Up early this morning

My insomnia has been getting the better of me lately, but I was finally able to get some sleep last night. The problem is that I was so exhausted that I went to bed before 8 p.m. and was back up for the day before 5 a.m. Needless to say I have had time to catch up on making cards for Operation Write Home as well as some other challenges.

There is a Midweek Throwdown Challenge at OWH: "Our challenge this week is to make Anniversary or Love themed cards for our Hero’s to send home to their loved ones!   You can make them masculine or feminine themed or you can make some of each!"

Challenge Masters Color Challenge: "Use black, orange, white/cream, and 1 additional color on your project this month. And there's 1 more twist you cannot scrap Halloween or Fall layouts with this color combination." 

AIFactory's Embossing Challenge: AIF#51

"Penny's Challenges #40".
A sweet pair of birds thinking about each other

Until next time.....

A Busy Fall Day

Today we had a family day and attended a quilt show. The weather was wonderful. The quilts were fabulous. Now I wish I had a better sewing machine for myself. It was very inspiring.

This greeting made with Smilebox

Moving to a new phase?

How cool is this!! Recently my hubby and I started a weight loss program on Sparkpeople.com. So far things are going great. I lost 7 pounds the first week which is probably the most weight I have ever lost at one time in my LIFE!! I am really excited about the program. The website is easy to use. The suggested foods are made from ingredients that everyone has in their pantries already. We are cutting out refined sugars. We are participating in Meatless Mondays. We are slowly adding regular exercise into our lives.  I am just loving this program!

Another aspect of the program is the wonderful motivational tools they provide for you. There are recipes, articles, polls, trivia contests and health challenges to help you on your way to a better lifestyle. The people I have encountered are all very motivated and excited to be there. There are even virtual goodies that look great, even though they have no taste, LOL!! One of the tools is a personal Sparkpeople page with a blog that we can use for triumphs and tribulations. Today was my first time adding an entry to mine. Low and behold, I am so excited that I can link it to this site!!!

Moving to a new phase?

I have also added a new project to my list of fun things that I will be posting here. I LOVE to make greeting cards, but don't really send many out to folks for one reason or another. I was introduced to Operation Write Home which is an organization that pledges to "support our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." I am so excited to be helping out with this cause. I have many scraps of materials around the house that I have used to make scrapbook layouts and other cards that I probably won't use again for myself. This is a great way to utilize those supplies and help our armed forces overseas to keep in touch with their families at the same time. It also gives me a way to continue to do my favorite hobby without overloading my craft room with stacks and stacks of unused cards!!

For more information on this worthy cause, log onto their website at operationwritehome.org.

Until next time...