Happy New Year

Happy New Year to Everyone.

What a year 2022 was – it included a lot of different stuff.
There was a lot of good but also a lot of crappy stuff.
Stuff that brought us the highest of highs but also some really low points as well.

I love this quote

Never regret a single day in your life
Good days give Happiness
Bad days give Experience
Worst days give Lessons
AND
Best days give Memories.

During 2023 I want to focus on the best days, and live the best that I can on the other days. I want to be more accepting of what is going on in my life and live in the what ifs…

I want to spend more time doing what makes me happy for this helps to create if not best days than better days.

I want to be more proactive in my crafting to help create a more kinder world. It may not be much but I have seen the impact that 1 person can have on another.

Thanks to everyone who has stopped on by my blog during 2022. I hope that you found inspiration and something to make you smile or even think. During 2023 with my blog I want to bring more thoughts and quotes to the world either through my art or something I have found. But I also hope to be able to post more often about my crafting adventures and life.

Until my next post,
Be Kind to Yourself and Others.

Happy New Year

Good Morning Everyone.

It is now 2022. What will this year have in store for us? What will we get to do this year? Where will we be able to go? What creations will be made and shared either online or just with someone personally? There are lots of possibilities. We already have some things coming up some that have been booked since mid-2021 and some just made last week. My recovery from surgery that happened just before Christmas, very early in the year birthday, small trips while my husband is still on holiday before he dives back into work, and also a short time away as well.

I love creating and I felt really good when I woke up so I thought that I would do 2 things with this post – show you where 70% of my crafting happens – my craft desk – I have another desk in my craft space for painting, sewing, and other crafts. I’m very lucky in my new space to have these. Then the 2nd thing that I thought that I would do would be to share a card that I made using the Pick A Previous challenge from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge 🙂 and a card sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. A combo card highlighting the 2 design teams that I am a part of.

First my card making desk

This desk was created by my husband and I love it. It is sized for me to be comfortable at which means that it is actually shorter than other desks but I can create for long periods of time and not pay for it later as I can with other desks. He even made me the holder for my ATG which puts it right in easy reach. This is only a very small part of my craft space but an important one for me to get right as I spend so much time here. Some things are going to have to change but I am still trying how to make things better. A lot of the placement of things in my craft space has come about by trial and error and I am still learning how to function in my new space.

Now to share my card make – using a previous challenge from 2021 over at 52CCT and a card sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

52CCT Challenge – Washi Tape is from September and Sketch #378 from AHS Challenge which I took as inspiration for the card making.

This card is made with washi tape that has been hanging in my stash for quite a few years and a paper pad that I have had for a while. I bought the paper pad because it has Australian Flora and Faun decked out for Christmas. It was so nice to see a paper pad for Christmas that didn’t have snow as the main component to it – some Christmases I would welcome snow but usually, it’s heat and storms which bring hail not snow. 2021 Christmas was mainly rainy or overcast days. We need the rain though, especially our farmers.

To make sure that my Echidna didn’t get lost on the card front I cut 2 ovals – one from the main panel and one slightly smaller from some maroon metallic paper. I then found some paper in the pad that looked like hessian which I put behind the ovals.

The 52CCT Challenge will be back on Saturday 8th January and Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge – there is a current sketch up (until Sunday Evening) that I was a part of making a card for but a brand new sketch will be live on Monday. I hope that you will join in during 2022 to see what fun challenges we are going to be able to craft with.

No matter what you find yourself doing in 2022 this thought is a good one to start on. I will be sharing more quotes during the coming year as they come across my path because either I need it or someone who is reading this does – so who am I to stop positive messages from getting out into our world?

Until my next post,
Be Kind to Yourself and Others.

Christmas Blessings To All

Hello everyone.

This is just a very quick post to wish everyone a very Blessed Christmas and a Happy 2022. And no matter how you may be spending today – Christmas Day – with family, with friends or by yourself that you take some time to reflect on the reason we give presents today. God gave mankind the greatest gift that could ever be given to save us from ourselves.

I am so grateful that God loved me so much that he was willing to do this for me. As I reflect on the year that has been for myself I am so glad that I have Jesus walking with me otherwise I would have been so lost. Don’t get me wrong I have found myself at the end of my rope many times but when I remembered who was holding onto the other end then I was able to climb my way back up again.

I look forward to what 2022 may have install for me; as a lot of 2021 wasn’t what I was expecting but it was definitely what I needed. I can’t believe that I just typed that … but it is how I am feeling looking back on what has been.

