Fun and Mental Changes

So yah, winning the Gypsy would be WONDERFUL! But how great is THIS!?! THANK YOU BETTYBEE for this awesome card. Mine didn't turn out quite like yours did. I didn't have all the materials that you had on your tutorial ( click here ) on the Cutting Above blog, so I improvised with aluminum foil from my kitchen for the swirled tree and simple glitter embossing powder on cardstock and a hole punch for the glitter ornaments. So, it's pretty, but I was convinced that I could do better.... mine just wasn't turning out as nice as BettyBee's did! So here it is again in black, red and silver.... I LOVE THIS ONE!!! The second time's the charm! This card is going to someone VERY special this year for Christmas! BettyBee... thank you again! LOVE the blog, love this card and love that you guys are giving away 2 Provo Craft Gypsies just like the one that debuted on HSN September 24th!!!!!!!!!! Provo Craft Gypsy winners will be announced October 4th... there's still time ...

This little martian ROCKS! He was cut out from the new Cricut Everyday Paper Dolls (cut at 4"). I used a black marker to define ears, eyes, mouth, etc. And again, printing the wording out on my printer with "Girlz are Weird" font. I used a rubber stamp from Stampin Up's Stars and Swirls stamp set in three coordinating colors and added decorative flowers and brads. Finally I added a little pink star clip and glued everything down. I used some dimensionals on the wording to make it "pop out"... cute pun I thought! LOL This cartridge is everything and a bag of chips! And this little dude (the martian) was worth the price of admission! How seriously cute is he? I mean, wouldn't this little guy look so cute painted on a little boy's bedroom wall?!? It would be so super easy to do. Cut this little guy out in vinyl and then stick the vinyl on a wall as a stencil or template. Use a little bit of paintable caulk (from your local hardware store) on the tip o...

Wow! I'm STILL inspired since the Provo Craft Gypsy debuted on HSN ! Check out ALL my posts from the past week and a half. Crazy! hahahaha ! And with Cutting Above's Gypsy give away... I can't seem to stop! I was reading one of the comments on a Cutting Above blog post from a reader by the name of Beadz who said, "I used my Cricut tonight with Design Studio and kept having to exchange carts. Gypsy is going to make this so easier!" Well Beadz ... I second that! This card was made using the new From My Kitchen Cricut cartridge and the Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge... and I DON'T have design studio! While many of the projects that I have done this past week were super quick and easy, this one took a little longer and I can EASILY see how the Gypsy will make creating a card like this MUCH easier! I'm so psyched for this contest. The winner is announced on October 4 th and I can't sleep I'm so excited! Click on the link above.... I think there...

Got 10 minutes and a Cricut? That's how long this card took me. I pulled out my Cricut and put in the Christmas Cheer cartridge. I pulled scraps of paper from my scrap bin (about 2" squares) and placed them on my cutting mat. I set my cut size to 1 1/2 inches and cut the bulbs in the various colors and the bulb tops in black. I then changed the cut size to 1 1/4 inches and recut the bulb tops on a grey cardstock. I then took the smallest straight acrylic stamp from the Clear Dollar Stamps Plaid Set and arranged it on an acrylic block in a snake pattern and stamped that onto the card for the wire for the lights. I attached a straight piece of black cardstock at around 1 1/2 inches along the bottom and glued a ribbon in place. Then I ran all the pieces of the bulbs through the Xyron create-a-sticker , assembled the bulbs and adhered the bulbs along the "wire". I used the Stampin Up All Year Cheer III and stamped Merry Christmas on top. I finished this card by adding s...

Pinching pennies and need a little something? About three or four times a year Michaels comes out with some INCREDIBLE coupons. It is during these times that I stock up on 'gift' items. I usually purchase lamination machines or bead kits or scrapbook kits that are normally $50+ for half that, sometimes less. I then stockpile these items in my closet for those occasions when I'm in dire need of a special gift for a special person but I'm in between paychecks or I just plum forgot. I also pick these particular items on Black Friday (capitalized due to the fact that Black Friday is a holiday unto itself at my house) with coupons and deep discounts. While everyone is scampering for the large ticket items to buy for themselves, I'm picking items under $100 to stock up for others. If you haven't enjoyed the crazed frenzy of a Black Friday, you really MUST pencil yourself in for this year. There's nothing in the world like Black Friday! LOL . I also recycle wrap...

