~Quick and Easy Necklace~

This is a fun and simple necklace.
I found glass beads at the craft store and metal beads that both have big holes, then found a silver necklace that has a small clasp on one side. Here are the ingredients:
String them together starting with Silver then add your Glass Beads then ending with another Silver and here's the end result:
Hope you have fun with this and let me know what you do!

Bling out your last years Sandals Tutorial!

I had been looking around for New Sandals and couldn't find what I wanted, so here's what I did, a neat, inexpensive way, to bling out old or new, plain Sandals. I used CRYSTAZZI flat back crystals, they are irridescent, click on the picture and you can see a close up.
but you could use really cheap rhinestones and get away with it. They cost about $3.99 at Michaels craft store. I also used Gel Nail Glue left over from putting fake nails on. This is probably @$2.00 at a drugstore, make sure it's the gel kind since this glue can run. A cuticle stick in case I needed to move a crystal over and I actually did use it.
My Sandals were patent leather look, but I'm sure you could use whatever you have.  
So the Crystals are stuck to sticky tape. Don't mind my manicure as you can see I need to put some fake nails on after this project, neglected those nails!
Flip them over and apply the Gel Glue directly to the back of 1 crystal at a time.
I applied them one by one, making sure I put one finger behind and one finger on top to apply even pressure. I would eye ball where you might have to put 2 then 3 in a row so that they don't hang off the edge. Or if your Sandals are even you don't have to worry about it. Use your best judgement.
Here are all the rows done. I used about 30 each shoe and had 2 leftover when I was all done. Here you can really see the irridescence in them.
Here are both of them done. Notice my toenails are painted! ; ) 
Well if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. If you have any comments, please let 'em rip!! Thanks for looking. 

A Creative Nails Blog

The Hairdresser in me is always on the lookout for colorful ideas in beauty here's what I came across, Konadlicious and she is a glass artist, but has discovered nail polish. Go take a look at her neat artwork nails. Something different and unique. I love to go on a quest each Walgreen's shopping trip to see what new colors are out there or what I am in the mood for. I need to take the time out to paint my nails more often. Seeing all of the neat things on Konadlicious gives me inspiration. Take a peek here http://konadlicious.blogspot.com/

New Inspiration, Creative Touches, and A Surprising Mother's Day!

I wanted to give you some inspiration for today in the spirit of Mother's Day here's something to dwell on:
A creative woman is a selfish woman.
And a selfish woman is a dangerous woman because she is willing and able to feel her own feelings. To own what it is that she wants . And she is willing to try and get it.
A creative woman is an empowered woman. She is able to set boundaries and say NO to what she doesn't want. And a big fat YES to what feeds her and pleases her and nurtures her.
A creative woman, a selfish woman, an empowered woman cannot be controlled. She is the queen of her own life, her own time, her own body.
A creative woman is a passionate woman. She is on fire with being alive. She is hungry for color and adventure and boldness and being swept away by the energy of her creative desires.
A creative woman is an honest woman. She knows how to see clearly, to tell the truth and to no longer lie to herself about what she needs and what truly works for her to be happy.
A creative woman knows how to shine with her own life, to be big and take up space in the world. To be seen and heard and visible.
A creative woman, a selfish woman, a woman full of her self, paradoxically is actually capable of tremendous generosity because she has a lot to give. She is full of energy and is overflowing with her many creative gifts because she is tapped into her own creative source.
But she gives only when she chooses to do so. A dangerous, creative, empowered, selfish woman understands that she can only do so much. And is not willing to damage her own body and psyche and heart by giving more than is good for HER.
written by chris zydel of creative juice arts via dirty footprints studio who said it best...
This is through my new friend Amy at: http://www.amyrehnae.blogspot.com/
I hope that this gives you some insight on yourself and what you are capable of!! 
Here's what I recieved as my Mother's Day gift: (besides going to see Iron Man 2 and eating at Red Lobster, (my one and only cheat meal for the week, deservedly so))
 Can you say Suweeet! This is my new toy. I am a gadget fiend here's my other toys. Everything is touchy!:
My HP TouchSmart, My Verizon Vogu100 htc (competitor to Iphone), and my new IPod Touch, love them all. 
Talk about being Creative, I can use Photoshop Elements 8 on my laptop to design scrapbook pages and edit photos. Being able to touch the screen makes games so much easier and doodling fun!! Use my Ipod touch and Vogu100 for creative scheduling and filing. Ahh to be loved! ~Fin

