Day 8: Gratitude Project

Lush Bath Bombs and Melts. Lately soaking in Epsom salts is making my muscles feel sooo much better. Every night before bed a nice soak with a sprinkle of lush bubble bombs and melts supplies. The perfect way to relax after a long day of work.

{Image Credit:The Conscious Beauty Blog}

I personally love the glitter versions…nothing like sparkling skin when you step out of the bath! Though Lush is a Canadian company, I have seen there stores in the Netherlands, Germany, France, UK, Ireland and of course the U.S.A. If you have not checked them out, you definitely should. Emily Peck at The Conscious Beauty blog has a great article on Lush, be sure to check it out and let me know your favorite Lush product!

 

Day 6: Gratitude Project

Today I am thankful for this blog: http://thespunkycoconut.com. When I first began having problems with gluten, sugar and refined flours I thought my yummy food days might be over, but Kelly at Spunky Coconut opened a whole new world of cooking to me. Cakes, cookies, pies and breads and so healthy. I find that many gluten free recipes seem to substitute refined wheat flour with refined rice flour…which in my mind is not much better. This is not so on the spunky coconut site! My recipe made today? Butternut squash pudding with sweet potato as a substitute ingredient…so yummy!

My favorite recipes:

Clementine Cupcakes with Frosting

 

Gluten-Free Marble Cake 

 

Vanilla Bean Cake Grain-Free, Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free

 

Frozen Sunbutter Fudge

Can you tell that I am girl who likes her sweets? Do any of you have great sites with recommendations for the food allergy conscious? I would love to see them!

 

Day 4: Gratitude Project

Today I am thankful for the men in my life. I grew up with a daddy who was and still is the handiest man I know. I can remember growing up and feeling bad for other kids whose dad was not a handy superman. I was never worried about my old cars in college, broken washer machines, lawn mowers, dry wall patching you name it dad is always willing to try to fix it…even if sometimes a few choice words are said!

 

As our lazy Sunday passed today, I called my dad to sing him happy birthday and let him know how much I love him. I looked over at Mr. C. while singing to see him working on our new kitchen cabinets and could only think how blessed I am to have two such handy men who love me.

Day 3: Gratitude Project

Today I am thankful for meeting new friends. Moving is always a little scary, but especially moving to another country. I love how each month we meet more people, and make more connections. It always makes me feel so happy to realize how many wonderful people are in the world…and I feel blessed to have learned this fact. Today new friends threw a lovely party…or possibly lovely with a dash of creepy?

If you cannot guess from my picture with Mr. C. we went as artists Frida Kahlo and Vhttp://www.vangoghgallery.com/incent Van Ghogh…which is another thing I am grateful for a husband who loves me enough to ride public transit with his bloody ear!

Our great hosts!

I have to admit that a large part of my costume was inspired by fab ladies at Fashionably Bombed and the floral headband tutorial at Oh Happy Day. The flowers were surprisingly easy to make and with a few changes and a little bit of leopard tissue paper I had an awesome headpiece.

 

Day 2: The Gratitude Project

Today I am thankful for having the courage, and a great spouse to go to my first KrankenHaus (German hospital) for a needed surgery appointment. Going to the doctor can be really scary if you don’t speak the same language!

I am also thankful that even though the look and feel of German hospitals is different than those in the U.S., the people are the same they want to help. A really awesome part of the day? The surgeon’s amazing mustache…think waxed handle bar with whiskers! I wanted to sneak a picture to share, but did not want to be rude!

Day 1: Gratitude Project

My mom. She makes me laugh, makes me feel secure and loved and is one of my best friends. Yesterday she faced her fears and had a complicated surgery performed. This was an awesome undertaking because earlier this spring a similar surgery was performed, and we almost lost her. Talking with her and laughing this year is a large part of why I decided to work on the Gratitude Project this month.

Image credit: Liv in the Moment Photography

Learning from her example, and remembering to treasure our family and loved ones while we are together. I am so thankful that she is here with me today, and that her surgery was successful. What a great way to begin my thanksgiving month.