If you read my blog, you'll see that whether I'm talking about nail art or crafts or even workout wear, my favorite color combination is girly pink, black and white. Those colors together always makes me feel the best. And I think I'm also letting the cat out the bag that I LOVE the Cricut Storybook cartridge. I know that the girls over at Cutting Above just demo'd some cupcakes with a flourish from the Storybook cartridge used as a stencil for a sugar design on top... brilliantly, sinfully yummy! So I'm not feeling so bad that, with all the NEW cartridges out, I want to feature Storybook, over and over. And look at this card; the whole thing was entirely inspired by this cartridge. It IS all about the drama, isn't it ladies?!?! hahahaha. I just reused the left over scraps from another project that I recently did (including the glitter paper.... love those glitter papers), cut out the crowns and the large letter "D", applied stickles to both and then ...

Years ago, prior to the healthy lifestyle changes, or what I like to call "the change", I had basic dietary staples. Among those staples were bread (usually white), crackers (assorted types), peanut butter, canned veggies, canned soups, boxed EVERYTHING (from mac n' cheese to cake and pancake mixes) with the biggest staple being minute rice. Anything that takes a minute to cook IS ALTERED FOOD, but I won't go into detail with that tonight... only to ask if you've considered how healthy ALTERED FOOD really is? If something is SO PROCESSED that it takes moments to prepare... how nourishing is it to your body? How healthy and fit can it make you? Could our obesity epidemic in America be linked to the very fact that we are not nourishing our bodies therefore our bodies are hording fat thinking they are being starved??? Just a thought, but I digress. Over time I came to understand that anything refined was missing important nutrients that my body needed and on top of t...

Well, the Gypsy debut on HSN this morning was WONDERFUL! But I wasn't as surprised as I thought I would be because I've been dreaming about the Gypsy for the past week. The ladies over at Cutting Above REALLY did a great job previewing the Gypsy and showing the creative features of it... so good in fact that it haunts me! hahahahaha! If you haven't had a chance to check out this new blog (the one I've been talking about for days), you can check it out here . I'm just impressed with how they have presented the Gypsy and the way they really facilitated their blog's launch. I could use some of that mojo! But I will say this... the debut really inspired some GREAT cricut creations and today's featured layout is no exception. I have been talking about my love of Halloween and the excitement this year surrounding my Halloween costume. I bought this costume a few sizes smaller than what I wore three years ago and I'm finally wearing it this year. I'm BEYOND...

Wow!!! Did you see that debut!?! While it went super quick lasting only about half an hour, that half an hour was PACKED. And Ginger was HILARIOUS! She was so excited, her voice went up an octave a couple of times. But of course she is excited... that Gypsy is AMAZING!!! She said that she just got hers two weeks ago. How cool would that be to be one of the people who just gets to play with this stuff for a living? Watching Ginger's excitement tonight made me a little envious of the people who get paid to have this kind of fun! How cool would that be???? And that Gypsy rocked! Although I knew it would! I LOVE the fact that, now with the Gypsy, your page designs are mobile. Since I usually get inspired AWAY from my craft closet, it will be so nice to be able to pull the Gypsy out when the mood strikes. And the option to do a keyword search for images makes this little hand held catalog worth it's weight in gold! The ability to take your projects to crops means that EVERYONE saves...

Tomorrow...Tomorrow... I luv ya, Tomorrow.... Yah, the title says the rest! hahahaha! Tomorrow the Provo Craft Gypsy debuts on HSN beginning at 12:01 (check your local listings) and I think it starts for me at 9:01 p.m. TODAY so guess who will be going to bed SUPER LATE!?! LOL. "Must.... wait... to.... buy....!" The reason is because I entered Cutting Above's Gypsy give away and I really want to win! Can I win please?!? Hey, I'm NOT "above" begging! ;) Check out Cutting Above's new site here (there's still time to enter). And again, in honor of the amazing Gypsy launch, here's another Cricut inspiration. It is so great just on it's own, but would also be great attaching just the star to the face of a card leaving the tags below to dangle. Dang! Can you imagine silver cardstock behind that star!?! That would ROCK!!! The tags are simply attached using the large fastener staples... so easy! I used Cricut cartridge George and Basic Shapes for bo...

So with this Gypsy giveaway being sponsored by Cutting Above (awesome new blog that you're sure to want to save to your faves), I am beside myself with Cricut inspiration out of the blue, and so tunnel visioned on the prize. My husband says that he's buying stock in ear plugs because he wants to be prepared if I win. hahahaha... funny man! Anyway, this card was made with aluminum foil from my kitchen. Don't you just love those cheap,easy to find card-making materials? I then applied alcohol inks to it and then embossed it in the Cuttlebug using an embossing folder. The branch is from the Storybook Cricut cartridge and the stamp is a clear stamp that (I think) came from Clear Dollar Stamps . This was another super simple card that packs some visual punch...don't you agree?!? I think it might be the Stickles I applied to the branch. I think that stuff has some voltage! :) Normally, I don't post my scrapbooking and crafts on a daily basis, but with the debut of the P...

