretty cute. I just can’t wait to send it to someone special when summer finally arrives. . . I do realize spring has to get here first. *sigh*

I used Echo Park’s Summer Bliss paper to create this card and the ice cream cone and sentiment came from the Small Talk Frames & Tags Cricut cartridge. . . very aptly named, I think! I recently purchased this cartridge at Tuesday Morning and my sister was disappointed that they only had one. It’s full of some stinkin’ cute graphics and I’ve been on the hunt for another one for my sad sis. I’m sure I’ll run across another someday.

The “sprinkle” beads were part of a Martha Stewart Crafts microbead set. I used pretty thin foam tape for the card so these were the only thing I had small enough to roll around on the ice cream. I think some oblong beads would have looked more like sprinkles, but I had none. I probably donated them to the thrift store last week. *grin*

 

Chapter 3: Still Winning by Losing with Weight Watchers

Chapter 3: Still Winning by Losing with Weight Watchers

Today is another Weight Watchers weigh-in night, which reminds me that I am completely behind on my updates. With all the crashing and redesigning going on here at Small Talk Mama, my February WW post got lost in the chaos.

So to bring everyone up to speed (other than my mother who gets a call from me the very minute my meeting is over;  I’m glad she’s proud), I’m still losing weight on the Smart Points program and I’m still not starving. I do, however, need to buy a new pair of jeans and a new bra — I’m sagging and gaping in all the wrong places (it’s the pants that are sagging, by the way).

weight watchers

I hit another milestone in February with ten pounds lost and I received another charm to mark my achievement! That put me safely under the 160 mark, but then I experienced an almost two-week hiatus of weight loss. I mean I saw exactly the same number on the scale for almost fourteen days. Yikes! For several days I was completely bummed! Although I had been told this was a normal event that most people experienced, I really started to believe that my forty-something physique was stuck in place and I would never see a slim me again. I had more than a few moments where I wanted to throw in the towel. . . but I just kept tracking my points and following the plan. A few days later, my body adjusted (or whatever it does) and I began shedding pounds again.  Yay!

I’m still winning with Weight Watchers and March is looking to be another good month for me, but before I get ahead of myself here are my updated stats:

STARTING WEIGHT:  168.2
JANUARY 2018 :  -8.6
FEBRUARY 2018: -5.8
CURRENT WEIGHT:  153.8

Stuck Inside with a Stuck Sketch

Stuck Inside with a Stuck Sketch

StuckFeb18

Yesterday was an snow ice day for my son’s school but he was still running a fever, so I knew it would be another long housebound day for the two of us. After making the trek through the basement to feed the chickens, I flipped on the space heater in my craft room on my way back through the house. I anticipated a crafty kind of day and thankfully I carved out a couple of hours to do just that.

Stuck SketchI decided to continue working on my 2011 scrapbook (save the “poor things” and “bless her hearts” please — I know I’m way behind *sigh*) and after I inspected the Stuck Sketch challenge for the second half of the month, I knew I had the right stuff to pull together this page. You see, I’ve been Spring cleaning about the house and I came across an old paper kit in my craft room that I almost tossed into the donate pile this weekend. I’ve had the kit stuffed in my stash for years and figured if I hadn’t used it by now, it probably wouldn’t happen. I reluctantly held onto it (probably why I have so much stuff in the first place) but I quickly realized this Stuck challenge was perfectly made for my weary purple paper pack.

The Kolette ColorbÖk kit included two 12×12 pages already pieced together with a large coordinating strip down the side and stitching all around. The kit also included some decorative quotes and do-dads, which I didn’t use except for the long decorative banner I added down the side with the vellum quote piece ripped off. I ended up using both large sheets of paper because I cut “family” out of the second piece so that everything would coordinate.

Luckily I found the Pembroke 6×6 paper pack by s.e.i. in my stash that coordinated well with my page. All the extra paper came from this pack and I added a white heart doily and white tag for extra interest. I inked all my papers in purple and added all kinds of extras to the page. I colored little white flowers with markers and spritzing spray and added another long-time resident of my stash, the large purple and white flower towards the top of the photo. Some purple and white bakers twine, a little puffy sentiment, sheer purple ribbon and a few purple dots brought this project to a close.

I thought all the purple might be a bit too girly for my little man, but I think it turned out super sweet and I rather kind of like it. After I took the photo, I noticed my bakers twin was a bit wonky, so I straightened that out lickety-split and I’m very satisfied with another 2011 moment in the books.

 

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