Creative Low-Cost Low-Calorie Food Tips and Recipes

I want to start off by saying that if you arrived to this post, it wasn't by accident your looking for some ideas on how to lower your calories and  how to eat on a budget. I get that, I totally do! I have 4 kids and suffice to say have to eat separate from what they do, not all of the time but most. Well here goes some tips and recipes to start with and in the future I'll make a page designated to this topic on its own. Starting with the tips and this coincides with my other blog post: http://creativetizzy.blogspot.com/2010/05/11-tips-to-de-cluttering-my-home-and-10.html
  1. Drink a tall glass of water with every meal, snacks also.
  2. Take multi-vitamin and fish oil tab 1/2 way through meal. This I take a lunchtime 
  3. Eat @ 250-350 calories per meal, snacks stay below 200 I have usually 2 snacks a day.
  4. Shop in your own pantry and fridge, sometimes we can find things if we just dig.
  5. Use spray butter for cooking on stove. http://www.icantbelieveitsnotbutter.com/Spray/
  6. Cut out the salt, salt bloats you, I am a professed salt-a-holic and have to say over time, I don't need it and when there's extra dumped on my food without me knowing, it tastes, well, salty!!
  7. Cut out the sugar, okay, besides the morning and afternoon cups of coffee, that's it! Limits people, limits!!
  8. No Protein bars unless the sugars are low, some protein or breakfast bars have more sugar than a candy bar, you might as well go have that snickers bar anyways!! Check the label.
  9. Cut the cheese, no not literally, cut it from your Food Plan. This bloats also, if I cheat, it's with Bleu or sprinkle of parm on my spaghetti, can't do without it. Your stomach will thank-you and you'll notice a difference in your side profile. If you have to have it, make sure its in moderation.
  10. Cut out the soda consumption, if you thrive on soda, this is where your calories come from 97 to be exact in one can of Coke, you could lose weight just by cutting out this very thing, diet soda too.
  11. Keep away from Aspartame, I was drinking diet iced tea thinking my vision was going and here it was aspartame messing with me, stay away from this stuff. Very in depth site, http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-side-effects.html
  12. Use frozen veggies, I have too or alot of things would go bad in my fridge. Although I eat clean, I do my version of eating clean. 
  13. By prepacked produce, if this is just for you, smaller servings can be hidden in the fridge so tiny hands can't get them.
  14. Use micro meals at lunch (sodium can be a little high on these, so be careful) most are under 300 calories, boom, lunch is done or dinner. 
  15. Have fibrous carbs at Supper, what do I mean by fibrous, well these are your fiber veggies, spinach, lettuce, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, cucumber. These take time to digest and therefore helps you to feel fuller longer and you can fill up on these and there are virtually no calories. I make a chicken salad that is huge and it by far exceeds the eyes are bigger than the stomach rule. 
  16. Arm yourself ahead of time with foods before the week starts. Okay I know alot of fitness people use this, but it is so true. "If you Fail to Plan, then you should plan to fail". A little preparedness goes a long way. I will see what I have in my fridge, pantry, and for snacks and make a list, go shopping and now I can eat without guilt.
  17. Have easy snacks on hand. I love, love, love the tomato/herb Special K crackers http://www2.kelloggs.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?brand=215&product=15771&cat=cereal why do I love these, not only are they tasty, but they are the least calories for the most you can eat, trust me, I compared boxes and believe that most crackers are 140 calories per serving. So in essence you could have almost a double serving and still stay within your 200 calorie snack range.
  18. Shop in the organic section of your store, sometimes they have discontinued items that are really cheap or on sale items. Organic has come along way in their prepackaged dept. the prices I see are coming down and that's easier on the wallet.
  19. Make a list, have a budget and stick with it. If possible try not to shop with the kids, they can be distracting and get your focus off of eating good.
  20. Don't eat after 8:00, anything that you put in your mouth will eventually reach your stomach, 8:00 is 3 hours before I go to bed, my stomach will be empty and therefore the calories I burn throughout the night (when sleeping that's when your body goes to work) will be spent on the fat stores I have instead of the fuel I would eat right before bed, a no-no! If I want something, I'll have green tea with honey and a little milk, this makes me feel better, and suppresses that craving for food.
  21. Drink Green Tea like above, read about it here:http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/benefit_of_drinking_green_tea
  22. Arm yourself with gum. I can't tell you how many times I just want to chew on something and if I have gum it takes away the food factor. 5 calories http://www.tridentgum.com/
  23. Deny the food monster, tell yourself mentally, I don't need it and I have control over food, it doesn't control me. PERIOD. Do not give in and have a piece of gum instead. The hunger pangs will pass and you will say, wow I don't feel hungry anymore. 
  24. Look at your labels, what is a serving size and what are the calories per serving size, don't automatically assume that a can is a serving, soup usually has 2 servings, so calories X2.
  25. You Can Do It. Keep telling yourself you can, and you will. I did and am going to keep doing it til I get to my goal. Now I have to, I just told you to! Now I have to stick with it. Holding myself accountable.
Now for the foods I use for fuel:
  1. Canned beans, navy, pinto, chick peas (it's funny my hubby calls anything other than a stringbean, Goya beans) beans beans they're good for your heart the more you eat the more protein you get, ; )
  2. Brown Rice this I make concoctions with chicken and beans and veggies.
  3. Non Salted Almonds in a pouch, Walmart sells these @ $3.00 a bag, very cheap.
  4. Apples, Bananas, Fruits Easy grab and go snacks
  5. Popcorn (Airpopped) I lightly salt ( I mean lightly, just can't do no salt with this) this with butter spray, plus popcorn has antioxidants and fiber, you can have a ton of this and not feel the guilt. Airpop so you don't use any oil, that is where the calories and fat lie.
  6. Whole grain, breads and pastas you can get white whole grain bread for kids (fakes em out) and yet you can still eat it to.
  7. Jello-and light whipped topping, maybe 15 calories, very minimal and slightly sinful.
  8. Slim-A-Bear Klondike bars, okay dudette, these are soooo good and at only 100 calories a bar, my kids fight me over these, I have to hide them in my freezer if we're out of popsicles.
  9. Flax seed, I roast these in a pan a teaspoon at a time and add my eggs, they pop like popcorn so you get the benefits omega-3s, antioxidants, and fiber.
  10. Oatmeal this is so filling, I do get the kind that takes a little to cook in microwave 
  11. Berries of different varieties, blueberries are a superfood
  12. Dark Chocolate, I am a dark chocolate fan. I get 70% and above, I think Cadbury's has them, but I get mine in the organic Aisle. Hubby says it tastes bland, but I am used to it and have a different palate now.
  13. Canned or pouched Tuna, Chicken, Salmon. Makes a meal fast. 
  14. Egg whites in the carton
  15. Vinegars of all sorts, I like Malt, Balsamic, Apple I mix them with Olive oil for a light dressing on salads
  16. Lemon Juice in the bottle or fresh if you can, makes dishes taste better, plus lemons amp up the metabolism. This I also use on salads
  17. Frank's Red Hot Sauce, Ampin' up the metabolism again, put a dash of this on your eggs, chicken, steak, shrimp, yum.
  18. Crackers in above tips
  19. Mrs. Dash http://www.mrsdash.com/, has a wide variety of salt-free sprinkles so get what you like.
  20. I was on a Protein shake kick, but only if I am lifting weights, will be introducing a fitness plan soon, so I'll be going back to that. Can find these in organic aisle or weight loss aisle. Or go to GNC http://www.gnc.com/home/index.jsp protein shakes without soy, look it up about soy and estrogen, it can be confusing so I limit my intake of soy, yet I do things in moderation. It's your choice. I leave it out, read here http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/soymessina
  21. Whole grain tortillas, these you can make an white egg omelet with veggies, sprinkle on some Frank's and you've got a breakfast tort to go.
  22. Veggies of all sorts, frozen as I said above for quick easy access
Creative Recipes or Concoctions