Well... a couple of REALLY cool finds online about the cricut. This upcoming Provocraft Gypsy giveaway ( my blog post from the other day )has got me in the mood to make! So the card that is posted here is inspired by a really great YouTube vid... you can check it out here . This lady LOVES the cricut..... and can we blame her? :) I didn't have the Provocraft Cricut cartridge that Robyn used in her video, so I used the Cricut Cheat Sheets that I printed off from the CricutCheatSheet Yahoo group to find a different scalloped circle. I ended up using a blackout of a flower that is on the Storybook cartridge. Really folks... you ARE only limited by your imagination! hahahaha! Quick note: don't forget to tune in this upcoming Thursday, Sept. 24 starting at 12:01 a.m. The Gypsy is making it's big debut on HSN (check your local listings). Festivities will run throughout the day. Also, the Gypsy give away that I mentioned before... check out the Cutting Above blog for details on ...

How draining and toiling it is to expect the best from people who continually fail to meet your expectations. So is expecting the worst in people so negative? Well, I think it's negative if you expect the worst from someone you don't know. However, I believe that it's MORE than positive if someone has a proven track record for hurting or disappointing you. The energy that it takes to force yourself to believe something contrary to what you've already experienced is draining. The stress of being let down can make you downright sick just to continue to lie to yourself that someone does or doesn't feel a certain way about this, that or even you. Let it all go and deal with REALITY; not what you hope someone is or could be! Deal with what you know about them. THAT is positive. It is positive to deal with what is real... be it negative or positive behavior... well, that is up to them. You can only control you, and how you are going to deal with them. But the key is to de...

Now hear this! HSN (Home Shopping Network) will be launching Provo Craft's new Cricut Gypsy Sept. 24 starting at 12 a.m. - check your local listings - and I'm QUITE sure the festivities will be running throughout the day. YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THIS! If you don't know what the Gypsie is, here's a little demo.... Test Drive Gypsy This AMAZING gadget suddenly makes those Cricut cutting projects portable. Well, I'm a gadget girl anyway so this has got me psyched! I'm envisioning even more Cricut parties gang!!! And for those of you who JUST fell in love with the new Gypsy... there's a new sheriff in town who donated two to be given away. Check out Cutting Above , a new crafting blog that is apparently ready to take the crafting world by storm (you don't donate two brand new Gypsies unless you're gettin ready to blow) and get the details on how to win one! Good luck to everyone! ;)

What is it we all KNOW to do? ... Eat our veggies. Fitness professionals, Weight Watchers, nutritionists and the like will all tell you that you can almost eat as many vegetables as you want as often as you want and it will help you lose weight. Heck, an entire eating plan revolves around the concept... ever heard of a little thing called Volumetrics!?! But what if I told you that I had a proven method to not just eat your vegetables, but get more vitamins, minerals and enzymes from them and actually use them to substitute the things you already love? Wow... you'd say that I sounded like a pitch man from a sales infomercial! hahahaha! Well, I'm not selling anything, but I do want to share the proven method. When I say proven method, I mean that it has proven itself true to work for me. It may or may not work for you, but ask your doctor and see what they think about RAW FOOD! Actually it's just raw fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts. I still eat cooked meat (organic of cours...

I just got a wonderful "thank you" email from the June 2009 winner of A Match Made in Heaven set ( check out her new blog !). The email was wonderful and gracious and now I'm even more glad to know that she won after finding out that Seche Vite is hard to find where she lives. Awe! I love paying it forward! But that reminds me... I have a Halloween give away that's even bigger and better than the last give away!!!! Just like before, my give away is only open to registered followers of my blog. Here's a little sneak peek at SOME of the items in this give away... More WILL be added to this fun Halloween Haul...so here's the challenge. Create a healthy, Halloween themed dessert. Along with receiving the wonderful Halloween Haul pictured above, the winning dessert creation will be featured by SmashFit.com with full creator credit AND a SmashFit.com t-shirt! Submit recipe with pictures to fittertwit@yahoo.com . All entries MUST be received no later than October 17t...

