Welcome 2016

2016 and new resolutions, new hopes, new dreams and that's how it should be.
I purchased an embossing folder that says "Do What you Love, Love what you do" and that is so close to my heart. So I will keep on crafting and sharing my creations with others who love it too.

My Etsy store will be 4 years old in February and I crossed 2000 in sales - I couldn't be more happy.
I'm also building the amount of listings in my new online store Thebiggestlittlecardshop.com
As far as my fitness goals I'm happy, I work on it every day and yes between Thanksgiving and New Year I gained 3 pounds but that's nothing. Is already lost 1 just by adding a couple of extra long walks , 5 minutes to my trampoline time and of course I stopped all the deserts. Festive time is over , no more indulgence , but it was fun, I loved it and enjoyed it. You can enjoy food, you just need to know there will be consequence, keep stepping on that scale (it never lies, haha) and make up for what you indulged in, its that simple.did.  I sure enjoyed making Christmas cookies with my daughter and had lots of them. All the sweets we received from Poland were yum yum too. But like I said, the festivities are over and let's get our bodies in more natural circle, back to basics. In my case basically, vegetables, meats and fruits. I think that if you find other pleasures in life then food, you will be ok.

The weather is pretty cold here, as it should - we need moisture and those skiers need their snow pack 😀. But I took my dogs for a long walk in the snow yesterday and all 3 of us enjoyed it. Bella needs to wear a sweater these days, the poor thing has thinning hair in the old age.
Today is the last day of tree recycling so I need to take down all the decorations and drop it off. I wish we could keep it a bit longer.
On the happier note, we are going snow shoeing and our son will be joining us too!

I noticed I use lots of watercolors lately. This is a fun technique, first you place some watercolor on the paper by planing where you will stamp flowers and where leaves. Then you stamp your image in versa mark and emboss in clear. The last step is to apply ink with sponge dabber in black or another dark color over the whole page. The embossed image locked the water color you used and resists the dark ink that you applied so just wipe off with dry tissue the ink that dulled the stamped image.

Keep Calm and Stamp On

Excersizing after 50

I really wanted to touch the subject of exercising after 50. First of all I strongly believe that no matter what age we are we need lots of movements in our lives to keep us going. But it's crucial when we are getting older. For the last 3 years I have been doing it every day unless I'm on vacation. I developed my own routine of stretches and other exercises to keep my body moving. I honestly don't think that's important that you doing certain poses correctly or fully out. I think that the most important thing is that you are actually moving. So for example when I stretch, my posture might not be perfectly straight but it is not that important - unless you getting ready for Olympics - haha. I think it matters that I do it and at the same time I listen to my body. My daily routine includes sun salutations, plank ( I don't see myself in the mirror so not sure how great is that plank, haha), at least 3 separate sets of 20 crunches, shoulder stand and clam work with my legs. Of course there are other exercises - every now and then I add something new, I skip some, so it goes. (Blanca :)
Now you may ask why talking about it when I am all about crafting? That 's exactly WHY!
I can sit at my crafting table ALL day - but I make myself to get up and move. Otherwise I would be worse then a couch potato. It is hard because I love to make cards and work on them all day long - so here is what I do. I need to earn that time to craft and create. So in the morning after my first cup of coffee - I do my morning stretching/etc routine. Then after that 10 minutes (not too long - its workable - you can do it) I feel like I earned that time at my craft table. And below are a few of my latest creations. If you love them - please visit http://thebiggestlittlecardshop.com   they are listed in my shop for sale!!!

Burgundy and pink - who would think these colors can look good together!?

this one has a see through - embossed acetate window !

elegant Christmas with some bling and below - never enough Thank you cards