Breakfast:
Egg White Omelet, I measure out enough for like a 2-3 egg omelet with egg whites, but I first add can't believe its not butter then onions peppers spinach whatever I've got that day and measure serving size for the calories I need keeping it well under 300. Add egg whites, cook and flip, sometimes I don't flip it. Oh and I add fiesta lime Mrs. Dash.
Oatmeal (not the packets, they have too much sugar) the oats in the cardboard tube, usually on the lower shelf in the cereal aisle, with berries or bananas, again whatever I have on hand. I measure out 1/4 cup, this can balloon up to 3/4 filling up the bowl, add berries when you cook the oatmeal in microwave, mix around a little so the berries are still intact somewhat, and yummy.
Grilled Turkey and egg tortilla, grilled turkey with peppers and eggwhites, cook like above eggs and add to the tort, is so yummy and watch your potion sizes, this is key.

Lunch:
Micro meal from Weight Watchers or Healthy Choice, you pick.
Brown Rice, with 1-2 small chicken tenders or breasts, check the calories per serving, with veggies, either spinach, onions, squash, eggplant etc..
Couscous with Salmon or Tuna pouch ( I like to get the steaks in the pouches) add lemon and dash of flaxseed with some type of veggies, sometimes I add beans. Make sure that your calories will come out to up to 350.
Dinner:
Salad with 1/2 Avocado, cherry tomatoes, Butter lettuce or spring mix for variety, mushrooms, cucumbers, Add cooked Chicken breast or saute'ed shrimp. Mix Olive oil Balsamic Vinegar and Mrs. Dash together in tiny bowl with lid and toss with salad.