Ok, so while I was on the Master Cleanse I stayed away from my lotions and potions for my nails (chemicals) and THIS is what happened. Horrible cuticles and super short/broken nails because they were bare.... it was ONLY two months!!! Luckily Halloween has inspired my lovely fettish once again! Hello Luva! This is Nail-Aid's Pink Natural Growth Therapy base coat with OPI's Tangerine Scene (2 coats), Konad Special polish in black with tiger image from disc M57 and a Seche Vite topcoat. While my nails are in bad shape right now... they look so much better WITH a Konadicure than without! :) Here's a little black/orange Halloween bonus (cuz I'm all about the Halloween!): Same polish combos done with Konad Halloween image disc M13. Sweet!

At first, I was shocked when I saw Kanye grab the mic. Then I was sad as I saw Taylor's face, then I was ticked that no one stopped him. Of course everyone knows full well what I speak of... tonight's VMA's on MTV. After a not-so-brief rant about what a terrible person Mr. West is on Twitter, I received a link to a letter that Kelly Clarkson supposedly wrote to Kanye. I do not know if she is really the author (it's from her blog, so I'm sure that she is the author), but whoever the author was could not have expressed better the shock, horror and downright amazement that anyone can display such flawed character. But beyond that, her letter really does explain that on a larger scale, the fact that the whole world viewed Mr. West taking this special moment away from this young girl, it really did take something big away from us all. To say that Mr. West is hated even beyond a cheating boyfriend is really telling of the magnitude of his behavior. And where do you go fro...

Raw Cacao Chip Ice Cream 2 Cups raw organic cashews (soaked overnight) 1/2 Cup agave nectar 1 Cup coconut water 1/2 Cup coconut oil/butter 1 Tbsp cacao powder 1 tsp mesquite powder 1-2 Tbsp cacao nibs (real chocolate chips! Yay!) In a high speed blender, combine all ingredients (leaving out the cacao nibs... add nibs the last five minutes in the ice cream maker) until the mixture is smooth. Place mixture in the freezer to get nice and chilled through (about an hour) but not frozen. Remove from freezer and complete in an ice cream maker using manufacturer's instructions. This stuff is amazing because not only is it SOOO FREAKIN YUMMY, but it's also soooo much better for you! It's not super rich, and in my opinion, tastes better than anything you can buy in a store! :) Happy snacking on this one.

Tonight's raw dinner was stuffed bell peppers with "cheezy" chips The power flavors for the meal were parsnips, wild rice and nutritional yeast (or brewer's yeast). This recipe is a HOME RUN! Because I had meat eaters at the table tonight, myself included, I also added cooked organic apple chicken sausage to the raw stuffing recipe.... they are on the left in the pic. It was funny to see how the meat darkened the entire dish since the only thing cooked was the meat. Funny! This one is FANTASTIC with or without meat and is a FitterTwit original! Stuffed Bell Peppers 4 Bell peppers, tops and ribs removed 1 Cup organic wild rice soaked for three days (change water twice a day) 1 Cup grated cabbage 1/3 Cup diced parsnip (remove the brown outer skin so it will look like rice) 1/3 Cup chopped onion 1/3 Cup Chopped bell pepper 1/2 Cup chopped celery 2 cloves garlic pressed 2 Tbsp liquid aminos 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 Tbsp raw organic apple cider vinegar 1 Tbsp sto...

I spent this past weekend listening to Halloween music while decorating my house. Every year the Halloween festivities in my house starts in September and runs well past October 31st, so I need quite a bit of music to make it through this holiday season. I thought I would share with you my Halloween playlists (yes, I have more than one.... you're probably guessing right now that I'm a FREAK for Halloween) to get you through the holiday as well. HALLOWEEN PARTY Anything from the Rocky Horror Picture Show Monster Mash of course Ghost Busters The entire Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack That Old Black Magic Witchcraft.... CLASSIC CANDY GIVING - aside from the GREAT creepy sound clip cd's (creeking doors, witches laughing, etc.) there are some really great instrumental Halloween cd's that'll conjure memories and make all the ghoulies smile. Charlie Brown Theme Twilight Zone Theme Jaws Theme (this one makes me laugh... hard!) Psycho soundtrack Friday the 13th soundtr...

