Wednesday? I thought it was Thursday.

I started my day with a conversation with Jason that went a little like this.
Me - It's Wednesday isn't it?
Jason - Yes (in a are you going mad tone)
Me - Damn! I thought it was Thursday...I'm really hating work right now.
Jason - I think it feels like Sunday. I'm so tired.

Yeah, life has been feeling that way of late. I think our little trip to Savannah in a few weeks is going to be a good thing for us both!

After that non-inspiring conversation I pulled myself out of bed, looked at the clock and decided to actually go for a walk. I think I'm going for a walk every morning when I wake up...but today I actually did it. I have some online digiscrap friends that are working on Couch to 5K (which I'm trying to get my 11 yo daughter to try)...here I am working on bed to 1 mile walk. LOL!

My mind was all over the place this morning during my walk but I managed to focus long enough to come up with a list of 5 things that made me smile today -
1. The sound of water rushing through the storm drains - this means no drought this summer and everything is so green and beautiful because of it.

2. A gorgeous pink and purple sunrise peaking through the roof tops of my neighbors' houses. (Is this out here every morning? Maybe I should walk more often?)

3. The lake behind my subdivision looked like a vacation get away with white ibis feeding in my neighbor's law and white egret flying by. The gorgeous sunrise was reflecting in the still water - it was so pretty and peaceful!

4. The partial rainbow peaking through the clouds as I walked to the West.

5. Little birds jumping from limb to limb having a cute little conversation with each other. Tweet, tweet.

I've gained 4 pounds in the last week so I'm really glad I got up out of bed today. Something has got to give! I tried having a conversation with body while I walked. It went a little like this -
Hands - I know you have the need to stay busy and that along with the rest of my body you are not totally in to work right now, however, it's time for you to find something else to do other than giving food to mouth. Please take up knitting or even finger tapping and stay away from food.

Mouth - Just because hands gives you something to eat does not mean you actually need to eat it. The hands don't ever get fat so they don't care about the rest of the body. You are supposed to be the goal keeper - so help out the team and stop chewing already.

Head - I know you have this issue that you feel the need to make me dizzy if we don't eat constantly. Stop. It. Now. I promise we aren't going to starve and that eatting little bits of heathier food will make the whole body feel better. I'll get you some head massages courtesy of thighs and butt if you'd knock of the dizziness and let us all go longer without eatting.

We'll see where this goes - I have been eating much healthier this week. Unfortunately I'm just adding the healthy foods to my normal consumption instead of swapping out...but I'm working on it. One moment. One day at a time.

Note to self: Refer to things that make me smile list above when you are hating life at 2:30 today. The inspiration and drive to work has to come back...maybe it's just on vacation right now.

Tie One On for Father's Day

Not sure what to give your Dad or your honey for Father's Day? My favorite gift to give is a gift card (especially to my step-dad!). For the man that has everything - here's some money to go buy something fun to tinker with - really, is there a better gift? I don't think so.

Finding a unique way to give a gift card can be a daunting task. I like to be creative and find something different so the reaction is - oh, a card...great I bet there is a gift card in there...how thoughtful. Bleh! Inspired by some bags I saw at Twig and Thistle, I create these tie bags using my digital scrapbooking/digital hybrid supplies. I just know these are going to be a hit!



Supplies -
He's The Man digital kit by Traci Reed and Dani Mogstand at Sweet Shoppe
Fancy Bag template by Kelleigh Ratzlaff at The Digichick
Ruler, scoring tool
Scissors
Double stick tape
Gift Card

1. I opened the Fancy Bag template in my photo editting software. To make the collar looking flap I modified the wavy flap edge by creating a basic rectangle to go over the flap. I merged the rectangle to the base template layer to make a new template.

2. I placed the tie element from He's The Man on to the bag to size. Once I had the tie sized correctly I rotated it and placed it in the open spot above my bag template so it could print on the same sheet of paper with my bag.
Here's a little peek of what my revised template looked like:


3. I used my newly revised bag template created in Step 1 as a clipping mask. I used the papers from He's The Man for the base of the bag and chose patterns and colors that would compliment the ties I chose.

4. I printed my project on to white color laser paper (my printer still won't take a sheet of cardstock -phooey!). I cut using scissors and then scored with a ruler and scoring tool.

5. To make the collar out of the flap, I eyeballed what I thought was half way across the flap and cut up with my scissors about 3/4 the way to the fold. I then made an angle cut from the left edge of the flap up to straight up the middle cut and then repeated on the right.

6. I quickly assembled the box using double stick tape. Inserted my gift card and then attached my tie.

Seriously - it took about 10 minutes to make all together and it's a totally adorable and unexpected little something for Father's Day.