 

The Gratitude Project

Do you feel as if life is flying by at such a speed that the only think you have time to do is respond reactively? That at the end of the night your only thought is how tired you are, how long the day was, your irritation at a co-worker, friend or family member…possibly even the person in traffic who blocked you?

I want to pause, stop, and reflect during this month of thanksgiving. Each night stop to capture one thing that I am grateful for, one thing that makes me happy to be alive, one adventure that brings me joy.

I almost missed seeing this beautiful site in Amsterdam because I was rushing, how many other things am I am missing every day?

I hope you will join me in your own reflections, because what is memory keeping if we only capture the special occasions?

Project Life Recorded

So it has begun. After spending the last week of this life on work adventures in Brussels and Mons Belgium, I arrived home to find this yummy stack of boxes waiting for me!

Two Peas in a Bucket (that giant box on top!) and two boxes filled to the brim with Becky Higgins Project Life supplies. Mr. C. had a good laugh when I waited to open them until early the next morning. I love to play Christmas morning when boxes of fun things arrive in the mail. Wake up early and run downstairs in excitement.

I have been debating adding project life components to my memory keeping for a few months now. The main concept of project life is to take the glue, scissors and tape out of scrapbooking so that you can concentrate on the story. You are supplied with tons of goodies, such as 3x4 and 4x6 cards for journaling, large envelopes for keeping track of fun goodies and page protectors of all different sizes. I have to admit I ordered most of the goodies in my excitement! Plus all these Two Peas in a Bucket supplies, so many pretty things!

To get more inspiration for project life here are my favorite links for inspiration

Project Life Concept (Becky Higgins)

How to create your own Project Life Cards (Cathy Zielske)

How to print your own Project Life Cards (Paislee Press)

Digital Project Life (Jessica Sprague)

Project Life Inspiration + Shop Goodies (Marcy Penner)

Project Life Inspiration (Elise Blaha)

Project Life Inspiration (Kelly Purkey)

Vintage Project Life Cards (Pretty Little Studio)

Of course, let’s not forget my project life pin board containing links to freebies!

Enjoy the project life inspiration and have a wonderful day full of adventures.

P.S. How do you open packages that arrive in the mail? Hopefully I am not the only one that still likes to play Christmas morning as an adult!

Thoughts on Growth and Change…

 

{image credit: Cut Out + Keep, check out their pattern!}

“To grow, a lobster must shed its old shell numerous times, Each shedding renders the creature totally defenseless until the new shell forms…When risk becomes frightening, think of the lobster; vulnerability is often the price of growth.”

 

-Richard Armstrong

Are you struggling with life changes? I love this visual of being ready for change and vulnerability. It is often difficult to realize our vulnerabilities when we are so busy trying to fit into the shell of an old life that no longer fits us; when we are so busy assuring ourselves and those around us of that we are ok when we are really not. My challenge today is to open myself up for growth and change even when painful. To remember that life is an adventure both the good and the bad.

I hope this quote inspires and challenges you in your daily adventures today!

Stitched: Around the World

Time for a new project and I am so excited about this one. This print from P&B textiles and designer Jill McDonald is going to rock once my fingers work their embroidery magic! I have been looking for a good sampler to try different hand stitches on for some time now, and with bright colors and line graphics this fabric will be a great canvas for stitching by number.

Don’t you just love all the bright colors and mess in this picture? To add a little clarity here is the overview of all the wild fun!This picture is quite messy but describes my project steps nicely.

1. Find hand quilting hoops

2. Assemble all the wild colors of thread I can find

3. Sort through the various needles sizes for the perfect fit (I find the numbers so confusing, do you?)

4. Assemble quilt sandwich

5. Start stitching!

My favorite sites for stitch inspiration are Sarah’s Hand Embroidery Tutorials (awesome!), and Wild Olive. Check them out if your fingers are itching to stitch today as well!

