Blooming and Growing

Happy Friday, friends!  Do you have big plans for the weekend?  My plan is no work, all play!  LOL  That never happens, but a girl can always dream, right?  Speaking of dreams, every time I close my eyes for the past couple weeks, I see an art journal page in my mind.  It's predominantly oatmeal with lots of texture, bits of yellow sponging, and some black and cream accents.  So imagine my delight when I was strolling through the craft store the other day and came across the Authentique: Blissful line in this exact color combination?  Heavenly, I tell ya!  And while it's not the art journal page I've been dreaming about, I had a blast making my sample card for this week's Viva la Verve! sketch, brought to you by the talented Teresa Kline.

I flipped the sketch horizontally since the stamped sentiment didn't look nearly as cool stamped up the side as it did in my head!  LOL  Mainly I just played around with my new paper, making my own flower embellishment with the Floral Circles Die Set and stamps from the Bloom & Grow Set.  The leaves were cut out with the Elegant Leaves Die, then I stamped with the coordinating leaf stamp in Crumb Cake, then added stitch accents with a pen and lightly shaded with some stampin' pastels for a softer look.

I just love this bloom and grow sentiment.  Maybe it's because I feel like I'm blooming and growing.  Mark and I have made some really positive lifestyle changes and I am beginning to feel healthier, more energetic and a whole lot better about myself.  And while we've lost quite a bit of weight in the past weeks, it really hadn't sunk in how much change was happening in my body.  But this week we finally had some warmer weather, and I pulled out my shorts from last year, and they're huge!  As in I had to buy shorts that were 4 sizes smaller huge.  Now one of those sizes probably came off over the past year, but 5 weeks ago, I was 3 sizes bigger than I am today.  Crazy and so exciting!  And no, there's no crazy pill or diet or magic wand.  It's just that age old principle... burn more calories than you consume.  We're eating healthy, well-balanced meals regularly with whole foods, limiting processed high calorie foods, taking supplements for proper nutrition and working out.  But 98% of it has just been changing the way we eat.  It's truly amazing.  Mark's mantra has been that 4 weeks are going to go by no matter what.  At the end you can either feel the same way as you do today, or you can make some changes and feel better.    I vote for change!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have a fabulous weekend.  If you have some time, be sure to play along with Viva la Verve!  All four of the June sketches are posted and there's even a printable pdf of  the June VLV Sketchbook.  You have until next Thursday to get your entries in for a chance to win our next release!  Viva la Verve!

Enabler's List:
Stamps: Bloom & Grow (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Blissful (Authentique), Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Crumb Cake (SU!)
Ink: Crumb Cake (SU!), Scattered Straw Distress, Jet Black Archival (Ranger)
Accessories:  Floral Circles Die Set, Elegant Leaves Die (A Cut Above by Verve), Labels 19 Nestabilities (Spellbinders), button, black wrinkled ribbon (May Arts), sewing machine, border punch (EK Success), Corner Chomper (WRMK)