So my prayer for all of you who read this post that you can reflect on your year and be happy with where you are from where you were 12 months ago.

And no matter if you are knee-deep in snow or sand that you have a blessed and wonderful relaxing Christmas and an absolutely Happy New Year.

Until my next post,
Be Kind to Yourself and Others.

No Post … Why?!?

Hello everyone. Sorry for not putting anything up for a while but yeah … life. Several things decided to conspire against me in my ability to be able to put up posts for most of March.

I had planned to be able to write my posts for my 2 design teams as I had made all of the cards for the challenges during March before I had to totally pack down my craft space due to our renovations BUT grrrrrrr.

My laptop decided that it would be a really great idea to die just 1 week into our renovations and with all the lockdowns and other stuff the repair people didn’t get to my laptop until just over a week ago. I would have been doing updates during the renovations’ but here are some before and after pics of what went on.

Here are the before photos.

So we were going to do up two places in our house. Our kitchen which is the original one we put into our house 24 years ago it hadn’t been working for quite a while but we were newbies at construction when we got this place built. And some things that we got weren’t what we were expecting especially the large surround for the fridge. It left us with a very small area for our dining table. So as it said in pic 1 – this was going (((happy dance)))).

Pic 2 is the inside of our garage almost packed up. You really couldn’t move out here before we started taking boxes to storage. But this corner is where my craft space will end up. Lots of changes coming. We will still have the laundry out here but new flooring and wall will becoming.

Pic 3. Well the garage doors will be no more so a dramatic change to how our house looks will happen.

SO now I am starting to get my craft space and my kitchen sorted. The kitchen sorting is a lot further along as we had delays with our garage conversion project it’s not fully done yet but enough that we can start to put my craft space together.

Our updated kitchen thanks to Craftbuilt Kitchens and there great tradies. I would recommend the whole lot of them for any works. I will be keeping their contact details for when we want to do future works. But also thanks to project manager Sharon who kept us in the loop the whole time that works were in progress. This is the kitchen that we should have gotten all those years ago.

My craft space is slowly coming together – well this is only just the beginning of my craft space. I have put together enough to be able to start making cards for my 2 design teams. So YES more posts will be coming in the next couple of days. We bought 2 new storage cabinets from IKEA which my Handy Boys put together for me – I am still trying to figure out how to make them work in my space properly. We are slowly bringing supplies back from storage at a pace so that I don’t get overwhelmed and get sick again. Even looking at this photo while writing this post is getting to my sense of order. So I will move onto the last after photo – the other side of the window wall.

This is how our outside looks now – quite a bit different. It is still weird coming home and not seeing the roller doors in front of our place. The painter (Paul) is one of the tradies we met during the kitchen renos – we loved his work so much that we paid him to come back and paint our new walls both inside and out. I love the Maroon colour that we chose for the outside – it’s dramatic and it is different from anything that I have seen. I guess we are now set for State Of Origin this year 😀

Any way I am off to do more unpacking and sorting. But to also ask my handy boys (my Hubby and Son) to construct some stuff for my new craft space. I will share a final pic once I am happy with my space but at the moment I am just happy to be able to be doing some card crafting again. Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pics of our renos. Before you depart my blog as usual I would love to leave you with this last thought for this post.

What I am trying to achieve with each passing change.

Until my next post,
Be Kind to Yourself and Others.
❤ Tracy

Preparing for Renos

Hello everyone. This isn’t actually a crafting post … well maybe it is in a fashion. Let me explain.

At the end of 2020 my hubby and I decided that we would embark on renovations of our place. This came about for many reasons but one of the big ones was/is my changing health which is declining. OH WOW – I can’t believe that I just typed that!! I think that I have been in denial for quite a while. Any who on with the story.

Well we got the approval for finance and planning began in earnest in December meeting with our Kitchen Designer Guru (the only word that suits) Peter from CraftBuilt Kitchens. And him helping us to redesign our kitchen to work better for my limitations. But with this also came the thought that where my craft space is now won’t work with the redesign so we decided to turn our garage into more living and storage space.

Here is a picture of my space – Mid January

As you can see a box is waiting to be packed. This has happened many times since this and this is what my space looks like just a couple of days ago.

As you can see a lot of items are missing and now a couple of days later even more has disappeared to our off site storage. Because while we are doing kitchen renos we are also getting some extra electrical work done at the same time with extra power points being installed so we have to clear it all out.

And this is where my space will be …

Yeah I know doesn’t look like much at the moment but I can envision what will be eventually. I just hope that I make it in one piece to see it all and get to fully enjoy it. There are days in this process that I wish that we hadn’t started down this path but I know that we had to do something because our kitchen and house needed it.