I've never been a calorie counter. While I think that calories are a good gauge of daily food intake, I personally do not believe that calories are the be-all-end-all to lower or maintain your weight. My reasoning for this is because if I ate Snickers bars totaling 300 calories at every meal I would be a larger person than the person who ate the same 300 calories in wholesome nutritious food. It's not about the calories, it's about what your body will process, absorb, utilize and then get rid of. Empty calories do not cause one's metabolism to ignite, empty calories slows down your system and causes fatigue which means the body is not only NOT using the energy you're taking in, but it's making the burning of excess (stored fat) even slower. When eating wholesome nutritious food, more calories can actually be eaten and the 'eating' of this food will promote weight loss. Your body burns a lot of calories processing foods packed with nutrition. Now, with al...

I adore simple and inexpensive craft projects. And when those projects center around my all time favorite holiday... well, you can imagine my excitement and my need to share the wealth (click on the pic to enlarge). For those of you who have a Michael's craft store nearby... there is going to be a HUGE 50% off coupon in the paper. If you're going to give this particular craft project a try, the coupon might come in handy for the tree since it was the most expensive of all the items (at $16). Also, a 20% coupon can be used at Spirit Halloween Superstore using code "Society". But if you don't have access to these stores, your local craft store will have very similar items... use your imagination and have fun with it. The biggest tip I can give you is to look for Halloween "ornaments". The skull is a foam ornament. I literally ripped the hanger pin out of the top. The candle tray came from a dollar store. I sawed the ity bity feet off the bottom and super...

Well, today's post was SUPPOSED to be raw Nori Rolls, but halfway through preparing them last night, I couldn't finish... they were TERRIBLE!!! I painstakingly found dehydrated nori sheets (instead of toasted... they were kind of hard to find) in keeping with the whole "raw" theme, but found out very quickly that dehydration INTENSIFIES the fishy flavor of the seaweed. Yah, I HATE FISH!!! I have always loved California Rolls and have never once been bothered by any fishy taste; well now I know why. Toasting the seaweed lessens the fishy flavor while dehydration concentrates it. And yes... I know that dehydration also means that you are getting all the nutrients and enzyme goodness that you don't get from the toasted seaweed, but YUCK! Now, the rolls that you see in the pic are clearly California Rolls instead. The rice did a MUCH better job dialing the fish flavor down (notice how thick I had to make the rice layer...hahahaha!) and if I was going to add the rice, ...

This is a repost from my myspace blog from last year regarding MY thoughts on whether someone should hire a personal trainer to get in shape or not. Since that blog post, I had the incredible pleasure of meeting Heather of SmashFit.com... she founded this national service that actually matches you up with your perfect local fitness trainer based on YOUR needs. I call Heather the fitness cupid! I hope you enjoy this post and I will be sure to include a link at the end so that you can check out SmashFit.com too! :) Ok, so I was asked some time ago (by a certain someone...you know who you are) who was wanting to tone up and get in shape, if she should hire a personal trainer; I thought I would take a minute and share my response. Based on her needs (wanting to tone up and get in shape), my answer is YES! But why spend the money? Think of all the things in this life we invest in. We invest in cars, homes, other people. I don't understand why people think it crazy to invest in yourself...

This recipe is WONDERFUL! $8 at a farmer's market, $6 at the local asian food store and 20 minutes gets you the best home made, healthy meal you've ever had. I left the farmer's market the other day with a LOAD of goodies that included cucumbers, green onions, celery, bean sprouts, zucchini, garlic and red peppers. They were beautiful but visibly ripe which meant that I needed to use them THAT DAY (but that also meant that I saved a ton of money and got some pretty good bang for my buck... some of this haul will be going in the freezer! Another excuse to use my favorite kitchen gadget... the food saver). No problem! I swung by my local asian food store and picked up some fresh Pad Tai noodles, some garlic/chili paste and some nama shoyu (raw, unprocessed soy sauce). I would have dinner on the table in 20 minutes! That's the beauty of vegetables... they are the best when eaten raw and can really make a meal in 20 minutes. Here's my pad tai creation ala farmer's m...

Based on the AMAZING flicker slide show that I just watched... Disney has won the macabre Alice race! I have to admit... I've been unfailingly loyal to the American McGee's game adaptation that has been rumored to be released FOR YEARS!!! Sarah Michelle Gellar was slated to play the sick, demented, dark Alice and I was convinced that nothing could compare. I told myself that Tim Burton's take on Alice would be a sad attempt at best to "scare up" the children's classic. But who am I kidding? I have known for years that Alice in Wonderland was meant for the macabre! The original story was always kind of spooky with falling down dark holes and drinking tonics and grinning cats and a queen that wants to decapitate everyone! Disney and Tim Burton didn't have to work very hard to make a "dark Alice". This story really shouldn't have been a children's classic at all now that I really think about it! So until the American McGee's Alice adapta...