Jewellery Wall Hangings

A close friend of mine Sarah-Jane had always commented on how much she loved the jewellery wall hangings I made earlier in the year.  As it was coming up to her birthday and she was dropping bigger hints than ever about the colour she wanted her room to be, I headed to the market to get some fabric to make some of her own.

I'm really impressed with how these turned out, having done them once already made it much quicker and easier and only took me an afternoon watching movies to complete.  I think they match brilliantly, especially with the big fabric flower to tie the whole thing together (I really must make a tutorial for these they are so cute and easy to make).  Hopefully they will also match the colour scheme of Sarah's room.

Magnet Board

I'm not great at organising or remembering things.  To try and keep on track I came up with a quick craft magnetic board to try and make it easier so I can pin up notes and remember other monthly tasks.

I found a cheap magnetic board in a local charity shop to recycle, which I scrubbed down and painted up.  I also designed a paper cover to stick over the metal with the days of the week marked clearly.  For the magnets I used some flat backed glass stones and stuck sheet magnet to the back of them.  I actually had to stick a couple of layers because the glass was a little heavier than expected.

This didn't take longer than a couple of hours to complete, and will be very easy to change if I get bored of the colour combination.  It now sits atop my computer to remind me everyday, job done!!

The Start of Something New

I've always been a little overweight, the fortunate thing is I am quite tall which means I can carry that little bit more weight without worrying.  But recently the weight issue has reared its ugly head when I tried on some skinny jeans a size larger than I would normally wear and they didn't fit... suffice it to say I was a tad depressed.

So with inspiration from my friends Scott from Ausländer Blog and Erik from Couch Potato to Marathon Runner I joined the local sports centre to exercise more, I especially enjoy swimming.  It'a helping but not enough, so with my friends Gemma, Rachael and Sarah I have jumped on the bandwagon and joined Slimming World.

When I first heard about it I will admit I snubbed it as another fad diet that wouldn't work, I would probably starve in the process and put all the weight back on when I finish, how wrong could I be!  As Slimming World says themselves this isn't a diet it's a Healthy Eating Choice to change the way you eat.  I don't follow it religiously like some but it has taught me to think about what I eat and cook with and cut down on the wrong things.

Much like Weight Watchers, Slimming World uses a point system to calculate how many Syns you can have during one day, but the best thing is it doesn't stop you eating anything just cut down on what isn't so good for you.  There are so many foods that are free you don't even have to use your syns to make a great meal, so can use them for treats every now and then.  I've been using lots of the Slimming World recipes and the meals are huge and very filling, quite often I have left overs for lunch the next day.

This is one thing that is really transforming my life and 7 weeks in I'm glad to say I have lost 13 pounds and dropped a dress size around my waist.  I am lighter now than I can remember being for a long time.

So have I wet your taste buds with the photos of recipes I have been trying? I'll keep you posted on how it goes and which recipes I'm enjoying the most!!

Oh and I have already received my first award for losing half a stone, only 1 pound to go until I get to 1 stone so wish me luck!!

Time Flies...

...when you have work, house hunting, weight losing, exercising, boyfriend pleasing, parties, holidays and FUN!

I have had a big hole in my life for quite a while and didn't realise how much I missed writing my blog.  The problem is every time I go to fill the hole with blog time something else gets there first and fills it up; not that it's all been bad, in fact I've had some awesome weekends including my Birthday which spanned 2 weeks and was amazing!! more about that later...

So I'm not promising anything, I know the next few weeks are likely to be just as hectic as the previous, but I need some balance and down time which, hopefully my blog will help with.  I'm going to rewind the tape and catch up with developments, welcome back everyone!!