So if I am a little sporadic with my uploads you will know why … I will have limited supplies but I am determined that I will still create in one way or another. I have been planning what I will be keeping with me to help keep me sane during everything that is ahead of this happening. I will be having to deal with a whole host of people and I don’t do this well but my Hubs will be working during all this time so that leaves me to meet with our contractors.

I wish you all well. Thanks for stopping in and looking at this very different post. I will update as things start moving along as I plan on taking progress photos of the spaces transforming. As I usually do with my posts I would love to leave you with this last thought.

What I will focus on – not just during this reno but my whole life. With God beside me I can and will get through.

Until my next post,
Be Kind to Yourself and Others.
❤ Tracy

3 Questions for Decluttering

Hello everyone, this isn’t my usual post. But I thought that I would share the questions that I think will help me to declutter my current crafting space.

This is my current space. Some of this has changed since this photo was taken and my space is also on the move again later in the year. So before this happens I have decided that I will try and do a declutter but sometimes I get stuck on certain items. But I have come across 3 questions that I think will help me on my decluttering journey and they are

 

1: Is there something else I could use in place of this item?

**For eg: If I got rid of most of my ribbon collection is there something I could use in place of it on a card project? Well yes – I could use Washi Tape or a strip of pattern paper.

2: What is the worst thing that would happen if I got rid of this item?

**If I got rid of my extra pairs of scissors what could happen. Well, I could misplace the ones I have or they could stop working somehow. But I don’t live that far from a craft store so I could replace if necessary.

3: Why? Why am I keeping a hold of this? What is preventing me from throwing this out?
** Is there some memory attached to the item? If you can’t deal with an item at the moment – get a box and store it in there where you can’t see it and then look at it again in 6mths. Maybe then you can deal with the letting go.

 

Hopefully, these questions will help me to conquer my space. I will also be going into the other storage spaces that I have and looking at the stuff there as well. I am going to use this time where life is being forced to slow down to get my most used space in my house – my craft space – into somewhere that I want to spend more time.

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my post on decluttering. If you have any tips that you have used to conquer your clutter please leave a comment below. Before you depart my blog I would love to leave you with this last thought for this post.

Until next time,
😉 Tracy

Learning to Deal with Curveballs

Hello everyone, yes my posting over the past month has been very sporadic. The healing of my shoulder isn’t going to plan so we are having to look at other alternatives one of which is surgery. It looks like I am going to have to walk down this path again but I have to trust that God has a purpose for me having to go in this direction as he has the other times.

So yes this post is called “Learning to Deal with Curveballs” as along the way my body has decided that it would be a good idea for me to have to deal with bad cramping in many joints. There is no known cure for these so I have to learn to deal with them when they hit. So I have been doing research on what I can do about these naturally actually I am finding that I am reacting to so much “modern medicine” that I am having to go back to what my Grandmother use to use and swear by. I sometimes wish that I had taken notes on these but at least I am able to do research.

One of the main reasons for me going down the almost ‘patient heal thyself’ route is because I have had many tests done and 97% of them are coming back to say that I have nothing wrong. So as 1 doctor put it I am Clinical (as in show all the symptoms) not Diagnostical (showing up in test results). This makes things quite hard because if I don’t have the test results I can’t get the extra help because I don’t have any proof. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place!

Having to do this is exhausting and a lot of times I just want to give in. But if I did that then I wouldn’t have a life. Some days are harder than others and all I can do is deal with my symptoms; other days are better and I can do something that I love which is crafting of some kind. But each day I focus on that God has me here for some purpose I know that he has something/someone/ or somewhere to influence. So each day I focus on Thriving in the moment not just Surviving in the moment. Even though sometimes I feel like I am just surviving in the midst of it I focus on a positive outside of what I am experiencing – this helps a great deal in getting through to the next moment.

I know that this isn’t my usual crafting post but as I said at the beginning of this year. I am no longer going to run away from my reality and I am going to share it and maybe it will end up helping someone else Thrive even in the horrible moments. And they are just that – moments, footnotes to our day.

Even written in the Bible that we are to Thrive and not just Survive.

Until my next post,
❤ Tracy

God is My Strength

While this is true – she can be shaken a little bit and stumble and fall. But she will not fully break.

Even with everything that I am going through with my health at the moment I know that God is still walking beside me. Even when I forget this and feel all alone I know that He will be waiting for me patiently to turn back to him.