 

Version Scrap Round-Up

How do you know when your summer has flown by at light speed? When you are still blogging about a spring event! I know most blogs at this time of year are full of pretty wreathes and odd activities like apple bobbing and ten different ways to re-use the fallen leaves in your yard…but I had to share these fun photos of my trip to Paris with my friend Julie.

1. Met Celine Navarro from The Green Frog Studio and {entreARTistes}magazine and she is super great. We attended her photography class not realizing that it would all be in French, luckily she took pity on us and translated portions. It made for a fun experience!

2. Made an awesome book in Celine’s class and used so many masks and mists. I have to admit there were scary parts of this class…like when the class charged the misting tables and started spraying everywhere.

3. Used these awesome scissors to create a make and take, can you believe the size of the scissors? I could not resist a picture to show off the size…wanted to make a scary face but thought it might be a little too much for the blog…I mean seriously those scissors are scary!

We had a great time scrapbooking, eating macaroons and how many times can you attend a scrapbook conference and head to dinner under the Eiffel tower afterwards?

If you visited my blog today seriously hoping for tutorials using fallen leaves you can always check out the board on pinterest…sorry I could not resist *grin*.

Nancy, France + Picnic

A group of girlfriends and I woke up early and headed to Nancy (pronounced Nonsae, or so I am told) France for a picnic, we had a lovely time! The city is about three hours from Stuttgart, Germany and is an amazing mix of architecture, shopping and gardens. We entered the town around 10:00 o’clock and carried our picnic basket to the large historic market where we picked up fresh cheese, meats and some strange duck items (I did not avail myself of this item). Then we headed to the park to pick up baguettes and enjoy the sunshine, fruits and homemade lemon bars!

 

I love these pics of Elizabeth snapping pictures, the quilt is a rescue I found at a family members home, handmade and gorgeous!

 

“Baguettes…that what she said!”

 

 

We finished the day having fun with our cameras and strolling the city for unique finds before heading back home. A lovely day and I cannot wait to go back!

 

Version Scrap, Paris!

My friend Julie and I are in Paris for Version Scrap this weekend! We are taking classes with Donna Downey, Francoise Melzani, Loredana Bucaria and even a manual photography class with Celine Navarro to take in the Paris city sights. Is it an understatement to say that we are excited? Remember to stop by this week for lot’s of updates and some really great project reviews.

Oh an the late night fun is great too!

Thoughts on Beauty...

"The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It’s the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows & the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years."

— Audrey Hepburn

Zimt und Zucker

Sunday was so relaxing… we spent the day in a little café called “Zimt und Zucker” in downtown Stuttgart which in English roughly translates to “Cinnamon and Sugar.” With hearts on the window, and an interior filled with whimsical cuckoo clocks, comfy sofas, little gnomes and a kind attentive staff the café achieves an edgy modern look yet still makes you feel as if you are sitting at your grandmas. This to me equals a comfy fun place to hang out with friends and work on my current DIY projects the lace shawl cold mountain and my embroidered new years clutch.

And the food! So great! We had lavender punsch, homemade bagels with rucola pesto and the best waffles which live up to the café’s name of cinnamon and sugar. One of the best parts of the café is their gluten-free, lactose-free and vegan options. A definitive plus for a girl who is not supposed to eat gluten but is constantly doing it anyways!

If you are in downtown Stuttgart and looking for a fun place to knit, stitch and  enjoy a afternoon with friends make sure you visit this the Zimt und Zucker café!

P.S. The lovely iphone pictures are courtesy of Sydney!

Valentines Blog Hop Winner!

Good morning everyone…I wanted to let you know that the winner of the blog hop bingo card giveaway from Pretty Little Studio is Candace, from http://scrappin2littleprincesses.blogspot.com/. Congrats Candace!

I also want to say thank you to everyone that visited the blog or joined as a follower last week. It is great to meet new people with similar interests and was a great start to my week!