Snacks:
Bananas with little bit of peanut butter
Strawberries and fat free yogurt
crackers
popcorn
You can sub a micro meal for dinner or vice versa, I tend to switch daily.

Hope that I have given some good hints for you to be successful. The only part I can't do is be there and make sure that you implement it, that's your part. So good luck and in fairness of being human, we all make mistakes, so if you fall off the wagon, don't beat yourself up, just get up, dust yourself off, hold your head up, because you're worthy of being healthy, Now Git'R done. Hope to hear some progress has been made. Click on the comments button to leave me a note and subscribe to my blog, lots coming up!

Where Women Create, Love this Magazine

If you are a creative fanatic as I am, you will love this magazine. It is full of inspiration! 
Women show off their studio spaces while telling about themselves and how they got their start being creative. It is a little on the expensive side to purchase, but so definitely worth the $. The pages are thicker than usual magazines neat to see different artistic styles. arrivederci

Easy DIY Magnets

Here's an easy project you can do. Make your own magnets. Here are the supplies you need. Glue Gun, Glue Sticks, Small-Medium sized magnets, and Decor Stones. 

All of these items can be found in your local craft store. I go to MichaelsJoanns and Hobby Lobby (this place is great for decor items).
You can use various items that match the decor in your home or make a theme around your kids, pets etc... I found seashells, sea-glass, decor jewels and pebbles, mini-clothespins, buttons (you would have to pry off the shank on the back of the button with a pair of pliers for it to be flat), you get the idea!
So here's what I did. I heated up my glue gun made sure it was loaded with glue stick (yes, this is important ; )
Next I picked out my decor stones I wanted to use. Since I bought small magnets I used 2 to glue on the back of the bigger stones and 1 on the smaller stones. Squeeze the glue onto the magnets and working fast, attach to back of stone/s. Let cool completely. Slough off any webbing that occured from the glue, that part is always so fun, sort of like getting static out of your pants, it takes time. 
Here's what one looks like finished. See what I mean about the web it creates.
Here's multiple ones I did and stuck on the fridge.
Now go have some fun. Any questions or comments please don't hesitate to leave 'em. 
au revoir



Organizing Photos

This process is a little lengthy. What I have found is to just dive in and get started to keep the momentum going. I figured out an easy system anyone can do, low cost, and gets the photos out of the developing envelopes and shoeboxes that are typical storage for your photos. You get to show them off finally!! Here's the final product:
I started off by separating photos and memorabilia by child, me, hubby, family and pets. This was done over medium sized baskets and bins, for sorting out. Seen here:
** I am avid scrapbooker, but now do it digitally when I have the time. The problem I found with scrapbooking is that it made the process of getting photos into albums, take forever and I finally gave up. I tend to be a perfectionist, because afterall these are my photos and a 2 page layout would take me sometimes 3 hours with all of the cutting, pasting and such. Way to long. I really wanted my kids to see themselves whenever they wanted and no matter how many roles of film they were placed where they were visible. 


So I separated the photos and memorabilia then I sorted all of the memorabilia into a designated art/school/memorabilia file tote for each child and adult

I then put school photos, sports photos and anything oversized into 3-ring binders and page protectors, this is  a great system that you can move around easily if needed. 
Then I Got Photo Albums at Michaels craft storehttp://michaels.com/art/online/home that were 40% off at the time


They display 5~ 4x6 photos on each page
I then cut up sheets of beautiful patterned papers that are glitterized and foiled for my daughters scrapbook pages, they come in tablet form in 12x12 sheets and I cut them down to 8 1/2 x 11 size for the page protectors also at Michaels. The binders I've used you can customize with papers on the cover and a strip on the side and another sheet for the back. I did this for future scrapbooking and they have in tablet form the same type papers in 4x6 size, just rip one off and stick photo to it then to scrapbook page. Easy!!
Heres some of the pretty papers also found at Michaels craft store or Joanns www.joanns.com
How beautiful are these?
Heres a pic of all of them together
Another
Now a boys version
Well if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here. Thanks for looking and I hope that I have helped some of you out. 'Ciao PS My kids love to look at themselves now and not lost in the shuffle.



