He has put the right people into my life. Each person brings something to my life and lets me move forward with either something positive or a lesson that I have learned.

Sometimes you have to do this and just trust that God has everything in hand. Even when you don’t understand why things are as they are. This has been my biggest thing with what is happening with my health at the moment. I have to believe that God has a purpose for all of this otherwise I wouldn’t be able to continue to go forth. And sometimes He sends music into your life just to remind you that He does have things in hand. Here is a link to my most favourite song at the moment on YouTube called “Regardless” by Citipointe Worship.

[Intro]
Jesus, we love You
Jesus,  we love You

[Verse 1]
You  found me in the dark
Called me into Your arms
Pulled me close against Your heart
Assured  me that You’re never far

[Verse 2]
You  lead me by the streams
Where truth flows and hope runs free
There’s  nowhere else I’d rather be
Than in the presence of the King, oh

[Chorus]
Let my soul praise You, everything I am
When my world’s crazy, in You I stand
I  will lift Your name regardless
My Lord and Saviour Jesus, oh

[Verse 3]
I’ll walk and will not fear
With shadows and terrors near
You’re the hand that guides my world
The Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, oh

[Chorus]

Let my soul praise You, everything I am
When my world’s crazy, in You I stand
I will lift Your name regardless
My Lord and Saviour Jesus
Woah, woah
Woah, woah

[Bridge]
You are the hope that never will run dry
When my soul thirsts, it’s You that satisfies
On mountain high, or in the valley low
I find strength in Christ alone
You are the hope that never will run dry
When my soul thirsts, it’s You that satisfies
On mountain high, or in the valley low
I find strength in Christ alone

[Chorus]
Let my soul praise You, everything I am
When my world’s crazy, it’s in You I stand
And I will lift Your name regardless
My Lord and Saviour Jesus
Woah, woah

I am forever grateful that my God loves me. He will always be there for me even when I don’t always remember that He is.

Until my next post,
Remember you are not alone in this life.
❤ Tracy

Coping with Not Getting Better

Hello everyone, this is another life update so if you are here for my usual craft posts then I hope to have another one up for you all soon. I mentioned a little while ago that I am no longer going to hide away a part of my life that has become a big part of it … unfortunately, my health has become a big part of how I have to manage my life. In ways that some people don’t even think about even myself.

A few weeks ago I actually got a diagnosis of bursitis of the left shoulder. This gave constant pain but I could still do things for myself. Unfortunately, it seems that because I was being quite careful with my shoulder it has now turned into a frozen shoulder. I had heard of this but never fully understood how debilitating it could be. I am now to a point where I have to get my husbands to help with drying after a shower and dressing both in the morning and evening. I am also unable to look after the evening meals and other errands like food shopping to keep the family going. So I have to put this thought that I put forward in my previous update because I have had this happen to me even more so since this shoulder stuff has cropped up

I am struggling more this time around with this infirmary I think because the thing that I love to do to have a bit of a high I haven’t been able to do. So I have found for me that crafting is how I keep happy and centered. It helps me be creative but I also get to concentrate on something other than myself.

4 days ago I got a shot of steroids into my shoulder as this was supposed to make things better. As of now – things are actually worse! So after typing this with mostly one hand, I am praying that things will improve because

I am determined to get some kind of life back. I am not sure when but I will work towards getting back to the things I love. I know that I will not take my health for granted because it can change ever so quickly.

Until I’m on here again,
Look after your health!!
❤ Tracy

My Absence

Hello Everyone,
As you can see this is not the usual happy crafty projects that I usually share here with everyone. But you may or may not have noticed a long stretch where I haven’t uploaded anything – well I am going through some tough medical stuff at the moment. The 2 posts before this one were actually scheduled last month to go off now when the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenges went live. I thought that everything that I had gone through before this was bad enough – but having limited use of my left arm has been the worst so far.

At the moment I have pain in my left arm all the time – it just differs in the severity of how bad it is or where in my arm the most pain is. Now I suffer from pain every day of my life but even this pain has taken me by surprise. So depending on the day or even the hour or the minute things can and do change. This rollercoaster is one of the harder aspects to get used too.

When most people see me they can’t see my pain because there is hardly any outward appearance that anything is amiss. I have become very adept at not showing outwardly what is going on inwardly – because many can not relate and I’m at a point where it is easier to hide and deal with things myself than trying to keep on explaining what is going on.

So I suppose that I am writing this post just to remind everyone …

… you can never tell what anybody is going through by only judging what you can see.

Until the next time, I am able to be on here
Be kind to everyone you meet,
❤ Tracy