11 Tips to De-cluttering My Home and 10 Tips to Losing Weight in the Process

That is a great title to sum it all up. Since my last post I have been extremely busy getting alot accomplished in my home. I purposely stayed off the Internet for that reason. It will be 3 weeks tomorrow. So let's begin with the plan.
1. De clutter all rooms, 20 rooms including walk-in closets,foyer, and upstairs hallway/loft.
2. Start with most back left corner room of home and work to the right. This is how my brain works, order.
3. Bins are labeled Keep Toss(used trash bag for this) and Donate. I learned this from the almighty "NEAT FREAK" herself Hellen Buttiegieg on the Show Neat http://www.neattv.com/home.html
4. As I went along I cleaned what I could. The dishes and laundry just had to wait at times, 2 weeks of my life in disarray is minuscule to the Positive affects de-cluttering will have for a very long time, those are my actual words I used to tell my hubby why the dishes were not done ; )  With systems in place life can be easier, especially with summer right around the corner and the kids will be home all day then.
5. Reduce your calorie intake to 1200-1300 calories a day as you De-clutter home.
6. Buy things to help organize each room IE: Bins, Baskets, Plastic baggies to sort, various sizes. Plastic baggies help tremendously when you are sorting through your kids toys and little (what I like to call) chachkeys (Sp) I used sandwich, quart sized and gallon sized.
7. As you go through each room write down your goals for that room, list of things you'll need and the purpose you want to use that new room for, if different than it is now.
8. Carry a notebook in your purse, put one on the counter and near bed. Any ideas for rearranging, new picture frames, etc.. you can write them down. It's funny when I wrote things down and as I went over my lists every so often, it's amazing what my brain had me accomplish. I kept checking things off little by little.
9. MOTIVATION.. This can be hard to come by. I visualized first what I wanted the room to look like, this can be costly and time consuming, but hey~Rome wasn't built in a day. As long the decluttering motivation was there, the redecorating will come later on. What was inspiring was I bought and have on hand several organizing magazines for visual and looking online for simple low cost ways to organize. Watching Sell This House http://www.aetv.com/sell-this-house/ helped me to be inspired which transferred into motivation, I just wanted the room done and went for it.
10. I can tend to be all over the place with my ideas for rooms and such so I gave myself a break at times, but I did stick with my plan and made it work for me.
11. Keep up with your systems everyday and they will keep working for you.
As of right now I still have one room to organize and clean, which is in the basement. I have papers in a pile that need sorting yet and a bills pile that needs to be filed. I plan on doing that this week.

In the past 3 weeks of decluttering my home I have lost 10 pounds. Here's how I did it
1. Reduced my calorie intake from @2000-1300. I just did it, no excuses, no cheating! Was inspired by Amanda over at http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/category/my-weight-loss-story I thought, hey if she can do it, then so can I. Go click and see what she has done, it's inspirational.
2. Short bursts of decluttering for @ 3-4 hours everyday. I ran up and down steps, burned some fat filing/organizing, made sure I took long ways to go around the house, carried things up and down steps myself, instead of asking hubby dear to do it.
3. Ate Clean, what does that mean you say, here's Tosca Reno's website http://www.eatcleandiet.com/ that explains it. I ate clean and had 1 boxed weight watchers or Healthy Choice meals at lunch time.
4. No Heavy carbs at Dinner(Supper if your from where I'm from), meaning no breads rices etc., just fibrous carbs like 1 boneless, skinless chix breast in a salad with cherry tomatoes, a half an avocado and lemon squeezed all over for metabolism boost. Add some Olive Oil, by some I mean maybe a teaspoon. I always do way lower than the serving size, which is 1 tablespoon and that way I don't over do it. Add some balsamic vinegar and toss salad. It's great to have a big bowl with a lid so you can shake the dressing all over and get everything saturated.
5. Eat every 2 and 1/2 hours. This is so easy, but you have to eat good for you foods.
6. Drink plenty of water
7. Take supplements, like multivitamin, (what you don't get with foods you'll get in this) folic acid (strong and healthy nails and hair also great for women who are prepregnant or pregnant), fish oil (omega-3s great for your brain), and calcium, magnesium and zinc tablet at night for good remmy sleep.
8. Being active other than housecleaning.
9. Staying off the internet, this can be a great time and life consumer. I know this can be hard, but you have to make a decision with yourself to get yourself back. When your sitting too much this can make you sedentary and when your sitting on the computer, this can make you mindlessly eat, like eating a bowl of chips in front of the tv at night while a good movie is playing. Get off here and get moving. I want readers, but I want my readers to be blessed with good health also.
10. Let go of obsessing over it and just do it. Weigh yourself weekly and fagettaboutit. HeHe!
Well I hope that I have helped you and maybe later I'll throw in some photos of what I have used for decluttering like baskets and bins and such. 'Til my next post I bid you Adu' (Sp)

 
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